Posts

Match

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Today I am posting a photo of my assemblage Match from an ongoing series about twins.  I am unsure about the basis for my personal interest in twins.   There exists however, a universal fascination with the mystery of sameness and opposites, of duality and the stories that twins inspire. Across cultures and through history, myths of twins as: partners (the Roman Romulus and Remus), rivals (the Egyptian Osiris and Set), opposites (the Greek Apollo and Artemis), and two haves of a whole (the Greek Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux) are evidence of our interest and attempt to explain this intriguing natural phenomenon. Match is a play on the various definitions of the word match and the associated condition of twins.  In my assemblage, Parcheesi is the organized game that may be characterized as a match.  Contestants move color differentiated and matched disks by rolling a set of matched dice along paths that mirror (match) each other in visual organization with Home a

The UnClad Show! Guardian At Play

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Gallery by the Bay in Stanwood Washington is presenting,  Unclad the 9th annual festival exhibition celebrating the nude figure in art.  The opening is Saturday, March 13th, 11 AM to 8 PM.  Come meet the artists, view the show, check out the related gift shop, listen to live music, and enjoy the party! The images above and below are my entries for Unclad. My Monotype, Guardian at Play , (above), is about the inseparable relationship of humanity and nature and a visual reminder to play well with others. My Monotype, First Morning , (below), is about the realization that each day is defined by what we assign meaning to; that the Realm of Possibility, we are born to each day, has infinite boarders.  In addition to these images I will also have 24 related (unclad) images for sale as cards during the exhibit. Gayle Picken, is the founder and director of Gallery by the Bay.  She and her staff of enthusiastic volunteers have put together this rema

Eve Modeling Ready-to-Wear: The Garden Collection

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The wonderful people at Bainbridge Arts and Craft Galley are putting together another fine show!  I just returned from dropping off my own work and had the opportunity to see some of the exceptional images and objects all made in the name of Art Couture .  The opening is March 5th from 6-8 PM.  The show will be up through March 29th. Today I am posting Eve Modeling Ready-to-Wear: The Garden Collection . She along with Kali: Fashonable Diva were printed, painted and assembled for the Art Couture exhibit. After seeing “Eve” a friend suggested I had obviously been channeling my pink and green inner Barbie.  Well, it may be true.  And perhaps a little Barbarella, Pia Zadora, and my very own Aunt Eva.   Though "Eve" could not be Eve and certainly not haute Couture without her Snakey-Do. Eve Modeling Ready-to-Wear: The Garden Collection is a Monotype Print and Wood, Assemblage. 20.5”x 18”x 2” Photo by Charles Backus.  

Kali: Fashionable Diva

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  The Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery Exhibition, Art Couture , opens Friday, March 5th.  I had fun with this theme and look forward to seeing the other work. Kali: Fashionable Diva, is one of two print assemblages I made for the Art Couture exhibit.  Kali is the celebrated Hindu goddess associated with time and energy and redemption.  I often write about what I am working on and this is my poem about Kali. Kali Pearl like skulls adorn her breast, Cosmic garlands of conquest, Bone white trophies from a bloody occupation. She is multiform and formless, Fiercely stylish, shaped by grace, The seed of change, the sower and the reaper. Born to war, protect her own, Judge and recreate the dance, She is the “killer” goddess we call mother. We are her miracles of chance, Of birth and death through happenstance. Goddess Kali is our vehicle of deliverance. BF, 2010 Kali is an Assemblage of Monotype Print, Wood, Paint and Kid Leather Gloves.  30”x 27

Kita-Ku Wrestlers

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Tickets are still available for the Equal Rights Washington Gala and Auction (March, 6, 2010).  This fundraiser and celebration promises to be another spectacular event  held to help finance this important political advocacy organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community of Washington State. Check out their website at:  http://www.equalrightswashington.org Emmy award winner, comedienne and actress Judy Gold is the guest star this year. I have donated my Monotype “Kita-Ku Wrestlers” (posted above) for auction.  Kita- Ku Wrestlers is one of an ongoing series of  paper-cut Monotype print collage whose subject is wrestling. “Kita-Ku Wrestlers” is  19.5” x 27”.

Flower Power: Unfolding

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The Silverwood Gallery’s 2010 Invitational show is opening on Friday February Fifth.  This year’s theme is Flower Power !  Ninety plus artists are participating.  When I dropped off my monotype assemblage Unfolding yesterday, Eric Heffelfinger had just begun hanging what promises to be a remarkable show. Eric and Margaret Heffelfinger, artists and owners of Silverwood Gallery on Vashon Island, Washington, began their themed invitational exhibits several years ago.  The shows are always a visual treat and sometimes present a real challenge for the artist to create work within the parameters of the chosen theme.   My entry, a Monotype and wood assemblage, is titled Unfolding is an attempt to visually describe the evolving process of growth affected by a changing environment or fluctuations of fortune. Unfolding is approximately 22” X 14” X 2”.  Photo by Charles Backus.

2009 Vashon Island Holiday Art Studio Tour

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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.