Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

"Spirit of the Woods" monoprint with gold leaf,  8 3/4 x 25 in. My Monoprint “Spirit of the Woods” shows at Roby King Gallery , November 3-27, 2017, when Denise Kester and I exhibit our personal interpretations of myth in print and paint.  My work is about the myths I’ve been exploring: vegetative deities like Europe's “Green Man”, Japan’s “Kodama” and the Greek myths about Goddesses Demeter and Persephone. I grew up on the high plains of northwestern Kansas.  Demeter would be at home there where grain (wheat and corn) rules, but unless they are planted and nurtured, trees there are rare.  Perhaps that is why I've always recognized what is special and sacred in trees and why I am drawn to these ancient vegetative stories that exist across cultures. "The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life and activity; it afford

Ilse Reimnitz and I shared Monotype Print techniques with an incredible group of print curious artists at BARN , (Bainbridge, Artisan Resource Network) last weekend.  I came away inspired by what we made together, by those who organized our wonderful weekend and the creative space that so beautifully supports artists pursuing many paths and print medium and workshops like ours in particular.  Thank you!

“Midsummer’s Day Dream”, Monotype Print with gold leaf I live in a forest, a wood, a copse, or something like that.  Maybe it’s a wield?  It’s not quite "Forest Primeval."  The Cedar and Douglas Fir that surround my home/studio are only a century plus old but they are magnificent.  I admire their green, their grey, their loft and all year long I listen to their voices.   They are vocal!  They are often even musical, though I fear those voices in Fall and Winter when the seasons bend and break them.  In Spring when the wind is constant, so are their soothing voices.  In verdant Summer, they are heavy, still, can sigh and sometimes they snore.  I imagine they dream. My Monotype, “Midsummer’s Day Dream”, will show at Roby King Galleries, November 3-27, 2017, when Denise Kester and I exhibit our personal interpretations of myth in print and paint.

Brian Fisher, "Kodama"  Monotype print with gold leaf, 12 x 12 in. Indigenous cultures around the world revered special trees or rocks or unique aspects of their homelands.  Japanese myth speaks of Kodama, deities who dwell within or among the trees and groves they protect.  One of the oldest references to the Kodama is the book Wamuryorui Jyusho or Japanese Names for Things; written 931 – 938 CE.  In this dictionary Kodama are defined as spirits of the trees . Early Japanese lore described the Kodama as either invisible or indistinguishable from trees but over time Kodama took on human aspect.  There are stories of Kodama falling in love with humans and assuming human shape to be with their beloved much like the Greek myths of Dryads, humans and gods. My monotype "Kodama" was made for exhibition at Roby King Galleries November 3-27, 2017 where Denise Kester and I will display our individual interpretations of myth in print and paint.

My Monotype Print "Animal Parade" with several other animal themed rust prints and collographs  are currently part of the Vashon Heron's Nest exhibit "Coyotes, Cougars and Bears, Oh My!" You may love or fear the wild but you have to deal with it when you have chosen to live on Vashon.   This mercurial subject is explored this September by Margaret Tylczak, Paula Allegrina and Brian Fisher at the Heron's Nest Gallery, 17600 Vashon Hwy SW Vashon Island, WA.

I’m a bit obsessed with all things Labyrinth.  The Minotaur and the Labyrinths' physical geometry have been elements of personal curiosity and visual exploration for many years.  I am not sure why this particular Hero's Journey appeals to me but I return to it over and again.  Jorge Luis Borges’s short story “La casa de Asterión” is a compelling contemporary and sympathetic take on this ancient story.  The tittle of my Rust Monotype “Monster” references Asterion, the Minotaur,  as  Borges describes him, “a prisoner of his own loneliness, his otherness, his condition of monster”. “Monster” will be exhibited in the 2017 Expressions Northwest at Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water Street, Port Townsend, Wa.  The exhibit opens 11:30 August 3rd and closes at 5:30 on August 27.  The Exhibition’s junior, Susan Warner will speak on August 5 during Port Townsend's Art Walk Evening.

"Art for Sale" Donna Romero and I share a venue during the Vashon 1st Friday Art Walk, August 4th, 6PM-9PM courtesy of Rachel Waldron at Waldron Design Studio (17530 Vashon HWY SW).  You will find us a short flight up the stairs in the former law offices of Bergman and Pageler.  So, if you want to buy our wares, follow us and climb the stairs, "Art for Sale"

I'm matting and framing today in preparation for the second weekend of the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour.  The first weekend was well attended with good sales!

Brian Fisher, Sacred Circles- Mallorica, Pazzi, York, digital collage The circle is said to represent wholeness, softness, completion, inclusion, the life cycle, heaven-hell and eternity. That’s a lot to embody for a seemingly simple shape! Circles are sacred symbols for a reason.  Circles are a natural, physical phenomena that best describe our round planet circling the light of a round, life-giving sun.  Earth’s cycle, as circle, occurs over, over and again in the myriad planet, star, relationships of our expanding universe.  Scientists who look at the spiral building blocks of nature, our DNA, find stacked interlocking circles. From the whorls of our fingertips, the irises of our eyes, to our cells and the egg that gave each of us life, we are manifestations of the circle. My images about circle reflect the symbolic nature of the shape.  Their names reference the sacred sites, temples, cathedrals that more often than not were built and built again upon already sacred sites.

Brian Fisher, "The Green Man", Monotype Print with Gold Leaf, 10 x 29 in. The Greenman by XTC   Please to bend down for the one called the Greenman He wants to make you his bride Please to bend down for the one called the Greenman Forever to him you're tied And you know for a million years he has been your lover He'll be a million more And you know for a million years he has been your lover Down through the skin to the core Heed the Greenman Heed the Greenman Please to dance round for the one called the Greenman He wants to make you his child Please to dance round for the one called the Greenman Dressed in the fruits of the wild And you know for a million years he has been your father He'll be a million more And you know for a million years he has been your father Run to his arms at the door Lay your head, lay your head, lay your head, lay your head on the Greenman Lay your head, lay your head with mine Lay your head, lay y

Brian Fisher, "The Pull of the Earth" 84x60 in.  oil on canvas, 1985 Haikus on Gravity by Philip Hart For the weakest force, A simple poem form, for the Least understood force. The sun does not set, Leaving the world in darkness - The world turns away. To move forward, you Must lift yourself from the ground And let yourself fall.   Only the weakest Of the four forces directs The paths of the stars.   The moon falls earthward, The earth falls into the sun, And both keep missing.   Puffy, lazy clouds - Daring gravity to do Something about it.   Her body bends light, Pulls on the planets and stars - How should I resist?  I've been making images of Green Men and tree people for as long as I can remember, at least since I first read J. R. Tolkien's descriptions of Fangorn forest and it's tree shepherds.  This painting, The Pull of the Earth is from a series that explored relationship, desire and the mysterious force that is physical attraction.  If every o

My Green Man Albus Darach is a more traditional representation of the Green Man, or "foliate head” of the British Isles.  You may find Albus Darach in my Studio, no.16 with his Green Man collograph print siblings, during the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour, May 6-7 & 13-14, 2017. Darach is Gaelic for "Oak tree.” Around him you can see the leaves and acorns of the tree and rectangular portals representing passage, change or transformation.  The Oak is almost synonymous with strength, steadfastness and historically is associated with the sacred groves and forests of of the Druids. The Roman Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus lived in Gaul during the 1st century CE and wrote that Druid priests performed all their religious rites in Oak groves, where they gathered mistletoe from the trees with a golden sickle.  Dense forests of Oak covered most of Northern Europe at that time and the tree's human-like attributes of trunk/body, branches/arms, twigs/fingers, and sap/bloo