Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

I am still framing work for the 2010 Vashon Island Holiday Art Studio Tour .  Posted above is a small monotype that will be part of my show.  It is inspired by these few lines from Tennyson’s poem Ulysses . Come, my friends, ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. My Mixed Media Monotype, " To Sail Beyond Sunset ," is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.

Dorus,  Monotype,  5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. I have been framing work for the 2010 Vashon Island Holiday Art Studio Tour and decided to share another image that reflects the reoccurring theme of “Origins” in my recent work. Dorus, son of Hellen, (father of the primary tribes of Greece) is the mythical King and founder of the Dorians in the region of Mt. Parnassus, north of the Gulf of Corinth.  Every student of architecture who read Sir Banister Fletcher’s History of Architecture will recall his descriptions of  “temenos” or “sacred enclosure” and remember the comparative architectural evolution of Greek orders.  The Doric Order and Column, named for Dorus was the the simplest and first of the orders, the archetype, the original.   In my Monotype I have depicted Dorus’s crown or capital as a fluted section of column, another detail of the Doric order.

Birth of Athena,  Monotype, 22x30 in. Artists participating in the 2010 Vashon Island Holiday Art Studio Tour are preparing their studios and finishing work to exhibit and sell during the spectacular, annual, all island event.  If you live on Vashon this event is free!  If not, for the price of a ferry boat ticket, forty one studios and galleries will display work from over 100 Vashon Island artists.  All of this artwork is yours to peruse and purchase the first two weekends in December.  Here is the Studio Tour link to the art map and all the studios you will want to see.  http://vashonislandartstudiotour.com/Holiday2010/ This year my studio is number 12 on the map .  I will exhibit my print, painting and assemblage art and will share my studio with the fused glass and dyed fabric  creations of Sooze Bloom deLeon Grossman and Benjamin Grossman (better known as Laughing Magpies), as well as Tiffany Seymour Huslig who this year is  making toys to delight your fam

I just returned from a wonderful opening and artist reception at   Roby King Gallery on Bainbridge Island. Each October Andrea Roby and Wes King invite artists to exhibit work in their annual print exhibition and this year I was honored to be asked to show with seven of the most amazing print artists.  Above I have posted the card invitation.  No More Stones , one of my Monotypes in this exhibit is shown below.  Several people at the opening asked what inspired the imagery.  The image is intended as a dark reminder about the realities of war.  1) All wars are the same war.  2) In war their are no winners, only losers.  3) In this age where war is waged by pushing buttons we need to think about real consequences surrounding conflict before we act. It was inspired by the the musical genius of Enter the Haggis, their song titled No More Stones and its Chorus: Hey, ho, the wind has blown Won the war, now there's nothing to show Seeds sewn, time to grow

Odysseus, Where Art Thou?  13 x 8.5 in. I will have new work at The Heron’s Nest on Vashon in October; Monoprints who’s themes celebrate Homer’s famous lovers.  Yes, Helen and Paris will be there of course but also Penelope and Odysseus. In this work I have continued to experiment printing with dry pigment.  As the imagery evolved I kept thinking of Wallace Stevens’s poignant poem about Penelope imagining, preparing for, the return of Odysseus (Ulysses) and want to include it here. The World As Meditation Is it Ulysses that approaches from the east,
 The interminable adventurer? The trees are mended.
 That winter is washed away. Someone is moving On the horizon and lifting himself up above it. A form of fire approaches the cretonnes of Penelope,
 Whose mere savage presence awakens the world in which she dwells. She has composed, so long, a self with which to welcome him,
 Companion to his self for her, which she imagined,
 Two in a deep-founded s

When print and water color artist Ilse Reimntiz invited me to co-instruct a monotype workshop I happily excepted.  Ilse is an incredible artist and mentor to many, myself included.  Her print imagery ignited my initial interest in monotype, for which I am truly grateful. September 10-12 we coached five enthusiastic, print curious, artists in basic monotype techniques and were witness to inspiring results.  Check out the photo below of one students dynamic work in progress.   What fun!  I am already looking forward to the next workshop Ilse and I will conduct early in the new year. Monotype  printwork from the workshop by Sarah Stuart

Long before cultivation of the grape, bees were sacred to the goddess Demeter, and Mead, or honey wine , was the drink of the Golden Age.  Made from honey, water and yeast, fermented Mead was central to the ecstatic Cretan celebration of the Minoan New Year (the summer solstice) and to the ritual sacrifice of the Cretan Bull.  Kerenyi, the word for drunk in classical Greek, even translates as “honey intoxicated!” When Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery invited me to create an image for their exhibition about imaginary wine labels, the original libation of choice, bee begotten Mead, immediately came to mind. Link to the exhibit information for Vin Faux: Imaginary Wine Labels & Bottles at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery: www.bacart.org/exh-current.html My mixed media Monotype, MEAD is 21’”x 21”.