In the Name of Art

Black Bird Swinging on a Blue Day

.....apparently while the vendor hovers around her. There are so many directions to take in naming visuals that I could write a novel about it. No one would be able to read it, but I could write it. It reminds me of the story about infinity: trace a line around the lake for a map and it's all distinct and compact. Get down on your knees and start tracing a line around each nook and cranny of the same shoreline and you'll never finish. This is oddly comforting to me. And no, I don't remember where I read it so if anybody out there knows, fill me in. I do remember it was some kind of science book.

Same collage techniques as the previous entries, all of them headed to Lynne's art soiree!

 

This is not the last of 6, it's a tangent that I went off on during the 6 red pieces. Sometimes a photo or composition has a life of it's own and it spins off into it's own territory......the territory here is similar to "Violet Pierced with the Word" which is in this blog somewhere on earlier pages. I'm not certain what the title of this will be, but it will have something to do with the nautilus. They are amazing creatures. I am ashamed to say I have a 1/2 shell because I learned after buying it that they are over-fished.

Just now reading "Lives Like Loaded Guns" a bio of Emily Dickenson. The writing is sometimes densely poetic (though that makes a certain sense) but the story is incredible.

It's a Jungle Out There

More with the poppies.....these come out just a little later. The seeds for this one were sent to me by my (once upon a time) mail art chum Lisa and I sent her some of the seeds for the variety below:

 

What's really remarkable about collecting and planting seed from these flowers is the variety that creeps in. Last year a fringed double of this coral sort showed up but I forgot to plant what I collected from the pod. So perhaps next year.....

 

This photo gives more indication of how dense all these are, it really is a jungle with all the rain we've had. This one is poppy, rose campion and early cosmos. 

 

These are the wild flowered grasses that showed up under the lilacs and I've been babying them ever since. They have responded by seeding themselves in an area about 10 times as large as the original bit. Michael Pollan writes about this phenomena in "The Botany of Desire". He thinks the plants are controlling our behavior rather than the other way round. I've got an interest in science but only manage to read the best books of that kind. Check it out!
 
 
 

 

A Man Who Mistook his Wife for an Etching

....with apologies to Oliver Sacks and a plug for his book, THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT. If you're interested in the vagaries of the brain and how it creates illusion (or reality for that matter) then it's a very good read.

This is collage and chine colle, photo, book pages, a tiny piece of cloth and pattern paper. When I made this as well as the previous 2 entries I began with no idea in mind and let the papers fall where they may. It's a good place to start, even when I'm not "in the mood". The act of creating begets more creating, even if the individual piece goes down the drain. 

 

Geo-Arcania

If there was any doubt that Surrealism rules the way my collage comes together, this one should clear that up. I've always loved Magritte and Ernst's UNE SEMAINE DE BONTE or A WEEK OF KINDNESS (Dover Books publishes a very inexpensive reprint of that) and can contemplate those bizarre juxtapositions for hours. What amazes me is that the most banal elements recombined with altered size relationships can still perplex a visually sophisticated 21st century viewer.

The city in this is of ancient Rome and is lifted from a very old history book with copious and wonderful illustrations. The rest consists of color marker and cut-outs of animals, insects and the great seal of Ohio. 

 

Take this Trip

This fabulous way to fritter away time comes to me through Terry Garrett, mail-art pal extraordinaire. Click here and prepare to spend some time being amused and sometimes alarmed! 

The Other Half of Black and White

This blackbird gets around. Another (and the last) in the series of winter white collages, there are about 3 that did not come together so they could show up here later if they decide to be presentable. 

I'm excited, there are no exhibits coming up until 4/30! That means an extended period of making art and reading, hooray! Currently I'm reading STRAPLESS, the story of Amelie Gautreau and John Singer Sargent (he is SO 19th century but I dearly love his bravura brushwork). It's all about the scandal that ensued when Sargent painted Amelie in a gown with one of the straps off her shoulder. Wonderful read for art and history buffs as well as people who just like to hear someone dish on the rich and famous! The author is Deborah Davis.

 

2 More, Text and Titian

Two more of a total of 6 started at the collage party in Medina, OH. 

I'm getting excited about the opening of the 3rd annual Ohio Collage Society membership show next week on Friday. There are 4 entries already taken in and resting safely on the 3rd floor of the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center and the battle plan is drawn. If you're in NE Ohio and you want to have a good time with some phenomenal collage, stop in and see us! 

Currently reading "7 Days in the Art World" and wondering how it is my art world can be so different. Mostly that's due to 2 things: being in Ohio and not having a kazillion bucks. The money involved in the scenarios described in this book is positively obscene. But it's certainly worth a read and will make you thankful for smallish art scenes.

Pat's Book

Last year Pat Barker was one of the artist's who took part in an artist's collaborative project in which we made 6X4 works on the theme of Inspirations. At the end of Art in the Park this year she brought a book she had made to house all the contributions from the rest of us. So here are photos of Pat's book: