SLEEPING WITH THE ARTWORK

 

Dearest Readers,

I moved my bed into the Center Street studio in a brilliant stroke of common sense. Why separate myself each night from the stuff I’m working on, when lying among the artworks fosters dreams and creative inspiration? It’s like a giant projected TV screen on the wall just beyond my toes. In a twist of logic, I can imagine myself stepping into these painted worlds that came from inside myself. As they say, I’m loving it.

Two new paintings on paper this week: The Threshold and Untitled Threshold #2

The Threshold-35"x 39"-Acrylic on kraft paper

Untitled Threshold#2-35"x 39"-Acrylic and oil stick on kraft paper

And a new self-portrait entitled Day #13-Enlightened

Day 13-Enlightened-11"X17"-India Ink and pastel on colored paper

Friend and artist Michael Beale and I spent a day at Mass MOCA in North Adams, Mass...an hour and a half drive south of Rutland VT, just over the border. What a treat!

This repurposed 19^th century mill has 26 buildings on site creating an interlocking landscape of courtyards, bridges and passageways, plus some giant spaces inside that invite installation artists to think BIG. Three group shows and one multi-room installation on view are outstanding. I include a favorite image from each. (Hard to choose!)

 Oh, Canada, a sweeping selection of contemporary Canadian artists working in a range of new and traditional media.

Sand-Light-and-Slo-Mo-Water-Bottle-Windmills, Oh, Canada at Mass Moca

  Invisible Cities, bringing together 10 artists “who re-imagine urban landscapes, both real and fantastical”. The title comes from Italo Cavali’s 1972 book that expands upon Marco Polo’s vivid descriptions of the cities of Kublai Khan’s fading empire.

Compound, by Sopheap Pich, rattan, in Invisible Cities, Mass-Moca

 

 

 

Making Room, The Space Between Two and Three Dimensions, a wonderful show by a selection of national and international artists working in hybrid art that combines new technology with traditional or outmoded analog media.

Harem, by Inci Eviner, video projection on etching_Making Room at Mass Moca

Sanford Biggers' Installation The Cartographer’s Conundrum 

takes its inspiration from the Afro-Futurist painting The Quilting Party by the muralist John Biggers (1924-2001), who may or may not be a relative. The space is huge. Biggers uses musical instruments, church pews, mirrors, plexi, large screen video projections, floor art and a re-purposed pre-Civil War quilt that he beautifully makes his own.

 This week I visited Ginger Birdsey’s home and studio in Ripton again for a lunch by her pond,

and a look at her new wood houses and ladders for the Middlebury Art Fair in mid-July.

Ginger Birdsey in studio with Houses and Ladders in progress

Ginger Birdsey with painted houses

We drove together to Burlington for the opening of Five – artworks by five former assistants to the renowned Vermont printmaker Sabra Field at the Frog Hollow exhibition space downtown. One of the “5”, is the Atlanta printmaker, clay artist and friend, Marie Weaver–nice to see her new clay work, framed prints and book art.

Marie Weaver on right and Ginger Birdsey on left with Marie's books and framed woodcuts_Frog Hollow, Burlington VT 6.28.2012

 I leave you with a poem written this week early in the day.

WALKING OUTSIDE IN THE EARLY MORNING

A memory lures me outdoors

Anticipating something on the rim of remembering.

The smell of keen edged loam

Opens a forgotten channel

That tickles an itch long covered

By neglected thoughts of home.

Released from the logic of sunny days

The skin of sky unloads a sudden cleansing downpour,

Exposing my bundled nest of dirt and dreams.

I stand on the stoop in my quiet pajamas

Inhaling this pungent snarl of life and decay.

-Friday 6.29.2012