Reunited!

This past weekend I attended my 10-year high school reunion! What a strange and wonderful phenomenon - it was amazing to see so many familiar faces from long ago! (I was especially delighted to get back in touch with some of my sould sisters with whom I am going to make a strong effort to keep in touch.) Go KP! Here are a few photos of the evening...

Giving Thanks

The classic pose of the three Graces is said to reflect the three aspects of the gift: giving, accepting, and returning.

I am thankful for the path that has been laid before me (ever challenging and satisfying) and also for the many gracious artists with whom I work and for friends and family who work to help me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

New! Sweet Fern Pottery

Sarah Burns (sole sculptress and progressive potter of Sweet Fern Pottery) just dropped off some amazing new pieces, a blend of sculptural vessels and orbs and functional pots.

Sarah works with stoneware fired in a gas-fired soda kiln. The soda ash introduced into the kiln reacts with the surface texture, glazes, and slips on the pieces. "The soda ash dances around the kiln and creates an irregular, unpredictable effect on each piece. The variability in airflow, temperature, and soda ash ensures that each piece is unique."

Sarah's forms are influenced by the organic, ever changing world around us. "Like nature, my work is constantly evolving. I work in incremental series. Each subsequent series builds on the concepts of the predecessor. This allows me to build on my successes and address the shortcomings. I also use this opportunity to branch off and explore new ideas."

Paintings from Oaxaca

Currently the gallery is featuring some wonderful paintings by Heladio Lorenzo Santiago Martinez (born in Oaxaca, Mexico). Santiago has never received any formal art training, though influences of Modigliani, Gauguin and Mattisse (to name a few) is evident in his paintings. The work featured in this exhibition, mostly acrylic on paper, reflects daily life, spiritualism, pain and hope thru vibrant colors and powerful imagery.

'Paintings from Oaxaca' will be on view thru November 25th. We currently have over 100 works by Santiago in the gallery! More images of his work can be seen here.

Gracias!

Last night was the opening reception for 'Paintings from Oaxaca: Recent Works by Santiago Martinez'. I have to thank Katherine McGlaughlin Hills and her dear friend Elizabeth for putting together an amazing Mexican spread including a marvelous mole ( a wonderful rich sauce made with the unlikely combination of chocolate, chilies and many spices.)

Of course, this was all in celebration of the wonderful paintings by Santiago Martinez - more about that tomorrow, in the mean time some of his paintings can be seen here.

new paintings by Shiao-Ping Wang!

Saturday's storm is passed and the sun finally broke thru for the end of the weekend. I just received a surprise visit from Brian Chu and Shiao-Ping Wang with beautiful new paintings in tote:




Waves, acrylic on canvas, 24"x48"


Mapping, acrylic on canvas, 24"x48"

Walter Sickert: The Camden Town Nudes

My London art tour also included a stop at the Courtauld for 'Walter Sickert: The Camden Town Nudes'.

At the beginning of the 20th century,
Walter Sickert (1860-1942) painted a remarkable series of female nudes which confirmed his reputation as one of the most important modern British artists. The uncompromising realism of Sickert’s nudes, set on iron bedsteads in the murky interiors of cheap lodging houses, challenged artistic conventions and divided critical opinion.


The exhibition traces Sickert’s
reinvention of the nude, exploring the ways in which these powerful paintings
addressed pressing artistic and social concerns of the period.

Seduced: Art & Sex from Antiquity to Now

A review in the morning Times prompted me to seek out the Barbican - 'Seduced: Art & Sex From Antiquity to Now' features about 250 works spanning more than 2,000 years. They include salacious fragments from a Pompeii brothel wall, little-known depictions of sex by Turner, Rodin and Picasso, and Andy Warhol’s Blow Job, a short 1963 film of a man receiving fellatio. Fleshed out with risqué illuminated manuscripts from India, eye-opening Renaissance paintings, pornographic Japanese woodcuts and artefacts from the 500,000-item collection of Alfred Kinsey, the celebrated sexologist, the exhibition sets out to investigate the shifting boundaries of sexual taste and frankness. Couragous and intelligent, the show included some amazing works of art...

Louise Bourgeois Retrospective

After the Tate Britain, I headed over to the Tate Modern for the Louise Bourgeois retrospective. This exhibition was highly anticipated as Louise Bourgeois is one of my sheroes!

Louise Bourgeois is one of the world’s most respected sculptors. Over a long career she has worked through most of the twentieth century’s avant-garde artistic movements from abstraction to realism, yet has always remained uniquely individual, powerfully inventive, and often at the forefront of contemporary art.

This major survey, in the artist’s 95th year, provides an unprecedented opportunity to reassess her work, which is characterised by its obsessive subject matter and experimental approach to materials and techniques.

Beginning with her earliest drawings, prints and paintings, the show features over 200 works in materials as diverse as latex, bronze, marble, and mirrors, as well as her most recent works using fabric. It’s also another chance to see Bourgeois’s monumental spider sculpture Maman 1999, which was shown in the Turbine Hall when the gallery opened in 2000.

This exhibition explores Bourgeois’s core themes of femininity,
sexuality and isolation, and demonstrates that even in her 90s
she continues to defy convention.

Turner Prize: A Retrospective 1984-2006

First stop on my London arts tour was the Tate Britain: the definitive Turner Prize exhibition, featuring works by all the winning artists since it began in 1984. From Anish Kapoor to Damien Hirst, and Gilbert & George to Grayson Perry, it presents a snapshot of British art from the last 24 years.

"Created to draw greater public attention to contemporary art, the Turner Prize has played a significant role in the growing interest in British art and since the mid 1980s the visual arts scene in Britain has changed beyond recognition. This exhibition is a unique opportunity to reflect upon some of the most significant moments in the recent history of British art and the reception of the prize by the press, by artists and by the public."

Here is a photo of Damien Hirst's 'Mother and Child Divided'. I actually walked between the two cases - this piece, among many others in the exhibition challenged me on a personal level and provoked questions regarding my own definitions of art.

back from London

My recent trip to London was amazing - I especiallly enjoyed visiting some wonderful art exhibitions including: the Louise Bourgeois Retrospective at the Tate Modern, the Turner Prize Retrospective at the Tate Britain, Renaissance Siena: Art for A City at the National Gallery, Seduced: Art & Sex from Antiquity to Now at the Barbican, and Walter Sickert: The Camden Town Nudes at the Courtauld. (more about the arts in later posts!)

My mother and I also enjoyed an evening at the theatre - we saw 39 Steps at the Criterion in Piccadilly Circus. Best known as Hitchcock’s 1935 classic move thriller, the new version was performed by four actors playing multiple roles and contained every single legendary scene from the award-winning movie.

We also indulged in a traditional english dinner at the Sherlock Holmes Pub, a split level establishment with a bar on the ground floor and an intimate restaurant on the second level with authentic Victorian decor. 'The Study' of Sherlock Holmes, complete with props from the films (my personal favorites being the ones starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce), can be viewed from the restaurant.

Here is my mom pleasantly pleased by the portion of fish 'n chips and mushy peas (a.k.a. 'The Retired Colourman's'). I couldn't resist ordering dessert - I've always been curious about the "Spotted Dick", which I now understand is a steamed pudding containing dried fruits - delicious served with custard!