Capitol Artists Studio Tour - Sept 11th & 12th

 

I'm slaving away for you local folks so that you can move around in my studio (without stepping over piles of who knows what that I was going to work on but then I got distracted) to see where all the magic happens!  The piece above is from my Santa Fe trip which I've printed on transfer medium and will transfer them onto tiny canvases (4" x 4") that can be hung directly on the wall without framing!  Because we all know that money is tight, but that art lifts the soul, I'll be selling these for an incredibly low price (hint under $30).  I'll be putting some red gold leaf on them too!

Did I also tell you that someone will win a print just for signing up for my email list?  Yes, if you're already on it, you can just jot your name and email address on the list and be entered for the drawing. 

And as a special gift to my friends who follow this blog, but are not local, you too can win!  All you need to do is comment on this post.  I'll put all the names in a hat and pick one on Monday, Sept 13th.

And then there's Second Saturday where you can see my piece Opera Dreams in its special photo glow frame, like a light box only more petite at the Center for Contemporary Art in midtown Sacramento.

Fisher Collection SF MOMA - Part 2

This is "Perrier" by John Baldessari, which, while his work is definitely conceptual, almost looks like a narrative to me.

Another artist to whom I was introduced by this show was French photographer Sophie Calle and is called "Autobiographical Stories (The Bed)" and was made in 1988.  The following is what was posted with it.

This has to be one of my favorite Warhols that were shown - a portrait of one of my art heroes, Joseph Beuys.

I rather liked this Warhol too but I really can't explain why, other than it takes the mundane into another realm, much like my "Power Series" does.

This is a Barbara Kruger piece called "Untitled (No Radio)" from 1988.  I love her feminist and political take on most things.

I've heard much about Shirin Neshat, an American artist who was born in Iran and is mostly a photographer and filmmaker - this is a still from her 2001 film "Passages".  Here is the description from the Gugginheim site:  "In Passage, a group of men carry a body wrapped in white cloth across a beach; in the distance, a group of women veiled in black chadors dig a grave with their hands, while a child arranges a circle of stones. These minimal, enigmatic scenes, set to a haunting score by Philip Glass, were filmed in the Moroccan coastal town of Essaouira. The location, where Neshat has worked before, is similar in character to the landscape of Iran: as Neshat’s work becomes better known in the West, she is increasingly uneasy about returning. But geography is almost secondary to the film. Inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, specifically the televised images of bodies held aloft during funeral processions, Passage may be Neshat’s most timely and affecting film yet.
Meghan Dailey"

I wish I could identify this piece by David Salle for you, but I can't as I apparently didn't notice that my camera shot an unfocused photo of the tag. 

This wasn't included in the show, it's a photo I shot of John Maruoka, a photography instructor at DeAnza College in Cupertino (South Bary area).  I was standing outside MOMA speaking with an old friend on my cell when I looked up and saw Maruoka shooting photos of me through this poster.  Of course I had to go up to him and ask him if I could take a photo of him through the rolled up paper!  Thanks John, hope your classes go well this fall!  Don't be surprised if this image gets used in some of my digital collages.

Fisher Collection SF MOMA

When ever I go to San Francisco, I like to stop in at the Museum of Modern Art and when last I was there for my birthday a few weeks ago, we saw the Fisher Collection. In most US museums it seems as if you can't take photos, as opposed to most of the museums that I've visited in Europe.  But apparently MOMA's agreement with the Fishers (folks who started the Gap stores) allows for non-flash photography!  I was thrilled because I can now share my visit with my bloggy and facebook friends!

I've seen Cy Twombly's work in other museums, but this one really captured my attention with its energy of line and color. 

I've only seen steel or metal sculptures of Mark di Suvero before seeing "I Have Lost My Eurydice" that day.  It's an early career piece for him (59-60) and he probably used wood because it was the cheapest material at hand, as many young artists do.

I had never seen the work of Sean Scully before espying "Round and Round", which dates from 1985.  He is an Irish-born American painter and printmaker who has twice been named a Turner Prize nominee.

This Frank Stella piece is entitled "Kyalami" which is the Zulu word for home.  I love the color and the shape of this piece.

I'll post the rest of the images here tomorrow or the next day.

Studio Tour 2010

This is the poster for this year's Capitol Artists' Studio Tour brought to you by the good folks at the Center for Contemporary Art and the Sacto Metro Arts Commission, as well as other arts friendly companies!   If you have questions, you should call 916498-9811 or go to the website where they will have a PDF available for download soon that has a map to all the studios!

Not only will my art casa be open from noon to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, Sept 11th & 12th, but another North Sacto artist, Kim Scott will have  her studio open as well.  She's at 2300 Cantalier St between Arden and Del Paso/Dixieanne (SurrealEstates artist live work. spot).

My studio is in the mother in law unit of our garage in the back of the lot at 170 Southgate Road, which is right off Del Paso Blvd and ends at Royal Oaks.  I'm closer to the Del Paso end.  I'm going to be giving away a print of my new Potency of Memory series too!

Pathalogical Enthusiasm

Being a bit short on funds, but wanting to support Brown in his bid for the governorship, I donated a digital painting (Pathological Enthusiasm) to his campaign office in Oakland. 

Please forgive my dodgy lighting when I took this photo of the piece, but I wanted to show you how it looks as a transfer onto canvas, with acrylic painting on the sides to echo the colors i n the piece.  I've got to a better set up to photograph the work that I do transfer to canvas.  Maybe I should buy myself one of those "photo cubes" from B&H that one uses for product photography.

Theatre of the Oppressed in Afghanistan

There is a theatre director by the name of Augusto Boal who has come up with a series of theatre games and exercises which he calls Theatre of the Oppressed which can be used to raise awareness of issues with non-actors and help people see how oppression works in a society.  It's marvelous work and something that I've been interested in for years as it marries my interests in theatre and politics.

I'm also a member of a group called Women Arts, which publishes a monthly email newsletter of funding opportunities for women in the arts.  I got it today and read about an amazing woman named Kayhan Irani from New York who went to Afghanistan to train Afghani actors in it's use!  You can read her wonderful blog about it HERE.

Here's another photo from my trip last fall to Gladding McBean Pottery.  I'm not sure what this image came to mind, but who am I to argue with my subconcious!

Life and Death

I haven't blogged much about Al Kreutzberger, my father-in-law, but for the past three years, Al has been living about 15 minutes away from us in an independent living seniors complex where each person had their own apartment but they could also eat in the communal dining room and use the other facilities - library, workout room and card room.  It's a lovely facility that seems like a fine hotel and I hope that when the Sweet Hubby and I are ready for it, we can find such a similar place.

Sweet Hubby went over to have lunch with his Dad four times a week and also run errands for him as Al suffered from macular degeneration in addition to many other maladies and used a walker to get around.  He would come over to our house every Sunday when I would make dinner for us.  It became a custom, a habit, a tradition.  It continued when he found a girlfriend at River's Edge, Pat just came along and joined the party.

Those days  have ended for us with Al's passing early on Saturday, July 24th at his apartment with his family around.  I've been thinking about the lessons I've learned from him, as I agree with Wayne Dyer that each person who comes into our lives for a reason.  Probably the biggest lesson I learned from him was patience - with others and with ourselves.  Thanks Al!  The photo below shows him during his last fishing trip to Canada about 15 years ago.  He loved to fish, listen to baseball and classical music, opera, read talking books and loved his family.  We will miss you Al!

Santa Fe Workshop - Part 2

Over the weekend, I was talking on the phone to a friend of mine who is also an artist, albeit a literary one rather than a performing or visual one.  She eagerly asked me how I thought the workshop had impacted my creative work.  With tongue firmly planted in cheek, I told her that I was thinking of setting up a "real" photography studio for portraits - NOT.  I'm happy in my little artist's studio at the back of our lot here at Dragon Hacienda.  At least for now. 

But I got to thinking about how the work I did and the critiques I received have impacted my work.  I know that I'll be a better editorial/PR photographer.  I learned some very good lessons in working with models and materials.  I'm no longer a nude photography "virgin" and that breasts in water are "headlights".  I also learned about myself and other people and our reactions to each others' work.  Like everyone else, I have a tendency to think I'm a terrible artist when I receive criticism.  I also learned to take that little guy in my head, that was telling me I was no good, to sit down and shut up!  I even put some duck tape over his mouth!!!

But one of the main things that I've learned is that I need to be more brutal when editing images.  It was no one else's fault that I was up to 2 AM.  It was my fault because I couldn't make up my mind about a series of shots!  My eye has now become more discerning as to technically what is a good photograph and what might work in one of my collages. 

To this end, before I share any more of the Santa Fe work with you, dear reader, I'm going through the photo shoot I did up at Gladding McBean in Lincoln.  This is a huge commercial pottery that makes big sewer pipes and statues and such.  I'm going to winnow out 6 good black and white shots and perhaps another 6 that I might use for source material for some of my blended collage work.  Then, I'm actually going to delete the rest of them!  This is a big step for me as I want to keep copies of just about everything.

I call this one, "Going in Circles".

Santa Fe Photo Workshop - Part 1

Many photographers, even those who are my friends, are horrified that I will "despoil" an image by manipulating it or adding other images to it. There were many very good photographers in my class ranging from those who blog about it to those who have their own portrait studios to those who use it as a creative  outlet from their careers as doctors.  Yes, a diverse group and then there's me!  I always try to describe myself as an artist who uses photography although I have shot editorial photos for PR clients. 

The name of this workshop was "Dreams and Imagination", led by world famous photographer Elizabeth Opalenik.  In a nut shell she was giving these photographers who had been so conscious of focus, permission to shoot out of focus (amoung other things) to create a feeling or a mood.  I try to do this by blending and combining images and perhaps adding drawings to the piece or pulling it into my Painter program to push color around.  We were also going to be able to shoot models, both costumed and nude.

Opalenik first talked about the difference between taking and making pictures and opined that all photographs are in the end, self portraits.  She also spoke about a book which I have not read yet called "Zen and the Art of Archery".  Then our first assignment, to go out to meditate and then take a few photos from where we were seated outside on the grounds of the Carmelite Nunnery (cloistered) where the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop has made it's home for the past 20 odd years.

I came back with this photo, which I think is successful in creating a feeling.

I was sitting in the doorway that connected an outdoor patio with outside the building.  It was an old brown wooden door with keyhole.  I was going for the other side of the interior - sort of an Alice in Wonderland feeling for me.  Of course as an artist, I have always felt that I was on the outside looking in.

Our next assignment that day was to shoot a portrait of our partner in a beauty and the beast mode - what they thought was the best and worst of themselves. In a way, my partner Helen and I, mistook the assignment,  We revealed much to each other about our childhoods, teen years and our strengths and weaknesses. We also talked about what we liked and didn't like about ourselves.  Then we took photos.  Opalenik came around and started to give us a few suggestions and tips which were readily employed.  I really liked that she would go from group to group to do this.  Helen and I then went out for a bite to eat and then it was time to go back to my room to process the photos and be there tomorrow morning at 8:30 am - arrg!

It was a double arrg when my cell phone alarm awakened me after only having had about 5 hrs of sleep that night.  I staggered back to the campus the next morning for the critique, which was a bit
brutal but very honest.  The photos I shot of Helen were very cliched and not very good technically.  I did get a few tips from feedback from other people's photos: Overexposing a portrait a bit will get rid of those pesky wrinkles we get as we age and to create a blurry, dream-like effect one can shoot with a long exposure while walking towards the subject.  Another tip we got was if the photographer wears white, it will bounce light back into the subject's eyes!  I'll be shopping for a white shirt this coming week!  The final tip of that day was to get an image when something is moving where the subject stays in focus but the background blurs, one should try to pan with the movement.


Of course this was only the 2nd project that I had run on manual mode, so I didn't beat myself up too much.  Today (I wrote this Sunday on the plane) I gave myself permission to begin combining photos to get a better portrait of Helen, which I think I have in the image below.  To me this is her as a Chinese girl looking in on American culture.  Once I get her email address, I will have to ask her if she thinks it works!

Santa Fe Photo Workshop

I truly was going to find the time to blog during this Santa Fe Photo Workshop w/Elizabeth Opalenik, but I had not realized the intensity of the week.  Today is Thursday and I'm sitting in class while other folks are downloading images to write this now. 

We are here at 8:30 in the morning to sometimes 9 at night and then going home to download the process images.  I find that it's hard to make intelligent choices that late at night when I'm so drag-assed tired.

My feedback to them would be to start sessions later in the morning and not schedule so many artists talk
at 8:30 in the evening. (I only made one of them).

This said, I would highly recommend any a workshop by Opalenik for any photographer or artist who uses photography as a basis for their work.

The image above is the beginning of a series of abstracts taken from the old prison walls.

Spicey Santa Fe

Here I am in Santa Fe to attend one of the Photo Workshops - Dreams and Imagination by Elizabeth Opalenik.  But I came a couple of days early so that I could visit my wonderful friend Robin Cole and her hubby Vic Ulmer.  We had a great dinner last night at the Bull Ring and driving back to where I'm staying I saw the most beautiful double rainbow - good omen of the week to come!

 

I'll be posting some really incredible shots later today on the Flickr site

Robin and I are taking a girl's getaway to Taos on Saturday so look for more photos then!

Lucky Weiner

While the NadaDada art show was going on last weekend up in Reno, I decided that I would raffle off an iconic print - Chad Jumps the El Cortez being Pursued by a Mythical Winged Coyote.  Thanks to all the folks who entered and we chose a winner on Sunday.... drum roll please ....

It's Steve Keenen of Reno, NV!  Congrats Steve, you are getting the 3rd print in the 25 print limited series.  It always feels so good when I know that a piece of my art has found a good home.  Thanks Steve!