In the Name of Art

Teacher Archetype

The beginning of my Teacher page. I chose a Mendi mask because these are atypical of African masks. For the most part, men are the participants in a ceremony involving masks, but not among the Mendi. A leader or teacher would have worn this and would be female. The rays that surround the image will have names of female writers, poets, relatives and teachers that have all contributed to my education, in schools and out.

Archetype arrives on my Doorstep

This all came in a flat rate box awhile ago and I'm amazed it all fit! Bee Shay has built in a reflective element and the smaller journals inside the "A" box are for our musings during the creation of the pages. What a tour de force!

The Importance of Accessories

So here I am at Gretchen Bierbaum's altered book workshop in Peninsula, Ohio. I think the paintbrush in my mouth gives my ensemble just right amount of bling, though it would be better diamond-studded. Can't have it all, dahlings!

Peninsula Art Center was hopping that day, our workshop, Arts Alliance installing a new exhibit plus traffic from the street in to see what everybody was up to!

I'm taking my altered book to ArtFest, Lord willing and the creek don't rise!

Time, time, time

Originally, I decided to put a time constraint on the art I made everyday, but with some time, I've loosened that up. Mostly due to the fact that I'd look at the clock and I'd have 5 minutes to put a quarter of the work together. Sometimes I'd just put it away unfinished, then come back to it. Other times I'd damn the torpedos and just keep working. These two took a bit longer than I thought they would so I just went over schedule.

I have a small victorian photo album with a broken clasp and some wear on the binding that I thought I'd alter into some sort of book. But after sitting on a shelf for 5 years it started looking better and better as collage fodder. So I started tearing pages out and using them to frame really small collages made from old art history books. The subjects of these paintings are always looking at something, out of the frame, at the viewer or at another subject in the painting. When I started to cut them up, those glances, sideways or otherwise, became more pronounced and sometimes odd.

The palest of these has been slightly altered on photoshop, I'm terribly addicted to posterize and love the way it brings up color in an otherwise flat area.

They've become surreal, of course, but some of the Mannerist and Baroque painting, to our eyes is almost as inscrutable as surrealism.

Journal Entry & More Winter!

I returned to paint for just awhile on this one. Haven't been back to journal pages for weeks and it seemed like the right time. The image of the woman is from a 1938 Jamestown NY yearbook and she just needed a baroque hairstyle. Whenever I start with paint my image gets more light-hearted and veers away from some of the heavier themes.

Today is a banking day, looking at income tax (if I keep looking at it, do you suppose it will do itself?), and waiting for ANOTHER March snowstorm. For the love of Peter, will it never stop being winter here?!! We're supposed to get 4-6 inches this afternoon! Oh well, it should melt fast. I do love walking the dog in early spring and hearing the birds and melting snow. It seems I'll have another opportunity.....

More weather

This was last Saturday and even with some 50 degree weather its still on the ground. I think we got 2 feet and my dog was desperate to find a spot, if you get my drift. We don't usually get this much snow here. This was taken in the afternoon as a particularly heavy glob came through. Spent most of the day shoveling even though my neighbor was kind enough to snow blow!

More that are Unwoven

Leonardo's angel was painted in Verroccio's studio but found its way here via the piles of reproductions I have for the little boy next door (I make art cards for him for a special learning program). Once he was buried the birds seemed to perch naturally there. They became the saints of the narrative and I hope their angel finds a way to help them, because they could use his help. Bird counts are down and they surmise its from intensive farming practices along migratory routes. Songbirds use canopies of trees to live in and they're being cut down in S. America to grow robusto coffee that grows in full sun. If you ever enjoy song-birds, start buying (more expensive) shade-grown coffee! Somehow I wandered right into one of my soap-boxes, but I think the birds would approve.

Collaborative Package

Another collaborative begins! I'm wrapping this up today and sending it on its year-long journey tomorrow! Its light as a feather since its made of paper-mache and lace. The inside is a textured periwinkle blue with gold dots representing the universe. There's enough glue on this to build a house.

Stalking the Confectioner's Tree

Late winter is fleeting. Freeze and thaw and before you know it, its gone! The past week we've had 10 inches of snow and then freezing rain all night on Tuesday. But what drama! Although its a pain to get around in, the ice transformed everything into a confectioner's fantasy. I kept watching for sun to hit the right angle and running outside in various states of undress to capture the elusive sugar-spun headiness. At dinner with a friend,I made rapid excuses and ran out into the road with camera, leaving my soup to cool! I felt like I was hunting big game without the obvious downside. Spring is nearly here, but winter's last hurrah
continues.

ATCs, Woven and Otherwise

My stockpile of vintage photography has nearly been exhausted so it was good to work very small scale on these ATCs. The four on white cardstock are really small examples of my woven collages that I plan to use as trades at ArtFest and they include faces cut from a 1953 Akron University yearbook. The other two were applied to a playing card because I love the design on the back, the remnants of my photo pile ended up in those. I reproduced and copied a number of these because the trades at ArtFest are so much fun, meeting total strangers and exchanging art is such a complete run around the gallery system! Gotta love it!