When the chickens come home to roost

Lots of shuffling around of artwork is going in the next few weeks, which, if nothing else, justifies my driving a pickup instead of a Mini Cooper which I would LOVE.

Today I dropped off the above painting which just barely fit in the bed of the truck for the Art League of RI show at the RISD Museum. The show is not going to be in the big new gallery after all, (I thought that was too good to be true) but instead it will be in the OLD new gallery (the Farago wing), which is still pretty cool and a nice big space.

So I headed up Benefit St., and you know how it is when you are trying to get down really narrow street and cars are parked on the other side so you can barely get by if a car is coming the other way as it is, and then someone makes it even worse by just PARKING on the wrong side so you have to wait till traffic clears and then squeak by them. Well that was me. Not the one squeaking by. The obnoxious jerk who parked. But my painting was big, and a gusty thunderstorm was threatening, so...tough!

And it's now official. I have a painting in the RISD Museum.

Most of my other paintings will be coming home to my studio though. Monday I'll be taking down 5 church paintings from my art window . It sure will be easier to take down than to put up.  A lot of the installation is made up of branches, shells and thorns and can go right into a composting bag, the canvas curtains can get wrinkled, and only the paintings need to be saved from demolition.

My show at RWU library comes down on the 22nd, which means I'm really going to run out of room in my storage racks. This will be a good time to reorganized and clean my entire studio, try to beat back the clutter sprawl and find space for all these damn paintings.

Luckily it's off to Colorado and the Great Sand Dunes for the painting I'm working on now. Now I just have to find good homes for the others...

Providence Art Window

Here's some photos of my art window on Fulton Street in Providence. It's kind of "hidden in plain sight" being right next to City Hall, but on a quiet block long side street.  I kind of like the fact that it's off the beaten track, but close enough to check up on during my lunch break.

Click on the images to see larger.

March Madness

Providence Art Windows officially opened last night, so I popped over to City Hall for the reception then hit the streets to check out the other windows and see how my window, just to the right of the Haven Brothers truck, looks at night.  The city was crazy with some NCAA Basketball nonsense, but once I got out of gridlock and parked my car it was easy to walk a few blocks from the beer-tent district over to the white wine and cheese part of town.

It was warm enough to feel like a summer night, and lively enough to feel like a big little city. I checked out the other art windows, then on Westminster Street I spotted the "Art for Chile" benefit silent art auction I had heard about. There was some really nice work in the gallery and I decided that I'd "spend" my prize money there, as all the proceeds go to aid the earthquake victims. I was very tempted by some of the prints and small paintings, but I then spotted a beautiful blue necklace and paid the "buy it now" price.  The only problem is I don't really feel that I've been all that charitable. The painting prize was money out of nowhere, and now I have a nice new necklace. So I'll just have to send a like amount to Haiti so I can feel a little more virtuous. But no more earthquakes.... I can't be winning prizes every month.

The auction is going on until Sunday, so stop in, buy some art and feel like a hero.

A few doors down there's a show at Craftland by Shannon Rankin. She works with maps to make elegant distillations of their symbols. It's worth checking out too.

From Providence Art Windows to Old Furnace

This is a shot of my "Providence Art Window" halfway through installation on Tuesday. Truth is, I was too beat to worry about photographing it when it was done, and too anxious to escape the claustrophobic confines of a 15'x3' glass window box and plunge into the woods of Old Furnace State Park.

The hike was the perfect respite after hours of unrolling yards of canvas, maneuvering a ladder almost as wide as the window and climbing up and down with the aim of avoiding losing my balance and plunging through the plate glass.


The installation also involved importing thorny branches, thistles and burrs into the floor of a city window. They scratched and drew blood in protest as they tried to wrestle from my hands. In the woods, the understory let me pass unscathed, the sharp edges softened by days of rain and the emergence of spring.

The opening of Providence Art Windows is tonight at Providence City Hall atrium from 5 to 8. My window is right across the street on Fulton Street, right next to the windows displaying the Big Nazo Puppets. It's also gallery night, so there's a lot of art going on in the city tonight. Oh, and I've heard something about some basketball game...you might want to take advantage of the Gallery Night parking.

I'll post some photos soon of the completed window for those who can't make it downtown. It will be up till June 11.

Prize surprise

Since I wasn't able to make the opening of the members show at the Bristol Art Museum last night I took a break today from planning my Art Window — figuring out how to transport yards of canvas curtains without wrinkling, and brittle thorn branches without pain. I headed over to the Bristol to check out the show and how I was hung. Turns out I was hung with a label that said "First Prize"!

Now I am not usually a prize winner, a few honorable mentions were the only ones in my trophy case, so First Prize is kind of a kick. It even comes with a small check.  But me and Obama, we like to donate our prize money to charity. (Although if I had gotten his Nobel Peace Prize one million plus, I confess I'd keep it in order to ditch the day job. But I'm glad he likes his job enough to hang in.) I'll send mine to Haiti, the rainy season is fast approaching and they need all the help they can get.

—Written as the rain beats against the windows and the wind gusts, and I sit warm and dry in my house.

Exhibitionism

Well, 2010 (just realized that number is fun to type, a good portent), is starting out very unusually busy on the exhibition front. Yesterday I packed the truck full of paintings and delivered them to the Bert Gallery before I had to report to my job. This is the first time breaking in the new truck for exactly what I bought it for, a painting transportation vehicle.  It did well and by the end of next week, when I deliver even more paintings to another exhibit I just finalized, it should settle in to saddle.

The Bert show opens on January 13, with a reception on January 16 (2-3).  I'll be showing 12 paintings from the Shoemaker series, and I have to say they look pretty good on Bert's freshly painted raw sienna walls.

Another show, which came up suddenly and out of the blue, is at Roger Williams University Law School Library in Bristol, RI.  I'll be showing a variety of work from the last 10 years in the second floor atrium lounge. More details to come.

Then in March, I'll be installing my church paintings as part of the Providence Art Windows project. My window is on Fulton street, just to the left of City Hall, and right next to the wonderful Big Nazo Puppet windows. You can see my space above the black pickup (currently exhibiting work by Amy DiPlacido).

As a result, most of my paintings will be out of studio storage for awhile. I'm looking forward to seeing the empty racks... even if it's only temporary.

The business of painting, hold the paint...

I was hoping to have my next installment of my Great Dunes journal by the next time I posted, and it's close, but not done yet. Sorry to keep you in suspense (as you say—oh, there's more?) But, if they're not literary masterpieces, it's still good for me to labor over them. I did write down my impressions every day while out there, but in trying to make something of it, and going over it again and again, it really helps me sort out the experience and remember my residencies more richly.

I got an email this week from the latest residency I've applied for — Denali National Park— but was afraid to click on it, being at work and all, and not wanting to switch my mood from stupefaction to disappointment. But it was just a notification that I'll hear in the next few weeks, so there's still hope!

Meanwhile I've been working on a video for my upcoming show at the Bert Gallery in January. They've been filming interviews with the artists to go along with their recent shows, and the thought of having to go on about my work in front of a camera made me immediately volunteer to work with my husband (a filmmaker) to come up with a little video that hopefully will be more interesting than my talking head. So we returned to the shoemaker's shop and took some shots, and will film in my studio, and perhaps I can edit it together in something approaching a coherent piece.

Some of the pressure is off for now though. I found out I misunderstood about the Providence Art Window gig, the letter asked if I COULD install by December, it didn't say I would be SCHEDULED  to install in December.  So it's still on, but sometime in the future...and out of my head for now, where it's safer.
I am in a holiday show at Imago gallery in Warren though. I submitted these 3 little paintings of the Badlands National Park, so stop by their lovely new gallery if you get a chance.
My pieces are recession priced...such a bargain! Warren was hopping last weekend when I went, too. Granted it was the lighting festival, but it really is getting to be a very arty scene there, and it will look so festive with the colored (not snooty white) lights strung across Main St.

Buried

This is a dragonfly that I found in the sand at the top of the Great Sand Dunes. Right now I think I know how he feels. Except I'm not dead.  Definitely half buried though — but in a good way.  I just found out that I'm going to have two exhibits in the next few months. This after pretty much no activity for almost a year. So I'm psyched about it, but have to keep on top of things so I don't get into a last minute panic.

Luckily all the paintings are done, dry and framed.  That's the main thing I can check off my list.

I'm going to show the Shoemaker paintings at the Bert Gallery in January-February. I've shown with Cathy Bert several times and it's always a great experience. It's such a pleasure working with a real professional. I just wish she had a bigger space, but I'm happy that she says we can fit 9 paintings into her back gallery.

The other exhibit will be an installation of my Church paintings in a storefront or window space Downtown Providence. It's part of Providence Art Windows, which has been a very successful project to utilize vacant space downtown and a great way to have my work seen by people who don't usually visit galleries.

I'm also working on half a dozen other projects and deadlines, in addition to the old day-job, that I won't bore you with, but WILL use as an excuse for not posting my Great Sand Dunes journal and artwork yet. But I will. Soon.

Until then, here's a little watercolor I did out in the dunes...