Thursday, August 25, 2011

A DREAM OF TREES


Garden of Memories. Beautiful lithograph by Egidijus Rudinskas. Please click here for enlarged image and here for more about Rudinskas



A Dream of Trees by Mary Oliver

"There is a thing in me that dreamed of trees,
A quiet house, some green and modest acres
A little way from every troubling town,
A little way from factories, schools, laments.
I would have time, I thought, and time to spare,
With only streams and birds for company,
To build out of my life a few wild stanzas.
And then it came to me, that so was death,
A little way away from everywhere.

There is a thing in me still dreams of trees,
But let it go. Homesick for moderation,
Half the world's artists shrink or fall away.
If any find solution, let him tell it.
Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation
Where, as the times implore our true involvement,
The blades of every crisis point the way.

I would it were not so, but it is.
Who ever made music of a mild day?" - Mary Oliver


Brainwave. Mixed Media Collage by Wen Redmond. See website here.


Mixed Media piece by Lynnette Miller. See Tumblr blog here and other blog here.

Growing in the Dark. Mixed media on paper by Jeane Myers. See website here.

Tendrils of Time. Photo-Surrealism by Michael Ticcino. See Flickr photo stream here.

Sophie Munns is an artist of seeds, leaves and anything pertaining to plants. This piece glows! See more of Sophie's work here and here.

Music and Nature by Donna Malone. See Flickr photo stream here.

Blue Trees in the Afternoon by Ken Swinson. See more of Ken's work here.

Memories of Trees by Robyn Gordon. Website here.

The Most Awkward Dance by Marcella Anna Stasa. See more of Anna's quirky sculptures, here.

Art in Nature by Rumen (Popa) Dimitrov. See more sculpture here.

Art in Nature by Rumen (Popa) Dimitrov . See more art here.

"Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life. " - Hermann Hesse



Just over 6 months before Seth Apter's book is out ! At last his hard work is coming to fruition and I am so chuffed to be in it!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

CAGED BY CIRCUMSTANCES

To cut a long story short I am feeling restricted and confined due to power outages and puppy ailments. It seems like the right time to do a post on cages since I'm confined to home for the next few weeks looking after a very dear, very good little bull terrier puppy named Digby.

.....So on with the post while the power is on.

Cages and Enclosures Series by Dawn Nakashima

Dawn Nakashima was inspired to do a very moving series on Cages & Enclosures, after her parents spoke about their experience in the concentration camps during World War II. Read the story here.

"The rice bowls held within the cages represent the individual. I chose the rice bowls because when people immigrate to other countries their ethnic food tends to be the last thing to go in terms of assimilating into another culture".

"The tags that are attached to the cages mirror the ones that were attached to the internees and their belongings when they were in transit to the camps... ". - Dawn Nakishima

Sculpture using Eucalupt branches by Ken Unsworth. See more here.


Cage by Alberto Giacometti
Sculpture by Bard Breivik. See website here.

Sculpture by Martin Puryear. See more here.

Sculpture by Chen Zhen. Website here.

Uncaged Series (ceramic) by Alice Walton. See more here.

Caged Man (Wood) by Bruce Chapin. See website here.

Birdcage series, collage on matboard by Lynda Andrus. See link here.



.........and this is Digby!


Friday, August 5, 2011

CONTEMPORARY PALIMPSEST II


My Secret Thoughts by Patricia Oblack. See Website here.

The definition of Palimpsest according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary is:
1. Writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased.
2. Something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface.

In this post I have featured artists who have used this concept in their art.

Handwriting on the Wall by Patricia Oblack. See Tumblr blog here.

The two paintings (above) by Patricia Oblack were done on a piece of plywood which Patricia's daughter had used as a diary of sorts to jot down her thoughts , phone numbers etc, late at night .... which of coarse is the ideal time to jot down secrets on the board that supports one's mattress. The board was eventually sawn in two and Patricia used these late night jottings as inspiration for the paintings and named them appropriately... My Secret Thoughts and Handwriting on the Wall.


Currents #3 by Alice Spencer. Each print in this series of monotypes is made of as many as 6 layers using a combination of plates and stencils.


Ivy Arabesque by Alice Spencer. Precision foam board with acrylic and sand. See more here.

Plaster Relief by Laurie Pearsall. Read her blog post here.

Palimpsest by Raymond Pousette-Dart

Solo Moments by Carol Ann Carter. See more of Carol's work here.

Proof is in the binding by Naomi Sultanik. See Naomi's website here.


Georges Noel

On Land and Sea by Lisa Creed. See website here.

Shadow (encaustic) by Lisa Pressman. See website here.

Ann Baldwin. See more work by Ann, here and a step by step layering process here.


Rug Sampler by David Chalmers Alesworth. Dyed wool yarn upon a Persian carpet fragment. Website here.

Contemporary Palimpsest - Jose Parla. See post here.