William Pye

Internationally-known sculptor, William Pye, (shown above with artist and collector, Elsbeth Juda) is best known for his innovative metal sculptures in which water plays a key element.
Aquarena

His early works from the 60's and 70's, consisted of large scale, tubular sculptures such as Narcissus (below). His signature material during that time was mirror polished stainless steel as shown in this sculpture, or chrome-plated (satin finish) steel as shown in "Ganglion Maquette" below that. It wasn't until much later in his life that he became fascinated with making sculpture using water.




In recent years, Pye has concentrated on mainly large-scale public commissions, most works with stainless steel and water and discusses the emotional impact of this work in the following video that can be seen HERE, if you can't see it below:



The form of a cornucopia - the horn of plenty - was taken by Pye as a flat image and extruded to create its three-dimensional form, just as he had done when articulating the different levels in Nautilus.
Cornucopia
This however, is a simple monolith, which Pye has enlivened with water skimming over the mirror-polished stainless steel in roll-wave patterns. As the building maybe entered at ground-floor and first floor levels, the sculpture can be encountered as a brimming pool, or as ambiguously formed walls of water. The walls themselves are variously flat, concave, convex, offering a variety of reflections and reflected light.

Aquabar

Pye is probably best known for his vortex concept in which swirling water plays a major role. This piece in the departure lounge of Gatwick Airport North Terminal, comprises three transparent vessels of different diameters, where water rises and falls in programmed cycles. As the water rises an air-core vortex forms in each vessel and water finally overflows the perimeter edge to ripple down the vertical sides.

Charybdis
Charybdis is another of his better known sculptures using the vortex concept.

William Pye's observations of natural forms, combined with his creative use of geometry, lie at the heart of his sculptures. Although brought up in London, Pye spent a lot of time at his family's country home in Surrey, and was constantly fascinated by the water that abounded throughout the area. He captured on camera the local ponds and pools, reflections in still water and on its rippled surfaces, he dammed streams to make cascades and recorded the way water reacted to his intervention. On his travels he would photograph water: a particular gorge in Spain, a still, deep pool on a mountaintop in Mexico and water flowing down a mountain road in Wales are only three examples from his vast photographic library. Pye has used his reference material constantly: since his stainless steel sculptures, and from the 1980s when he introduced water as a major sculptural element in his work.

Stencil Art

How to Create a Stencil


Click HERE if you can't see the video above.

From Wikipedia:

Stencil technique in visual art is also referred to as pochoir. Stencils are formed by removing sections from template material in the form of text or an image. This creates what is essentially a physical negative. The template can then be used to create impressions of the stenciled image, by applying pigment on the surface of the template and through the removed sections, leaving a reproduction of the stencil on the underlying surface. Aerosol or painting stencils must remain contiguous after the image is removed, in order for the template to remain functional. Sections of the remaining template which are isolated inside removed parts of the image are called islands. All islands must be connected to other parts of the template with bridges, or additional sections of narrow template material which are not removed.

A related technique (which has found applicability in some surrealist compositions) is aerography, in which spray-painting is done around a three-dimensional object. This technique is comparable to the paintings in caves dating over +10,000BC, where hands were used to create hand print outlines amongst other artwork, such as paintings of animals. The artist would spray pigment around his hand with his mouth. A hollow bone or reed may have also been employed to direct the stream of pigment.

Silk-screen printing also uses a stencil process, as does mimeography. The masters from which mimeographed pages are printed are often called "stencils." Stencils can be made with one or many colour layers using different techniques, with most stencils designed to be applied as solid colours.

During silk-screening and mimeography the images for stenciling are broken down into color layers. Multiple layers of stencils are used on the same surface to produce multi-colored images.

10 Tips for Stenciling

Stenciling Tip 1: Use a Professional Tool

Stencilling brushes are round with short, stiff bristles. Use it in a quick up-and-down movement to dab paint onto your stencil. This helps prevent paint getting under the edges. A sponge or small roller works well too.

Stenciling Tip 2: Work from The Outside
Start panting on the edges of the stencil, working into the centre, rather than from the centre outwards. Again this helps prevent paint getting under the edges as you're less likely to accidentally bump the brush against an edge.

Stenciling Tip 3: Less is More

Don't overload a brush with paint as it'll seep under the edges of the stencil. Load the brush lightly, so that the ends of the bristles are covered evenly; wipe off any excess on a piece of paper or cloth.

Stenciling Tip 4: Think Thin
You'll get better results by applying two thin coats rather than one thick one. Wait for the first to dry before applying the second.

Stenciling Tip 5: Get Sticky
Keep a stencil in place by taping it at the top and bottom with a piece of tape. Low-tack tape is best as it's very easy to remove and shouldn't pull off any paint from the surface.

Stenciling Tip 6: Go Multi-Colored
To use more than one color in a stencil, use tape to mask off areas of the stencil you don't want in a particular color.

Stenciling Tip 7: Practise Makes Perfect
If you're using various stencils together, first try it out on a piece of paper. It's far easier to find out that something isn't working at this stage and then correct it than when you're painting on your final surface.

Stenciling Tip 8: X-rated Stencils
Old x-rays are great for cutting stencils, so if you're unfortunate to need some, don't throw them away.

Stenciling Tip 9: Wash Regularly
Not you, your stencil! If you're doing a repeat design, wash your stencil regularly in warm water to keep the edges free of paint. If there's some paint on an edge, you won't get a crisp edge to your painted stencil. As paper stencils don't lend themselves to washing, acetate stencils are better for repeat designs. With a paper or card stencil, wipe off the excess paint, then leave the stencil for a bit so the paint on it dries, before using it again.

Stenciling Tip 10: Store stencils Flat
A stencil, obviously, needs to be flat to be usable. To stop it from buckling, put it between two pieces of card and store it somewhere flat, such as in a book or telephone directory.

Have fun!

In January of 2006, I went to see the Kiki Smith exhibit at SF MOMA. I found the experience enriching and enlightening. Smith is, perhaps, best known for her provocative depictions of the female body — both in anatomical fragments and in full figure. She has also explores a broad range of other subjects, including religion, folklore, mythology, natural science, art history, and feminism. Birds,deer and other animals are common images in her work.


Although born in Germany, Kiki Smith, is considered an American feminist artist. Her Body Art is imbued with political significance, undermining the traditional erotic representations of women by male artists, and often exposes the inner biological systems of females as a metaphor for hidden social issues.
Born

In works of art such as Born, Smith moves beyond the body to incorporate a complex personal symbolism, which addresses the role of humans (particularly women) in the wider context of nature and the universe.

This work is a representation of a small deer giving birth to a life-size woman. By presenting such an unusual subject in a classically modeled bronze sculpture, Smith both creates and thwarts expectations. The traditional style, technique, and material are at odds with the decidedly untraditional subject matter. Yet, similar imagery can be found in the mythology, folklore, and creation legends of many cultures. The deer has a rich and complex symbolic tradition surrounding it as well. In Classical Greek mythology, a deer accompanies Diana, Goddess of the Hunt. The Panche Indians of Colombia believe that human souls pass into the bodies of deer after death, and in many European traditions, the male deer is a symbol of renewal

One reason Smith is major is that she is fearless when it comes to materials, no matter how despised or humble. And, as the exhibit at SF MOMA showed quite clearly, she employs beeswax, glass, clay, fabric and paper toward astoundingly expressive ends.


There are distinct reasons for body parts and full-body casts, for representations of body fluids and eventually monsters, myths, and magical beasts. Everything she creates has a demanding purpose.


Smith, who never went to Yale, or Rhode Island School of Design, or Columbia Teachers College, or any other art school, never felt the need for a proper studio and to this day blends living and working. And, of course, when required she works at foundries, residencies and workshops. You are not expected to pour your own bronze or blow your own glass. Sewing and drawing is possible at home, as it were, but other forms of making are more specialized, and you need furnaces and people with specialized skills. Minimalism made outsourcing a visible part of its aesthetic. Kiki inherits that, but gives it her own, handmade twist.


If nothing else, one of Kiki Smith's great contributions to art culture is this fact: artists don't need big clean studios. Perhaps we can bury that requirement once and for all. If you can't imagine how an artwork will look in a gallery without an ersatz gallery to see it in, then you shouldn't be looking at art. Too often, dealers, curator, and collectors require the perfect white-walled studio, or they do not take the artist seriously -- even though all it means is a mommy or daddy who can come up with the bucks.


If you can’t see the video above, please click here.

As a woman in the art world, Smith is indeed strange and dreamy, with her mane of silver hair; but her art is deeper than fashion. What other artist do we know who, since Joseph Beuys, has attempted so much? She is a shaman.

Brian Goggin -Help! My Furniture is Escaping!

Since 1997, the building known locally as "The House of Falling Furniture" located at the corner of 6th st. and Howard st. in San Francisco, has been a sculptural mural.


The piece consists of sometimes malshapened tables, chairs, lamps and even a grandfather clock, all hanging precariously out of the building’s windows. Officially named, 'Defenestration’ (a word meaning to throw out of a window) the sculpture’s various pieces are all fastened to the abandoned building to create the illusion of falling. The pieces is the brainchild of local Bay Area artist, Brian Goggin.


"I wanted to get art out of the gallery and out of the museum," said Goggin. "I'm interested in working with absurdity in ways that are compelling and entertaining."



"Each piece of furniture has a steel framework that works inside of the piece and is attached to the side of the building with wood and steel separating it," he said. "So if some piece of the building falls in an earthquake, the (art) piece will still stay here."
Brian Goggin
The site is part of a neighborhood that historically has faced economic challenge and has often endured the stigma of skid row status. Reflecting the harsh experience of many members of the community, the furniture is also of the streets, cast-off and unappreciated. The simple, unpretentious beauty and humanity of these downtrodden objects is reawakened through the action of the piece. The act of "throwing out" becomes an uplifting gesture of release, inviting reflection on the spirit of the people we live with, the objects we encounter, and the places in which we live.


Goggin writes, "For inspiration I look to the unexpected locations or methods of presenting the work, research the place’s history, folklore, its surrounding current and past architecture and/or topography, contextually related materials and objects."


Brian is currently working with artist, Dora Keem, on a site-specific public artwork of a sculpted, illuminated flock of twenty three translucent, suspended open books with bindings positioned as IF THEY are the wings of birds in flight. These books will appear to be taking off and flying above the plaza. The work has been in progress since 2006 and is located on the site of a new public plaza on the NW corner of Broadway (where Grant and Columbus Streets intersect) in San Francisco.
Language of the Birda
Each book referenced by the words in the plaza will have particular significance to the site, the community and the local culture, for example: the Beat artists, Jazz musicians, Italian-American writers, Chinese-American Authors, Bohemian writers and Barbury Coast history, and Burlesque culture.

Goggin has also been working on a sculpture for the Moscone Recreation Center,
1800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, called "Guidepost".
Guidepost

This artwork considers themes from the area: history and evolving human interactions, community, leadership, safety, and recreation.

If you would like to read more about the work of Brian Goggin, please click HERE.

Lily McElroy (My Mama Would NOT Approve!)

I can hear my mother now. "That Lily Mcelroy just THROWS herself at men!"

She is described as "a cross between physical comedy and earnest confession". Whatever she is, as a performance artist McElroy does throw her whole body into it….sometimes leading with her chest. There are photos of her hugging strangers without asking their permission and other discomfort-evoking stances. Her work is about public reaction,fear, compassion, groupthink and comedy.

Combining photography with performance art, her on-going series “I Throw Myself At Men” is literally that. She walks into bars and asks dudes she doesn’t know if she can throw herself at them while her partner takes a picture of it.


McElroy, 28, studied photography and creative writing as an undergrad at the University of Arizona in Tucson, not far from her hometown of Willcox, and earned her MFA in photography from the Art Institute in 2006. Her work as a video, photo, and installation artist has been shown at galleries throughout the country. “I Throw Myself at Men” consists of ten 40-by-56-inch prints shot at bars throughout Chicago and also in Kansas City, where she’s lived since fall of 2006




Lily writes, “I started the project by placing an ad on Craig’s list looking for men who would meet me at bars blind date style and let me literally throw myself at them. This worked fairly well, but limited the # of photos I could take. Now , I go to bars with a friend/photographer and approach men who are physically larger than I am. I ask them if I can literally throw myself at them. If they say yes, I have myself photographed doing it and buy them a drink afterwards.”



“I Throw Myself At Men” has a very spontaneous fun-house sort of feel, but in another performance/installation work called, “Locations” she works in a similar style to achieve a more disturbing, reflective affect. She choses specific locations - always a privately-owned public space, and always a place where people are in a hurry to move around. Wearing just a nightgown, McElroy quietly lays down and documents people reactions. Or, more importantly, their non-reactions.

“A considerable amount of our time is spent in those locations where conduct is regimented. This has become especially noticeable due to the current practice of reigning in public expression. Fear of non-conformity has made uncommon behaviors virtually impermissable… When not dismissed as absurd, my actions were responded to with anger; re-emphasizing the fact that public behavior has become highly restricted”.


In all her time performing this piece, only three instances have occurred in which Lily was approached and asked whether she needed help, a disturbing statement about society as a whole.


For a more recent project at the Roger Smith Lab Gallery in New York, Lilly Invites You to Come Watch the Sunset With Her, McElroy created a papier-mache mountain scene in the gallery’s window at 47th and Lexington. She printed out invitations in advance, distributed them in the street, and mailed them to random people out of the phone book as well as to artists she admires, like Miranda July and Wayne Coyne. About 30 people turned up—the only faces she recognized of fellow guests at her hotel. McElroy served cake and hot apple cider and at the designated time, 5:13 PM, she slowly lowered her papier-mache sun with a pulley. It lasted about 15 minutes, start to finish.


If you can’t see the video above, please click HERE.


“A lot of the project was me going up to strangers and giving them invitations,” she says. “A lot of people were really made uncomfortable by that—just the act of me handing them something. I had a few people who wanted to chat about it, but a lot of people just wanted to get away from me as quickly as possible.”

McElroy admits that if the roles were reversed, she’d likely have a similar reaction. “I think it’s really important that I am the one doing the acting, being aggressive, instead of being acted upon,” she says. “I suppose I try to make work in which I’m vulnerable, but not a victim. I like aggressive behavior.”

She has no plan to stop throwing herself at men any time soon. “There’s something really satisfying about just lunging at someone as hard as you can,” she says, “and hoping that everything goes well.”

Sofia Harrison - Through the Glass

Sofia Through the Glass

Some of the most successful art discoveries have occurred due to serendipitous circumstances. How Napa artist, Sophia Harrison, happened upon her trademark technique of applying words under glass was such an example. She wrote:

“One night in my studio * ahem * laundry room, I set my wine glass on top of a magazine. When I turned my head to pick up the wine I noticed the word “explore” seemingly floating beneath the clear glass. Chance, destiny, does it even matter? A strange new excitement bubbled inside; I knew what I wanted to create. I would incorporate words into my art, and they would tell my stories.”

ManiFest

Formerly Marketing Director at Harrison Vineyards, Sofia is now
an ardent mosaic artist with a proliferation of work. Each piece contains carefully chosen words that reveal themselves under glass, phrases that tell a story. In explaining her artistic process, she states”

“…I use oil pastels and or acrylics to paint out my piece first and then scrounge through magazines to clip out the words that will tell my stories. Each word is glued onto the hand cut glass and affixed to my ‘canvas’. I hand sand and grout the piece and then paint the grout. It is very much like traditional mosaic work but I have created my own twist through the incorporation of the word. When light shines from behind my windowpanes they become a different piece all together; I rather like the way the light can effect the piece.”

Bacchus

"I gather words in much the same manner as a painter mixes paints," she explains. “I am drawn to the colors and texture of the background stock as well as the word itself. All of the clear glass I use is recycled and I will often paint the glass if it is not the color I desire.”

Magazine advertisements are her favorite source for words and phrases: "When taken out of context, they become either particularly funny or especially poignant."
Baby Doll

"Sofia Harrison is one of those rare artists who possess the ability to transcend normal expectations and enter into a world strictly of her own creation. Her work speaks with many voices in her own distinctive style. Using the ancient art form of glass mosaics, Harrison affords herself the opportunity to tap into a wide variety of forms and shapes to evoke emotional responses both for herself and her patrons."

Gary Brady-Herndon for the Napa Valley Register

Distill my Heart

For Sofia, art isn't a choice. She creates because she has to. She is driven by the inner spirit that must tell the piece's story through the glass.
Pink Tomato

"My work embodies the collective thought patterns of our society: fractured but connected, expressing the combat of individuality, encompassing desire, spirit and reason. I am mixed. Media: paper, words, glass, paint, discarded and found objects, glue and grout."

Susan's Book

In addition to making her mixed media works, Susan maintains that her favorite pastimes are, "Dumpster diving, mushroom hunting, cooking, jumping on the trampoline." Her latest artistic endeavors include creation of personalized wedding designs in which she adds personal information about the marrying couple, permanently encased in her original glass hearts. She is also working on a concept to represent racial stereotyping in schools.

Readers can see more of Ms. Harrison's work on her web site.

Living Environment as Projector - Michael Naimark

Displacements

This entry is about an intriguing film installation called, "Displacements" the idea of which was conceived twenty one years ago by Michael Naimark. In his work, Naimark ingeniously captures a space on film and projects it back into the same space using motion (camera+projector rotating at same speed).


An archetypal Americana living room was installed in an exhibition space. Then two performers were filmed in the space using a 16mm motion picture camera on a slowly rotating turntable in the room’s center.


After filming, the camera was replaced with a film loop projector and the entire contents of the room were spray-painted white. This was to make a projection screen of the whole room that was the right shape for projecting everything back onto itself (a la Laurie Anderson). The result was that everything appears strikingly 3D, except for the people, who of course weren’t spray-paint white, and consequently appeared very ghostlike and unreal.



Displacements was produced three times between 1980 and 1984. The final production was held at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1984.



Twenty-one years later, in 2005, the artist’s long-time friend and colleague, Brenda Laurel, cajoled him into a redux. The young couple in the original living room are now middle age with a teenage daughter. Mom is still pensive, Dad still watches TV, and the daugther is curious.


Displacements 2005 was shot and projected in digital video rather than 16mm film, which, it turns out, according to the artist, “was much more challenging”. Here is a video of that version of the installation:




If you cannot see the video above, please click HERE.


Naimark has published two very interesting papers relating to this work, “Two Unusual Projection Spaces” , and "Spatial Correspondence in Motion Picture Display"
SPIE Proceedings, vol. 462, Optics and Entertainment, Los Angeles, 1984.

Brett and Leslie Campbell

Brett and Leslie Campbell


(Click here if you can’t see the video above.)

Their lives read like a fairy tale.

Brett was a successful banker, and by all accounts, very good at what he did. However, after he was spontaneously inspired to create his first mosaic back in the year 2000, his life was instantly transformed.

In a move that would shock some, he mustered all his courage and confidence to abruptly leave the world of finance, move his family to the Kondalilla Falls area of Australia and became a full-time mosaic artist. With Leslie's help, he now enjoys translating his immediate environment into expressive works of art while also keeping pace with the duties associated with the roles of husband and a father of four children. Lesley, works with him as a remarkable contributing designer and business guide. Together, they are forging quite a name for themselves in Australia and across borders beyond.


"When I start the day, I say: Whoopee, what am I going to do today?"

There are many answers to that morning question. For example, Brett created an entire series of five mosaic nude murals with the sixth in progress:



He created the "United Women of the World", a mandala-style mosaic representation of the unification of women around the world.


detail

…and the “Secret Women’s Business" mosaic mural, the design of which he describes as having been "stolen" from Leslie's diary.



Leslie's diary drawing

"When I started this there was a lot of discouragement, but what kept me going was a total belief in what I was doing"

...and isn't that the key to success in virtually any endeavor?

"There was a time where I found a sort of beauty in that sort of thing (Banking and the world of figures)."

"Now I'm making the world a more beautiful place by making these things of beauty"

And if the creative forces ever get too much for him, he just walks out the door and goes where inspiration is only a few steps away. This is a series of three inspired ceramic tile murals that Brett installed in the "Mayfield on Montville" complex - 127-133 Main Street, Montville Qld

Escarpment at Dawn

Bottom Waterfall

Rock Pool


Brett and Leslie Campbell have made it their mission in life to inspire others to follow their passions. I appreciate this reaching out to others. It is a refreshing approach to the art world and one seen less frequently as time passes. While they do rely on their mosaic business to pay the bills, they aren't just about lining their own pockets. The couple truly does offer support and encouragement to other mosaic artists. For example, they have created a fantastic online resource, their Mosaic Learning Center. At $29.95 for a lifetime membership (a fraction of the cost of a decent mosaic book) you'll have access to a plethora of mosaic and art business tutorials, advice, tips, instruction, photos and other information. HERE. They offer mosaic patterns, mandala patterns....You name it! It's a great deal!

"To us, mosaic art is not just a job, a career or living," Brett says. "It's our passion and we live and breathe it in our daily lives. Both of us are eagerly involved with the conception & creation of each mosaic."

Please read more about the lives and works of Brett and Leslie Campbell on their fantastic web site! CLICK HERE

Want to learn to work with concrete?!

Hey Folks,

I'm on a little holiday at the moment, but will soon return to resume my entries about artists that thrill the senses. It won't be long...

Meanwhile...

I want to tell you about a cool, workshop that is being taught in the SF Bay Area at IMA by former Seattle artist, Myles Blackwood. A lot of you have written to me to request information about how to work with concrete, and this is your chance to learn some very cool techniques and the basics for right around $200. (I seriously doubt you'll find a comparable class for less moolah.)


Myles has relocated to Santa Cruz over the past year and is coming to Oakland August 16-17 for a fun, informative 2-day workshop that is designed for anyone who is interested in learning the basics of working with concrete. In this class, you will learn to create a simple, uber-nifty, concrete sphere that you are allowed to take home with you to use in your sculptural work or as a mosaic substrate.


The workshop runs Saturday, August 16 from 10am - 4pm and the following day from 10am until 4pm at Institute of Mosaic Art in East Oakland at the corner of Chapman and Derby.
Cost: $205
Materials: $40 (payable to instructor first day of class)

To create his nifty spheres, Myles uses fiberglass mesh and acrylic concrete. Of course, once you have this technique under your belt, you can expand your horizons considerably and make virtually any geometric shape you want. The concrete forms are light in weight but are also very durable. After taking Myles' workshop, you will leave with some useful knowledge and will have a good time working with Myles.

This is a fun class for couples who are looking for something different to do over a weekend....or for a few friends to take together.


You can register online for the workshop HERE or contact Myles directly if you have any questions: myles.blackwood@gmail.com.

Go ahead! Sign up! You know you want to!

How to Make Paper from Vegetables

This is not the first tutorial I've published in this blog on how to make colored paper from vegetables, but I think it is the best.

Quilting Arts Magazine sent out this fantastic tutorial for making papyrus (paper) from vegetables. ( Some of you may recall the blog entry I did awhile back about an artist here in the Bay Area who makes art bowls from it. ):

Some people compost their leftover vegetables, but fiber artists interested saving the planet may also want to slice up some "garbage paper," like Quilting Arts reader Sally Rorback has done. She based her experiments on the book Vegetable Papyrus by Maureen Richardson (Berrington Press).

"All paper is made from cellulose, which is found in most plants,' says Sally. "In order to get the cellulose in the fibers to stick to itself you have to wet the plant material, so the cells in the fibers can fill with water, and then press the water out of it. This technique is similar to that used for making real papyrus, so it is a very old method of creating paper. The only slightly unusual piece of equipment needed for this process is a screw press. These are not too hard to find, and not too expensive; they can also be made at home by determined folk.



"This process can take as long as two or three days, depending on the weather. Sometimes I hurry the procedure along by finishing the paper in a 200-degree F oven for 30 minutes or so, but this is only at the very end, to make sure there will be no mold, etc. Parboiling rids the vegetable matter of unwanted fats and lignins, and, hopefully insect eggs, etc."

Materials:

* Fruits and vegetables
* Pot, stove, and water
* Finely woven cotton fabric (or non-woven interfacing)
* Newsprint
* A screw press

Directions:

1. Slice the fruit or vegetables into 1/8", 1/4", or 1/2" slices (depending on the toughness of the vegetable matter being used). Slices can be horizontal or vertical, or you can peel the skin (such as on a scallion).
2. Parboil the plant material anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes, depending on the toughness of the vegetable.
3. Arrange the slices in any pattern you like on a piece of cotton cloth that has as little "grain" as possible. Be sure to overlap the slices, as this is what holds the piece together.
4. Place another piece of the fabric on top of the design, thereby making a sandwich with the veggies in between the sheets of cotton cloth.
5. Place the sandwich between several sheets of newsprint, and then repeat the process, piling the sandwiches on top of one another.
6. Insert the sandwiches in the screw press and gradually tighten it more and more. As the newspapers get wet, remove and replace them with dry ones. It is important to change the newspaper when it gets pretty damp, as leaving it to sit when it's wet causes mold to grow. Keep tightening the press and replacing the newspapers until the veggie-paper has dried out completely.

Note: The veggie-papers may lose their color after some time, especially if the piece is exposed to direct sunlight, says Sally. "They will continue to show the internal structure of the plant, though. I have some veggie papers that are years old and still show their color."
Carrot Paper

Miriam Wosk – Visual Glutton

Thanks to my good friend, Karen Pearle, I am pleased to present the work of Miriam Wosk in this entry. Miriam is an artist from Santa Monica whose large-scale collages, mixed media paintings and tapestries are works that I identify with very strongly. I feel a genuine connection with this work and thank Miriam for consenting to be featured here.

(Please click images to enlarge)

The Golden Serpent

Wosk's work explores the surreal and ornamental aspects of Natural History and goes beyond that into what feels to this writer to be a spiritual truism. Before you read further, I would like you to watch an excellent 14-minute film by Terry Sanders that takes a look at Miriam working in her studio. “Language of the Soul: The Work of Miriam Wosk” was filmed over a two year span and is an excellent general overview of the artist and her work. Please click here , and then click on the upper right hand film icon.

Miriam’s work has a distinct push-pull quality, a feminine identity, yet equally as masculine.

Harmony
Fantasy

In her paintings, she embeds sequins, beads, crystals and organic matter into the paint to create healing images, images that are of the earth, yet unidentifiable and other-worldly They are rooted in botanical or ancient anatomical imagery. Flesh and bone. Flowers and root.
Grotto

Grotto (detail)

Her work denotes an inventive approach, yet is at once, restrained and festive. When I look at them, I recognize the familiar lurking in an unfamiliar setting.

The artist states:

Here is a list of some of the things I think about in relation to my work:

• Mandala-like constructions depicting the interconnectedness of nature.

• Transcendence of spirit into matter, energy into image, desire into drawing.

• Complexity of the human body; internal organs, bones, veins….the stuff we are made
of.

• Decoration, design, architecture, and especially beauty.

• Symbols, dreams, metaphors, and the mysteries of my inner life, and human
consciousness.

• Vines, branches, flowers, fruits, underwater creatures and plants, shells, insects
and animals.

• Diagrams, doodles, patterns and drawings, (and the process involved).

• Color, exoticism, eroticism, passion, sparkle and light.

• Science, fractals, cosmology, molecular and cellular patterns found in nature.

• Tension of Opposites; rational–intuitive, feminine–masculine, symmetry–chaos, old–new, control–surrender, universal–personal, death–life, fluidity–structure, light–dark, yin–yang, union–dissolution, nature–artifice, transparency–solidity, harmony–conflict, microcosm–macrocosm, beauty–decay.
Big Red tapestry

Her 92” x 65.5” “Big Red” jacquard tapestry is infused with metallic threads and adorned with hand-applied Swarovski crystals to depict a giant lobster lolling in a teaming sea of red.

Golden Mandela

The Ineffable Night Journey

Miriam’s work is found in public and private collections across the United States and Europe. She has exhibited in many museums and galleries and is the subject of numerous essays and books. She is recipient the following awards:

Mademoiselle Magazine, Guest Editor 1968
American Institute of Graphic Artists
"The Mental Picture 4", Certificate of Excellence
The Art Directors Club New York
"The One Show,” Merit Award
Society of Illustrators
17th Annual National Exhibition, Certificate of Merit


“My body of work expresses the yin/yang quality of life; the paradoxes and contradictions inherent in experience, the mystery of the shadow side of life, and the tension that the opposite forces create. My art inhabits an instinctual and soulful feminine world that emerges directly from a personal vision.” – Miriam Wosk
Third Eye and Crown Chakra

Please read more about the artist and her work on her web site.

The Mosaic Art of Julee Latimer

180cm x 60cm on cement fibre board
vitreous glass, glass tiles, mirror, glass gems, glitter tiles


Julee Latimer was born in England where she lived until 18 years ago when she moved to Canada. Since then she has moved around various countries becoming a bit of a self-described gypsy. She now lives in Australia, having been there since December of 2005. This is her 12th overseas move.

Julee wears many hats in life, and while she has worked as an interior designer, a mural painter, an artist and a color consultant, it is mosaic art that has really resonated with her. She began to work on mosaics professionally when she moved to Australia.


“After my husband built an amazing deck, I got to work on my biggest panel to date. I used all my favourite bright colours and plenty of glittery tiles. The effect is stunning in sunlight, the dragonflies appear to fly for real…”


“I am primarily a mixed media artist with a great fondness for anything glass.”
Julee used glass, ceramic tiles, feather, buttons, baubles and beads to create this compelling series of mosaic masks:

“As most mosaic artists do, I see everything in terms of whether it can be used as tesserae or substrate.”











Recently, Julee was one of thirty five artists out of three hundred to be chosen to exhibit her work. The starring pieces are this glamorous pair of mosaic flip-flops!



Perhaps one of Julee's strongest series of work are these delightful mosaic female forms that give the illusion of a soft, tactile lingerie juxtaposed by the actual rigidity of the tesserae. She created unique personalities with each piece scribing such characteristics as , "...Likes champagne and roses. would love a guy to buy her presents for no reason and whisk her off for weekends that involve lots of pampering.
"


or "Miss Sophisticated likes jet setting and expensive restaurants. Needs a powerful man with a fat wallet and a fast car."


She calls this one "Miss Sinful" and writes, " Miss Sinful likes dancing the night away and breakfast in bed. Wants a breahtakingly handsome fella with a square jaw and attitude!"


Readers may view other mosaic work by Julee Latimer by visiting her flickr Photostream HERE.

Lawrence Northey – There’s something about machines….

“I started making robots as a way of illustrating a story I'd written called, "Wired City".

“I've always been fascinated by archeology and new theories on ancient civilizations.”

Lawrence Northey has been written up in some impressive magazines; publications such as Architectural Digest, Art Scene International and Juxtapose, to name a few. He has a list of awards that almost spans the length of my arm. His small sculptures have been exhibited from New York to Korea. These gleaming, meticulously-created mixed media figures demand attention wherever they are on display. He creates them from polished brass, aluminum, copper glass and other media. They look like steampunk…only shiny and many of them are kenetic, moving, making “ZAP!” noises, singing…. Art collectors buy them. Sci-Fi fans buy them. People who like gadgets buy them. Celebrities buy them.


Northey hasn’t always been an artist. He only acquired formal art training as an adult after being trained in sheet metal and auto mechanics. "I was always creating stuff as a kid," he says, "but I was sixteen when I went to my first art gallery. I suppose I had a kind of epiphany at that moment, to discover there were other people like me and that there was a name for the sorts of things I had been doing."

Shortly thereafter, Northey changed his major to art and in 1971, had his work selected to be shown in an exhibition at the National Gallery in Ottawa.


After graduating from art school, Northey got a job in a factory and worked on his art at night. Then, in 1984, he moved to Richmond, British Columbia, and established an animated display business.


Lawrence Northey's art is widely collected in both the United States and Canada. Many of his best known pieces are displayed on his website where one can also see illustrations from Wired City.


HERE is a link to the Lawrence Northey online gallery. There you can see many examples of his sculptural work. If you scroll to the bottom of the page and fill in your email address, Lawrence will personally email a free poster ( SIZE: 8.5" X 11" ) illustrated with his work!


(That’s just the kind of guy he is…)

Laurie Anderson - O Superwoman

It is difficult to write about a performance artist and portray exactly what she does. Her medium is experimentation, and it is not meant to be easily categorized. For example, in one of her most memorable of performances, Laurie Anderson stood on a block of ice, playing her violin while wearing her ice skates. When the ice melted, the performance ended. That gives you a clue...but still doesn't cover it.

Since that time, Anderson has gone on to create large-scale theatrical works which combine a variety of media—music, video, storytelling, projected imagery, sculpture—in which she is an electrifying performer. As a visual artist, her work has been shown at the Guggenheim Museum in SoHo, New York, as well as extensively in Europe, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.


New York Times, Horizontal/China Times, Vertical,
1971/2000
woven newspaper backed with mylar
unframed: 22.5” x 13.5”

She has also released seven albums for Warner Bros., including “Big Science,” featuring the song “O Superman” which rose to number two on the British pop charts.


In 1999, she staged “Songs and Stories From Moby Dick,” a strange, cool, operatic interpretation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel.


Called "America's multi-mediatrix" by Wired magazine and a "modern renaissance artist and agent provocateur" by Philadelphia Daily News, Laurie Anderson (born 1947 in Chicago, Illinois) is—in her work as a performance artist as well as musician, poet, writer, and visual artist—one of the most important artists of the later 20th century. She is, by far, one of my personal favorites.


My first exposure to Anderson’s work was with an exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Museum followed by a concert in Houston, Texas back in the early 80’s...or was it the late 70's? I later passed her on the streets of New York and remarked that she, herself, was a walking piece of art. Anderson was not just another face in the crowd of performance artists being generated in NYC at that time. Of all those claiming to be "performance artists, she was one of the few with a completely realized vision. Deceptively simple; one woman, a keyboard, a violin, and a microphone; her performances were part concert, part storytelling, and part visual presentation that utilized the most modern technology available to examine society's reactions to technology's quick development and sudden availability to the general public.


Handphone Table (When You We’re Hear( 1978
Pine table with folding top, two build-in cassette recorders, amplifiers
42” x 66” x 13”
(106.7x 167.33 cm)
inique
LA-1
The piece above was in that first exhibit. The picture hung directly over the actual table shown and viewers were instructed to sit at either end and to cup our hands over our ears just as you see in the picture. Our elbows fit nicely into little indentions in the tabletop. Underneath was a subwoofer that emitted low base tones which would travel up our arms using our bones as conductors, and into our ears via the earphones our cupped hands made. It was phenomenal.


In 1975, Laurie Anderson created a fake hologram by projecting a two-dimensional Super-8 film of herself onto a small, three-dimensional clay statue. Titled “At the Shrink’s,” this work drew connections between the physical projection of a film onto a screen with psychological projections that occur between a patient and psychiatrist. The work was also, in Anderson’s words, “a way of doing a performance without being there.”


During her concert that same year, I witnessed her playing her self-invented "tape-bow violin" that uses recorded magnetic tape on the bow and a magnetic tape head in the bridge.


Anderson’s flair for wry critique reappeared in one of a series of television public service announcements she recorded in lieu of making videos to support one of her albums (“You can get away with a lot,” she noted of the commercially questionable plan, “if you say it with a straight face”). The announcement found Anderson in a greasy spoon diner re-telling, often to hilarious effect, the stories of “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy” as a series of “questions about fire” and “a surrealist masterpiece,” respectively.

The National Anthem
If you can’t see the video click HERE.


Women and Money
If you can’t see the video above, click HERE.

Laurie Anderson graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in Art History from Barnard College in 1969. In 1972 she received an M.F.A. in sculpture from Columbia University. During the mid 1970s she toured extensively, presenting her work in alternative performance spaces throughout the United States and building a dedicated following. During 1983 she performed her United States in the United States and Europe, and in 1986 released the film Home of the Brave. In 1987 she received an Honorary Doctorate from Philadelphia College of the Arts, and in 1996 received honorary degrees from Cal Arts and the Pratt Institute. In 1994 HarperPerennial published Ms. Anderson's Stories from The Nerve Bible, and the early 1990s saw her present The Nerve Bible in performance throughout the United States and Europe.


In April of this year, Laurie Anderson married longtime companion Lou Reed in a private ceremony in Boulder, Colorado. They are Mr. and Mrs. New York.
Here is a video of the two of them performing together:

If you can't see the video, please click HERE.

Anderson was awarded the 2007 Gish Prize for her "outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life."

Francesca De Lorme - Vermont to Hawaii in Mosaics

Contrast the golden autumns and cold, white winters of Vermont with the rich, green, tropical paradise of Hawaii, and you’ll have a taste of the variety that Francesca De Lorme (AKA “Fresca”) creates in her StudioFresca mosaics.
STEELING A WINTER'S NIGHT
recycled china, dishware, stainless steel, flatware, scrap stained glass and vintage irridescent water tumbler on green MDF with sanded grout


Fresca describes herself as “… a semi-retired graphic designer, part-time mixed media mosaic artist, full time graduate student in Health Arts & Sciences and long-time "trashion-fashionista". I describe her as a free-spirited, creative artist who has the courage to explore. She designs and creates an eclectic mix of unique, one-of-a-kind, mosaic art pieces made primarily from reclaimed, reused, recycled, recovered and re-purposed materials. Many feature antique, vintage and "retro" components and most are designed to be functional, as well as decorative.




All of Fresca's mosaic artwork and clothing designs are created from reclaimed, recycled and salvaged materials.


“When people ask me about the “process and techniques” involved in making my mosaics, I am always reminded of the old adage about sausage: It tastes great, but you wouldn’t necessarily want to watch it being made… Since I create my mosaics primarily out of salvaged, recycled and repurposed materials, cut my own tesserae, and prepare my own substrates, I can tell you that the end result is usually a lot more pleasant for the onlooker than the actual creation! As much as I love dumpsters, wrecking yards and land fills, they are smelly, dirty and potentially dangerous places, and most people would not find them nearly as beguiling as I do.”


In addition to her shop on ETSY, Fresca's work can be seen in various galleries and other venues on Kauai and in Vermont. She is a member of MIVEST - Made in Vermont Etsy Street Team and of EMA - Etsy Mosaic Artists Street Team



Fresca writes:

“I sometimes wonder just why I happened to become so enamored with mosaics because the truth is they are messy, difficult, time consuming, frustrating -- and sometimes even painful -- to make. Since I have imposed upon myself the discipline of making my mosaics using a minimum of 75% recycled, reused and salvaged materials, it sometimes seems especially challenging. But the absolute truth is that it is also exciting, fascinating, playful, absorbing, and infinitely rewarding, so regardless of the challenges involved, I absolutely LOVE being a mosaicist because there are so many great things to love about this particular medium.”



Fresca enjoys the history of mosaic art and feels a connection with those who have created it before her.

“When I work with my hands and simple cutting tools, I do feel a kind of connection with those who have gone before me. Mosaics, whether pure visual art, functional art, architectural enhancement, or wearable endowment, have been part of the human existence for centuries, and I like being a small part of that.”


“The solidity of most the materials, the endless range of textures, the range of opus patterns of the tesserae, and the three-dimensionality of many of the final pieces, just beg for a little tactile sensory input in addition to all that visual!”


Enjoy Fresca's flickr photo album and more of her mosaic work HERE.

Casey Weldon

California native, Casey Weldon, now lives in Brooklyn, NY where he
paints fantastical and provocative images in make believe scenarios while managing to make his subjects look perfectly natural in doing what they do.

Apple Bomb

The ease with which he slips these animal and human-based characters into play is the most compelling aspect of his work.

McNipple

Most of Weldon’s paintings are enigmatic, in which words play an integral part. This wordplay may be used to give us essential clues to the painting’s characteristics (be it irony, wit, humor), or it might address a serious critique of society.

Nuclear Family

When he’s not making a large point, he is just having fun making verbal puns visible……

Cancer


“ I definitely try to say something in each painting."
Lucky Us


"Sometimes it’s just a one-liner though, like rabbits in wheelchairs or Ronald McDonald breastfeeding a fat baby. Sometimes the message is a bit cryptic and hopefully demands a little more attention. I’d like the viewer to attempt to figure out what a piece is about rather than focus on how it’s painted.” - Casey Weldon

Good Luck Black Cat

Casey tries to involve graphic elements to cement the fact that his works are just paint on board, and not intended to mimic reality.

Nexklace
"I couldn’t call it surrealism with a clear conscience, but that is usually the first word that comes to peoples minds.” Says Casey about his work which can be seen in more detail on his web site.

Rexploration of Dale Chihuly

Yesterday, our family met with friends, Fred and Delaine, at the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park for a stroll through Dale Chihuly's first major exhibition in San Francisco. What a show! The exhibit includes eleven galleries of new and archival works representing the artist’s creative vision over the last four decades. The de Young Museum is the only venue for this exhibition.


The exhibit included some of Chihuly’s earliest installations (not been viewed in the U.S. since 1972) to some of his latest work.



Five Chandeliers dramatically transformed an entire gallery into a wonderland of light. Their titles suggest a feast of color and form, characteristic of one of Chihuly’s most celebrated series: Ruby Red, Turquoise Icicle, Orange Hornet and Eelgrass, Chiostro di Sant’ Apollonia, and Palazzo de Loredana Balboni.





The Tabac Baskets were displayed in the context of and alongside the original baskets that have served as sources of inspiration to the artist.





Chihuly vessels were presented in darkened rooms with direct spotlights above or below to demonstrate the variety of jewel-like colors and textures.









Among my personal favorites were two lifesize row boats filled with glass spheres, ripples and rods.




A 56-foot-long Mille Fiori garden of glass composed of bold forms in vibrant colors delighted viewers and provided a powerful conclusion to the exhibition.


The exhibit will run through September 28,2008. If you find yourself in the Bay Area, I highly recommend you stop by to see this color explosion of utter delight!








For more information about Dale Chihuly, please visit his web site.