Artful Kissing, Endless Art and West Seattle Artwalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, all’s well in the art world of Rod and Martha. Well, all except that I am just now having to start this blog over again due to some strange April Fools day computer glitch which failed to save the blog as I was midway through writing it a just a bit ago.

But, that being said and now out of my system, I have to say things are going well artistically and otherwise. First off, as many readers may recall, Martha is to be the featured artist at the Nature Consortium in the West Seattle Art Walk on the 11^th of this month. And, as we will only be able to fit so many medium to large pieces in the car to take over there, Martha has been eagerly working away with inspired energy on a wonderful series of smalls for the show. Those include a great collection of 10x10’s and an emotive 16x20 piece titled “Lost in the City”

And for that show, I have been in communication with Oleana Perry the coordinator of the show who has signed a Latin music duo for the event.  Oleana just wrote to me that ’Madeleine’ is an amazing Latin band…” and for this show, “ she is teaming up with Amy Denio who plays all types of music – either way they are a Powerhouse!”. I for one am very excited that this is all coming together and I plan to bring a few small pieces as well. This should be a lot of fun.

Meanwhile other art projects continue. Martha finished her 30x30 acrylic on canvas as yet untitled painting of a Native American girl with a horse.  And, in the oil studio upstairs she has been working up a new series of bird themed paintings for the upcoming Bird Fest show in Leavenworth. Some really colorful and classic Martha Flores inventiveness are evident in these oils. And, while Martha has been busy working on those projects I have been busy as well.

For me, as some readers may recall, I was expecting a metal print of  the digital painting “FreeTibet” which has since arrived and which I posted a photo of on the Rod Daut Art face book page. Well, that photo on face book went viral getting more views that anything else I have ever posted there. Readers will also recall that I have been working on both a digital and acrylic on paper versions of a ‘PeaceDove Crying’ over a self-immolating monk. The large print of the digital version arrived just as I was putting the finishing touches on the acrylic version and the photo of me with the two works also garnered a bit of attention on face book. Along the lines of these works I have continued with the theme of non-violent protest both in a general way and in a specific piece titled “Land of Our Own” featuring the double image of a Palestinian teen aged girl involved in Non-Violent protest over the building of the Wall which was destroying her families generational olive orchard near the town of Budrus which was featured in the documentary of that name.

Taking a bit of a break from heavier themed works I have recently completed a mixed media image of John Lennon and Yoko Ono inspired by the line drawing from their Double Fantasy Album. Along a similar them I have been working on an acrylic on canvas board paining of a man and a woman kissing with the image of woman as seen from the back superimposed over the faces of the two lovers kissing. The running title of this piece is ‘n-lessly’. This is a bit of a private joke between Martha and I inspired by the words of a song on one of our oldies CD’s. Maybe some cleaver reader out there with a good recall for song lyrics will hear the line in their head and get the joke. We shall see.

While artwork continues so does the ongoing job of getting future gigs and shows. To that end we sent off an application for Martha to be featured in yet another West Seattle venue one that schedules more than a year in advance… that being the ArtsWest Playhouse. We shall see how that goes and I will keep our readers posted.

And, always planning ahead and endeavoring to make the best use of time and gasoline, we will be stopping by the Pottery Store in Seattle while we are out there on the 11^th to pick up supplies for us and for our good friend Terrie Johnson.  Terrie we are so glad to know. He has helped us in so many ways including firing clay works for us and he just did a great job helping us Raku a mask for one of Martha’s students from the local emergency housing facility. Thanks Terrie. We are so happy he will participate in the Bird Fest Show with us and he is doing some great bird themed works for the show right now.

Well, that is probably enough for now as I need to get back to redesigning our house and finishing up the Artful Kissing piece aka ‘n-lessly’ and Martha needs to prepare for her ‘Fruits-n-Flowers’ class she will be teaching next week.

When it gets hard to think and create under the weight of life’s burdens consider the words of Stella Adler who said, “Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.”

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link to blog on Expressions of Time

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/weblogs/arts-in-the-valley-and-beyond/2013/mar/26/expressions-of-time/

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Dancing Martha, Peace Art and Art Gigs Galore

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it’s been quite the week for the art and art projects of me and Martha Flores.

 

First off, no sooner had I put the finishing touches on the art in the Valley and Beyond blog covering the opening reception out in Moses Lake the previous Friday, than I received a call from Freya Liggett the Museum Manager out at the Moses Lake Museum and Cultural Center that Martha’s application to be a featured artist there was accepted and we finalized dates for June and July of 2014… yes they schedule that far out at the MAC in Moses Lake.

As the week progressed the calls just coming through for more art gigs and opportunities. One of those was from Libby Gerber with Artist Trust in Seattle.  She had a great idea for Martha to do some artist presentations on our side of the mountains for them. Another, also from Seattle, was from Oleana Perry with the Nature Consortium who was in need of an artist for the Second Thursday Art Walk at their office in West Seattle. We have wanted to do something in West Seattle for some time so, we made plans to meet with Libby and attend the art walk on Thursday where we could meet with Oleana . Thursday turned out great and readers can enjoy a description of the day and view the art on my Art in Valley and Beyond Blog. The upshot is that Martha will be doing the Artist Trust presentations and will be the featured artist at the Nature Consortium for the Art Walk in West Seattle on April 11, 2013. Yeah!

For Martha the hits just kept on coming this week as calls came and meetings happened laying out plans for art classes closer to home. Here in town at the Lewis and Clark Elementary School on April 9^th, she will teach the ‘Fruits and Flowers art class. Then this summer she’ll be at the Wenatchee Valley Museumand Cultural Center, where she’ll be teaching a ‘Confidence in Art’ class in July and a ‘Fantasy Island’ creativity class in August. Hot times summer in the city with Martha Flores.

On April 23, Martha will be Dancing and Painting Live’ at the Icicle Brewery in Leavenworth and then on May 19^th, she will be ‘Dancing and Painting Live’ again for the Leavenworth Birdfest at Icicle Arts in the Sunroom. Wow! Well, at least she’ll have a month between to let her feet rest.

At my end, I finished another in my series of Peace Art works and placed an order for two of these to be printed up. One of these ‘Free Tibet’ is a very metallic digital painting and the other is a simpler but very powerful digital painting also on the theme of plight of the people of Tibet. This one of a monk self-immolating with a crying dove of peace in the foreground. I’m also working on an acrylic painting of same and a new piece on the theme of non-violent protest around the world with special emphasis on Budrus.

 Earlier in the week I received the call from Alicia McKee that my ‘Time is on Myside’ acrylic on paper painting of Mick Jagger was accepted for the ‘Expressions of Time’ show at the Icicle ArtsGallery in Leavenworth. So; come Saturday I stopped in at Simply Unique in town to pick up my ‘Kingfisher’ photo to replace the Jagger piece which was at at the Performing Arts Center in Wenatchee.

Having switched out the art at the PAC I headed on out to Leavenworth with Mick in hand and checked it in. There I got a first glimpse at the some of the other art for the show and took some pics for my Wenatchee World Online blog. It looks to be a good show and I’m looking forward to attending the opening this Friday.

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link to blog on Moses lake art show and more

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/weblogs/arts-in-the-valley-and-beyond/2013/mar/13/conscience-consciousness-personal-and-political-ar/

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Peace Art, Gandhi and Saving the Earth

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, the art keeps happening around here.

This past week Martha taught her Artist in Residence ‘I Am the Earth” art class all week at the Mission View School in Wenatchee, WA.  She loves doing this and the students and teachers love having her there for this special art project. That not being enough she continued to do her late afternoon art classes at the local emergency housing facility. She was a busy gal but she loves art and teaching. Her students there did a lot of really cool clay pieces that we’ve been firing up in the kiln. And, speaking of the kiln, I finally got around to testing out the old jewelry kiln that a local artist/friend gave to us. He had indicated that it didn’t work, so it has sat for quite a while since we got it. When I plugged it in it got hot, but started to smoke from the control box after a bit. Next step… open that box up and check the wires.

Over the weekend Martha painted a water color portrait of her cousin’s young daughter. This came out really well. I know the family will be happy when they get it. Martha’s other current project is an acrylic on canvas painting of birch trees. I like how this is coming.

Meanwhile since the last time I wrote, I have represented the Two Rivers Gallery on TV and have been working on some new paintings. One is an acrylic on canvas painting that I have decided to call ‘Peace by Piece.’ This work started life as a design I made on my computer. I liked it so much, that I decided to paint it. This piece is based on an image of Gandhi and is dismantled and reformed into a series of rectangles and cubes. My thought is on how Gandhi and what he accomplished is too easily spoken of in a few sentences or represented by a simple image, when the truth is that at any point along the way his quest for freedom of India through the use of non-violent protest could have failed both in result and in process. Nothing was as simple as it can easily be described in a sound bite or a short film clip from back in the day. I hope my point comes through in this work. I’m hopeful that it will as the image must be looked at and a bit of effort is needed to see who the image is and how it all goes together like the puzzle of this man’s life.

The other is a mixed media piece that incorporates collage materials and acrylic painting on canvas board. The working title of this piece is ‘The State of Peace’ or perhaps just ‘State of Peace’. It includes images of Gandhi (both a photo image and a small representation of the extruded Gandhi design of my ‘Peace by Piece’ painting), a peace dove, a Buddha in silhouette surrounded by flames and the colors of the Peace Flag also going into flames. The dove has what can be construed as blood on it.

I’m hoping to have one or both of these ready by this weekend as I am to be the featured artist at the Performing Arts Center for March and April and this weekend is the installation at both the gallery and the PAC.  Otherwise, I will install some of my larger existing pieces at the PAC and take some of my new smaller works to the gallery.

Well, enough for now and remember the words of Gandhi, “non-violence is the weapon of the strong”

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Time: is on my side, Linda Stein and the New Steel Eagle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it’s been an interesting few days and weeks for that matter since our last update.

Martha and I were out of the country for part of that time were we explored and the rain forest of Costa Rica and I photographed a number of tropical creatures on land and under the sea.

Since returning from our trip, art production has slowed but not stopped all together. Martha at her end is in Texas where she has utilized her unique artistic teaching ability to help a young savant to break through his mental blocks to creativity. Helping young and old alike to transcend their self imposed artistic limitations therby opening up whole new worlds of creative expression and fulfillment is a special talent and Martha has it in spades.

And, while Martha has been working her magic in Texas, I have begun some experimentation with sheet metal using my new power sheers to cut out an eagle’s wing. This effort was part of my preparation for eventually building my all metal eagle sculpture.  I may try this again with a lighter gage of sheet metal.

And speaking of my eagle, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the blog  I wrote all the way back in May on the building of the original ‘Steel Eagle’ for the ‘Paradise of Birds and Flowers’ parade float and the recycled art show in Leavenworth has in the last month just taken off as far as views go to the point of having surpassed all other blogs going back nearly two years. The video for this on Gowedia. My only conclusion is that perhaps a number of folks around the globe looking to build floats and birds or recycled art in general have discovered the piece and are sharing it with each other. I dunno. But it is interesting to see this renewed interest in a blog I wrote so long ago.

This past week was different in that I attended an opening reception in Wenatchee, WA for an avant garde feminist artist Linda Stein from New York who came out for the event. I had a chance to meet her and took a number of pictures and wrote a review of the show in my blog in the Wenatchee World Online. Linda liked the blog and Martha and I are committed to stopping in for a visit with her at her gallery when next we are in New York.

Over the weekend, I submitted an image of my “Time: is on my side” painting of Mick Jagger for the upcoming ‘Time’ themed show at the IcicleArts Gallery in Leavenworth, WA. For the submission I wrote the following:

‘‘’Time (is on my side)': is a commemorative piece inspired by the recent 50^th anniversary of the Rolling Stones first paid performance.

For anyone of a certain age this band and their music exemplifies, represents and embodies the time, the age, the fire and the power of our youth.

And, for this artist and perhaps a whole generation of aging baby boomers (the generation that was to never grow old)  -  as long as Mick Jagger, (depicted in this 16” x 20” acrylic on paper painting by Rod Daut) and the Rolling Stones are still playing, and dancing (with the “moves like Jagger”) we are not old… we are still young."

Well, we shall see how it does, but so far the reception on the Upper Valley Arts Facebook page has been good. So; wish me luck on that. Martha, while in Texas till the end of the week is already contemplating what her submission will be for this show. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.

 

So; enough for now and in keeping with the theme of 'Time' think on these words by William Faulkner, "The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life."

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link to blog on gallery separation from museum

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/weblogs/arts-in-the-valley-and-beyond/2013/jan/11/gallery-separates-from-museum/

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