Sacred and Profane exhibition at Cannon Beach Gallery

Latest collage for exhibition, "Sacred and Profane: Collage for the next 100 years", now showing through February 28th at Cannon Beach Gallery in Cannon Beach, Oregon. The show features the artists: Eunice Parsons, Rex Amos and Liz Cohn and myself.

Collage from Nov/Dec show at Golden Gallery

Prometheus' Retreat
Collage on media-board

Homage to Eunice Parsons / Collage (with Eunice's papers)

I had the unique opportunity to spend the afternoon with Eunice Parsons in her studio in September of this year. It was thrilling, as she is sort of a hero to me and certainly informs my work. She presented me with a stack of "Eunice papers" and admonished me to "do something significant".  A few weeks later to my complete surprise I was invited to be in a show with Eunice, Rex Amos and Liz Cohn called Sacred and Profane the next 100 years of collage. This show will open in February 2013 at the Cannon Beach Gallery. I had better get some significant work done!

Cross-cultural co-mingling / Collage

This collage was in the Sitka invitational last November. It sold right away so I didn't have a chance to live with it at all. I'm particularly fond of this one...

Evidence / Collage on media-board

This collage was in a solo show in Gallery 114 in Portland a few years ago. It sold right away and I have borrowed it for the current exhibit at Golden Gallery. It is nice to see this piece again. It was part of a series of collages loosely based on old photographs of my parents as children.

Collage from current show

Resemblance / collage on media-board.

Part of a series related to various mythologies and dream narratives of interest to me.

Highlights from Nov/Dec Show

Sessions / Acrylic on canvas

This painting is of a session at PCC/Rock Creek campus where I am sometimes invited to paint from time to time.

Collage on media-board "Judith" after a painting by Giorgione. This is a small piece depicting a favorite painting I'd always wanted to copy. This painting resides in the Russian Hermitage museum.

Show at Golden Gallery/Body of Work

Dream-house III / Acrylic on canvas

Here are some images from my latest show, Body of Work, on display at Golden Gallery in Beaverton, Oregon. One room is an exhibition of figurative work done over a period of years in various  artists studio's in the Portland area. The second room are collage work which has become more of a focus in recent years.

Book of Numbers (painting on canvas)

24 x 44 Acrylic on canvas

This is a life painting, meaning it was painted from direct observation of the model. I do very little painting from memory or other reference materials...as I begin to move away from this mode of working I'm sure the work will change. In the meantime, there are years of drawing and life painting which can be used as reference material. Interestingly, in collage there is no direct observation...much more use of the imagination.

Acrylic on canvas 36x38

Sasha in the Moonlight.

Large studio figure painting.

Focusing on constellations of light and abstract form.

Collage on media-board

This collage is based on a series of women after the artist Munakata Shiko. I have studied the works of this Japanese artist who is known mostly for his loose and large Hanga prints of divinities in Japanese culture. He illustrated the book, The Key by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki . I have been fascinated by his works of print, he was also a painter and calligrapher. I drew inspiration from some of his woodblock prints for a series of female figures. In this collage I found a fantastic book of Japanese design showing Japanese aesthetics in craft. Her body is made from imagery of an antique guilded fan and the background are images of a lacquered box.

Between

Collage on media-board.

This collage is based on a child-hood photograph. I've taken a few liberties with the composition and positioning of the figure etc. The trick with using any source particularly a photograph is not to get caught up in it. The source of this image was a faded photograph, so the colors and contrasts were not what they once were. I did sketches of the image and then set the photo aside and focused on the sketches followed by black and white paintings. It is my intention that the piece speaks for itself without showing obvious evidence of its original source.

sparrow hawk

Collage on media-board.

Based on a sparrow hawk we met at the audobon society this summer. All I knew was I wanted a bird on a branch. The trees are made of various images of stone and brick and the ground of sweaters and suits. Most of the collages come together without much thinking involved....which is best.

Ybor City

Collage on media-board

Part of a series of women who work.

There is an incredible history of women working in factories in America. One of the most fascinating stories are the women who worked in cigar manufacturing, rolling cigars. I have visited historic Ybor city in Tampa florida known for its cigar manufacturers. For this piece I looked for cigar connoisseur books and used the materials.

Cigars come in a wide range of pale browns to black. I used this spectrum for her body.

Ybor city attracted an interesting mix of ethnicities including, Italians, Cubans, Spaniards, Jews and Germans drawn to the cigar industry before the turn of the century. For more info. ck out http://www.ybormuseum.org/research/ybor-city.html There are wonderful clubs to dance Salsa throw back a few and smoke a big gar.

cover and concealment

Collage on media board

This work is based on a photograph of my brother Tim. Our father trained to be a taxidermist from Jonas Brothers in Seattle Washington. The photograph was taken of my brother in front of one of the work stations. A fox is peering out from behind the young boy. I could not resist using the photograph as an inspiration for this collage.

conversations II

Here is one more painting from the conversations series.
Painting on birch board.

Conversations I

Here is a painting from a series called conversations.

It is an abstract series that I am looking forward to revisiting soon. It is not part of the October show. These are paintings on birch board, from small 5x7 to 30x40 (canvases).

It is very difficult to pull off what is viewed as an "abstract" painting....I believe it is all abstraction...it is an arguable point. I love abstract painting, very few do it well. Here are some names I admire: Nicolas de Stael, Lucinda Parker, G. Lewis Clevenger, Gees Bend quilters. Just what I'm looking at now...

This series is an exploration of conversation, both verbal and non-verbal. I'm interested in thoughts on how we communicate, create community and resolve personal conflict. I wanted to express these things in paintings. I'll post one more before moving back to what is in the October show. I do hope to show this series some day.

"Wax-wing" collage on media board

This collage is one of the quieter pieces in the show.
Based on a cedar wax-wing baby discovered in our yard. It is influenced by Japanese woodblock and ink drawings. My mother had Japanese scrolls and books I remember seeing as a child. The simplicity and elegance of the design and drawings are enchanting. I am deeply influenced by Japanese art and thought having grown up with a Japanese mother. She is half Japanese and was born and raised in Tokyo to an American born orphan and a Japanese father. We'll save that story for another time.
Suffice it to say, I have been influenced by Eastern and Western philosophy/mythology and art.

"Evidence" collage on media board

This collage was originally based on a photograph of my mother in Tokyo taken in winter by her father. I made the figure larger and the space compressed and the figure became someone else as well. Often the work strays far from the original source. The source is a jumping off point - it is important for me to reference it rather than to be tied to it. Also, I had no idea where it would go and struggled with this piece. For a couple of weeks it sat on my shelf unresolved....it needed something and I didn't have the answer. At one point I decided that it would not be in the show. The next day I put the red scarf in and the birds. That was it! During the show I heard so many narratives regarding what this piece "means". There were some good stories...