Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

"Damascus" is a monotype print collage from my Magic Carpet Ride series for “Cut and Paste” showing with paper cut artist Danny Kopsak’s new work at Vashon Center Gallery. Opening Aug 11, 5-8, exhibiting through Aug 27, in VCA's Summer Arts Festival 2023. “Whoever would sit upon this carpet and will it to be taken up and set down upon another site, shall, in the twinkling of an eye, be borne thither, whether that place be near at hand, or distant many a day's journey and difficult to reach.” It is said that Solomon’s magic carpet was made with a warp of green silk and weft of golden thread. It was sixty miles long and sixty miles wide. When he sat upon the carpet he was caught up by the wind and flew so quickly that he could breakfast in Damascus and dine in Media.

  "Jacob Dreams of Angels" is my monotype print, (1/1), with silver metal leaf, currently on exhibit at  Vashon Center for the Arts Gallery, Jan 6-29, 2023 in The Notable Collection .   The Torah and the Bible tell of Jacob’s vivid dream about a stairway or ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending. It is in this dream that the God of his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac, appears to Jacob and promises the land that he sleeps upon to his descendants and that through Jacob and his descendants that all the families of the earth shall find blessing. What a profound dream and the ladder a powerful symbol of connection between the physical and an unknown where dreams are sourced or realized.

  This is my painting of Lailah, Angel of Conception, Angel of Night , oil on canvas over panel, 36 x 24 in. currently at Vashon Center for the Arts Gallery on Vashon Island WA. Angels are typically considered genderless, but Lailah is described as feminine in Midrash (commentary on Hebrew scriptures, attached to biblical text). In this tradition, she teaches the unborn spirt the Torah before birth and provides each a candle so that it can see its path in the world to come. In the moment that the spirt is born to this world, Lailah blows out the candle and strikes the child’s upper lip, causing the new babe to forget everything, but leaving the indention we all have above our upper lips. This is said to be the physical reminder of original knowledge and prompt to unlearn our way back to God. I was unfamiliar with this story until researching angel mythology, but it called to mind that experience we all have, at least while young, of knowing something rather than learning something. A g

  Haniel, Angel of Joy is said to hold the keys to the palaces of heaven and appears in Genesis and The Book of Enoch, part of the Jewish and Christian Apocrypha, where he transports Enoch from earth to heaven as a living man. My painting of Haniel and all the Angel paintings and prints I've made in 2021, are inspired by Italian Renaissance artist Fra Angelico’s Angel paintings. His "Technicolor” depictions of angel wings intrigue me. I am delighted that Haniel has already sold to a friend and patron but you can still see Haniel on exhibit at Vashon Center for the Arts Gallery Jan 7-30, 2022, where you will also view work by Notable Collection artists; Victoria Adams, Morgan Brig, Brian Fisher, Pam Ingalls, Kristen Reitz-Green, Cathy Sarkowsky, and Erin Shulz. You can also see work online at VCA's Notable Collection now thru April 2022.

  Mystras, an oil on canvas painting is my contribution to the 2021 Vashon Center for the Arts Gala Art Auction  at Vashon Center for the Arts Gallery. The auction begins First Friday, September 3, with hundreds of works generously donated by island artists, as well as dozens of unique one-of-a-kind experiences. Bidding will take place for three weeks from September 3 until September 24 and will close at the start of the Gala Livestream event at 7PM on September 24. All items will be featured online and in the VCA gallery. If you'd like to see the art in person, gallery hours are Wed thru Sun from 12-5PM. Mystras is named for the archaeological site and Byzantine city in the Peloponnese of modern Greece, where ruins of churches and palaces, houses, and bridges, were built on a steep mountain slope. Its ruins tell the story of a beautiful city that once flourished as the provincial capital of the Byzantine Despotate of Morea. Founded in 1248 by William II of Villehardouin, Frankish

"Learning by Heart" was made for the Heart of Resilience Show at Vashon Center for the Arts Gallery this month.  It is an original digital print Ltd 1/12.  The show asks what are artists making in the time of COVID 19 and how do we stay creative in the face of the epidemic?   Much of how we survive is learning to endure.  How we endure is learned by heart.  Habits sustain us. Perhaps the best advice I received from my parents when facing uncertainty was about maintaining a schedule and establishing a routine.  Bathe, dress, what now, what next, get back into the saddle.  Ride this thing out. 

Save the Last Dance for Me Once upon a time “Red Shoes” were linked to status, wealth and power.  The cost of red dyes like cochineal, and madder , used to die cloth and leather, made them affordable only to the rich. Popes, Emperors and Kings wore red shoes to symbolize a divine right to rule.  By the late 18th century red shoes had become a sign of aspirational fashion for men and for women. When author Hans Christen Anderson published “The Red Shoes” in 1845 he linked Christian themes of sin, pride, disobedience and redemption to a Danish folk tale and red shoes took on a darker meaning.  His protagonist Karen and by extension women who wore red shoes, became cultural transgressors of the acceptable feminine norm.  Red shoes were recast as symbols of passion, as uncontrollable urges and in Anderson’s version, red shoes possessed a will of their own…to dance. The only way Karen could stop dancing was by having her feet and shoes removed by axe.   Since Anderson’s characterization,

This wonderful viscosity monotype, "Sunday is Wash Day" by Laura Davidheiser will be on display during the Quartermaster Press 25 Retrospective Exhibition at Vashon Center for the Arts, April 6 - May 25, 2018.   Laura was an accomplished artist. Her prints, containing a common theme of flight, were selected to show in numerous international, regional and juried exhibitions throughout the United States in her lifetime. Laura was a master of viscosity monotype.  She used stiff dry ink (high viscosity) and oily loose ink (low viscosity) to resist and blend with each other.  If I remember correctly she typically painted with low viscosity {the bright and various colors in the print below) onto her Plexiglas plate and then rolled the high viscosity ( dark red) ink on top of one another. This beautiful monotype print took planning, hours of painting and like every print process...thinking backwards! Thank you Don and Betty Olson for sharing this print with the QMP 25 show

Ilse Reimnitz introduced me to monotype printmaking and Quartermaster Press 20 years ago.  She is a great friend and mentor.  I always enjoy talking with her and every time we teach a workshop together I learn something new from Ilse.   Ilse Reimnitz has an innate sense for asymmetrical composition.  She is a master of watercolor and monotype.  Her success in both mediums relies on her ability to subtly layer texture and imagery.  What often first appears to be a simple though elegant composition upon a closer look is revealed to be complex, mysterious, and texturally rich.  The QMP 25 Retrospective Exhibit, April 6 - May 25 at Vashon Center for the Arts will include Ilse's monotype "Current" 29 x 21 in. "Current" Monotype by Ilse Reimnitz

Max Beckmann wrote "Art is creative for the sake of realization, not for amusement: for transfiguration, not for the sake of play. It is the quest of our self that drives us along the eternal and never-ending journey we must all make."  Valerie Willson's quest brought her and a very large etching bed press to Vashon Island in 1993 where she founded Quartermaster Press and has shared her excitement for print process ever since.  Her journey has also led her to explore other media as well, including: pastel, paint, en caustic and most recently photography.  ValerieWillson.com For the Quartermaster Press 25 year retrospective exhibit at Vashon Center for the Arts Koch Gallery,  April 6 - May 25, Valerie Willson has chosen to display etchings created in the period that the press itself was made and when she was exploring everything that multiple copper plate etching might yield.  This is Nasturtiums a three copperplate etching with Intaglio and aquatint, 19 3/4 x 14 3/4

The 25th Quartermaster Press Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition will show at Vashon Center for the Arts, Koch Gallery, 19600 Vashon highway SW, Vashon WA April 6 - May 25.  Opening April 6 at 5:30 p.m. with an introductory talk by Valerie Willson.  Featured- Print demos, QMP history, talks about Print Techniques, Print Tradition & Transformation, and a Collectors Conversation are all part of this special show highlighting print art created by 31 past and present Quartermaster Press print artists. Pat Churchill and I are co-curating this show.  Deborah Taylor has created dynamic promotional invitations, posters and banners from the artists work featured in this exhibition. See details, dates below and please visit the VCA, Koch gallery website for more information-  http://vashoncenterforthearts.org/event/qmp25/

 VCA's Koch Gallery presents: The 11th Annual Masters in Miniature Exhibition   Small works of art encourage us to get up close and personal with the piece. Once we are drawn in we are often surprised by the unexpected. That's one of the inspirations behind the Vashon Center for the Arts Koch Gallery 11th Annual Miniature Exhibition.    Below is "Morning" (6x6 in.)  One of several images I have in this show Show. The exhibition showcase works by over 30 Island artists. On view December 1-22, 2017