Fly Away Home Workshop with Roxanne Evans Stout

Thoroughly enjoyed the three day Fly Away Home workshop at Shake Rag Alley with mixed media artist Roxanne Evans Stout. Fun project and Roxanne had interesting use of materials to show us.  

We made mixed media artist books with a birds and butterflies theme, plus a "nest" to hold our books. All of the participants made wonderful - and very different -  books.

We made the nests by weaving/binding wooden berry boxes. I really got into the nest. 

I imagined what a bird would do building a nest. 

Here's my nest in progress: 

Got quite a bit messier by the time it was done:

More in process shots:

Finished inside pages:

Spring Shows

I have works in three regional shows this spring: - the Drift Show at the Rountree Gallery in Platteville plus two WRAP shows, one in Madison and one in Richland Center.

The Drift show, Rountree Gallery, Platteville WI 

This is Rountree Gallery's spring show which is open to all artists 18 years and older, residing within 100 miles of Platteville. The opening reception was held on March 12 (Rountree Facebook post). The newly repainted gallery looked terrific and it's a wonderful show with a great variety of work. Plus, on top of that, after a very long year of pandemic isolation, it was soooo wonderful to get out to see in-person art and mingle with other art lovers! 

I entered three pieces which I exhibited in 2020 virtual WRAP shows but which I have not previously exhibited in person - He Was Dubious from the Prairie du Sac WRAP show and Carl and Lemonade from the Cambridge WRAP show.  

Madison WRAP Show

The Madison WRAP show is virtual this year. Madison is always one of the biggest, if not THE biggest WRAP show in the state, and this virtual show is no exception with 111 pieces. View it HERE. Should be up at least through April 3, 2021.

I submitted two of my portrait collages, both mounted on board (17 X 6):

Richland Center WRAP Show

The Richland Center WRAP show is also virtual this year. And also has robust participation - 63 pieces. View it HERE. Will be up at least through March 27th. 

I entered three of my "Faux Encaustic" painted wood blocks which I call my Apothecary Series:

Winter UFOs

In the craft world, UFOs are "Unfinished Objects."  We've all got them - that stack of half finished projects you started long ago but for one reason or another never finished, yet haven't quite been able to discard them. 

The pandemic plus a bitterly cold winter, has led to LOTS of staying-at-home time to sort through and cull all that stuff that's piled up over the years. Which unearthed a bunch of my UFOs.

Sometimes I cut up or repurpose old unfinished (or failed) collage or assemblage pieces and use them as fodder in new works, but here are three that I decided to actually finish:

Collaged Wooden Box

I started this box in a Shake Rag Alley workshop taught by Madison collage artist Rita Yanny back in 2007 (who says I'm not a packrat). Rita brought 4x8x5 wooden boxes to use as substrates which I painted using mixed media paint layering techniques, something I was just learning to do at the time. Not surprisingly it never really came together. So this time around I instead collaged the sides and top with various papers, actually using up some of my old UFO collages in the process (yeah!). Built up the flat top with some wood blocks and a wood ball, and added "feet." Left the original paint showing on the edges of the lid and base just for funky effect. I guess this was more of a redo than a completion, but I like the results much better than the old paint job.

Chunky Mixed Media Book

 
In 2010 I attended a Create Mixed Media Retreat sponsored by Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, where I took a workshop with Leighanna Light who does wonderfully fun and funky handmade books. This particular book is made from a single strip of accordion folded unstretched canvas. Leighanna mixes up a lot of dissimilar materials, like adding metal to cloth, hence the old tin plates on the front and back covers. Didn't alter the covers though I did add a bunch of sticks to the spine. I did, however redo all the interior pages. Mixed feelings about the results. I've always liked the cover, still do...just not so sure about the inside pages. Sigh. Maybe some things are just not meant to be.

Mixed Media Collage Portrait

This piece is probably the first time I felt I was successful incorporating one of my portrait drawings into a collage, something I had been trying to do for a long time. I created it in a Shake Rag Alley workshop with Andrea DeMeng in 2016. Although I considered it finished at the time and even entered it in a WRAP show, I later felt some alterations were needed.

Here's a (really bad) photo of it at the end of the workshop - 

The workshop project was to make this hang like a scroll (it's about 6 inches by 17 inches). Andrea had designed a clever hanger but for some reason I never could get mine to hang straight. So I ditched the hanger and mounted it on a piece of lumber - happily happened to have a board in just the right width. Then in my recent modifications I added the hat and the hand holding a flower, touched up the facial features, and simplified the clothing. Now it feels done to me. I'm planning to enter it in an upcoming WRAP show so we'll see what kind of a reception it gets.

Platteville 2020 WRAP Exhibit

Amerika Ist Anders

 Like other WRAP Shows, the Platteville WRAP was virtual this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The show was small - eleven pieces submitted by five exhibitors. But the small size actually allowed for a very enjoyable critique of all pieces with more artist participation than is usually possible with a bigger group.

I submitted two small collages on cradled panels, "Amerika Ist Anders" and "S and H". These two pieces are somewhat of a departure from my usual collages laden with lots of paint layers. Instead, while these collages incorporate some drawing and mark making, they depend on the unaltered papers and cloth collage elements themselves to provide texture and visual interest. 

I was pleased that "Amerika Ist Anders" received a State Award so will be eligible for the next State Exhibit in September of 2021.

S and H

UW-Madison Ag Hall Exhibit and Rountree Gallery Award

Wow! My piece, Gabrielle has received a quite a bit of recognition this year.

WRAP Show Awards
Gabrielle earned a State Award in the Madison Regional WRAP Show held last spring. The show was originally hung in the Pyle Center on the UW campus, but when the coronavirus hit the campus closed so the show moved online, as did most of the remaining 2020 regional WRAP as well as the WRAP State Show. View the State Exhibit here.

At the State Show, Gabrielle was given the Rountree Gallery Award sponsored by Friends of Our Gallery (FOG), a support organization for the Rountree Gallery in Platteville. As a long time member of FOG and a huge admirer of the Rountree Gallery, I was really pleased that my piece won this particular award. Many thanks to FOG for this award! 

Ag Hall Exhibit

Each year the UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences selects a number of pieces from the annual WRAP State Show to hang in their AG Hall for the coming year. This year, due to COVID, the Ag Hall exhibit is going virtual. I am very flattered that my piece, Gabrielle, is among 14 pieces selected for their 2020 online exhibit. 

Click here to view the exhibit.

The UW Ag Department has a connection to the WRAP program going back to its inception. Here's the history of WRAP's connection to the AG program from the AWA website (AWA, formerly WRAA, is a volunteer support group for the WRAP program): 

"The association was founded mainly as a support group for the Rural Art Program (RAP), begun in 1940 by UW-Madison’s Dean Chris Christensen and Prof. John Barton. These visionary men believed the lives of rural families could and should be enriched with art. They recruited John Steuart Curry to UW to be an artist-in-residence who would spend time traveling about, encouraging citizen artists and crafts people. By 1945 the RAP had held its first exhibit in Madison of works by non-professional artists from around the state. The program became so popular that Prof. James Schwalbach was hired to coach rural artists and set up exhibits. He and Curry’s successor, Aaron Bohrod, attended a dozen shows per year, teaching and judging. The plan for a regional artists’ association was first proposed by a handful of artists who were excited by the early RAP and wanted to help UW Extension reach out to even more Wisconsin artists, stating this goal explicitly in their by-laws."

Thank you to the Ag Department for this honor!

Prairie du Sac WRAP Exhibit

Like many WRAP shows this year, the Prairie du Sac WRAP Exhibit is being held online.

Eighteen people registered for the show with a total of 45 pieces. Coordinator Terry Doeler reports that this is the number of people that generally enter the Prairie du Sac WRAP so he is pleased to be able to maintain that number of entrants even with the change to the online format. View the show here.

I entered two of my portrait collages - He Was Dubious (17 X 11) and February (8 X 10).

He Was Dubious

February

Cambridge Virtual WRAP Show

In response to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lock-downs, most of the 2020 spring and early summer WRAP shows have either canceled or moved online.

The 2020 Cambridge WRAP was the first to be held online. Each participating artist mailed or emailed images for up to 3 works to the Cambridge Show coordinator Jill Jensen. The images were then uploaded to the cloud with a link to the show on the UW WRAP website. 

The show judge was Diana Cavalerro. Diana received her Bachelor of Fine Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006. In 2016 she received her Master of Fine Art degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Diana has exhibited in Chicago, New York, Madison and various places around Wisconsin. Her mediums include oil, ink and watercolor.

On May 2nd, Diana did a Portrait Demo for the Cambridge WRAP participants via Zoom. 15 artists attended the Zoom presentation. Then to follow up, there was a Critique Happy Hour via Zoom on the evening of May 7th during which Diana commented on pieces as requested by the artists. Both sessions went well and were well attended despite many participants being Zoom "newbies." Fun to see everyone even from afar.

I submitted two small mixed media portraits - Carl (5 X 7) and Lemonade (7 X 7). Carl received a State Award so can be entered into the State Show in September.

Carl - mixed media collage, 5 X 7

Lemonade - mixed media collage, 7 X 7

Art in the Time of Corona

Hope everyone is making a lot of art during this stay-at-home time. Here's a few things I've been playing around with.

Lately I've really been trying to use up some of those supplies that have been cluttering up the studio for way too long. These pieces are basically decoupaged 2 X 4 lumber scraps. Kind of a mystery why I had stashed these away but they were definitely begging to become part of an art project.

They started out as simple collages a la some collages like this one that I did a while back on a deep (1.5 inch) cradled panel -

But then I started coating the collages with layer after layer of acrylic medium in a technique meant to mimic the look of encaustic - something that takes oodles of time, which I've kind of had in abundance lately.

For some reason the results reminded me of apothecary jars...but then I couldn't resist throwing in some string and dried weeds so maybe ultimately they look a bit more like vases? Either way, kind of a fun project.

Trouble is now I want to make more and have run out of 2 X 4 scraps. I really should resist the temptation to add to my clutter by scrounging more scrap lumber and instead unearth some other mixed media fodder lurking in the studio stash...there's lots more. Stay tuned.

2020 Arts Mineral Point Member Show

Ben and I each have two pieces in the 2020 Arts Mineral Point (AMP) Member Art Show. This year it is in the Masonic Lodge and will be open weekends from February 1st through February 15th.

"Gabrielle"

"Ilsa"

"A Snowy Stroll"

"Milkweed" 

The piece, Gabrielle, was my sample for a demo at the Sun Prairie WRAP Show back in November. Here's how it started out: 

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.