artsy forager

Tag: art

  • The Poetry of Shapes: Susan Melrath

    The Poetry of Shapes: Susan Melrath

    “Rich colors draw me in, patterns guide me through, and flat, poetic shapes allow me to rest.”  — Susan Melrath

    It is just these rich colors and flat, poetic shapes that drew me in to Susan Melrath’s work.  Susan takes complex forms like flowers, architecture and figures and condenses them to their most basic shapes.

    Crimson Kiss, acrylic on canvas, 36×36

    By doing so, the viewer becomes more drawn in by the emotionality brought to the surface through her use of vibrant color applied to the forms, rather than by the subjects themselves.

     

    Cafe, acrylic on paper, 11×19 framed

    Though I love ALL of Susan’s work, it is her Garden series that speaks something to my soul.  Perhaps it is how I am amazed by the flora to be found here in the Northwest.  ( Wildflowers!! )

    Out of the Blue, acrylic on paper, 22×22 framed

    She takes what could be a mundane subject and with the use of pattern and color creates something extraordinary.  It’s a little bit Pop-Art, a little bit Fauvist, kind of Cubist without the hard edges ( Cone-ist? ).The flowers seem to be underwater, floating in a happy haze of pattern.  Or maybe it’s drizzly rain?  We ARE in the Northwest..Sometimes it seems that we are seeing the flower’s shadow, rather than the plant itself, looking through the shadow to the play of patterns and light beyond.  Which makes the work groovily mysterious.

    Moonflower, acrylic on canvas, 24×24

    Susan created a floral series called “Bloom” for a recent Art & Sustainability show at the Sightline Institute in Seattle, integrating technology and traditional painting, posting a mobile tag by each painting providing more insight and information about each work of art.  You can see the progress of one of these works and hear Susan speaking about the work here.  And because I always personally find these things to be so much darn fun, here’s a time-lapse video of Susan completing a painting.  What’s up next for Susan after her technology driven show?  Unplugged, artwork created during a one-week period in which artists went without TV, internet, social media and texting.  Because great art is always about finding balance.

    Be sure to check out Susan Melrath’s website to see more of her work and learn more about the artist.

  • Masterworks Monday: Madame X

    Masterworks Monday: Madame X

    She has been a source of fascination, scandal and intrigue for over a century.

    Madame X, 1884

    John Singer Sargent’s masterpiece, Madame X, while initially a source of pain and frustration to the artist, proved to be his most recognizable and memorable work.  The portrait’s subject, Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau, was a Paris socialite renown for her beauty and though it is a remarkably beautiful work to contemporary audiences, at the time of its Paris salon debut, the portrait was greatly criticized by critics, the public and Gautreau’s family ( her mother was outraged ).

    The characteristics that appeal to our modern eyes are some of the same characteristics by which it was condemned upon its debut.  The elegant lines of her simple black dress create a decidedly contemporary feel to Madame Gautreau’s ensemble, but this would be years before Coco Chanel’s “little black dress” would become ubiquitous with timeless fashion.  The expanse of almost translucent white skin may not seem provocative to our 21st century eyes, to show such a sweep of bare skin, especially the beautifully turned neck and decolletage would have been quite provocative in 1884.  Though artists had long been painting nudes of mythical and fictional figures, showcasing the body of a real person in such a seductive way would have been scandalous.  ( Even if said person was infamous for her infidelities.. ).

    Madame X, detail

    The most scandalous component of all though may be her dress strap.  The strap as pictured above laying rightfully upon her shoulder is not how Sargent originally painted it.  In looking at his sketches for the portrait, it would seem that her strap had a tendency to slip off her shoulder..

    Sketches for Madame X

    So, painting the truth in beauty, Sargent originally depicted the strap as having fallen casually from Gautreau’s shoulder.

    Madame X, recreated as may have originally been painted

    This detail caused such a backlash, that when Sargent picked the painting up after the Salon showing, he took it back to the studio and repainted the strap well stationed upon her shoulder.  Despite the outrage the painting incited when it was first shown,  Sargent would eventually come to realize the importance of the portrait, describing it in a letter to the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as “..the best thing I have ever done”.  He would sell it to the museum in 1916 and it is there that I saw it in person in 2007 during the “Americans in Paris” exhibition.  Photographs online do not do this painting justice in any way.  In person, it is commanding in scale, mesmerizing in presence and breathtaking in beauty.

  • Friday Forager Faves: Horsin’ Around

    Friday Forager Faves: Horsin’ Around

    Artists have long held a fascination for horses.  Some of the earliest cave drawings were filled with equine imagery.  Modern artists are no different.  Today’s faves feature artists with a penchant for ponies.  Enjoy!

    Maribel Angel
    Thomas Hager
    Marsha Glaziere
    Jim Draper
    Dolan Geiman

    Happy Friday!  Hope your weekend is filled with lots of horsin’ around and such.

    To see more work by these Friday Faves artists, check out their websites:

    Maribel Angel

    Thomas Hager

    Marsha Glaziere

    Jim Draper

    Dolan Geiman

     

  • Pick of the Crop: Heralding Hager

    Pick of the Crop: Heralding Hager

    In this digital age, it seems like you can’t spit without hitting a self-proclaimed “photographer”.  I don’t begrudge anyone a creative outlet– if you want to take photos with your digital SLR, slap ’em up on Facebook and call yourself a photographer, I guess that’s your beeswax.  But for me, there is a point where photography ends and artistry begins.  There are photographers who are truly artists of their craft and Thomas Hager is a master.

    Tom takes the simplest of forms, like the sweetgum pods above and isolates them and infuses them with a ethereal quality.  These are no longer those annoying, sharp little balls that litter the sidewalk, they are now magical spheres where fairies reside.

    A simple floral stem becomes a beanstalk for a boy named Jack.

    Shore birds become ghostly apparitions in a watery tableau.  Are they really there or are our eyes playing tricks again?

    Is the water moving or is it the earth?  Where does the reflection end and the reality begin? Does it even matter?

    Check out more of Tom’s work on his website and be sure to stop by the site for his brilliant limited edition line, Town Editions.  Oh and did I mention he has a show opening tonight at the University of Maine Museum of Art?  Now I just have to get him out here on the West Coast..

  • Artfully Audrey: The Work of Sarah Ashley Longshore

    Artfully Audrey: The Work of Sarah Ashley Longshore

    In the interest of full disclosure, I think there is something you should know.  I love Audrey Hepburn.  Adore her.  Want to be her when I grow up.  Her style, her intelligence, her philosophy of living and her legendary kindness all inspire me.  So it will come as no surprise to you that I actually gasped with glee when I saw stumbled upon these paintings by Sarah Ashley Longshore.

    For attractive lips, speak words of kindness

    War and Peace Audrey
    Audrey with Monarch Butterflies

    For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people

    Audrey with a Cherry on the Top

    For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry

    A Moment Between Moments

    For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day

    For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone

    As you grow older, you will understand you have two hands

    One for helping yourself

    And the other for helping others

    Audrey Underwater with Lilies

    — Audrey Hepburn

    Visit Sarah Ashley Longshore’s website to see more of her work and learn more about the artist.   Her work is carried by New Orleans gallery, Gallery Orange, they have fabulous taste in artists, check them out!

  • Batik Storyteller: Lisa Telling Kattenbraker

    Batik Storyteller: Lisa Telling Kattenbraker

    The Matisse post yesterday got me in the mood for color.  AND it’s the first day of summer, perfect for sharing work that is bright, colorful and full of whimsical goodness.  George & I took a day trip to Olympia, WA this past Saturday to scope it out a bit.  In Childhood’s End Gallery, we both fell in love with the imagery of Lisa Telling Kattenbraker.

    U-Turn

    Lisa works in batik, an ancient process of wax-resist dyeing.  Her work juxtaposes traditional Batik patterning with simple, stylized childlike imagery.

    Language Convergence

    Most of her figures are faceless, so that the viewer can apply their own experience and emotions to the scene, which reminds me of another favorite artist, Yvonne Lozano.

    Dress Rehearsal

    These just make you smile, don’t they?  Wouldn’t you love to see this gal every day?  Doesn’t every good goat need a yellow rain slicker and wellies?

    Lorelei the Pacific Northwest Goat from the New Moon Goat Rescue and Sanctuary

    I would love to begin a tradition of collecting one piece of artwork from each of our travel assignments.  Thinking a Lisa Kattenbaker might just be The One for this summer.

    Find out more about Lisa and her work, including originals and ( very affordable! ) limited editions on her website, here.

  • Masterworks Monday: Mad About Matisse

    Masterworks Monday: Mad About Matisse

    Do you have a certain outfit you wear when you need a pick-me-up?  Or maybe there is a particular piece of music that always gets your blood pumpin’ and instantly uplifts your mood?  The work of Henri Matisse does the same for me.

    Sorrows of the King

    From his beginnings as a Fauvist, Matisse was never afraid of exploring expression through color.

    Open Window

    And like his friend and rival, Pablo Picasso, Matisse loved painting figures and still lifes, but it is the way he paints interiors that get me.  Maybe it is my love of interior design or the fact that I too, went through a “let’s paint pictures of fun & pretty rooms” phase.  Whatever the cause, Matisse gets the joy of painting rooms full of life and color and I dig it in a big way.

    Dance(I) by Matisse, 1909

    It is that brilliance of color and exuberance of design that draws me to his work.  As the artist himself said, “With color, one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft”.  

    Les Codomas for Jazz, 1944

    If that be the case, I am under the spell of Matisse’s color and hope to never be awakened.

    Check out more of Matisse’s work at the MOMA website.

  • Friday Forager Faves: For My Dad

    Friday Forager Faves: For My Dad

    Sunday is Father’s Day.  Geographically, I am farther away from my dad than I have ever been in my entire life.  We are blessed, in this age of technology, to still be able to keep up with each other every day even though we are miles apart.  If you’re on the blog’s Facebook page, you’ve seen my dad around.  He reads and “likes” everything I post.  He has always been that kind of father– supportive no matter what I’m doing, even if it isn’t exactly his cup of tea.  Today, in honor of my dad, I’m posting my favorite pieces of art that remind me of him, his interests and the things he loves.  This one’s just for you, Dad!

    The Late Show by Russ Wilson
    Whitewall by Leslie Peterson
    Corner Station by Stephen Parker
    1957 Chevy by Craig Pursley

    Happy Father’s day to my dad & all the other Artsy Fathers!

  • Pick of the Crop: Not Your Average Joe

    Pick of the Crop: Not Your Average Joe

    Here in the Northwest, the trees are so spectacular that they grab your attention and demand to be noticed and admired.  St. Augustine, Florida artist Joe Segal’s work does the same.  His sculptures are a celebration of these kings of the forest, their textures, patterns, their cycle of life.

    Segal_Break

     Instead of a literal translation of branches and limbs, Joe instead chooses to focus on the core of what gives a tree its strength, character and economic value, the hard, fibrous wood.

    Segal_Within VIII

    By cutting, stacking, carving, painting, even burning the wood, Joe re-envisions the pattern of the tree’s life.  He takes the normal processes for which and by which wood is harvested and calls our attention to the beauty of the materials in their simplest forms.

    Segal_Center VII

    The steel used to cut the tree becomes instead, the connecting force that holds the wood together.  Pieces of stacked wood, recalling a firewood pile, are juxtaposed with charred wood creating an interesting “before and after” effect.

    Segal_Cleave VII

    Working with the nature of the materials, rather than against them, going with the grain, if you will, Joe is exploring the rhythms of the natural world and reinterpreting them into beautifully designed works of art.

    To see more of Joe’s work, check out his Pick of the Crop page here at Artsy Forager, where you’ll find a link to his website.  I hope you love it as much as I do.

  • Art in Astoria

    Art in Astoria

    Last night, as my hubby was catching up on my blog posts ( he reads them all, even if he has to sit and catch up on a week’s worth at a time, such a good hubby! ), over his shoulder I re-read my In Search Of post from last week and man, what a whiney little whiner!  To save you all from more self-pity-filled posts from me, sweet George took me on a day trip to Astoria, OR on Saturday, in the hopes of helping me feel a bit more connected to the 3-dimensional art world.  You know, the one that doesn’t live inside my laptop.

    Astoria, Oregon

    Despite the gray day, my spirits were sunny.  Astoria’s main claim to fame is the movie, The Goonies, which was filmed here way back in 1985 ( yes, we made a children of the 80’s pilgrimage to The Goonies House ).  But movie history isn’t the only draw to Astoria.  Its downtown area is super charming, filled with a mix of restaurants, coffee houses, shops and YES, some very interesting and diverse galleries.

    Our first stop was Lightbox Photographic, a wonderful little gallery dedicated to the photographic arts.  Their current show, Plastic Fantastic II, features images created using plastic toy cameras.  Absolutely beautiful, emotion-filled images.  Be sure to check out their website to see images created their member photographers.

    Inside Lightbox Photographic

    Astoria was definitely starting out with a bang!  We continued our walking tour of downtown, stopping for coffee and treats along the way.  Right across from the Astoria Coffeehouse, was Lunar Boy Gallery, whose quirky-look caught my eye.  And LunarBoy definitely brought the quirk.  June 7th was Astoria’s Official Goonies Day, so Lunar Boy was exhibiting a special show of Goonies-related work.  Fun!

    This Is Our Time Now! Goonies Show at Lunar Boy
    Landscapes by Nicholas Knapton at Lunar Boy

    After lots of cool art & laughs at Lunar Boy, we perused a few bookstores & other shops ( it can’t be ALL about me ) before finding RiverSea Gallery.  This contemporary gallery features a wide variety of work by artists from the Northwest and beyond.  I was thrilled to find that their current show, The Fabled Landscape, featured the work of Marla Baggetta.

    Artist, Marla Baggetta

    Since my days of specifying art for the corporate & healthcare industries, I’ve been a fan of Baggetta, her landscapes bring that perfect combination of happy color and peace, perfect especially for healthcare.   Her work is even more lush and gorgeous in it’s original state than her reproductions even begin to show.  I was in awe.

    Artist, Marla Baggetta
    Artist, Marla Baggetta

    Though seeing Baggetta’s original work was a highlight for me, RiverSea had many other artists whose work caught my eye.  Like…

    Maple wood sculpture by Michael Hampel
    Encaustics by Paula Blackwell
    Figurative work by Shannon Richardson
    Wonderful urban landscapes by Brin Levinson

    George had his favorites, too– like the work of abstract mixed-media artist, Charles Schweigert ( told you he was loving abstracts now! ) and kooky sculptures by Pamela Mummy.

    Namikaze by Charles Schweigert
    A Lot on His Mind by Pamela Mummy

    Our little day trip to Astoria was just what the art doctor ordered.  I was able to peruse some lovely, unique galleries and found some really interesting artists to share with you.  We even spotted a couple of empty storefronts that would make great galleries.. you know, just in case.