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....
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Art and Music
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Collage for the Soul
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?
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Women artist support groups
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.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Cape Cod gallery research
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....
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....
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Today's art thoughts
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.
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.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
arts in the neighborhood
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
