My daughter, Sarah, sent me a link to her friend, Christy L. Weigel’s web site with the note, “Blog about this.” It only took a minute for me to understand why. Christy's oil paintings are at once captivating, pithy and funny. The work is about identity, about questioning one's roles in a given time and space.
Independent artist book and zine publisher, writer, editor and distributor, Christy Weigel, mixes humor and reflection in a series of self-portraits that explore a changing sense of identity prompted by the birth of her daughter in 2007.
In each oil painting on canvas, Weigel either turns her back to the viewer or obscures her face or entire head with a different object: trumpet, Groucho Marx glasses/nose/moustache, coffee cup or large paper bag. Weigel creates texture and adds to the content of each painting by writing across its surface using a single repeated letter, or her own stream of consciousness poetry.
Christy writes, "I have been making art in some form since I can remember. My great-grandmother liked to paint desert landscapes from Arizona Highways magazine, and with her help I completed my first oil painting when I was 10 years old.
Currently, I primarily work with two-dimensional artforms including - but not limited to - oil on canvas, pastel on paper, and digital image manipulation. My favorite images are figurative and/or objective with elements of surrealism. I'm also in love with the process of making books.
My influences come less from the visual arts and more from a wide variety of sources including overheard conversations, sketch comedies such as Kids in the Hall and The State, poetry, music, and Buster Keaton."
You may visit Christy's web site for a look at additional work, including her digital art and art books.
We have just returned from a few days away at a beach side resort in San Simeon. Among the fun things we did was tour Hearst Castle, the home that William Randolph Hearst built for his girlfriend, Marion Davies. Imagine 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms and 41 fireplaces. The estate has an outdoor pool, an indoor pool, tennis courts, a library with 4,000 books, a refectory that could seat 48 for dinner, and, at one time, a zoo that rivaled many of the public ones. (The old bear cages are still in existence and wild zebras still graze along HWY. 1.)
Amazing art treasures can be found in every room there and that is what I loved most about being in W.R. Hearst's gonzo extravaganza of wealth. We were enthralled with the antique ceilings, the perfect Greek vases dating as far back as 700 B.C., rare Asian carpets, Tiffany lamps.... A myriad of art and mosaics can be found throughout the vast home and adjoining guest houses. Art and architectural elements that were instilled by architect, Julia Morgan, originating primarily in Spain and Italy complement the Mediterranean Revival architecture. Antique furniture, ceilings, mantels, doors, paintings, sculptures, bas-reliefs, textiles and tapestries, comprise much of what is seen there.
The Roman Pool is decorated from ceiling to floor with 1" square glass mosaic tiles. They are either colored (mainly blue or orange) or are clear with fused 24K gold inside. The intense colors and shimmering gold of the tiles combine to create a breathtaking effect.I can't even begin to describe how beautiful this pool is! The designs created by the tiles were developed by muralist Camille Solon. The inspiration for some of these designs came from the 5th Century Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.
Sekhmet Fountain Sekhmet Fountain, was designed by architect Julia Morgan to incorporate four ancient Egyptian sculptures of the lion-faced goddess, 1300-1600 B.C. The sculptures were facing the Nile River when Moses floated down the river during Biblical times.
Discobolus Mr. Hearst was an avid collector of sculpture. Discobolus, or the Discus Thrower, is of late 19th or early 20th-century manufacture. It is an Italian copy in bronze of the original marble by Greek sculptor Myron (5th century B.C.). Detailed examination during conservation treatment showed that the sculpture was still filled with plaster-like material used in the original casting process. This material absorbs moisture, then causes salts to leach through the pores of the bronze to the surface of the sculpture, resulting in corrosion and loss of metal; this material was removed. The sculpture was cleaned, and corrosion and mineral deposits were removed from the surface, which was then treated to arrest corrosion and to replace lost areas of metal. The patina of the surface was re-touched where necessary, and the entire sculpture was waxed to help protect and preserve the bronze.
This third century Roman mosaic depicts a merman and sea-life. It served as the floor of the main entrance into Casa Grande. detail
Magnificent tapestries lined many of the walls inside the castle. To help ensure these pieces survive another five hundred years, conservation treatment included: gentle cleaning; re-weaving and repairing time-damaged sections; reinforcing the stitching at separated areas, and re-lining the back of the tapestry with conservation-quality fabric.
Also known as Nike of Brescia,Winged Victory is an early 20th-century Italian bronze copy by Umberto Marcellini of the original in the Roman Museum in Brescia, Italy. Winged Victory, unfortunately, shared the same manufacturing defect that plagued the other bronze statue shown above. Discobolus casting material left inside the sculpture was causing corrosion. Conservation treatment was essentially the same for both bronzes. Funding for this project was graciously provided by the Sence Foundation.
Architect Julia Morgan not only designed the main house and guest houses, she was the landscape architect as well:
George Plimpton made a fantastic, informative video about Hearst Castle's art preservation efforts:
When my friend, Bobbie, first sent me pictures of Australian sculpture Ron Mueck's amazing life-like human sculptures, I couldn't believe my eyes! Such fine detail on a scale as large as this struck me as almost impossible to achieve. He constructs this anatomically correct sculptures from fiberglass substrates.
Early on in his career, Mueck worked as a model maker for the children's TV program Shirl's Neighborhood and Jim Henson films including Labyrinth , before making fine art of his hyper-real sculptures of human figures. Hethen moved on to working in special effects. During this period, he began to utilize silicone to construct his sculptures.
In 1996 Mueck transitioned to fine art, collaborating with his mother-in-law, Paula Rego, to produce small figures as part of a tableau she was showing at the Hayward Gallery. Rego introduced him to Charles Saatchi who was immediately impressed and started to collect and commission work. This led to the famous piece that lead to Mueck's immediate fame, Dead Dad. The piece was included in the Sensation show at the Royal Academy the following year.
Dead Dad is a rather haunting silicone and mixed media sculpture of the corpse of Mueck's father reduced to about two thirds of its natural scale. While Mueck often uses human hair in his work, punching in one strand at a time, Dead Dad is the only work of Mueck's that uses his own hair for the finished product. Dead Dad
Shortly after, he started his own company based in London making photo realistic props. His work was designed to be photographed from just one angle, and eventually he moved on to realistic sculptures, which would be able to be photographed from any angle.
Mueck's sculptures meticulously detail the human form. His sculptures range from very tiny to giant-sized, but they are never actual life-sized. This is reported to give viewers an unsettled feeling while viewing his work.
His sculptures appear so lifelike that if not for their scale, I'm sure many viewers would be fooled.
The attention to detail is extraordinary.
Ron Mueck's first exhibition in Japan will open on April 26 2008 at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. It will run until August 8 and feature a collection of works displayed over 6 spaces in the gallery. Among them will be Mueck's latest work "A Girl". The exhibition will also include two short films about the artist, covering both his artistic background, and his production techniques.You can see a slideshow of more of Ron's work HERE.
One tessera at a time, painstaking, laborious, such is the truth of mosaic art. Opus Veritas. Massimiliano Salviati
(please click individual images to enlarge.)
The Esther Series is one of three major bodies of work by mixed media artist, Lilian Broca. She writes: Throughout my career I have explored relationships and the nature of the human condition through symbols and metaphors. The Queen Esther Series deals with sacrifice and I chose the biblical Queen Esther as a prototype for the courageous, selfless heroine who wins against all odds. As a young woman, Esther fulfilled her role as leader at a time of crisis with intelligence, persistence and dedication. Today we view her as a role model and as such, she contributes significantly to the status of women in society
Sheila D.Campbell, PhD. Art historian, Archaeologist, Curator of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto wrote in April of 2006 about Lilian's work: "....But also in common with the mediaeval artist, Lilian is not just telling a story. She has taken a tale from antiquity, and is using the narrative to convey a wider contemporary message, which here is that of the role of women in self sacrifice, and the promotion of non-violent negotiations for peaceful conflict resolution. .... She works with colour and light to achieve her goal. But the success of these panels lies not only in Lilian’s ability to weave a narrative. Her understanding of colour and how it works is superb. The three dimensional effect which is achieved happens because of this understanding. The proof of this is that we don’t notice how the colours are used, that we let our eyes do the blending, and don’t see individual spots of colour. Many people try to work in mosaic. Few achieve such successful and professional results....
Lilian stated: "The bright, seductive colours of Venetian glass and smalti I used in creating mosaics many years ago, suddenly beckoned me." The coincidental fact that mosaics were first mentioned in the biblical Book of Esther (within the description of King Ahasuerus’s palace) contributed to her decision to further explore mosaic art. "In our present Post-Modernist society executing the Esther Series in an ancient method with added contemporary symbolism seems most appropriate."
Note the technical expertise with which Lilian treated the folds of Esther's dress in this Byzantine Style interpretation called, "Esther's Offering".
As Queen of Persia, Esther was as inferior in status as any other woman. Her life at court was luxurious, but since she was completely isolated in the King's harem amongst women of a different culture and customs, she must have felt lonely and sad. Esther first sacrificed her maidenhood; later she was obliged to put her life at risk when ordered to go before King Khashayarsha (without the King’s permission) and reveal the treacherous plans Haman had designed without the King’s knowledge. She knew the danger to her was great and immediate, for anyone who approached the court uninvited was liable to be condemned to death. She wisely designed a plan in which she played King Khashayarsha (aka Xerxes, Ahasuerus, and Ahashverosh) and evil Haman against each other. It is my intent to portray Esther as a glorious winner, despite all the demands and sacrifices required of her in a patriarchal culture of antiquity. after sketching numerous ideas I paint the final choice as a guide. These designs are Lilian takes her mosaic art quite seriously. She carefully creates them in reverse as mirror images that later get transferred to the panel used as the final substrate. Looking at and following the painted design she then cuts Venetian glass tesserae imported from Italy into tiny pieces and glues them onto a temporary surface of brown paper the same size as the final mosaic panel. Smalto glass, a combination of opaque glass and enamel, is also being used along with 24 carat gold sandwiched between two thin layers of transparent glass. Four or five shades of each colour are employed to enhance the visual effect; the surface itself becomes a field of attention and more emphatic in its overall unity. Figure and ground merge into one another. "In a successful mosaic, the manner of the laying of tesserae and the intended image must function interdependently; each individual piece of glass retains its individual identity yet the eye assimilates the pieces into a whole image. This is very different from my previous body of work - paintings and drawings - where the medium was subservient to the image. The mosaics' dramatic subject matter emotive with vibrant colours though laid out in an orderly and rational fashion, are the type of artworks that reflect the present stage in my artistic development." Lilian tells me that a new web site is under construction. When it is completed, I will announce it here. For now, you may view all three of her incredible series about women at her current web site.
Just got out of the hospital this afternoon (kidney problems)..and couldn't think of a more appropriate entry to make than one about art made with water. ;-)
This (unknown) artist took all of these photos of colored water in motion. I find them deliciously sensuous.
British artist, Chris Gilmour, pays careful attention to and understands how things work. He values the art of making and strongly emphasizes it in his amazing, life-sized cardboard creations that are as complicated as their materials are simple. To create them, he uses only cardboard and glue..
These sculptures are accurate down to the very last detail. Note the bicycle chains and the spokes in the wheels. All cardboard and glue...nothing else.
“Gilmour has imposed a strict logic on his works. He makes objects using only cardboard and glue. There is no supporting structure, no wooden or metal frame. His interpretations of everyday objects are created in adherence to the use of a pure and single material but instead of the marble or bronze of classical statues, he has chosen one of the most humble and commonly found of our industrial times.” Guido Bartorelli Translation: Simonetta Caporale
By its very nature, the type of cardboard used for packaging is intended to contain and then be discarded. Gilmour uses it to contain the works own identity and to highlight the displacement between the original object and the one made in cardboard.
This displacement is marked by difference” his sculptures ,and apart from the use of such a vulnerable material, conform to all the accepted precepts of sculpture. They are not mere copies, but rather translations from life. This translation brings with it a process of knowledge – the knowledge of the small things within which the sense of daily existence is hidden.
Gilmour compares his sculptures to drawing, a way of seeing objects by observing and measuring them.
There is a process of deconstruction, making, in an almost instantaneous and immediate construction, as if Gilmour was using a pencil on a piece of paper.
He will, at times, leave things in an unfinished stage that calls to mind models or drafts. He chooses objects to evoke a feeling of familiarity in the viewer. He embodies them with a conceptual power and feels that they offer a blank canvas upon which the viewer can project his or her own experiences with the actual objects . The ordinary nature of the actions associated with these objects (such as opening a car door) provides a striking contrast with the actual complicated nature of their construction. Photo credit: Marco diPalma
Scott Wade In Texas, there is a type of grey/white-ish powder that is a blend of limestone dust, gravel and clay. When one drives down a dirt road, this stuff billows up behind the car leaving the perfect canvas on the rear windshield for Scott Wade to create his awesome and unique paintings. He uses a similar method that I learned in art school wherein an area is covered with media and the lines are erased away.
Over the past five years Scott has perfected his technique for making "dirty car art". He has, in fact, begun to generate quite a buzz. The 49-year-old artist from Wimberley, Texas, lived on a dirt road for more than 20 years. What else could he do but perfect the ideal grime-generating conditions for his car canvases?
Wade recreated Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" popping out of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" on the back of a Mini Cooper. You can see a little streaking from early morning dew. This image was worked on in three sessions, with more dust accumulating between sessions. That's when the drawings really seem to take on life, with a much greater range of values. These images drawn in the dust are obviously quite impermanent. One of the cool things about them is how they change over time. More dust accumulates as the car is driven down the road. Early morning dew streaks and dots the image, creating a patina. A light shower creates a deeper patina...
"I know some people are very picky about their cars," Wade said when asked whether he unleashes his artistic talents on random cars. Most of his work has been done on his Honda Fit and his Toyota Yarus, in addition to a Mini Cooper he used to own and a Mazda 3. "If I really saw a car that was perfect for it, I might ask someone if they would mind."
Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" took longer than the average windshield masterpiece, requiring at least 90 minutes for the Renaissance piece. Wade jokes about the work: "It was just a matter of time before I had to do a nude 'Dirty Picture,' don't you think?"
Wade gave Vermeer a go on the back window of a Mazda, but admits that he "felt a little bold" replicating the Dutchman's "Girl With a Pearl Earring."
The Vermeer image was drawn on top of a previous image, making it tricky to achieve intermediate tones but creating a "stipple effect," Wade writes.
Here are some other Scott Wade masterpieces:
Admittedly, it's a dirty job....but somebody has to do it.
Back in the 80's my family had a summer house in Damariscotta, Maine. This is where I would take my children to avoid the intense heat of Houston summers. The house was a beautiful old Cape Cod with hand hewn beams sitting at the edge of a forest with a grand view of the lake. Each year, after a few days away from the fast-paced city, I would become enchanted by the intimate exposure to nature that is the unavoidable Maine experience. Seeing Carrie Bracker’s mosaic work has brought back a lot of fond memories for me. Pemaquid Point Light House near Damariscotta, ME.
Carrie is a Maine glass artist whose mosaics are inspired by the nature that surrounds her in Maine and before that, Southern Arizona. She has resided in Maine since July 2004 and understandably, loves living there. It is a beautiful state. Carrie says it will take a bulldozer to mover her out. (I know just how she feels!)
Carrie’s first college degree was from Northern Arizona University in Business Administration…and then she was bitten by the art bug, so she obtained a second degree from from the University of Arizona in Fine Arts with a major in Graphic Design, Illustration and Painting.
Carrie started experimenting in Mosaics around 2001. Most recently, she has expanded her work to include fused glass. In addition to nature's influence, Carrie loves to play with colors, shapes and textures to create her pieces. Don't you just love this abstract piece?
Carrie's picks up a lot of her substrates from flea markets or from the bottom of the rubbish bin. She loves to repurpose old and used items by breathing new life into them via her mosaics. Natural elements such as pebbles, wood, beach glass and rusted metal are another passion.
Carrie makes all original, one-of-a-kind mosaics. No two are alike. She personally completes each piece from start to finish using bright, bold color combinations that are truly gripping. If you like what you see here, you can find more of Carrie's work on her web site.
Brion has, from time-to-time, lent small sections of his cityscape to a museum in Paris that exhibits miniatures exclusively. However, his work is created for his own enjoyment right in his own back yard and is generally not open to the public other than for small groups once or twice a week. Hopefully, this will change in the near future.
Everything is going 'designer' these days from toys, ipod covers, stationery, furniture, vibrators you name it... a local Oakland artist added weapons to that list, giving them new meaning wrapped in the lux of high fashion labels. Artist Peter Gronquist put a new twist on the bizarre worlds of fashion and guns that whimsically questioned their values in his “The Revolution Will Be Fabulous” exhibit at L.A’s Gallery 1988 last month.
His pithy-yet-fabulous fashionable artillery art included assault rifles and rocket launchers emblazoned with prints and logos from Murakami, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and Coach, among other top designers. Also up for grabs is a Pac-Man grenade, a Louis Vuitton electric chair, designer chainsaws, and a gazelle with LV-shaped antlers.
Prices ranged from $350 for the grenade up to $3,500 for the rifles.
Gronquist is originally from Portland. Growing up in a creative family, he began drawing and painting early on. This led to obsessive art making throughout his childhood that continues today. After high school, Peter attended the School of Visual Arts for two years, then finished his BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2001. He currently resides here in Oakland California (EAST BAY!) and tries to paint every day.
As Occasional Superheroine and full-time feminist comic book fan Valerie D'Orazio notes, there's quite a market for pink guns. "When the revolution comes, prepare to shoot like a girl."
First, check out http://www.cityrepair.org...then come back and read this entry...
This is an entry about an art project in my former Portland, Oregon neighborhood. The neighborhood is called, "Sellwood" and this is a pretty incredible story.
All across the U.S., people are revitalizing their streets to make them more artful, more livable, and more family/community oriented. Once dangerous neighborhoods are becoming safe again and people are returning to the sidewalks to mill about and socialize. The concept is very simple, really. The term, "Intersection Repair" is becoming a common term.
A trademark characteristic of Intersection Repair entails painting an intersection with a colorful, elaborate design. This usually turns out to be the beginning of a community gathering space. The art in the street has the almost magical effect of causing drivers to slow down and take note, because it immediately signifies community.... and art.
I remember when it all began.....at least in Portland.
The Portland spot most noted for having utilized this concept initially is called, “Share it Square.” This was a place in my old neighborhood where renegade artists transformed one of the first intersections into what is now so much more than just a street corner. Located at SE 9th & Sherrett Streets, mere blocks from the little white Sellwood house we lived in at the time, folks in the neighborhood began by painting a huge mural right onto the street. The original has been painted over many times since and is now much brighter. Back then, it was done in very gentle, subdued colors.
On nearby sidewalks, a small kiosk for hot tea was constructed... and another for free books and another as a freecycle station. I picked up a great pair of tennies there once....and traded in my tupperware! ;-) One neighbor put up a mosaic...then, a bench appeared and a dome made of tree branches….and before we knew it, the neighborhood was transformed into a friendly gathering place where people got out, strolled around and interacted with one another like never before. I still have vivid memories of our Maya, age 4 at the time, dressed in fairy wings and ballet tutu sipping her little cup of tea and walking around the intersection.
The same kiosk at this corner where our Maya sipped her tea, has been kept supplied with clean mugs and hot tea since. A water feature has now been added.
Share it Square was initiated and completed by residents without the sanction of the city. In fact, they ignored warnings from city government to cease and desist their activities. It ended up well for all concerned when the Portland city government realized this renegade art a great idea. They even decided to support other similar Portland projects.
After installation of Share-It Square, surveys of the participating community members found that the majority felt that crime had decreased, traffic had slowed, and communication between neighbors had improved. Creation of the Square led to City adoption of the ordinance that allowed similar projects to be created. An attitude of giving and abundance was created. Community spirit was instilled.
Here is a little video that talks more about Share it Square: (Please click HERE if you are unable to see the video.)
Projects of this nature are cropping up all over the place…in Eugene, Hood, New York, Las Vegas and in other cities. A group here in Oakland called “East Bay City Repair” undertakes similar ones, as this video shows: (Click HERE if you can’t see it.) I once suggested doing something like this to a person here in Oakland's Jingletown communitym, an idea that was quickly dismissed. Now, the notion has resurfaced as a "new" idea...but whatever. I'm just happy that this neighborhood will undergo some kind of artistic transformation.
Lynne Chinn was described by another blogger as her personal “…pantheon of mosaic gods & goddesses.“ I can certainly understand why. As I learn more and more about mosaic art, I am coming to deeply appreciate the artist who has the courage to explore new territory, someone who makes art that is truly unique and unpredictable without the same tired symbols repeated over and again. Lynne Chinn's work is crisp and new. It pushes the boundaries and stretches the imagination and it is....unquestionably.... beautiful.
This striking, organic, three dimensional piece “Winged Geode” brought Lynne recognition as one of the finalists for the highly-coveted Orsoni Prize 2007: International Award for Mosaic Art in the category for fine mosaic technique and originality of expression. Smalti, 24k gold smalti, 24k colored gold, transparent smalti, piastrini, smashed smalti pizza, and vitreous glass, no grout. Winged Geod detail
An award-winning graphic designer and professional oil painter, Lynne has been creating and installing luxurious mosaic surfaces since 2001. Her training as a painter is made evident by her signature brush stroke illusions in her mosaic work. Note Lynne's treatment of the facial shadow in her mosaic reproduction of Bernardino Luini’s Virgin.
In this collaboration with Julie Richy, the application of grout itself takes on definite painterly qualities and demands equal importance with the tesserae:
When Lynne created, "Far Red" she guided the texture of the smalti, its reflectivity and varying depths, to become a fascinating monochromatic study in red. 16 1/2 x 46 1/2 inches Smalti, Smalto, Vitreous Glass, Glazed Ceramic, Stained Glass, Opus Romano, Pebble, Mirrored Glass
Lynne works with designers, architects, public art committees, and homeowners to develop individual concepts for her mosaics. With each project, she considers and discusses the style, color, textures and andamento to be expressed in each piece. She uses her advanced design and color theory ideas to contemplate schema such as this amazing Colorado Rainbow Shower Floor created in Murano Smalto.
From vitreous glass and smalti to marble, Lynne uses the finest materials possible from around the world to create her beautiful and enduring handcrafted works of art. Here are some additional examples: Orange Crush
Coffee Bean Lynne's inspired fine art mosaics are represented in private homes and in public venues all over the United States. This August, Lynne will be teaching a smalti workshop at The Chicago Mosaic School, the only premier, not-for-profit Mosaic Art School in North America and the only professional school for mosaics whose faculty are all professional, exhibiting mosaic artists with degrees in fine arts. More of Lynne Chinn's mosaics and further information about this artist can be found on her web site.
I first saw Jason Walker’s ceramic work in the form of a tea pot that is part of the permanent collection at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco.
The exhibit has long since been dismantled, yet Walker’s combinations of the imagery of technology and ecology still haunt my memory. Natural? Unnatural? The question, “What is Nature?” seems to be his guiding force.
“ I feel we use the term nature very loosely in our language today, and in my work I am searching for a place or an object that embodies the word nature.”
“According to Webster’s Dictionary, nature is something in its essential form untouched and untainted by the hands of a human being. Here lies the problem to my quest. At the very heart of our own description of nature we exclude ourselves from it. Does this mean I am not natural?”
The way in which we perceive nature inadvertently describes the way in which we perceive ourselves.
“I feel that technology has significantly changed and continues to mold our perception of nature. I feel we are pursuing our technological aspirations with a sort of blind admiration."
"Collectively, we see technology as only friend. Yet, technology is both friend and foe. Besides the obvious advantages technology may bring to our lives there lie unintended consequences and underlying messages behind every creation that forever change our perceptions, our social interactions and our relationship to nature and each other. It is in this grey area that I am trying to create a narrative to examine and ask questions.”
“My work has become a self-examination as well as a form of social critique, because I am just as dependent on technology as anyone else due to the fact that I choose to participate in society.”
To do research for his work, Jason traveled to an American ‘wilderness’ and backpacked solo with his sketchbook for ten days collecting images of landscape and ecology to take back to the studio. From this experience, he composed a narrative based on an historical progression of different perceptions of ‘nature’ and ‘wilderness’ in America starting with the idea of manifest destiny and progressing to contemporary ideas embodied in national parks and nature preserves. “Ultimately, my quest to define nature is a journey to define for myself what it means to be human in the present time.”
Jason Walker lives in Bellingham, Washington, and is represented by Ferrin Gallery in Lenox, Massachusetts where you can see more of his work.
Mark Brody creates his mosaics from the basement of a Portland, Oregon bungalow in a neighborhood not far from where I used to live. To say that he limits his creations to a specific style or specialty would be doing him a disservice, made obvious by his wide-ranging body of work. His current projects include this impressive work in progress at the Tulatin Public Library:
When he isn’t teaching mosaic classes or instructing students how to fuse glass, Mark is working on his own mosaic art which sometimes includes working with kids in schools. An aspiration of great significance is Mark’s work with Young Audiences, Inc, the nation’s leading source of arts-in-education services whose mission and goal is to help make the arts an essential part of young people’s education.
This (Squamish-influenced?) glass mosaic whale is one of Mark's latest works, created with fifth graders at Buckman Elementary School in the Portland area. “These mosaics are made and installed on site with the students of these Portland area schools. Each is custom designed and the art media can vary from ceramic to glass, paper, wood and stone.”
This Hebrew Prayer mosaic (2004)is located in the Shaarie Torah Temple:
Mark’s work undulates with attention-grabbing patterning. He adds interesting textural properties via design choices that incorporate movement and life into his mosaics.
Mark writes: “I find that tile setting has very few limits and a very large, unexplored potential. Most of my work oversteps the limitation of a right-angle frame so that the irregular edge enhances the form I am depicting…”
Mark demonstrates this very well in his series of architecturally-influenced explorations of mosaic. These houses break the bounds of conformity and present as unique and refreshing responses to the ordinary:
Add a boy and a dog and you're ready to move right in!
To see more of Mark's mosaic work, please visit his web site HERE.
“I'm a painter and potter, with art always having been part of my life's journey. I started playing with glass and it was familiar to me. I now paint with glass.” Carol Shelkin
When Carol was a child, she kept her crayons in rainbow order. That felt good. Since that time, she has found herself obsessed with color, design, artistic techniques and with experimenting with the different artistic mediums. Constantly striving to improve her capacity for art, Carol's trademark artistic strength is color. She knows how to combine the right colors to create the kinds of pieces that cause people to do double-takes. Autumn Zephyr
Carol is an artistic mover and shaker. For as long as she can remember, art has been a part of her life. She exhibits, sells, teaches and continually strives to nurture her artistic skills. In her efforts to share her art with others, Carol opened an arts nursery school where she currently teaches. She also teaches art in a community senior center.
As I was going through Carol's flickr album to find photos for this blog article, I found myself drop-jawed at her series of four women's portraits, each with a specific and delightful personality, just brimming with character (click image to enlarge) : The Four Seasons "It's funny how art takes you away. I started out with just making the clown looking portrait, thinking it looked like "Spring" so I had to make the other seasons...
Now, I think I need to put them all together, some how. Will I ever be done?"
Carol attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. While there, she attuned her skills as a painter and unexpectedly fell in love with clay. “I was bound to work with ceramics and found painting pottery filled my soul.” Hand painted stoneware bowl by Carol Shelkin
Like many artists, Carol has experimented with many mediums.
"I strive to put emotion, passion and a little whimsy in every piece of art I create and this brings me enormous joy. I, most recently have my hands in mosaics, not clay."
This mailbox was Carol's first mosaic project:
"I discovered mosaics to be a medium where I can use almost any material and be totally multifaceted. It’s been said my work is unique, transporting one of the oldest artist mediums to present day. When I work with mosaics and it’s array of colors and textures, I sense a harmony and a familiarity from when I was a child. For me, mosaics unite the tactile creations of pottery and the vision of painting. My thoughts are with those who commission my mosaics hoping they know my work is a treasure from my heart, my hands and from my soul." "Yes, my glass is in rainbow order."
Along with other mosaic artists from across the globe, Carol donated a mosaic for the Steve Irwin Mosaic Tribute to be installed at the Australian Zoo. It was that year she made that single mosaic.... the following year, she made two, this year she can't count how many projects she has completed. "I’ve been told I’m painting again, I’m painting with glass."
Currently, there is only one known piece of art on the moon… the Fallen Astronaut commemorative plaque left there at Hadley-Apennine landing site.
I remember one night years ago, driving in a convertible through Houston’s Hermann Park with John and our friends, Katy and Pierre. At one point, Pierre looked up at the full moon and said, “You know, CocaCola has just licensed the rights to advertise on the moon…” The rest of us were mortified….but it turned out to be true.
Google is currently working on a deal with Virgin Galactic to install a massive projection framework that will consist of tethered satellite units with a tiny compulsion systems to maintain position. A banner, approximately the size of four football fields, stretched between the units made of polyhedron plasma foils will create a giant projection lenses. Electronic frequencies sent to millions of cells will adjust color and opacity to create the equivalent of a slide show projection on the Moon’s surface. The display area will be visible to anyone, most viewers will be able to see large objects displayed but additional information like text, URL’s and smaller graphics will be visible with the use of binoculars or telescopes. The moon inventory will be available based on regions; splitting North America into zones plus global regions including several Asia Pacific regions, Europe and the Middle East. I, for one, don’t think the moon needs to be “improved” with advertising….but I do find the idea of art in the sky rather intriguing.
Enter one-time magician Francisco Guerra.....
When Guerra recently decided to float an idea he really pulled a rabbit out of the hat - a cloud-making machine that allows one to float ART in the sky! (Too bad it is commercial) ;-( .
The clouds, or 'Flogos', come in any shape you want, from Mickey Mouse to the Olympic rings. They are made of soap and gases, such as helium, which allow them to fly off and retain their puffy texture.
'They will fly for miles,' said Mr Guerra. 'They are durable so they last a while.'
Depending on the weather and the formula used, the Flogos can last from a few minutes to more than an hour.
They can fly up to 30 miles and go as high as four miles... but normally the little clouds level out at about 500ft.
His machines can pump out your flying art at a rate of one every 15 seconds.
The clouds can be made in 2ft. or 3ft. sizes but a 6f. generator is in the pipeline.
Current designs are only available in white but Mr Guerra plans to add colour options from next year.
Mr Guerra, whose US company Snowmakers creates weather effects for Hollywood movies, insisted Flogos are environmentally friendly because the soaps that make up the foamy shapes are plant-based.
'Eventually a Flogo just evaporates in the air. It does not pollute the skies,' he said.
'They're safer than mass balloon launches where the fragments pollute the environment and are dangerous to wildlife.'
The proto-clouds have also been cleared by the authorities of being a hazard to airplanes.
Intarsia are mosaics made of pieces of inlaid wood. This mosaic form is enjoying an insurgence of popularity in contemporary art.
To construct intarsia, outlined drawings are used as templates for cutting many pieces of wood (sometimes up to a thousand or more). Different colors of wood provide the different shadings. Sometimes stains, bleaches, or heat are applied to the wood to provide a wider range of tones but the wood is never painted nor otherwise tinted.
This rose is made from white pine, blood wood and cedar:
Intarsia reached a peak in northern Italy back in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
Many outstanding examples of the earlier period feature polyhedra, which are geometric objects with flat faces and straight edges.
Here are four intarsia panels that were constructed around 1520 by by Italian artist, Fra Giovanni da Verona. The first pair is in the Monastery of Monte Olivetto Maggiore (near Siena) and the second pair is from the church of Santa Maria in Organo, Verona.
This first example features a 72-sided sphere called a “mazzocchio”, and various instruments of the geometer.
This second one features an "elevated icosidodecahedron," which is a complex nonconvex polyhedron which can be constructed by erecting a pyramid of equilateral triangles on each face of an icosidodecahedron. The use of the mazzocchio goes back to the Rennaisance painter, Paolo Uccello. The other polyhedra are based on Leonardo di Vinci’s drawings of "solid edge" models, published in Pacioli's influential 1509 book, “The Divine Proportion”.
Note that these intarsia examples are perfectly flat panels. The appearance of open cupboard doors is a trompe l'oeil effect of the masterful perspective. The same effect is used in others of Fra Giovanni's panels. The next one below features the same 72-sided sphere, along with an icosahedron and a truncated icosahedron, which is a basic structural system with 20 faces and 5 triangles around each of its 12 vertices.. The panel after that features a cube with equilateral pyramids erected on each face, a cuboctahedron, and again the elevated icosidodecahedron. (A cuboctahedron is a polyhedron with eight triangular faces and six square faces. It has 12 identical vertices, with two triangles and two squares meeting at each, and 24 identical edges, each separating a triangle from a square.)
What follows is a video showing a contemporary artist trying his hand at an intarsia rose. It isn't the most thrilling video I've ever seen, but it will give you an idea of how the process of making intarsia is executed..
There is no message in this entry other than to say that these people prove that there is no excuse for not making art...even if you don't have any traditional art supplies. Art is everywhere! (even in your BBQ ribs!)
Enjoy!!! ________
REDNECK ART made with BBQ RIBS - Speed Painting
(Click HERE if you are unable to see the video above.)
How to get Angelina Jolie Lips with Lipstick Speed Painting
Ulrike Martinez Her name is Ulrike Martinez. Like many artists, from an early age, she has loved art and its creation. While in school, it was not uncommon to find her drawings and art projects proudly displayed. She is a native German who now lives in Southern California.
Ulrike graduated from dental school in Germany but her interest in art took the form of fashion and interior design. In 1990, she began painting murals. It wasn’t until a few years ago that she discovered mosaic, and like so many of us, became hooked.
Ulrike uses a lot of Mexican smalti and other glass tesserae in her work. She writes, “ Mosaic, this ancient art of putting together hand cut tesserae through meticulous precision, is a gratifying way to express my relentless desire to create beauty and for my visions of the world around me.”
A sensation that a lot of mosaic artists feel was expressed by Ulrike when she stated that after she finished her first piece, she “could not let go”.
Ulrike writes:
“ I had found what I was looking for all my life in creating beauty and the relentless pursuit of perfection. It is an eloquent testimony of my dedication to carry on this form of one of the oldest art and decorating style. Once I have started on a piece, I cannot let go until it is finished.”
Ulrike designs and draws all of her pieces from scratch and with the greatest of care.
“ I use only the finest materials available from around the world.”
Ulrike Martinez is a part of EBSQ, the organization for Self Representing Artists, and her profile can be found HERE.
Please click HERE for her web site which contains contact information and additional photos of her work.
I attended the opening for Tenacity - Skeeter and the Pack exhibit at 580 Hayes in San Francisco on Friday night and was so overwhelmed by the number of terrific works and artists there that I've decided to give a brief overview of the show with a view toward convincing my local readers to stop by an take a look. I also plan to do more in-depth pieces on some of the artists in the future. Today, however, I will just highlight some of them with gratitude for giving me such a thrill. The work was great!
The featured artist was Kim Maguire- Gaultieri whose plaster and metal sculptures and drawings are informed by the commodification of animals. Kim chose the ill-fated greyhound to represent her views and her work is as powerful and graceful as the animals themselves.
The curator of the show, Madeline Behrens-Brigham, created a gripping wall of mixed media work that she entitled, "Uplifting Moments of a Deeply Profound Depression" .
Life doesn't have to be all black Life doesn't have to be all whilte Grey exists Not only does grey exist Shades of grey can be discerned.
Madeline Behrens-Brigham
Ofra Fisher had a trio of her whimsical teapots on display:
SFAI graduate, Daniel Turner exhibited this compelling sculptural umbrella piece:
As often as I see my close friend, Delaine Hackney, I never grow weary of seeing her mosaic interpretations of animals.
I find it utterly amazing that she can turn this...
...into this:
Delaine's talented husband, Fred Andrews, keeps us equally entertained with his fanciful (almost, but not quite real) creatures sculpted from a variety of materials. Fred, shown here with his latest creation made of Darjit! is always full of surprises....and talent!
(Darjit is an eco-friendly sculpturing compound made of 90% recycled materials.)
Greg Cassin's work, an attempt "to honor the sacredness of the human spirit", captivated viewers with its' illustrations of the creative power of suffering. Religious iconography and symbols of oppression were displayed in large framed works hanging on a stark, black wall and provided a pithy focal point for the exhibit. Greg's work addresses the oppressive powers of the world, especially religion and mainstream culture.
The vivid, abstract paintings of Greg Dunham were created with a clever process in which he covered canvases with layers of paint and then scraped through to the layers beneath:
Greg's free-spirited work has a lively energy and persuasive presence.
The mesmerizing photography of Jean Lannen demanded much attention at this show. Jean has an uncanny way of bringing dolls and other inanimate objects to life, giving them personalities and emotions.
Jean says, "I try to capture the magic that I sense." and she is quite successful at this.
What you have seen is only a sample of the delights to behold at this, the last art exhibit at 580 Hayes in what was once John's Market (better known as "Hayes Valley Market) in San Francisco's Hayes Valley district before the structure is torn down and rebuilt into a five story space that will include retail establishments and a smaller dedicated art space.
Tenacity - Skeeter and the Pack
Featured artist:
Kim Maguire-Gaultieri
including:
Madeline Behrens-Brigham Elsa Madeline Murray Kisa Herrera Smedley Daniel Adam Turner Phoebe Seligman Delaine Hackney Fred Andrews Greg Dunham Gregg Cassin Jean Lannen Scott Rankin Janie Venci
Saundra Warren Each time I enter Saundra Warren’s studio space, I am reminded of William Wordsworth’s mention of the bliss of solitude in his poem about springtime.
“…And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils”
Saundra has managed to counter the blaring noise and abrasive colors of Oakland urbana by creating her own serene oasis that begins to soothe the spirit the minute one passes through her gate and sets foot in her tiny shaded garden. It is brimming with green life and the sounds of bubbling water and the signs of constant attention and nurturing.
Saundra Warren first studied ceramics at The Adult School in Alameda, later refining her knowledge and skills at Merritt College in Oakland. However, her knack for incorporating a real sense of nature in her work through form and color, evolved from her own sensibilities and the sensitivity she has to the beauty that can only be found in carefully observing botanicals. No one else captures these qualities quite like Saundra does.
Her studio is located at 2908 Glascock Street in Oakland’s Jingletown Arts District. (Glascock is the street nearest the estuary that divides Oakland and Alameda, near the Park Street Bridge.) One of her ceramic tile classes is currently in progress at IMA (and has classes coming up there) but she also teaches students privately in her own little sanctuary in the middle of the urban jungle. Further information about Saundra can be found on her website. http://www.insaundrasgarden.com . Interested parties can also call 510-907-0345.
When Isaiah and Julia Zagar were in Oakland, they told us about their friend, Gary Knox Bennett, an art furniture maker who lives nearby here in Oakland.
An artistic giant of a man, Gary combines enormous talent for sculptural form with unique genius for finding beauty in unconventional materials such as ColorCore and other man-made matrials that he intigrates into his natural wood works of art.
He works like a dervish to produce entire groups of pieces that dissect a myriad of possibilities. His furniture exhibits functionality and meticulous craftsmgnizably American sensibility.
He builds on the fly, incorporating an array of materials and objects. Bennett's work has made him an icon, and among other things, he has been referred to as the "oldest of the second generation of studio furniture makers." In his early 70's, Gary is said to still have the enthusiasm of a 21-year-old.
Gary's wonderful book, published by The American Craft Museum, is available at most bookstores and through Amazon.com.
"I was once introduced in Berea, Ky., as the Hunter S. Thompson of woodworking," he says. "God damn, I always loved that. I just thought that was terrific. It's just mouth-wise."
Readers often send me their suggestions for artists they would like to see featured on this blog. Therefore, when someone suggested I write an entry about mosaic artist, Nancy Howells, I went to her web site to check out her work ...and I loved it!
Nancy Howells and I exchanged a few emails and figured out that we had met initially when she brought a couple of friends into Institute of Mosaic Art, where I once worked as administrative coordinator and chief xerox executive ;-). Nancy and I recalled that I had given her group a little tour of the facilities that day and that we had engaged in a nice conversation. It felt good to reconnect. (Note: To date, approximately 7% of my blog entries have been about artists I met or heard of while working at IMA, some of whom are now friends. For this, I'd like to give credit where credit is due. Thank you, IMA.
Institute of Mosaic Art, a store, gallery and venue for mosaic education, will join many other artists and studios for the East Bay Open Studios coming up. Check it out for some real art fun!)
These days, I work from my own studio right across the street from IMA and am very active in the various groups and organizations that put me in more constant and direct contact with the artists whom I feature here. Some are individuals I find on the internet. Some I meet at art openings. Some I read about in art publications. Others, such as Nancy, are referred to me by readers who feel the artists’ stories will be of general interest. In any case, my life has been enriched by these experiences and I hope you, my readers, are enjoying finding out about them.
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Can you see yourself in a garden by the ocean breaking plates for pique assiette mosaics? How about taking a glass mosaic class?
No problem!
Photo by Stacy Alexander
Nancy Howells offers these classes and more at her Painted Chair Studio in Santa Cruz in the $55-75 price range. (She also teaches her students how to make custom colored grout for that perfect mosaic match!)
Since John and I enjoy making mosaic furniture, I went on the prowl for other artists who do this as well. When a friend recommended Nancy, I felt like I’d struck gold!
Nancy Howells is a self-taught mosaic artist, initially inspired by the mosaics she saw during her travels in Spain, Australia, and the American Southwest. She expresses her playful vision using her handmade tiles and broken plates to cover everything from shoes to large installation sculptures of furniture and whimsical animals. Nancy's work has been displayed in a number of galleries from San Francisco to Pacific Grove since 1994, and also at the San Jose Museum of Art. Her studio, where she creates her mosaic pieces, and teaches classes in mosaic art, is at her home in Santa Cruz.
Nancy says, “…in the last few years I have included ceramics in the mosaic art, so that I can create the things that I may not be able to find - my new favorite thing is my "food collage" in mosaics, which include platters of "ceramic" food on a backdrop of mosaics. “
“When I started making ceramic items for myself, others wanted them too, so I keep a small "studio store" in my studio loaded with kitschy ceramic pieces, everything from the Eiffel Tower to ceramic word plaques - that other artists use to add to their mosaic work! It's all just really too much fun. The comment I most enjoy hearing from students and visitors is that this is the kind of life they would like, an art studio & beautiful garden near the ocean....I think that you can imagine what you want and then just make it happen.....of course, no big income comes with being an artist...!”
One of Nancy’s more admirable endeavors has been the Cradle Project:
"In June of 2008 one thousand cradles and cribs made by artists from around the world will fill an abandoned warehouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico" The Cradle Project is an art installation designed to represent the plight of the estimated 48 million children who have been orphaned by disease and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The Mission is to promote awareness and raise financial support to help fee, shelter and educate these children.
Broken Plate Mosaic Workshop ($55 with $5 material fee) Super Broken Plate Mosaic Workshop ($65 with $15 material fee) Furniture Painting Workshop ($70 with $15 material fee) Glass Tile Mosaic Workshop ($65 with $15 deposit) Full Circle Broken Plate Mosaic Workshop ($65 with $15 material fee)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
San Francisco is an art Mecca of artistic talent. My pretty friend, Barbe St. John, is an exceptionally talented mixed media artist who calls this beautiful city her home. In addition to being an artist, she is also a friend. Good-hearted and generous of spirit, Barbe has, more than once, gifted me with art and ephemera, kindness and support, dropping me lines of encouragement when times were tough, checking in just to make sure I’m alright....just being Barbe. As I type this, a small Frida Kahlo is looking out over my computer from the shelf above. Barbe made this piece for me and sent it in the mail…right out of the blue…because that is the kind of person she is.
The range of Barbe’s talent spans a wide and varied canvas from hand spun yarns to other-worldly assemblages to intricate one-of-a-kind jewelry and captivating collage work.
“I have many creative outlets and inspirations, so my art studio is as cluttered as possible with lots of eye candy just like a Magpie's cage. I surround myself with art by friends, vintage jewelry, dolls, rhinestones, bones, fiber, vintage fabric, old paper ephemera, rusty bits found on the streets, tools, 50's pinups, Nessie items, scientific books, hand shapes and anything else that catches my eye." (Sounds like heaven to me!) ;-)
This exquisite necklace is Barbe’s creation for Stringing Magazines "Channeling Cinderella" Challenge. It is a typical example of the magic that Barbe works by repurposing vintage jewelry.
“After years of working mostly non-creative environments, I felt I had to allow my artistic side a chance to develop. My work is primarily about Alchemy - the transmutation of common, obscure and abandoned items into sublime creations.”
Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Spirit of Mexico Pez Candy Art Sculpture
To create her work, Barbe combines various traditionally distinct visual art media with the “old, forgotten, discarded, broken, rusted, orphaned and things considered worthless and turn them into wearable works of art. “
Each tiny piece has a fragment of a story and a hint of a secret that longs to be revealed. Just as an archaeologist seeks ancient artifacts, Barbe seeks these bits of treasure to discover their hidden purpose.
“When combined they come to life like a phoenix rising from the ashes with a story and energy all their own. Just like the unique bits that are used to create them, every piece of art is one of a kind and cannot be duplicated.”
Barbe’s work has been published various publications including: Make it Mine Magazine, New Witch Magazine, “Artist Trading Cards Workshop: Create. Collect. Swap.”, “Intertwined: The Art of Handspun Yarn” and the soon to be released “Art in Motion” book. Her work has also been shown at Lovely Hearts Exhibit - Art Stream Gallery, Metallurge Gallery - Toronto, Canada, and Art Shoe In Exhibit - Modesto Art Gallery. Her jewelry is currently being sold at Worthington Gallery West – Pleasanton, CA as well as on HER WEBSITE.
“This summer I will be teaching two classes at the ZNE Convenzione in Pleasanton, CA. - "Charm School" - an intro to resin charm casting and "Histories: Real or Imagined" - a mixed media, memory jewelry class. “ For more Information on the classes and the ZNE Convenzione CLICK HERE: Barbe’s ETSY Shop is HERE. Stop by...take a look...buy something for yourself or a friend. You'll love it!
William Wegman Reading Two Books 1971 Black-and-white photograph, 14 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. (36.2 x 26.7 cm) Collection Gayle Greenhill, New York
If you are unable to see the video above, please click HERE.
I've been to a number of William Wegman's exhibits. He is originally from Holyoke, Massachusetts, near where we used to live. Wegman is best known as a photographer who has created a series of compositions involving dogs, primarily his own Weimaraners in various costumes and poses. However, his latest exhibition stretches the limits of his talent to encompass his paintings, video work and other of his artistic talents.
Please click HERE if you are unable to see the video above.
“Bill” Wegman set out to pursue a career as a painter. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Massachusetts College of Art in 1965 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1967. However, while teaching at California State University, Long Beach, he acquired the first and most famous of the dogs he photographed, a Weimaraner he named Man Ray (after the artist and photographer). Man Ray later became so popular that the Village Voice named him "Man of the Year" in 1982. He named a subsequent dog Fay Ray (a play on the name of actress Fay Wray
Wegman's photos are well-respected in the art world, are are held in permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
His photos and videos have also been a popular success, and have appeared in books, advertisements, films, as well as on television programs like Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live.
In 2006, Wegman's work was featured in a retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Norton Museum of Art, and the Addison Gallery. The Brooklyn Museum explored 40 years of Wegman’s work in all media in the 2006 retrospective William Wegman: Funney/Strange. The exhibition also ran at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2007. Bill Wegman's website contains more pictures of his dogs as well as merchandise for purchase. You can find it here: CLICK
One of the most amazing things that art does is to remind us how astonishing the “ordinary world” around us really is.
I can’t think of a better contemporary painter than Dennis Wojtkiewicz to demonstrate this.
Each minute detail that Wojtkiewicz puts into his work is truly revolutionary. His paintings of organic objects are marvels of biological complexity. His canvases are comprised of large, luminous oil paintings of simple-but-complex objects like single flower blossoms or slices of fruit or melons.
The fruit slices are often lit from behind, giving their intricate interiors the appearance of being illuminated from within, and the flowers are bathed in warm light that gives their finely textured surfaces an almost angelic quality. He glorified his subjects by encapsulating the detail that we tend not to see.
“For the past two years, I have been working on a series of images featuring large-scale slices of fruit. When I began these paintings, I was interested in what the inside of the fruits revealed. The seeds and veins, and the translucent flesh and color changes, were intriguing. The more I focused on them, the more fascinating they became.
I soon began to see the works as a metaphorical suggestion of the transitory nature of life. The fruits encapsulate a fleeting moment in time and glorify the unique characteristics of the subject. In comparison to my earlier, more conventional still lifes, the new paintings transcend a technical mastery to elicit more meaningful associations. This gives the paintings a deeper, more engaging resonance. “ Dennis Wojtkiewicz
Light and translucence make his paintings glow, and the perfection of nature’s creation allows them to take on a meditative quality.
Wojtkiewicz is a professor at the School of Art, Bowling Green State University. His work has been in an impressive list of exhibits, collections and publications.
Imagine paying only $100 to spend an all-inclusive day in California’s beautiful wine country studying mosaics on your time schedule. This is exactly what Angela Casazza offers in her RePsyche Studio in scenic, peaceful Sonoma. Angela has been a mosaicist for fifteen years and has a background in fine arts (San Francisco Art Institute), art therapy and tile setting.
Any group of two or more can schedule a pique asssiette workshop that includes all materials and instruction, or, if you prefer, Angela gives individual one-on-one lessons for only $50 an hour with a three hour minimum. She instructs beginners as well as the seasoned mosaic artist….and the bonus of studying in wine country is….(um….wine ?) Angela’s scenic studio setting.
John and I recently took a little day trip to Sonoma. We had such a pleasant time strolling around the town square, poking around in all the little artsy shops, tasting wine and eating at a great restaurant. It really is gorgeous there! Angela's fun, reasonably affordable classes are the ideal weekend event for a few friends who want to explore wine country and absorb Angela’s awesome skills.
Angela offers a “Create Your Own Class” option that is geared toward her students’ individual skill levels and project preferences. How cool is that?!
About her mosaics, Angela writes, "I combine the shards in intricate patterns of shimmering surfaces, and the fragments are infused with renewed spirit. Each piece is unique and functional, and may be used anew in your house and garden."
Contact Angela today at: Repsyche Mosaic Art ~ Angela Casazza ~ Sonoma, CA 95476 Tel 707~938~4294 info@repsyche.com
Multi-disciplinary California artist, videographer, editor, writer, photographer, near-vegan, traveler and explorer of ideas. Graduate student (psychology). Wife. Mother. Grandmother. Friend.
I spend my time creating original works of art, studying, writing and hanging out with my friends and family. I visit a lot of galleries and museums, travel, go on photo and video shoots,write poetry and new music, short stories.
All content of this blog is protected by copyright law. (c) 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009; property of Stacy Alexander, unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved. Content of this site may not be reproduced in any manner without written permission.
Thank you.
Sekhmet Fountain
Discobolus
detail
Winged Victory
Dead Dad
Scott Wade
Winged Geod detail
Orange Crush
Snow Flake
Flurry
Coffee Bean
Mark Brody
Autumn Zephyr
The Four Seasons
Ulrike Martinez
Saundra Warren
Tile Butterflies
Dennis Wojtkiewicz
Angela and her dog, Chocolate
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