Nov 26, 2017

Art From The Inside Out - 2 day workshop with writing and art making Dec.30-31

I will be facilitating this 2 day workshop for Port Townsend School of the Arts:

Art From The Inside Out: Reflect on 2017 & Envision 2018
     December 30 & 31, (10-4pm)
     at Port Townsend School of the Arts in Fort Worden State Park.

Would love to have you join me if it's a good match for you.

Workshop Description:
Learn to bring art to life by reflecting on your life in the art making process. We will begin by utilizing thought provoking prompts for journal writing, other mark making and visual art activities to reflect on your past year. You will kindly consider what you did and what you learned. Then our focus will turn towards what you want in your experience of 2018 – the direction you want to take, the intentions you want to hold, the things you’d like to accomplish. Using a combination of art supplies and tools provided, along with personally meaningful materials you bring, you will be encouraged to create a one-of-a-kind symbolic or metaphoric object such as a 3-D sculpture, totem, altar, or other meaningfully embellished container, colorful drawing or mandala. Your unique creation can support your vision while reminding you of your chosen direction & intentions in 2018.
No previous art experience is necessary.

Aug 16, 2017

Art Portal - Anacortes Arts Festival

This 'Art Portal' was a joint project with Bailey Cunningham, August 4-6, 2017 created for the Anacortes Arts Festival.
More photographs can be seen as slide show video on YouTube at 


Invitation posted next to the portal




More photographs can be seen as slide show video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/UMytp3GC9eE

May 30, 2017

The individuals at Jentel - who made it a great experience.

Part of what made Jentel so richly rewarding were the individuals with whom I shared the experience. The month residency offered an ideal mix of solitude, focused work, support and community engagement within the 'Big Nature' of the Piney Creek Valley with the Bighorn Mountains nearby.
Below is an image of my awesome "AIR (artist in residence) Buds" as we were photographed for our public presentations of our work at SAGE Community Arts Center in Sheriden, WY.   
The staff pictured below were a wonderful, lively clan of special folks who facilitated our residency, kept things running smoothly and answered so many, of our many questions.
The below individuals were staff assistants as far as I could tell...They were totally present when they were around...even though they were not totally responsive to every human 'request'...  They seemed glad to offer their active participation and heartwarming presence none the less.

And Neltje (whom I never met) - the founder, star and guiding light of Jentel... I offer many thanks and heartfelt appreciation for her vision, creativity, dedication and incredible generosity of bringing Jentel into the world...and sharing it with me and our residency group.  Her presence, paintings and house/studio design richly informed so many aspects of my experience!  You can see her artwork and info about her new memoir, North of Crazy at http://neltje.com/.
Neltje

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May 26, 2017

'Ascending Scoria' at Jentel

With help from Marilyn

'Drawing in the world' - Inside & out - Jentel

Drawing in the world - with red barn (upper left)
Drawing in the world II


Edging the shadow - right side of stone,
...shadow changed more quickly than I could 

lay out yarn on the the edge.
Yarn marks

Drawing between moving shadows of
tree and stone

Between tree and stone
Holding the rock.
'Witness'
Birch trees surrounding studios and living area Jentel, WY


'DarkLight'. Installation at Jentel in Wyoming

                                      


 I imagine within us,
darkness reaching for light, and  
light reaching for darkness.  
each offering the other something necessary,
in reconciling our dual nature of shadow and luminosity, 
consciousness and unconsciousness.

Apr 19, 2017

Working at Jentel in Wyoming

'Beginnings' in my Jentel Studio
Thoughts and materials often come together in curious ways. For me art is often more about 'doing things' than 'making things'. My artwork 'grows' in unique and organic ways fed by present moment awareness and deep listening. It feeds both on the worlds within me and those around me as I explore ways to connect, engage and integrate my inner and outer experience.

My month at Jentel was such a gift of time, space and support to allow me to focus on my creative work without the usual distractions.  Now that I am back home, my experience of it seems like a seed which continues to grow. 
But for now I will share some of my experience of that time, place and work done while in residency.

And after the wind...a triple rainbow over the artist and writers studio at Jentel, WY
Seeing and photographing the land below the plane informed my residency time.  I'm fascinated by the similarities of forms shaped by various elemental forces and the resemblance in micro or macro view. The two images below were taken during my flight to Wyoming.

This river form was created from melting snow running over the studio sidewalk.
These are copies of 'Fire Islands" I brought to work with while in Wyoming. The marks came from scans of burns I had created on tracing paper where the fire was extinguished by small pools of water on the paper.  I was impressed how much they looked like land forms on nautical charts.




I was thrilled by the small 'islands' of water and ice on the picnic table. One morning I scooped them with up with a spatula and placed them onto a blues cutting board. They melted within moments. The next day the ice-lands were more solidly frozen to the table.

One morning as I hunted icicles before sunrise, I found hanging strands of frozen spiderwebs that broke apart when I touched them and individual evergreen needles dripping with their own mini icicles.

Icicles from larger branches became elements for 'drawings' laid out on large pieces of petrified wood near the evergreen trees.
These 'drawings' led me to think about how ice and snow might engage a string circle like the one (below) which I had created in Washington years before.
"Being Here" Port Angeles Fine Art Center - Webster's Woods, WA
I didn't have enough time before the nighttime predicted snow or enough material with me to make a large circle space, however I was able to create this small one between the legs of a wooden chair. When finished I positioned it outside so I could witness how or if it would hold the snow and ice.
The next day I was rewarded with this...









I consider my work as experimental explorations, trying to leave judgement out of the equation until necessary. I never know what is going to 'work' or what wont...but I always learn something and never know what will serve some later creation. 

Apr 18, 2017

Jentel Artist in Residence - April-May 2017

Denver Airport wall - before flight to Sheriden Wy
I'm thrilled to be working with Jentel's Artist in Residence Program in Wyoming for the next month. This kind of artist residency program is my idea of heaven on earth! Dedicated time and space within an ultra supportive community within beautiful, vast, wild nature. Also the joy of sharing work, thoughts and experience with 5 other dedicated artists from different parts of the county.

Jentel

Easter Sunday...our first full day here...After Lynn Reeves gave us a great tour of our surrounds and took us grocery shopping, my thoughts turned towards the metaphor of rising from the dead. Curious to see what will grow out of the ashes of my past, fed by the richness of this new (to me) environment. Responding to the question... "Where to begin?"  I lay out some my working materials I have brought and shipped to Jentel.
Center position is held by Rebecca Welti's gift to me - her grandfather's compass within one of her carved barnacles.  A treasure to this coastal person that I am, to find my way amidst this unfamiliar territory.