FLOATING SCULPTURE by AVA BLITZ

I received this announcement from Philadelphia artist and friend, Ava Blitz.
I used to go on kayak rides down the Schuylkill river with the canoe club back in my post Tyler School of Art graduate school days.

• Philadelphia area sculptor and public artist, Ava Blitz will be floating sculptures on the river in conjunction with the Philadelphia Canoe Club Open House! She will be showing a work in progress, a part of a monumental floating sculpture garden that will grow year to year. This may become an annual tradition. Don't miss it!
  
  2pm-4pm
  

Supported by a grant from the Independence Foundation.

New Cob Oven

Puff, the magic bread oven, has been reborn. We reconstituted the cob at a workshop during the Arts Festival in downtown Eau Claire. We had help stomping and re-building from several young people and a group of elementary kids. Puff has different eyes and more spikes. He may look meaner, but a little bird perched on his tail testifies to his gentleness. The creativity of the group was exhilarating. Thanks especially to Elizabeth, Tom, and Simeon.

Green

I am participating in a group show titled "Green" at the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center Gallery, located on the main floor of the State Theatre in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Cyndee Kaiser organized the exhibit which interprets anything about the concept green - anything form ideas about the color to environmental awareness. I know a number of the artists and look forward to the opening reception on Thursday, January 15 from 6:00 - 7:30pm.

Wide World of Abstract Expressionism

Roberta Smith reviews a show featuring small scale American Abstraction at the Robert Miller Gallery in Chelsea. The show introduces some unknown artists and some portentous work by well-known artists. It shows how popular Abstract Expressionism from the 1930's until the late 50's. Smith argues that work in the style canonized by Greenberg and Rosenberg often brought out the best in artists. Some works hint at the later mature style of artists such as Morris Louis and Alma Thomas. A dripped-paint work by Janet Sobol from 1946-48 is a reminder that the "all-over" style of painting did not start in the late 40's with Jackson Pollock.

Work from my exhibit at the SPACE

Two views of Grinning Chasm.


Exhale


Envelope


Speaking

Mixing It Up

Mixing It Up!

Art Exhibit at the SPACE - a centre for creativity

Featured Artist Reception
September 12
6-10 pm FREE
Join us as we celebrate the art of Samah Fahmy and Christina Yocca.
Gather your friends and
family for a night of art,
entertainment, relaxation and laughter.
Friday, September 12
6-10m l FREE
With Live Music by Greg Herriges beginning at 7pmChristina YoccaSamah Fahmy
The SPACE a centre for creativity
156 High Street | New Richmond
715.246.3180
www.thespaceforcreativity.com


The SPACE a centre for creativity
156 High Street l New Richmond, WI
715.246.3180
www.thespaceforcreativity.com
Directions: In New Richmond, follow Highway 65 to RR
station, turn west on High Street, go 1 block, turn left and
follow the signs to The SPACE.

This is from the post card for my exhibit in New Richmond. I can't figure out how to put the whole postcard on the blog. So please click on the link for images.

Samah and I set up today. Samah's images are etchings with abstracted imagery. Most are monochrome with interesting textures. The two sets of work combine very well with textural interest and limited palettes.

I decided to title my exhibit: Presence and Absence. While debating names, (boy, I am not good at coming up with names) I made lists of opposites. Most of my pieces in the exhibit are vessels with an inside and outside. I contrast the colors and textures of the two sides, so I wanted some paradoxical title. I also wanted to evoke the importance of the volume or air or void inside of each vessel. But nothing from the list I compiled struck me as right. I put the list aside and drove to the clinic to pick up a new pair of contact lenses. On the way, I listened to an interview with Wynton Marsalis on National Public Radio. A listener called and told his tale of being shot down by a famous musician when he tried to show off his guitar playing. He played many notes very fast in hopes of impressing. Wynton replied that art is both presence and absence. Absence helps to create emotional texture. I ran through the parking lot just as a downpour started and repeated the words over and over, knowing I had the title.

Musculature

As I mix my mixtures of fiber and clay, I poke and fold, poke and fold to ensure that the fibers are totally surrounded by clay. Dry fiber clumps will not suffice. I continue to add fiber until the mixture feels muscular. I made a note to myself to blog about “musculature”. I am not sure what thoughts I had on the day that I put that word on a post it note and stuck it to the cupboard door near my studio sink. It is a thought that permeates me and will affect my work on some level. But how I thought it would shape my work on that particular day escapes me at the moment. Working with clay/fiber mixtures is similar to working in clay, but still very different. This musculature is one essential element of that difference. Rather than total plasticity of clay building, this musculature quality must be handled differently. I cannot treat the surface in the same manner. I can’t easily dig into it with tools to make clean incisions. The fibrous mixture attaches one part of the surface to other parts and to the interior. Incisions can be fuzzy. This quality changes the way I treat both the forms and the surface. While I remain sculpturally interested in structure and skin ways of building, the “skins” of my constructions become like muscles, tissue, and skin all at once. There is some satisfaction in this metaphor. For no living being is merely skeleton and skin, skin and bones. So, I continue to work somewhere in between organic structures composed of skeletons and architectural structures built of posts and beams. And my skins work somewhere in that middle ground as well.