Marilyn Banner's Art Blog

Ashley Bryan artist

2011-09-03T00:12:00.002-04:00

We took the ferry to Islesford from Great Cranberry and in no time bumped into Ashley Bryan.
Ashley Bryan is a phenomenon. He has more energy, aliveness, and vitality than, I believe, anyone else I have met. He exudes a love of life and embodies all the best that an art life can be and have - total freedom of mind and creative energy, with space to create and a world that accepts what he has to give.
He says "everything is animated," and it IS, through his awareness and being. Of course, it "is" all the time, but do we see it, feel it, hear it, live it?
Here are a few photos. Look him up!

When you look up Ashley Bryan you see that he is a well known children's book author and editor. Definitely true. He has published many books. What you cannot see and find out from wikipedia is that his home is filled with art books, artistic and craft tradition from every culture, dolls, sculpture, art in process everywhere including a stack of plein air paintings he does daily in his garden and elsewhere on the island, detailed puppets in process, stained glass windows in process, more visual stimulation than is possible. A serious mature accomplished artist who has retained the spirit of the inquisitive child.

Artistic Heritage

2011-09-02T23:59:00.000-04:00

I made a pilgrimage to the Maine coast to visit the places where David Lund, my painting teacher extraordinaire from 1967, and Marvin Bileck, my mentor from Queens College in 1968, spent summers for over 40 years. David still goes there; Marvin died several years ago. Marvin's partner Emily Nelligan still goes there to draw, and is the local heroine.
We flew to Portland and drove up to Stonington on Deer Isle. The light is so brilliant and the air so clear. Stimulating. You want to breathe in all you can store up. Great lobster too. Photos....

The next morning we went by David Lund's house in Stonington and I saw the view which inspired him so long ago. Still there, the water, the rocks, the craggy look, the trees.

Onward to our longer stay on Great Cranberry Island. The ferry rides were my favorite part - the mountains of Mount Desert Island, the sky, the fog that surrounds everything, the water, the waves, the sunlight, the pointy trees that must be balsam firs. Ahhh. Maybe we'll return next summer and I will have a residency at LaHotan and Carl will rent the same lovely house with the out of tune piano and porch swing and feeling of warmth everywhere.

Home in Takoma Park now, trying to adjust, having missed the earthquake here by one day, and avoided the electrical outage. We review the photos in slide show format, trying to get more of that air, that light, that space.

Wait, there is more to this post. All those painters - Marin, Hartley, Lund ..... even Hopper and tons more you've seen - they all soaked up and worked from that Maine landscape. No wonder I needed to go there, and no wonder I loved it too.

Content

2011-08-11T19:15:00.000-04:00

After my recent gallery visits and a workshop on artist's liberation and creativity - I am thinking about society's definition of "success" as an artist, and about the truth telling function of art.
There is pretty art, beautiful art, disturbing art, highly crafted and craft focused art. All kinds. Humorous, gigantic, miniature. All kinds of characteristics, and motivations, and functions. Decorating one's pricey home with colorful abstraction seems to be in vogue in this area. Is that too sarcastic? Or is it just the truth?
The danger for some of us who sell art (sometimes) is in thinking that our art is "to sell." As if that is it's motivation and function.
So I'm thinking back to the work I did several years ago - the work that didn't "fit easily" into anyone's home. I will upload a couple of those pieces here, and no doubt more in the future.

This one is called "Prague Cemetery. It is from my series called "Still With Us", done after visiting Terezin, a concentration camp near Prague, in 1998.

This is "Imprisoned." When I was 5 years old my relatives told me about a sign at a swimming pool in nearby Clayton Missouri that said No Jews or Dogs Allowed.

Art in Chevy Chase

2011-08-11T18:47:00.000-04:00

Last night I attended the opening of a group show in the DC area. My artist neighbor was in the show, which was my reason for going. I wanted to support her, and give my blessing to this gallery/money making venture.
I'd never clicked with that particular gallery in it's previous incarnation - I and my work just didn't fit there. This was no different in those ways - and it was even clearer to me.
There was a ton of work on the walls and a ton of people at the opening. The work didn't look like me or reflect me on a deep level - though I had hoped I'd see something that would even make me jealous, if you can understand that. My favorites were my friend's soothing and beautiful landscapes, and another painter's big energetic colorful landscapes and portrait.
The people didn't look like me either. I am seriously looking at and getting some distance on what I call "this class thing." I'd say 90-95% of the visitors were dressed in a way that was supposed to be glamorous. Maybe it was. To me it was not. Something about the costume/uniform of "looking good" - guess I will speak more on that in another post, if I can relate it cleanly to ART.
Amazingly one woman appeared at the door to the gallery dressed in black and looking totally unpretentious. I was sure she was an artist, and close to me in age. She stood out, all in black like that.
Eventually I approached her and we had a real conversation and a real connection. What a lift!
The net result though was that I woke up feeling ill, and only recovered when I saw the work of Felix Angel at a gallery this morning. Complex collages that satisfied the mind and spirit, deep, thought provoking, nourishing.
Whew!

Cape Cod land

2011-07-11T18:02:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh, Cape Cod land and sea. The marsh looks different now - no surprise. The horizon and environs captivate me. I know water is my next "thing."

More photos

2011-06-28T00:19:00.001-04:00

Here is Joanne Mattera, artist, originator of the international encaustic conference, and artist supporter extraordinaire, speaking at the recent conference in Provincetown, Mass. She sets a tone of mutual support, respect, and help among the artists who attend- really quite amazing. She continues that attitude all year long at her informative blog: joannemattera.blogspot.com/


Joanne Mattera

"Black and White" is a painting of one of the cows who live across the road from the VCCA in Amherst, Virginia. Someone recently said I should show my cow paintings in Vermont because they love cows there. I answered that there must be hundreds of cow paintings and they surely don't need more. She said, "But this one has so much soul."


Black and White, encaustic on wood, 6x6"

Work by Sondra Arkin at Longview Gallery.

openings

2011-06-28T00:13:00.000-04:00

Me with Betsy Damon and Sue Collier at my Ceres show

Woah, I've been to a few lately, just a few. My own at Ceres April 28, several in Provincetown during the Encaustic Conference (I had a piece in the Beeline show at Kobalt), and one at Longview Gallery in DC, just the other night. Each is its own scene. Some openings make me ill, and I'm determined to attend enough to figure this out. Maybe if you're in the "in crowd" it's fun, and if you're not, it's not.

A tiny part of the crowd at the Beeline show at Kobalt Gallery in Provincetown


View from the tip of Cape Cod, near the conference site. Yum.

Longview Gallery owner and admirer

I am a romantic

2011-04-10T22:22:00.004-04:00

Here is a link to a youtube video. It's short and gorgeous, to me. I took the footage with my little canon sure shot camera, up in Cape Cod several months ago. My husband is at the piano.
The violinist looks like my painting mentor from NYC, and when he closes his eyes and plays - ahh, he reminds me so much of my violin teacher from grade school, Mr. Lang.
I did a painting once called Maybe. I wrote on it - can I remember? - "Mr. Lang was my first music teacher. He played with all his heart and soul. Maybe I had a soul too."
I wonder if feeling is out of style now, or if hectic perfectionistic technique passes for art. Art is the middle of things. Comes from the middle, goes TO the middle. Well, that is too simple sounding. If people really responded to blog posts, this would make an interesting conversation. I guess I believe that "technique" has to be in the service of the heart, the soul, the spirit, not just the head, and certainly not of fashion!

Press Stuff

2011-03-31T17:32:00.001-04:00

I am finally focusing on my upcoming show at Ceres Gallery in NY. I often ask myself, why a NEW YORK co-op, and not a DC one, like Touchstone? Touchstone is looking good. But New York is my heart's home. So there it is.

I have a nice press release draft which I'll post right here, along with the image that will go with it.

This is called Autumn Light/Blackfish Creek (encaustic on wood, 14x14"). Someone will buy this eventually. I can tell. Here is the text of the press release, so far at least. I may edit it.

”A Sense of Place”, a one-person exhibition of encaustic paintings by Marilyn Banner, will be on view at Ceres Gallery from April 26 – May 21, 2011. In this work, Banner combines drawing and painting in the luminous and tactile medium of encaustic, creating richly layered and highly textured works based on landscape. Energy, rhythm, and light predominate.

All the works at Ceres are inspired by a particular place. The artist uses a broad range of techniques, from careful and subtle layering of glazes to active, energetic brushwork, incised paint filled lines, scumbling, and scraping. Evocative, semi-representational imagery is imbued with a strong sense of abstraction and brings to mind the work of Turner, Soutine, and recent paintings by David Hockney. The visceral and active surface, though never the main focus of the work, appears to be alive.

Banner’s approach is both poetic and contemporary, reaching for depth and resonance in the viewer and creating a sense of longing. The paintings in “A Sense of Place” ask us to slow down, to breathe, and to recall our often forgotten and deep human connections to the earth. They nourish on that deep level.

The opening reception will be held on Thurs. April 28, 6:00 - 8:00 pm.

Frames and Supports

2011-03-24T00:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I ordered frames from my favorite frame maker, Jesse Goslen. Jesse lives in North Carolina and he builds floater frames made to order. They are constructed as well as top notch well-crafted furniture and are gorgeous. I was going to show my new work at Ceres unframed. New Yorkers are so good at seeing ART, they really don't need that frame to prove anything. I, however, have decided that these encaustic paintings need and deserve the best protection and the best in general. So I'm going for it.
I love having the support of Rodney Thompson in California, who builds my wood supports, and Jesse in North Carolina. I am thinking now that support is all around us - we just need to believe that, notice where it might come from, know we need and deserve it, and then ask!

New York overnight

2011-03-22T23:20:00.000-04:00

Next month I will put up my show at Ceres Gallery in Chelsea. I haven't been able to tune into it, to write a really good listings release, press release - or to really THINK myself there. So I had to get my body there. Since I love New York - I scrambled to finish my taxes and do a lot of stuff to get there. Art making has been elusive; somehow this art biz stuff can just take over. Well, so I will just let it do that for a while. There are ways and ways to get behind one's work, and that is a good one.
The best business thing that happened - was meeting two women who have just started something called Art Walk New York. They are super sophisticated tour guides at the best museums in NY, and were there at Ceres to do some business with the director. More later if I am able to get onto an Art Walk tour. That would be a VERY good thing, and a fantastic result of my NY business jaunt.

Visiting Vieques

2011-03-22T19:07:00.000-04:00

Well, we got back from Vieques when? almost 3 weeks ago!!! That's amazing - one week to figure out where I am, 2 more to feel the crazy intensity and scheduling of everything here. In case you haven't heard of Vieques, I will upload a couple of photos. It is a little island right off the coast of Puerto Rico.
There are a lot of roosters on Vieques, and horses roam the streets eating mangos. The roosters crow all the time.

We visited a couple of galleries while there in paradise. One was a new gallery, Galleon, started by a Westchester woman in a big open space that used to belong to an artist/gallerist. The work is by non-residents, some from NY. I'm always checking potential galleries out - but though the work was decent, the place was not right. For me at least. We then went to Siddhia Hutchinson's Gallery across the island in Isabel 2. Right, Isabel 2! Interesting name for a town.

That was a different story, as Siddhia herself was there. She is an artist and gallerist, shows her own work, work by local artists and by visitors inspired by the natural surroundings. There were some lovely landscapes, unusual abstractions, drawings of roosters .... hard to not love roosters after hearing them at odd hours every night! We had a great, long, and inspiring talk with Siddhia about following one's path when the path is art. What we sacrifice, what we have, how important it is to go for your vision, for what you love. I actually can't remember it all, but I do remember feeling that Carl and I and Siddhia are of the same species. What a lift.

We hope to return to Vieques for a much longer stay next year. Fingers are crossed. Art sales will get us there. (that's the plan.)

February Success part 3

2011-02-07T12:11:00.001-05:00

Well, Astrologyzone says that February is a good month in general. Maybe that's it. I can take credit for producing some pretty solid artwork, and for being open to people seeing and purchasing it. But I can't make a bunch of stuff like this happen all in one week!!!

Saturday a VCCA friend and collector was in town. She asked to visit my studio, so I picked her up at her hotel and drove her out to my Kensington warehouse. We spent hours there - she is deep, thoughtful, and unusually responsive to my work. Every artists dream.... And after much thought she decided on two recent encaustic paintings to purchase. Ironically they were the two that made a trio with the one larger one purchased at the donor party. Something special must be there in those marshes. Hmmm.

To finish with this story - Monday morning Aaron Leibel from the Washington Jewish Week called to confirm my city of residence, to include my name in a byline about the Kraft Center show. He wants to write about me as soon as I have another local show.
And last Sunday I delivered some older Costa Rican collages to a family friend who expressed interest - left a few there so they could ponder and choose. Wednesday - I expect another sale or two. I am knocking on wood. It feels like blessings all around.

This morning our buddy Judi Weinstock wrote to tell me that from now til June is a great time for those of us born under the sign of Aries. Wow.

Overwhelmed by successes. Part 2.

2011-02-06T23:49:00.000-05:00

Saturday night - last weekend - we had a big "donor appreciation party" here. Invited were Musica Viva donors of at least $75. plus a couple of collectors that had purchased at least $500 worth of art from me.
We are not talking big bucks here. This is a grass roots operation - Marilyn Banner's art, Carl Banner's music, both of our visions and teamwork working to build an art life here and an artist friendly community. I often describe us as "under recognized sophisticates."

So why the overwhelm? Well....... as I did at my open studio last year, I put up on the music room walls (which now have track lighting to make the setting a real gallery) a few of my new marsh paintings. Two images had already gone out as Musica Viva publicity pieces via constant contact. I intend to show the best of the marsh paintings with the best of the 2009 VCCA paintings, all encaustic, at my Ceres show opening late April. The last thing I'm doing is "pushing" the marsh pieces.
Well, to my partial surprise - THREE of the marsh paintings were sold that night. THREE.

Writing this has already decreased the overwhelm feeling. Why NOT have what I want, a nice circle of my work doing its work for others and the others giving back to me in the form of money. The way it should be for artists all the time....

Overwhelmed with "too much good." part 1.

2011-02-06T16:08:00.001-05:00

Last Friday, the day before the Ceres Gallery show ended, I phoned Laura Kruger and offered "Living Water" to the Hebrew Union College Museum. I've heard that museums don't just accept donations. After all, they have to promise to keep your work safe forever, and often have to promise to exhibit it. So, like everything seems to be, it's competitive. But why not compete?
She not only accepted the piece and went to get it, but then wrote a lovely and gracious note saying that the work way more stunning than she'd expecte, that it's hanging in a very public place, and that many people are commenting on it's quality.
OK!

New York January

2011-01-11T00:39:00.007-05:00

I'm always looking for a reason to go up to the art nourishment capital - right now my friend Joyce Weinstein has a solo show at Ceres, and I have a piece in the partner show, Womens Nature. Here is my piece, a mixed media collage from my Song of Songs series, Living Water.

I arrived last Wednesday via my favorite mode, Vamoose Bus, and dashed over to MOMA to see the Line show. Even the Schwitters pieces were mouthwatering. I want to live in New York! "So what else is new?" as my parents would say.
Francine Perlman, an energetic sympatico woman I met years ago at a No Limits meeting, offered to put me up. Fantastic person, fascinating artist. We are now buddies in an ongoing project. More later, when it starts to bubble.

The next day I spent at the Whitney. The coolest show I've seen in ages was there: the work of Charles LeDray. It filled a whole floor of the museum - hundreds of miniature articles of clothing, all imbued with meaning, all full of heart. Nothing sentimental or schmaltzy, but all miraculous and moving at once. Pieces made of cloth, and other unbelievable things - a thousand teeny tiny thrown vessels, and tiny sculptures made from human bone.
If in NY, you need to see it.

Someone at the Ceres show suggested I donate my piece, Living Water, to the Hebrew Union College Museum, unless of course, someone purchases it. Great idea. I hope Laura Kruger agrees. The opening itself was like a warm hug. A lot of the women there remind me of me, in the best way. I felt totally at home.

New York visit

2010-11-07T00:48:00.002-04:00

Oops, what kind of blogger AM I? Just an occasional writer. I have always shied away from "working the system," perhaps because as a young person I felt that my family was not a part of any system. Yes I could write a lot about that, but will not. There is both strength and weakness in this stance. I believe I have mentioned this before. I'm not sure what integrity is anymore, because integrity in isolation is not the same as integrity while interacting with all levels of society, with all the temptations, cliques, back stabbing, support, jealousy, etc.

So much for my lack of daily blogging. Maybe I'll try it sometime, carve out a week or a month, and write daily about my art, art thoughts, business, goals, .... But not today.

We went to NYC a couple of weeks ago. What really stood out? The New York Abstract Expressionist show at MOMA. Everything I read - quotes by Pollack and Guston stick in my mind - reminded me of my early art training at Washington University. Actually it was the teaching of David Lund, who knew and hung out with those guys. (Yes, unfortunately they were almost all GUYS.) But Lund taught me how to just BE with a painting, to sense and see and feel the space, to feel the painting breathe. Pollack was the granddaddy of AE, and he let go of the idea of a focal point entirely.
whoopee! no WONDER I always want that kind of allover, sometimes in and out vibration that moves the eye here and there and sits nowhere. And hey - I always push my work until it feels like a living thing to me. Those Guston abstractions - that IS what they do. They breathe, have a life, feel like living beings.

When is art not Art?

2010-10-03T22:59:00.003-04:00

Oy! When is art not art? What is art anyway. Seeing all the paintings in the galleries on main street in Annapolis yesterday was very confusing. Let's just say I get confused. Why does it all look cloying to me? I hardly ever use that word. Cloying. Or sick.
Carl thinks that when the work is not coming from a real need to express something, it registers clearly as - well, choose a word, any word but not "art." i.e. if the artist is painting pictures to sell, or to look like something pretty, or - no, I can't go on.

Kendall Gallery

2010-10-03T22:53:00.002-04:00

Yay, the owner liked my work a lot! I brought in five pieces that are 12x12" and a smaller one that beautifully captures a marsh area in Wellfleet. I am obsessed with the marsh grass at the moment.
So, what next? She will discuss my work with her artist husband with whom she co-owns the gallery, and HOPEFULLY will include my work in an exhibit next season. Now it's fall/winter, and the whole scene hibernates.
We intend to visit the area every few months. It's interesting to finally realize that when you have a connection to a place, looking for a gallery there makes sense.
I've never had much luck in DC and - not much to say here, just a big sigh.

Provincetown Art

2010-10-03T22:39:00.008-04:00

Last weekend we were on Cape Cod. Friday night was a kind of gallery walk thing - we thought it was only at Julie Heller East (she's the gallery owner who used to live in Kensington!) - but it was all up and down Commercial Street and the museum was open and free.
What a scene. Predictable high end tone to the JHE gallery - after all it IS at the high end. Distinguished looking folks looking like they own the arts in P'town, and lots of hugs and handshakes and in-crowd feeling. Generic high end.
I asked to photograph a couple of colorful women in the museum and they were pleased as punch. Maybe I'll upload that photo. The older woman's husband was having a major show at the museum - large Cape Cod landscapes in oil. I thought they were masterful, if a bit facile. Nice texture of the grasses, lovely skies, light, and reflections in water. Stuff I'm after. Carl disliked them - TOO facile and acrobatic to his mind. Perhaps.
Sometimes I really cannot tell - not being a judgmental type, according to Myers Briggs. I see what I like and leave the rest. I SEARCH for what might inspire me. Sometimes I find nothing.
As far as finding a Provincetown gallery that might show my work - a more and more elusive and unlikely prospect. Every gallery says "we show local Cape Cod and regional artists, or, "we show dead P'town artists and a few who are alive."

Dismissal by a gallery owner

2010-08-31T17:40:00.006-04:00

The words came to mind today, "Sometimes good people do bad things." Hmmmm.
I visited my friend this past weekend. She lives in a small town in Pennsylvania 90 miles from NYC, and is a super strong gutsy highly skilled artist. And a good friend to boot!
She's having an exhibit right now at the upscale gallery in town. Somehow I don't want to use real names in this blog, despite the low readership.
Anyway, she offered to introduce me to the owner and suggested I bring some work up, which I did. I brought several nice reproductions and two very small encaustic works, to show the resonance and light of the medium.
Ah, how to get to the meat of this.

We left the work with the part owner who advises but does not make final decisions. He was terrific, warm, encouraging, and an unbelievably good artist himself. A master.
The next day we returned to check out the response. I was forewarned by my friend that the owner either loves someone and fawns all over them, or is an ice cube. heh heh. Guess what response I got!!

What amazed me was the chutzpah of this man, and his arrogance. When first introduced to me, he turned AWAY and spoke to someone else. When asked directly about his response to my work, he said "very lovely" and turned away, again brusquely. It's impossible to describe the VIBE of this man as he turned away. As if he was swatting at a fly or an irritating mosquito.

What's wrong with this picture? Here is what a mature and decent human being who is also a gallery could and should say: "Thanks so much for sharing your work with us. I'm sorry it's not a fit for the gallery."

Some people greatly enjoy getting away with reprehensible behavior! I had to clear away a ton of negative stuff before I could sleep.

Kendall Gallery

2010-08-31T17:40:00.001-04:00

While in Wellfleet last month we stopped by the Kendall Gallery. I had met the owner at Carl's last concert in the town library, and had sent her my website. Not hearing from her, I assumed the usual lack of interest. Follow up, or let's say persistent and appropriately continual follow up, has not been my strong point.
Despite my hesitation, we went in and eventually spoke with her at length. I like the gallery. I'd say it's high end Wellfleet, if that is a category.
At the end of September I will show her some of my larger encaustic paintings. She's smart and art savvy. I have hopes.

Galleries

2010-07-20T19:09:00.007-04:00

On July 6 we set out for Wellfleet on Cape Cod via Allentown, Milford, Kingston, Providence... with an agenda that included a visit to Kobalt Gallery in P'town. It was a family visit - my in-laws are 89 and 96!- but had a striking amount of art activity for me.

We stopped in York to check out my work there at York City Arts, stayed with Barbara Crooker, VCCA poet friend in Fogelsville PA, visited Blue Stone gallery in Milford, got to Kingston in time for a Richard Frumess tour of R&F, stayed with Carl's cousin in Red Hook NY, then with another cousin near Providence, and on the way to Wellfleet spent a couple of hours at the Cape Cod Museum in Dennis. All this before getting to the target.

Gabe's friend Ryan says that the elder Banner house is really the Marilyn Banner Museum. I have to admit that hanging out there in the living area overlooking a marsh, light flowing in, and gazing around at my work from the 70's (a huge lily of the valley center oil painting), the 90's (a deep dark Presence of Spirit piece) and the new millennium (think Prague Cemetery gravestones on yellow fabric, Scenes of Childhood (Carl's) and a dynamite big collage from the Song of Songs), and you might get a glimpse. Their home is FULL of art and music - including a mammoth Leonard Baskin rug in the bedroom. Enough said about that. I left them with 2 newish small encaustic paintings. They love them.

Provincetown! On Sunday that weekend we drove into P'town and meandered down the packed main street. Stopped into T J Walton's gallery (I had researched via the gallery guide a bit) and talked with the artist/owner. She was the opposite of pretentious and we later watched an interview with her on the web. Google her and find it and you'll see why. Cool woman and good art. She wore a t-shirt that said "F**k Me I'm Famous". And she said "and believe me, they do."

We went to Julie Heller's gallery to see the encaustic work I saw in the guide. Small world department - she's from !!! Kensington Maryland !! I pass near her childhood home each time I drive to my studio in Kensington. Julie's gallery was full of art - stacked on the floor, all over the place - much of it by well-known artists like Karl Knaths. Her gallery is the oldest one in Provincetown, and she was very simpatico. I felt like I knew her. Not a gallery for my work (maybe if I lived there), but a person I want to see again.

Eventually we made it to Kobalt - still looks good to me but the energy was a bit down, clearly from the recession mood. I like the place and John O'Shea suggested I send in some hard copy images for the owner to see. I'm on it, will send a package by the end of July.

We stopped by Cynthia Packard's gallery. Hmm, what to say. She's the artist whose work I fell for in Boston and I was so excited to see that she had a gallery. She generously demonstrated for me her use of encaustic - she uses oil paint mixed with Dorland wax and torches it right on the canvas. It ignites (!) - looked pretty crazy dangerous to me but she is very experienced and casual with it. Her attitude toward me was not the best - she kept trying to get me to study with her! Enough said.

Spring in New York City

2010-07-15T23:14:00.003-04:00

Not really spring, but 3 pieces from my works inspired by spring, were up for a month at Ceres Gallery. We bussed up for the opening, stayed at an apartment I found via a special artist list, and came back the next day. Lots of compliments on the work. Gabe came to the opening. Always a pleasure to see him. Having and raising a child and then seeing him as a man - this is one of the wonders of my life!

That same night (Friday) we went down to Dupont Circle to see a show curated by Pat Goslee, because I wanted to meet her. It's part of my project to meet hometown artists whose work looks like the real thing to me. Who are they?
I liked her. Totally unpretentious. I will call her this month, now that we are back from our travels up north. More on the trip later.

Encaustic Conference at Montserrat

2010-07-15T22:52:00.003-04:00

It is now July 15. Hard to believe that I returned from the conference a full month ago, and have written nothing about it. My husband is after me to say something. He thinks I need to write about sexism. Well. Hmm. Hmm. I guess he's thinking about the critique day I attended, and the juried show which did not represent the conferees well. What I think about, laughing in a way, was the funny comment made to me from the only man in the critique session (besides J.C.) - he called me an "alpha female" because I spoke up when he tried to take my turn from me. (we had called out numbers, so to speak). AN ALPHA FEMALE! Well! I was flattered, wish I were more alpha in general.
So, the conference. The conference was a blast. The keynote speaker spoke on Jasper Johns, kept us all wide awake and inspired, and was just - perfect! Set a great tone. The panel the next morning included Eileen Goldenberg, who has to be the funniest gutsiest artist I've ever met. Everyone was generous with sharing how they'd made careers as encaustic artists. Oops. Not "encaustic artists." Artists who work with encaustic.
Joseph Carroll thinks that the word itself has a bad ring to it, in the eyes/ears of gallerists. I don't know. Sounds odd to me. He suggests a breakdown into "pigment, damar, and beeswax."
????? I wish people who read blogs actually commented.
Carl has a blog reader who really thinks and listens to everything he writes and attaches, and then writes back to him.
I want that!
So, without lots of descriptions, which anyone can find if they search for the conference blog of Joanne Mattera - I'll just say that it was a HUGE event, full of positive energy. One woman fell in love with my work - "Zen Cow." She came running up to me with open arms to hug me. Woah.
She couldn't quite afford to purchase it, even at the artist big discount. Sad. I'm still working on my feelings about this issue. Just sad.
I watched Rodney Thompson transfer drawings and demonstrate torches, heard Cynthia Winika (her voice is the thing!) describe and demonstrate - I can't even remember what. She was so masterful. I watched demos of ironing as a fusing tool, image transfer - what else? I hung out with great artists, photographed all 250 art works that were hung in the corridor gallery, and bought a bunch of new tools and paints.
Cannot wait til the next one.
AND I intend to hire Joanne Mattera for a 90 minute phone consultation this summer.

Sign in Yellowstone

2010-06-16T12:36:00.001-04:00

I cannot resist sharing this, as I look through my incredibly awesome photos from Yellowstone. More will follow eventually. Not sure whether to look through photos or try out my new painting tools from the vendors at the Encaustic Conference in Beverly MA. What a life!

Encaustic Conference at Montserrat

2010-06-08T00:51:00.004-04:00

I am finally getting so excited about this one that I can hardly sleep. Here is the link: http://www.montserratencausticconference.blogspot.com/
tons of artists and tons of new information. yummy. overabundance.
I am staying on for a post conference day - Critical Feedback with Joseph Carroll, who runs a good gallery in Boston. ME going for a CRITIQUE is not your everyday thing. However he has a good reputation for support and has asked us to bring a goal and an issue for him to comment on. Also some work we're involved in.
Hope I can pull this together in the next two days, as I leave on Thursday, and need to send work up to Ceres for a summer show. I wrote up some background info on me - helps me see why it's tricky to set a "goal" - and maybe I'll share that next time I write on the blog.

Artist's Point

2010-06-08T00:36:00.001-04:00

The photo says it all.

Living My Dream

2010-06-07T23:58:00.008-04:00

Well, it turns out that for years I was supporting women artists to articulate and go after their art dreams. I could never think of an "art dream" myself - it always came out as "travel."

So last week, one of the days in Yellowstone or the Tetons - I think it was at "artist's point," a spot overlooking Yellowstone Canyon where the rock looks like flesh. Or maybe on the road, in vast open spaces beyond belief, with funky buffalo walking their ancient walk on the road. Or maybe photographing pelicans making v shaped water waves as they swam. Or just looking at the sky.
I thought WOAH, this is IT!

Not a solo show at the Hirschhorn, or getting mammoth commissions, or being written up in Art News (a colleague woman artist's dream), or selling work for 10,000 dollars. Nope, I would not turn down ANY of those. But those are not dreams I go after.

Now we are planning to visit Glacier National Park. Or maybe Yosemite. Or maybe some day Alaska, or Hawaii.

When I was three, we visited a farm in southeast Missouri, called May and Belle's farm. I have a photo of me sitting on a fence post. I asked over and over to return to that farm, but we never did. That was it for travel, until I took a bus to NYC when I was 19. And eventually many more buses to NY, and later trips to Europe and Costa Rica and Prague. There you have it. Maybe our dreams are about filling out the empty spaces in our lives.

Open Studio

2010-05-16T23:48:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday May 8 three neighborhood artists - Joan Samworth, Ann Riley, and myself - hosted open art studios. We had a nice card made, emailed our lists, spiffed up our houses, and psyched ourselves up for these unusual and very homey events. I wanted to meet new neighbors, and welcome old friends to see the new work. I gave two demonstrations of encaustic painting. (A great idea).

I had had some trouble getting my head around a Constant Contact invitation. It seems that my education, development as an artist, expensive medium, and prices of recent work - have priced me right out of being affordable to people who should be able to own my art work. What to do!?

Well, we finally figured it out, and found ways to make a huge amount of older work and reproductions of recent work totally affordable by just about anyone.
And what happened? Unbelievable, but the RECENT work was purchased by several people who fell in love with it, and much of the other work, ranging from $1.00 to $125.00 was purchased too.
There was much good energy, good will on all sides, and a feeling that the work that I do, actually gets to "do its right work" in the world.
A perfect circle. I am still working on fully accepting this into my heart and mind.

Open Studio

2010-04-18T13:43:00.017-04:00

Two neighboring artists and I are planning open studios for May 8. I am working on getting my mind around a clear gesture.

My new work is not cheap; it requires a middle class income or a deep enough love of the art to pay smaller amounts over time. From one point of view the prices may seem "outrageous," and from another, they are clearly "a steal." Which is the correct point of view? I am going for "reasonable," considering artistic experience, skill, integrity, and emotional and spiritual depth. Plus my status (Carl and I often use this one) as an "under recognized sophisticate."

My wish however is to have my art to be affordable by just about
everyone. I am determined to have things at my open studio that
someone can purchase for the price of a lunch. There again is the economic issue - WHOSE lunch? Someone of modest means.
I am taking some of my older drawings, and good quality reproductions of new work - and playing with frames and ways to make these accessible. This is a great experiment. And fun.

Now the challenge is to bring people HERE to see these.

Mike Daisey's radio show performance

2010-04-18T13:25:00.003-04:00

With great excitement and chutzpa financially (having just been to NY), we purchased tickets to Mike Daisey's performance in NYC at The Greene Space, reserved a hotel room at Hotel 31 (newest favorite place to stay), booked Vamoose bus round trip, and set off early Friday morning. The weather prediction was cold and rainy, but we were feeling like - well, he was the best thing we'd seen in DC for ages.
We described Mike's DC performance to my (dynamite) artist friend Marion Held, who came along to this performance and brought her husband Curtis. We had tried to get my son to join us, as well as an actor friend. Luckily they did not come, because, to my great disappointment............

Now this is really interesting. I like this guy so much that it is hard to badmouth him in any way! On the other hand, I was really really peeved to have done this trip around him and been presented with 50 minutes of low level (bordering on really awful) performances by others and only 10 or 15 minutes of the real Mike Daisey. Not two hours, and hardly anything of substance. Is he getting tired? What was happening there? I am stymied.
Might I add that we arrived an hour early to be first in line and get the best seats? Maybe if we'd just driven in for the evening from Brooklyn...

So - nope, not the BEST trip to NY but we realize that we need to do this often. Even the best performers screw up or plan badly. Even people you like have that awful "New York Attitude" and think they know best, are always right, and are better than us born mid-westerners who don't live in the City.
We sensitive non New Yorkers have to toughen up. Those of us without middle class or NY attitudes have to take our rightful places anyway. Aren't we supposed to fill in those gaps as we grow older? Who makes up these stratifications anyway?

David Lund

2010-04-01T11:44:00.005-04:00

Miraculously I found my art teacher mentor from the 60's - I had found an article about him on the web and traced him to his new address in NYC. On Sunday Carl and I spent 3 hours with him and his wife. David Lund is about 85 or 86 now, didn't quite remember me - he has taught hundreds of students at Columbia and Cooper Union, and our meeting was at Washington University in 1967.
We looked at painting after painting after painting. It was really something, as he is steeped in tradition, and you can see Giotto, Cezanne, Chagall, Italian painting, Rembrandt - and Lund. Steeped in tradition yet totally contemporary and coming out of his own mind. He says "I am so out of the box that there IS no box!"
I loved hearing him talk about his work, and I loved seeing all that I'd been taught so long ago, there in front of me, looking fresh, deep, radiant, and substantive. No flat cartoons! Yay!

Eventually I showed David and his wife some of my postcards - images from Scenes of Childhood, Still With Us, Soul Ladders, Presence of Spirit, and others. Very different from what I'd studied with him, and yet so "art" that they were both genuinely impressed. It was very moving and gratifying to me. I can't quite describe this, think I'll post an image or two of his work.

and ps what made him the best painting teacher I'd ever encountered had little to do with technique. It had everything to do with his encouraging us to go into and to then express the depth and breadth of our human experience. Hmm. Same with Lowry Burgess years later.

Karen Finley

2010-04-01T11:36:00.003-04:00

Unbelievable, but the day we arrived, last Saturday, Karen Finley was performing a piece about Jackie Kennedy, right across town at 42nd and 9th. We were second in line (yes, I really wanted to be there!). I'd seen her perform at Dance Place in the 80's, striding back and forth across the stage in a raincoat, ranting, eventually baring her chocolate or spaghetti or both (I can't remember) covered body. Womens' bodies. Our bodies. Sexism is too weak a word to ues. It was the most unforgettable performance I've ever seen.
The Jackie performance was brilliant, (got a bit too long for me in parts,) and eventually got to the meat of the issues of female objectification and oppression. There was a long string of epithets (word?) telling us females to be quieter, more assertive, more this, more that, not ever this, always that, etc. She got louder and louder. It was all too true. And we are pretty much all the time still under it.

Return from NYC

2010-04-01T11:34:00.002-04:00

This is going to be backwards, but since the blog ends up being a public art diary, I have to say that I am so "in my element" in New York City, that returning, even to this house and neighborhood that I love, is difficult. I hope that blogging about my art experiences in the big apple will relieve some of this burdensome feeling. Stay tuned.

Further Thoughts

2010-03-25T09:48:00.003-04:00

What I would have liked to see in the art criticism piece -
First of all, the writer really "got" the Water Book piece. It was conceptually and visually tight, ie very well put together, and provocative. For our piece - it would have been nice if she'd been able to take in the flow and sensuality of the visual component. One of the other artists, while helping finalize the direction in which to hang the piece (it read better horizontally) noted that it had the form and feeling of lovemaking. Quite perceptive, and her comment showed real openness to the content AND form. Had the reviewer read the poetry carefully, she may have noticed the connections between text and image. Granted, it required a stretch. Maybe that requirement is unrealistic. I am pondering now, not sure.
Also - and what I always look for in a review - is the use and bringing to bear of the reviewer's broad knowledge of present and past artists and artistic forms and ideas. I checked out Rosenquist pop art. Well yeah, I can see a vague connection abstractly, but not really. What about Feminism, repetition, grid like construction, Phillip Guston (I mentioned him to the reviewer).
And "Body Tracts" - the reference to informational brochures in a doctor's office? What about other artists (not in this show) who have combined image and text in this lovely and almost musical way?
All in all, Rousseau gives a decent overview of the show. I think if I just read this review and looked at the photos, despite the slight thumbing of the nose tone, I'd be sure to visit it. So there you go. Thanks! All publicity is good publicity, and in this city, even being mentioned as an artist in the newspaper is a gift!

art criticism

2010-03-24T23:30:00.004-04:00

Claudia Rousseau's critique of "This Is Our Body" came out in the local newspaper and online today. Hmm, what to say. I am dying to critique the critique! What is stopping me?

For now I will only say the good and obvious thing, which is that any publicity is good publicity. There is a clear and colorful reproduction of our piece in the paper version - striking. Some less than totally flattering comments are under that photo, but did not bother me at all. Maybe they bothered some people, but I was really pleased to see that image.

The article? Well, I said I couldn't quite bring myself to write out my opinion of its quality. Maybe later. Here is the link to the online version. Unfortunately our photo is not in this one, but you can see "Shared and Open" in an earlier blog post.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/03242010/entemon110030_32551.php

This is Our Body - the Opening

2010-02-26T18:58:00.003-05:00

Wow, I just realized that I never wrote about the opening. A reviewer from Gazette.net interviewed me, as well as "my poet," Tiziana Lohnes - and wrote up a piece for the web. I believe Claudia Rousseau will be writing about the show too - she's a fine writer and a sharp art historian - writes for the Gazette as well - the paper one. I don't even know if she'll like our piece, but the show is worth her time - so much edgy and sophisticated work. Fresh air, if I didn't say that already! The opening included poetry performances, supported by dancers and musicians. Honest to god cultural nourishment, right in my "hometown" as they call it here. I'm putting in a photo of our piece, which is called "Shared and Open," plus me with a detail. Comments welcome.

Collage for the Soul update

2010-02-22T18:54:00.003-05:00

I have four students at the moment, the perfect number for my sunny little room. The light is so pervasive - it reminds me of the sun-room that was my bedroom where I grew up. And now: the students who were somewhat blocked have exploded. That's all I can call it. One of them, encouraged by my direction to work "like a child" and explore texture more than image - well, her series of collages are delicate, sensitive, three dimensional, free, lovely beyond words. And the second woman - in between classes she created a drawing on the computer, sliced it, repeated it, created all kinds of gorgeous patterns to use as backgrounds, and completed a masterful collage using only her own raw materials.
I was so excited after the classes where people opened up like that - I could hardly fall asleep!

Now I don't know exactly how to proceed with the classes, as these students won't all continue. One is moving back to Arizona, another will probably start a knitting circle....
I am open to all kinds of new things, new people, new flows of art and money.

Meeting the Takoma Park Artists

2010-02-17T19:05:00.002-05:00

This morning, way too early, I took the collaborative art piece done by Tiziana and me over to the Takoma Park Community Center Gallery. Just about everyone was there.
After a bit of scoping out and figuring out what might be available for me, I found a perfect wall for our piece. Four hours later I left, more excited than I've been for a while.

THE ART THERE IS FANTASTIC!
I was blown away by the quality of the pieces. Layered, provocative, edgy, strong, deep. All kinds of media, sophisticated thinking, gutsy. Wow. And !!!! these people live here !!!! In Takoma Park!

One woman, Greta Ehrig, is an amazing find. One of those rare people who has retained exquisite sensitivity, awareness and intelligence, and can focus those on and through art. She helped me with placement, hanging, and was so sharp about the visual aspects of our piece that I was almost embarrassed. She saw everything - the imagery, the evocation, the flow - she saw into the piece, around it, through it, and even imagined a thin veil over the whole thing. And so do I. Just don't think we'll go there.

As it is, I have really pushed some edge here. Even the title (had to come up with one on the spot) - Tiziana and I had thought of "shared vulnerability" but it seemed not poetic sounding enough. So I thought of "shared and open." The guy near me agreed that open was way better. Jeez. Even the title feels vulnerable! I guess it is me feeling that. Or is it the work? hmmmm.

Constant Contact

2010-02-17T18:51:00.002-05:00

I love constant contact, even though I don't use it constantly - just every couple of months or so. I was feeling particularly isolated and almost depressed a couple of weeks ago. I knew I needed to tell a bunch of people about my work, especially the show in College Park. Just couldn't "drag" myself to the computer to do it.
Finally, some emotional breakthrough and I just whipped it right out. Five strong images, clear links to my site pages, my blog, a couple of venues.... short, sweet, and to the point.
And of course the BEST PART: responses from art friends, collectors, etc about the images and art news. It's like casting out a bunch of lines at once, not knowing where a spark of connection might occur.
A couple of especially nice ones - the woman who bought "January 1" wants to see the new work in person. She loves it. Jenny Gillespie, a terrific and beautiful singer/songwriter I met at VCCA decided she is ready to buy a painting. Great! She is choosing one of three she likes - all her favorites are from the Rhythm Ground series, inspired by the Noyes School in the Connecticut woods.
A wonderful note from my friend Carol Hamoy reminding me that I am always part of a larger community of artists (especially women artists) whether I remember it or not.

Snow

2010-02-10T16:03:00.004-05:00

Snow is everywhere. There is a beautiful pattern of white ice blobs on the screen. Behind that are huge hanging icicles. Beyond that, white lined tree limbs. It is possible to move back and forth between concerns about neighbors, food, electricity, email, and general anxiety and fear about this storm's effects - and the artist part of my vision that sees pattern, feels the ethereal quality of so much lacy whiteness, hears the whistle of the wind as a mysterious tone. I don't want to look down at the street. But I do. There is a man walking. And I hear voices of children. I am thankful to be able to see in so many ways.

KIKO'S HOUSE: Science Sunday: Your Brain On Music

2010-02-10T10:24:00.006-05:00

KIKO'S HOUSE: Science Sunday: Your Brain On Music
An image of Take Your Pick appeared in Shaun Mullen's blog. How flattering!

Good article!

This is Our Body Invitation

2010-02-09T01:23:00.002-05:00

This is Our Body

2010-02-09T00:52:00.021-05:00

This is a detail of a collaboration between me and Tiziana Lohnes, a Takoma Park poet whose poetry I'd describe as deep, dark, sensual, and visceral. I'm sure that Anne Becker, the project originator/coordinator, remembered my work from the mid 80's when she paired us. This has been a real challenge, partly because what I'm "into" now is encaustic paintings of land and cows, not blood and guts and viscera. So - lots of photos of body parts - that was easy - and TONS of learning how to adjust images to bring out the qualities you see here. Making it work as a total piece - hard but fun. The word part is still in process, and also collaborative. There is a lot of back and forth, as we navigate disagreements about orientation of the final visual piece and figure out how the poetry part will be displayed. I like my collaborator a lot, really lucked out!
So here is the information - we are one pair of a multi-pair poet/artist project to be exhibited at the Takoma Park Community Center going from Friday February 19 until March 27. Reception February 19 at 6 pm.
I will put the invitation in here as well. Come to the reception if you're in town!

Mike Daisey

2010-02-03T22:57:00.006-05:00

Mike Daisey is a genius performer. We saw him at Woolly Mammoth on Friday night, doing a two hour long monologue on money. Money as our religion. Not sure how to describe it. Heartful, brilliant, hilariously funny, dead serious truth telling in every line. Much of the DC audience was not laughing. Offended no doubt, as so many (I can't say "most" though that is my feeling) people in this area base their whole lives, actions, philosophy, everything on the idea that wealth and money determine human value.

On youtube there are a couple of great videos of him - in one he makes fun of (!!) the New York attitude, somehow offends a group of conservative Christian visitors by language or sex talk, and they walk out, right in front of the camera. One pours water on his script, destroying it.
In another video he "outs" "freeze dried theater," as he calls it. You just have to see it!!

If I could see anything CLOSE to this quality once a month or so, here in DC, I wouldn't crave New York so much.

Boston south end galleries

2010-02-03T19:24:00.001-05:00

A couple of weekends ago Carl and I went to Boston and then to Cape Cod. He had two days of rehearsal in Boston and then a concert in Wellfleet. While he rehearsed, I took myself to the South End, an off the beaten track part of Boston, home to a bunch of new "good" galleries.

Funny, I can't say that anyone in the galleries was interested in talking with me. Hmm. Could they tell I was "just an artist?" So sad that there are so many of us artists that gallery owners and directors in a big city want to hide when they smell us coming in the door.

No that is being too harsh. And I am jumping to a possibly false conclusion.

What is worth saying here, about my experience, was that to my surprise almost all the work bored me. I WISH that weren't the case, and thank God I finally found a gallery with dynamite work that knocked my socks off. Chase Gallery. The artist is Cynthia Packard, from Provincetown and Boston.
Her work showed her being steeped in the best of tradition - good form, gorgeous light a la Vuillard, and an abundance of "feminine" fabrics and handmade papers. Yum. It made my day as I soaked it up.

Now if I could think of HER as a peer, I'd give her a call next time I'm in Provincetown to see if I can stop by. Why not?

Body, Mind, Spirit

2010-02-03T19:10:00.002-05:00

This is the title of a show in the University of Maryland University College's huge gallery. It was curated by Harriet McNamee and Bobby Donovan. I have a piece in the exhibit, which, interestingly enough, I did not announce. Because of the slowness in telling me about the logistics - which piece was in, when it was due, etc, and the lateness of the invitations.... I had decided that the show would be just mediocre. I was the opposite of excited about going to the opening last Sunday, but I went anyway.

Well, wasn't THAT day a surprise!! The show is definitely "Important," comes with a gorgeous catalog, and was celebrated with an elegant catered reception with talks, photos taken of the artists, and a general sense that this was "the place to be" for late afternoon wine, fancy snacks, and special people.

Best for me were heartwarming talks with Harriet Mcnamee who I knew from years ago at the Women's Museum (she headed a department there), Helen Frederick from Pyramid Atlantic, Susan Pearcy.... and seeing the work in the show by Martha Jackson Jarvis, reading the powerful words of Carol Beane... and on and on. What was surprising and confirming was the feeling of peer-ness that I had with both the artists and the curators. Maybe it's part of being in our 60's. Survival, thriving, thinking, creating despite odds?

New York Attitude

2010-01-17T01:07:00.000-05:00

I defined New York attitude for the other guests at the dinner party tonight.

I am the real thing and you are not, because you don't live here!

In the company of arts people

2010-01-17T00:57:00.000-05:00

Today I began my second series of classes called Art for the Soul. The two students who were in the first series are doing such advance sophisticated work I am awed. Just awed. The two new students are a bit overwhelmed by the internal self critical voice thing.
I am the least judgmental art teacher I know, so at least it's obvious to them that it's internal. We're working on it. I'm pretty sure that before the 5 classes are over, they'll be WAY looser.

Tonight we had dinner at Burnett Thompson's. We met him maybe 20 years ago when he played piano nightly at the West End in Georgetown. One night at midnight he sat and talked to us. We were griping about whatever - something about being artists. He told us that, in contrast to most Washingtonians who live empty lives of (paraphrasing) quiet desperation, we in the arts live rich and interesting lives. And we were (!!) not to forget that!! I never did.

So twenty years later we actually got to hang out with Burnett and two friends, and talk about art, music, and life. Not a "solution" to the art oppression that is everywhere around, but hey - person to person stuff is the real thing! Same as with my art students. Somehow - the real thing.
Burnett is a mensch. I love that word. It means a particularly good human.

Unknown Territory

2010-01-11T22:34:00.000-05:00

I am applying to Jentel for an artists residency. It seems scary, for no rational reason. The CD of my 20 images looks fantastic to me. The place is in a gorgeous area, with beauty all around. Banner, Wyoming. Funny, huh? There are only 6 people max there at a time, and residents stay for a full month, cooking together, etc. Risky. Why?
VCCA now feels like home to me. I could drive there in my sleep, almost. Every bit of it is in my mind, and I know the routine, the studios, the beds, the land and animals, the staff, and even how to manage with 22 brand new people each time!
Jentel sounds like the moon. 80 acres of cattle farm, with no stores nearby to walk or drive to. I'm a city girl who loves the countryside.
I'm feeling a bit proud of the anxious child in me who fears the new. I'm walking right through the fear, will get this in the mail by the friday deadline.
It doesn't really matter if they accept me or not. Just going for it is the thing.

New York Attitude

2009-12-22T12:36:00.000-05:00

What is it and why is it so offensive to "the rest of us." I need to write about this.

Taffy

2009-12-05T12:13:00.000-05:00

This painting is 5.5x5.5". That is all. Small but potent, encaustic on wood, looking like watercolor. You can tell that I was interacting with the cows out there in the country!

This cow was named by its collector, VCCA chef Rhonda. She named the cow "Taffy." Rhonda is an incredible world class chef - am I giving away a VCCA secret here? We don't go there for the food, but with Rhonda Scovill as the chef, we are fed like kings and queens. She is as serious and creative with her cooking as any VCCA artist, writer, or composer has ever been with his or her work.

When I have the focus I will post some other paintings that were purchased by VCCA Fellows. Poets (especially) responded to the work.

Catching Up

2009-12-05T10:11:00.000-05:00

It is December 5, 2009. I have not written since September!!! cannot even recall the order of things and I guess/hope/assume it doesn't matter.
What is in my mind to write? Feeling like I have to "report" on my progress. How odd, just having a blog can have that thought attached.

So much art biz to do - here sits my guestbook from the show at Delaplaine, with a bunch of nice comments and email addresses to add to my lists. Here is one: "they are filled with sunlight, beauty, and spirit."

I still cannot quite believe/accept that someone just popped into that show, fell in love with a piece of work, and paid $2000 for it. What is interesting is that when I look at much of my work - and really see it - it looks priceless. How can you put a price on something that moves you at a deep level and is soul nourishing. There is no price.

There is "the marketplace." More on that later, or when I figure that out. Hah!

During that show I left town to spend 3 weeks at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, my favorite place on earth beyond my home in Takoma Park. I think a lot of artists feel that way about art colonies, because they give you the time, space, protection, and nourishment to just flow your creativity full out. Full out, a phrase Betsy Damon used years ago, saying that women often have a hard time being full out with their art. (Sexisim sucks).

I had a new and different experience at VCCA this time. Nancy Manter asked to see my work before she left, and she advised me then to have some others come in to see it, as well as to see the reproductions of my older work - the visceral and ethereal stuff. Something life changing happened there - as other serious arts people gave my work full attention and then gave me feedback. Each responded to different work!! And I welcomed this!

By the time I left, and mostly in connection to my open studio, I had sold 8 encaustic paintings and traded a ninth for some writing about my work. One was even sold to a (!!) western European white male visual artist!

I have still not integrated this and "recovered" from the shower of love, respect, and actual money that came my way. And even more came after that.
Whew. So overwhelming to write that I'll end the post here.

Collage for the Soul

2009-09-11T23:24:00.000-04:00

I have three confirmed students. Another woman asked for information and I wrote her that I tend to have an inward focus on accessing creative sources. Did I scare her off? What scares people in art?

Sacred Ground opening and more

2009-09-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday was my opening in Frederick. WAY better than I expected. Lots of genuinely sophisticated and wonderfully unpretentious art-smart people were there, and they talked with me about the work. I was really relaxed too - the first opening of my own that didn't feel like "work."
The person who bought January 1 came just to meet and talk with me. Heartwarming to say the least, as she really loved the work. So did another woman who said it was her third visit to the show! hmmm. I'd love her to buy a piece as well. And our pals Harley and Marji were there, interested in a couple of pieces, and they treated us to dinner at Acacia.
And a good time was had by all....

Abundance

2009-09-04T22:38:00.000-04:00

My show at Delaplaine comes down September 27. Today I got a call from York Arts - where they are doing the Hot for Wax show - and four of my pieces were accepted! They want the work on September 25. One of the pieces has been sold (January 1) and I HOPE that more will be sold tomorrow (the opening).

So September 21 I leave for 3 weeks at VCCA. Carl has offered to drive to Frederick, pack up my show on the 28th, DRIVE TO YORK PA with the pieces for the show there, leave them with the director (a few days late) and then drive back home. This is good. More than I can handle!!

Woah, I need to figure out a way to repay him. I couldn't even hire someone to do this - all of it I mean. And if I could - at what cost?
One thing I can do is attend the Musica Viva board meeting coming up, and help get things organized for all these cool events we are planning.

Art Scene in Asheville

2009-09-04T22:18:00.000-04:00

Last week we traveled from my friend's place in Blowing Rock NC to Asheville. A few people had said we HAD to see Asheville... so we drove down, stopping at Black Mountain (a little town) where no one knew what Black Mountain College had been. Odd. On to the big town and somehow, I don't recall how, we found our way to the River Arts District. Now THAT was something! A bunch of old down and out looking factory and mill buildings had basically been turned over to visual artists, who poplulate all of them with studios open to the public. We found the ONE encaustic artist (a painter who paints with encaustic paint) and spent quite a while in her huge space. Very impressive, lots of sales, decent, actually lovely work - craft oriented (it's the South!) and a bit decorative, but she loves the medium and the work is nice and resonant and waxy. Yum.

What most intrigued me was that Asheville is a magnet for art buyers. DC is not. This woman had been approached by a Dallas curator to be in a show (I need to call that curator!) of encaustic work. And while we were there, potential buyers were milling around. The artist says she can't keep up with the demand.

Unfortunately we don't want to live in the South, and though I am pretty moveable, my musician husband and Musica Viva are not. But woah, would I LOVE to be in a place where art lovers are hungrily roaming around. Is this a fantasy?

Collage for the Soul

2009-09-03T19:10:00.000-04:00

Update is that I have one excellent student committed to do this work with me and she is recruiting others in the neighborhood. I realized this is not just for the money - can't get rich on what I'm asking for this - but it's part of my right work to offer it. Hopefully it will feel just right and there will be synergy, energy, creativity, even love floating around!

January 1 is sold!

2009-09-03T19:01:00.000-04:00

The gorgeous painting I chose for my last Constant Contact and the postcard announcement for the Delaplaine show has been sold to !!! someone who walked into the gallery and fell in love with it. Not a friend or acquaintance, but a genuine art lover. Yay! That may be all I say in this post.
Except that the opening is coming up in two days and I am hoping that even more such art lovers will show up. And this is not to say that my friends who purchase my art are NOT genuine art lovers - they ARE of course, AND they often also wish to support my vision. So interesting being an artist in this society. I have promised my friend Carol MacDonald that I will keep going for "no limits" in my work and work in the world. Hard to do, but I have committed myself.

Feature Article in the Frederick News Post

2009-08-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

Yay, a really nice, well written and informative article about me and my history as an artist - just came out today in the Frederick News Post. I will put the link here. I hope it works. If not, you can always just go to the paper and search Marilyn Banner art, or Lauren LaRocca or Sacred Ground.

If ANY one reads this blog and goes to the link, please let me know!
I don't really believe anyone reads blogs - and I know from what folks say when I respond to one, that they are shocked to receive a response from a real human.

However, now that I HAVE a blog, why not experiment?

Sacred Ground show up at Delaplaine

2009-08-12T00:01:00.000-04:00

I was a bit worried about hanging my paintings at Delaplaine Art Center - not its whole name, but enough for here - because they can't possibly look as incredible as they did at Ceres Gallery. Yes, I admit, they don't knock my socks off as much, (can't light them as well) but they still look like - well, it's often hard to get a distant perspective on my own work. January 1 and January 2... and then Don't Fence Me In next to Til I See the Mountains Rise. YUM! as they say in Julie and Julia. YUM! There is really something there, some kind of depth that is not the kind that I was taught to create in art school.

Not only is the show up, but a wonderfully intelligent and sensitive person interviewed me the other day for an article in the Frederick Post News. Lauren LaRocca. Very sympatico - she was unusually at home in my studio and eventually told me she'd majored in religion and poetry. Well, no WONDER she was at home there. Can't say more about that now. It's a book.
I've purchased a chapbook of Lauren's poetry through Etsy. The real thing.

Noyes School of Rhythm

2009-08-11T23:48:00.000-04:00

I have not written since returning from Noyes Camp. Noyes School of Rhythm. Lately I want to share things on the blog but feel fairly speechless about them. Noyes is a best kept secret that is not totally secret. It is a magic land, a sacred ground like VCCA, filled with the energy of what takes place there. When I figure out how to upload images, I'll include some. If I lived with Noyes Rhythm every day - wow.

Art and Music New York trip

2009-07-21T21:37:00.000-04:00

We went to New York this past weekend. New York City in July - not the place to flock to, usually. But just the right place to be.
Carl had a recording session with Charley Gerard and his saxophone quartet. Yep, a saxophone quartet! Charley wrote a piece for piano (Carl) and the quartet that they played here in DC last year, and then recorded yesterday. By the way, the sound of Charley playing jazz saxophone is unspeakably moving and delicious.
We traveled by luxurious Vamoose Bus.
While in NY Carl and I and our son Gabe spent some time at MOMA, and I saw some terrific never before known about James Ensor drawings. And Ensor paintings. He did more than those creepy skulls and masks - beautiful little gem-like satiric paintings that are intriguing and incisive and funny.
Also moving was a huge installation by Song Dong who filled the biggest museum space on the first floor with things his mother collected over 50 years in one house - piles of socks (neatly stacked and bundled), stacks of clay planters, blouses, bowls, a teeny ironing board ... FULL of feeling.
Then on Monday I met my friend Lucy Blake-Elahi from L.A. and we went to the Neue Museum on Fifth Avenue - saw magnificent trippy Klimts and a particularly gorgeous painting of a garden by Gabriele Munter. It made me want to rush home and paint, which is just what I did today. Trying to get the feeling of that explosion of yellow lilies without just painting the same old same old....

Art and Music

2009-07-21T21:25:00.001-04:00

Why Art and Music? Because I decided this would be my "art blog" but first I need to write about the Musica Viva concert that took place last week.

http://www.dcmusicaviva.org/recordings/dvorak_quintet_1.mp3 -

that is the link to the first movement of the Dvorak Quintet. You can go to the Musica Viva website and hear that whole piece AND the Brahms Quintet.

Funny, if you actually listen to these, I guess I have not much more to say to you about this topic. The music is so beautiful that it speaks for itself. So what was I thinking?

I guess I was thinking that way back when I was in my early 20's I realized that I had to marry a musician. Lucky me - I already had seen and heard Carl Banner play a concerto with the St. Louis symphony. And what a catch - I actually got to MARRY him, and to have a big chunk of my life as an artist be connected to music. There's a bit of teamwork here - I don't think I could have lived with someone who could not understand and support the artist in me. Some women can do that but not this one.

Collage for the Soul

2009-07-07T00:02:00.001-04:00

Yes, it's a book title! and will also be the title of a small group class I'm going to offer in my home studio soon. I've been talking to an artist on my block, Joan Samworth, who teaches painting in her studio. I had thought of teaching drawing or painting (I could do those - having spent a million hours in art school studying ...) but I don't want to. I was feeling very whiny about it all - but when she said "what about collage?" I thought hey! what could be more obvious and congruent with who I am and how I think about people and visual art!

I'm actually getting excited about this now - getting people to watch out for things they respond to, get out those buried things they've saved, remember dreams that can be used as raw material, dig up those old family photos ..... what a kick! Now I need to buy 2 big folding sturdy plastic tables.I'm going to make it totally affordable and also earn some needed income. Another friend predicts I'll have a waiting list. Great!!

So when shall I take the leap and schedule it?

Women artist support groups

2009-07-05T22:17:00.000-04:00

For more years than I can count, I led a group called “No Limits for Women in the Arts.”

It was amazingly powerful for all of us – we got to know each other very well, we listened to each other’s big dreams for our art work and art lives, we got to explore feelings that got in our ways - and we got support to just move right through those.

(Wouldn’t it be great if that’s all it took, i.e., there was no oppression of women artists or artists in general in the real world – you could just get rid of the internalized stuff and poof, you could be seen, heard, appreciated, and paid!)

Actually I am thinking back to that No Limits group because tonight I attended another women artists group – one that has met for also probably 20 years or so. I am a new, and actually peripheral member, attending rarely the once a month meetings. I am not the leader of this one, so I go with the flow. The flow usually allows for a lot of back and forth conversation about life and art, and eventually people have time to share what they’re doing artwise. My tolerance level is low for lots of chit chat and talking over each other – just pushes some buttons I guess – not fair, no attention for the quiet ones, etc. Some people enjoy that setting, and for 2 hours that was it. But then – so little time left.

I made a suggestion: take the last hour and divide the time equally, giving each woman equal time to talk, be listened to and share art. And voila, it worked! They even seemed to appreciate the structure. And I got to hear from women who are still fully behind their art, as I am. Thank God!

Why was this time-sharing a new idea to these women? There is too much in life I don’t understand.

Cape Cod gallery research

2009-06-15T23:21:00.001-04:00

We were in Cape Cod for several days visiting Carl's parents in Wellfleet. We visited the Wellfleet galleries for two days in a row - Cove, Blue Heron, and two Left Banks. I looked and looked, trying to find somewhere that I "fit." No fit. I have deduced that my work is too strong for those galleries, that I put much more of myself into my work than feels - well, "polite" is the word that came to mind. I am generous and not very critical, so I tried hard to find work that moved me. Nothing. A few were definitely skilled, inventive, and I could almost call them art (now that's loaded....). But they didn't speak to my heart, gut, soul, spirit, or mind, deeply.

One exciting thing - Cove has rented out a part of it's space to "The Farm" - an exciting space with real art in it!!! Now that's not fair. But that's what I called it - . I'm not going to even describe it, but to say that it was drawings on paper exploring line, figuration, and space - but nice and viscerally so the lines, and the human touch, really speak to the viewer.

Yesterday we went to Provincetown galleries to research further. We went first to the Strand - and guess what! It is the old Provincetown Workshop space that I attended in 1967 when the teachers were Leo Manso and Victor Candell. Lifetimes ago. The director was absolutely friendly to me and the art was the real thing - nourishing, unpretentious, some of it edgy. The Strand is actually a co-op of nine long time locals. Good ones.

We went to the Provincetown Museum and - what a surprise this was - there was a huge 20 year retrospective of work by Tabitha Vevers, who I met at VCCA in 1992 or 1993. And she was THERE so we got to talk a while. Her work is not at the moment describable by me - maybe tomorrow. It is - let's say it's high end real art. You can google her.

We popped into a few galleries that looked good to me from the Provincetown gallery guide, and in one, Kobalt Gallery, we saw a bunch of work in encaustic. I was genuinely excited, because the work was good, and used drawing and painting skills, not just "pushing the wax," etc. I talked to the owner, who was putting up some work. She let us look at the stored encaustics, handle them, etc - very trusting and Carl says she could tell it was ok. Also I'd told her that I work in the medium. We had an interesting talk about sales - and I left her my Ceres card. I liked her a lot. This was a gallery where my work would fit - at least some of the recent work.

I'm definitely on an active search now. My long term goal is to continuously create good art and to find ways to get it into the right homes and institutions - and to have money flow my way in return. How that happens is open....

Today's art thoughts

2009-06-10T20:40:00.000-04:00

This morning I made a CD to send to York Arts. They are having a show of work using wax, called Hot for Wax. I like the title. I wasn't going to apply but Carl says there is a lively art scene there. Nothing to lose.

Yesterday one of my oldest and most favorite art friends from this area came by my studio: Bobbie Staat. She is such a wildly creative fine artist, and her work is so fine! We traded art years ago, and she even found and gave me a lamp when I was making latex "skin" lampshades - shades of Nazi shenanigans. She loved the result and now owns it. Now that is guts, as gutsy as I had to be to make it! I own 2 paintings by her and she also owns a "spirit ladder" by me. So how cool to reconnect. I asked her if my present encaustics look claustrophobic (they are pretty dense) and she said no, it looks like your face is right in the middle of the dogwood blossoms. Great! Just what I'm after.

Now I still want to say something about my Ceres Gallery show. Despite the lack of sales it was terrific. At the opening a serious collector looked carefully at every piece and ALMOST bought one. Unfortunately I didn't get her card, and I can't find her on the web - she's from Miami.
Then there was a couple, older than I am, so close to the work I almost had to ask them to be careful. The man then talked to me a lot about the work, how much he liked it, and THEN tried to get his gallerist to take me into his upscale NY gallery. Well, it didn't manifest, but - somehow those experiences and several others registered as success.

I do want to be earning real money for my work, which looks like the real thing to me. It IS the real thing, just like Carl's music is. But barring that coming in a steady flow, appreciation from the right people goes a long way. It registers as support.

arts in the neighborhood

2009-06-07T23:36:00.000-04:00

Friday night I went to my pal Alice's big project unveiling, the Takoma Mosaic Project. Pretty amazing gathering, filled with all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors of people who had worked on the mosaic which now makes up the outer wall of the library. Some of my old artist buddies were there, including one extremely talented (I don't love that word) painter who is not doing any art now. I hate when people give up. Everything seems to try to make us give up, especially the lack of "care" of the general public about whether we make art or not. I'm not going to rant about this right now.

Today Carl and I went to the open house of an artist down the street. I've been eager to see her house and work, because the best outdoor sculpture in our part of Takoma Park is in her yard - a beautiful bottle tree. Her work is lovely and full of feeling - also full of Black musicians and funky Baltimore scenes, all done in a Grandma Moses kind of technique/aesthetic. Kristen Helberg is her name. Carl met a bass player there who remembered him from 20 years ago. This guy remembers EVERYthing! including everyone he's ever met it seems - at least musicians he's met. They talked a lot while I poked around and talked to even more artists who aren't doing much art. No wonder I was feeling so down and disoriented when we came home!

artists liberation for everyone

2009-06-01T18:28:00.000-04:00

The workshop yesterday went terrifically well. At least eight writers, six visual artists, several musicians and movement/dance people showed up. Funny to say this on the blog (I am a beginning blogger) and not really want to describe the whole workshop. One interesting part was about oppression and internalized oppression of artists - all the junk we carry around in our heads that makes us think artists are different, lazy, childlike, crazy, "special," etc - what nonsense. Then there is the idea that only a few talented people can really "make it" in the arts - everyone else is wasting time doing such a useless activity which won't bring any real money to them.
The Washington DC area has its own way not supporting arts people who live here. We are peripheral to politics, marginal in general.
I hate how people repress their own, and others', creativity. I don't think it really helps the overall energy of the world.

2009-05-31T11:40:00.000-04:00

Twenty four people will be attending the arts workshop. I can't wait!

2009-05-30T19:55:00.000-04:00

Today I went to a Women's Caucus for Art networking day. Susan Fisher Sterling from the Womens Museum gave the keynote talk. She's a peach, funny, witty, outspokenly feminist, super knowledgable, AND she remembered me!! from 1991 when we had the national WCA honorees dinner (and show) there at the museum - she sat next to me and told me I was doing fine as the organizer right at that moment. (whew) That was a lifetime ago, and I can't believe I am still a member of this organization. I am not active in it at all, but it is finally looking truly more multi-cultural - a huge relief and also attractive.
I showed an encaustic piece during the art share time - I'm feeling so good about the recent work, it'd be a great time to pitch it in other places. Finding those is my challenge.

Tomorrow I am leading a workshop called "Artists Liberation for Everyone." The idea is to get support of the artists for each other, and to teach others to be allies/supporters of the artists in their lives. Sounds good, doesn't it.

Now that I have a blog (thanks to Bonnie Macallister who told us at the networking day how to just go ahead and do it (!) and to my husband who had been nudging me previously) I want to write everything at once. I want to write about my show at Ceres Gallery but will wait until another day.