Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

Faiyum is an Egyptian city and region located about 80 miles southwest of of Cairo.  Faiyum Governorate, the modern capital, is also the ancient site of Shedyt or Crocodilopolis.  Founded around 4000 BC,  it is the oldest known city in Egypt and one of the oldest settlements  in Africa. During the Ptolemaic dynasty, (305 BC to 30 BC), and after, the Faiyum region was a major producer of grain and cotton for the Roman world.  Today Faiyum is particularly know for the remarkable tomb portraiture created during it’s Greco Roman period of affluence in antiquity. The Faiyum portraits or Fayum portraits, were created as encaustic on panel or sometimes tempera on linen.  They were bound into bands of cloth that wrapped the mummified wealthy for burial.  About a thousand of these portraits have been discovered.  Each is a remarkably realistic portrait, sometimes double portrait, of people that lived 2000 years ago.  Buried with their “subject” the portraits  were never meant to be seen

My sculpture 'Haiku' with yucca and a stunning white rose. The Vashon Garden Tour is this weekend.  I was honored to have my Threshold Guardian stakes and sculpture in the garden of Ron Gawith and Linda Weiss.  Their contemporary home and the garden that surrounds it are absolutely stunning. Behind me is 'Hyperion' in stainless steel, hung from Gabion cage.

ISLAND TO ISLAND ART FROM AROUND THE SOUND June 13th-August 4th EXHIBITING ARTISTS: Anne Belov, Sandy Byers, Debra Calkins Brian Fisher , Melinda Hannigan, Lorraine Healy. Ingrid Lahti Mark Lucero. Mary Dyer Rothermel Kim Tinuviel THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 5:00-7:00 PM ALJOYA MERCER ISLAND 2430 76th Avenue SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040 ARTWORK IS ON EXHIBIT THROUGH AUGUST 4, 2013. Please RSVP at (206) 230-0150 "The Caledonion Boar," above, (14 x 14 in.) is one of several Monoprints I will be exhibiting in the Island to Island show.  June Sekiguchi and Kelly Lyles curated this exhibition for Aljoya. It will showcase work from Washington State "Island" artists, (Whidbey, Vashon, Mercer, etc).

Earlier this year I completed an interesting commission for a good friend and patron. The final print images were to be digitally reproduced and used as skins for pantry doors in his kitchen.  We discussed imagery and finally decided that two Monotypes describing four phases of his life would be fun and personally relevant. Above are the door skins in place.  Below are the initial drawings and  the final Monotypes that were reproduced as door skins. 

It's a blue sky day!   Great weather for a drive and some island hopping.  That's what I am about to do because tonight is my opening at Roby King Galleries on Bainbridge Island.   Here is a link to the images I will be exhibiting.   Brian Fisher at Roby King Galleries I am very excited to be showing my Rust Monoprints and several new wall sculptures.  The sculptures are a bit of a twist to what I have been doing with steel,(rusting.)  Two of the sculptures are made from stainless and one of those combines stainless with carved and painted wood. It has been my intention to combine carved wood with cut steel and since the beginning of the year, sculpture, Elaine Hanowell has been teaching me to carve in wood.  She is a wonderful artist and teacher and I am grateful for her instruction.  "Okeanos," is the Titan who personified the world ocean encircling the "known world" in Greek Myth.  My wall sculpture "Okeanos," at right, is 47.5 x 24 x 4.

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

The Vashon Allied Arts retail gallery, the Heron's Nest, is reopening after an extensive remodel April 5th and on Vashon's First Friday Art Walk.  Earlier today I dropped off art and art cards. Here are some of my HepCat Club boxed  card sets they will be selling. The images were inspired by jazz and bebop musicians like Oscar Pettiford, Herbie Mann, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Lester Young, and Joe "King" Oliver. I grew up listening to King Oliver.  My Grandpa Ed had a great Victrola in his billiard room.  While we grand kids abused his pool table we would listen to records like Wille, the Weeper.

This year I have been printing about, painting, carving and thinking about "center" as concept and source for imagery.  This is not a new subject for me to explore but a recognition that all of the stories I am drawn to, make art about, have at core the search for center.  Within mythic story, center is generally a tribally circumscribed place, a point of connection between sky and earth where cardinal directions meet.  Whether that center be Delphi or Delos, the Temple Mount or the Black Hills, it is the same symbolic center.  It might be called Omphalos or Axis Mundi, Bindu or Bethyle  but details and superficial observations aside it functions as the still point from which all objective reality is a manifestation. Spiritually it is the point we search from and for which we search. My image “Center” is a mixed media bas-relief, 13 x 10 in.

I just returned from a nice First Friday night out on Vashon.  Bergamot Studio's themed show is White on White this month and I was delighted to have three mixed media collages included in the exhibit.  Above and at center are "The Challenge," "Threshold Guardians" and "Center." Each represents an aspect of the Hero's Journey.

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!

Weekend two of the Vashon Holiday Studio Tour promises to be a little drier.  We had a great first weekend in spite of the rain.  Thank you friends and patrons for stopping in to see what was new.  I had many questions about my new Rust Prints and rust process.  The photo below features a few of those.

Cabeiri Rites, Rust Print, 24 x 24 in. December 1-2 and 8-9 from 10am to 4 pm the artists of Vashon Island open their studio doors to share art and process with friends and patrons.  This year I am studio number 9 on the tour.  I always look forward to this event.  Here is a link to the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour Holiday 2012 lineup of studios. Cabeiri Rites is one of many new rust prints I will be showing for sale in addition to my other print, paint and assemblage work.