Glowing Color

On my birthday I went to see "In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein" show at the Denver Art Museum. What a great way to spend the afternoon! Blumenschein started out as an illustrator. He discovered the southwest when doing artwork for railroad promotions and the area and its inhabitants became his main subject as he evolved into a fine artist. He was a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. The glowing colors in his paintings are captivating. The simplification of shapes/patterns are very modern and bold. I had not expected to be so taken with Blumenschein's work or story, but ended up buying the catalog so I could revisit the images and learn more about him. The show is at the museum until February 8th. My images don't do his work justice, so go see it if you can!

2009

I'm working through some planning and organizing for my art business (and life) while taking a class from Alyson Stanfield. In doing some goal-setting, I wanted to abstractly represent some of what I most want to focus on this year. So this collage was created to serve as a reminder of my intent. It wouldn't mean anything to most, but it is symbolic to me of some issues I want to keep in the forefront of my mind. (Yes, that is a cracked eggshell in the middle!) I'm thinking about having it reproduced on coasters to keep on my various work surfaces so that it is a readily visible reminder. I enjoyed doing this little collage, just 4 x 4", composed of contemporary found papers on watercolor paper.

National Collage Society Show

The 24th annual juried exhibit of the National Collage Society is on display in Colorado at the Longmont Museum. I finally got a chance to go see it yesterday. I had submitted work for the show but was not juried in this year. (I was fortunate to have my work exhibited in the NCS show in 2001, 2003-2005, and 2007 so I'm now a "signature member" of the organization.) After all the years I've been in the show, this is the first time I've been able to see it in person, and it was a treat. Seeing work in catalogues are great, but it is often really hard to do layered collage work justice in a photograph.

Congratulations to the 58 artists included in the show. The selected pieces are extremely varied, a few assemblages, but mostly 2-D work. I felt that the awards were well chosen. It was as much fun to study the techniques of how the work was constructed, up close, as it was to consider all the different subjects and stylistic ranges represented. Here are details from a few of my favorite pieces. My apologies to the artists for not noting the names that go along with these images. (Next time I will photograph the accompanying label!) Please let me know if you see yours here and I will include credit line.

Junk Mail Collage circa 2009

Most recent entry to my Junk Mail Journal... the first of 2009. Fun to play with what simply shows up in the mail each day. Also appearing, a corner of a shard of china that was uncovered in a recent basement excavation. I can't bear to throw it away. I've always loved blue and white together. I may combine it in a shadow box frame with a photo of what the basement used to look like, octopus-furnace and all, and hang it in the newly finished space.