In the Name of Art

In the Style File

Seth Apter's blog, The Altered Page is featuring art with statements from artists about their work and I'm part of this week's mix:

 The Altered Page

This blog is a terrific resource for anyone who wants to browse the altered arts, collage and everything else, but be warned, you may find yourself spending a lot of time there!

And Now for Some Gwen.....

Earlier last month I made an art purchase at the Akron Art Museum's local artist's sale for Karen and I just can't keep it a secret! I'm so pleased with it! Instead of my art, Gwen's art......

The vinyl single is Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard, the whole thing makes me cheerful!

A Visit from Day of the Dead

The next theme up on the ATC exchange is Day of the Dead. Yesterday I threw caution to the wind and ignored  all the other art I had to do and started carving on EZcut. Dia de los Muertos is dear to my heart (check out my Michoacan trip on the right sidebar under categories if you're interested), but I've never really had an excuse to do any of my own work around the idea. Turns out my cartoon ladies in their acrobat poses and girly skirts are the perfect combination of goofiness and mortalilty.

To any of the participants in the exchange, this one won't go out, it's a first and an experiment, so it's not a spoiler.

Mail (Art) Call

I owe most of my artistic acumen to the years I spent "just fooling around" doing mailart in the late 80s, 90s and now the naughties, not only was it a life preserver during 2 jobs and a variety of stressful events, it taught everything I needed to know. Kind of like that big poster about Kindergarten. By the time I got around to doing art for shows, I knew what worked and what didn't. Most of my mailart pals have found other things to do but I still correspond with a handful and love the freedom of making art for a single viewer. Terry Garret is a newer mailart pal but his offerings are elaborate and beautiful and I thought I'd share his latest graceful contribution to my mailbox:

 

The quote in his little book is delightful in addition to the book being a tour de force, but you'll have to read it in pieces:

 

 

I'm trying to show you the end but the photo won't take. Try again.....

 

Zowee! My mailbox rocks! Thanks, Terry!
 

 
 
 

Spider Web in Red

This amazing work is by Nina Katchadourian and you can see the link here to her site. Joe Dick sent the link to me and I couldn't resist putting it up. Go there now......

 

Going Up

COLLAGE X 12 was in process yesterday and I was learning lessons in hanging. Again and again. Who knew that 60 inches at the mid-point could be so mathmatically challenging? Then again, it was all being done in my head. I needed a calculator. We still have to finish, there are over 100 pieces in the show and about 30 left to hang.

 

The staff at Summit ArtSpace will be happy to know there was a wee problem with the measuring tape and I managed to explode it. Actually, it broke before that happened. Joan Colbert was kind enough to document the whole experience......I'm bringing my camera when we go back to finish up, watch out Joan!
 

 

Happy Wiggles Back

I've decided the best way to make use of the journal pages is to paint (and draw) right over them. These characters are similar but goofier than the the quilted figures I did many moons ago on my thesis. They evolved in silk painting and now are just permutations of those. When I was in grade school I couldn't get enough of drawing "fashionable" ladies (women in jodpurs, go figure) so these are a reflection on that preoccupation, just sillier. I still find myself enchanted by fashion but another part of me just laughs at all the fashion hoops we jump through. So these girls are the embodiment of all that ambivilence, and they amuse me. I'm easily amused!

Out of My Hands.....

Do click on  this link, you won't be sorry and you'll want to go right out, buy a tripod and start dancing with a flashlight!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#88WVv1/abduzeedo.com/amazing-light-paintings/

Sterling in Pictures

I've been exploring image transfers for Gretchen Bierbaum and making a mess on my kitchen counter rubbing wet paper off the back of packing tape. The images of my father and his father are the result of that process. I was surprised that this hangs together as well as it does, given there is no strong emphasis.

Maple/Hawthorn Saga

Joan Colbert wondered why I hadn't told the whole story to the piece posted just after this post, so I'll tell and try to keep it short! Last fall I wanted wings for my collages, cicada to be precise. But finding a cicada wing is challenging, finding more than one almost impossible and it occurred to me that the wing part to a maple seed resembled a......WING! Since they fall in the spring I thought I'd have to wait until then to work with them. Voila! The un-named trees on the tree lawns (devil strip to you NE Ohioans) let loose with a zillion wingseeds in October! An arborist was at the house messing with a troublesome plum and I asked him what kind of maple was on those tree-lawns and he snorted "Those aren't maples, those are hawthorns!" Now fast forward to May. I decide to name my collage by the elements that are in it and name it "My 1 cent Hawthorn Baby" based entirely on my trust in arborists. Then Joan Colbert (who was a very accurate arborist in a previous life) writes up the titles for the show and says to me, "What kind of hawthorn seed is that?" I relate the above story and think, "Well, yeah, what kind of hawthorn seed is that?" I ask another arborist while buying plants and he says, "I've been an arborist for 25 years and I don't know of any tree like that!" Hmmmmmmm! Check the internet under maples and hawthorns. Nothing about my tree. Finally check a guide to trees. Jackpot! Its a Hedge Maple or English Field Maple. Email Joan with the news. She emails back with a story about the art critic pausing in front of Hawthorn Baby and exclaiming "Why those aren't hawthorn seeds, those are maple seeds. How curious!" You really have to know the kind of reviews this critic writes to appreciate why I bit my nails until the article came out. We are lucky to have her but sometimes her opinions are, well, hard-edged.Happy ending, she loved the show! And didn't mention the title. Thats it, end of saga!