Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

May 3 to June 1,  2013, Roby King Galleries of Bainbridge Island will exhibit the Paintings of Martha Brouwer and Rust Monoprints by Brian Fisher. Gull Descending, 18x11 in. I am honored to exhibit with Martha Brouwer and thank Andrea and Wes, the owners of Roby King Galleries, for the opportunity to exhibit my new rust work. Martha describes her work:  "My design skills and my interest in patterns and textures are reflected in my approach. I enjoy layering different media to accomplish depth of tone and meaning."  When thinking of her subject she says: "My paintings celebrate the interconnected of all life -  the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, humans. These connections imply a responsibility for caring for each other and sharing the planet.”  www.marthabrouwer.com Sowing the Dragon's Teeth, 14x14 ln. I also embrace the importance of caring connection to the world around us and revere the human past that defines us.  Much of my imagery is

Dear friends, family and all of you that found your way to my studio for the first time on the Vashon Island 2012 Holiday Studio Tour, Thank You!  I always enjoy seeing everyone and this year so many new people found their way to my studio door.  Aki, our Shiba Inu, spends a lot of creative time with me.  This year she was the official, sometimes vocal, greeter of guests during the tour.  Typical of the breed, she has opinions about everything and everyone.  I know she enjoyed the tour as much as I did and is missing the attention.  Thanks so much and come again!

Each month a small community of Vashon Island artists meet in one another's homes to feast, to converse about art and share where their creative paths have taken them since last they met.  The group has been meeting since 2005. In some measure each gathering represents the cycle that defines Journey.  The dinners have come to represent conclusions and beginnings, demarcations that round the individual's creative search for expression that is somehow more fully realized when shared within this community of friends.  In recognition of our shared paths, I am one of nine artists this show represents, we decided a year ago to create new work that would express our personal interpretation and exploration of Journey as subject.   On Tuesday, October 30 I will help gallery director for Vashon Allied Arts, Janice Mallman, hang and mount our show in the Blue Heron Gallery .  I have seen some of the work in progress but I anticipate the thrill of seeing th

"Taming Bucephalus"   Oil on Canvas (22 x 22 in.) I hung 15 prints and paintings at La Medusa early this week.  I love the name La Medusa!  What poetry and illusion to Gorgon mysteries.  I can only hope that my work is also received as poetry in this wonderful eatery! La Medusa is located at 4857 Rainier Avenue South in Seattle Washington and serves incredible tastes of Sicilian, Italian food.  The restaurant is beautiful, the staff friendly and ones entire experience is just what "dining out" should be about. Columbia City, La Medusa's home, is a magical mix of cultures, of the now and yesterday and well worth a visit at any time of day. My show at La Medusa hangs until July 30. View my work and enjoy this wonderful restaurant.

While reading “The Argonauticka,” by Apollonios Rhodios, and following hero Jason and the crew of the Argo through the islands and ports of call visited by his ship Argo, I came upon several references to the gods worshiped at Samothrace and Lemnos in the Korybantes, Kabeiroi or Cabeiri Rites that were celebrated in ritual dance.  Dance, according to the Greek ideal, was one of the civilizing activities, like wine-making or music. These dances perhaps originated as Cretan, and as Dionysus/Zeus oriented purification, or coming of age, initiation rituals.  Eventually “Pyrrhicaial” male dance, became a formal competition in the Hellenic world.  Armed with swords and shields, group participants were accompanied by drum and rhythmic stamping of feet and performed in celebration as worship, for acclaim and monetary reward. Above, rust prints mounted to wood panel, Pyrrhic Dance, (8 X 10 x 1.5 in.) and below, Persian Dance, (8 x 10 x 1.5 in.), wil

Monotype Print 36 x 15 in. Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, warfare, arts, crafts, agriculture and namesake patron of the city of Athens is sometimes said to be the child of Zeus alone.  Zeus did give birth to her, but only after swallowing the Oceanid Metis, already pregnant by him, in an attempt to thwart the prophecy that a child of their union would be greater than mighty Zeus. This was of course the unhappy end of Metis but the unborn child continued to grow, gestating in Zeus's head and troubling him with terrible headaches.  Eventually, so great was his pain, he begged Hephaestus to strike him with his great axe whereupon Pallas Athena sprang from her father’s head fully armed. My Monotype The Birth of Pallas Athena , along with another four of my Monotype prints will be displayed at the Roby King Galleries on Bainbridge Island during their 2011 Print Exhibition, October 7-27 with an Artist’s Reception October 7 from 6-8 PM.

O ne evening while the lovely Leda, Queen of Sparta, went about her bath, Zeus spied her from his perch on Mt. Olympus and was smitten, enamored, or at the very least, fell deeply in lust.  Libidinous Zeus then changed himself into a swan, a bird sacred to Aphrodite, and swept down from the heavens to join Leda in her watery ritual.   Artists through the ages have depicted this union in many, many ways, perhaps because this particular miracle is a challenge, but fun, to imagine.  My Monotype collage version of this amorous encounter depicts Leda as self aware but unaware and slippery Zeus as diminutive, not unlike a bath toy.  I guess I was thinking of soap on a rope.  Really, who could be afraid of that? This mythic union is very important because one of Leda’s children by The Swan is beautiful Helen. Helen’s abduction by Paris, a prince of Troy, will lead to the Trojan War and destruction of Troy, the death and memorialization of many heroes, set the stage for the future

The Kevin D’Amelio Art Gallery will open this Thursday, March 3, 5-8 PM, at the historic 619 Western Building in Pioneer Square with a group show highlighting Vashon Island Artists.  At last count more than 60 artists, representing the remarkable wealth of art being created on Vashon will be participating.  This show runs through March 13. My Monotype King Maker (above) is one of two images I will be exhibiting in the Kevin D’Amelio Vashon Island Artists inaugural show.