Well, art
just keeps happening all around us and inspiring us on with our own works of
art.
While I have
been spending a lot of time bike riding in preparation for a really big ride
later this month, Martha has been rediscovering the joys of painting with oil
upstairs in her oil studio now that it is cooler up there. And while doing so
she has created some new twists on older themes of hers and variations on more
recent themes in her work. I love where
she is going with this Venice Dream piece and the Spanish Dancers always
delight anyone who sees them. There are other works in progress that I can’t
show right now that are more experimental or provocative let’s say.
While riding
with buddies up to Leavenworth the other day we stopped in at the Black Bird
Bistro so they could get a good look at my show there. It was so funny that
just as I was pulling up to the corner by the bistro, my cell rang and when I
answered it, it was Terrie the owner of the bistro. She laughed when I told her
I was right outside. I had intended to ask while we were there when I could
pick up my work as it was the end of the two month show. We both laughed at the
coincidence of the call and made plans for me to pick up the work later.
On an
earlier ride I got a chance to stop in and visit with a representative of the
Pybus while getting a good look at the newly completed clay sculpture of E.T.
Pybus by Lance Dooley. Soon Lance will begin work on the molds for final
bronze sculpture of this seven foot giant of a piece. It was fun that the bike rider I was with had
been one of Lance’s early art instructors when Lance was in High School. He had
some stories to tell, but I won’t mention those here.
Sunday, as
Martha and me were to do some real work up near the Wells Dam area, we made a
point of stopping at the Beebe Springs Natural Area to check out ‘The Chief’ a
giant metal sculpture by Native American artist Smoker Marchand. Martha is
planning to take a welding class soon in preparation for some metal working art
projects she has in mind for next year (more on that later) and so she was
interested to see Marchand’s work up close. While there she got into a little
sun worshiping or something I’d say. We were both impressed with how he creates
the sense of three-dimensionality, as seen from a distance, for the parts of
this work that are essentially flat surfaces. The inclusion of other symbolic
or iconic images in the white space cut-outs of some surfaces was very cool as
well. There was a lot to learn here from just this one piece.
This week I
got a chance to visit with Dan McConnell, the featured artist for Sept. at Two
Rivers Gallery. It was interesting to see the mix of playful and serious work
that he has done. I liked that some of his art has social or political themes
and other are homage’s to people he admires like Joseph Albers. He explained to
me how he was impacted by Joseph Albers and his color theories. While looking at the Albers portrait, Dan
explained that he had decided to place the square in the center with the image
of Albers in color there as Albers was noted for his use of flat geometric
planes of solid colors to demonstrate how color contrast creates optical
effects such as making the exact same color look quite different depending upon
what other color it is placed next to.
Also this
week, I got over to The Wine Thief to check out the show there of Terry
Johnsons art. I had seen all or most of these works at Terry’s studio but
hadn’t seen them set up yet. Some of the works are where they will be for First
Friday which is coming right up and others will be spread around throughout the
venue for better presentation on Friday. All in all in was a good selection of
Terry’s recent works. I liked it.
The guys all
liked the art and each found a piece that seemed to speak to them a bit more
than the others. Co-incidentally one of our riders who had been the
communications officer for the recent Eagle Creek fire had been in there
several times and noticed the art but was on a mission to inform the owners of
all the local business of the fire conditions and so had not had time to fully
appreciate the art and was glad for the chance to see the show more casually
before it came down.
Later that
day we changed out our art at Two Rivers Gallery. Martha included a variation of her Dancing Zebra for the new show
there and then we headed up to Leavenworth to pick up the art from the Black
Bird Bistro. That was a busy and fun day all around.
On an
earlier ride I got a chance to stop in and visit with a representative of the
Pybus while getting a good look at the newly completed clay sculpture of E.T.
Pybus by Lance Dooley. Soon Lance will begin work on the molds for final
bronze sculpture of this seven foot giant of a piece. It was fun that the bike rider I was with had
been one of Lance’s early art instructors when Lance was in High School. He had
some stories to tell, but I won’t mention those here.
Between bike
rides I was able to submit art to a couple of juried art shows one in L.A. and
the other in Orange County, CA. Sadly, I know that my work didn’t win at the
L.A. Center for Digital Art. The winners
still have not been announced for the Orange County Center for Contemporary
Art. We shall see on that.
Sunday, as
Martha and me were to do some real work up near the Wells Dam area, we made a
point of stopping at the Beebe Springs Natural Area to check out ‘The Chief’ a
giant metal sculpture by Native American artist Smoker Marchand. Martha is
planning to take a welding class soon in preparation for some metal working art
projects she has in mind for next year (more on that later) and so she was
interested to see Marchand’s work up close. While there she got into a little
sun worshiping or something I’d say. We were both impressed with how he creates
the sense of three-dimensionality, as seen from a distance, for the parts of
this work that are essentially flat surfaces. The inclusion of other symbolic
or iconic images in the white space cut-outs of some surfaces was very cool as
well. There was a lot to learn here from just this one piece. 
This week I
got a chance to visit with Dan McConnell, the featured artist for Sept. at Two
Rivers Gallery. It was interesting to see the mix of playful and serious work
that he has done. I liked that some of his art has social or political themes
and other are homage’s to people he admires like Joseph Albers. He explained to
me how he was impacted by Joseph Albers and his color theories. While looking at the Albers portrait, Dan
explained that he had decided to place the square in the center with the image
of Albers in color there as Albers was noted for his use of flat geometric
planes of solid colors to demonstrate how color contrast creates optical
effects such as making the exact same color look quite different depending upon
what other color it is placed next to.
Also this
week, I got over to The Wine Thief to check out the show there of Terry
Johnsons art. I had seen all or most of these works at Terry’s studio but
hadn’t seen them set up yet. Some of the works are where they will be for First
Friday which is coming right up and others will be spread around throughout the
venue for better presentation on Friday. All in all in was a good selection of
Terry’s recent works. I liked it.
Well that’s
probably enough for now. And, so I leave you to think on the words of Joseph Albers
who said, “Abstraction is real, probably more real than nature.” Have a very
artful day.
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