Happy New Year All

And another year bites the dust...I have tremendous gratitude for every minute of it. This is the last week my piece, Library, will be hanging in the Portland Museum of Art as part of the 2013 Biennial. Thank you, again, Jessica May, for including my work in this spectacular show. When I deinstall it next week I will be bringing it to Belfast, to the Clifford Gallery at Waterfall Arts, where it will stay until the end of March. At some point I'll have a reception, as the piece has grown by about 8 feet since then. I still aspire to finding a small windowless

room that I can hang it in so that it covers all four walls...Meanwhile the winter looks as if it will be a somewhat quiet and productive time after such a busy fall.

Good Art in Boston

Spent two fabulous days in Boston this week whipping around to see lots of art, art, art. Started at the Boston Sculptor's Gallery to see Jessica Straus' new show. Fabulous! We then went on to the ICA to see the Amy Stillman retrospective. I was unfamiliar with her work and I LOVE IT! Don't overlook the diagrams, they are hysterical. Then we continued on to the Art Institute of Boston where there was a show I'd wanted to see: Beyond The Wunderkammer, right up my alley. It was a small show, and because of that less overwhelmingly wonderful than I expected, but still good to see. The next day we started out at the New Art Center but unfortunately the show was down (too bad) then to the DeCordova where the Biennial is going on. This is a very mixed show, but two artists stood out: Nancy Andrews with a deliciously cool totally charming 25 minute video animation. I usually don't watch an entire video but this one commanded your attention. What a great artist! (And she lives in Maine). The other artist in the show who just blew us away was (is) Ethan Murrow whose perfectly rendered drawings of watercraft on the Great Wall going up the stairs (if you know the space you know it's three stories high) made for an extremely satisfying art experience. It made me sad to think that it will be painted over at the end of the show because it's drawn directly on the wall. He is SUCH a good artist! After this we went to the Clark Gallery where I was surprised to see paintings by a painter I just saw for the first time in Portland recently: Eleanor Miller. Beautiful, rich, exquisitely conceived surfaces and imagery of the natural world. I want one of those paintings!!! Then on to three galleries in Concord: the Concord Art Association where the show was just being installed and we didn't want to disturb the installers; the LaCoste Gallery downtown that shows ceramics (there were no fewer than seventeen pieces there that I wanted, wanted, wanted for my gardens), and then finally the Concord Library where there was a fundraiser for a local non-profit farm. A rich, dense two days, both humbling and energizing.

OPEN STUDIO THIS WEEKEND!

OPEN STUDIO THIS WEEKEND! Come one, come all and take advantage of this opportunity to see the inside of my studio. Saturday and Sunday, October 12 and 13 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. both days. Children are welcome but please leave dogs at home. Gardens also open, though who knows what they will look like by then, though the dahlias are killer right now as we've had such a nice fall and no frost yet. Hope to see you.

Installation complete!

It has been way too long since I put something new on my blog but here it is, the completed installation for the PMA Biennial at the Portland Museum of Art. I'm in fantastic company next to Crystal Cawley's fabulous garments and Alison Hidreth's beautiful maps.I am so honored and humbled. Everyone at the museum was really nice and very helpful; over the last two days I met many people who work there which makes me feel more at home in Portland. Next week is the members opening then the show opens to the public on Thursday, October 3. My sister Megan was incredibly helpful as my assistant yesterday; it was crucial to have a second set of eyes and hands. When it was time for a break we were introduced to Sonny's by Ellen Schneiter where we had a fantastic lunch. Looking forward to more fine eating in Portland next week!

News!

I am behind the eightball putting this out there, but the exciting news is that my work will be included in this year's Portland Museum of Art Biennial! I was contcted in early March with the news and have in the meantime met with the PMA's new curator of Contemporary and Modern Art, Jessica May, who cheerfully traveled to Unity College recently to see my work in a recent show there. I'm incredibly pleased to be among the 28 artists chosen--out of 900 who submitted--whose work fit into a vision that Jessica has for this year's show which is titled Piece Work. The show opend on October 3 and will stay up until January 5, 2014. This is such a confirmation for me of the direction that my recent work has taken. Now to get that website established finally (we're working on it)! And in the meantime I have completed another wall hanging/construction and have another (a commission this time) in the works.