PAPERGIRL

SAVE THE DATES: Join me for a unique lecture series of African American Traditions, at the Morris Museum...

2011-12-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

2012 LECTURE SERIES:

Photographer: O. Florian Jenkins

Celebrating the Origins of African American Art & Craft Traditions
In conjunction with ATA's 20th Anniversary Celebration, the Morris Museum will host the following lecture series, with
Artist and Educator: Rosalind Nzinga Nichol MA, BFA

Adjunct Professor of African American Traditions at Bloomfield College,
Bloomfield, New Jersey.

Free with admission to Museum
RSVP: Morris Museum | 6 Normandy Heights Road | Morristown, NJ 07960

Phone: 973.971.3718 | Fax: 973.538.0154 | E-mail:

Session 1 Saturday Feb 4, 2012, 1 - 2 pm:

CRAFT TRADITIONS: Survey of the African origins of African American art and craft traditions.

The rice industry and its fanners coiled baskets, shotgun houses, woven and appliqued textiles, metal and wood works, Africans brought more to American culture than their lovely dark skin. Recent growing scholarship over the past thirty years is stripping away layers of misconceptions of an unwritten past to reveal the brilliance of African American art and culture in the context of its African origins. Exploring these “Africanisms” are what some call an "alternate history." Come celebrate the legacy of these traditions as ATA celebrates its twentieth year.

Portrait by Joshua Johnson of
Grace Allison McCurdy and
Her Daughters, Mary Jane and
Letitia Grace, ca. 1804

Session 2 Saturday Feb 25, 2012, 1 - 2 pm:

FINE ARTS & ARTISTS: From early African American

Masters to the Harlem Renascence and mid twentieth century artists.

It was not until 1939 that the identity of the painter of elite 19th century Baltimoreans was brought to light by art historian and genealogist J. Hall Pleasants. The son of a white father and a black mother, Joshua Johnson was born into slavery around 1763 and freed in 1782... By the time 306 West 141st Street became the defining address of energy and creativity of the Harlem Renaissance, African American artists had been conducting a silent but very visual revolution for more than a century. This second session will survey some of the most noted artist of these eras, from Joshua Johnson through ATA's 2012 featured artist Norman Lewis.

Session 3 Thursday Mar 8th, 2012, 6:30 - 7:30 pm:

PANEL DISCUSSION: Collecting African American Art

with art adviser, appraiser and speaker HALIMA TAHA,

and artist representative, gallery owner, and guest curator TARIN FULLER

Halima Taha

Interested in starting an art collection but don't know how to start? Or just fine tuning the collection you already own. Bring your questions to an open forum panel discussion. A wonderful opportunity to hear art discussed from the artist, adviser/appraiser, and a gallery owner's point of view. Panelist will include: mixed media artist and educator Rosalind Nzinga Nichol, an artist working in various mediums and communities across the country for over forty years; adviser, appraiser and speaker Halima Taha, author of "Collecting African American Art Works on Paper and Canvas" (1998, Crown Publishers); and artist representative, Iandor Fine Arts Galley owner, and guest curator of the 20th Anniversary Exhibition Tarin Fuller, daughter of this upcoming year's featured artist celebrated Abstract Expressionist Norman Lewis (1909-1979). Today is the day to start building your own legacy by collecting arts and crafts to pass through the generations of your family, while supporting the ARTS community at the same time.

Learn More about Art In The Atrium and the upcoming Exhibition >

*Additional funding for this series by The Links Incorporated, and Craig & Pickett Esqs.

sNOWfLAKES....

2011-10-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Michelle holding my first attempt

For the past couple of months I have been working on a series of disc shape papers for an installation piece. My hope is that it will be part of Art in The Atrium's (ATA) 20th Anniversary Exhibit. Being held this coming January at the Morris Museum, in Morristown, New Jersey...

For months these large white disc have been floating in my head as a sort of "What if?" ...What if I poured pulp in a way that mimics the snowflakes I made as a child. What if, I could construct a pour mold that would allow me to make them as large or small as I wanted. ...What if, I used the raw silk thread gifted to me in Turkey this past summer at a Persian Rug School and Gallery.....

5'1/2" sheet hanging at a window with light passing threw

My first attempt turned out to be 4' in diameter. Once dried and assembled (see Michelle is holding it above). From there the sizes very from about 10" in diameter, to my largest one to date, about 5 1/2' (right, which I am currently beading with sequins).

I am excited about this work for many reasons. First because it is a good solid start to an idea I have had for awhile.... Also because, as I am figuring out the mechanics of the process, I see potential for further exploration... Most of all however, I am excited about the installation itself.

For years I have exhibited in the Atrium Show. New Jerseys oldest Exhibit featuring art by African Americans. ...Always there seems to be this unspoken, and sometimes spoken, pressure to produce "African American art" that resembles something you can attach to the genre. Meaning baring some visual connection to traditionally recognizable Black themes.

This year however the curators and I (I work on the Board of ATA) have been having a dialogue about the importance of highlighting the fact that the show is about art made by African American rather than "African American Art"

....Creating art that contains abstracted or non objective images is a struggle in any art community. Even more so for artists of African American descent. It is an age old struggle that began almost as soon as my African ancestors unwillingly touched North American shores. Social and political solidarity were a necessary part of survival and validation. Sometimes the only means of propelling forward an oppressed community.

"The struggle continues" I was told. ....I grew up with those words firmly planted in my head, and even if they weren't. I saw them affirmed daily in media and the streets around me of the 1960s-70s. So the question is, am I freer today than I was then?

ATA's featured artist for the 20th Anniversary show is Norman Lewis, one of America's most important artist of the 20th-century - who happened to be of African descent. Norman, like many artists in all cultures, started out painting portraits before finally finding his own voice in abstract expressionism... He struggled against the same demand that I struggle with today. Though more imperatively, since he created right in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement...


Persian Rug School in Kuşadası, Turkey

WHY? Am I creating this installation. Because. I am allowing myself the freedom to imagine. To dream. To celebrate the random order of nature which I find so fascinating. The ordered chaos of it all. But there is continuity there too. The bolt of silk threads given to me by the Turkish Gallery owner, is not much difference than the silk I sheared for myself last winter to create my FEMMA Series.... I can't believe traveling half way around the world a year later to gather more silk threads was a coincident...

Somehow my snowflakes are bringing me back full circle to the Golden Thread idea of the Femma Series, and a quote by American poet William Stafford, which says:

"There's a thread you follow [your entire life]. It goes among things that change. But it doesn't change... While you hold it you can't get lost...."

...What do I want you to experience when you view this work? I hope the mirrors will cause light to dance around you. I hope my small attempt at random order fills you with the kind of peace you get from watching the sun set or snowflakes fall. I hope most of all, you will just enjoy the forms as I do. For themselves. Not needing them to represent some tangible message....

Thanks Jan. You were right. It was just good to write about what I am doing..... ♥

ArtIn The Atrium, Inc. Presents
The 20th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBIT
CELEBRATINGOUR LEGACY

January 12 - March 12, 2012

Morris Museum

Opening Gala
Thursday, January 12, 2012
5:30 - 8:30 pm

Norman Lewis, Jazz Series untitled, 1947 mixed media

Ultimate Recycle....

2011-09-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

El Anatsui (born 1944), is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria. My new inspiration. He creates these amazing wall sculptures with discarded liquor bottle tops... Love the way they drape the wall.... There is some sort of dialogue here that really intrigues me, as I am thinking about how to suspend the giant snow flakes I am pouring in pulp and silk thread brought back from Turkey...

New Inspiration: STUDIO JENS PRAET

2011-06-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Established in 2007, studio Jens Praet is a design studio based in Panzano in Chianti, a small town near Firenze, Italy, run by Belgian designer Jens Praet. Jen's takes recycled paper to a entire new level...

"Shredding is supposed to be a last step into an informational abyss, where secrets are buried forever and trash is recycled into new forms. Instead, this series of reconstituted-paper furniture sets these page shreds up on display... Some of these Fossilized items by Jens Praet are made from white-page document sets while others come from a single magazine title with enough issues available from which to build a side table, bench, console or shelving unit..."

From my new favorite website on innovative design DORNOB

"Our biggest item from the Shredded Collection ever made!The Shredded Collection Table (Fast Company Edition) is made from 26 kg Fast Company magazine leftovers and clear resin..."

Jen's Website

" ...Mixed with clear resign, the limited-run objects are made in a mold then finished by hand. As needed, they are then topped with additional transparent polycarbonate to add structural rigidity or create a flat surface for everyday use"

....All I can say is hmmmmm....
if it's PAPER
it's good!

The Image of Black in Western Art

2011-04-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

Detail from "Prayerscape: Sister Friends, 2011"

For those who tried to read my first post, sorry about that. For some reason, the rest of the post got lost. So, here we go again!

...I have a bit of a secret....

I have become fascinated with the many shades of WHITE. To the extent that I started keeping a WHITE journal, and have begun working on my WHITE quilt made form old feed sacks.... What actually is the fascination? Not sure. Except it does have something to do with that first paper quilt I found in an apartment I rented once, and my Prayerscape series (image above). The idea of lovely black skin and beautiful white paper...Every since woman of color first begin to emerge from my mixed media paper....

So then image my joy when I clicked my way this morning to this new series of books on the Image of the Black in Western Art. WOW! Four volumes so far. Ten in total. Really beautiful imagery. Here is more about the work:

"In the 1960s, as a response to segregation in the United States, the influential art patron Dominique de Menil began a research project and photo archive called The Image of the Black in Western Art. Now, fifty years later, as the first American president of African American descent serves his historic term in office, her mission has been re-invigorated through the collaboration of Harvard University Press and the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research to present new editions of the coveted five original books, as well as an additional five volumes." (From Image in Black web site)

.... Must confess along with my obession for the color WHITE, my growing hunger for image of black people through history. And YES! I have already ordered fromt the series. I am interested to see how this will play out in my work....

More links
Louis Gates, Jr., talking about the evolution of the series on You Tube.
Image of the Black In Western Art
W.E.B. Dubois Institute

I AM.....

2011-04-21T03:15:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE to see YouTube trailer

I can not wait for this documentary to come to my city. OMG! The things that Tom Shadyac said, how they resonated in my soul... My goodness. His interview on Oprah's show yesterday was amazing!

I Am 2011- Click link to sign up when DVD is available on Amazon.
Read more about the Documentary HERE.

SPRING CLEANING: The Naked Binder...

2011-03-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

Trying to figure ways to get the clutter out, I came across this site called THE NAKED BINDER. Simply LOVE IT! Crisp clean binders made from post consumer recycled product.... Did I say I was in love!? Ever the recycler that I am wonders why no one thought of this product sooner... At any rate, I ordered binders for my studio, and now count the hours for my shipment to come.

Above right are plain binders that you can cover as you wish -- just think of the possibilities for collage / alter books! There are also various colors and surface covers, I also choose a linen covered binder like the one featured in Better Homes & Gardens Jan-2011 issue, which is how I discovered the company.

You can see learn more about Fritz James (CEO) and the company's other archival products via the following links:

NAKED BINDER PRODUCTS...

About Fritz and the company

Their Archival Product Line

(No, I am not a sells-man for the company. Just liked what I found and want to share with my friends in blogland :D).

Also available on the site is a blog . Found the following interesting article on recycled art: This Article is copied from Naked Binder blog. All images and text are their property:

Art for Friday. Re-imagining the world around you

June 19, 2009
Written By: Lefty

Tara Donavon is an amazing artist who uses found objects to create beautiful, ephemeral phenomena. Other people say: "For over a decade, American sculptor Tara Donovan has transformed huge volumes of everyday items into stunning works of phenomenal impact. Layered, piled, or clustered with an almost viral repetition, these products assume forms that both evoke natural systems and seem to defy the laws of nature."

While she is not recycling to make these, she is looking at things around her in a new way. Scotch tape, tooth picks,are all fodder for her art. Not to put too fine a point on this but looking at the world around you in new ways not only opens numerous possibilities, but makes your life a much more interesting place to be...

(Above images top: ceiling sculpture from Styrofoam cups; bottom: made from tooth picks.)

...FINALLY! Don't you feel just giddy with recycle ideas of your own? I confess I am feeling all paper-licious about now... So I started thumbing through " Playing with Books." A recent gift from a fellow artist. It's filled with imaginative paper projects... Just the ticket for the incurable paper-holic all ready to play! ..... Mmmmmmm dreaming of alter binders, organizing all my collage clippings....

Product Description

In these pages, Jason Thompson has curated an extensive and artistic range of both achievable upcycled crafts made from books and book pages and an amazing gallery that contains thought-provoking and beautiful works that transform books into art.

RALPH & ROSALIND ON LIVE WITH REGIS & KELLY!

2011-02-17T00:10:00.000-08:00

What an amazing week it has been! The staff at Live are beautiful, and Kelly and Regis are the best!They made us feel relaxed behind the scenes -- always. And the week long visit to the city as tourist was a lovely Valentine present in and of itself.... We stayed at the Plaza Athenee upper east side.... Enjoyed being driven around by Bermuda Limo .... Were treated to dinner at La Bernardin Restaurant AND the Broadway play Wicked... All of that just made this adventure very special.... We had no idea the best was yet to come. Watch!

Special thanks to our oldest daughter Rachelle, for writing such a lovely letter about us. That's how we ended up on the show. This week has been (is going to be) the adventure of a life time. ♥

Really enjoyed Wicked. Such an imaginative take on the Wizard of Oz story...

VOTE FOR US TO GO TO BORA BORA:
https://dadt.com/live/special/greatestlovestory/vote.html

Visions of Textiles Dancing in My Head...

2011-01-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

Leonore Tawney
The Bride Has Entered, 1982
Art Institute of Chicago

Lenore Tawney (May 10, 1907 – September 24, 2007) was an American artist who became an influential figure in the development of fiber art. Originally trained as a weaver, the above work was done later in her career, when she had abandoned traditional textile design and began to use fiber purely as an art form. The above piece is made from cotton, plain weave; painted with pigment and gold leaf; attached linen threads in grid pattern... I nearly cried when I saw it. It is that beautiful. Imagine my surprise when I Google her name and found she also began to make collages later in life...

Lenore's work is currently hanging in a smaller gallery at The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in an exhibit called Contemporary Fiber Art: A Selection from the Permanent Collection, which explores how fiber art has developed as an art form from the middle of the 20th century through today using examples from The Institutes vast collection of textiles. The exhibit is featured at the in conjunction with June Wayne's Narrative Tapestries: Tidal Waves, DNA, and the Cosmos - (November 3, 2010–February 7, 2011).

Photography was not allowed in the gallery, so I was not able get images of the amazing fiber artists shown. Like The Bride Has Entered, I was captivated by many of the pieces like the work of Marie-Hélène Guelton, Luba Krejce, and Robert Sailors... I came home inspired for some paper hangings I want to try. For me there is a real connection between textiles and paper. One which I am happy to continue to explore...

You can access AIC's amazing Department of Textiles, which contains more than 13,000 textiles and 66,000 sample swatches ranging from 300 B.C, by clicking HERE. Here also are a few pieces from the show...

PICTURED ABOVE:

1) Tawney in her South Street studio, New York City, working on Vespers, 1961. 2) Another shot of "The Bride Has Entered"; 3) "God of Dreaming," by Luba Krejce; and 4) "Red Doors," by Robert D Sailors.

Book Suggestion:

Lenore Tawney: Signs on the Wind: Postcard Collages

Noted weaver Lenore Tawny--now well into her 90s and still exhibiting her imaginative work--began creating postcard collages in the 1960s, sending them to friends and colleagues through the U.S. mail. A form of communication without specific messages, the cryptic notations were often enhanced by Tawney's handwriting. As Tawney explains the cards, "They were signs thrown to the wind." The selected postcard collages reveal the creative, mystical, and humorous side of the artist, giving the viewer an intimate glimpse into the personality of this most innovative woman.

The Personalities of Hands...

2010-11-18T05:31:00.000-08:00

About five years ago now, as I was struggling between continuing to work full time or give more time to my art. My dear friend Janet Taylor Pickett introduced me to photographer Bill Westheimer. I remember the day I visited his studio in the gorgeous carriage house of a mansion no longer standing in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, New Jersey. He was busy collecting images of the hands of people that use them for work (which I guess we all do in one way or another).... After he photographed my hand, he ask me to write a statement about what working with my hands means to me...

That day I came away affirmed in the knowledge that my work is NOW, and I had better get my voice heard while I still had opportunity to do so... The story is a bit longer and deeper than that, but the point is, lending my hand to this project more intimately connected me to the work of my hands. And now I am so pleased to let you know that Bill's amazing project is finally in book form, which also includes my hand and statement. Makes for an inspiring coffee table book. You can read more about it below, or access the link below to Amazon.

" Now available from Petey Pie Press: MANUAL: The Personalities of Hands is a book of portraits with a twist: personal stories and private secrets told through images of hands. Readers witness the diverse range of humanity through photographs and photograms of hands rather than traditional pictures of faces. The photographs also make up a fine art exhibition. Bill Westheimer has captured the hands of 150 people from diverse walks of life, including a priest, rock star, trapeze artist, mentalist and politician. 78 of the portraits appear in the 96 page full color book. The book dimensions are 9″h x 12″w x 5/8″t. Retail price $25." From Bill's website: http://billwest.com/books/manual-trade-edition/

BTW: That is Janet Taylor Pickett's hand on the cover - very appropriate I think!

Many blessings for this holiday season....

Also, please save the date if you are in the tri-state area, I will have art in show listed below. Some new paper quilts I am working on:

Art In The Atrium

19th ANNUAL EXHIBIT / SALE

Memories of Russell

January 28 - March 11, 2011

Opening Reception

Friday, January 28, 2011, 6 - 8 pm

Atrium Gallery
2nd. Floor thru 5th Floor
Admin & Records Bldg
10 Court Street
Morristown, NJ 07960

IN ALL THE WORLD I DREAM IN PAPER...

2010-10-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

...Yesterday I had the opportunity to host collage artist Nancy Ego Nikkal in my Collage Memory course at Bloomfield College... It was wonderful to see how she engaged the students in the magical possibilities of visual images. That's part of her gift really. Walking around the class holding up images as if auctioning off rare antiquities or treasures. It was impossible not to engage in acquiring, and thinking of new appropriations for photo parts. In the process every student ended up with an incredible collage...

After the students had all left, we talked about the importance of sticking with what you love. For us both in our own way it's PAPER, PAPER, and more PAPER... So imagine my joy this morning when I came upon this little video: "IN ALL THE WORLD I DREAM IN PAPER" by Petra Storr. Petra is a London based Art Director, whose work encompasses, costume, set and prop design and construction, for still photography and various industries. What is marvelous about her work is that she uses paper so lavishously in her work...

Finally, for my birthday last week dear friend Jan gave me the book " Playing With Books: The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing, and Reimagining the Book". A subduction in paper if there ever was one. I particularly mesmerized by the last chapter: "Reimaging the Book" which is a gallery of works that leap paper from the page into a wonderland of construction and form...

From commercial packaging and Papier-mâché sculpture, to paper making and mixed media paper, paper has been calling me all of my life. No love could be this strong without being REAL and SIGNIFICANT. Can hardly wait to see what comes next with my work....

PROCESS: Collage for the Soul...

2010-09-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

...Have been teaching collage workshop classes for two weeks now, at Bloomfield College and the Montclair Art Museum... Deeper I head into the subject, the deeper my own personal exploration with papermaking and the possibility of combining the two mediums becomes.

I have added a special page of resources to this blog called "Collage Workshop" for students from both course. But of course I wish to share the info with all who are interested. The page contains most of my ever growing list of resources and favorite artists on the subject. For example: just now I am waiting for two books on the subject: Creative Wildfire: An Introduction to Art Journaling - Basics and Beyond, by L.K. Ludwing, and Collage : A New Approach, by Jonathan Talbot, which covers a variety of mounting techniques.

In addition to the books listed above and the ones listed on the "Collage Workshop" page, I have been inspired by Art Heals, How Creativity Cures the Soul, by Shaun McNiff, and Masters: Collage: Major Works by Leading Artists, by Lark Books and edited by Juror Randel Plowman. The latter of which introduced me to the works of Cecil Talbot and James Michael Starr. Both of whom I find a real kinship with, as much as with the work of Nancy Egol Nikkal, and blogger friends Leslie Avon Miller and Donna Watson.

Like papermaking, collage is a very approachable intuitive amd personal process... Teaching it has increased my own desire to unearth some of those valuable bits of papers I have been hording around the studio and putting the to work! Trying some of the new process techniques I have been reading about.

The above art:

Morning Song, for Sue: 2009,
Handmade Paper/Collage/Acrylic on Canvas 36”H X 48” W

I created especially for my sister Sue, who has inspired me the past few years

with determination to not let debilitating pain and ongoing health issues dampen her spirit. She is a morning song all unto herself!

TIME TO FOCUS....

2010-08-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

...Just found this book and this resource via my friend Leslie Avon Miller, at Create Your Best Life Coaching (see Coaching side bar under "Blog Roll"), who always has great nuggets of inspiration to share, I might add ... Anyway, felt Life is a Verb, really worth sharing... won't even begin to explain WHY the concept of this book has touched me so much at this juncture of my life...

Just check it out and see if it's for you too!

Why 37 days? from Patti Digh on Vimeo.

Here also is a link to Patti's blog: 37 DAYS (Reviews say that most of the essays in the book are available via the blog, in case you just want to check it out first like I plan...

Photographer: FRANK JACKSON

2010-07-23T04:34:00.000-07:00

...The Bible says there is a season for everything under the sun. Contemporary idiom says that people come into your life for reasons and seasons.... If that's so then I am very glad to have found the work of Frank Jackson again after all these years.

...Sunday morning I sat searching for a profile picture for facebook, when I came across the above image. It was taken by Frank Jackson twenty years ago when we worked together on a project for UCLA Print Communications. I was art directing the shoot, when unbeknownst to me, Frank happened to capture this image of me coming to work on location at Marina Del Rey (Los Angeles). Something about this shot always appealed to me. The lower vantage point of the photographer erasing all identifying landmarks, and the fact that the boat launch behind me is so abstracted it leaves room for the viewer's own interpretation....

Ethereal. That is what I love about Frank's work. That ability to create images that while subject specific remain content vague. Given this juncture of my own work, where I am focused on leaving room for one's own conception... It was a nice reminder to see that my love of this particular quality has always been with me... Perhaps only another artist or someone who appreciates art can understand how important it is to have this kind of affirmation of authentic voice. Finding true self in the work I strive to create. Rather than creating work just because I think it will have mass appeal or sale. -- Let's face it, at the end of the day I do want others to appreciate what I do, and buy what I do, so I am afforded the opportunity to make more art. Yet financial success (whatever that means individually) must never come at the expense of sacrificing truth.

I did get in touch with Frank via Google, after all these years. He sent these images, and also the following links. Have a look to see some of his current work. Just as consistently beautiful as ever.

HIS WEBSITES:

http://www.fotographz.com/

http://www.lightandletters.com/

WBGO EXHIBIT...

2010-05-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

Lyricism: The quality or state of

being melodious. An intense outpouring

of exuberant expressive emotion...

...I am first and foremost a mixed media artist. Employing multiple mediums as I work. When I fell in love with the spiritual quality of making paper, then papermaking became the central construct of all that interest me. So that by now my work is probably most akin to painting compositions made of pulp and textiles. The body of work that is showing at the WBGO Gallery entitled "Lyricism" seems very appropriate for that space, because it is all about the celebration of movement, and the joy I feel when I create. It is melodious. Sometimes, a dance even when I'm in "the zone." Pulp and lace fly through the air as all the "What ifs?" pour out and land on the composing frame. In the end I am generally satisfied that the movement communicates the feeling.

Fabric like paper is about memory and history... The DNA of all those who have touched it are present. My intent is always to leave enough room in my compositions for your own interpretation. After all paper, like us, is organic and the things that touch us don't always have to be concrete or verbal.

I hope you will have the opportunity to attend the opening reception: Thursday, June 3, 2010 6-8 pm:

Lyricism - the art of Rosalind Nzinga Nichol
WBGO ART GALLERY / May 24, - July 30, 2010
open M-F 9 -5
54 Park Place, Newark, NJ 07102

Image show above (from the show): "Essentia" 2010
Mixed Media pulp painted Paper with antique lace inclusions

Hunt Slonem...

2010-04-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

...Mentors don't necessarily have to be people you know, nor even people who are alive for that matter. This morning I was blog surfing and came across Sophie Munn's article about Hunt Slonem... I have loved his work for years, I have to admit, without having any idea who he is. The above painting baring proof. Completed in 2008, it's called "Homage" which is a nod to both Matisse and Slonem (note the birds behind the figure' right shoulder).... So Sophie's post made me dig a bit. What is it about Slonem's work that touches me so deeply?...

As I told a fellow artist at Sunday's opening of Visual Alchemy -- which is wonderful exhibit - I might add (Janet Taylor Pickett did an amazing job curating, and seamlessly stitching together a diverse group for the show). Most artist create from an emotional level, but for the work to progress, there has to be an internal dialogue about the WHY? of it all. So what does a mixed media paper maker have to do with a guy who paints birds? Plenty. Rhythm. Texture. Heart. His passion is uninhibited. In my own quiet way -- I think I am the same. Inspiration comes in all sizes... (Above right: Lories, 2009, Oil/Canvas 93x133 by Hunt Slonem)

There is a book out called "Pleasure Palaces: The Art and Homes of Hunt Slonem". Can't wait to read the bio, yes -- it's already on order!

If you are interested in Hunt Slonem's work, here are a few interesting links I found:
Sophie's Post
A video interview from 2008 Sunday Morning
Hunt Slonem and the "Blue Lincoln"
His Website

"Roadway in the Wilderness"

2010-04-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

...Can I say I am pleased, happy in fact with the route my new work is taking. This mixed media paper. It is going places I never imagined paper could go! Just now the possibilities seem endless.... like a train of ideas resting in my head. My process has become a sort of dance with the Creator. A real spiritual place of comfort and restoration. Of peace, and joy. The above work (my very latest) is called "Roadway in the Wilderness." It holds a very personal kinship for me with how God is able to surprise us with joy in the midst of great struggle as in Isaiah 43:18-19. When, through the prophet Isaiah, God spoke comfort and assurance to Israel...

"Roadway in the Wilderness" is a celebration of joy. So full of energy and vibrant, the photo does not do this work justice. You'll just have to come see it in real time if you can. It will be part of my work at the upcoming show which will be at the Pierro Gallery. (See details right).

Link, Link Link...

2010-03-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

...Two days ago a woman pointed out to me the ills of our "electro poluted society." I listen intently --of course... But then something happens like today, and I say OK -- I will just have to cut out a few more cell phone calls and TV shows, because surf the net I must. Traveling to the far reaching ends of the earth for new sources of information and inspiration. Today I discovered just such a site in Dieter Freyer. A world wide resource for all things pretaining to handmade paper...
I love how they discribe the data base project, which started as a one page website in 1998 and now contains some 618 links. They say:

"Despite an almost endless variety of machinemade papers, in all structures, colours and weights, handmade paper still has its charm in our days. The search for something special has drawn attention to handmade paper. Keeping in hand a sheet of handmade paper - the result of craftsman's skill - one may wish to recall the origins and history of this craft and technique.

Using the most modern medium - the paperless World Wide Web - for retrieving informations on a two thousand years old craft, a lot of interesting websites on paper history, historic paper mills, paper museums and handmade paper in general can be found...."

Categories include: dictionaries, glossaries; histories, instructions, Museums - of course, organizations, producers, workshops -- even watermarks. Created by Dieter Freyer, a photographer and watercolorist living in Vienna, Austria, he is a man after my own heart... What can I say but link, link, link! Thanks Dieter...

Click here to > HAVE A LOOK!

ABOVE IMAGE: "Destined Hearts" Commissioned Bridal Journal Cover 2009

RESOLUTION....

2010-03-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

Back to back inspiration...

Went to the Montclair Art Museum (MAM)Thursday night to see artist Nick Cave. An American fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist. Nick is best known for his Soundsuits: wearable fabric sculptures that are bright, whimsical, and other-worldly. He also trained as a dancer with Alvin Ailey. He resides in Chicago and is director of the graduate fashion program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Recycling remnants for his work from thrift shops -- you know he is a man after my own heart. What really inspires me most about his work is his desire to keep it completely intuitive. He said his work is to remain open to new ideas, and to not over think them. Maintaining a stress free environment is also an important element of that process. He follows the flow without trying to analysis where it came from -- or, more importantly -- where it's going. The results are amazing. Unique. Inspiring. Unconventional. Completely imaginative...
The other shot in the arm came yesterday. Back at MAM (an institution I am very pleased to be associated with I might add), I went to view "Who Does She Thing She Is" (Available on Amazon.com). A riveting documentary by Academy Award-winning producer Pamela Tanner Boll (Born Into Brothels), which features five women who navigate some of the most problematic intersections of our time: parenting and creativity, partnering and independence, and economics to create their art. Through their lives Tanner Boll explores what it means to nurture children and family, and still keep the creative fire burning within. The film ultimately explores how women went from ancient muse to contemporary second class artists. Really an important film for all women artist to see....

If in fact we end up where we need to be at the moments we need to be there, then I am affirmed. At peace with my course. I left both events thinking of my own work, with the resolute conviction to celebrate who I am as an artist, and not to impede where it is heading....

IMAGE RIGHT: At Play 2008,
Study: Mixed media papers w/vintage lace,
5"W x 7" H. Collected

THE GOLDEN THREAD

2010-03-08T04:26:00.000-08:00

I grew up watching my Grandmother recycle – everything! Nothing in our house was ever wasted...
With this current series of work I began to remember her, and her surgeon's skill for dissecting old garments. First, off came the buttons. Then any interesting adornment. Finally, out came the thread. Every bit it took to construct the garment.... I don't know how she managed but there would be at the end a neat pile of it. Strong. Relatively unbroken. Ready for reuse. Perhaps even with the same fabric it would show up again as a pillow cushion -- or even kitchen curtain trim. An unknown health issue left my Grandmother handicapped as a young woman, yet I never heard her lament her fate. Quiet and self assured, she taught me how to use color, unbridle my imagination, and to be courageous and independent... American poet William Stafford says: "There's a thread you follow [your entire life]. It goes among things that change. But it doesn't change... While you hold it you can't get lost...."

In January, I discovered Anne Bethel Spencer, a Harlem Renaissance poet. Anne was the first African-American to have her poetry included in the Norton Anthology of American Poetry. Also an activist for equality and educational opportunities for all, she hosted such dignitaries as Langston Hughes, Marian Anderson, George Washington Carver, Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., James Weldon Johnson, and W. E. B. Du Bois in her home, and her now famous garden.

The above image is called Edankraal: Anne's Garden. It celebrates Anne and the pleasure -- even safety -- she found in her beloved garden sanctuary called Edankraal (combining the first names of her husband Ed and her own in a pun on "Eden" and grafting in the South African term Kraal or dwelling). For over fifty years she wrote there every afternoon in the small cottage Ed built for her. It was the place she made sense of and peace with the world that brewed around her.

....I look at the string of consciousness that has lead me to this point in my work and smile. I think my Grandmother would approve...

To learn more about Edankraal and how to tour the house and gardens click here.

IMAGES, Top: Edankraal: Anne's Garden 2010;

Mixed Media Handmade Raw Silk / Abaca Paper, embedded with textiles / threads, antique lace, and acrylic paint. approx. 18"W X 32"H (Will be on view at: Visual Alchemy -- see details below in "Exhibits featuring my art" section).
Above left: A young Anne Bethel Spenser.

Left: My maternal grandmother Esther Marion Webster.

PROCESS...

2010-02-22T05:59:00.000-08:00

Femina I: LANDSCAPE
Abaca and Raw Silk with raw silk and antique lace inclusions 18"w X 35"h

For months I have been sowing seed. Donating time and talent to the organizations I volunteer for/and or sit on the board of. I believe firmly in Luke 6:38. That with the quantity you give it will, in kind, be given back to you in more abundance...(my paraphrase). That is not why I volunteer, however I have learned this to be a byproduct of the process. Still I am amazed at the abundance coming back to me...

Last week I spotted some lovely gold raw silk in the fabric bins in my studio and knew it had to be made into paper. (Below are images of the process it took to take the silk from fabric to pulp, that produced the above sheet). My harvest is coming forth a plentiful. The combination of pulp, strips of the fabric, and threads that happened along the way, are creating some amazing compositions. The thing I discovered above all else is that the threads of silk are light and delicate and submit themselves freely to movement like no other threads I have used. Even though thinner, fine thread from a spool cannot compete. The silk threads fly through air with grace and gentleness. Do I sound smitten -- I am! My head is a flutter with ideas...

You can see more of these sheets (a series of studies the feminine form) at my upcoming exhibit: "Visual Alchemy" (see details below). Hope you can stop by...

UNCLE TOM...

2010-02-21T05:51:00.000-08:00

Working on a series of ethereal sheets of paper based on the feminine form (more about those later) for an upcoming exhibit, I paused to read "Tom's Journal" a companion piece for my work: "Uncle Tom Revisited," a paper quilt which will also hang in the same show....

I read Uncle Tom's Cabin a few years ago, for the very first time. All I could see as I read was the assault on the family. The aftermath of which we are yet living out... I began the quilt and journal as I grieved my way through the book, my way of giving voice to characters who had no ample opportunity to speak for themselves.

Just as powerful as when I first wrote the journal, I began to cry at the end. Once again realizing that six generations removed from slavery, I, we, owe a massive debt to all those souls on whom shoulders we stand.

Certainly the most misunderstood character of all is Uncle Tom. Growing up those two words always meant "trader" to me. A weak spineless person who was filled with self loathing and could not be trusted. When in reality the namesake for the term was completely opposite. Harriet Beecher Stove's Tom was a man of immense conviction and courage. Who actually sacrificed his own life for family and community.... Isn't it funny how things get twisted along the way.

When Abraham Lincoln met Mrs. Stowe he said, "So you are the woman responsible for the Civil War!" To this Mrs. Stowe replied: " I could not control the story; it wrote itself!" Somehow my art became attached to that string of consciousness, to the extent that, once I immersed myself into the book and the work -- it lead me.

Visual Alchemy (April 25 - June 6, 2010, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ) is a show of eight African-American Artists, and how the hand and the heart are connected to the spirit. I am very pleased that the curator and my friend Janet Taylor Pickett is including Uncle Tom Revisited along with some of my current work into the exhibit. Please stop by and visit if you have opportunity. I believe it will be worth the trip.

DETAILS:

Exhibition - Visual Alchemy
April 25 - June 6, 2010
Pierro Gallery
Baird Center • 5 Mead Street
South Orange, NJ 07079
973.378.7754
http://www.pierrogallery.org/
pierrogallery@southorange.org

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Revisited 2004
Handmade Paper Quilt mounted on Canvas on heavy stretchers 48” square
See the quilt on my website: http://www.teaandwings.com/gallery/UncleTomsCabin.htm

THE ORDINARY...

2010-01-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

Above is an image of some of my new work: "Mama's Day" (click the image to see larger view) ....it reminds me of childhood and how busy my mother's life was as a working mother...
Still she always manged to make everyday things seem special and creative.... She and my Grandmother used their hands to make things, build things, repair thing, improvising for what we could not afford with other things. I think that's why anything crafted by hand appeals to me. It is part of a sacred history stored in my heart that nurtures me... I don't think people today create enough with their hands, and that's why there is so much frustration in the world. Below is a reading that sums up, for me, the importance of working with your hands...

From"Plain and Simple"

By author Sue Bender, who writes:

enturing into a seemingly timeless world,

a landscape of immense inner quiet,

I spent five summers living and working with Amish families. No one rushed. Each task was done with care. There was no hurrying to get to the "important things." For the Amish, it was all important. Five minutes in the early morning and five minutes in the evening were devoted to prayer. They spent the rest of the day living their beliefs. Their life was all one piece. It was all sacred - and all ordinary...

The above work:

"Mama's Day" 2010, Mixed Media Handmade Paper,

approximately 30"w x 36"h
_____

On view at:
Art In The Atrium 18th Annual Exhibit (click here for details)
January 29 - March 18, 2010
Atrium Gallery
2nd. Floor thru 5th Floor
Admin &Records Bldg
10 Court Street
Morristown, NJ 07960

OUTSIDE THE BOX: Moonwalk II

2010-01-10T03:38:00.000-08:00

I made three sheets of the above paper with pigmented abaca, a dash of cotton, and some old French linen dish towels given to me by a friend...
First by laying an extra thin base sheet into a pour mold. I then used a turkey baster to drip over that sheet in patterned motions with red pigmented abaca - and some other stuff... Laying in inclusions of vintage lace and metallic threads as I went... (click photo to see larger image)

...Think I subconsciously dedicated the sheets to MJ too. The process felt just as exciting for me as the first time I watched him moonwalk... Remember thinking then that there were no bounds on his talent. My sheets too, so light and airy, almost like feathers... hold endless possibilities. The dripping process took a bit of time, but very therapeutic.

So my new year goal:

Is to live and work OUTSIDE THE BOX -- To make it Personal, Creative, Abundant, Joyous, Faith-filled, Intelligent, Authentic, and most of all Amazing in real time....

Image: Moonwalk II, Original sheet sizes: 19”x35”
Samples of this paper were shared in the 2009 Friends of Dard Hunter Keepsake

POWER OF THE FOLD...

2010-01-03T06:21:00.000-08:00

Last week I finally got to see " Between the Folds" shown on Independent Lens (PBS). Much more that I could have ever imagined, Between the Folds chronicles the stories of ten fine artists and theoretical scientists who have abandoned careers and scoffed at hard–earned graduate degrees—all to forge unconventional lives as modern–day paperfolders."

The simplicity of origami is that it allows everyone the opportunity to create their own interpretation of the world we all share -- through paper. An art form that is not only revolutionizing contemporary art as newer generations of practitioners redefine and exceed traditional perimeters. Mathematicians like Erik Demaine, associate professor of MIT, are also using computer based models of origami to study how to save lives.

It all has to do with custom designed protein folding. In fact, I learned through the film, the entire universe is about folding. Everything in creation is continually folding into itself as it metamorphoses. Erik says proteins folds into one shape (like a spiral staircase). When proteins fold the wrong way diseases like Alzheimer and AIDS are caused. The folding process is something that happens slowly over time. Even if scientist were to watch the process in a clinical setting the folds would not occur properly. In other words, there currently no way to study the process naturally outside the body. So, the current premise is, that if they can create computer generated mathematical models of how proteins can fold. Scientist could then begin to design synthetic proteins useful in creating drugs to fight or eliminate the disease without binding to the human host and causing additional problems....

Between the Folds has won several awards and is being called "Filmmaking at its most wondrous. ... breathtaking." . . . "A riveting feast for the eye and mind" . . . "Mesmerizingly beautiful" . . . "Exhilarating" . . .

Director Vanessa Gould says: "At its heart, Between the Folds is a film about potential. The potential of an uncut paper square. The potential of a wild scientific idea. The potential to see things differently..." ...That's exactly how I came away from the viewing. ...Feeling like the only limits on my art are the ones I place there myself.

I believe the free public showings have concluded, however the DVD is for sell on the Between the Folds website and through Amazon beginning January 5, 2010. For this papergirl's money -- It's a keeper: inspiring ideas, amazing imagery, motivation to push beyond perceived barriers, paper paper paper -- well worth adding to your library.

Director, Producer Vanessa Gould is also a pianist and artist... Beautiful Job Vanessa! Below is a list of more links about the film and how to purchase it.

Links (cut and past into internet address window):

Between The Fold Website: http://www.greenfusefilms.com/index.html

List of Artist and Scientists featured in the film: http://www.greenfusefilms.com/artists.html

Article on Protein Folding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_folding

Purchase DVD from Green Fuse Films: http://www.greenfusefilms.com/store.html

All images of work shown borrowed from http://www.greenfusefilms.com/index.html are: 1) work of Chris Palm; 2) Paul Jackson; 3) Erik Demain at chalk board by his father Martin Demain; and works of: 4) Dinh Giang (from his website); and 5) Robert Lang.

MOTHER TREE

2009-12-29T02:44:00.000-08:00

Fellow paper maker and friend Helen Hiebert's Mother Tree Project is now taking shape. Above is a photo of the 1/4" scale model of the plan...
Scheduled to be exhibited in Portland (Oregon) Building in February 2010, the project is being formed with crocheted strands being sent to Helen by multiple participants... Of her project she explains:

"" The three roots are each made of three strands of cotton – representing the three generations that I currently inhabit – daughter, mother and grandmother. The roots are each 20 feet long, totalling 60 feet - one for each year of life so far. There are glitches in the stitches, purposefully left as imperfections – representing the bumps and missteps along the road of life."

You can read more about the project and still get involved at:
http://mothertreeproject.blogspot.com/

OPEN TO CHANGE...

2009-12-24T03:21:00.000-08:00

Shown above: "Motherland" My mixed media paper quilt

in homage to our 44th US President, Barack Hussein Obama

Embarking on a profound holiday season for many personal reasons... Got this e-mail today from The International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artist (IAPMA) one of the organizations I belong to, and thought it was worth sharing....

we must leave ourselves open to change,
and allow ourselves some wiggle room,
a certain tolerance.
the denominations must also be at the ready
to accommodate, to adapt, to be flexible
if they want to remain a symbol of hope.
we must maintain a certain receptiveness
to those things in life which come along and
derail the plans we thought we had.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

the IAPMA Committee

www.iapma.info

“A Quiet Warrior of Her Art”

2009-12-24T02:07:00.001-08:00

You Are Never TOO OLD...

"After six decades of very private painting, [Carmen] Herrera sold her first artwork five years ago, at 89. Now, at a small ceremony in her honor, she was basking in the realization that her career had finally, undeniably, taken off. As cameras flashed, she extended long, Giacomettiesque fingers to accept an art foundation’s lifetime achievement award from the director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis... In in England, The Observer of London called Ms. Herrera the discovery of the decade, asking, “How can we have missed these beautiful compositions?” "

Not that you need put a price tag on what brings you joy, but Carmen Herrera's work now sells upwards between the 30,000 and 40,000 range, and is collected in museums across the country.... Read more about her amazing journey to success by clicking the link below:

By DEBORAH SONTAG Published: New York Times Sunday, December 19, 2009, Art & Design Section. Photos by: Todd Heisler

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/12/19/arts/20091220HERRERA_index.html

Origin of Paper in China

2009-12-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

...Traveled to Williamsburg in Brooklyn last night to the opening reception of "The Origins of Paper in China", the second exhibit on the subject at the International Paper Museum. Organized by Elaine Koretsky with help from her daughter Donna Koretsky owner of Carriage House Papers which houses the museum, it is the place I buy most of my papermaking supplies.

Donna and her mother Elaine are two people amazing people. They have now spent more than thirty years teaching, documenting, leading study and field trips to remote villages to learn papermaking in the context of the communities that use the practice to sustain life. Over the years the two have amassed an enormous collection of Chinese handmade papers and unusual artifacts pertaining to how papermaking was invented in China and developed through the centuries, and still exists.

Elaine has assembled a lovely small catalog to accompany the exhibit which featured approximately 20 paper samples tipped in. A real keepsake, well worth the $30 purchase price... Carriage House is a great resource for additional books, dvds, samples, and supplies for papermaking.... Much too much to mention here. If you get a chance to view the exhibit, I promise you will not be disappointed. It is well worth the journey.

The Origin of Paper in China
December 13 through June 6, 2010
International Paper Museum

31 Grand Street (corner of Kent Ave)

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Museum hours on Thursdays, 2-6 p.m.

For additional info visit: Carriage House Papers: http://carriagehousepaper.com/
(address around the corner from the Museum at: 245 Kent Avenue) USA • tel/fax: 718-599-PULP (7857) or 800-669-8781 • email:info@carriagehousepaper.com

FORTUNY

2009-12-14T06:19:00.001-08:00

"There is no past or future in art"

-- Pablo Piscasso

"How much 'time' has passed between a Cycladic fertility symbol, a fabric designed by Mariano Funtuny and a mirror by Anish Kapoor? While museums and exhibits increasingly direct their focus on particular periods, styles or artists, we are living in a global society, surrounded by timeless ideas and objects. Artempo aims to explore the universal, timeless language of art and examines the relationship between art, time and the power of display."1

...A friend gifted me a copy of the book "Mariano Fortuny" yesterday. Serendipity... providence... destiny.... I think a bit of all that. I was intrigued by the father, the son, and the relationship of one's impact on the other... And like many of my internet "bunny trails," it lead me to ARTEMPO, an exhibit that ended two years ago, at the Palazzo Fortuny Museum....

Have a look: http://www.artempo.eu/menu_en/exhibition_en.html

Also found a few catalogues from the exhibit on Amazon.com.

Product Description

As Albert Einstein said, "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science." This delightful, surprising and tactile exhibition catalogue examines the relationship between nature and the man-made world, reevaluating of our perceptions of reality, of how we read information, meaning and poetry in the physical world around us. Alongside an assortment of historical art objects from different periods and cultures, this volume features work by an assortment of international artists including Marina Abramovic, Antonin Artaud, Francis Bacon, Hans Bellmer, Michael Borremans, Louise Bourgeois, Andre Breton, Cai Guo-Qiang, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Marlene Dumas, Fischli & Weiss, Lucio Fontana, Alberto Giacometti, Anish Kapoor, On Kawara, William Kentridge, Yves Klein, Man Ray, Piero Manzoni, Gordon Matta-Clark, Pablo Picasso, Robert Raushenberg, Medardo Rosso, Richard Serra, James Turrell, Andy Warhol and many more.2

1 From Artempo home page.

2 From Amazon.com product description of catalogue

Colors of the Night

2009-12-13T05:16:00.000-08:00

“It often seems to me that the night is much more alive
and richly colored than the day."

-- Vincent Van Gogh,

September 8, 1888

Last year, I had the delicious opportunity, along with a small group from Montclair, New Jersey’s art community, to have a private showing at the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) exhibit on “Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night.” We were lead through the exhibit by its curator Joachim Pissarro, who is an Adjunct Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at MoMA, as well as, Bershad Professor of Art History and Director of the Hunter College Art Galleries. At first glance you may think this show is perhaps small and, as one viewer seems to think, suspicious in it’s intent. He writes:

…The central theme of the show is a bit contrived. It seems to be organized around a few comments Van Gogh made to his brother Theo (the exhibit includes multiple letters the artist wrote to his closest sibling) about effectively capturing the beauty of the night sky through artistic method. Beyond the two Starry Night works, the remaining pieces displayed are less on-point with regard to the general them … (Borrowed from the customer review section at Amazon.com on the page for the catalogue: “Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night”)

Unfortunately that reviewer did not have the benefit of Joachim Pissarro’s skillful eye to guide him. If he had he would have seen that each work was specifically selected and hung to build into a most moving essay on the study of night by light.

Once we all gathered into the exhibit space Joachim explained his approach to hanging the show. Not necessarily in chronological order, the first gallery contains a survey of Van Gogh’s career from start to finish. Opening with sketches he made while still an itinerant preacher simply making visual notes from a café table of what he sees around him. From there the curatorial introduction sifts through years of Van Gogh’s work to show how his passion for capturing subdued light began indoors, and then is transformed as he moves outdoors to study. Emphasizing the effects of the setting sun on the horizon line and subject matter.

Joachim’s own passion for the element of discovery is apparent as we floated into the second gallery, where Van Gogh’s track from the Netherlands, where he was born, explodes into his later landscapes of France. There we saw canvases emboldened with colors that become alive in the imaginations of a yellow sky and a rainbow of brush strokes shooting out from subjects seated at a blazing fireplace … I was lost somewhere inside Van Gogh’s head absorbed in lavish texture created by generous mounds of paint.

The stage set we rounded the barrier into the third gallery to see the first "Starry Night Over the Rhone." On the opposite wall hangs "The Night Café" (both shown above). It is interesting, Joachim points out, that both paintings contain the same color palette applied in an opposite manor. Where bright lime green dominates The Night Café it is used sparingly to represent the only source of light in The Starry Night over the Rhone. We see in this gallery too "The Dance Hall in Arles." Again same radical palette of navy red and lime green. This time shades of lime illuminate the people themselves as they crowd the café.

Joachim talked about his research process for the exhibit, thinking it would take him about six months. What he found instead however, was a much broader subject matter that included art, poetry and literature. The idea of night itself evokes a certain sensuality and mystery – even danger that has drawn the attention of countless writers and artist for centuries. The curator said he found himself in a study that actually took two years to complete. Even then he admitted to us, he had not exhausted his resources. Van Gogh was a voracious reader, fluent in Dutch, German, English and French. “His vast literary knowledge fed his artistic imagination; many of these texts describe the spiritual and poetic character of the twilight and night hours that [he] sought to capture in his paintings.”(1) Some of those resources are also on display in a small room off the last gallery…

The forth gallery: By now we are all more sensitive to the elusive twilight Van Gogh sought to show us. Almost anxiously I waited to enter the final gallery. For years I have seen images of "The Starry Night." I confess secretly, it is not one of my favorite paintings. Now however armed with Joachim’s poignant visual essay I am certain I will see it with new eyes. I was not disappointed. It was magical. Lyrical movement of rotating brush strokes that danced across the canvas… For a little while I took flight with them fascinated by the vivid imagination that had created them. Joachim points out that no where in the South of France does a church exist with a tall steeple like the one in the painting, and for the first time I realize that Van Gogh has made us to see his impression of what the night feels like to him…

The entire exhibit can be viewed on line at MoMa’s website: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/exhibitions.php?id=5634 (A side note: New York’s Modern Museum of Art was founded in 1929 as the first of its kind in the world. You can read more about that history at: http://www.moma.org/about_moma/history/index.html

Also, I found the following website, which claims to be a complete resource of Van Gogh’s art and writings: http://www.vggallery.com/

(1) Exert from the exhibit on-line Literary Reference page: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/vangoghnight/flashsite/index.html

MY ART: Exploring Meaning

2009-12-13T05:08:00.000-08:00

Tarin Fuller, former gallery owner, collector and friend. Is the daughter of Norman Lewis, who was an important twentieth century Abstract-Expressionist. She is also someone whose opinion I value. ...We gathered this past summer for my weekly papermaking open studios, when suddenly… the heavens opened and poured a heavy rain for more than an hour. Before we knew what happened water was pouring into my basement level studio from windows and the door… Naturally we stopped working, and several of us scrambled to clean up the mess.

In the end, after everyone else had gone and things were quiet, Tarin and I sat in my upstairs sitting room where “Fan Dance” (my other blog's masthead) hangs, to talk about my work as an artist. In the midst of some very insightful suggestions, she challenged me to explain the WHY? of my work: Why vintage/antique lace, why the fascination with embroidery hand work, what is my connection to the Victorian era, to slavery, to history…? And WHY, pray tell, does everything hinge on PAPER!?

The paper part is easy... It belongs to my soul. From a child I have collected it. Admired it. Bought commerical products just to own a special piece of it. ...In my mid twenties, I moved into an appartment where a child's paper quilt had been left. Sixteen squares of all white paper with simple shapes cut into the center of each one, and white paper behind to give depth. All taped together with a paper cut fringe on the bottom it was hanging on the wall when I moved in. Was it left for ME? Or just a forgotten treasure? Which ever the case I kept that light airy quilt on my walls through several homes and two states until it literally disinergrated. It was only natural that I should eventually discover papermaking. In 2000 it became my spiritual solice as I struggled in a new life as a married woman.

Thinking about the rest of her questions for a few days… My short answer is I am fascinated by things made by hand, their perfection, imperfection, or no attempt at perfection, I am comforted by that approachability. Designs that carry with them a sense of fun movement and celebration… Made well because that’ how things WERE done.

Even when I draw or paint I seem to swirl. I’m told my work sings… and that I also sing when I talk. Others say I write in poetic prose… So it is the movement then of handwork that attracts me. Intricate. Delicate. Lively. Created over many quiet reflective moments. There is a spiritual component to the celebration. I find this all uplifting. It breathes hope. Yes for me antique lace and vintage handwork does all that… Like Victorian Era exactness and detailed sensibilities, it speaks of constancy, a place where human dignity seems to linger less and less as society becomes more complex. ...Then there is history. My fascination with the need to know, to tell, to gather objects and stories from lives, or whole communities, is also my need to embrace appreciate understand what has been, because it provides some root for what is, and perhaps, for what is to come… And, since slavery is near the root of me – though certainly NOT the root – just close enough to the base to need shoring up. I dive there often for myself, for my ancestors, until the day that I know is coming, finally arrives. The day, when I make piece with the past, that I may lunge fully into the now, copiously into the celebrations of the PRESENT, the place where God lives in me…

This, I think, is what my mixed media art is about... for now at least.

PERSONA

2009-12-13T04:54:00.001-08:00

...For weeks awhile back, work was manifesting itself in the context of updating/transferring my family tree from one software to another with my mother, and reminiscing... absorbing, celebrating, understanding. Remembering old losses and coming to terms with those that still feel fresh and recent. Accepting relationships that are NOT going to CHANGE. Making new friendships with family members I have yet to meet. All in the process of realizing, some of who "WE" are, and who I am in the mix of all the B_’s, and W_’s, W_’s, V_’s and C_’s.

Gathering names and images of people connected to you is almost scary. At some point it feels unending. Every turn produces another set of names, another set of faces. Getting around to the newly formed takes a back seat to finding the roots of… where we came from. I see faces jumping generations. Eyes, skin, hair, all surfacing like fragments in pools of water, rearranging themselves with a certain fluidity that’s hard to pin down, but there all the same… No denying. Personas must come forward too. No ways to say just how. Still the idea has given me pause and made me look deeper at myself and my actions. Have I been disillusioned all these years…?

I have always thought the internal face was “the” pure one… At the conscious level we all have many facades. Ones for home, for school or work, friends, and special-occasions, even spouses and significant others… At this point however, I am starting to think the inner masks are even more diverse and complex.

The above image is by Richard Avedon (American Photographer, 1923–2004). It is of the great contralto Marian Anderson. I love this image, particularly in relationship to the idea of the inner personas and external survival. Eyes closed, drawing on the depth of who she knew herself to be… What must it have taken for Marian to stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that Easter Sunday in April 1939 after the being rejected by The Daughters of the American Revolution…?

PERSONA. Popular etymology derives it from the Latin word "per" meaning "through" and "sonare" meaning "to sound," or, something in the vein of "that through which the actor speaks", i.e. a mask. …In communications, the term is given to describe the versions of self that all individuals possess. Behaviors selected according to the desired impression an individual wishes to create when interacting with other people, according to the social environment. In particular the persona presented before others will ultimately differ from that an individual presents when he/she happens to be alone.

Given my recent observations of myself I am convinced that different internal personas are also presented to the self for somewhat the same reasons…. This idea intrigues me. So I have decided to explore it in a series of mixed media art… I am interested to see where it will lead…

STICKLEY MUSEUM

2009-12-13T04:50:00.000-08:00

Recently, I headed up to Morris Plans to the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farm to drop off my handmade paper note cards and hanging art for their annual Holiday Open House (December 5 & 6th and 12 & 13th)... My good friend Shunzyu Haigler who is the manager of Membership and Individual Support there offered to let me tour the house to see the holiday decorations, and the newly restored master bedroom. So after finishing my display I crossed the bookstore into the house. O' my... there is a such a spirit of love and warmth to the Stickley Museum that will never be captured in photos. You just must walk there to appreciate the attention to details, the use of materials, and the peace that settles on you the minute you step into the rooms that Gustav Stickley shared with his family and friends over a century ago.

Starting in 1908, Craftsman, the magazine Stickley founded a few years earlier, reported on the development of Craftsman Farms. The Stickley family's New Jersey home, and the culmination of the domestic ideals espoused in the magazine. "Like so much of what Stickley did, his magazine sprang from commercial impulses, but in transcending these impulses it taught and inspired a generation of artisans, designers, and architects, and reached out to thousands more seeking a simpler way to lead their lives."¹

The Arts and Crafts Movement was a British, Canadian, Australian, and American aesthetic movement occurring in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. Inspired by the writings of John Ruskin and a romantic idealization of a craftsperson taking pride in their personal handwork, it was at its height between approximately 1880 and 1910.²

It was a reformist movement that influenced architecture, decorative arts such as textiles, pottery and wall paper, cabinet making, and even the "cottage" garden designs of William Robinson or Gertrude Jekyll. Among its best-known practitioners were William Morris, Elbert Hubbard, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greene & Greene, and Gustav Stickley, as well as artists in the Pre-Raphaelite movement... Evident also to all who visit Dard Hunter's Studio and Mountain House in Chillicothe, Ohio the movements had a great impact on graphic arts as well. (Dard Hunter (1883-1966) graphic designer in the Arts & Crafts Movement, paper historian and author, private press printer, collector and museum director. Friends of Dard Hunter, founded in 1981to his memory, is an international organization center around the same handmade paper and related arts and crafts, of which I am a member.)

...Papermaking has a deep kinship with Arts & Craft, that is perhaps not immediately apparent unless you understand the philosophy behind the movement. That is most likely why my mixed media art which borders on a contemporary Victorian vibe is still perfectly at home among the other work featured there.

If you live, work, or frequent the tri-state area for any purpose and have not visited the Stickley Museum, you have missed an important piece of art and design history. There is however still opportunity to amend your deficiency :-). You can learn more about the Stickley Museum and the Arts and Crafts Movement via the following resources for starters (just cut/paste links):

Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farm: http://stickleymuseum.org/index.php

Video clips from Elbert Hubbard special on PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wned/elbert-hubbard/

The Life of Dard Hunter: http://www.dardhunter.com/About.htm

The Friends of Dard Hunter: http://friendsofdardhunter.org/index.html

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_Movement

¹ http://stickleymuseum.org/stickley.php

² Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_Movement