More Cave Art

For the past several years I've been interested in graffiti. I've taken photos of it everywhere: NYC (no surprise there), Philadelphia (ditto), a piece of the Berlin Wall (again ditto), Melbourne, Australia and...here's the surprise...the Great Wall of China. That represents unrelated (more than likely) artists from four continents.

Granted the Great Wall wasn't spray painted...it was sgraffito. Well, sort of sgraffito. It was carved into the wall...still an unmistakable, anonymous, artful statement.

The two Cave Art pieces that I completed earlier, inspired by ancient cave artists, got me thinking about current "cave" artists...the urban canyons in cities around the world.

I had no problem coming up with a title for this one: Urban Canyon

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig

We have been to see Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece IMHO. We rendezvoused with our CA buddies in Philadelphia and drove the many hours to Chalk Hill PA where we rented a cute 1970's A-frame in the woods for a few days. While there we were able to tour nearby Kentuck Knob, also a Frank Lloyd Wright home done in his Usonion style.

There's no doubt in my mind that Falling Water is just about the most beautiful work of his that I have seen. Granted, I've only toured five...but still...it's my favorite by a mile.

The following weekend we flew to St. Louis to reunion with my brothers et al. Yes, we were there for these most recent tornadoes. Sirens. Wind. Rain. More Sirens. Undaunted, we opted for indoor activities: St. Louis Museum of Art, bowling and two films....and LOTS of meals. We're the sort of family that likes to know where/when/what the next meal will be before we decide on dessert for the current one.

Obviously, not much work has been happening in my studio.

I did finish a piece that I can not decide what to title. It's inspired by a half yard piece of fabric designed by Yoshiko Jinzenji. I have hand quilted it quite densely.

Any suggestions?

Oh...and the other big news is that my self portrait was juried into The Guilford Art Center's next exhibit "Poser" ;-).

Not just for the birds

When I made this Redwing Chorus: Ode to Charley Harper, it wasn't just because I love birds. No, it was also because I always loved the work of Charley Harper.

I made this piece in 2008, shortly after I read in the New York Times that he had passed away. Re-visiting his artwork brought to mind all the times his work made me smile. All the cards I'd bought and sent to friends for birthdays, anniversaries or just plain "cheer up"...or chirp up...see, you smiled.

This is one of my "bird works" that I entered into The Brush Gallery's For the Birds exhibition (May 7-June 18). And I just found out that it was accepted!! Oh, boy, I love to visit The Brush and Lowell! There is SO much going on.

Returning to Work

This past week has been busy....interrupted by bouts of nodding off when jet lag wins the battle.

Before I left in February I had been working on a new project. I chucked the first trial in the bin before we left and pinned the second trial on the design wall to greet me when I returned.

Having had six weeks to think about it seemed to work. In fact, I had another idea entirely which went together very quickly. Maybe the time spent in gestation was beneficial.

First is a detail from Cave Art Sisters and the second a detail from Cave Art Chorus. This week someone told me that two is a pair and three is a series....hmmm...

Both are my exploration on cave art...an offshoot of my interest in tribal and indigenous art....like

this last piece Creative Spirit...which was from 2008 and was juried into The Yeiser Museum in Paducah the same year.