Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

My monotype print, The River of Forgetting, like several prints on display in my studio during VIVA's Spring Studio Tour , is about a betwixt and between liminal state of being.  Lethe’s Temple, the Temple of Forgetting, has its foundations in a river.  In early Greek myth, Lethe was one of five rivers that flowed through the subterranean Kingdom of Hades.  Souls who passed into Hades had need to forget the suffering they had endured, or perhaps, the torment they had inflicted.  So, if a soul were ever to achieve peace and reincarnate, that soul would drink from Lethe, the River of Forgetting and be cleansed of memory.     The River of Forgetting, Monotype print with 24k gold leaf by Brian Fisher  (22 1/2 x 29 in. )

Check out Satyr Play during the VIVA Studio Tour, May 5-6 & 12-13 at Brian Fisher Studio, no. 2 on the Tour. Satyr Plays, a genre of ancient Greek drama, are named after the mythological satyrs who were half-goat, half-man, highly sexual creatures and often part of Dionysus' entourage. Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy (among other things), was considered by the Greeks as the patron of theatre.  A Satyr Play might itself be tragic, but the satyr chorus, with its irreverent outlook on life provided comedic relief and made the play more interesting and less somber than the tragedies that proceeded and followed it.   I designed the satyrs within my "Satyr Play" first as elements of a frieze beneath my studio's eves.  Until I find time to make that happen they will appear as monotype print imagery!  Satyr Play,  Monotype Print  (1/1)  by Brian Fisher,  7 x 29 1/2 in.

VIVA, Vashon Island Visual Artists, invite you to participate, connect and interact when they throw open their studio doors in a sharing, showing, sales event the first two weekends of May,  5-6 and 12-13, 2018.   Here is a link to the studio tour map. VIVA STUDIO TOUR "SALIX" Monotype Print by Brian Fisher  6x6 in. Salix, The Willow Wife, is one of my new prints on display this VIVA tour,  Available at studio stop # 2. 

Many Greek and Roman myths tell of the twin brothers Castor and Pollux. They are known as the Dioscuri in Greek and as Gemini or Castores in Latin. The brothers shared Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece in the Argonautica and they’re the familial heroes when Theseus and Pirithous abducted their sister Helen. Though their mother was Leda, Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, King of Sparta, and Pollux was the divine son of Zeus who had seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. They are sometimes said to have been born from an egg or eggs, along with their twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Castor was killed in a family feud after he and Pollux fell in love with and abducted Phoebe and Hilaeira, consorts of their cousins Lynceus and Idas.  Pollux asked his father Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together and they were transformed into the constellation Gemini.  Sharing also meant they had to spend equal time in the underworld.  This divisio

  "Every myth has a mother, some more stylish than others...  Hebraic myth doth suggest that Eve dressed better than the rest." Welcome to the runway!  The first two weekends in December, 2-3 & 9-10, Goddess Eve will be modeling Ready to Wear, "The Garden Collection"! Step Out, Step Up, YOU CAN SEE THE SHOW!  Stop #5, Brian Fisher Studio, when Vashon Island Artists throw open doors, windows, yards and yardarms in welcome during the Vashon Island Art Holiday Studio Tour!!

My Green Man Albus Darach is a more traditional representation of the Green Man, or "foliate head” of the British Isles.  You may find Albus Darach in my Studio, no.16 with his Green Man collograph print siblings, during the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour, May 6-7 & 13-14, 2017. Darach is Gaelic for "Oak tree.” Around him you can see the leaves and acorns of the tree and rectangular portals representing passage, change or transformation.  The Oak is almost synonymous with strength, steadfastness and historically is associated with the sacred groves and forests of of the Druids. The Roman Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus lived in Gaul during the 1st century CE and wrote that Druid priests performed all their religious rites in Oak groves, where they gathered mistletoe from the trees with a golden sickle.  Dense forests of Oak covered most of Northern Europe at that time and the tree's human-like attributes of trunk/body, branches/arms, twigs/fingers, and sap/bloo

Katsura is my Green Man collograph named for the beautiful Katsura tree, native to China and  Japan.  Please visit Brian Fisher Studio and Katsura during the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour May 6,7-13-14. This Green Man is inspired by the mythic Japanese Kodama, spirit guardians and animated souls of the mountain forests of Japan.  Kodama spirits are revered by Japanese as gods and protectors  of trees. The Kodama bless the land around their forest with fertility.  The villagers who find Kodama inhabited trees designate them with sacred rope known as a Shimenawa.   Japan honors nature and these sacred Kodoma spirit trees are often found within the grounds of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

Outside / In Fisher Studio     Night Cometh!   Our season of sun and long hours to work and to play in is fading.   Where did the Summer go ?   I am very thankful for the long hot August days I’ve had to “Rust Print” in and appreciative now of Puget Power and Light to extend the workday beyond the Biblically allotted 12 hours of light!  And I’m taking full advantage of all the light-emitting diodes in my new studio to complete what I have started in Summer light! Inside / Out  Fisher Studio

I have been grinding plates, cutting Mylar stencils and making rust happen in the August heat. Vashon Island rarely exceeds the mid 80's but that's the perfect temperature to make rust prints!  Here are a few shots of two prints in process.

‘Studios’ magazine featured four Vashon artists and their studios in its Summer  edition. My studio was chosen as the cover.  The following is how I describe my present creative space. I am a Print, Paint and Assemblage artist.  The images I make have their origin in story. The story may be personally relevant but often falls within the realm of myth.  The interpretation of myth and visual exploration of story is informed by and evolves in my approach to Monotype print.   I think of Monotype as a lively conversation of knife with paper, ink with plate, and paper and plate with press.  The exploration of these simple materials, mediums and tools provide an exciting way to discover imagery that I may subsequently interpret in the more traditional medium of oil on canvas or include as critical components of my assemblage work. In addition to my press work I am currently exploring another Monotype process utilizing mild steel plates that are composed, cut and rusted to muslin.

Weekend two of the Vashon Holiday Studio Tour promises to be a little drier.  We had a great first weekend in spite of the rain.  Thank you friends and patrons for stopping in to see what was new.  I had many questions about my new Rust Prints and rust process.  The photo below features a few of those.

The 2009 Vashon Island Holiday Art Studio Tour has come and gone.  My studio is a bit off the beaten track (even by Vashon standards), so I was surprised and very encouraged by the numbers of people willing to brave the cold and the unknown in search of art. I want to thank Tiffany Huslig,  Sooze Bloom de Leon Grossman and Benjamin Grossman for the wonderful artwork they created to exhibit during the tour and to say thank you one more time to my family and friends for traveling long distances to help make the tour so much fun and such a success. I had many, many inspiring conversations with art patrons and fellow artists during the tour.  Making art is a peak experience for me and the next best thing to making art is talking about art. Thanks so much for your interest, patronage and for visiting my studio. Above are shots of my print studio in exhibition attire.  Below is a shot of some of Tiffany Huslig’s beautiful ornaments.