Love is Eternal

In Loving Memory of my Mother

who on July 4, 2013 passed away from the affliction of terminal melanoma.

   It has been 6 months since I enjoyed the pleasures of painting outdoors.  And so on a beautiful, autumn day, I painted this particular tree in a Newburyport farm field.  A small gathering of dairy cows were off to the left.  I hoped they would continue their grazing and find shade under this particular tree but alias they settled down out of sight. And I set up my easel along the side of the rural road under a fully developed Black Walnut tree.
  Within the walnut's golden arbor was a frisky squirrel. I was not intimated by the multiple tumbling of  large hard fruits which fell from the branches onto the ground as the squirrel jumped from branch to branch during my three hour painting session.   Not once did they hit me although I did think often the squirrel was making a target of my head.
   But the real focus of my painting this morning was this single tree in a brightly lit field: a tall, vertical assemblage of tightly clinging leaves, in a landscape of multiple horizontal banding: a fully, developed column which supported the space between earth and sky.
    Trees are common symbols and metaphors used in the Bible.  They are mentioned over 525 times, more then any other living organism, except for human beings.  From the first book of the Bible, Genesis, with a reference to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden to the last book of the New Testament in Revelation, which refers to the Tree of Life as a major feature in Paradise. Nature is very important element to the reading of the Bible.
    As modern man alienates himself  more and more from nature, can a parallelism be drawn in reference to why he is presently withdrawing from his Creator?  Isn't there a need to rediscover the Truth that nature is sacred as subscribed in the Bible?

She is like a tree planted by a stream of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever she does, prospers.

Psalms 1:3 

 

The opening of unBINDING held at the Brush Gallery and Artists' Studios was on Saturday, September 14.  The show runs through October 27 at 256 Market Street, Lowell.

For more information about 'Lowell Celebrates Printmaking' go to:
http://www.lowellsun.com/whatdouwannado/ci_24058511
http://www.thebrush.org/printshows.html

Field Trip: an installation

One of the venues for 'Lowell Celebrates Printmaking' set for the month of October, is the American Textile History Museum.  I am curator and facilitator for an installation entitled, Field Trip in search of 'Bobbinflies' now showing through January 26, 2014 at the museum.  Christiane Corcelle, Lori DeMartin, Lauren Hartwick, Jean Winslow and I are the principle artist collaborators for this two sectioned installation.

The five artists metamorphosed 21 antique wood bobbins into creatures dynamic and wonderful and affectionately nick named them 'bobbinflies'.  The fanciful wings are comprised of original hand-printed monoprints created by each of the artists and cut into a diverse range of shape, size and texture.  Each is a unique creation which moves and spins on the air currents at the head of the main stairwell of the museum.

The second section to this installation are three scroll panels which hang alongside an enormous cast iron machine used in the 1800's for the printing of fabric.  The linen panels represent an imaginative field trip for the 'bobbinflies' as as an exploration of color, shape, texture and form while binding two materials, prints and woven textile into a cohesive glow from sky to ground.
 
As a friend exclaimed, "Great scale, great shadows, great creatures. Such happiness!"
Take the kids and go see the  exhibit.

Substratum: a useful resource for printmakers

SUBSTRATUM launched this past spring 2013

With the support of Artists in Context and help from scientists, environmental engineers and health practitioners, a group of seven artists members from Zea Mays Printmaking began an investigation into the health impacts of the printing plates we use.  Substratum is a documentation of our investigation and hopefully a useful resource for other artist/printmakers and DIY practitioners.

I researched linoleum and wrote about the substrate I have worked with for 35 years.

Substratum includes health and safety information about wood, linoleum, plastic, metal and photopolymer printing plates, and links to valuable resources for understanding and further investigation.

Please visit Substratum and share it with anyone who might benefit.

Links to articles and web site:

http://www.substratum.org/substrates/

http://sgcinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/SGCI-summer-2013-NewsletterWeb.pdf    page 6 “Collaborative Conclusion” written by Carand Burnet

http://www.artistsincontextprospectus.org/2013/05/06/substratum/

Upcoming Art Shows and Workshop

Workshop
Reduction Linoleum Workshop with S. Jaworski-Stranc
August 20-22, 2013
Zea Mays Printmaking, Florence, MA

• Masks, Stencils and other Creative Inking Techniques for Reductive Linoleum Printing

  

  Winter Sentries, reduction linoleum, 2011

  $350 non-members $315 members
  Reductive Linocut is a process where the artist uses a single linoleum block to create a multi-colored edition of prints.  This workshop will cover the process of making a Reductive Linocut and introduce many creative inking methods such as the use of masks and stencils, roller blends, the use of small brayers, brush and finger techniques.  These methods enable the artist to both increase the number of colors used to make a print while reducing the number of states it takes to create a color reduction print. Learn some invaluable tricks of the trade!   Open to all levels, no prior printmaking experience needed.

Upcoming Art Shows:

Mountain Noises, reduction linoleum, 2013

Newburyport Art Association
Sargent Gallery
"Making an Impression"
NAA Printmakers Show
July 10-22 2013
Reception July 13, 7-9P







2013 Flat File Open House Extravaganza
July 13, 2013   3-8P
Zea Mays Printmaking
320 Riverside Drive, Florence, MA
www.zeamayprintmaking.com

Between Ocean and Pond, reduction linoleum, 2013

TOWER HILL Botanic Garden
Boylston, MA
"Latticework"
Kim Henry & Susan Jaworski-Stranc
July 31-September 8
Artists Reception: August 1, 6-7:30P
http://www.towerhillbg.org/index.php/visit/what-s-happening/art-exhibits/


Past Shows: 

Center for Contemporary Printmaking
Norwalk, CT
"Portraits in Print"
February 10-March 31, 2013

Trees Riot, reduction linoleum, 2011

Concord Art Association
Concord MA
Members' Juried II
February 17-March 17, 2013
Jurors' Award for
"Trees Riot"

Mother and Child

Recently, the Wocester Museum of Art had on view the Rouault print series entitled, Miserere et Guerre.  The etchings were composed as cathedral stain glass windows but instead of light infused colorful jewels, they were drawn in heavy black lines similiar to the metal structures that hold stain glass together.  As I moved from print to print, each images was a visual homily about human nature and morality.

Unfortunately, my museum visit added to the general pathos I had retreated into, assisting in the recall of past painful events like the massacre of the innocents at Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th, or the Taliban's attempted assassination shooting of Malala Yousufzai, age 14, in the head and other heart wrenching world headlines.

As I moved from gallery to gallery, I was especially drawn to Rouault's images of nurturing mothers cradling their children but their respective titles were very perplexing.  Titles such as "It would be so Sweet to Love" or "Wars: Dread of all Mothers" gave me pause.  Traditionally, the mother and child bond has been honored and revered for centuries in major religions and in artstic works.  In the Catholic Church's iconology there is a great adoration for the Virigin Mary and the Christ Child.  The American painter and printmaker, Mary Cassatt devoted much of her genius and time giving homage to motherhood through her artworks. 

The love between mother and child is universally admired.

In the Rouault's images though the sweetness and tenderness of love were present, these feelings were tempered with the reflections on the unpleasant realities of what living in this world can hold: of love and fear, generousity and greed, health and illness, peace and war.




I found some respite when I returned home.  I spent some time looking through family photos. I selected a few of my favorite photos of my daughter with her baby daughter and rendered them in chalk.  Describing the shelter we make for our children cradling them in our strong arms and warm body, offering protection from all evil present and future. In drawing these mother/child images, I felt comforted and my pain from worldly knowledge was relieved.

Like Frosting a Cake

I frosted two canvases last Saturday at a MCA workshop, "Seeing the Forest for the Trees", http://www.paintingpersonalandpowerful.com/2010/08/blog-post.html
held at the Arnold Arboretum http://arboretum.harvard.edu/visit/ .  Wielding a palette knife, similar to a trowel used in masonry, I thickly layered my canvases.  In the eight years of plein air painting, I have never applied so much paint to a single 12X16 panel.  At times after squeezing another long tootsie roll of paint to recharge my palette, I would calculate the cost per paint tube. For example, a 200ml tube of Cobalt Blue cost around $58.00.

But heck, I was there for a new painting experience...so I smeared 4 colors (phthalo green, Alizarin Crimson, cobalt blue and cadmium yellow) into slippery striations, swirling mark making, palette knife daubs here and there; buttery, at times unbeaten.  Soon, I began to smell the essence of color: mossy forest floor green, Sunkist orange, melty dark chocolate.

For the other canvas, I scraped up two complementary pigments, cadmium orange and French-ultramarine blue and mixed them together with dollops of titanium white yielding the color of mushrooms: cremini, oyster, porchini, shiitaki, Chanterelles.

Ooo la, la- a juicy sensuality and physicality spread across the surface.

This freshly applied paint was my new seducer.

Bon Painting!