New Work at Last!

Whew. Busy summer and fall, first tending gardens, then helping with the Shake Rag Alley 2020 curriculum. Finally got back to making art. Finished a piece that I started as a demo for the Sun Prairie Wisconsin Regional Art Program (WRAP) workshop back in early November.

Here's the finished piece:

And here's the demo "before":

The demo piece was actually a copy of the background with the portrait taped in place and the body and hat outlined. In the finished piece, I've kept the placement of the portrait and the hat, but changed the body position for a more lively feel. Also found the background a bit gloomy and wanted to differentiate it from the figure, so went over it with white gesso. I had intended to add a wash of color over the gesso but decided I liked the cloudy look of the white gesso with the visual texture of the background peeking through. 

Sugar Row Gallery Group Show

My piece entitled "Sharon's Rhinoceros" is in the current group show at Sugar Row Gallery. Show runs through the end of the month and features artwork by twelve Mineral Point artists:

Sun Prairie WRAP Show Demo

Portrait drawing has been collaged onto the background.
The next step will be to develop the hat and bodice, 
and blend the figure with the background.

Wisconsin Regional Art Program (WRAP) exhibits always culminate with a Workshop Day consisting of a morning workshop and an afternoon critique by the show judge of the artwork that was given awards - 1/3 of the entries receive "State Awards" and move on to an annual State exhibit in Madison in September.

I was given the opportunity to be the morning workshop presenter at the Sun Prairie WRAP Workshop Day on Nov 2nd. Many workshop leaders present a retrospective of their work, but I was asked to do a demo of my mixed media collage techniques, specifically how I create the backgrounds for my figurative collage pieces.

The Sun Prairie WRAP show is large with about 45-50 participants, mostly painters. What a great group they were! Lots of interest in what I was doing, even though it was quite different from what they do. Lots of questions and dialog. A truly enjoyable morning.

I showed how to do a mixed media background with layers of collage materials and paint, using stamps and stencils for pattern. I then talked about how I "find" an image in the chaos of the background and add one of my portrait drawings (well actually, a scanned copy of a drawing).

In the sample at the top above, the figure has been added but not yet enhanced or incorporated into the background. There is a clear suggestion of a hat and a bodice in the background pattern. These will be enhanced and the figure will be blended into the background.

Below is a sample layered mixed media background. There is just a slight hint of where a portrait could go with a top hat and a bodice. The next image shows the same background with the portrait in place and the hat and bodice outlined.

2019 WRAA State Day

The State Day conference was held September 20–21 at the Pyle Center on the UW campus in Madison.

Michael Velliquette served as the conference presenter and judge of the show. He is a paper sculptor whose "intricate works combine exuberant abundance with an inventive formalism." Throughout his career, he has shown in over 150 museums and galleries. His position as Faculty Associate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison presents the opportunity to lecture and teach on his work and the paper arts. 

One of Michael's amazing paper sculptures - 

Michael Velliquette spoke about his work and then guided participants in creating a miniature exhibition a la the Lovey Town Exhibition Program that he founded in 2013. State Day participants created miniature 2 X 3 inch colored pencil drawings which were "hung" in the miniature "gallery" space provided by Michael. Then small paper doll cutouts of the artists were created from photographs taken on the spot and placed in the gallery spaces. What fun!

Shake Rag Alley Instructor Showcase

As part of their 15th anniversary celebrations, Shake Rag Alley is exhibiting work created by some of their instructors in the Art Cafe adjacent to the red Coach House building. The showcase will be open and artwork for sale during Shake Rag Alley office hours (8 am-4:30 pm, Thursday-Saturday and 8 am-5 pm Sunday).

I have submitted a couple of my figurative collages, a small textual collage and an altered paprika tin assemblage figure. 

Published in Midwest Review!

I am so flattered that one of my collages was selected to be in the 2019 issue of Midwest Review (Midwest Review 7), an annual literary magazine founded in 2013 to showcase work by writers, photographers, and artists who live in, have lived in, or have spent time in the Midwest.

Midwest Review is a publication of the Department of Liberal Arts and Applied Studies (LAAS) within the UW–Madison Division of Continuing Studies.

Hold On There

The piece that appears on the magazine is a small collage entitled "Hold on There".

Midwest Review 7 includes selections of Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Arts & Photography, as well as the the 2018 Writers' Institute Contest winners. Copies of the magazine can be purchased on the Midwest Review website here.


Thank you to Angela Johnson and all the members of the Midwest Review Editorial Board.

Collusion: Sculptural Collaborations

Last weekend I participated in a wonderful collaborative art show and fundraiser
.

"Collusion" was a collaboration between musician Scott Stieber, who had created many unfired clay forms, some vessel-ish, some amoebic forms, some just clay shapes, and 40 local artists who were invited to decorate them using their chosen media.

Over the weekend, the resulting collaborations were part of an exhibit and silent auction at the Green Lantern Studios with proceeds donated to the Community Connections Free Clinic in Dodgeville.

What a great show! Everyone produced really intriguing art - from intricately painted pieces to whimsical pieces to a completely functional lamp..and everything in between.

Each artist picked out the form they wanted to decorate. I selected a solid clay "blob" form - not entirely symmetrical, somewhat like an overstuffed bean bag chair. I did my usual mixed media layering using mostly dress patterns and emphasizing the graphic aspects of the pattern pieces. Then I added some decorative assemblage on top. I was pleased that the piece sold at the "buy-it-now" price.









Here are some photos from the exhibit:

Cambridge WRAP Show

For some time I've wanted to enter one of the new WRAP "pop-up" shows and finally did so with the Cambridge WRAP held on May 4th.

The appeal of a Pop-up WRAP is that it all happens in one day. Rather than needing to travel to drop off the work and then later come back for the workshop day, participants bring their art in the morning and display it on tables (artists furnish their own table easels). While the morning workshop is going on, the show is judged. Award winners are announced after lunch followed by the critique of the work.

This compact format makes for less travel for the artists, and in some cases enables some local groups to sponsor a WRAP who wouldn't otherwise be able to do so because they do not have an exhibit space they can tie up for more than a day.

A win-win all around, so this format has become quite popular, as evidenced by the number of exhibitors in the Cambridge Pop-up - almost as many as enter the Madison WRAP show! I liked it too - Cambridge is a bit of a hike from Mineral Point so I appreciated not having to make two trips.

Helen Klebesadel was both the show judge and the workshop presenter. Helen is a watercolor artist and a former WRAP program director at UW. For the workshop we made a book from a single sheet of paper. We then filled the pages with marks inspired by prompts such as "joy", or "fear", or "confusion." It was interesting to see how much similarity there often was in people's choices of color and/or style of marks for some of the prompts.

I entered my Haughty Lady collage and a new collage - Sharon's Rhino, loosely inspired by Durer's Rhinoceros. Haughty Lady won a State Award.

Shake Rag Alley Artisan Jewelry Sale

For several years Shake Rag Alley sponsored an annual Artisan Jewelry Sale, but it's been a few years now since the last one. So it was nice to see this event resurrected, this time to coincide with the Jewelry Boot Camp set of workshops on May 4th and 5th.

Shake Rag Alley jewelry instructors and jewelry students, past and present, were invited to submit pieces. Fourteen artisans responded, including Wednesday Night Women's Art Party group members who donated a number of pieces. I showed some of my mixed media "dangle" jewelry - four necklaces and three sets of earrings.

It was a nice show. The newly designated Shake Rag Alley "Art Cafe" was the perfect intimate venue for showcasing jewelry. Lots of people stopped by to look...and buy!!!




Some samples of my dangle jewelry:

Collage Explorations Exhibit at Sugar Row Gallery

April 6, 2019 was the opening reception for my Collage Explorations exhibit at Sugar Row Gallery in Mineral Point.

There were 27 collages on the wall plus 10 matted ATC collages in a bin. The collages were a mixture of figurative collages, collages done in a "faux encaustic" acrylic style, textual collages incorporating 3D elements, and what I call "paper collages" which are abstract compositions comprised of found papers and papers altered with my mark making.

As always, Clyde did a fantastic job of hanging the show. It looked great! The opening was very successful - got to chat with a lot of folks about the art.

The show will be up through April 28th at:

Sugar Row Gallery
234 High Street
Mineral Point WI

Friday and Saturday 11-4:30, Sunday 11-4pm
(Weekdays by chance or appointment - 312-479-2832)

More exhibit photos:

Prairie du Sac WRAP Show

The 2019 Prairie du Sac WRAP show ran from mid January through the Workshop Day on March 23. As in the past, the show was hung in the Sauk Prairie School District's River Arts Center which has a beautiful exhibit space with a lot of local traffic.

Kathy Sherwood served as both the show judge and the workshop presenter. Kathy works in Madison as a graphic designer but in her personal artwork she loves to work with soft pastels and especially enjoys portraiture, which is what she demoed during the workshop. We viewed samples of pastel works done on various papers and Kathy shared a wealth of soft pastel information and tips.

Eighteen artists were in the show with two works apiece. I entered two mixed media collages - Jester, which incorporates facial elements from a photo of a Renaissance painting, and Her Eyes Were Too Close Together, based on an original drawing from a live model. Jester was awarded an Honorable Mention.

Announcing: Collage Explorations Exhibit at Sugar Row Gallery

I have always loved to draw, mostly figures and portraits. Then about 15 years ago I took a collage class. When the instructor glued down some collage papers and then PAINTED over them, my mind was blown. It had never occurred to me that you could actually paint OVER collage. I loved it. I was hooked.

Since that fateful class I have experimented with various approaches to collage, from collages that rely on the inherent interest in old papers, to collages that are glazed with layers of acrylic paint, to highly textural collages incorporating 3-D elements, to collages employing acrylic mediums to achieve encaustic effects. But above all, a main objective has been to incorporate my rather representational drawings into decidedly non-representational collages. And to have some fun along the way.

This exhibit represents my explorations into the possibilities of collage.

Arts Mineral Point Member Show 2019

Once again, Ben and I participated in the annual Arts Mineral Point (AMP) Member Show held at the end of January each year. Show was held at the old Canary Building in MIneral Point.


This year I submitted two graphite drawings, Working Stiff and Immigrant Portrait #1: