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Vashon Island Spring 2012, Art Studio Tour

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The Spring 2012 Vashon Island Art Studio Tour Brochurs have arrived and the online Vashon Island Art Tour web link has been launched.  Thank you Sy and Ric of Novak Creative, Inc., and Jan Wall, our outstanding, indefatigable, indomitable, coordinator and leader of many, many successful Vashon Island Art Studio Tours.   Thank you everyone who have been involved in making the Vashon Island Art Tour- Beautiful! Findable!  Possible!  I hope that it is a successful Art Studio Tour for artists and patrons alike.  Preview it now!  http://vashonislandartstudiotour.com/Spring2012/

Threshold Guardians

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The symbol often is more potent than the thing itself.  Through distillation Symbol can appear to become the thing itself.  I try to approach my art in that way.  A reduction and simplification of shape that still has meaning and still tells story. Wallace Stephens did it with words.  He says this poem is not an idea about a thing but the thing itself.  However it is his reality and his presentation of the thing itself.  It is still his idea.  In this poem he explores the nature of reality and is searching for the recognizable in the unknowable. "Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing Itself." At the earliest ending of winter, In March, a scrawny cry from outside Seemed like a sound in his mind. He knew that he heard it, A bird's cry, at daylight or before, In the early March wind. The sun was rising at six, No longer a battered panache above snow... It would have been outside. It was not from the vast ventriloquism Of sleep's faded papier-m

Narcissus Reflected

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In our image obsessed culture the old, old story of Narcissus and the body beautiful is as new as another gorgeous photo, thank you Bruce Weber, for Abercrombie & Fitch's latest pitch to purchase.  To purchase what?     A reflection of beauty of course.  Made self aware by comparison and confounded by perfection we are all in love with surface but desire depth of being.   So the story of Narcissus forever resonates in the individual’s search for self.   At left is my new Monotype Print, Narcissus Reflected ,  (22 x 29.5 in.)  See it in my studio during the Spring Vashon Island Studio Tour. Here is Mr. Eliot's take on Narcissus, a poem of self awareness and metamorphosis, Cantacal V, Or- The Death of Saint Narcissus by T. S. Eliot He walked once between the sea and the high cliffs When the wind made him aware of his limbs smoothly passing each other And of his arms crossed over his breast. When he walked over the meadows He was s

Zetes and Kalais

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Winged Zetes and Kalais were twin sons of Boreas, the North Wind and Oreithyria, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens.  They were also two of the most important heroes chosen by Jason to accompany him on his epic quest for the Golden Fleece. Upon the arrival of the Argonautika at the Bosporus, Zetes and Calais drove the Harpies, sometimes referred to as the hounds of Zeus, away from King Phineas who had been cruelly punished by the Gods for misuse of his prophetic gifts.  Like the modern day Julian Assange , Phineas had revealed too many details about those who rule to go unpunished.  Once the Harpies were banished a thankful Phineas rewarded Jason and his crew with the secret to safe passage through the Clashing Rocks. My Monotypes, Zetes and Kalais, are each 6 x 6 in.  They are currently on exhibit at Archangel  Gallery.

La Casa de Asterion

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Asterion , Monoprint, 27.5 x 20.25 in. The  rust prints I have been working on inspire me to make simpler compositions when printing with the etching press. I am experimenting again with printing dry pigments into ink made heavy with Setswell Compound and Burnt Plate Oil.  I enjoy the rich play of complimentary colors and the textural results when I throw chunky pigments into the ink. At left is my Monoprint, newly completed, for submission to the Seattle Erotic Art Festival, June 16-24, 2012. It is named Asterion and is inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’s wonderful short story, La Casa de Asterión and is of course about the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Yuletide Thanks

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Shelter Monotype Collage Many thanks to my family, friends and patrons for your help and support.  My Vashon Island Holiday Studio Tour was successful and fun for me because of your appreciation and response. Once again I had so many interesting conversations around art, art making, myth and its relevance. Those conversations have already generated new ideas to explore and a book list to keep me busy reading for the next several months.                 Happy Holidays!

Seasonings Greetings

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Seasonings Greetings Seasonings Greetings!  A couple years ago I ran across some Salt and Pepper shakers on ebay and immediately recalled my Grandmothers personal collection of Salt and Pepper shakers.  They filled two, corner, curved glass fronted mahogany curio cabinets. Grandma's collection numbered in the hundreds! When I asked why she collected shakers her response was "Well I had some shakers and someone saw them and gave me a couple more and someone else saw those and suddenly I had a collection." It is not my intention to collect any  more than the somewhat campy/kitschy eight featured at left as a Christmas card collection, but collections do take on a life of their own. I have photographed all eight pair and  made my, predominantly Japaneese 50's - 60's vintage shaker, collection into a boxed set of "Seasonings Greetings" for the 2011 Vashon Island Holiday Studio tour.