Remember the Ice

I'm in my second week working as the art director at Arden Community Recreation Association, Summer Program here in Arden. Last week we made spin art, dot art, our own art journals and printed leaves on fabric to make into pillows. Wow, and today we started papier mache. I will post pictures soon. I guess after I take some. I usually don't have a break in the art making frenzy to take any photos. At one point today I had to count how many kids were in the room and it was close to twenty. They're hard to count because they move, kind of like the fish in my pond. I came home exhausted today and took a long nap. It's only Monday, God help me!

Since it's been brutally hot lately I thought I'd take a moment to remember the cold winter storm, which I personally loved and thought was beautiful. While I was busy preparing the diptych and sculpture that comprised my June show I also painted 3 smaller canvases. These are 24 x 24 inches and were started on a black acrylic ground. The inspiration was icicles on shale walls that I always see along the highway to Syracuse, NY and some ice I photographed during our winter storm.

Rocky Shore, oil on canvas

Shale and Ice, oil on canvas

Layers, oil on canvas

Meagan Mika, an intern at the DCCA this summer has started a blog about the DCCA. She interviewed me a few weeks back. She wrote a really thoughtful post about my show and other work she saw in my studio, thanks Meagan. She happened to mention these canvases, in particular the one with rust in the composition that I titled, Shale and Ice. She stated that it was quite possibly her favorite piece.

Crash, Hush... Exhibition

There's still time to see my new work in person at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts. The show continues through June 27th in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery. Here's an installation shot taken by my talented friend Carson Zullinger, an amazing photographer.

There's a favorable review of the show on The Hunt Magazine website.

I experienced the post show blues for a few days after the opening. This is a completely normal let down after the final push of installing a show and everything that goes into promoting it. Even though I should expect this mood swing, it was difficult especially with everything else I had going on with my kids. I cleaned my studio for the opening so I took a few photos before it inevitable returns to it's normal chaotic, working state. "Where did I put the hammer I was just using?"

Inspiration, fiber work and encaustic paintings.

Fiber pieces, encaustic paintings and silk remnants.

I've accomplished quite a bit since September and should feel proud of it but I'm never comfortable to sit back and relax. On Sunday I experienced some severe nerve pain in my neck that sent me to the urgent care medical center. I guess that was my body saying "slow down". I'm busy ordering supplies and planning projects for my summer job as an art director at a camp that starts on Saturday. Meanwhile I'm still plotting how to get one more painting finished before my summer deadlines. I guess "slow down" just isn't in my vocabulary.

Upcoming Show

It's June and I'm installing my show with Kyle Ripp tomorrow in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery, at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts. Here's a teaser.

I went back and forth on whether I should paint the wall blue behind it.

I have decided to install it and then decide but I think I'm NOT going to paint the wall. I want it to be viewed from as many angles as the space allows and not just from head on.

I will know when I get it installed whether I've made the right choice. Since this is my first time showing sculpture in a gallery it's been really hard to visualize it. I'm also working on a sound component which will be available for listening on a personal player with headphones, another first for me.


Here is a detail from the painting also included in the show.

Title: "Crash, Hush..." 48 x 92 inches (diptych).

The opening is this Friday, June 4th, 5:30 - 9 pm. I'll be giving an artist's talk starting with the piece I have included in the member's show NEW juried by Roberta Fallon and ending in the Hatch Gallery. The talk will be sometime between 6:30 and 7:00.

Bahdeebahdu

Bahdeebahdu, is a working studio for design and the development of art, sculpture and furnishings at 1522 N. American St. in Philadelphia, PA. I don't know the story behind the name but I know I like it. The website makes it look like an interesting place so I put it on my list when my sister and I set out to gallery hop in Philly. I didn't just like the space, I loved it. We were there on a rainy day in April and it was the highlight of our trip. One of the owners RJ, was very welcoming and let me take pictures.

The reception desk is covered with toys mostly painted white.

Here's a close up. Wow!

Beautiful art, beautiful furnishings, and amazing trash to treasure light fixtures and sculptures. This is excerpted from their website "Warren Muller’s sculptures radiate more than just light when displayed in the context of a home, office, restaurant or retail space. Infused with meaning, they convey a sense of excitement and delight to both our clients and their guests alike. With his partner, Interior Designer RJ Thornburg, Warren has collaborated on projects that include the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History, Digitas Healthcare and the Westin Hotel in Philadelphia."

Here's a picture of the shop in the back with shelves of cool stuff. This place is truly a hoarder's delight.

This hangs outside above the door.

The doors themselves are super cool, obviously salvaged. I had to photograph them from both sides.

I hope to make one of their openings which are held on second Thursdays of the month.

I think they inspired this little installation which my sister helped me hang in my dining room window the same week. I was also inspired by my friend Delainey Barclay, whose installation I wrote about here.

Silk Sculpture Progress

I've been working on a silk sculpture for my June show in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE. It's coming along. I'm planning to show this with a new large diptych oil painting.

I thought I'd show you what goes into making this piece. I start with silk organza and nuno felt it with off white wool. Here I'm laying out the wool.

Here I'm drizzling warm soaping water over it until it's soaked.

It's a little hard to see white on white so I also photographed the same process with turquoise wool.

Next I cover it with another layer of bubble wrap and roll it up.

I wrap it in a towel and roll it back and forth.

Then I unroll it and rub my hands over the back of the silk further working the wool fibers through the silk. In this part of the process I can actually see the wool fibers coming through to the back of the silk.

After that comes the fun part, I rinse the soap out and throw it on the table with force at least 200 times. It's called felling and it shrinks and compacts the wool which in turn makes the silk crinkle.

It's time to dye it in a puddle of dye and let it dry untouched for a few days. Here it is dry.

I have to steam it before I cut out the pieces.

Here's a stack of the pieces ready to be sewn together.

I've sewn them together, put wire in the seams and hung them up in my studio.

I'm working on color and composition issues but in 3 dimensions, instead of 2 which is a whole different ballgame. I'm trying to find the balance between too much, and too little. Then, there's the whole logistical issue of how to hang it.

Here I played around with adding the bubble silk to it. I'm going to make some pieces with smaller bubbles in a lighter color. I have a lot of work left to do! If you're in the Wilmington area I'll have my studio open this Friday from 5-9 pm at the DCCA.

Delainey Barclay

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with my friend and fellow studio artist Delainey Barclay, to talk about her art. Her solo show in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts continues through April 25th.

I asked Delainey how she chose to became an artist. She said her Mom is an artist and as a kid she was always encouraged to be creative and make things. When her Mom was making something she gave Delainey and her siblings their own supplies and they would be building right alongside her. She said birthday and Christmas gifts were usually art supplies. Secondly she credits her high school art teacher for knowing she was going to be an artist before she knew. Upon first meeting her he proclaimed her future was destined because of her awesome name. He encouraged her to apply to Art College and helped with every phase of the application process.

I asked her how she came to be using the materials she’s using in her artwork. She said the aforementioned art teacher introduced her to oil painting and using a palette knife. That early experience of painting with a palette knife is the reason she still likes to create texture in her painting with the application of thick paint. She also enjoys taking ordinary supplies that can be readily purchased at a hardware store and transforming them into something beautiful. A spool of string she bought 10 years ago at a garage sale has turned up in many different pieces.

In her show titled 100% Humidity, Delainey says she wanted to consider not just the paintings but the space around the paintings as well. The oil paintings in soft soothing colors include silhouettes of animals seemingly unaware of the viewer’s presence. She says she was striving for simplicity and beauty, like a really deep breath.

Her inspiration for the work is the Brandywine Valley on a hot and humid summer day. A day when the air is so thick you can see and feel it. The string spheres represent that air, hanging above your head and floating in front of the canvases.

Delainey talked about a painting by Tom Friedman with a full size shovel attached to it, that she saw years ago leaving a strong impression on her, and also Robert Rauschenburg.

You can see more of her work here.

Inspiring Artist

I stumbled across this artist when I searched for silk organza sculpture, Lisa Kellner.

Tunnel Vision

Silk organza, thread, pigment, monofilament. Installed at the UICA, Dec 2009. 73"H x 30"W

Almost Perfect

silk, pigment, thread, surgical pins 42” x 31” x 6”

Slab

Silk, pigment, thread, monofilament 58” x 36” x 43”

These are so beautiful and really inspire me to continue pursuing my own silk sculpture installation ideas.

Here's a couple shots of a wave sculpture prototype, I've been working on in my studio. This is nuno felted and dyed silk organza, wire and plastic boning hung with filament.