Shells, Water Foul, Sculptures and Congressional Art Competition

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it has been a busy three months since the last installment of the Rod Daut and Martha Flores Art blog.  There has been so much going on that it really would be impossible to put it all in one blog. So; to keep it short and sweet, I will highlight the most stand out events and creations.

 

First and foremost is the creative explosion of new works by Martha in which she has taken her creative genius in some very new and different directions. At the top of this list of new works in new directions I would place her Marine themed art.  These works are crazy creative and a joy and pleasure to look at. As some readers may know, I am a scuba diver and have a great and fond love of the sea and all its beauty both above and below the surface; so these new works hit two or more joy buttons for me as I am sure they will for many others as well.

 

Also, her new bird paintings, some of which are now at the Icicle Arts Gallery in Leavenworth for the upcoming Bird and Wenatchee Watershed show which opens in May, are also new in style and content.

 

I love these and if the response online is any indication these will be quite a hit for Martha. Her new flower paintings are not a completely new genre for her, but are new in style and general feel as one can see from this photo.

 

Another new artistic venture for Martha has been her individually painted handbags, a number  of which were sold at their unveiling at the Pybus Public Market for the February art event which featured several local artists and their works in the center of the Market. That was fun and it was great to visit with our local artists and friends while getting to see what they were doing artistically and otherwise.

 

During the month of February someone requested some photos of Martha’s sculptures which made us realize we were remiss in not having a complete photo collection of her various sculptures both bronze and clay. So; one day we spent a few hours gathering the pieces and creating a photo catalogue of the works.

 

That done it was time to get out of doors and enjoy the late winter environment by the river and up in the hills by Saddle Rock. What a joy it is to live in such a beautiful and diverse natural environment.

 

And while Martha has been creating new works like mad, I have enjoyed exploring art installations in Airports while traveling. Of particular interest was the “instrument”,

created by Living Lenses -the team of Po Shu Wang and Louise Bertelson, which is a sight and sound wonder, that is electronically controlled by a computer keypad. People, like these young kids and their dad type an email or text message on the keyboard which is then converted to brail and from brail translated to particular sounds which come out the horn in low audible tones that are best heard while standing close to or under the horn. This wonderfully creative and interactive artwork kind of reminds me of my French Horn playing days in Jr. High… but I digress.

 

I also found some
interesting artwork in the Palm Springs terminal like “Tang” the epoxy paint creation by Tom Holland, which I spied in late March as I headed further south to Indio and the desert of the Coachella Valley which I explored on foot and capping the trip off with a photo safari along the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea which is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, offered some particularly enjoyable photo opts for wildlife of the winged variety. The main reason for this trip I should say was to meet my newest granddaughter, but the photos and the precious experiences related to her I will keep to myself and my family.

 

Back home it was time to pick up my photo art from the Black Bird Bistro in Leavenworth where my art was featured for the month of March. We had a good time installing and uninstalling the art and enjoyed the food and coffee there.

 

Also, this month we picked up my work from both the Confluence Technology Center, where it has resided for a couple of years, which needed to be picked up due to some remodeling and repairs going on there, and, just yesterday I finally picked up my painting of the ‘Cherry Springs Ranch House’ (also known as the ‘Horse Lake House’) which has resided at the Chelan Douglas Land Trust for about a year.

 

And, all through this time Martha has continued to provide a wonderful art learning experience for several young artists in training in her studio class room. The kids love it and Martha has a ball teaching and playing with them

 

Next up Martha will be a judge for this year’s Congressional Art Competition for High School Artists which will entail the two of us heading over to Green River Community College next Friday for the judging and the district-wide reception to be held at 4pm the same day. Related to this event we were at our local Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce last night with Congressional Representative Dave Reichert with whom we not only talked about art but also shared some related experiences along the lines of foster parenting.

Well, this is certainly enough for now. Go forth and be creative and recall the words of Pablo Picasso who said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up

 

 

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Powerful Isolation, Garifuna Woman, Joyful Art and Inflorescence

 

 

 

 

 

Well, art just keeps happening around here especially for Martha.

Since returning to town from our holiday adventures out of state and out of the country Martha has been busy as all get out with art projects, classes and planning meetings for even more such art related events.

Her newest art work includes some of the most powerful and dramatic paintings that I have seen from her for some time. One of these new works in particular just jumps right out at you and hits you with a real deep since of importance. It just screams out with a sense of awareness, thought and, I think, an emotion of ‘Isolation’, even before one truly grasps the subject. And, she has just finished a similarly powerful painting of a ‘Garifuna Woman’. Both of these works were inspired by our recent trip to Roatan, Honduras in Central America.

These works right along with and juxtaposed to some very pleasing and lighthearted horse paintings, a painting of girl with flowers and several paintings of nurturing mothers with children just goes to show the various styles and variety of emotional expression that Martha is capable of depicting in her art.

On the busy artist in the community front, she, just this week attended a planning meeting for the upcoming Art Lovers Sunday at the Pybus Public Market to be held on February 9^th.  Martha will be one of the artists participating in the event as well.  She’ll have her newly created hand painted hand bags and a few small paintings for sale and will be offering a free self portrait / drawing class for kids while she is there.  

Also, this week she attended a planning meeting at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center for the new Youth Art Room which they hope to have up and running by this April.  And, if all of that were not enough, Martha was just appointed to be on the City Arts Commission for the City of Wenatchee which will mean monthly meetings and the opportunity to have a real voice in the planning of various art projects throughout the city.

I don’t know how she does it but this week she also taught an art class for a group of Brownies at the Sunnyslope Elementary School in Wenatchee and just last night held a small art class for kids here at the home studio. Whew! I’m tired just thinking about it.

This week too we picked up her art from Lemolo’s Café in Wenatchee and a nice check as well for one of her works (“Inflorescence”) that sold while we were out of town. This past week I too had to pick up artwork from a long standing show at the Confluence Technology Center as they will be doing some remodeling and painting around the area where my work was showing. Some of these pieces my end up going into my upcoming show at the Black Bird Bistro in Leavenworth. I was to be featured in February, but due to scheduling issues my show was postponed till March.

This coming month Martha will be teaching an art sculpture class, ‘Modeling the Human Form’ CED 585, at the Wenatchee Valley Community College on February 11^th and 18^th from 6 to 8pm each night and will be teaching a ‘Confidence in Art’ class at the Icicle Arts Gallery in Leavenworth on February 8^th from 12-4pm.

Well, that’s probably enough for now. So; keep being creative in every way you can and remember the words of Henri Matisse who said, “A work of art must carry within itself its complete significance and impose that upon the beholder before he recognizes the subject matter.” Wow! Now that is something to ponder.

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Art shows, Pony Projects, Heavy Metal and Farewell Madiba Portrait

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, the rest of November since I last wrote and the beginning of December  have proved to a busy and artfully fulfilling close to 2013 - our 21^st year in the Wenatchee Valley.

As regular readers may recall when last I wrote Martha was in the middle of welding class at Wenatchee Valley College. After that last post I attended a couple of classes with her and together we completed her ‘Pony’ in a stainless steel ring. This was Martha’s second piece using the plasma cutter. The first being the ‘Mother and Child’ piece featured in our last blog and which has already sold. She was so proud of her pony piece... it really is a joyful work that I’m sure someone, perhaps a horse lover, would love to have.

On Nov 23^rd, we had our home art sale as a fund raiser for the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center’s Youth Project Room. This was a great success. Everyone who came had a great time whether they bought something or not. We sold a mask, one of my photos, the ‘Mother and Child’ piece mentioned above and several of Martha’s oils and a small print by Jan Cook Mack. All in all a great day and a great event and the Museum was very pleased with the support shown by our local art community.

 As we adjusted to the changing temperatures the views from our retreat above the valley facing the Cascades was a joy to wake up to every day as winters white blanket approached ever closer.

 

Also, in November Martha continued her tile making and glazing experiments and even these works have now gone to the horses as she continues with her new found love of creating horse themed art.

Finishing off the month and leading into December, I picked up my photos including 'en Vino Veritas' from the Wine Thief in Wenatchee, where I was featured artist for October and November and Martha installed her paintings at Lemolo’s Café’ where she is the featured artist for the month of December. The show looks good there and when we stopped in people seem to be enjoying   the art.

And, while Martha is featured in Wenatchee at Lemolo’s, I have three pieces in the ‘Peace Through Art’ show at the Icicle Arts Gallery in Leavenworth. On December 6^th, we attended the opening reception there.  We really liked the work of Denny Driver as well as a number of the other artists represented there. It was a really good time there enjoyed by all. Martha really thought my John and Yoko piece showed really well there, but it was my “A Land of Our Own” piece that received a lot of attention and compliments from other artists and some good discussion with a couple of young exchange students one of whom could read the Arabic on the piece and thankfully confirmed that my computer translation was correct… whew! That would have been bad if my translation meant something different than what I intended.

To top it off that night in Leavenworth was a medicine wheel circle complete with sage burning (at least I think it was sage as sweet grass would be hard to find in these here parts) for spiritual cleansing. This was a treat as I had not participated in one of these Native American based rituals in over twenty years… perhaps closer to thirty years when I interned at the American Indian Free Clinic in California during which time I attended a number of Pow Wows including the giant Navaho Nation Fair at Window Rock Arizona. That brought back some memories indeed. Thanks to Alicia McKee for organizing this event.

This past Saturday I volunteered at the Icicle Arts Gallery. It was great to see so many folks including tourists with kids come into the gallery, enjoy the art and participate in the free ornament making class. While there I learned about a French potter named Mijanou who offers studio time by the 
hour at her studio next to the Tierra Learning Center outside of Leavenworth. It was great to find out about this and all the equipment and glazes available to use there.

 
After I returned home it was back to work on my latest project… a commemorative piece in honor of Nelson Mandela. Look for more on this later.
As we approach the end of this year and come up on the next I am drawn to the words of my favorite classic French filmmaker Jean Cocteau, who said that “Art is not a pastime, but priesthood.”  Well, that is all for now and till next year.

Farewell Madiba - blessed be the peace makers.

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Clay Fired Horses and Plasma Cut Mother and Child by Martha Flores

Well it seems like forever since the last time I wrote one of our art blogs and in fact is has been over two months now.  And, so what have we been up too in that time.  Well, a lot as it turns out.  Besides the usual activities with the Two Rivers Gallery in Wenatchee Martha has been making forays into new artistic territory.

As many readers may recall Martha began painting horses for the first time a few months ago. Well, since then she has been she has begun making and firing clay horses and refining her glazing for these new creations. And, as if that were not enough, she began taking a welding class at Wenatchee Vlley College on Friday nights. Wow! Yes, I said a welding class… I’m jealous. I have kicked around the idea of taking a welding class for the last… gosh I don’t know how long.

For her welding class I picked up a cool new welding helmet for her that has a solar powered automatic lens/shield darkening system that turns dark the moment it senses the brightness of the welder. What is she doing in her welding class… well, that’s what is great. After her first effort a building a stand for a metal rooster, she designed a piece that is classic Martha Flores in content ,  that she then cut-out  with a plasma cutter and then welded to a large stainless steel ring and welded some rebar legs to for placement in the garden. I should mention that she was given a hand full of these stainless steel rings from our friends Rose and Al Lundberg out in Soap Lake. They are absolutely perfect for this sort of project.

What will Martha be up to next? Hummm…the next ring project… could it be a plasma cut horse perhaps.  We shall see.

Well, enough for now and keep creating and or appreciating art. And, just for thought, contemplate the words of Paul Strand who said, “The artist's world is limitless.  It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away.  It is always on his doorstep.”

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New Oils, Sculptures, Art competitions, and the Art of Marchand and McConnell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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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