David Zuttermeister - A New Symbolism

David Zuttermeister

San Francisco’s David Zuttermeister crafts found-object installations and sculptures that seem to generate a new symbolism of the body that, while utterly new, somehow feel ancient and familiar, touching a deep chord within the viewer. It is not uncommon to find Zuttermeister found object pieces whose hearty ingredients might include towels, sugar cubes, poster tubes, bowling balls, fluorescent lights or ceramic bunnies made to look like dinosaur bones or some elaborate machine.



A transplant to San Franciso from Portland, Oregon David makes the following statement:


The last year in my studio has allowed me to hone a process which privileges accident as the primary mode of making. It is deliberately ad-hoc and haphazard. The realization of some intention is often set aside as future raw material, in favor of the immediate use of the by-product of its creation. The resulting work is often precarious and fragile, threatening its own destruction. My work usually attempts to place myself in relation to some social event or situation, to talk about its own process of construction, and to relate a kind of Zen anxiety with the world.





Often, the shadows cast by his assembled objects play as important a role as the objects themselves, forming entire sections of the assemblages. An interesting property of shadows is that their meaning can change as the light source moves, creating whole new pieces.





Dog Hotel



David's work addresses a keen awareness of bodies and mortality.

Temple of Morteriality (Twin Anxieties)

He recently exhibited at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska.

Altin Rizi – Atelier of Mosaics

Altin Rizi

Altin Rizi uses traditional Roman setting techniques to create his work. He views mosaics as a form of living art.



He has been creating and designing art professionally in a variety of mediums since 1996, following his education in painting and graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana,the capital and largest city of the Republic of Albania.



Altin now has a studio in Berkeley, and if you fall in love with his art and want to learn the traditional methods that he uses, you can take classes from him! He offers classes to small groups of people so that each person will receive lots of individual attention.

Studio RIZI
Altin Rizi - Atelier of Traditional Mosaics
2137 Ashby Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94705
510-206-4716




Although mosaic is his preferred medium, Altin has worked in many fields of art and design, including both two and three dimensional work. His work with mosaic art and painting has spanned European venues, including Milan and Paris.


For Altin, mosaic is about the space, the environment, and the ability of living it in everyday life.



He enjoys enhancing architectural elements.



Altin is sensitive to the comfort, beauty, and freshness that mosaic can offer to transform so many different kinds of spaces.




More recently, he has taken on stagecraft and sculptural design projects for parks, hotels, and theaters. He is, indeed, a man of many talents!


You may read more about Altin and DEA Mosaics HERE.

Getting Ahead...Live Sculpture

Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave.....

Someone gave me a very nice, large loom and spinning wheel awhile back but I have yet to learn to use them. I have long been attracted to woven fiber arts, however. From basketry to blankets, woven arts have a deep cultural history that traces back to ancient times. Weaving focuses on the materials and on the manual labor involved as part of its significance.



Twylene Moyer, in her article, Handle with Care: Loose Threads in Fiber, is paraphrased to define woven fiber art as, "When the conscious choice of fiber as medium sets the agenda and the visceral and tactile import of fiber materiality forms an end in itself."

Today, I would like to highlight three contemporary fiber artists whose work caught my attention the last time I was in Santa Fe.

Kate Anderson uses Art Appropriation to create her beautiful, woven contemporary teapots. Inspired by such artists as Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wessleman, Anderson knots waxed linen images that grab the viewer with dynamic shapes and color. Each piece is cleanly finished with stainless steel which compliments the overall design.
Kate Anderson



Anderson states, "Making sculptural art forms by utilizing the repetitive basketry technique called knotting forms the basis of my work regarding content and the blurred edges where art and craft meet. High-art/low-art references come into play by utilizing the teapot, a common craft object, as my sculptural archetype juxtaposed with images appropriated from the world of “high art”. Quotation, allusion, abstraction, and art/craft references all play a part as the knotting process simultaneously creates both structure and image."







Lanny Bergner makes large scale woven sculptures that are an exploration of the unique and infinite variety of forms and patterns found in nature. They are a testament of his love of the natural world. To create his glorious odes to nature, Bergner coils, twists, wraps and knots the materials, with skill and control. He often pairs natural materials such as gourds with industrial metals like screening, wire, silicone and monofilament. Bergner’s work ignites the child-like curiosity in all of us, each piece a celebration of the wonder of the world.

Lanny Bergner





"By using hands-on processes of coiling, fraying, twisting, wrapping, glueing and knotting, I transform industrial screening, wire, silicone and monofilament into organic constructions. My desire is to create works that appear to have grown into being. I love the natural world and am constantly inspired by its beauty and infinite varieties of form. This, in combination with my fears, quirks and joys, results in works that celebrate the wonder of it all."

Lanny Bergner

Jill Nordfors Clark is inspired by the native people of the far north who historically used seal and walrus gut to make functional items such as clothing, bags and hats. She borrows from these tradtions to form her intriging non-traditional baskets. In these unique sculptural pieces, Clark uses elegant needle lace stitches in hog gut. These stitches bind together an array of natural and synthetic materials such as apple tree branches and parachute cord. The resulting forms are incredibly dynamic, luiminous scultures that straddle the line between natural and man-made.

Jill Nordfors Clark

Jill uses hog casings as one of the media for this piece:



"Because of my embroidery background, I often use needle lace stitches (sometimes in combination with twigs), threading the wet casing on a needle, then stitching over a mold to form an open grid-like structure. In other work, I layer sheets of wet casing in a process similar to papier mache', sandwiching threads, wire, and found materials between layers. More recently I dye the casing before stitching, but I still prefer the warm caramel color of the dried natural material."
Jill Nordfors Clark

Vernissage 2008: San Francisco Art Institute MFA Graduate Exhibit

John and I caught the last day of the San Francisco Art Institute Master of Fine Arts exhibit over the weekend. The show took over the massive Herbst Pavillion at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco where students exhibited their collective bodies of work.There were well over one hundred artists in this magnificent show, so we saw eye candy at every turn.


Since the 1940’s, the SFAI's interest has been in educating artists who will become creative leaders in their respective fields. In the 1950’s SFAI was responsible for developing the Bay Area Figurative Group founded by painters Elmer Bischoff, David Park, Joan Brown and Frank Lobdell to name a few, and the Funk Movement a fusion of abstract expressionist, figurative and jazz.


In 1961 S.F. Art Institute expanded to include performance and conceptual art, graphic art, typography and political social documentary. Offering photography in 1946 with Ansel Adams establishing the 1st fine art photography department at the school, in 1968 Annie Leibovitz graduated from SFAI.

In the current crop of graduate work, notable are Aria Tudanger’s life sized “Bear” and Lisa Huffman’s “Label, Catalogue of Images”; dresses, shirts, pants with buttons, designer labels, washing instruction labels and price tags tacked, sewn, strung all over each piece, complete with a labeled Barbie dress. Especially notable were the delightful miniature clay and bronze works of William Slavis. What follows are some random photos that I took to give you some highlights of what we experienced.

These pictures depict only one of the miniature scenarios that were created by William Slavis. There were dozens in all...little people in drum circles, running, climbing, having sexual relations.... He made the plastic versions of his bronze figures available to viewers via a vending machine.
William Slavis

William Slavis



This brilliantly delicious painting was made by Korean artist, Olivia Im. Her paintings examine themes of “otherness” by depicting the effects of introducing an outsider into a particular social group. Food-based characters play out psychological battles inspired by Im’s observations of behavioral patterns in children.
Hoyeon Olivia Im

One of my favorite parts of the show was about labels and was created by Lisa Hoffman.
Lisa Hoffman

If we stop long enough to take a second look at the clothes we wear, the symbols and text provided reveal numerous stories. Labels contain information about where an item was made, the fiber content, and care instructions. These become clues to stories of industrialization, globalization, and socialization. Inventory codes and style numbers can be traced back to giant corporate offices far removed from the laborer or the consumer. These companies are responsible for developing billions of products that flood the marketplace regularly, tempting our desires for the item of the moment. Because of current business practices we are able to pay so little for most of the garments we own. It is not uncommon to buy something because it is cheap, wear it only once, and then toss it away. Consumerism that promotes progressively greater levels of consumption can not continue. These days paying a little more, buying a little less, and making and buying locally makes a lot of sense.
Lisa Hoffman

Lisa Hoffman

Aria Tudanger's work was pithy and disturbing at once. Her larger-than-life-sized "bear" and racks of patterns labeled "Not ME" told a story of identification...or was it lack of identification...?
Aria Tudanger

Shortcut to a New You Pattern

Aria Tudanger

Emmanuelle Namont Kouznetsov's pigment prints from her series, "De Rien ..of nothing" were the result of an intense period of investigation and artistic development.
Emmanuelle Namont Kouznetsov

Emmanuelle Namont Kouznetsov

Ryan Verzaal is an artist, musician and cultural nomad, who exhibited these huge slabs of unidentifiable "meat" on ornate pedistals . His work derives from confronting and questioning those in positions of power and privelege. I was fortunate enough to capture this image of a dog questioning what the hell kind of meat was in front of him.
Ryan Versaal

Remembering_____ The Art of Mountain View Cemetery

Mausoleum
In honor of Memorial Day, I’ve decided to write about cemetery art. All photos contained in this entry are my own.

I have never considered visiting cemeteries to be ghoulish nor morbid. On the contrary, I find them peaceful, beautiful places that are, more often than not, full of interesting art treasures... from mosaics, to the carved stone statuary to the ironwork and cast bronze memorial plaques and urns...I am usually delighted.
Urn

This is a small mosaic (about 12" x 10") made with gold smalti that is located in the back of a dark crypt in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. When the sun moves toward the west and shines through the door, the background of the piece is illuminated and the gold sparkles in the light.

Mosaic

One of our Japanese foreign exchange students told me that cemeteries are the best places to meditate. However, I love them best for picture taking venues. I used to tape paper on the tombstones in the old cemeteries where we lived in Western Massachusetts and make rubbings. These days, it's all about the camera.

Ironwork

Here in the Bay Area, we have some incredible cemeteries. All of these photographs are from the Mountain View Cemetery at the end of Piedmont Avenue. Every visit there is like a trip back in time, reminiscent of shaking hands with railroad builder Charles Crocker, admiring the brushwork of Yosemite landscape painter Thomas Hill, and hearing architect Julia Morgan rhapsodize about her designs for Hearst Castle.
White Marble Bust

Bust detail

Designed by noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (whose other credits include New York's Central Park), Mountain View's acreage offers spectacular vistas of the San Francisco Bay's surrounding areas. The cemetery is an impressive repository of local and state history and some incredible art.
Hope

Mountain View is distinguished from other cemeteries by its architect's vision of man and nature and their relationship to each other. It serves as an example of the humankind's search for a civilized life in harmony with the environment.

Gabriel


Between the art and the breathtaking sunset views of the Bay, the place lends new meaning to the words, "Rest in Peace".

Landscape

Annie Leibovitz - Speaking With Her Lens

Annie Lebovitz

I have just come from the closing day of the Annie Leibovitz retrospective exhibition at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. It was a mob scene, but I'm glad I went. My initial response to these photographs is to realize that perhaps her most important work is that for which she is least famous. This is not meant to discredit her shots of celebrities, because they are as fabulous up close and personal as they are reproduced in her books and other places, but many people aren't even aware of the massive black and white American landscapes that she took during her travels...


...and the chilling shots she took of women who were victims of domestic violence or the pictures that recorded the violence in Rwanda and Sarajevo.

Lebovitz had been riding in a car en route to photograph Miss Sarajevo when a mortar rocket hit a young boy on a bicycle right in front of her vehicle. (above) She helped get him into a car that rushed him to the hospital, but he died before they arrived.

This current collection of photographs are the elements that made up her life with her partner, Susan Sontag, her parents, her three children....
Susan Sontag

Leibovitz once remarked that there was no distinction between her professional assignments and her personal life, that her life consisted of one common thread of photography that linked both elements together....so while the photos of celebrities were, indeed, present, this exhibit was courageous in so many other ways.
Demi Moore

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. of England

Nicole Kidman

One of the most powerful images in the collection is a Cabinet Room formal group pose of President Bush, Dick Cheney, Condeleeza Rice, Colin Powell, George Tenet, Andrew Card and Donald Rumsfeld taken in December 2001. Except for Cheney's omnipresent smirk, their faces are difficult to read.
The Bush Cabinet

When the show first went up in Brooklyn in 2006, Leibovitz was asked during the media preview what makes that picture so uncomfortable to look at.
"I think it's the people," she said.

I first became cognizant of Lebovitz' work back in the early 80's when I lived in Houston. My good friend, Al, who had known her for some time, told me that he had bumped into Annie on his way to Austin one day and accompanied her to photograph Elvis Costello. The photo later appeared in her first book.


The early works from this book are among her most famous.

Christo

On December 8, 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot with John Lennon for Rolling Stone, promising him he would make the cover. After she had initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone (she would recall that,nobody wanted [Ono] on the cover."), Lennon insisted that both he and Yoko Ono be on the cover. Leibovitz then tried to recreate the kissing scene from the Double Fantasy album cover, a picture that she loved. "What is interesting is she said she'd take her top off and I said, 'Leave everything on'...not really preconceiving the picture at all. Then he curled up next to her and it was very, very strong. You couldn't help but feel that she was cold and he looked like he was clinging on to her... I shot some test Polaroids first and when I showed them to John and Yoko, John said, 'You've captured our relationship exactly. Promise me it'll be on the cover.' I looked him in the eye and we shook on it." She was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon. He was shot and killed five hours later.
Lennon and Ono

National Public Radio talks about this exhbit and interviews Annie Lebovitz HERE.

The Wedding Night of Tobias and Sarah

Have any of you seen the film, "Home for the Holidays" with Holly Hunter and Robert Downey, Jr.? Hunter plays an art restoration specialist in that film. This is an occupation that has always interested me, but I never got around to pursuing it. Most people aren't aware of the intensity of saving an old painting, restoring it. With this in mind, I have departed from the usual feature of art and artist on my blog today so I can share a step-by-step visual of the process involved in restoration. In this case, a very old painting had been split. This is the story of how the two pieces were reunited into one painting. (Thanks to J.W. for sending this to me.) I hope you enjoy it.

Bredius never saw the painting "the wedding night of Tobias and Sarah" as it is now in the Bredius Museum. He was owner of the right-hand part, the other part was in the 'Centraal Museum' in Utrecht. In 1996 two restorers from the Municipal Museum in The Hague, Wietse van Noort en Jan Venema, cleaned and restored the painting and put them back together again.

Initial reconstruction took place in the sixties. On the left part, two wingtips and the sheath of a dagger appeared after a restoration. This proved that the two parts had actually been one painting once. Now it also became clear that the green-clad figure is the arch-angel Rafaël who is rendering the evil spirit harmless with a burnt offering. In 1993 the art historian Albert Blankert proposes to restore the two pieces to one whole again. They decide to execute the plan at the restoration workshop of the Municipal Museum.

Both paintings had yellowed, but one was worse than the other. So the old varnish had to be removed to match the colors left and right. Especially on the left part many green-brown overpaintings were discovered, for instance on the side of the table. These may have been later corrections on Jan Steen's somewhat free and lively way of painting.

Especially in the grey smoke the layer of paint appeared very worn, i.e. many black dots from the background became visible. The macro-photograph shows how below the thick brownish layer of varnish the pattern of wear reveals itself.

Jan Steen is a painter who first roughly colours the background and only later fills in the foreground detail. Whenever he makes corrections such as here the corner of the tabletop which was changed from straight to oblique, it will become visible in the long run.


This is a macro-photograph of the tabletop edge which shows clearly how someone who thought Jan Steen's way of painting too untidy, overpainted it with a solid brown layer. The granular pattern shows that the pigment used to be much coarser than it is now.

Before a painting is cleaned, it is always hard to predict the condition of the layers of paint below the old varnish. Here, on the left upper part of the Tobias-and-Sarah half, the image seems reasonably well-preserved. There is crackle, but that is normal in old paintings.

Only after the cleaning the left side shows itself severely damaged: gaps and scorchmarks appears, possibly caused by a fire. The light- and dark yellow patches are old holes which at various times in the past were filled and retouched.

Old damage in the red chair also reappeared. One can see clearly how the painting was cut right through the depiction. Half a chair is quite unusual in 17th century paintings. Steen, who often depicted this chair in his interiors, always painted all of it.

After removing the old varnish, the two separate canvasses have to be joined. This is done through a so-called re-canvassing: a new canvas is attached behind the old one. The two paintings had in the past been re-canvassed separately, so they had to be peeled off in order to fit together on the new canvas. Here you see both parts, together with the patches for the missing corner and the strip in the middle,on the re-canvassing table, where a slight underpressure can be applied.

Through the gleaming plastic-foil the surface relief of the paintings is clearly visible. When the old and the new canvas are pressed together by the underpressure, the recanvassing table can be heated so the adhesive paste, a mixture of wax and resin, melts. After cooling down this provides a lasting adhesion.


Here the two halves have been attached to the new canvas, becoming a single object. Now all the unevenness between the old and the new canvas has to be removed. For that purpose, a strongly skimming light is shone from the side.


In order to function as painting, the canvas has to stretched on a canvas stretcher. Of course this has to be a new one, because the size of the painting has changed completely. The dimensions have to be determined very carefully, so that the whole of the picture can be seen in front and not obscured by the groove of the frame.


Also the folding of the edges had to be done with maximum precision, so that the image would not show up oblique on the canvas and therefore in the frame. Accurate to the millimeter, the unpainted edges have to be divided equally across all sides.

When the stiff canvas has been folded correctly across the stretcher, it is fastened with sharp carpet nails. To prevent anything going wrong during the stretching, the edges are watched carefully on all sides.


The recanvassing and stretching is done. Now the painting can be varnished, after which the retouching can begin. A photograph in this stadium is essential, to be able to determine later at any moment which parts exactly were done by Steen and which details and larger parts have been added later.

Tobias' legs during the retouching. Dot by dot the worn old layer is touched with new, adjusted paint. Note how the structure, the relief and the legibility of the untreated leg do not show to the advantage, whereas to the right everything looks as it was intended.


The pillow to the left of the pillar has been retouched, to the right it hasn't. The relief and the texture are gradually returning. The retouching process takes forever, it is also the least spectacular phase of the restoration. It does show however, what has been gained.


Another example: to the right of the seam, the wing has been retouched. The damage on the left side was caused by being overpainted for many years: only in the 1950's the wing was uncovered again.


In a few months the ruins of an old painting turn into a legible and enjoyable work of art. The retouches which are least problematic are done first, so their results can point the way for the more difficult parts.

Before the filling in of the larger missing parts there was much consultation with the parties concerned, experts and interested people. On strips of paper the first proposals for shape and color were laid down, and here the possibilities are being discussed with prof. Van de Wetering, restoration expert, and Ariëlle Veerman, restorer from the government department.


The missing wingtip also had to be completed. Without wanting to imitate Jan Steen, a convincing filling still had to be made. The spread-out wing of a large mounted seagull from the Museon served as a useful model.


It is good to realize that, in spite of all the efforts, we are still dealing with the remaining middle part of a larger painting. The painting probably used to be much larger, especially on the left and the top side, possibly several decimeters. The kneeling couple might have been the centre of the composition. The restored parts are all that is left of a large, monumental composition. All one can do is to try to picture it in the mind's eye.

Yulia Hanasen - Razzle Dazzle and WOW!

Yulia Hanasen

All of Yulia Hanasen's mosaics are fabulous, but it was this portrait of Albert Einstein that first caught my attention. There are many renderings and photographs of the man, but none that catch that expression of something extra in the same way that Yulia's portrait does. Can't you just see the wheels turning in his mind?

Albert Einstein

All of Yulia's mosaic works seem to have that little something extra that causes one to pause and marvel. Her precise fitting techniques, the color choices that seem to reach out and grab the viewerr, the exacting placement of each piece of glass or tile....so well-thought-out...perefect but not static.... These are mosaics to dream about.

Venus


Yulia Hanansen is a second generation mosaic artist who is not at all new to mosaic art. Her Mosaic Sphere Studio, LLC will be celebrating its 7th year anniversary this year. The lofty mission of the studio is to build greater public awareness about mosaics, and to exhibit the superb qualities of this art form.

Purple Iris

Along with mosaic artwork, the studio offers adult classes in mosaics, where a small group environment allows for thorough study of mosaic techniques and methods.

Red Poppie


Ms. Hanansen’s latest works represent her fascination with the cosmos and the human connection. She is currently working with the layered glass mosaic technique, where tiles are not only glued next to each other, but on top of each other. Latest solo show “Crater Lakes: Imaginary and Real” featured images of the lakes created by the impact of asteroids into Earth’s surface. Other works, such as this 116' mural are equally as ambitious.

Chippewa Creek

Click HERE to take a tour of this mural in progress.

Ms. Hanansen’s works have been exhibited in the galleries nationwide: Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, Mesa, just to name a few. She has also shown her artwork locally at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, MI, the Michigan Guild Gallery, Ann Arbor Art Center, Paint Creek Center for the Arts in Rochester, and the University of Michigan W.Robins gallery. Work has been collected by patrons in the USA (AZ, MA, NY, CA, IL, FL, GA, MI, TX, WA, OH, PA, NJ, OR), Russia, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Israel, Australia, Italy and even the South Pole!

White Peony

Please visit her Mosaicsphere web site for more pictures and information.

Ralph Goings - Painting the light

Santa Cruz artist, Ralph Goings, is a realist painter who has exhibited in this country, Europe and Japan. He is represented in museums and private collections here and abroad. When I view his work, I can hardly believe they are paintings rather than photographs.


He omits nothing with his paint brush in capturing what a camera's lens would see.


One thing that Goings' work has in common with photographs is its examination of light. Photography records, not objects as things in themselves, but the fall of light on objects—in other words, the way in which light is shaped by anything that interrupts its trajectory from the source.



Goings is recognized as one of the original members of the Hyper-Realist or Photo-Realist group of the late 1960's. His work draws our attention to the ordinary everyday experience of American life... showing that there is beauty in the mundane.



Art critic,,Edward Lucie-Smith writes about Going's work:
"He wants to tell us that the most ordinary things are well worth looking at—provided that we have the discipline to look at that property, on their own terms and for their own sake. After all, this is precisely what Vermeer does in the View of Delft. Why should Goings be ashamed to follow his example?"
All works shown in this entry are in private collections or collection of the artist.


"My paintings are about light, about the way things look in their environment and especially about how things look painted.
Form, color and space are at the whim of reality, their discovery and organization is the assignment of the realist painter."

---Ralph Goings

Kelly Price Colston AKA Paper Ballet

"Weirdo Punk Rock Chicks Kinda Rule"

Kelly Price Colston

Mixed media artist, Kelly Price Colston's AKA “Paper Ballet” wrote a description of herself that is as interestingly diverse as her art:
"artist. mother. collage fanatic. obsessive compulsive. terminal procrastinator. in love with color. dots. candy. bizarro characters. i am a vegetarian dog owner. i run or walk daily. i love all people. i sometimes like to watch spiders make webs. if i was still a kid, i'd be on the top bunk, reading or playing with crayons and paper."

Accordian Man [artist card]

Ah, if only it could all be described that simply.

Killing Off the Memories

Kelly’s work embodies a complex examination of opposites and of such heady subjects as sex, gender, childhood trauma, fear, human relationships…. Even her materials can speak of opposites. This traditionally comforting, finely stitched quilt is emblazened with pain and contradiction.
Filth
With each new image comes a myriad of thought, compounded with emotion and slathered with a nice dose of deep awe and respect for her technical expertise. Her mixed media work is simultaneously lighthearted and weighty, compelling and repelling, thoughtful and carefree. Each is precise and at the same time chaotic, with its own language and sense of order. Seamless. Broken. Fractured. Whole.
Fat as Pigs


How does she do this? What inspires her?
Neal Cassidy and the Broken Dolls

Kelly states, “Usually my drive to create is born from inspiration via nature, animals, relationships and loss/fear/sadness. Not all of my work is depressing, per se, but I do enjoy intensity. I think above all else, I value truth in emotions and my art seems to find a home within that honesty.”
(No wonder I respond so deeply to her work!)
One Hundred Dreams

Although she has taken a few art classes, Kelly is primarily self-taught with an innate, sophisticated sense of balance and design. When I view her work, I find myself scanning its surfaces to find relationships between the characters and situations that she creates. Kelly has an uncanny way of makiing the bizarre an everyday occurrence... and the commonplace odd and exciting.
Brothers in Arms

A stickler for routine, Kelly rises at seven every morning to help her daughter prepare for school. Then she goes to her studio across town and walks her dogs for an hour. After that comes sketching and the morning meal and then art before and after lunch and again after her daughter returns from school.

“Routines are important for people with depression and artists especially. I think it can become very easy to get behind in your work and ambition if you don't create an atmosphere of professionalism for yourself.”
Self-Identity [artist card]


Because she is a collage artist, Kelly's medium of choice is old magazines. She enjoys the quality of the paper when it has become worn and slightly brittle and finds that it is very easy to tear and shape in the hand, as opposed to newer magazines.

“ I also like watercolor paper to collage onto for it's strength and texture. I am all about details, so I love that watercolor paper will take splattering with gouache well. the color and beauty of the paper is beyond comparison. I swear by ebony pencils for sketching and a pair of micro-tipped Fiskars scissors are a MUST in my studio. I also prefer the glue sticks that are purple and not clear glue. I like to know where I am putting my glue.”
Just Blame Mother


A current goal for Kelly is to be free from depression and anxiety.

“I realize that having obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder are not easy to recover from fully. but I don't lose hope. An enormous part of my art is grounded in the faith I have in miracles and learning to trust myself again.”
Mystic

When asked whether the internet, technology, media, et al, are helping or destroying the art world, Kelly responded:

“I love this question because I use Photoshop and digital art is my biggest profit-producing medium. I don't think technology destroys anything. I think poor standards destroy art, and that happens, unfortunately, in every single medium and has existed since Leonardo and before. Some dipshit will ALWAYS try and create "art" because they just want to be an artist/art scene type. Me, I think art is in my bones. it's just at the core of who I am. Media and technology have not changed me; they have helped me. Whereas, new art accoutrements have helped artists for ages, so does the mouse. I Icertainly know that my art career wouldn't have taken off had I not had the internet at my disposal.”
Become

Fortunately for all, Kelly has a prominent presence on the world wide web …here, here , here and here as user “psychepreserved". When you have the opportunity, look her up. Her amazing works of art will hold your attention for hours on end.

Tammy Lee - Mosaic Art Imperfect Perfection

"My mosaics originates from a love of color, reflection, and texture. Every single piece is a distinctive creative expression. Each tesserae (mosaic piece) is hand cut and shaped by me and each piece of art can contain literally hundreds of small pieces placed closely together to create a larger image. I work with all kinds of materials but have a special fondness for glass. Many times my materials have been ordered from all around the world."

Tammy Lee

Imagine being able to create mosaic art as graceful and detailed as this!


Bay Area native, Tammy Lee (shown above with family), makes mosaic art that is informed by the constructs of everyday life. She generously enjoys sharing her experience with others and finds that doing so expands her own spirit and creativity.

“There is a certain imperfect perfection about mosaics that I love. Most mosaics look so random. However, thought has gone into the placement of every single piece to get the right effect. Each tiny piece of a mosaic is touched several times. It is cut, shaped, polished and placed. Every piece is deliberately placed to create the whole mosaic experience!”

To illustrate the process and painstaking detail that Tammy so carefully instills into her work, she created a step-by-step instructional pictorial to show how this beautiful mosaic panel was produced. It spans more than five feet in length:

Spiritual Eyes

The piece began with this sketch.


Here we see Tammy’s use of stained glass and glass beads to start the production process.



In the third step, she added three shades of green stained glass shards to give the piece some color.



The intricate stained glass lashes were very time consuming to construct. Tammy filled in the remaining portions of the eyes with mirror.



The bindhi was created from an antique wine glass bottom.


Tammy laid down the background in a traditional opus vermiculatum pattern to emphasize the facial shape.



This shows the detail in the stained glass lay pattern


The final step involved grouting the panel in 3 colors : Sandstone for the skin, pewter for the eyes and north sea green for the iris.



Please visit Tammy’s Gallery for photographs of the wide variety of work she creates. Tammy makes everything from murals to interior decorative art to garden mosaics, and it is all captivating and beautiful! Tammy teaches classes at Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland.

_____________________________________________

UPDATE: ATTENTION ALL ARTISTS!


Orphan Works Act of 2008

Click HERE if you cannot see the video above.

On April 24, Senators Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced legislation (S.2913, HR 5889), which is now being referred to as the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008. It is virtually the same bill that was presented in 2006, and subsequently rejected by Congress. But now, they are trying again.

If passed, the Act would radically alter copyright laws, taking away the automatic copyright now guaranteed to artists of all types who create any type of work. Right now, under U.S. law, artists are automatically guaranteed copyright on everything they create, from the sketches in their sketchpad to their best paintings and sculptures. Under the Orphan Works Act, every creator will be required to register everything he or she creates in a private registry system, requiring a fee of course, and supposedly to make it easier for the "public" to search for works and contact the creators if they want to use the works for some purpose.

Everything created in the last 30 years will need to be registered through this as-yet nonexistent system, including those works already registered via additional fees with the copyright office. If they aren't, and some member of the public makes "due diligence" to find the creator of a work and can't find him or her, that member of the public is entitled to use the work without any limitations, and artists will have no legal recourse. That means every piece of work artists have out there, especially online, would be open season for use by major publishing houses and businesses (Microsoft — who owns one of the largest online image databases — and Google have already voiced support for the bill and indicated they will use thousands of images) and everyone in between. Proponents of the bill say it will assist the public in identifying and contacting creators of works and going through the proper channels to contact them to ask for permission. While we understand the need for an organized system of search, there are MAJOR FLAWS in the proposed bill that need to be addressed before any such proposal should take place. Here are a few points:

Under this law, artists would need to register EVERY piece of work they create, including those works that you have already registered with the Copyright Office officially, in some system that does not exist and would likely require them to pay to do so. The time and cost to do this is going to be prohibitive for visual artists.

While this is meant to apply to all types of creative works, including music and literary, visual artists will be impacted the most because of the sheer volume of work they create, making it very expensive to register everything they have ever created or will create.

For the visual arts, there would still be little protection for them and their work, even if it is registered, because search tools would rely on names of artists or titles of work, and not image recognition tools, which are still in their infancy of development.

Under this law, if artists register their work, they would have to respond to EVERY inquiry sent to them for use of the work. So in other words, if an artist has a work out there in a registry system, and some person contacts the artist and says he or she wants to use the artist's work for free on his or her Web site or in his or her new catalog, the artist would need to take the time to officially respond to every inquiry within a specified time limit, letting him or her know if the artist doe not want to have him or her publish the artist's work for free. This will take a lot of time and effort that professional artists do not have.

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the bill, and yesterday, May 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee did as well. This means the bill will be presented to Congress, likely before the end of May.

We need you to write to your representatives ASAP and let them know that you do NOT want this bill to be expedited, as it is now. Tell them we need a better solution, or tell them you don't want it at all: Just be sure to tell them something soon.

Click the links below to get more information on the bill, including a video that gives you a great overview of the artists' concerns:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CqBZd0cP5Ychttp://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00261http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00185http://www.capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=11346091&type=CUhttp://www.asmp.org/news/spec2008/orphan_update.phphttp://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/Perlman080313.pdf

Click below for several options of pre-written and editable letters that you can fill out, and that will automatically identify and send it to your representatives when you enter your address. http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

ATC = Artist Trading Cards (Portable Art)

Art for your pocket!

Floral Sun by Stacy Zimmerman


Artist Trading Cards (AKA "ATCs") connect people. They make art more accessible and they serve as calling cards for artists whose work will be thought of each time someone looks at the card. I have received them from artists all over the world, people whose names I might forget if not for this tiny artistic reminder of their styles and senses of design and color.

Dismissed by some as not being "real" art, artists such as Andy Warhol and Jean Michele Basquiat made and traded ATC's back in the 60's. These rare treasures are now priceless.



Adam Puryear's work was on display at the NY MOMA last year. Museums in Germany, Canada, Switzerland and the United States have held exhibitions exclusively dedicated to Artist Trading Cards.


India Bollywood Series by Stacy Alexander


I first began making ATCs around five or six years ago. The ATC genre consist of collectable pieces of miniature art that are created by artists of every skill level from across the world and then traded with no exchange of money.

Bellah

Although ATC's existed throughout the 60's, the more contemporary version of the concept was born of the older sports-themed trading cards and is attributed M. Vänçi Stirnemann, for being the primary person to begin organized trading sessions in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1997. However, ATC's can even be traced back to portrait miniatures and to a kind of business card popular with Impressionistic era artists.

Bellah II.

ATCs are typically made on a base of card stock. However, they have also been created on metal, stiffened fabric, plastic, clay, glass, balsa wood, leather, embroidery canvas, acetate, heavy watercolor paper....You name it! The art on the cards can be done in any media: textile arts, pencil, watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage, scratch board, mixed media, assemblage, digital art, calligraphy, beadwork, rubber stamps, carved soft block stamps, pen and ink, colored pencil, airbrush, pastels, and many others - anything artists use.

Wild and Free by Ahkeraliisa

Prayer by Mollycakes

Entire art organizations exist that to hold elaborate theme-based ATC swaps that have deadlines and certain restrictions . These groups often produce museum quality artist trading cards. Alternately, there are casual groups across the world that meet weekly for the express purpose of creating ATCs as a social outlet. In the latter case, the face-to-face trading session is considered an integral part of the concept, although many people find each other via the internet and trade by mail.

Stacy Inkblot by Stacy Zimmerman

ATC artists observe certain conventions such as the expectation that they be traded, not sold, and that they be created as unique works or small limited editions of prints. Artists generally sign and date each card. The only standard rule for these cards is their 2.5 by 3.5 inch size, the same as baseball cards and collectible card games.

A group of ATC artists in Wisconsin.

An offshoot of Artist Trading Cards are the "art card, editions and originals" (ACEO). ACEOs originated when some artists began to create cards to sell, in addition to trading among themselves. The selling of these cards is a sore point with some ATC enthusiasts; but, of course, the provision that cards should not be sold is not an enforceable one. Trading cards in other areas such as sports have also been traded and sold. The practice is meant to explore the temporal miniature in art, to augment the income, increase visibility, circulate small works more widely, as well as increase their patronage. These cards sell from five cents each to hundreds of dollars.

Birds in Paradise by Greer Gschiwnd

If you would like to try your hand at creating artist trading cards, there are a number of great books out there to help you get started. One of my favorites is:
Artist Trading Card Workshop: Create, Collect, Swap (Paperback) by Bernie Berlin available on Amazon.com.


There is also an online forum called the Worldwide Artist Trading Card Meetup Mesasge Board that connects artists from all over the world who are interested in ATC swaps.

Klaus Lange - What no one else can see....

For San Francisco photographer, Klaus Lange, art is primarily about seeing.

He stares intently at patches of rust on the sides of ships until he finds compelling images there. He photographs the rust, transforming it into what appear to be abstract impressionist paintings.

"To me a ship's hull is an expressionist's canvas with portrayals of physical struggle and natural beauty in which I find stories told by the ships own paint. With my work I offer a rare view from an imaginary point between abstract painting and abstract photography."

A Ship Named Pollack


"If I can’t explain what I see with either canvas or oils, crayons or pen, then I will create it as word-paintings, or with food in ships galleys, or with building restaurants, or brewing beer, or making jam, or churning butter and baking bread.
It’s all art."

Across the Styx

Artistry runs in Klaus' family. It took the event of his daughter going away to art school for him to take an embracing approach to his own art.

Customs House


"To my own surprise the new expression came through abstract photography. My canvasses were now ship’s hulls full of exciting possibilities. Soon after, I found my teachers and my mentors, and museums and galleries, and collectors and fans. Or perhaps they found me. Who knows."

Deep Sea

"From my showing of The Mermaids Tears this is the part where the squids march to war. The meaning of it is of course entirely open to the whimsical interpretation of the viewer. Abstract expressionism such as this, is found in the boot paint of a ships' side, and falls into a category somewhere between painting and photography."

March of Squids

Klause has a studio in Emeryville, CA. If you find yourself in the SF Bay Area, you can see his work at:

Klaus Lange Photo Art
7 Captain Drive C-309
Emeryville, CA 94608
USA

Saturnalia

Gila Rayberg - New Orleans Mosaics ...and all that jazz!

Did you read the entry I made about Elizabeth Raybee the other day? Turns out she is from a family of six artistic siblings, the youngest of which is Gila Rayberg, today’s featured artist. Gila wrote to me after I made the entry about Elizabeth and I stopped by her site afterward to see her work. I knew right away that I had to write an entry about her, too. Her art is gorgeous!

(I love how this blog has connected me from one fantastic artist to another!)

Gila is a multi-talented, fine art mosaic artist/musician who lives in the same city as my best friend, Katy, none other than New Orleans, LA! (Turns out that Gila knows another of my good friends, Manon, and her husband, Albinas, and has performed in a few of the concerts that Albinas has hosted! Small world.)

About this fair city, Mario Batali once said, "There's no mediocrity accepted." I wonder if he had just come from one of Gila's exhibits? Gila’s exceptional mosaics certainly capture the spirit of New Orleans....the music, the diversity. Her studio is even listed in the NOLA Fun Guide!

New Orleans has been characterized as France, Spain and the USA all blended together into one place. Gila's work reflects these qualities and more. As a matter of fact, if you're in the area and would like to see this for yourself, she will be participating in the 36th annual Faubourg Marigny Home Tour & Art Market his Sunday, May 18, 2008 from 10am - 4pm at Washington Square. (Elysian Fields between Dauphine & Royal).





Each of Gila's mosaics are individually designed with great care and attention to detail. Tesserea are hand cut, randomly smashed, or cut using a tile saw. The depth and texture of different materials used in combination creates contrast and a sense of movement, while the use of irridescent glass and mirror infuses an environment with ever changing reflections of light and color.




Gila studied music and art in college. After her graduation from Arizona State, she moved to San Francisco and quickly found a place among a community of improvisational musicians, composers and artists. During this period, Gila was introduced to mosaics by her sister, Elizabeth, who, if you will recall from the earlier entry, is an internationally known artist in her own right. Gila assisted Elizabeth on a number of large mosaic installations and subsequently, began creating other small pieces of her own.



“As a freelance trombonist & part time office slave, I managed to save enough money for my dream trip around the world.”




“A year long solo journey took me to Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Israel, and Egypt. Before long I was living in Kuching, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo, teaching & playing music. Being a faculty member in the Music Department at the newly established University of Malaysia, Sarawak was an exciting experience. “




From my central South East Asian locale I had the opportunity to travel extensively in most of the neighboring countries. During these adventures, I collected unusual art, including textiles and musical instruments, representative of local cultures. With each excursion I became increasingly fascinated with the ingenous art which surrounded me!"




“Soon after settling in New Orleans in 1999 my love for mosaic was rekindled while creating a table for my partner Mark's birthday. "The Jester Timpanist" left him unusually speechless and forever supportive of my growing artistic endeavors. Mark's constant inspiration & enduring support frees me to be creative & experimental!"




As an active trombonist in New Orleans with the legendary Deacon John Moore Gila stayed busy performing, yet also allowed herself time to indulge in her passion for mosaics.




"Since Hurricane Katrina, all that has changed. Although she caused much destruction & still accounts for much confusion, I took this as an opportune time to fully focus my energies on creating custom Mosaics."









The unique way various materials break often helps me to determine the character of a finished piece, or may entirely change the direction of a work in progress. The spontaneity involved in laying the tesserea is one of the things I most enjoy about mosaics."





Like her sister, Elizabeth who teaches fun mosaic classes
in the Bay Area, Gila teaches workshops in New Orleans.



When you have a minute, cruise around on Gila's great web site. There seems to be something there for everyone....pictures of her world journeys, more mosaics than you can shake a stick at, art furniture.... workshops....all sorts of fun. Oh, and if you're interested, Gila is available for commissions. Oh, and if you'd like to see even MORE eye candy, Gila has a flickr site as well!

Pique Assiette - Smashing!

LIE SPY by Stacy Alexander

(click images to enlarge)

I had a call from mosaic artist, Karen Pearle yesterday. When I told her I was “doing pique assiette”, she said, “Oh, that is so relaxing! I do pique assiette a lot.” ....and she was right. This type of mosaic art IS relaxing! For those of you unfamiliar with the technique, Pique Assiette is a style of mosaic that incorporates pieces of broken ceramics - plates, dishes, cups, jewelry, buttons, tiles - and other found objects into the design. The method has great appeal in affording expressiveness in a way that traditional mosaic methods do not. It involves lateral thinking, humor, the art of recycling, and the significance of found objects ....plus, you get to pick up a hammer and SMASH things!

One of my favorite pique assiette artists is Jason Mecier, and I’ll be writing an entire entry about him at a later date, but, for now, you can take a look at this video to for a truly entertaining look at the incredible work he does.

I’ve been spending a lot of time making pique assiette works in my own studio of late.

Coeur de Poissons by Stacy Alexander

My Aunt Gaylon gave me copious amounts of jewelry that I have been putting to good use with this method using a technique that was taught to me by the very talented, Dot Edwards , the moderator for the best mosaic social networking group out there, the California Mosaics Yahoo Group . I must say….I am hooked!

Pretty on the Outside by Stacy Alexander


The method itself is very simple and easy to do. It basically involves covering a substrate with mastic and embedding tesserae directly into the adhesive .

detail

The ease of working with this technique allows the artist to concentrate energy on the actual design and composition of the work (i.e. "the fun part") rather than the more difficult technical aspects involved with cutting and fitting tile. When I work on my pique assiette pieces, I lay a basic arrangement of items across the dry substrate to begin, then I lay the adhesive and quickly stick the items in. The mastic remains open for around 20-25 minutes, so if I am working on a large piece, I lay tesserae in small sections.
LOVE, MOM by Stacy Alexander

The term "pique assiette" for a mosaic of broken crockery originates from a man named, Raymond Isidore, of Chartres, northern France Back in the 1930’s, his Isaiah Zagar -like enthusiasm for sticking objects into walls around his own property caused him to become known by the name "Picassiette" (literally translated as "prick plate". His obsessive enrichment of his entire property (inside and out) with intricate and decorative mosaics of salvaged shards, caused his house to be called La Maison Picassiette.

Seven Heart Day by Stacy Alexander


Pique Assiette has wide appeal to both seasoned and beginning mosaic artists and is a great method to try if you are starting your spring house cleaning and are in the midst of culling objects from your space Why not grab a hammer or your (Grandma's old jewelry) and give it a try?!

Counting the Hours by Stacy Alexander

I sell some of my pique assiette work in MY ETSY SHOP. Other examples of my work can be found HERE"

Lisa Kokin - More than Words

Lisa Kokin

It was just one of those great days....a sunny afternoon, after spending a beautiful day at China Camp near San Rafael... John and I couldn’t imagine things being much better.

Since neither of us had previously been to San Rafael, we decided to take a stroll through an interesting looking section of the city on our way out. As we made our way down the street perusing the cool little shops and galleries, we happened across the Donna Seager Gallery and decided to go inside. Then, the day suddenly did became better.

This was the first time we saw Lisa Kokin’s altered books.



Lisa presents viewers with altered books that have a prominent sculptural presence. In creating her works, she uses three-dimensional space to create an original milieu, placing equal importance both on what remains and what has been taken away.






Lisa reinvents books that engage the viewer in an inclusive experience of discovery that goes far beyond words on a page. The viewer must become involved not only with the text, but with the physical presence of the book and with the specific and unique art object that it has become.







Through her process of art making, Lisa is able to explore many facets of the human condition, broaching a wide array of cultural and personal issues with refined appeal. In doing so, she blends the very look and feel of books and photographs to create independent constructions that beg to be explored further.



“Books have played a major role in Lisa's work; she returns to them between bodies of work and as bodies of work in and of themselves. In her current series, she literally reshapes the content of selected old books by making papier mache balls, organ-like objects and cubes out of the shredded pages, then sews the contents back inside and outside of the original book covers. Bits and pieces of the original text remain, although the literal meaning is lost. The covers can no longer contain their unruly "text," and form defines content.



She explores memory and history by using the objects we leave behind.”


Lisa's work is not limited to altered books. She also creates transformative and compelling sculptures using the common trappings of sewing to make intricate pieces with almost bee-like detail and connection. Her work deftly overturns the traditional aesthetic hierarchy that privileges certain forms of art over others based on gender associations.



About her button sculpture, Lisa states:

“I have sewn since I was a child and the stitch plays a major role in my work, so it was natural to join the buttons together to form a reconstructed family portrait. … My work has always had an obsessive quality and this body of work is no exception. Every button is stitched to its neighbor to form a low-tech pixilated composition. Up close each piece is an abstract mélange of colors and shapes; the further back one stands the more decipherable the image becomes. This interplay between abstraction and representation intrigues me.”

In uniting sewing with sculpture and photography, Lisa evokes emotional responses that speak to the past and to familarity. Her work gently turns the viewer's thinking about the stitches into something unconventional and, at the same time, evokes comfort and a sense of knowing about lives that were lived by others. Lisa states:

“Much of my sculpture involves stitching objects which are normally not sewn such as toy ovens or ironing boards. For two generations my family made a living with needle and thread, my grandmother sewing ties, my parents dinette sets and boat cushions. They’ve covered the traditional territory; I am fascinated by the thought of sewing what is not normally sewn.”









Lisa received her BFA and MFA from the California College of the Arts. She teaches workshops in bookmaking with found materials in her studio in Oakland the last Saturday of the month. Topics include: found photos, mini-books, open book collage, reshaped books, altered books, and more. For more information on the upcoming May workshop. Anything But Paper, please go to
this web site.

To receive e-flyers about upcoming workshops, you may email Lisa at lisa@lisakokin.com.

The Invisible Paintings of Edd Aragon

I had a request from Ronit, a friend in Israel, to write a story about Edd Aragon, an artist some of you may have seen recently on Dateline. His work might remind some of you of the old children's tale, the Emperor has no Clothes, since this painter is creating "invisible" paintings. Edd’s medium is phosphorescent pigment. The non-traditional substances Edd Aragon applies are visible only under ultraviolet light. His canvases look totally blank to the naked eye. Like a closely guarded secret, paintings of nudes, rock musicians and historical figures come to life only under ultraviolet light.


In 2004, he was commissioned to paint a mural in a restaurant/rock club venue in Australia. This is what originally prompted him to begin exploring UV-reactive paint materials. During the day, the walls remain a pristine white. However, when the lights go down in the evening, the place comes alive with Edd’s awe-inspiring murals lit by a black light.




Aragon initially used a mineral coincidentally sharing his name, aragonite, which is mined near Aragon, Spain. The expensive UV-reactive pigment costs $450 U.S. Dollars for approximately 30 grams, pushing him to experiment on less expensive alternatives. He now mixes synthetic UV-reactive pigments used in printing presses, with acrylic materials.



Edd writes:

Tandang Sora in Blue is part of my Tres Kantos exhibits (3 venues) in Manila which include digital art and editorial cartoons published in the Sydney Morning Herald and other Australian publications since 1980.



I was reminded of my own Lola while I painted Tandang Sora. Painting her and using unusual pigments which are ultra-violet light reactive is challenging yet fun. During daytime, Tandang Sora (and my other UV paintings) can’t be seen as other spectra of light dominate. However under the dark light beamed on a glowing, historical past, the concept or spirit of caring by the aged shall always serve as reference points as to how far we have realized that Tandang Sora shall be us sooner or later..and we shall be a lone, dim candle in the vast darkness. Tandang Sora lives within the Filipino family, quietly observing, imparting wisdom to grandchildren, immune to asides and verbal abuse for her petty mistakes as she is accused of senility. Lest We Forget. “






Aragon believes Ultraviolet painting is romantic, nocturnal and mysterious. He hopes to inspire other adventurous artists to try it out.






His exhibit is showing at the Banyuhay Heber Arts and Music Centre in Manila. Aragon is also an award-winning editorial and comic strip cartoonist, having worked for newspapers in the Philippines and then Australia, where he's been living since 1979.

Cynjon Noah - A Multifaceted Art Jewel

Cynjon Noah
The fact that my friend, Cynjon Noah, is having a birthday this week is only one of the many reasons I chose to write about him today. This guy cranks out the art like a finely oiled art-makin' machine!

Cynjon is an adventuresome , free-spirited multi-disciplinary artist who bounces between Florida, Tennessee and Texas creating art in any number of different and interesting forms. He leads a rich, full, creative life that entails interaction with a wide array of media used in unconventional ways. Between building his own home in Tennessee (as in, with his own two hands…) and experimenting with new art materials Cynjon still makes time to interact with other artists and participate in all kinds of collaborative art activities.

He always seems to have a lot of different art projects in progress at one time. Cynjon claims that his favorite mediums are whatever he finds himself working on at the moment. In addition to painting, he creates mixed media assemblages, wild art dolls and figurative sculpture. He knits. He paints. A recent addition to his endeavors has been the digital alteration of original photographs that he made of his 3-D work. He uses this technique as an exercise in gaining new perspectives.



Cynjon can do more with a piece of rusty metal than a lot of folks could do with an entire room full of new supplies!







His highly coveted art dolls are beautiful, unique and sometimes a little disturbing. They seem to speak from influences that span from nature to Africa to outer space to Native America.










No media seems too far-fetched nor out of range for Cynjon's talents. He recently completed a series of artwork that centered exclusively around wooden eggs.





His collage work is graceful, fluid and full of energy:









At a very early age, Cynjon learned to paint from an Aunt who is a professional watercolorist:





The Cynjon Noah art work that I have shown you is only a small sample of his artistic endeavors. He is as prolific as he is creative. In addition to what you've seen here, he also makes books, sketches, sculpts, travels to festivals.... and literally fills his life with art. The best part is that in doing so Cyn, spreads a message of artful camaraderie and generosity. I've gone to my mailbox more than once only to return with boxes of random kindness sent by Cynjon in the form of great art supplies that he manages to pick up here and there. He is just that kind of person.

Wishing you a happy, happy birthday, Cynjon. Thank you for being you. You are a beautiful inspiration and a gift to all who know you. xo Stacy

Colleen Sands - Art through the Pain

First, I'd like to wish all you Moms out there a Happy Mother's Day! I thought the above-image of some bona fide "mother art" by Colleen Sands was the perfect one to use on this occasion!


Today's entry is about a mosaic artist who used mosaic art to fill the void in her life when she was forced to quit her job because of arthritis. Colleen Sands serves as an inspiration in the beautiful way she chose to channel her energy during this painful time in her life.

Colleen Sands


Colleen had mosaics on her mind years before she finally picked up a pair of nippers and gave the art form a try. Her resulting work is a florid adventure in highly textured surfaces, confetti-like color application and whimsy. Her signature style is modern and full of energy.

Who couldn’t love these playful purple boots?!




Colleen’s first teacher was her sister, who taught her the basics of mosaic application. Subsequently, increasingly serious arthritis prompted Colleen to quit her job. During this time, she found that she needed some creative endeavor to occupy her mind. Mosaics did the trick!



Struggling with her arthritis, Colleen would work, rest and go back and work some more. Out of necessity, her husband devised a special way for her to cut tile by attaching a pair of nippers to a board to help relieve the pressure on her hands. Never giving up, she persevered through the discomfort, practicing regularly and refining her skills.




Eventually, Colleen learned that working with glass was easier for her than working with tile, so she began to created mosaic art using stained and vitreous glass tiles.








She added making her own substrates to her talents and eventually started working with cement, making concrete hearts and her “mini people” series of concrete people. She also made a number of mosaic snakes!








Colleen eventually took a number of classes from my Australian friend, Brent, and learned to work with Darjit!, one of my own favorite mediums. (Darjit! is the cement sculpturing compound made of about 90% recycled materials.)

Applying tesserae to her Darjit! items remains a project that Colleen has reserved for the future.

Colleen Sands serves as a perfect example of how, when faced with difficulties, we can turn our energy away from the illness and toward making the world a more beautiful place.

Thanks, Colleen!

Red Bull - Energizing and Artfully Inspiring

Since 1997, the makers of the popular energizing drink, Red Bull have been holding an exhibition called, Red Bull Art of Can throughout the world. This summer, the exhibition will take place in Houston from July 11 to July 25.

The show is actually a competition that is open to everyone. Contestants build, sculpt, weld, glue, hammer, bend, fold, print, tape paint and even use Red Bull cans to mosaic some pretty remarkable works of art. I've uploaded some pictures from the competition in London three years ago.


For more information about this competition and many more pictures, please click on this link.

Barbara Peacock - In Living Color

Barbara Peacock is a spirited, self-taught artist who isn’t afraid to explore different media, color, design and style. She got her enviable start in the arts when she was a child with a mother who worked for Disney making 'Mickey Mouse' when he was still black & white. Sometimes, Barbara got to help!




An aspect of Barbara’s talent that deserves a lot of respect is the pleasure she gets from sharing her talent with others.....especially when others tell her that she is good at it! (And she IS good at it!)









“Teaching others and seeing their pleasure at conquering the task....well, that makes me feel so good! So, I do love the teaching part! “

Barbara began her professional art career creating portraits in oils. However, once she mastered the media, she decided to explore other areas of art.

“ I have done all types of crafts, all types of painting, stained glass, bead work, glass fusing, glass blowing, and glass making.

Glass has always fascinated me.....the way it cuts, melts, fuses, strings out, gets so thin when you blow it.....and the colors are incredible!!!!! “

Barbara began making mosaics because a neighbor expressed an interest in having a mosaic installed in her home.



“I looked at it, knew I could do it...and did it!! That was in 2003....then I did nothing but look at mosaics for a few years. They mesmerized me.....the placement of so many small 'something's' to complete a 'something' so BIG! And, what fun mixing all the tiny different items and having it come out looking like something!”

In October of 2007, Barbara traveled to Italy to participate in the Masters Class at Orsoni Glass in Venice. That was her first experience working with smalti. This picture shows a piece that she worked on in the class. Albeit incomplete, it is beautiful!




She fell in love with it's shine and sparkle but, by no means, limits her glass work to smalti alone. Give her a pair of nippers and there are no limits to what this woman can do!



“To me mosaics are always the same and always different. From the very first cut to grouting....or not grouting.”

Barbara loves a good challenge and her work shows this.




“Placing a small piece so that it compliments the whole is my life story!“






Take a look at more pictures of Barbara Peacock's work by clicking HERE.

"You just put your lips together and blow" - Drawing lips-a tutorial

For me, drawing does not come easily. I find the left and right sides of my brain battling with one another, especially when it comes to drawing facial features. I tend to start thinking about personality traits of the person I am drawing rather than the shapes made by their features, and that isn't good. This little tutorial is helpful in understanding the shapes of one of the face's most important features, the mouth:



How to draw a mouth.

The first thing to observe are the "contour lines" drawn over the mouth. The red lines convey a dimensional illustration of the construction of the lips.

Notice how the shadows dictate that the upper lip be rendered darker. In contrast, the lower lip protrudes, which makes it lighter. The corners of the mouth have more shadow. In most cases, a good trick is to make the corners of the mouth very dark.






The blue areas in the illustration above show a shadowed area of the upper lip. As a general rule, all of the upper lip is darker in comparison to the lower lip, but the blue shadows that you see here are even darker.



Almost 100% of the time, you can observe 5 different sections when you look at someone's lips. In drawing these sections, you will simply emphasize them a little, or a lot.

Drawing the bottom lip:



The highlighted area in orange (above) shows an area of the lower lip that sometimes is a little darker, or gets a little more shadow. This is where the lower lip curves inward. The closer to the edges of the mouth, the darker (or, in shadow) the bottom lip gets. But, remember - the bottom lip is usually lighter than the top lip because it is facing upward and gets more light cast upon it.

The highlighted area in green shows shows a shadowed area around the mouth that should not be forgotten. This shading indicates the structure of the face around the mouth. The mouth isn't just plopped on the face, it is a three-dimensional thing, with surrounding muscles and structure. Usually, there will be some shading (subtle, but there) at under the lower lip, and around the corners of the mouth.



The area highlighted in white all around the lips is another often overlooked detail in portrait art. If you look closely at someone's lips, you will see that we all have a bit of a ridge around our lips.

When someone has a 5-O'clock shadow, it'll be particularly noticable. In most cases, whiskers won't grow on this particular area around the mouth.

In summary:


* Sketch the outline of the lips.
* "Block in" the shading of the lips, putting more shading on the top lip, and leaving a highlighted area in the middle of the bottom lip, and some highlighted areas on the upper rim of the top lip.
* Add more shading and rendering. Don't forget the "ridge" around the lips, and the shading around the mouth that suggests its structure. Add the darkest accents of tone to the corners of the mouth

Elizabeth Raybee - Combining Personalities to Create Art

If you’ve been searching for a supportive environment in which to learn mosaics, you might want to set your sails for Elizabeth Raybee’s Grout Camp this summer.



Elizabeth provides a venue that supports not only mosaic education with an internationally recognized mosaic artist and teacher, but also picnic lunches at the near-by Russian River and a big Saturday night party! AND....for those who cannot attend, she has recreated her workshop into a 90-minute video called, "Grout Camp in a Box"!


The video condenses the entire workshop into an informative 90 minute introduction to the intricacies and artistry of contemporary mosaic!

All My Sacred Cows

Schooled as a painter and printmaker at the Kansas City Art Institute, Elizabeth moved to San Francisco where she taught Painting, Drawing, Batik, Business for Visual Artists and Mosaics at the Ft. Mason Art Center, San Francisco City College and through her studio. She added Mosaic to the mix in 1988. After 20 years of breaking tile, she also began making some in 2000.

25th Anniversary

Raybe takes a personal stance with her artwork . As diverse as personality itself, she chooses a number of different faces to show the world. For example, there is the observer - chronicling her dogs and children, the laborer- chronicling someone else's parents and pets, and the commentator - filtering her politics through her nervous system, artistic training and other prejudices and out in visual form. All of it is tied together by expressive use of color and a quirky sense of balance that often gives a feeling of motion.

Asking For More


Elizabeth writes:

While all three categories are important to the whole, and there is certainly overlap, I’ll concentrate on the third, as it is what I feel most strongly about. A large portion of it is narrative and usually more of a running visual commentary on my experiences than strictly autobiographical. While I am married for the third time, do have a pond with frogs, and certainly have stuck my foot in my mouth in anger, I made little to no attempt for the characters in “Guardian Angel of Third Marriages”, “Wasted Space” and “Hasty Words come Back to Haunt” to look like me. Conveying the feelings of vulnerability, hope and regret, resonating with my audience on a broader level, are more important than spilling my personal beans. I have done dozens of actual self-portraits - that is me in “All My Sacred Cows” - but most of them fall into the “observer” category.

Boomer Fish

Raybee takes the role of art and artist seriously in influencing the world.

Since I’ve always done work about what I care most deeply about, I can’t help but make artwork now about bio-diversity and human responsibility, politically driven poverty and imprisonment.
Having seen many examples of propaganda art, I can only hope that I’m avoiding the pitfalls of preaching, while using the ability of art to hit home on an emotional level in a way that words often cannot. “Endlessly Connecting Dots”, “Wasted Space” and “Losing More than he ever Knew he Had” are all examples of this type of commentary.

Much of Elizabeth's more rececnt imagery has grown from the experience of traveling through Ukraine, Turkey, Greece and Italy. The exploration of world history through religious wars is one theme that keeps coming up. As the daughter of a Holocost survivor from Ukraine, this has very personal meaning to the artist. Another inspiration is the more personal travel story, with all its stresses and delights.

Olympic Travelers

I find the most interesting parts are where the two intersect. “Olympic Travel Team, Krete ‘04”, “Illuminating Mythic Selves” and “Hoping for Miracles” all tie our personal odyssey, with maps, camera and backpacks, into the journey through historical sites. I used mostly marble for these pieces, giving them art historical reference as well.

Guardian Angel of Third Marriages

I grew up studying and loving the sense of movement and haunted subjects in the paintings of Chaim Soutine and Edvard Munch. I’d like to think I’ve kept in touch with their depth, tempered by the narrative qualities and humor of other influences, such as Marc Chagall, William T. Wiley and Joan Brown. When I got a letter from a fifteen year-old girl in Limmerick, Ireland who was doing a paper on me for school, I thought, “Ah, now I’ve made the big time.” May my influence lead to more good art.

Winter Rains

Elizabeth’s web site has more photographs of her beautiful art work and information about Grout Camp. Please visit it HERE. She has been on past class schedules at Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland.

A Different Kind of Art...

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you the following announcement:

WHAT: Lily Russo's Mosaic Exhibition
WHEN: NEXT TUESDAY May 13th 6-8PM Exhibit goes until May 23
WHERE: The Bulldog Cafe, 1739 Broadway Ave. Downtown Oakland

Please come join me for a little celebration of Lily's current show! It will be very casual with wine and snacks and 12 fun new mosaics to check out!

_____________________

And now for today's art entry....A Different Kind of Art!

Plywood Veneer Sculptures - Paul Baden

When I lived in Massachusetts, I took a woodworking class from a man named, Art Moses, a great guy who, in retrospect, reminds me a lot of Isaiah Zagar. He was always doing things like handing groups of young women chain saws and asking us to carve telephone poles.

Good times.

The class had brief access to a big shop that contained industrial woodworking tools. Even though we were only there a couple of times, I really enjoyed learning how to use them.

Each student made one plywood veneer project in the shop. Unfortunately, I don’t have a decent photo of my sculpture I but it is actually pretty. It sort of twists gracefully toward the top...something the photo doesn't represent. The process was a little bit complicated and involved weights, clamps, wood glue, fancy drills and other mystery devices….but the finished product is graceful and shows many interesting layers of wood and nice curves.

Japanese Boomerang by Stacy Alexander


My whole reason for mentioning this is because this project was my first and only experience making plywood veneer sculpture, although I remain a great admirer of the form today. One of the best artists I’ve found who makes art using this method is named Paul Baden. Paul hails from the U.K.

Paul Baden

He is relatively fresh to the fine art scene. Paul was a cartographic draughtsman for over 20 years and has always been fascinated by the undulating landscape that surrounds us.



He is a self taught carver and has found his own way of working with that material. When he first used plywood he was taken by the way the uniform layers mimic the contours found on maps.

So what better material for a map maker to use for his sculptures? As the wood veneers have individual character, texture and color, every sculpture creates its own unique three dimensional landscape that tempts the hand to explore it.



What on the surface appears a utilitarian material hides an amazing beauty within its depths. Finding that hidden beauty within the plywood sculpture is actually the very challenge that Paul loves.



Paul brings his experiences of maps and the human body into his wood sculptures with ease.




A large part of Paul's work deals with his fascination with the many different shapes the human figure can assume; at rest or play, thoughtful or exuberant.


His extensive knowledge of human anatomy is apparent. He seems to almost brings these pieces of wood to life.



Paul also created an entire series of abstract human faces.



My personal favorite Paul Baden sculpture is this smooth, simple pear.



Looks good enough to eat. Doesn't it?!

You can see more of Paul's beautiful sculptures at his web site HERE.

Rachel Rodi - Personal & Universal Inspiration

I remember chatting with Rachel Rodi when she was working on this garden path mosaic. As she described it to me, it was difficult to imagine exactly what she was creating, let alone the amount of work she was pouring into it. Now, as I look at the photo, I get such a sense of peace. It really is pretty. Isn't it? I am wholly impressed by the beauty in its simplicity. I can tell that Rachel really put a lot of love into these simple bands of mosaic color that run so close to the roses. Since I currently live in the dregs of urban wasteland with not much of anything soothing to see, I can only dream of having my own little rose garden with as lovely a mosaic in the near future.




Rachel has a deep spiritual connection with art. Even as a small child, she continually had some art project going. Her drawings ranged from realism to fantasy. She claims that art was in her blood and that she has known her entire life that she was going to be an artist.



Mosaic is ever-gaining in popularity as more artists are attracted to the medium. All it took for Rachel was seeing the work of another mosaic artist to evoke an instantaneous response:

The light bulb went off! This is it! The form I had been looking for...



Rachel doesn't feel that it is necessary to label art. She views it as a " deep creative expression that can be conveyed through a miryad of forms". Her favorite art forms are mosaics and contact-improvosational dance. She finds magic in mosaics- something alive in mosaic art that dances! Making art and dancing (sometimes at the same time!) connects her to her deepest consciousness and inspiration. She creates it for the magic that happens in the moment. She is continually striving to improve her skill levels so that she might have more freedom to express what comes to her in the moment.



I think art is crucial for the well being of humanity, of people. To have art and individual expression in our environments can give joy, thought, empowerment and uplift. I am drawn to make mosaics that will touch as many people as possible, especially those who have less access to creative resources. I am not sure how this is going to play out but this is my desire.



A multitude of elements inspire Rachel's mosaics, dance being just one. Her work reflects freedom and movement. She attributes much of this to the use of mirrors which also add a lyrical quality.

Rachel frequently draws from the textiles and life of the people in India that she experienced in her travels to that country. She finds inspiration in the depth of color, layering, patterns and of course the mirror work in Indian textiles.

I saw homes with mirrors embedded in the interior mud walls. There can be great order in the midst of chaos and chaos in the midst of order- in the art, textiles, life and all there.

Rachel enjoys using rich color, symbols, whimsy, texture, abstracted realism and patterns in her mosaics.

Current themes for my personal work are the evolution of life / passing of time / timelessness... spiritual source / inner sanctuary / personal and universal inspiration......you know, the dichotomy of things!




Read more about Rachel's work by visiting her web site. Rachel was once an employee at Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland.

The Art of Sumi-e

Although one does find the occasional colored Sumi-e painting, or one made on colored paper, Sumi-e actually means: Black Ink Painting. Black ink on white paper, simple, elegant and serene. Simplicity is the most outstanding characteristic of Sumi-e. An economy of brush strokes are used to communicate the essence of the subject.



"If we study Japanese Art, we see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time doing what? In studying the distance between the earth and moon? No. In studying Bismark's policy? No. He studies a single blade of grass." -- Vincent Van Gogh

The Philosophy of Sumi-e is contrast and harmony, expressing simple beauty and elegance.




Artists who make Sumi-e usually grind their own ink using an ink stick (in Japanese: sumi) and a grinding stone (suzuri in Japanese) but prepared inks are also available. Most ink sticks are made of densely packed charcoal ash from bamboo or pine soot combined with glue extracted from MulgogiPbur, from Korean for fish bone or nikawa (Japanese for fish bones).



An artist puts a few drops of water on an ink stone and grinds the ink stick in a circular motion until a smooth, black ink of the desired concentration is made. Prepared inks are also available, but are of much lower quality. Sumi-e themselves, are sometimes ornately decorated with landscapes or flowers in bas-relief and some are highlighted with gold.



Here is a little video that shows step-by-step, how to create a Sumi-e rhododendron:


If you are unable to see the video, please click HERE.

Sumi-e employs these principles of nature's vitality in its design and execution. The balance and integration of these forces and the eternal interaction of Yin Yang are the ultimate goal of Sumi-e.




Sumi-e attempts to capture the Chi or "life spirit" of the subject, painting in the language of the spirit.




Patience is essential in Sumi-e painting. Balance, rhythm and harmony are the qualities the artist strives for by developing patience, self-discipline and concentration. Strength and balance are two other qualities demonstrated in this ancient art form.





The goal of the Sumi-e painter is to use the brush with both vitality and restraint. Constantly striving to be a better person because his character and personality come through in his work.


If you are interested in trying your hand at Sumi-e, HERE is a straight-forward, simple guide that can help you along.

Have fun!!

Kim Grant - Mosaics that DAZZLE!

The Lovely Kim Grant
Kim, recently flew from Australia to work on a mosaic at a little coffee shop in my neighborhood. I didn’t know she was coming….and she didn’t know that her destination happened to be right across the street from where I currently live! ….so she spent the week working on the mosaic, and we didn’t even realize each was here until after she had returned! Now she is back in Australia and I am still in the SF Bay vicinity, anticipating a move to San Diego where next year's SAMA convention will be held. The good thing is that Kim has promised to “come a knockin’ “ (as they say in the South) next year if she flies out for the convention, and I can hardly wait!



Kim finds inspiration for her work from ornamental art from the East and the West. She is self-taught and a true master of color and pattern. Kim draws on the inspiration found in life's quirky and often comedic nature, yet always manages to add a painterly grace to her pieces. She is very precise, yet avoids that static look that sometimes goes hand-in-hand with work that exacting. I could stare at it all day.

Venetian Night

Kim strives to produce beautiful pieces that are distinct, aesthetically pleasing and accessible. SUCCESS! She creates work both for interior or exterior applications - from small scale pieces such as stepping stones to larger scale projects such as murals, sculptures and ornamental pieces. I am particularly fond of her sculptural work.








I love this ballet slipper! The glue wasn't quite dry when she snapped the bottom pic, but it doesn't matter. It is so beautiful. Isn't it?!






Mosaic has allowed Kim to encompass all her creative pursuits in one venture: furniture restoration, interior design, web design, architecture, gardening and world travel! One thing that the two of us have in common is that Kim is also a consummate recycler who loves to browse through all kinds of places looking for materials and bases to use in her mosaic. We are going to have so much fun together when she visits next year!

If you would like to see more of Kim’s mosaics, please visit her web site HERE. I have only given you a peek into the enchanting world of Kim Grant Mosaics.

Whimsical Rubbish - Ben Hawkins

Ben Hawkins (shown smiling in navy tee)


Whimsical Rubbish

Happy Box

Happy Box detail


I am acquainted with Ben's work (and Ben himself) through the online photo hosting site, flickr. In glancing over his profile there, the testimony of one of his admirers caught my eye.

She wrote, “Have you ever Just met someone and felt like you have known them forever? Ben is that person for me- my funky junk soul brother-yep ~yep~ yessiree!

God has given him such a gift for spreading his happiness and joy for life to others through his wonderful , whimsical creations.
He is a sweet and caring and so down to earth and giving and he and his home-grown and happy dancing family truly make this world a better place to be in ! Take it from me , I speak no lies , it's true ! Truly!!!! Honest !!!!!!! Here's to you brother.”






Funny, lyrical, otherworldly, joyful, and sometimes, African-influenced, the work of Bill Hawkins seems to emanate from a place informed by sublime yet humorously whimsical spirits. Metal animals, shrines, masks, all created from found objects, (i.e.”junk”) express an intensity, whether they are birds or dogs or fish, shines rising up from discarded televisions sets or humanoids emerging from joints of metal fittings. Ben's work shows hints of early Steampunk laced with primitive-meets-high tech.









Some of the labels – “outsider,” “folk artist” seem so limited in conveying the richness of Ben Hawkin’s work. I find myself doing double-takes when I look at it. “What?! Is that a fan blade??!!” ;-)
It is all familiar, yet at the same time, foreign, interesting, fascinating!






Ben wrote to me, “I really don't have a artist statement so much I just really enjoy finding and letting out personalities in junk.... every where, every moment there is art waiting around the corner. I love to make my stuff, share smiles and happiness. My art came out of no where and suprised me and has enlightened my life every sense “





A segment of Ben’s art can be found on a video that he posted called, Rare Visions and Roadside Revalations.



Ben said he posted this “for a window into the madness” !

Click here to see more of Ben Hawkin's work while you cruise around his fun web site.