A Minor Inconvenience, Emotion, and Kiss of Social Reality at the Pierro Gallery

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I appreciate having several of my drawings selected for Emotion, an exhibit curated by the Montclair Art Museum's Young Curator Program. Three separate exhibits were planned, curated, and organized through the program: A Minor Inconvenience, Emotion, and Kiss of Social Reality.  These shows open this Friday, June 22nd and continue through Saturday, June 30th at the Pierro Gallery in South Orange.  The curators are scheduled to speak from 12 - 2 PM on the 30th, the final day of the exhibit. "MAM Young Curators is an intensive seven month excursion into the business of curating for high school juniors and seniors. The program is coordinated by independent curator and artist Asha Ganpat. This year, MAM Young Curators visited museums and galleries, developed their own audio tours, and finally, curated these exhibitions: A Minor Inconvenience, Kiss of Social Reality, and Emotion. The Young Curators developed exhibition themes, selected artists through an open call, and adminstered all aspects of the exhibition."

Virtual Studio Tour 2012

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The 2012 South Orange Maplewood Studio Tour...wow...what a day.  It took me all of Monday to recover.  Someone mentioned to me that it had to be a sort of studio tour zeitgeist, someone else mentioned that it had to be the fact that the studio tour was free; regardless, there was a steady stream of visitors (the usual crowd of regional artists, neighbors and art enthusiasts, plus over 50 people that I did not know).  I think I was a bit loopy by the end: explaining materials and techniques I can do by rote, but explaining why or where the ideas come from is more difficult - particularly when it is never exactly the same question - and 6 hours of thinking on my toes is exhausting.  But, I have to say that this year brought a lot of really serious art enthusiasts with good questions and a high level of interest, so the day was fantastic.  And, the studio tour always reinforces the fact that I love where I live. Okay, enough of my thoughts...here are the pics for the 2012 Virtual Studio Tour.

The newly designed yard signs (to coordinate with the newly designed studio tour website):

In my entry way are the gold leaf portraits of my sons (the one above the cabinet is of my youngest son; the other drawing that hangs to the immediate right is not photographed here) and the drawing on the floor to the left is an older work titled The Ultimate Risk:

My studio is on the first floor of my home and for the studio tour I also take over the living room and my husband's record collection room (also on the first floor)...first up are the Strange Tales on the left wall of the living room, then a view of the whole living room with (l-r) the gold leaf drawing Fourteen, and the graphite drawings Coelacanths, and The Vigil:

And, to the immediate right in this room is the drawing Cottonmouth and Magnolia and my print bin (just out of camera shot on bottom left):

The record room was for the bigger pieces, including the four-part drawing Snowblind that I only recently framed...I have never used white for the big drawings, but these had to be white on white for the glacial, frigid feel:

The newest large-scale drawing, titled Home (The Sleep of Reason):

And there I am:

And onward to the studio...it is dark in this pic because I had to wait until evening to take a photo (there is a lot of natural light from the windows that makes the day photos too glaring):

The drawing currently in progress (approximately 5 x 3 feet):

The drawing taboret:

My art bookcase and studio curio shelf:

Before and after clean up pics...the Studio Tour compels me to put stuff away:

So, that ends the 2012 Virtual Studio Tour and it is now time to get back to drawing in my studio. Which means I have to [quickly] get my studio messy again so it feels just right for drawing...and that last thought brings to mind the White Stripes' Little Room:

Odds, Ends, and Strange Tale #32

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Kickin' it old school...as in 15th century old school... I now have my newest series of paintings and drawings on my website. These are works that are based in the botanical illustrations of the 16th and 17th centuries, but with a sexualized twist: certainly not suitable for all viewers, the Botanicae Amatorius are both erotic and humorous (granted, I have a dark sense of humor). The final paintings are done with gouache on calfskin parchment that has been stretched onto birch board: the calfskin is an exquisite surface for gouache - similar to the vellum used in 14th and 15th century manuscript pieces.  Vellum, to be technical, is the skin from a stillborn calf, and it is available -  but very expensive.  The calfskin is similar, with a few more flaws on the surface (which I like), still a bit pricey, but not so rare to come by and most specialty calligraphy supply outlets have it available.  I always gripe about reproductions, but I scanned the images on the site directly from the paintings and they are fairly accurate as far as color.  What is lost is the subtle depth of space created by the calfskin - the gouache sits on the surface and light reflects through the layers of skin making the gouache quite luminous (the pigment does not sink into the surface like it would on paper). I recommend the calfskin highly for gouache aficionados; some of the most beautiful works of art, from the Book of Kells to Albrecht Dürer's studies were executed on vellum - not a medium to be missed (I will write more about the botanical artists at a later date - the juncture of science and art is a passion of mine).

If you are interested in seeing the new paintings and drawings, click the link below:

Quite a busy month ahead (aren't they all):

In conjunction with the South Orange Maplewood Studio Tour, the Pierro Gallery is holding its Preview / Post View exhibit.  The opening is on Thursday, May 24th from 6 - 8 PM.  Speaking of gouache, in the Preview / Post View, I will be showing a painting that I rarely exhibit:

Ah yes, this one is on paper, not as luminous as the calfskin pieces, but a little jewel of a painting nonetheless.

The studio tour is on Sunday, June 3rd, from 11 AM - 5 PM; everyone is welcome to attend and this year the tour is free...not a bad deal for seeing 60+ artists in their studios.

Still Drawing...

In the studio, I have started my first of two (maybe three) sybils:

This will be a 5 x 3 foot pencil drawing, the figure is slightly smaller than life size.

Last, but not least...

The latest Strange Tale, pencil on Moleskine sketch paper, 5.5 x 7 inches (this is on a double page of a smaller Moleskine sketchbook):

The Sisters and the Serpent

As always, the jpeg reproduction is on the flickr stream as well.  For the studio tour, I am finishing up 5 of these that have been patiently waiting to emerge, and I will post them as they are completed.