Category Archives: Artists

So What About Blogs?

27 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, Beach, Bonnie Hull, City, Cutler City, Drawings, Just visual, Modern Life, PNAA, Salem, Uncategorized

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My blog posts have fallen off (and so have my statistics!)…maybe blogs are going the way of all things in this fast world of ours?  My need to provide a narrative thread for this blog is slipping as I do more and more on Instagram…quick image, one line…done.  The trouble with it is you have to have a smart phone to participate…which makes it kind of a “club”…something to think about. Opinions?

So my blog titles have been pretty generic and inclusive of a bunch of stuff…this one included.  Our weeks seem chopped up, disjointed, not narrative in form.  But, after 3 weeks, we HAVE done a bunch of stuff so here’s a sampling,  June as July roars towards us…

We visited Christy and Laura Wyckoff recently.  Christy is a master print maker, painter, glass artist, retired teacher, and Laura is a writer.  They live in a big old Portland four-square house that they have done interesting things to including removing all walls on the second floor to make a big studio for Christy to work in.

…and Sidney came too…

but “NO PHOTO”

I was chatting with Laura and Sidney and acting overly polite so neglected to get photos of the great wall texture, the nice sitting area, etc…I did get these though, painted by Christy some years ago on plaster fragments on a chimney after seeing all the frescoes in Italy…

Piccolo Park was visited at a rare time when we were the only ones there!?!

We took in Anna Fidler’s show at Charles Hartman Fine Art…

took a lunch break at Pearl Bakery

and saw Angelita Sermon’s paintings and glass at Waterstone…

did a sleep over at Fernridge (Sidney’s house)

and then of course…SUMMER!

Damien Gilley spoke informally about the mural he’s painting in a Salem alley

I taught a drawing class…and they were brave…

It was called “The Habit of Drawing”…week one they came and got a book and I gave them things to think about, they went away with the assignment to “draw every day” and came back a week later to talk about what happened and show the results.  It was fun…

“Do a selfie”

“Do something to the cover if you want…”

and then we headed to the beach to beat the heat…

Here’s my brother Howard’s watercolor of how our beach house might have grown…

Fog banks rolling in as the valley heats up…

Okay July…heading right at you!

 

 

 

Salem Sketchers

10 Saturday Jun 2017

Posted by in Art work, Artists, City, Drawings, Just visual, Modern Life, Oregon, Salem, Uncategorized

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For a couple of years an intrepid group of local artists has been participating one Saturday a month in what is an international movement of urban sketchers…very casual, very fun.  Each month they draw at a different location…I’ve dropped in and out, but decided to join today, even though the weather was iffy…(58 degrees on June 10th…yikes…thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon and it almost NEVER thunders in Oregon).  The group was led up to the terrace over the restaurant Orupa at the Water Place building and at first there was some watery sun…

I chose this view…

and everybody settled down to work…

Katy and I were at a table under an umbrella…

Uh oh…

and then the rain started and this person captured the moment…boing!

Still, in spite of the rain, it was a jolly morning…(Happy Birthday Jessica!)

some people headed inside…

Mike Bergen showed us his new book …

and then “the reveal”…

duly photographed…

Way too much fun…better think of coming along…the second Saturday of every month.  In July the sketchers will be in the Gaiety Hollow Garden and in August at the Rogue brewery in Independence.  COME!  it’s free fun.

 

The Life I Lead

18 Thursday May 2017

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, Court Street, Just visual, Modern Life, Oregon, PNAA, Roger Hull, Sculpture, Uncategorized

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Life changes in a second or two…we have come to know that.  A misstep, a speeding paint truck, a diagnosis, a sloppy politician who has the nuclear codes, a tsunami or earthquake…poof…our beautiful lives are gone or irrevocably changed.  While we are in these lives though, it is worthwhile to notice them, to be impressed with a sunny day, a hilarious child, people and places to visit and things to think about, a decent cappuccino.

I’ve won the lottery, I know that.  I have a nice house, an interesting, loving and very witty partner, a family and friends so lovable it would take another 10 blog posts to describe.  I have the huge luxury of time to make things and look at things.  Art work, gardens, beaches, studios, books, meaningful work…these are what my life now is made of.  Next week, next year, who knows?  Since I know these will be taken from me by accident or design or just time itself, I want to look at one day…today for instance…so here it was…

Leaving home early and picking up Sidney (with new knee patches and sun hat)

We met up with friend Jennifer Viviano, newly minted MFA from the Applied Craft and Design program, a combined effort of PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Art) and OCAC (Oregon College of Arts and Craft).  Jennifer was a very successful graphic designer of talent, but was wanting more creative time, a shift of scene from the graphic needs of clients to thinking of things in a deeper and more personal way.

Jennifer toured us through the “Otherwise Chaos” Practium Exhibition at the Bison Building (421 NE10th)…

We liked Becca Gore’s ceramic pieces a lot…

and this terrific cafe (didn’t find the artist’s card)…caught Sidney’s eye…

and then Jennifer’s piece…

plaster base, basalt blocks, porcelain “bones”…and as Jennifer explained the thought process and the actual physical activity of combining a plaster base, basalt blocks  topped with “bones” made of porcelain wrapped around rolled newspaper and auto glass, she explained the serendipity of what happened with the piece…

when one “bone” fell off revealing the charred paper,

and when people at the opening began scooping up the broken glass and throwing on the pile to hear the lovely tinkling sound as it trickled into the blocks…

Sidney found it irresistible…

and Jennifer showed him Maria Garcia’s light piece…

Aaron’s video construct…

the studios

the metal shop

the air stream…the Air Stream?  Time for lunch…

and then a quick stop at Cindy’s studio.  R’s begun the research and writing process about the work of painter Lucinda Parker in preparation for a monograph and show of her work at the Hallie Ford Museum in 2019…and he had to make a quick stop to pick up some files so we ran in to check the newest mountain paintings…pretty nice…

She’s certain this one is finished…

then some static electric sliding…

playtime (not sure what game they had going…?)

eventually heading home…

and so this day of interest, privilege, fun, family…a day not unlike so many days…comes to an end….and having written about it here I can revisit this day again…

City Day

14 Sunday May 2017

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, City, Coffee art, Garden, Just visual, Modern Life, Oregon, PNAA, Sky

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Saturday we left home early to hear George Johanson talk about his new show at Augen Gallery (in the DeSoto Building)…the paintings are lovely and lively, as is the painter.  I particularly liked this self portrait…(just above George’s head in the upper left of the painting is Louis Bunce’s life mask, which hangs in George’s studio…) but they are all nice.  Go take a look…

City lunch followed…

and then we took in the show of architect John Yeon’s work curated by Randy Gragg, which recently opened at the Portland Art Museum.  There are some rather fantastic new models of some of Yeon’s famous houses, and these GIANT photo murals of places he worked to save…it’s a nice show…go take a look.  Here’s the Aubrey Watzek House (1936-38)…

and this fascinating description of his idea of letting the balloon frame “show” and just inserting windows in the spaces between studs…

Leaving the museum I was reminded of Dale Strand’s gardening advice to me some years ago…”stake every stem”…

We headed to Sidney’s house and crossing the bridge saw a view of about the closest I’ve ever been to a rainstorm but yet NOT been in it…

then a hole in the storm…

then hail (or “kale” as Sidney later told us as in “there was kale all over the ground after the storm).

It WILL stop raining, right?  We chatted with Sidney while some activity was going on…

and did a sleep over so that we could be on hand for the Mother’s Day Brunch…Yum!!

then home to the Capital City once again for a quick 15 minutes of gardening before the next storm…

and a Blue Apron dinner…

off into the new week ahead…

 

 

 

 

Jackie Johnson

10 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, City, Just visual, Living the Creative Life, Modern Life, PNAA, Studio, Uncategorized

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Recently we visited painter Jackie Johnson’s studio in Portland on the occasion of a purchase/donation to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art.  A generous donor bought one of  Jackie Johnson’s paintings for the museum collection, and on that occasion Jackie offered to donate a painting of hers to go along with the earlier donation.  We hopped in the car with the donor and headed to Portland for a studio visit and a look at what work Jackie has on hand.  I’ve written about Jackie before here and here.

Her house and studio are always fun to visit so the three of us enjoyed trooping down to her studio.

Jackie talked of her New York days when she and her then-husband bought a building in Brooklyn (no doubt the site of a posh condo these days) where the roof was falling in and the plumbing almost non-existent

and of her years as young painter in New York…

here she is during a visit from friend and later gallery owner Laura Russo

She described the work of that time as “difficult”,

and it was…difficult and powerful…

and HUGE.  The Hallie Ford Museum of Art, like most museums, can’t show everything in its collection all the time and storage is at a premium…R was looking for something smaller…but the looking was so much fun…

and we checked some of the show cards out from earlier shows…

and here’s the final choice, soon to arrive in Salem…”Blue Stacks”

We said our goodbyes, grabbed a quick coffee to talk about our visit,

and headed home.

Robots and More…

21 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, Just visual, Modern Life, PNAA, Uncategorized

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We tend to use our Thursdays in Portland with Sidney as opportunities to see some art AND to play, and it often works pretty well.  Sidney, as was his father before him, is a very good sport and we try to find interesting stuff to look at.  We headed to Portland in the usual rainstorm

and after a “No photo” moment in the car…

we mutually agreed on ART-PLAY-LUNCH-ART…we headed to Augen gallery and at the back found a nice “Rain” painting by George Johanson.  So as we were pointing the painting out to Sidney (who knows George and Phyllis pretty well) R got a phone call…from George.  Eerie?..a little…

A deal is a deal though, so we headed to the playground…

and since we had a great parking space in a neighborhood where that isn’t always possible, we skipped dinosaurs for an urban lunch (Pearl Bakery makes a very acceptable PBJ)…

and then headed to Blackfish Gallery because we were pretty sure the Robot show would delight…

“So, you’re saying I can’t touch any of these…?”

Though a variety of discussion topics presented themselves, “how do you start a collection” was at the top of the list.  “one by one”…we had our faves…

they are oddly appealing…then came nap, more play, dinner with the family and we headed home at 7:30 grateful for the light…

and another fun day…

The Varied Life

14 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, Beach, Cutler City, Drawings, Quilting, Trees, Uncategorized

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I keep waiting for a coherent body of photos, events, thoughts to surface (other than the car wash)…to no avail.  I guess the life I’m leading is chaotic these days, so lets go anyway…we left the car wash and headed east …first stop Edgefield, a destination spot in a former poor farm…odd but true, and now very beautiful…

Our room had tons of windows and was lovely day and night…

and then we headed east stopping briefly at Vista House

Hood River, Dufur, Maupin, Madras, Sisters…over the pass

down into Salem in the middle of a spring wind storm…

Studio time…

We’ve spent some time with the laughing boy…

 

and visited some artists including Henk

and we took Jon Bunce a funny little painting of his boyhood home that Mary Lou Zeek found at a junk sale…

We had a play-date at Sara and Marcus’  house where Sidney fed the fish and made a play-dough birthday cake…

I worked on the cross quilt…

we saw a nice Alden Mason painting at Mark Humpal’s (with a rug made by Amanda Snyder in front…)

and we went to the beach where the view from our living room has looked about like this for the last 25 years…

and virtually every time we have driven up we have expected to see the trees cut and a mobile home on the site…and finally…the day came…

there’s more probably, but not for tonight.

Farewell to Louis Bunce

27 Monday Mar 2017

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, Just visual, Modern Life, Oregon, PNAA, Roger Hull, Salem, Uncategorized

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The Louis Bunce show “Dialogue with Modernism” closed at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art Sunday, with curator Roger Hull leading one last gallery tour.

Here’s Roger talking about Portland painter George Johanson’s portrait of Louis and one of Bunce’s beautiful Harold Street paintings (on the right)…

and here’s a snapshot of Louis talking intently with painter Willem de Kooning in de Kooning’s Long Island studio in 1972, with Portland sculptor Manuel Izquierdo on the left and Portland painter George Johanson just behind Bunce…Bunce and de Kooning were old friends from “back in the day” when Bunce lived and painted in NYC…

and Bunce’s studio on Harold Street in Portland…

The four years of sleuthing, of archives, of visits with collectors…all came to an end…all the things Roger found and put in the show, and all the things that got away…

What a fascinating process as we’ve slowly come to know Louis…a terrific painter and a person who had a lot of fun…(here with George Johanson)

the last paintings…

curator Roger Hull

painter Louis Bunce…

 

Artist in Residence at the Annex

24 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by in Art work, Artists, Bonnie Hull, Drawings, Just visual, Modern Life, PNAA, Salem Art Association, Uncategorized

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I’m having fun this month, doing one of the things I love to do…drawing.  In 2010 I was lucky enough to be the first Artist in Residence at the Annex at Bush Barn Art Center.  The luxury of having a project-oriented studio was new to me and very exciting, and I so appreciate this program that Salem Art Association has as an on-going part of the community arts and education arm of the organization.  This winter I’ve been lucky enough to reprise my experience in the newly remodeled Annex and the same sense of excitement is in the room.  I started February 13th and work on until March 8 and urge you to come down and draw or chat or sew.  I’m formally there Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 to 3, plus some other times too.  The beautiful new Annex is open during Bush Barn open hours and my work is on view.  The other day there were 4 artists sitting at a table drawing and talking and it was fascinating and fun.  Here’s some images of my day to day work…come on down…

Day one was setting up…I’m using plant material as my starting point and the Annex sits in a beautiful rose garden…some plants were saved for me and I brought them inside…

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Paper went up on the walls, panels have been prepared…

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luncheon has been served on rose plates I made in 2010…

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witch hazel has crept in…I’m working with wax and graphite and ink and gouache

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Elizabeth even brought me some witch hazel in bloom from her own garden…

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Lindsey came and brought some plant material from Gaiety Hollow…

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Kay came to sew…

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Christine and Katy, Corrie and Jim and Jo…

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one morning I found something somebody had left for me…

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See you soon…

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Clay Lohman at JSMA

05 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by in Art work, Artists, Just visual, Modern Life, PNAA, Quilting, Uncategorized

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We were heading to Eugene and wanted to see Clay Lohman’s installation “Camo Cubes” at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon.  Parking is very limited and we had heard that we might apply for “movie star” parking due to my knee recuperation..What a delight to drive up and find…

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We met with Curator Danielle Knapp who led us to the Clay Lohman installation in the midst of a VERY busy museum day (Danielle is on the left).

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We knew about the camo cubes from a visit we made to Clay Lohman’s studio in 2013.  In this exhibition there hangs the last painting he made before he turned to quilting, which…if you step back two steps is suddenly superimposed on the Camo Cubes themselves…

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The giant over-sized squares of the traditional quilt pattern “Tumbling Blocks” are sewn together in a giant over-sized WIP (as quilters call it…work in progress, hence, NOT quilted).  Lohman’s parents were quilt collectors and one of his grandmothers was a quilter so he had always LOOKED at quilts, but he spent most of his artistic life making paintings and collage, clay and prints.  Five years or so ago he decided to leave painting behind and sew full time.  There is a video loop playing in the installation

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and one part of the video shows Lohman with a version of a giant Tumbling Blocks quilt-top-as-curtain…

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and as Lohman begins to pull it aside…

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he reveals his studio…

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here it is on utube.

In the video version the cubes are smaller than the Camo Cubes, and he hasn’t yet begun using camouflage material which, it turns out, comes in a variety of colors and configurations…

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the squares themselves are very keen…

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as a 2D artist, as a quilter, there was a lot to think about for me in this show.  Is it an engineered space?  Is it architecture, engineering, sewing?  Is it a quilt?  Does the camo make it masculine or do the tumbling blocks pull it back to feminine? Does the fact that it isn’t “quilted” say something about gender or process?  Does the scale make it masculine?  Go take a look, you won’t be sorry…and watch the video…my favorite part is the interview with Clay Lohman made by his wife painter Julie Green where she says to him…”in 30 seconds tell me if quilting is feminine or masculine (this is not a quote)…and Lohman says…’In 30 seconds?’ ” and just laughs.  A thoughtful and thought-full presentation.