Blue Ribbons

Ford, 2015. Graphite & oil on canvas, 48x48".

The painting "Ford" was awarded a blue ribbon in the 'Scapes show at Radius Gallery in Missoula. Truly, there is a blue ribbon pinned  beside the artwork in this exhibition of Landscapes, Seascapes, Mindscapes. I'm honored. And this puts me in mind of other blue ribbons I have won. It stirs a deep and enduring gratitude for the early affirmations my art received when I was a child.

Growing up in Walla Walla, it was a happy Late-Summer ritual to submit artwork, crafts, science projects, and produce to the Southeastern Washington Fair. As one benefit, we all received a free entry to the annual carnival with our submissions. It was also a treat to see our handiwork on view to fairgoers and possibly receive a ribbon, white, red or blue.

I didn't always receive a blue ribbon from the judges, but it still meant so much to me as child to receive some public recognition for my efforts. Year after year I was in some way affirmed for my projects. I believe this helped me to form my identity as an artist in community. It seemed that what I created, whether at school or alone in my room, could mean something to others.

The county fair may not be the first place we look for aesthetic edification as adults (though one may be surprised!), but it was a first for me as a young artist. That venue in the heart of my home town mattered. Now, having worked with through another mural project with the students of Willard High School, I prize more highly those quaint chances to acknowledge the creative efforts of children. Let us welcome their visions into our artistic scope, ever evolving.

Pears, 1981. Ink & Water color on paper, 8x10".

For further information about the 'Scapes show at Radius Gallery: www.radiusgallery.com

Commencement Day

In 1994 I graduated from the University of Montana with a Master of Fine Arts degree. That day was truly a commencement for me. I decided, as an experiment, to see if I could make art my livelihood -if only for a year. I am glad and grateful to acknowledge that more than two decades later, the experiment continues.

It is an experiment indeed. Year to year my income from art changes with circumstances, opportunities, the vagaries of the market. Through all of this the spiritual sustenance I receive from image-making is steady. That is what I truly chose, when I chose to make art my livelihood. I can, more than many, devote my energies to my passion.

Yes, I've done other sorts of work from time to time to enhance my income: property management, home repairs and improvements, sketching in the courts, illustration and design, and teaching more than anything else. Teaching is a naturally part of the labor of sharing what I love. Let me continue to support other artists in their endeavors. May we each learn to manifest our visions, and keep envisioning!

I'm cognizant of the beautiful fact that this is possible because of others' choices hundred of choices. Those who have invested in my art work have funded its continuation and evolution.

So in I expressing my gratitude for this challenging, creative enterprise, I wish to THANK the hundreds of people -collectors and curators, models and gallerists, teachers, friends, family and neighbors who have provided support to me as an artist. You have make my living, in art, possible.

I shall continue seeking new possibilities every day, in each season and year by year, with gratitude.

Suite

Ford, 2015. Graphite & oil on wood panel, 48x48".

One of my great pleasures in the studio is working amid a suite of images -the preliminary and exploratory works that flows into an ultimate composition. Many of these smaller studies are never exhibited, and rarely with larger scale or more substantial paintings. However, in addition to helping me  figure out what I want to do, they create an immersive environment for creation. The images within this post are all part of the investigation for "Ford" and have been part of my field of vision in the studio over recent months.

This Trio of Sky Notes helped me to derive a simple palette and techniques to combine drawing and painting in subject matter as ethereal as the sky.

With the Great Blue Heron drawings and paintings, I became better acquainted with the form and stature of this large and elegant wading bird. Repeating the form in multiple studies is also part of an ongoing experiment with combined media.

Ford (detail, circa 36x26")

Finding a convincing and compelling pose for the human figure was another step in composition. In this case I actually scaled down from the studies to incorporate a very small version (circa three inches) in the painting.

Ford (detail, circa 8x10")

What a wonderful opportunity I have here to share the scope of the work in its course and digressions over the past several months. Enjoy!

Face Value

Small Profile, 2015. Graphite, oil & collage on art board, 10x8".

The first assembly of the Thursday Artists' Working Group met in my studio in December of 2009. We have since shared countless afternoons generating, discussing and celebrating art. We have also exhibited together, mounting our most recent show Atelier III on 3 April 2015. For each exhibition we have chosen a common object or element to address in our various media and styles. This year we chose self-portraits.

For Atelier III I embraced the challenge of self-portraiture for the first time in many years. This provided opportunities to regard myself in the mirror, observe signs of aging, and reveal what I saw with my current process and skills. At times I was preoccupied with the logistics of holding a pose, managing light and materials in the studio. But I was, nevertheless, presented with a distinctive means to contemplate my image and image-making.

As time goes on, I seem to care less and less about how I look. That is to say, I care less about my appearance. Now I care so much more about how I look actively: my perception of others, the immediate and wider world, my place within it. I want to see honestly, respectfully, compassionately.

Unflinching, 2015. Graphite on paper, 10x8".

Gray S-P, 2015. Graphite & chalk on paper, 10x8".

Backlit, 2015. Graphite & oil on art board, 10x8". 

There is a peculiar severity to my face in concentration. This is not the cheerful or tender countenance I wish to offer others. And yet this is the way I look when I am looking, a searching gaze. These studies, like all of my work, are essentially artifacts of a process -and not just the process of a day, an hour or season- but the life-long process of learning to see clearly.

Giving Thanks

                

Wild Turkey I, II, III, IV, 2014. Graphite on paper, Graphite & chalk on paper, Graphite & oil on paper, Graphite & oil on art board. Each, 10x8". (These Wild Turkey studies were part of my Thanksgiving feast back in November, 2014.)

I have been feeling so grateful following the Open Studios I recently hosted. After two long years of repairing and remodeling my house, it was a joy to throw open the doors (even in the dead of Winter.)

The experience has given me much to reflect on. I have been thinking about gratitude itself. Gratitude may be associated with contentment, a sense of belonging or good fortune. I enjoy that, but more than ever recognize gratitude as a force, a source of motivation. All this stimulation and affirmation have not only "re-warmed" my home, but kindled my creative fires. I want to live up to my blessings. I want to see them repeat and multiply in all of our lives.

As children -and adults- we are often chided to "count our blessings". Sometimes we do need to be prompted in that way, to appreciate what we have, as well as what we have been spared. But rarely does forced (or enforced) gratitude bring us into the inspiring dynamics of giving and receiving. I'm so glad to be in that virtuous cycle with friends and neighbors near and far. Still and again, THANKS. 

Heroes

     I was delighted to receive an invitation to write about one of the 120 art works selected for The Art of the State, the current exhibition at Montana Museum of Art & Culture. It was difficult to chose from the diverse images and objects on view. Ultimately, I chose Kathe Kollwitz's etching, Conspiracy. Kollwitz (1867-1945) is an artist I hold in the highest esteem. While her work can be deeply personal and intimate, this print demonstrates the power of her socially-concerned art.

     Curator Brandon Reintjes notes that this print from The Revolt of the Weavers series was completed in 1895. "Kollwitz was inspired by.... Gerhart Hauptmann's play The Weaver, which explores the failed revolt to the Langembielau weavers in 1842. The series was exhibited to acclaim in 1898, and at the Great German Art Exhibition Kollwitz was nominated for a gold medal." However, Kaiser Wilhelm II was so infuriated by the six print series, he prevented the award.

Conspiracy, 1895. Etching, 11.25x6.75".

    

      What so infuriated the old Kaiser? What makes this image provocative today, and how is that accomplished? 

     In Conspiracy Kollwitz uses the force of linear perspective to sweep viewers back from the starkly lit foreground to a more remote darkness. There figures merge in shadow, as they also join in secret purpose. Yet within the gloom we can make out their serious and haggard faces, hands clenched in fists and gnarled by labor.

     Conspiracy depicts a moment in an historic drama (the 1842 Weaver's Revolt), but also reflects the anguish of economic disparities that repeat from generation to generation. With this image Kollwitz provides a vision of the courage and solidarity required to attempt profound social change in any age or place.

     I apologize for the mediocre reproduction. I hope you will take the chance to find this etching in excellent company at MMAC, or perhaps in the context of the entire Revolt of the Weavers series elsewhere.

Montana Museum of Art & Culture

Learning

Snatch Studies, 2014. Graphite on paper, 10x8".

Beyond the incidental and much-sought thrills of discovery in the artistic process, I prize art as a means of inquiry. I learn so many things in the pursuit of images possessing both naturalistic fidelity and allegorical significance,

For example, I became intrigued with barn owls as stealthy, ghostly snatchers in the dark. In a search for references, I came across diagrams illustrating how the degree of darkness influences the hunting owl's posture in flight. I never imagined such slight differentiation mattered!

In copying those illustrations, I drew the owl and its varied strategies for survival into my mind's eye, my memory. In addition to their artistic usefulness, these sketches broaden my understanding of, if not empathy with, other living creatures. Yet another reason to celebrate and devote myself to art as an endeavor.

Snatch I, 2014, Mixed media on art board, 1x8".

Snatch II, 2014. Mixed media on art board, 10x8".

Snatch III, 2014. Mixed media on art board, 10x8".

Snatch IV, 2014. Mixed media on art board, 10x8".

By Day, 2014. Graphite on paper, 10x8".

By Night, 2014. Graphite & chalk on paper, 10x8".