Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

Vashon Island's Art Studio Tour 2016, the first two weekends in December, is a great opportunity to see, visit and purchase directly from the artists! 

Roby King Galleries on Bainbridge Island asked their artists, "What or who inspires you to be an artist?"  My reply, "Story and Myth, all that stuff we come back to when looking for answers, and the master of Myth, Joseph Campbell".  Those are my inspirations.  I also would say Michael Meade and his insights keep my top spinning! I am inspired by these words by Campbell and have them on the wall in my studio:  "We have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us, the labyrinth is fully known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; 
where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; 
where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; 
where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.” ― Joseph Campbell.   Posted above is my Monop

Horizon and sky are the most memorable characteristics of the midwestern landscape I was born to.   I suspect the knowledge my father shared with me and with my siblings, lying on our backs in the buffalo grass of our grandparent’s Kansas farm and gazing up through night binoculars, predated his studies at Denver University, Colorado and Hays College, Kansas in the 1950’s and 60’s.   Wherever, whenever, his knowledge came from, his passion for stargazing is memorable and has inspired my Rust Monotype “Cygnus”. My Father, Dale Fisher, was born April 20, 1913 into a world of kerosene and candles, well before manmade light and the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 dimmed his world to the heavens. My dad’s perspective about sky included a classical explanation of the constellations, lay observation of the stars/planets and an avid curiosity about the physical world that caused him to call his family outside to witness sputnik traversing the night sky. His is the voice that co

This is "Omphalos", a Rust Monoprint with Gold Leaf, mounted to a coped dimensional panel.  It's dimensions are approximately 36 x 36 x 1 3/4 inches.  I made it by rusting a water-jet cut Cort-en steel plate onto/into an antique linen tablecloth. Omphalos means navel, as in belly button, (umbilicus in Latin) and it also means "The Center."  The Omphalos Stone at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi Greece marked the center of the old Greek world. Each culture has its recognized center.  Sometimes more than one. For instance, the USA's political Omphalos would be the White House in Washington DC and cultural center might perhaps be Rockefeller Center in New York City (or not).  In every culture it depends on who's telling the story! If you would like to see "Omphalos," the current center of my world, please visit the annual Seattle Print Arts Members Exhibition, Pressing On, with an opening reception today, Thursday, November 17th,  5-8 pm, a

The Gemini, Rust Mono Print, Vintage Linen mounted to Panel, 11x11 in. Gemini is one of the brighter constellations of the Zodiac. I n the Northern Hemisphere, it lights up the early evening sky from January until May. The constellation is said to represent the twins of Greek myth Castor and Polydeuces. These brothers are also known as the Dioskouroi or Dioscuri, meaning “sons of Zeus.”  In Latin they are called the Gemini. Myths differ but in the best known story of their parentage and birth, their mother Leda, a Queen of Sparta, was seduced by a swan that turned out to be Zeus.  Amorous Leda soon thereafter also conceived by her husband Tyndareus and gave birth to an egg or eggs that contained the male twins Castor and Polydeuces and female twins Helen and Clytemnestra.  These siblings play significant roles in the many myths that describe the Trojan War, Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece and even the Theseus myth. Castor and Polydeuces are some

Outside / In Fisher Studio     Night Cometh!   Our season of sun and long hours to work and to play in is fading.   Where did the Summer go ?   I am very thankful for the long hot August days I’ve had to “Rust Print” in and appreciative now of Puget Power and Light to extend the workday beyond the Biblically allotted 12 hours of light!  And I’m taking full advantage of all the light-emitting diodes in my new studio to complete what I have started in Summer light! Inside / Out  Fisher Studio

I have been grinding plates, cutting Mylar stencils and making rust happen in the August heat. Vashon Island rarely exceeds the mid 80's but that's the perfect temperature to make rust prints!  Here are a few shots of two prints in process.

"Hylas, Lost to Love" Rust Monoprint, 14x14 in. I just returned from Edmonds, WA and the Unclad 2016 Exhibition.  After a hiatus of several years, art director and promoter Gale Picken ( 66 Events ) recreated and moved her themed show from Stanwood, WA to the Edmonds, WA Yacht club.  I was delighted to once again exhibit in this venue and with 90 wonderful artists from across North America.  Unclad 2016

"The Tweedles,"  48 x 16 in. "Croquet Party."  27 1/2 x 15 in.     Roby King Galleries  Roby King's "Wonderland"   2015  Exhibit celebrates the 150th year of Lewis Carroll’s "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland" & "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There"! December 4th-January 2, 2016 Opening Reception: First Friday  Dec 4th  6-8pm     Above are my mixed media bas-relief panels on exhibit in "Wonderland".

I'm currently exhibiting work at Plymouth Church in Seattle.  Above is "The Mill of Time," a Rust Monottype with Gold Leaf, 30x30 in.  And below is "Vortex of the Eternal Now," also a Rust Monotype with Gold Leaf and with the same dimensions. "The Mill of Time" and "Vortex of the Eternal Now" celebrate with process and image the mystery of Time.  Measurable but elastic, time is experienced only in the present but is anticipated as future and remembered as past!  

"Europa"  Brian Fisher, Monotype Print, 25 x 25 in. I am delighted to have my Monotype Prints, “Europa” and “The Caledonian Boar,” exhibited in “The Printmaker’s Hand III”! Corvidae Press Guild of Port Townsend WA in association with Northwind Arts Center, also of Port Townsend WA, are hosting “The Printmaker’s Hand III”, an exhibition of fine art prints, September 4th - 27th, 2015.  The opening reception is September 5 in conjunction with Port Townsend’s Art Walk.  On September 6, Juror, Sam Davidson owner/director of Seattle’s premier print gallery,  Davidson Galleries, will talk about the art of print and the juried work chosen for exhibition in “The Printmaker’s Hand III”. Northwind Arts Center is located at 701 Water Street, in the historic Waterman & Katz Building, Port Townsend WA.  Find more details about the show, location and Sam Davidson’s talk here “The Printmaker’s hand III.”   And link here to more information he

Good friend and art compatriot, Ilse Reimnitz and I share the billboard in a couple upcoming shows.(Corvadie Press’s “Printmakers Hand III” and “B2 Gallery Fall Exhibit” in September-November). In mid August we also taught a Monotype workshop at Ilse’s gorgeous print/paint studio.   We’re equally passionate about print process and in this class we felt particularly well matched with six print curious artists that were so obviously born to print !  Here are just a few images from a wonderful weekend!