Not much of a writer!

Evidently I am not much of a writer. Never (hardly ever) think about putting into words on this blog stuff that is going through my head, or through my life. However, I have a few things coming up that merit mentioning, not the least of which is an upcoming return to Doha, at the end of March. This time I will be going with another artist, Alison Rector, also from this area in Maine. Alison and I know each other from crossing paths over the years in Belfast, but the reason we thought to show together is because I am still working with books in my art and she has been painting pictures of the interiors of libraries here in Maine over the last few years. Our exhibit, "Welcome To The Library" will be in Doha at a cultural center there, Katara, which is where I did a workshop and a presentation about my work when I was last there a year and a half ago. We will do more workshops this time, and stay a little longer. Alison is excited about going which is making me realize that I really am, too. Great opportunity for us. I will be sending, among other works, several more feet of "Library" to be installed to entirely cover the back wall of the room in which the rest of it is installed in Qatar, at the ambassador's residence. It will end up to be about 16 feet 8 inches of surface, from corner to corner. In addition to this great opportunity, I will be curating and installing a show here in Maine at the Harlow Gallery, in Hallowel toward the end of March. The opening of that show, "Altered", will be March 25. It will include six artists, all but one from Maine, and address the use of non traditional materials in the making of their art. More about that on the Harlow's website. I have invited artists Karen MacDonald, Daniel Anselmi, Ieva Tatasrsky, Paula Green (who died in 2010) and Jessica Straus to join me in this show that will be up through April.

More Letters From Paris

Terribly disappointed not to be able to accompany my childhood buddy Deborah to Paris in March. I had thought I could go but it turns out the week she is planning to go is the week I will be  hanging a show I am curating. Big bummer. Given my pretty flexible schedule it is frustrating that this overlap happened but I must be here to hang the show. So instead I just continue to dream about going to Paris.
Here are more Letters From Paris

 as yet untitled, but I'm working on that. This lat one is "What For"

Letters from Paris

A series of small collages I have been working on using old letters I got in Paris, bits of maps and charts and other scraps.I am calling the series "Letters from Paris" as I think about the terror attacks and my heart goes out to Paris and all of France, with whom I have a history. Each 4 1/2 in by 4 1/2 inch collage is mounted on a 8 inch by 8 inch birch panel and is sealed but not framed, to keep cost down. I am asking $200 each and will give what I would normally give to a gallery for the commission (40%) to the Syrian refugee cause, somehow. I wish I could host a Syrian family somehow. Does anyone know if this is possible?

 Letters from Paris: Est l'un de nous en securite

 Letters from Paris: Je vais retourner

Letters from Paris:  La France, je t'aime toujours

 Letters from Paris: Mon coeur va a vous

 Letters from Paris: Nous sommes solidaire

Letters from Paris:

Votre Devoue

Back To Work!

Finally have had more hours in the studio. Before my Open Studio on October 10 I started a series called "Places To Sail Away To" and I'm posting some of those here. I have also been working on small (very small, 4 1/2" by 4 1/2") pieces surrounded by maps mounted on 8' X 8" birch panels. This is to eliminate the framing costs, which have reached astronomical amounts after all the collages this year and last. Then there are others that are the same size collage mounted on 6" X 6" panels, with the wood as background/border. Then others where I have covered the 6" X 6" panel with collage, so no border.I seal the collages with medium for protection and I tried was on some of these but I don't like the results so I am discontinuing that approach.

 Places To Sail Away To: Baha

 

 

Places To Sail Away To: France

 

 Places To Sail Away To: The Arctic

 

Places To Sail Away To: Turkey

Interruptions shape our hours

In graduate school I made a piece which I called "Interruptions Shape Our Hours." Making art in grad school was a choppy experience, but no worse than every day life these days.

Car accident, recovering from broken sternum and badly bruised knee, then a week's vacation, when I got back two days hanging the show in Bangor, then four days up at Haystack on Deer Isle, all this meant no studio time for a month. A month! Today I had to take my father to a dentist appointment, and yesterday was consumed by some essential studio clean up and painting. Tomorrow I have a volunteer meeting all afternoon. A few hours here and a few hours there this week. Maybe next week I will be able to devote the better part of every day to my art. I have a small commission, which helps. And the weather is cooling off, which also helps. Cold weather helps to get me out of the garden and into the studio every day, so bring it on. Above, the morning walk into the nearby blueberry barren. Soon all the blueberry bushes will be turning their glorious diverse shades of red.

Wow, what a month

Since August 20 I have been recovering from a car accident which totaled my car but fortunately didn't total me. A guy ran a stop sign and I collided with his vehicle, the air bag went off and broke my sternum. Still uncomfortable to cough but I can laugh again! This second accident has me having some deep existential moments, never mind driving anxiety, though I know it is just bad luck. So much for the good luck I felt surviving the plan crash four years ago. I watch the other drivers intensely now. So many people on their stupid phones not paying attention!! It pisses me off.

And here is a shot of the completed installation in Bangor, at the Sohns Gallery, 20 feet of it. The show includes a few mixed media constructions and collages. I will be giving a talk on October 2 at 7 (the reception start at 6:30) for the Bangor Artober art walk for about a half hour or so, public invited. The show remains up until November 1. I will be taking it down again on November 2--too soon!!

The other thing I had wanted to write about took place on August 13 when the Smith family, the U.S. Ambassador's family, from Qatar, paid me a studio visit. It was so generous of them to spend a part of their precious time in Maine coming to Appleton to see where "Library" was created, and to visit with me. What a great family! I so appreciated that. And Dana came the next night to the opening of a show I had in Damariscotta, at River Arts.

blessed

I've been blessed with some significant recognition for my work recently (the PMA Biennial, The Art In Embassies Program) and it's with just as much appreciation on my part that I announce here an Honorable Mention award I got for two collages I submitted recently to a juried show in Belfast. My collages tend to be abstract studies of the push and pull of verticals and horizontals in a small field of quiet color. The jurors for the show are four Belfast artists whose work I admire so I am pleased to have had the work recognized in this way. I am hoping one or both of the collages sell as the show is a fundraising event for Hospice of Waldo County and there is no group more generous than hospice volunteers.