painting with fire

Big monotypes

2012-02-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

This series of monotypes is part of my ongoing exploration of river movement. These are far and away the biggest monotypes I've done - they're all 25" x 50" on kozo. They all incorporate encaustc, graphite, pigment sticks, conte and other drawing media.

Like all of my recent monotypes they are strongly influenced by both my connection with the environment AND with the music I've been listening to in the studio. WEMU plays jazz and blues during my studio hours and that sets the mood and the motion for the work.

These five pieces will be the inaugural show at the new Art & the Environment Gallery at the School of Natural Resources at the University of Michigan. The opening will be Thursday Feb 16 at 4pm.

Watershed Monotype #5

Watershed Monotype #4

Watershed Monotype #3

Watershed Monotype #2

Watershed Monotype #1

Stop SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-18T04:33:00.001-08:00

What is SOPA/PIPA?

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R. 3261 is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011. The bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.*

Similar to SOPA, the PROTECT IP Act or S.968, (PIPA) establishes a system for taking down websites that the DoJ determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court.**

As artists, inventors, educators, writers, creators, and dedicated citizens, we believe in the importance of protecting individuals' intellectual property, but these bills are too broad and go far beyond addressing issues of internet piracy. If passed, they will infringe on First Amendment rights, enable Internet censorship, weaken Internet security, destroy jobs and cripple the Internet.

Open letters in protest of SOPA/PIPA have been written to Congress from some of the most influential and important members of the internet community including the founders of Google, Twitter, Flickr, Yahoo!, The Huffington Post, LinkedIn, Youtube, Paypal, Craigslist, eBay, Wikipedia, Blogger, and a group of eighty-three engineers instrumental in the creation of the internet, to name a few.

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IN ORDER TO STOP THESE BILLS, EVERYONE READING THIS MUST:

CALL or E-MAIL your Congressional Representatives and let them know that you do not support this bill and won't vote for them if they support it.

It's easy! Visit this website to call and then do the Take Action Checklist:
http://tinyurl.com/SOPAcallcongress

Congress will be voting on this when they reconvene in January 2012, so make sure their inboxes and voicemails are flooded when they get back!

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Here are links to two of the open letters:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/internet-inventors-warn-against-sopa-and-pipa

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57342914-281/silicon-valley-execs-blast-sopa-in-open-letter/

Check out these videos for a more thorough explanation of the implications surround the passage of SOPA/PIPA:

http://tinyurl.com/SOPABreaksTheNet

http://tinyurl.com/SOPAInDepth

What is the difference between PIPA and SOPA? Not much.
http://tinyurl.com/SOPAvPIPAchart

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TAKE YOUR OWN PHOTO.

Take a photo of yourself with tape over your mouth and write "SOPA" on it. Upload it to Facebook and copy-and-paste this description. Tell your friends about it!

Educate yourself!

Get the word out!

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*excerpted from Wikipedia. Read the full bill here:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h3261/show

**excerpted from OpenCongress. Read the full bill here:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s968/text

More work with antique maps

2011-11-15T19:57:00.001-08:00

Channel mapping

These pieces are all encaustic and mixed media on Rives BFK, incorporating elements of antique maps of the Mississippi River. They are not true monoprints but rather encaustic, oil bar, conte, charcoal, pastel, graphite and inkjet on paper; worked on a hotbox. They're good-sized - these two are full 22 x 30" sheets

Dynamic channels-map II

Dynamic channels - map

Dynamic River

Art Walk - afterwards

2011-10-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

Art walk this year was a lot of fun

although it was certainly exhausting. I shared Margaret Parker's space at her generous invitation. Between us and musician Ken Kozora and Margaret's film collaborators we had a constant stream of visitors. The pieces shown here all started as demo pieces during Art Walk and were all finished at home in my own studio a few days later.

I'm exploring more abstracted takes on aerial landscapes here, inspired in part by a series of antique maps of the Mississippi which I found on Radical Cartography. These pieces are all encaustic and mixed media on paper using techniques inspired by Paula Roland's amazing work. My aim in working on paper and using monotype techniques is to be looser and more improvisational in my work while still taking on some of the same content issues in my work.

These pieces are all fairly small - none larger than 10 x 13.

Photos of my demonstration at Margaret Parker Studio, all taken by Bonnie Wylo

Upcoming

2011-10-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to announce that I'm part of the River Gallery's juried collage exhibition at the Rackham galleries. Slideshow here.

FALL 2011 COLLAGE INVITATIONAL ART EXHBIT KICKS OFF ON 4TH FLOOR OF HISTORIC RACKAM GRADUATE SCHOOL BUILDING

"Treasures Textures and Objects" 2D and 3D original collage art now on display...thru December 15th

Rackham Graduate School Building

915 E Washington Street, 48109

8:00 am to 9:00 pm Monday thru Friday

Braided Channels 1, encaustic & collage on panel, 24 x 40"

Art Walk
This year I'll be at Margaret Parker's studio showing Woods & Water - current work focused on a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest. These pieces are a mix of encaustic & digital monotypes and paintings evoking the peace and beauty of the northwestern wilderness.

We've got exciting stuff planned - the wonderful Ken Kozora (link is to video of a performance) will be playing Friday night, Margaret has a big installation piece in the glass house out between Downtown Home & Garden and Mark's Carts on Friday as well.

Pelicans, sea, sky - monochromatic square

Here's the details.

Leslie Sobel
Woods & Water • new work 2011

at Margaret Parker Studio during Art Walk
210 S Ashley St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 - upstairs

Hours

Fri, October 21 5-9PM with live music by
multi-instrumentalist Ken Kozora 7pm-9pm

Fantasy Forest, encaustic and mixed media on panel

& Sat & Sun, October 22, 23 12noon-5pm

I’ll be demonstrating encaustic
monotypes on Saturday from 2-4pm

Light thru big trees - overlaid, digital imaging

Going to ArtPrize

2011-09-27T06:59:00.001-07:00

I haven't been yet but will be going soon. Am looking forward to seeing a number of friends' pieces but most especially Lynda Cole's piece Rain, seen above. If you go, the vote UP code for Rain is 42861. edited to add photo by Paul Hickman

ArtWalk 2011

2011-09-22T11:59:00.001-07:00

ArtWalk is almost upon us. This year I'm going to be at Margaret Parker Studio in Ann Arbor at 210 S Ashley St for ArtWalk. I'll be showing new encaustic & mixed media work - primarily monotypes with digital images from the pacific northwest.

Fri, October 21 5-9PM with live music by multi-instrumentalist Ken Kozora
& Sat & Sun, October 22, 23 12noon-5pm
I’ll be demonstrating encaustic
monotypes on Saturday from 2-4pm

Margaret, Ken and I are excited about ArtWalk and hope you'll come see us.

CommuniTree - sculpture as toy

2011-07-23T13:26:00.001-07:00

Working on the CommuniTree at the Townie Street Party

Most of the armature still visible

It's been an interesting process building this thing. An an artist I generally work solo and have total control over what I make. When I do community based/sourced projects I have to let go of the control and go with people's creativity, energy and ideas - steering them but letting the project go where lots of people's involvement takes it. The CommuniTree project has been that in a huge way. I brought the partially pre-built armature to the Townie Street Party and assembled it with help from my son and a few volunteers. Then something like 100 people contributed their efforts over the course of the evening. Julianne Pinsak had bought two smaller tree pieces last fall and she brought me 200 phone cords sourced from the PTO Thrift Store. My friend Paul Malbeauf brought a huge stash of cords cleaning out his basement. At the end of the Street Party we rolled the tree up the street to the patio of AnnArbor.com.

Rolling it to AnnArbor.com

Over the next few days a few dozen more people stopped by to help build the tree. Here is a stop motion video shot by Angela Cesere of AnnArbor.com of some of the building.

Some numbers: the finished piece stands about 8.5' tall and is 8' in diameter. It weighs more than 100 pounds - probably closer to two hundred. We used more than 400 cables ranging from mini-usb, scsi-to-serial, fiber-optic, electrical, phone and power converters, mice and CAT5. It's been suggested that the finished piece would be a great interractive lobby piece for a high tech firm - put out a box of cables and invite visitors to play. With that concept it may never be finished. I like that idea and hope it finds a home along those lines.

CommuniTree is a partnership between the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, AnnArbor.com and the Milan Art Center. It is for sale and proceeds of the sale will benefit the Street Art Fair and the Milan Art Center. Bid for it here. Full disclosure - I'm the board chair of the Milan Art Center.

wire and cables and angle-iron oh my

2011-07-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

Cast concrete counterweight and lab stool base for Communitree - ready to go and very heavy!

Box of cables for weaving the tree. It won't be enough but it's a good start. Bring me more!

I've been sorting and coiling what feels like MILES of cable getting ready for Monday's Townie Street Party followed by the Ann Arbor Art Fair. I cast the base for the sculpture out of concrete. Still need to organize tools, ladders, etc and finish the armature but the bits are all assembled and ready to haul to town. I'll be in the art activity area during the party. At the end of the evening the tree will roll up Liberty Street to the AnnArbor.com patio - its home for Art Fair.

I'll be there working on the tree during Art Fair from 1-4pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Come and get involved. The finished piece will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the Street Art Fair and the Milan Art Center. I'll post a link to the online auction as soon as it goes live - it will be hosted via ArtFair.org

Community based public art for Art Fair

2011-06-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

The CommuniTree-

Once again I’ve been commissioned by the Street Art Fair, this year partnering with AnnArbor.com, to do a community based public art project. We’re growing a tree out of recycled cables. This project was inspired by the little table-top trees I made as part of the Ecology Center's Sustainable Centerpieces project last fall.

coil wire tree

How will this work and how can you be involved? The tree will be a sculpture using recycled and repurposed materials with community help in making it grow. I’m building an armature out of a repurposed lab stool and metal posts, old window sash weights and other found objects. The tree will be fleshed out using old computer, phone and electrical cables and that’s where you come in. I need your old phone cords (coiled ones are great!), computer cables and the like. If you’re like me you probably have a box of them somewhere. You can drop them off at the Art Fair Office at 721 E. Huron St., Suite 200, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 734-994-5260 (PH) or at AnnArbor.com at 301 E. Liberty St., First Floor. Or you can get in touch with me directly.

stool base, procured at UM's Property Disposition

angle iron - part of the trunk to be

When will this all happen? We’ll start assembling the tree at the Townie Street Party on Monday July 18 from 5-9:30. After the party the CommuniTree will move to the patio at AnnArbor.com I’ll be working on it during Art Fair from 1-4 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Art Fair. Come help, contribute cables and watch the tree grow. The finished tree will be more than 8 feet tall and will have solar powered lighting.

We’ll have a reception on Friday July 22nd at AnnArbor.com at 7:00pm.

The Communitree will be auctioned off over the course of Art Fair. The proceeds will go to help support the Street Art Fair and the Milan Art Center. The auction will end when Art Fair ends on Saturday evening.

panorama!

2011-06-08T07:21:00.001-07:00

My friend Gene Parunak kindly shot this panorama of the Immersed show. Fun to see it all laid out in one place like this.

Working in the studio in encaustic loses some appeal when the high for the day is in the mid-upper 90's. Time to explore water media perhaps? More digital? And an upcoming sculpture project I'm excited about and will be able to talk about soon!

Meanwhile I had the amazing experience of flying to Chicago in a private jet thanks to a generous investor in my husband's company. We flew much lower than a commercial flight and naturally I shot for most of the flight - nice to have my own aerial source material rather than relying on NASA's much higher altitude (and quality) images as a starting point.

Look for mixed media pieces coming from this euphoric experience...

Painting as jazz - improvisation and exploration in the studio

2011-05-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

Painting as jazz

When I started working on the pieces for Immersed I spent a lot of time thinking about my painting process. It’s been a very intellectually driven kind of activity, focused heavily on the content of the work and the integration of data/mapping with paint and other imagery. Kathi Reiester challenged me to paint about “just water - just surface, appearance, beauty, sensation”. A good challenge; one that forced me to loosen up and just let my arm swing. It didn’t hurt that these images are all based on photos I shot at a beautiful place - Wingaersheek Beach on Cape Ann, visited with my friend Lynda Cole a few years back.

These days I listen to jazz in the studio as I paint. Specifically I listen to my local NPR jazz station WEMU so Linda Yohn and Michael Jewett end up making the soundtrack to my studio practice as I work. As the mother of a young musician I’ve found myself spending more time thinking about the parallels in how musicians and artists approach their media and their art-making.

In the studio I let the music take me to a loose improvisatory place where I can explore and experiment, aiming to set my judgmental tendencies aside for a separate time. This is not to say that the critical, intellectual part of my normal practice doesn’t enter into my current practice but rather that I aim to separate the two approaches in time so that I can bring a more painterly aspect to producing the work. That which doesn’t meet my standards never sees the outside of the studio of course but I hope that these pieces, especially the monotypes, reflect the exploration and joy of a good jam session.

All photos of artwork taken by Anne Savage.

Immersed runs until May 26 at the Gallery at the UM Duderstadt Center. The reception is this Thursday May 19 from 5-8pm

Immersed and other events

2011-05-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

I have a piece in Game ShowNYC. This interactive exhibition is at the Macy Gallery at Teachers College, Columbia University NY. If you're in the area the opening reception is Friday May 27. Unfortunately I won't get there but I'm thrilled to be part of it. More on the show at the organizers' blog.

More locally I've got new work at WSG and Artistica. And on this Thursday May 19th is the reception for the Immersed exhibition at the Gallery at the Duderstadt Center, University of Michigan. This water themed show ties in with the UM water semester and features Kathi Reister's photography and sound installations and my encaustic paintings and monotypes.

Immersed, installation view w/sound dome

Immersed, installation view

Photography of art by Anne Savage, whose work I cannot recommend highly enough. The installation views were taken by me.

Upcoming projects, new work

2011-02-03T06:55:00.001-08:00

Raw Ripples, encaustic & mixed media on panel, 24 x 24"

Fjord, Ice & Water - encaustic, digital and mixed media on panel, 28 x 40"

New series of encaustic & digital monoprints all about 11 x 15". I'm aiming to work looser here, more spontaneously and with more sense of just playing with the encaustic monoprint process. These are fairly experimental pieces and I'm enjoying the freedom of just exploring layering encaustic and oil and paper and seeing what develops.

It always seems like the middle of winter with holidays, visitors, back to school etc slows my art-making. This year I added a little travel as part of a daughter's application to music school to the mix. Result was a long fallow period with much thinking and development but major gaps in production. That's done and I'm in the midst of working in the studio and planning several big projects. I'm doing a lot of work with water just now for an upcoming show at the Duderstadt Gallery in May - more to come about the specifics of that show soon.

upcoming events

2010-11-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

Autumn vignette, encaustic & digital, 4" x 4", framed 5.5" x 5.5"

Here are a group of new paintings, all destined for my featured artist show at Artistica Gallery in Dexter. The opening will be Dec 3 from 6-8pm. This work features a number of very tiny paintings as well as some larger work.

Zion - cliff clinging tree, encaustic & digital, 6" x 6", framed 9" x 9"

Storm/shore, encaustic & digital, 6" x 6", framed 9" x 9"

coastal abstract, encaustic & digital, 4" x 4", framed 5.5" x 5.5"

Prairie sky, encaustic & digital, 7" x 23", framed 12" x 28"

Fisherman's Island Dusk, encaustic & digital, 7" x 23", framed 12" x 28"

New Mexico Skyline, encaustic & digital, 4" x 4", framed 5.5" x 5.5"

Some of these pieces came out of the summer's trip out west, some are Michigan based. All reflect an emotional connection to the landscape and to particular times of day - generally late afternoon when the light is at its most lyrical.

One other upcoming event of interest - the Milan Art Center is having a holiday extravaganza on December 4thWhat is that? We'll have an exhibition of gift friendly art by local artists including Kim Trail Rhoney, Marne Evans, and myself. We'll have a craft project fundraiser that will produce a cool gift and we'll have hot chocolate after the annual Milan Holiday Parade. More information on our Facebook page.

Sustainable Centerpieces project

2010-11-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

I've been working with the Ecology Center on their upcoming 40th Anniversary Fundraiser. They invited me to coordinate a different sort of art fundraiser than the usual "donate your work and write off just the materials because you like our cause." Instead, we're doing something much more interesting: artists were invited to create Sustainable Centerpieces - small sculptures which reference one of the themes the Ecology Center focuses on like wind power, recycling, water use, etc. The pieces will be sold by silent auction at the upcoming Nov 17th dinner featuring Van Jones and dinner at the Michigan League- you can buy tickets here. What's unique about this? The artists will take home most of the proceeds of the sale of their work, sharing a cut with the Ecology Center. We're excited about this as a more collaborative way of raising funds and supporting both a terrific organization and the artists working with them. There are 21 artists contributing a total of 35 pieces to the project - below is a small sampling - I'll post more in the coming days.

Barbara Melnik Carson Recycling Outside a Small Circle of Friends

Candace Compton Pappas - house

Sobel - resevoir

Sobel - coil tree

Sobel - cable tree

Rick Lieder Capturing the Last Joyride

Mike Sivak Reliquary

Laila Kujala

Rick De Troyer

Barbara Brown

Jill Love & Mary Bowe - Earth

A week of ideas and events

2010-09-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

My life is generally way too busy these days and this week took that to a whole new level of crazy. On Tuesday I went up to Grand Rapids to see ArtPrize with three friends. We missed more than we got to unsurprisingly - the event included more than 1700 artists this year and I didn't manage to see multiple friends' work so will have to try to make another trip if humanly possible.

We were particularly blown away by the works shown at GRAM - Grand Rapids Art Museum and UICA. At GRAM I was very impressed by the work of Young Kim's moving and evocative installation, Steven Sorman's beautiful and immense print,drawing and mixed media on paper, Al Wildey's digital on aluminum piece , Janice Arnold's amazing felt installation. Heechan Kim's sculpture was fascinating - wood and copper hanging in space. Perhaps the most interesting piece there was David Sprigg's. Installed in a large vitrine and comprised of multiple paintings on mylar suspended, making a dimensional image that changed with the viewer's angle, evoking the cosmos, it was thought provoking and fascinating. I'm skipping over plenty of other strong work in the interests of brevity.

UICA has work that is edgier, more political in content and more varied in how well it worked for me. Two particular standouts were Chris Jordan, whose work addresses the horrifying amount of consumer waste we generate. UICA has a number of his large digital prints which graphically demonstrate very large numbers of things like the number of plastic water bottles dumped every day. I was familiar with his work but had never seen it in person and the large scale adds plenty of impact to strong work.

Wayne Belger's Untouchable Camera series are a set of beautiful photographic prints of people who are HIV positive - shot through a filter and with a camera elaborately machined by the artist and using HIV positive blood as the red filter. The method is important and involved and my conversation with the artist made it clear how important his process is to the content of his work.

I didn't get to see the work of several friends so will need to make a follow-up trip to see installed work I've seen in progress by Brenda Oelbaum, Margaret Parker and Oliver Aguilar

So that was Tuesday. phew!

Wednesday: Tedx Detroit Bigger, better organized and more inspiring that last year's conference, this year's event was held at the DIA. It was terrific. I was really moved bySteve Kahn's presentation on Math Corps which is doing incredibly important work with inner city Detroit kids. If Detroit is going to be a sustainably functional city in the long term its schools have got to be fixed. Math Corps is not a solution but it's certainly an important part and I know I'm going to contribute to what they do.

It's hard to pick out specific presentations that really resonated because they were all really good. Poets David Blair and Jessica Care Moore, artist and educator Jocelyn Rainey really grabbed me. Rainey takes her inner city Detroit students all over the world, expanding their horizons remarkably. It's worth watching the online videos of the event, especially of the performances. In the interests of keeping this post to a remotely sane length I'll stop here other than to say that the energy in the room was palpable and the connections made are likely to endure and grow into more good things for the region.

If you've read this far don't forget - tonight is the fundraiser for the Milan Art Center at Original Gravity Brewing Company in Milan.

technology, recycling and repair and gratuitious images

2010-09-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

clouds & sky

I found, via Metafilter, an interview with Kyle Wiens of iFixit talking about repairability, the impact on the environment of our consumer culture and the importance of extending device lifespans to reduce the amount of waste we're dumping. He has been working in Africa exploring the horrific conditions in which people are extracting valuable materials from our consumer waste - video here. I've been a huge fan of iFixit for years, using their manuals and parts to repair computers with my kids. I had no idea of the scope of their ambitions until I saw this and I'm very impressed. I've said for years that I'd happily pay more for computers designed with repair and upgradability designed in rather than planned obsolescence. We can't afford the environmental cost of continuing to build stuff to just toss it and replace it. It's immoral to dump stuff, full of heavy metals and toxic substances in third world nations where people will get horribly exposed to bad stuff while re-cycling what they can - just so we can keep buying the newest, latest gadget. Wiens isn't a Luddite and neither am I - I don't think we should go back to a non-technological society but we need to be smarter and more environmentally focused about how we use technology.

golden field, grey sky

And a couple images of current work in progess just as a chaser for the serious stuff.

Fall workshops

2010-09-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a series of 4 workshops at the Milan Art Center this fall. You can take as many as you'd like - one or more. Each workshop is 4 hours long and self contained, taught at the brand new Milan Art Center in downtown Milan on a Sunday afternoon from noon to 4pm. You can register at the link above.

The classes are:

Encaustic monotype - working with encaustic on paper. Sunday September 19 Working on paper and a heated surface we'll create beautiful one of a kind prints.

Encaustic and collage - Sunday October 10. Encaustic is the ideal collage medium and we'll explore it with multiple permutations and other media.

Encaustic - incorporating digital elements - Sunday November 14. Want to combine your photos or digital paintings with encaustic? This class will be focused on how to - participants will get information in advance allowing them to bring prints to incorporate into their encaustic works.

Encaustic and 3D - Sunday December 12. Bring your encaustic work into the third dimension in this workshop.

new work, new venues

2010-08-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

delta/rooted/growth, digital and mixed

trees/sky/channels

green fields

These are all new pieces, seen here in their digital only versions. In final form they will be modified with encaustic and other media - come back to see how they end up.

It's been a productive summer and I have work out at a lot of places. If you're in Michigan you can see me at WSG where I'm a guest artist. I've also got small new work at the Ann Arbor Art Center. In Cerrillos NM I'm at the Encaustic Art Institute. The new show there is 3D work and they have a couple of pieces. And starting in September I will have work at the Terra Gallery in Columbus OH as part of their upcoming Contemporary Landscapes and Cityscapes exhibition.

update - invader/invaded

2010-07-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Come to the Townie Street Party and make your mark on this piece. I'm inviting everyone to come and mark the piece with where you live, where you've seen the results of invasive plants and animals in the county - wild hogs rooting in your garden? Ash borer killing your trees? Bring notes about your experience or pictures of your garden and we'll add the to the piece as well. This is a community based project and most of the images in it come from community members. We're hoping to spark dialogue about what are invasives, how long they've been an issue (hint - hundreds of years!) and what are some of the ways communities are handling the challenges presented by invasives.

When: Monday July 19th from 5:00pm to 9:30pm
Where: Ingalls Mall between Burton Tower and the League - I'll be in the Art Zone Tent

Working on this project has led me to some interesting sites - here are a few:
Michigan DNR - Habitat threats
Invasive.org
SEAGrant
Huron River Watershed Council
Ecology Center
Legacy Land Trust

more on invader/invasive

2010-07-10T07:13:00.001-07:00

I'm looking for your help. For this project I'm putting together images, maps and words about how people have changed the environment here in Washtenaw County. Is your backyard full of garlic mustard? Place you like to paddle on the Huron now devoid of beneficial mussels? Banks full of purple loosestrife? I'm looking for your images and your words and I need them soon.
I'm also looking for mapping of invasive plants and animals in the county - if you have maps that you're willing to let me use please contact me!

This project will be assembled the night of the Townie Street Party - Monday July 19th at Ingalls Mall.

You can email me your images and words - to lasATlesliesobel.com

You can also bring them to the Townie Street Party from 5:00pm - 9:30pm

And please help me spread the word - time is running short and I'm looking for more material!

Invader/Invasive

2010-06-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Wow - can't believe I haven't posted in more than a month. Gives you a sense for what my life has been like since I got back from Loomis Chafee. Since then a lot has been going on. I spent a wonderful week in Minneapolis with Sue Hensel. She's blogged about it here.

New project

This year I am happy to once again be working with the Street Art Fair on a community art project which will happen at the Townie Street Party on July 19. This year's project is Invader/Invasive - a community art/mapping/journaling project about the effect of invasive species on our local ecosystem. The piece will include mapping with some GIS layers, drawings, and people written expressions about the invaders - those can be poetic, lists, journals - whatever seems to work. I need your help to make this happen. Specifically I'm soliciting your images of invasive species in your yards or in public spaces you feel connected to. Please send these images and your coordinates - that is, the address where the photo was taken to:

eco-art@lesliesobel.com

jpegs are fine. Please put "invader" in the subject line of your email. I'm looking for images of the obvious - purple loosestrife, emerald ash borer, garlic mustard, zebra mussels etc - and the non-obvious. Please do include a little information in your emails about what/where and anything else that seems pertinent. and thanks!

the trip home

2010-05-04T06:44:00.001-07:00

When I set out towards home I knew I wanted to make a detour on the way to Storm King. Storm King is an art center and a nature preserve near the Hudson River. It's a staggering place - 500 acres littered with sculptures ranging in size from human scale to astonishingly huge. They limit photography out of copyright concerns but these photos, taken with my crappy cell phone camera will give you a feel for the scope and the beauty of the place. I spent a happy 3 hours wandering and could easily have spent days if it weren't for my need to cover 600 more miles between there and home.

It was about 90 degrees and I was nervous about a car full of encaustic paintings even though it was parked in the shadiest corner I could find. The paintings survived the heat though.
The vistas here are just lovely. Living in a very flat part of Michigan I particularly appreciate the ups and downs of the terrain here!

Andy Goldsworthy undulating wall - it's more than 2000 feet long and is built of traditional dry-laid stone following the curve of a hill down to a pond, curving in and out among trees.

Goldsworthy has designed a second wall which is being installed in honor of Storm King's 50th anniversary. I saw the crew working on it - one small digging machine and 4 men working by hand - and a long line of piles of stone through a line of trees. I want to go back to see the finished work!
This vista looks like it goes an incredibly long way. I was surprised by how quickly I covered a lot of distance walking - the views really exaggerate the distances here.

other end of same vista

This area - the south field - is dominated by a set of really huge Mark di Suvero sculptures. They are amazing and having them set out in the open rather than in front of a building gives them a strong and resonant presence.

Lousy shot of Maya Lin Wave Field - this is a new piece - built in 2007-8 and still being tweaked by the artist. It's more than 4 acres across (one guard told me more than 11) - from above, shooting down from the hilltop it's impossible to get the scale.

I didn't shoot much more - so much of the work needs to be experienced in person. I'm very glad I went - I want to go back when I have more time to spend a day drawing there. It's a wonderful place.

*****

The rest of the drive home was uneventful but long. Chunks of lovely views mixed in with miles and miles and miles of roadwork on I80 across Pennsylvania, particularly on Monday. Driving on a weekday in construction season is unavoidably tedious. Good to be home, assimilating the past couple of weeks.

I will post more images of Loomis Chaffee and the work I did there in the next few entries.

Meanwhile my show Earth & Air is up at the Susan Hensel Gallery. She has posted a lot of installation views at the gallery site here. I will be at the reception at the gallery on May 21 from 7-9pm so if you're in or near Minneapolis do stop by!

misc

2010-04-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

So my residency is ending - tomorrow in fact. What have I done here? A lot of painting, a two plate etching, some drawing, a lot of talking about encaustic, curated a show, met a lot of interesting and creative people. It's been an intense couple weeks spending 10-ish hours a day in the studio. Some stuff about the residency here on the Loomis Chaffee site.

I took advantage of being out of my normal routine of have-to's to spend some time exploring ideas and approaches to painting and as a result have thoughts about the direction I want to take my work in. Not a significant departure but a building upon what I've been doing, taking it in a more painterly and more integrative direction. I'm pleased about that and looking forward to where I think it will take me.

And I'm looking forward to being home and back to my normal routine even given its mix of chaos, too much to do and not enough time to do it in! Thanks to all at Loomis Chaffee who have helped and supported me through this residency, especially Jen McCandless and Mark Zunino.

What have I been doing during my residency?

2010-04-27T13:19:00.001-07:00

12 x 12" encaustic & mixed media on panel

Don't know that any of these are done but you get a sense of what I'm playing with. Some - most - are from drawings referencing satellite images - a few are over manipulated prints. Probably obvious which are which.

18 x 18" encaustic & mixed media on panel

4 x4" encaustic & mixed media on panel

18 x 18"" encaustic & mixed media on panel

12 x 12" encaustic & mixed media on panel

Waxing Lyrical images

2010-04-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

entry into Mercy Gallery - Ceccio
Here are images of the Waxing Lyrical exhibition installed. I'm pleased with how the show came together and it has received many positive comments. The opening will be Tuesday April 27 from 6:45-8:45pm. [post updated with titles and media information]

Glessner , It Entered, Encaustic, horse hair, mixed media on rusted and branded silk on wood and Scars II, encaustic, mixed media on rusted and branded silk on wood

Here, at last are the installation pix of the Waxing Lyrical exhibition at the Mercy Gallery. above - Lorraine Glessner - two multi-panel pieces.

Lorraine's diptych Come Early Morning, encaustic, human hair, mixed media on rusted and branded silk on wood

Lorraine Glessner Down Sixth Street, encaustic, horse and human hair, mixed media on rusted and branded silk on wood

Sobel -satellite& encaustic monotype - Cambridge Gulf - Australia

Sobel - Desert Coast - encaustic, digital & mixed media on panel

Sobel - encaustic, digital & mixed media on panel

Sobel - - fjordscape - satellite& encaustic monotype

Sobel - Sea,sky, stone- encaustic, digital & mixed media on panel

Sobel - salt evaporation lake - satellite & encaustic monoprint

Sobel - Crary Ice Rise- encaustic, digital & mixed media on paper (my husband's uncle Albert Crary was an Arctic and Antarctic explorer. The Crary Ice Rise is one of a number of places named for him.

Sobel, Convergence -encaustic, digital and mixed media on panel

detail, Shadow Language, encaustic and mixed media on paper, Daniella Woolf

Shadow Language, encaustic and mixed media on paper, Daniella Woolf This installation is well over 200 individual elements and took two of us quite a few hours to install. The individual pieces are fascinating and the shadows it casts draw many eyes.

Sunny Day, encaustic and mixed media on paper. Elements are sewn and encausticated. Daniella Woolf

Promise, encaustic and mixed media on paper, Daniella Woolf

Collaboration, encaustic and mixed media on paper, Daniella Woolf

City of Kathleen, encaustic and mixed media on paper, Daniella Woolf

Big Blue, encaustic and mixed media on paper, Daniella Woolf

installation view, Sobel

installation view, Forest and California Mist, encaustic Martha Ceccio

First Light, encaustic, Martha Ceccio

Dusk and Daybreak, encaustic, Ceccio

Above, below & in the details, diptych, encaustic, pigment, tar, on reclaimed wood siding
Cari Hernandez

Study of flow #2, encaustic & fiber, Hernandez

Reminders of flow, encaustic & fiber, Hernandez

Hernandez, installation view including Reminders of flow,both Study of flow, Above, below & in the details,

Lynda Cole - installation view, Sumi Pond, Black Ink ;encaustic over Sumi ink
and untitled, encaustic on panel

Cole and Sobel

Cole, Rocking Cradle, encaustic over sumi ink on panel

Woolf, installation view

residency and article

2010-04-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

I'm now at the Loomis Chaffee School starting my artist-in-residence. Spent yesterday opening boxes and laying out the Waxing Lyrical exhibition at the Mercy Gallery. I'll post images once it's all installed. Was great fun yesterday opening all the boxes. Seeing the range of packaging artists used to ship their work was particularly enlightening with this show - lot of beautiful custom boxes fitted for particular pieces with foam surrounds. Unpacking and repacking those pieces was and will be a dream and the work travels and stores perfectly safely.

Meanwhile the Susan Hensel Gallery sent out a terrific article on my work to accompany the upcoming Earth and Air exhibition going up May 1.. I'm really pleased with the depth and detail with which they put it together. A lot of thought and care went into the writing - thanks Zach and Sue!

And with that I'm off to get breakfast and get to the gallery since today is installation day.

From rust belt to artist belt III - here in Detroit

2010-04-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

I'm incredibly excited about the fact that we'll be hosting the next Rust Belt to Artist Belt conference here in Detroit. We're still working out the details on the date but I'm going to be helping put the conference together at Techtown with an amazing group of collaborators including (in no particular order!), CAID, Wayne State University, the Heidelberg Project, Russell Industrial, con/vida, Cranbrook, Arts Alliance and many others. We'll have lots more to say about the conference in the future - here's the first press on the subject at Crain's Detroit Business.

Earth and Air at the Susan Hensel Gallery

2010-03-29T17:50:00.001-07:00

Sure seems like I'm posting a lot of show announcements lately but these things have been happening in clusters. This is the card - front and back for my upcoming show at the Susan Hensel Gallery in Minneapolis. The show will be up for the month of May and I will be at the gallery for the reception on May 21.

Waxing Lyrical at the Mercy Gallery

2010-03-24T08:19:00.001-07:00

Time seems very compressed to me lately - so much happening in a short timeframe. I have an artist-in-residence coming up at the Loomis Chafee School in mid-April. The exhibition referenced above is in conjunction with the residency. This overlaps with a solo show at the Susan Hensel Gallery in Minneapolis - more about that on another day. Lot going on getting ready for both exhibitions since all the work for both has to be out the door at roughly the same time. Spending a lot of time choosing work, finishing the last few pieces, getting organized!

Nano, Micro, Macro - a Matter of Scale - installation shots

2010-03-17T06:37:00.001-07:00

Sara Adlerstein Gonzalez's work

Here are a few shots of the Nano, Micro, Macro show installed at the Duderstadt Gallery. Ironically enough I didn't get around to shooting the show until it was time to deinstall it.

Some of my work

another view of my encaustic paintings and monoprints

A John Hart's nano images

More of Sara's work.

Always startling how fast it comes down compared to the amount of time and effort to install a show. We had a lot of help on this show - Ryan set up the AV stuff - I never photographed it but we had a projector aimed straight down showing some of our source photography on a large screen on the floor. It was quite a project for Ryan to get it all set up in the lighting grid.

big griddles on sale

2010-03-06T14:01:00.001-08:00

For those encaustic artists who use electric pancake griddles as palettes - Target has double sized square griddles on sale for $34.98.

Nice review of Nano, Micro, Macro

2010-03-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

is here.

Meanwhile my life has been largely taken up with starting the Milan Art Center. I've been blogging about it here and haven't been in the studio as much as I'd like right now between a lot of teaching and getting the art center started. Its first fundraiser is this weekend - a silent auction and flea market and the outpouring of community support is really inspiring.

Meanwhile the aforementioned teaching took me to Kalamazoo a few weeks ago to teach a long intensive encaustic workshop to a group of gifted high school students through a remarkable program called 4 weekends at the KIA run by ESA . Here are some images from the workshop - bright, creative kids + incredibly supportive organization= delightful weekend of teaching.

student piece

MJ (fellow teacher and director of the Water Street Gallery) and student

working on encaustic assemblage piece

assorted student work from the workshop

painting with encaustic

art + teaching + arts administration = juggling

2010-02-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

As many people who know me are aware, I've been working with the Arts Alliance for a while and more recently focusing intensively on getting the Milan Area Arts Council's new art center up and started. The art center blog shows photos of the progress we've been making getting the facility ready to go. I'm working with other board members on curriculum development, business plan and other programming. Meanwhile wearing my artist hat I'm getting ready to hang one group show (Nano, Micro, Macro), drop off work for another (Family and Friends at WSG), teaching a lot and planning for an upcoming artist-in-residency. Balance? More like balancing act! I can't complain - it's an exciting time and I'm very pleased that all these things are ticking along. I worry about dropping balls or not doing full justice to any of these projects but so far momentum, adrenaline and a lot of list making are carrying me along. (not to mention a supportive spouse and kids doing their part!) It's a slightly tenuous balance depending on no disasters - so far, so good.

Nano, Micro, Macro - a Matter of Scale - redux

2010-02-10T16:05:00.001-08:00

These are images from the other two artists in the upcoming Nano, Micro, Macro exhibition at the Duderstadt Gallery at the University of Michigan North Campus.

The color paintings are by Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez and are informed by her work as a biologist/fresh water ecologist at UM's School of Natural Resources. Dimensions next to each work - while she is the Micro in the title of the exhibition the pieces are quite good sized and even more luscious in the flesh.

These next three images are from A John Hart. John is the Nano portion of the exhibition and these images are of objects he has made which can be just a few molecules in size. Needless to say the images are much bigger than the original! [edited to add the following:] John's images are all scanning electron micrographs of silicon and carbon nanostructures

The show will be up February 23 and come down on March 16th. The opening is Wednesday Feb 24 from 6pm to 8pm.

Family and Friends at WSG

2010-02-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

I'm delighted to be part of this show. Feels like old times since I was a member of WSG for many years.

It's been an interesting week. The nascent Milan Art Center is getting going. We've had a real outpouring of community support and offers of help, supplies, equipment and interest in teaching have been pouring in. It's exhilarating and I can't wait to get the space up and running.

Monday linkage

2010-02-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

Art blogger Joanne Mattera is always worth reading. Her Monday business post this week is about job loss for artists and it terrific. She makes the cogent point that since most artists have seemingly invisible jobs - many small gigs patched together - when we take a hit in a bad economy it looks different than someone losing a 9-5 40 hour a week job. She also poses a key question: how do artists become more visible as members of the economy. I'm not sure what the answer is but I think artists need to become better advocates for themselves as business people. That means spending time talking about art making as a business not just a passion. It means not being shy about promoting one's work and about talking about the non-studio aspects of that work - and not just to one's friends but in the media, online and to an audience.

On another front - if you're in the Ann Arbor area the A2mechshop has a call for artists interested in a residency. This is a communal shop providing access to tools and technology. Looks pretty nifty.

Nano, Micro, Macro - a Matter of Scale

2010-02-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

I'll be installing this show in just a few weeks. It should be a really interesting mix of artwork, microscopes, computers, projection and other fun stuff.

new work - encaustic on paper

2010-01-19T19:05:00.001-08:00

These new pieces are all encaustic monoprints over digital prints, some with collage elements as well. These four are all 18" x 18" unframed. They feel like a looser, freer way to work than encaustic on panel and allow me to experiement with more painterly technique than traditional encaustic allows.

They will be part of an upcoming show at the UM Duderstadt Gallery in February: Nano, Micro, Macro - a Matter of Scale. The exhibition will be three artists - John Hart Anastasios, Sara Adlerstein Gonzalez and myself.

Art on the House

2010-01-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

desert lake from on very high, 24" x 48", encaustic and digital

I'm part of an exhibition of Washtenaw County artists at State Representative Pam Byrnes' office. Link to the exhibition here. The piece above is one of those in the show. This show was organized under the auspices of the Art Alliance and will be the first of a series.

New Year and art exhibitions coming soon

2010-01-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

Unsurprisingly the holiday month zoomed by crazily fast with family coming and going, kids doing exams, my mother-in-law moving here and related chaos. Mostly good but I'm definitely ready to get back to a routine in the studio and that's a good thing because I have a lot of shows coming up very fast.

In February the two of note are at WSG in Ann Arbor where I'm participating in their family and friends exhibition (Thanks Lynda!). Also in Februrary-March I'm part of a group show with Anastasios John Hart and Sara Adlerstein Gonzalez - Nano, Micro, Macro - a Matter of Scale at the Duderstadt Gallery. John does nanotechnology and Sara is the micro - paintings based on microscopic images - I'm macro of course with my satellite-based images. (best place to see Sara's work online just now is in this blog back a few entries). Duderstadt is a big space and we're planning an exhibition which will include interactive components as well as paintings and prints - I'm excited!

Hydrology show, Convergence

2009-12-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

Well the last month has been busy between helping my mother-in-law move, shows, conferences, school stuff, etc. Didn't realize how long it had been since I posted. I have two pieces in the Hydrology show at the Chelsea Center for the Arts. The opening is tomorrow - Friday, December 4 from 6-9 and yes I'll be there.

Tuesday was the Arts Alliance's first annual conference - Convergence. Hosted at the EMU Student Center, this half day conference addressed the creative economy. I attended a session on artspaces - work/live or just workspaces for artists created out of spaces formerly used for other things like factories, prisons, schools, etc. The session talked about legal/zoning/regulatory issues with setting up such space and was useful.

I also attended a session on the Arts Alliance's new web portal. I'm really excited about the portal - it's going to be a terrific resource for both producers of art and art events (using the word "art" in its broadest sense) and for consumers of same. Whether one is looking for a play to attend, a kiln to fire one's work in, music lessons, gallery openings or artist community the new portal will be a boon for the county. I'm on the advisory panel for the site development but this was a chance to see the site not quite ready to go beta but close. I'll be talking about the site a great deal once we're live.

The keynote session was given by Stuart Rosenfeld about the economic impact of the creative economy. It was an interesting session full of hard data. For me the biggest take-away from his talk was how profoundly under-counted are the economic impact of the arts. It was unfortunate that most elected officials who were invited to the conference didn't come - the message of how much the arts do in terms of economic impact is an important one that needs to reach those people.

After attending TEDx Detroit I was inspired by the mix of music and poetry interspersed with regular sessions. My friend Ken Kozora said that an arts conference needs art and music and poetry and dance - so we brought those elements in. I curated a one day exhibition of visual art for the conference. Artists showing their work included: Lynda Cole, Margaret Parker, Barbara Thomas Yerace, Laura Seligman, Candace Compton Pappas, Martha Ceccio, Anne Savage, Connie Cronenwett, Rick De Troyer, Francsc Burgos, and Barbara Carson.

Ken played his wonderful music three separate times, two of which included dancers Amanda Stanger-Read, Director of Arts in Motion Dance Studio and Christina Sears Etter, Artistic Director of People Dancing. All three musical interludes had my images projected behind them. Poet Chris Lord read us the poem she wrote about the importance of support for the arts. Many of us had first heard that poem when she read it as part of testimony to the state legislature asking them to not cut state arts funding. We ended the conference with a guided improvisation led by Amanda and Christina which had everyone in the room up and participating. It was quite different than most other arts conferences I've attended with the mix of arts and traditional sessions and set a very creative tone. The events were videoed so I hope there will be video available at some point.

Convergence was a terrific way for our local arts community to come together. One of the important things the Arts Alliance has done is to connect people working in different parts of the county in different kinds of art related fields to one another whether it be music, dance, visual arts, theatre, literary arts or arts administration. I appreciate what Tamara Real has done in building these community connections - it's hugely important, especially in economic downturns for the different arts constituencies to work together. And our community just had a real loss with Angela Martin-Barcelona leaving us due to her husband's job change. As marketing director at the Arts Alliance Angela has done a lot to help the arts community and she will be sorely missed!

video on embedded light exhibition

2009-10-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/GildaSnowden#p/a/0/8pgndMxeRag

This is a nice tour of the exhibition with some low-key commentary, particularly on the techniques involved in various pieces. It's a lovely way to see the show! The video is by Gilda Snowden, a Detroit artist, art professor and curator.

article about Embedded LIght

2009-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Here in the CandGnews.com by K. Michelle Moran. Nice to see this show getting attention!

Embedded Light write-up at GPAA

2009-10-11T07:45:00.001-07:00

There's a nice post about the Embedded Light show at the Grosse Pointe Art Center with a few pictures from the opening. The opening was well attended. The center is in a new space as of this year and has just hired a new director. While they are an old organization all of the changes make it feel young and newly energized. There is clearly a lot happening there and I hope it will continue to evolve. It's great to see a Michigan arts organization putting energy and effort into encaustic and national shows. I'm well aware of how much work it takes to put together such exhibitions so kudos to Birgit Huttemann-Holz for making it happen.

Artists in the show:

Shelly Gilchrist
Lucia O Enriquez
Lisa Frank
Leslie Sobel, 3rd prize
Bill Dillon
Alix Christian, honorable mention
MJ Selzer, 1st prize
Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch
Christine Towner
Rae Broyles
Sherrie Posternak, honorable mention
Rodney Thompson, honorable mention
Mark Lavatelli, honorable mention
Elisabeth Burkholder
Binnie Birsten
Margo Mullen, 2nd prize
Yvonne Buijs- Mancuso
Cari Hernandez
Birgit Huttemann- Holz

I couldn't find links for some of the artists but will be happy to add them if anyone contacts me with them.

MadeINTERationally - exhibition at Slusser Gallery

2009-10-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

MadeINTERationally

Curated by Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez and Doug Hesseltine

Slusser Gallery, School of Art and Design University of Michigan Ann Arbor
until October 9, 2009

This is a big show - 16 artists in a range of media from paint, scultpture to video. The focus of the show is a commonality of experience: artists who have spent significant time internationally and how it informs their work. It’s a terrific show and is beautifully installed as well. The work is organic, mature and engaging and the installation intelligently allows the art to speak to each other making the whole stronger and more interesting yet.

The work ranges from Nora Venturelli’s lyrical nudes and Jordi López-Alert’s conte drawings on brown paper to highly abstract ceramics by John and Susanne Stephenson and Georgette Zirbes. The organic abstracted forms of the ceramics play beautifully off of Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez’s paintings and Takeshi Takahara’s intaglio prints on an interesting range of substrates including carved wood and ceramic. Janie Paul’s austere drawings on panel are subtle and meditative, drawing on close for more in depth contemplation.

Takeshi Takahara - intaglio on carved wood

array of ceramic pieces - wall pieces are Susanne Stephenson, pieces on pedestals are John Stephenson

John Stephenson

Susanne Stephenson

Janie Paul - drawing on wood panel

Janie Paul's small drawings on panel quietly draw one in to inspect closely - there's a lot happening here but you need to get close to experience it.

Co-Curator Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez's abstracted organic paintings
are reminiscent of cave paintings or natural objects to me. Her work has a sensibility which I find very engaging and this aesthetic shows throughout the entire exhibition. Much of the work in the exhibition echoes the palette in her own work- making for a very harmonious feel in the room.

Edward West's photographs have a painterly sensibility.

Nora Venturelli's multi-panel figurative work is elegant and beautifully drawn.

Jordi López-Alert's conte drawings on brown paper bags are more informally presented than the rest of the work shown here but somehow they have a gravitas that kept me from being perturbed by the inconsitency of their presentation. They are lyrical drawings and the roughness of the paper holds up to the informality of their hanging.

Georgette Zirbes' installation of tiles with shards of other work embedded.

Susan Crowell's polychrome ceramic wall installation

Endi Poskovic - 10 large woodcuts

Miriam Korolkovas - design and maquette for installation. I liked this piece but did feel that it was a lone exception which didn't tie into an otherwise tightly linked group of works. The maquette could have read as sculpture without the architectural graphic behind it. there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this piece but it didn't feel integrated into the exhibition as a whole - in a show which was otherwise very tightly linked to my mind.

Not shown but worth checking out are two video pieces, one by John Marshall and one by Tirtza Even. Marshall's video cleverly lines up scenes from Braveheart and Trainspotting to make trenchant commentary on his native Scotland and people's stereotypes of same. Even's video incorporates camera work which took me quite off balance - provocative if disconcerting.

This is a strong and engaging show - well worth taking the time to head up to North Campus to see.

[post edited to add information about Tirtza Even's work and to correct the spelling of Jordi López-Alert's name.]

Embedded Light national encaustic show

2009-10-04T15:04:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I delivered my three pieces to this national encaustic show juried by Chris McCauley. The exhibition is at the Grosse Pointe Art Center and the opening is Friday October 9 from 6:30 to 9:30pm. Here are my pieces in the show:

Greenland - ice and water, 18 x 24", encaustic & mixed media

breakthrough melt, 24 x 24", encaustic & mixed media

Greenland - melting channels, 24 x 24", encaustic & mixed media on panel

It looks like it will be an interesting exhibition with a wide range of work.

From rust belt to artist belt II - second of many....

2009-09-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

I spent two days last week in Cleveland at From Rust Belt to Artist Belt II - a really terrific conference. I expect to write about it quite a bit. The conference focuses on transforming post-industrial cities in the midwest. It is put together by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) in Cleveland. This year's conference was held in a number of arts venues which have been redeveloped in Cleveland - the Gordon Square Arts District and the 78th Street Studios - the latter is a former industrial space now houseing studios, galleries and other art space. There were multiple sessions and I'll write about a number of them over time but today I'm going to focus on the keynote.

The conference started out with a terrific keynote given by Ralf Ebert who spoke on Transformation Thru Culture and Culture thru Transformation. Ebert is a city planner - he is one of the cofounders of Stadtart and their site describes their work thus: Our team develops ideas, solutions and strategies within the triangle of CityRegion - Culture - Planning and cooperates with other planning consultancies throughout Europe.

Ebert lives and works in Dortmund Germany. Dortmund is in the Rühr section of Germany. This area was the core heavy industrial part of the country and has made a remarkable transformation into a cultural arena with many former industrial sites becoming arts venues. There has been an enormous focus on "change with no growth" - focusing on conservation, sustainability, celebrating the industrial heritage of the region and improving the cultural infrastructure.

Ebert said that the transformation started post WW II with unions and in the 60s artists looking for sites to transform and work in.

Key elements were
•conservation of industrial monuments - conversion into arts spaces
•improving cultural infrastructure - neighborhoods, studios, local venues as well as larger installations
•cultural flagship projects
–Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex
_Landscape Park Duisburg-Nord
–Inner Harbour Duisburg - regional landmarkss on top of old slagheaps
•establishment of cultural events
–Extraschicht - night of industrial culture - bringing venue + content together
•Linking cultural projects with regional initiatives
•Youth focused projects

He mentioned several projects in particular - two examples - shaft signs - 900 defunct coal mine shafts will be marked in 2010 for 2 weeks with enormous helium balloons floating 80 meters above the entrance

calm-life - Rühr highway B-1 will be closed for 60 km and 30,000 tables will be set up to make an enormous street art fair with over 1.5 million people expected to attend

Another major initiative is setting up rent free spaces for artists from formerly vacant space.

Notable successes came from
Artists having an active role in the economy
Valuing the industrial heritage of the region
focusing on tourism
access to real estate and brown fields
support for development of knowledge based industry and temporary use of spaces
attracting start ups

Failures /discouragements

It takes a long time but cultural transformation has not stopped
The Rühr is an area with significant population loss - they haven't attracted significant influx but have kept loss to organic levels from low birthrate rather than major continuing exodus.

Lessons from the Rühr

Artists are needed as urban pioneers
Use landmarks as panorama
Network of artists, politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists is key
Multi=dimentional intergrational strategy - top down and bottom up at same time
German model depends heavily on state support for projects of all sizes, especially big ones
Promotional initiatives
Flagship projects attract attention - tourism, political capital and funding
Detroit should consider working to become a World Heritage site - Rust Belt - regional audience
Arts projects with international reputation, international conferences and meetings are key to bringing outside, cosmopolitan audience
not just high culture - pop culture links help bring people back from suburbs

link of cultural/creative industries and knowledge based industries will be important [more to come on this subject in particular]

I came away from this talk both inspired by the scope of the transformation that has and is taking place - and discouraged. Discouraged because today in a time of dire economy and a place where massive funding for the arts doesn't exist it's going to be a real uphill battle to effect change. Ralf Ebert is an interesting speaker and the projects he showed us were tremendously exciting. Even with our very different funding model than Germany's and our extremely challenged economy there are possibilities since economic crisis is also a time of unusual opportunities. My next post will be about a session where three people described amazing projects coming out of the bad economy.

ArtPrize & Rust Belt to Artist Belt

2009-09-15T12:05:00.001-07:00

This article appeared in last Sunday's Monroe Evening News. I'm the last of the three artists discussed so you need to read down to the end. My piece will be at Spectrum Health - at 100 Michigan NE, Grand Rapids.

On another front entirely I'll be presenting my "sky river" project to "Rate My Project" - a panel of public art experts at the second Rust Belt to Artist Belt conference in Cleveland later this week. I'm hoping for good (useful, that is) feedback on the project and on community based public art projects in general.

Rust Belt to Artist Belt 2

2009-09-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited about going to the second Rust Belt to Artist Belt conference in Cleveland this week. Last year's conference was full of great ideas, resources and people doing amazing things to reinvent post-industrial cities. I'm looking forward to being a part of it this year again! More to come from the conference later this week.

galleries - Chicago part 2 - & more trees

2009-09-02T10:13:00.001-07:00

We visited a lot of galleries in Chicago of course. Two that really stood out - and that I try to get to regularly are Packer Schopf in the West Loop and Melanie Cooper in River North. Aron Packer was in the midst of installing his next show - image above - works of Karen Savage - but was kind enough to invite us in and spend a lot of time chatting about the work. The images are photograms - direct exposures where the object - beautiful infant dresses - are placed on photosensitive paper and then developed. They felt like the ghosts of the Valerie Mann show I wrote about a few months ago - graphical and compelling.

We went to Melanie Cooper the next day and had an equally long and interesting talk with her about encaustic and various artists.

I was shocked by the disappearance of a number of galleries that seem to be casualties of the economy. Flatfile apparently closed in March. A number of others seem to have disappeared as well. Unsurprising but sad.

•••••••••••••••••

I went back to Matthai Botanical Gardens yet again. The digital image below is the beginning of the next encaustic piece. It will be 12" x 40".

looking at art in Chicago

2009-08-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

Twombly, Salalah, Acrylic on wood panel,96 x 144 in. (243.8 x 365.8 cm)

My friend Martha and I made a quick trip to Chicago for a couple days to see the Cy Twombly show at the Art Institute. Cy Twombly: The Natural World, Selected Works 2000–2007

May 16–October 11, 2009 It's a show of work in a variety of media from photography, paint on paper, sculpture and truly heroically scaled paintings. The disparate range of the work is striking. The paintings are wonderfully gestural - no surprise from Twombly. We appreciated how well installed the exhibition was - with really good curatorial notes that added to one's enjoyment and understanding of the work. That's often a week point of shows so I'm very glad to see it. I've reproduced my two favorite pieces from this exhibition. If anyone knows what kind of paper Twombly used for the series the piece below is part of, I'd be most interested to know.

Untitled, 2001

Acrylic, wax crayon, and collage on paper, 48 3/4 x 39 1/4 in. (124 x 99.5 cm)

This was my first trip to see the new wing of the Art Institute, a museum I've been visiting since I was a little kid. The new wing is really dazzling - open, inviting and airy. It was a terrific setting for the Twombly work, giving it elegant space to shine. There was also a marvellous exhibition of Japanese Screens - ranging from 15th century to modern works. The show is up from June 26–September 27, 2009 This was one of my favorites:

Morita Shiryu, Japanese, 1912-1998

Dragon Knows Dragon (Ryu wa ryu wo shiru), 1969

Four-panel screen; aluminum flake pigment in polyvinyl acetate medium, yellow alkyd varnish, on paper, 162 x 307 cm (63 3/4 x 120 7/8 in.)

We also went to the Museum of Contemporary Art where we saw the exhibition Take your Time: -Olafur Eliasson. May 1 - September 13, 2009 Eliasson works in a variety of media. He's probably most known for the interesting things he does with light. This show takes up the entire first floor of the museum and gives a good sense of Eliasson's range - including works with fixed light, projection, complicated installation and most interesting to me - maquettes, giving one a sense of the artist's process and source images. There was one piece, pictured below, which was deceptively simple. One entered a dark room which had a fine spray of mist coming down from the ceiling with some white lights shining through it. The room was tiled with some sort of absorbent rubber on the floor and there was no other light source. You could walk all the way around the waterfall of mist and there was no sound other than the gentle hiss of the water. So subtle and lovely - and evocative of places I've been but utterly generalized as to place.

Beauty, 1993. Installation view at AROS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, 2004

As I mentioned, one room was full of maquettes and photos that the artist uses for ideas, sources, references. The maquettes were mostly soldered metal wire or metal tape in interesting, geometrically complex forms. The photos comprised 4 sets of images, each hung ganged. One set, shown below, of islands, one of horizons, one of grottos and one of aerial views of rivers. Given my own interests I'm sure no one is surprised that these really grabbed me from a variety of points of view.

This entry has gotten long enough that I'll wait to post about the galleries we visisted. The two museums were well worth a trip in and of themselves. The Eliasson show comes down Sept 13 so there's not a lot of time left to see it - and it's fascinating.

2 paintings

2009-08-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

summer grove - PA, 12" x 16", mixed media and encaustic on paper on ragboard

solo pine, 24" x 24", mixed media and encaustic on panel

Two new pieces - both shown here with digital source alone earlier, now as completed pieces.

summer views

2009-08-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

grove of trees seen from old railbed bike/hiking trail in Pennsylvania

Lately I seem to be working entirely on images based on places I've been camping and hiking. Not a bad state of affairs. We haven't gone anywhere really exotic this summer - I seem to be focused on woodland and lake and river scenes in the midwest and east.

Sleeping Bear panorama

Both of these images are the basis of paintings - I'll post those later - the upper source has a mostly finished painting I need to shoot, the lower is very early on. Lot of digital work in both images of course.

Somehow lately I seem more grounded in painting where I am, whether it's from an aerial point of view or from a view I could shoot myself.

support the Arts Alliance - challenge grant

2009-08-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday August 18th there will be a wonderful opportunity to help the Arts Alliance raise funds. The Community Foundation for SE Michigan has issued a challenge - starting at 10am on the morning of the 18th they will match $1 for every $2 donated online until the $1 million available has all been pledged. The money is targeted to a number of arts and cultural non-profits in the region.

I'm hosting a party at My Favorite Cafe in downtown Saline starting at 9:30 that morning to collect donations. We'll be raffling off some artwork, hope for some live music and will have a good time raising money for the Arts Alliance. So come join Lynne Friman, Terri Sibo and me at 101 S. Ann Arbor St., Saline.

- or you can go to a similar gathering in Ann Arbor at Sweetwater's Café. 123 W. Washington St. from 9a.m.-1p.m. Participating arts and cultural organizations - 7 total - will be at this event. There'll be an hourly raffle! Stop by for good causes, good coffee, and good times. (Sponsors: NEW & Sweetwaters) You can donate online starting at 10am on August 18th by going here.

These funds will help the Arts Alliance continue to provide the tools and services that help area artists and arts & cultural organizations stay connected, have a presence in the political arena, and obtain the respect and recognition the sector deserves. (Rumor is that funds will be gone in 1 hour -- so it's very important you go online at 10a.m. sharp!)

spread the word - this is a grassroots effort and every donation counts!

Come to a Challenge AfterGlow at the Aut Bar (315 Braun Ct., in Kerrytown) from 5-7p.m. and celebrate our community's rich arts and culture.

new painting

2009-08-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

This is the starting point for a big new encaustic - it will end up being 24" x 24" and probably a long way from this image, shot at the Matthai Botanical Gardens. I've been spending a lot of time walking there and at the arb lately - good for both artistic ideas and finding a peaceful space in the midst of a busy, fragmented summer.

What happened to July?

2009-07-31T07:43:00.001-07:00

Guess it's a clear sign of what a crazy month it has been when I don't post for more than 3 weeks. July was consumed by work, sky river and Art Fair, houseguests, a camping trip up north and working on my piece for Art Prize. So here are some images....

working on the sky river mosaic at the Street Art Fair

thanks to Dad and Liz Soll for the pix!

Sleeping Bear rough panorama

dune grass and view of South Manitou Island

Sleeping Bear Aerial - this is my submission for Art Prize - lots more info to come once I have a venue.

Art Fair

2009-07-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

comp - what the proposed piece will look like

Next week is Art Fair. I don't have a booth but will be doing two workshops at the Street Art Fair's big activity tent on Wednesday and Thursday both from 3-5pm. These workshops will be on the sky river project. There is not yet a process through which I can actually apply for the piece to be funded and installed in the site I designed it for - the roof of the Maynard Street Parking Structure. Despite that we're going to start a reduced version of the piece.

The proposed piece is a community based piece of environmentally focused public art using recycled materials - plastic snow fence and plastic jug lids - to portray the Huron River based from modified satellite images. During the workshops we'll start assembling a shorter section of the piece. As planned, it will be 125 feet long. Lacking approval and storage for such a big project we'll do a 12 foot chunk instead!

Come and see me and help attach hundreds of bottlecaps to snowfence. If the full project goes forward someday I'll need to collect 20,000 caps. For next week I need about 650 or so and fortunately, thanks to a few very enthused people I have more than I need. In fact, I came home today to find a big bag of caps on my porch waiting for me - without a clear indication of who was so kind. Thanks Suzanne - I think! And if it was someone else I hope they'll tell me so I can thanks them!

The Print

2009-06-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Huron River Triptych

This piece will be in The Print at the Ann Arbor Art Center. The opening is on Friday June 26 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm in the Exhibitions Gallery. The piece is digital, chine collé and encaustic on Rives BFK paper. I began with chunks of the satellite map of the county which have been a big part of my work for more than a year now thanks to two public art pieces - one finished and installed and one still, hopefully, pending.

Meanwhile I'm working on more boxes and am documenting the process so will post pictures of the development of at least one of them rather than just the completed piece - but not yet!

walk in the rain

2009-06-11T12:12:00.001-07:00

It's finals week so I've had a lot of small chunks of time between dropping kids off for exams and then collecting them. Today I had two hours so I went for a walk in the Matthai Botanical Gardens. The weather was very threatening but didn't start pouring until I was on my way back to school to pick up my daughter. Not too bad!

I go to Matthai fairly often but always find new things to look at. They've done some wonderfully creative landscaping with many gardens built around themes - typical ones like herb gardens, flower gardens and more unusual ones like wetlands, little urban pocket gardens and a woodland wildflower garden out appopriately enough in the woods.

Today I walked in the gardens and in the woods. I was focusing on ideas for boxes and shot plants and flowers partly with that in mind, thinking about insides and outsides, hidden secrets, textures and color. I've come to really love the midwestern landscapes. Not dramatic or stark like the desert but so lovely and with hidden pleasures revealed to a patient eye.

There were a LOT of bees in this poppy. Oddly enough I saw no bees in the red or pink poppies, just in the white ones.

These plants are tiny and vivid - so bright against the grey day.

I love the delicacy of these.

This beautiful Eastern Bluebird let me follow him for quite a while. This is the closest picture I got before he finally flew off.

Unfortunately I have no pix of the deer I startled out in the woods. I was on one side of Fleming Creek and they were on the other. They backed off into the woods just enough that I couldn't get a good shot and stuck around watching me for quite a while.

boxes, boxes

2009-06-10T14:48:00.001-07:00

I've been making a series of shrines and reliquaries for several years in found boxes. Here are the two latest in the series. Most of the series have focused on places that are endangered in some way. These two are a bit different. I've been struggling lately - the unremittingly bad news and other things going on make me feel overwhelmed by all the terrible things happening in the world. I decided to make little reliquaries of places I'd like to be, to escape to. So these pieces are meant to be places of beauty and peace that one can open and go into for a bit of respite. They are from places and times I've been and felt peaceful, creative and content - I hope you will find that in them as well.

Two at dusk at Wingaersheek beach - from last summer's encaustic conference. Found cigar box, encaustic, digital

L at Wingaersheek, found file box, encaustic & digital

Today I went and got a whole pile of really nice cigar boxes - lots more projects to come!

some new work

2009-06-04T06:41:00.001-07:00

I'm messing around with two different groups of imagery just now. I expect they will come together in the future but for the moment they are linked in saturating works on paper with wax working on a hot box. The piece above, 3 at sunset at Wingaersheek, is actually multiple digital images merged in Photoshop, printed in Rives BFK and then completely saturated with encaustic medium. That last step is important because it renders everything translucent. The image above is a scan rather than a photograph - scanning it really helps capture the unique quality of translucency brought with the wax.

This piece is a mix of physical and digital steps. There are actually two separate pieces combined into one. I've been working with a variety of kozo papers on my hot box incorporating encaustic, graphite, oil pastel and multiple layers of paper. They're not really monoprints because I rework into the pieces after making an initial monoprint layer. This piece has two separate finished pieces which I scanned and then combined and further manipulated in Photoshop. So virtual layers, physical layers and so forth.

This is one of the component parts of the upper piece but manipulated further on its own in Photoshop. I like the recursiveness of this technique. I'm not sure where it's going to take me or how I will end up integrated my more typical digital imagery with this technique - am still exploring those issues. I find the painterly quality of the technique compelling as well as the ease of incorporating multiple layers and elements.

I started working with encaustic on paper on a heated surface in a big way after seeing Paula Roland demo her monoprint technique at last year's Encaustic Conference. It lets me incorporate a way of working I used to use intensively with acrylic on paper years ago with the additional seductive translucence and texture of wax. I started doing a lot of this partly also as a teaching tool and as a set of finger exercises or etudes to borrow from music - a way to get past being somewhat blocked and not sure where to go with my work. Just now the exploration is as much of an end as the finished piece and most won't be seen by anyone else but that's ok.

upcoming workshop at Yourist Studio

2009-06-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a workshop at the end of June at the Yourist Studio Gallery in Ann Arbor. Workshops there are very special because Kay has created an incredibly nurturing, creative setting. We'll listen to great music, eat a wonderful potluck lunch each day and do some amazing things with encaustic including exploring monoprints and focusing on collage and assemblage.

Here are the details:
ENCAUSTIC COLLAGE - June 27-28, Saturday 10-5 & Sunday 10-4

Instructor: Leslie Sobel

Tuition: $100 Lab fee: $50

Each summer Yourist Studio presents a non-ceramic workshop for students interested in exploring new mediums. This year’s new medium is taught by Ann Arbor’s most experienced encaustic artist Leslie Sobel.

Encaustic’s ancient Egyptian roots date back 2000 years.
It is a beautiful, luminous material made from bees wax and pigment. By applying layers of wax one is able to achieve various textures and relief. It is also the collage medium par excellence. Participants will learn how to use encaustic as an element in mixed media assemblage. This two-day workshop will explore the use of encaustic with collage materials in two and three dimensions. We will use found objects, old prints/photographs or drawings, while at the same time utilizing the ancient practice of encaustic painting. Participants should bring materials they are interested in incorporating into mixed media assemblage or collage pieces. This includes but is not limited to old photos, magazines, tools, small objects, natural materials like seeds, dried leaves, pebbles, etc.

Encaustic, brushes, color, heated palettes, torches and flat substrates will be provided. *Students who would like to work in wooden boxes or do more elaborate assemblage should contact the instructor to discuss possibilities.

This workshop is for participants of all skill levels

Nasa Time lapse videos of environmental change

2009-06-01T09:50:00.001-07:00

These videos are made from satellite images at NASA's Earth Observatory. They show environmental changes over the past decade and are pretty horrifying. More images here. I think there are some paintings waiting to be born from these images.

Valerie Mann at WSG Ann Arbor

2009-05-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

I went to the opening of Valerie Mann's new show FORTUNES and Other Visual Responses at WSG Gallery last night. The work is fascinating and engaging. Walking into the gallery one literally walks in the midst of an installation of white antique baby clothes, each outfit embroidered with a phrase like "you will trust your instincts". The choice of phrase is resonant, taking one back to childhood hopes, dreams and fears. As a mother of teens these pieces struck at my core hopes and fears for my children. Despite the charm of the embroidered clothing this is not a sweet or sentimental installation. There is something profound about the ghosts of the human figure hanging in mid-air, reminding us of memories and hopes - the fortunes referenced in the title of the exhibition. The fortunes are not all benign and many of them reference the sort of social fears that are such a painful part of childhood and adolescence. In her artist's statement Mann says "I am interested in how we as parents and adults in society teach the next generations to cope. What do we teach them by our actions or inaction? Every one of these fortunes is about someone I know - or myself. Many times, several of the fortunes apply to one person. How is it that someone can be 'orphaned at a young age', 'cherished by many people' and 'always share {their} wisdom at the right time'?" I thought it was a terrific and thought provoking installation. There are other pieces in the show which are also strong and an interesting use of various media but the infant gowns are the pieces that I expect to stay with me for a long time.

exhibition information
WSG Gallery
306 S. Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
May 12 - June 21, 2009

Artist Gallery Talk:

Sunday, May 31, 2 pm

Home show - opening images

2009-05-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

my piece "climate change game"

Here are a few images from the opening of the Home - Loving it, Losing it, Leaving it show - just in time for the end of the exhibition since it comes down after tomorrow.

Mashawnta Armstrong's big blueprint piece

installation view of my piece "NOLA dreams - after the flood"

Christy Kelley-Bengten's installation piece

installation view of exhibition including Alejandra Chaverri's two encaustic on digital print's and Robin Wilt's Anxiety flags.

looking through Margaret Parker's Escape/Return

another view of Margaret's piece

Candace Compton Pappas' painting and installation "offering"

photos taken by Sam Sobel

Housing

2009-05-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the opening of the Home, Loving it, Losing it, Leaving it show at the Gallery at the UM Duderstadt Center. This show is sponsored by the Michigan chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art and was juried by Larissa Larson asst professor in the UM Dept of Urban Planning. I'm on of the co-organizers and also have a couple pieces in the show. The opening is from 6-8pm - come and see!

Also on the subject of homes, The New York Times ran a story this week on the removal of the FEMA trailers in New Orleans - pulling housing out from people who desperately need it and only in order to destroy the trailers. It's an obscene travesty to do this and I hope the New York Times article will help spur FEMA to do the right thing although I'm not even slightly optimistic about it.

Desert summer, midwestern spring

2009-05-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

Michigan is at its prettiest this time of year - trees blooming, delicate film of green on the trees, color after a very long, monochromatic winter. I'm enjoying the loveliness of spring although it feels a little schizophrenic after a couple weeks in New Orleans where spring was far more advanced but where I couldn't simply revel in it given the almost post-apocalyptic state that so much of the city lingers in. What, you may ask, does this have to do with pictures of the desert - especially pictures of the desert in high summer? It's not obvious nor simple. Some of it is just that this time of year I yearn to be out west hiking and the desert is the place I'd most like to be. When the weather finally warms up enough here to really enjoy being outdoors I want to travel. This spring that won't happen. I'm still digesting my experience in New Orleans. I balance between my utter rage at what has happened there, my pessimism that it will ever be made right and a profound personal desire for the serenity that for me has always been found in the desert. Hence the pictures of the last time I was there. These pix are all from my 2007 trip to Canyonlands.

In some ways I've always felt like the desert is the home I belong in. Ironically enough since I've never actually lived there. It's a disconnect between where I am home and where I feel home is - or will be - someday. I can't complain though - I have a home. It may not be the place I most want to be but it hasn't been taken from me or destroyed. My life is as under my control as much as anyone's is these days. At least as much under my control as anyone's life who is the parent of three teenagers can be! After two weeks in New Orleans working with people who have lost just about everything they held dear I treasure the luxury of both the physical home and the spiritual one and the chance to be in both.

School at Blair Grocery has a blog!

2009-04-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Check it out - and Greenhills people who were in New Orleans over spring break notice how much has grown since we worked there!

upcoming workshops

2009-04-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a lot of encaustic workshops lately. There are still openings in two that are coming up in May and June.

Advanced encaustic - May 30 from 10am to 4pm at BBAC This workshop is intended for those who have either taken a previous encaustic class or encaustic workshop. It builds on prior encaustic experience focusing on big texture, mixed media, incorporating one's imagery and collage. Students are encouraged to bring drawings, prints or works on paper they would like to incorporate into this rewarding medium.

and

Encaustic Collage - June 27-28, Saturday 10-5 & Sunday 10-4 at Yourist Studio Gallery
Encaustic’s ancient Egyptian roots date back 2000 years. It is a beautiful, luminous material made from bees wax and pigment. By applying layers of wax one is able to achieve various textures and relief. It is also the collage medium par excellence. Participants will learn how to use encaustic as an element in mixed media assemblage. This two-day workshop will explore the use of encaustic with collage materials in two and three dimensions. We will use found objects, old prints/photographs or drawings, while at the same time utilizing the ancient practice of encaustic painting. Participants should bring materials they are interested in incorporating into mixed media assemblage or collage pieces. This includes but is not limited to old photos, magazines, tools, small objects, natural materials like seeds, dried leaves, pebbles, etc.

This workshop is appropriate for all skill levels - no experience in encaustic needed.

New Orleans - still contemplating housing

2009-04-20T08:08:00.001-07:00

I'm still thinking about New Orleans and think I will never stop. I'm not naive and I've spent a fair amount of time in parts of Detroit that are also shockingly destroyed but the level of destruction and lack of reconstruction in many parts of New Orleans is truly horrifying.

street scene - 5th ward

boarded up house - 5th ward

another boarded up house

porch - can't remember exactly where

lovely tree in Garden District

row of trees - also in the Garden District.

The difference in feel in the areas that lost all their trees compared to the Garden District, which is full of magnificent huge trees, is dramatic. Most of the trees in the 9th ward and the bits of the the 5th ward I explored are gone. All other issues aside this one is very noticable and very sad. Locals tell me the lower 9th had equal numbers of gorgeous trees before Katrina. The contrast is stark and obviously makes a huge difference in the heat of the summer.

finished Make It Right House

Make it Right house being built

Robert Green's not yet complete house

Mr Green in front of his home to be.

The Make it Right houses are not given to the people who live in them. They have to pay although what they pay is based on some sort of means test - they're not a give-away. It's a terrific program but will not build enough houses to solve the enormous problem New Orleans faces in terms of repairing/replacing thousands of homes destroyed by Katrina.

New Orleans - a petition

2009-04-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

I'm back from New Orleans and still processing all that we saw and experienced. I'll be posting more on this in the future to be sure. In the meantime, Robert Green sent me this petition. I signed it and think it's tremendously important - please sign it and share the link. Here's the text:

"On August 29th , 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The hurricane terrorized the whole city. Many, fortunate enough to evacuate, did so in frightful haste. The many poor, were left behind to weather the storm and fend for themselves. Katrina came and with it, a storm surge 13 to 18 feet high. The remaining residents of Lower 9th Ward persevered and then…. The federally built levees broke. Over 1,300 lives were lost, 22,000 homes were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people were dislocated. The federal government, slow to initially respond eventually showed up, after national outrage over President Bush and FEMA’s performance. The surviving and returning residents of the Lower 9th Ward found their once thriving community, obliterated. They were ground zero. They buried their dead and salvaged what little possessions that were left, and hoped for help. After months of waiting, President Bush and Congress responded by allocating billions of dollars towards rebuilding the Gulf Coast Region including New Orleans. Over three years later, 99% of the Lower 9th Ward has still not been rebuilt. Not one major housing development by Federal, State or Local government has taken place. Over 2,200 homes were lost in the Lower 9th Ward. Actor Brad Pitt has committed to eventually building 150 homes in the community. To date, less than 15 have been built. His project has proven however that there is a viable way to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward with housing that is stronger, safer and smarter. We applaud his efforts. Unlike him, the government has ignored the Lower 9th Ward and with your support, we seek to change that! We of the Rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward Coalition have a plan to rebuild the housing, schools, recreation and commercial establishments lost to Katrina. The funding to accomplish this goal has already been allocated but the “will” by State and Local government, is not. They have been busy spending rebuilding funds in other parts of the city to the exclusion of the hardest hit community in New Orleans, ground zero, the Lower 9th Ward. Our new President Barack Obama has stated it best, “This will be a priority of my presidency. And I will make clear to members of my administration that their responsibilities don’t end in places like the 9th Ward –they begin there.” We intend to keep him to his word and you can help! Sign our petition, encourage your family, friends, churches and schools to do the same! Together, we can help this community, that have lost everything. It’s the right thing to do, and the American thing to do! Give your support and prove that after a natural disaster we take care of our own! If you would like Rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward Coalition updates, please include contact information on the petition."

again - here's the link to sign

And here are a few more photos of what much of the lower 9th ward still looks like. It's a disgrace that this has been allowed to happen.

New Orleans - Day Ten - last day here

2009-04-14T19:55:00.001-07:00

Today was a day we divided up and went to a variety of places. One group went to ARNO, one group went to the St Bernard Parish Community Center and our group went to Turner's Blair Grocery School where we worked in the garden for a good chunk of the day. We built raised beds, weeded, watered, hauled vast quantities of dirt and compost and had a great time getting sweaty and dirty.

tired gardeners

A famous view we drove past most days - it was very striking to see where so many people sheltered under terrible conditions during Katrina. On a couple of occasions we drove past it when events were getting out and traffic wasn't noticably heavy. A clear sign of a terrible economy.

house in poorer neighborhood - lots of houses here are painted in wonderful colors. The older ones with lots of picked out details remind me of San Francisco.

Yet another roof in terrible shape

Beautiful big tree in the Garden District. Most of the trees in the lower 9th ward were lost during or post Katrina. Areas hit less hard are lined with wonderful huge old trees.

We visited Yougurt more days than not - delicious stuff!

More lovely tree-lined streets in the Garden District near Tulane.

This Wal-Mart is near where we stayed in Chalmette. It hasn't re-opened post-Katrina nor has it been replaced. The water level during Katrina covered all but the air conditioners on the roof - pointed to by red arrows.

Later in the evening all our groups got together in the lower 9th ward area to see the houses built by Brad Pitt and Make it Right. Don Paul from Rebuild Green met us there and gave us a tour and took us to meet Robert Green. Mr Green is a local resident who lost many family members during Katrina when the levee near his home was breeched when a barge hit it. His mother, grandmother and a very young grandson all died. He met us at his home - a pair of FEMA trailors and a new house under construction by Make it Right. He has been the key local contact person working with the Make it Right foundation and the local community and spent a generous amount of time speaking with us about his experiences and the rebuilding program.

side of Robert Brown's FEMA trailor

Memorial to Robert Brown's family

snapshot of Robert Green and Brad Pitt

View from next to Robert Green's home

scaffolding and partially built Make it Right house

view of a couple more of the Brad Pitt houses

our group in front of a completed house

After taking leave of Mr Green we drove a short way to the levee

lift bridge and levee

New Orleans - Day Nine - back to work

2009-04-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

The two houses above are near each other in the lower 9th ward - they really illustrate the range of repair and lack thereof in the neighborhood - although there are many houses in worse repair than the first one.

We did more work in the 9th ward village today but I won't post those pictures just now since they're more of the same.

We went out to lunch at Willie Mae's Restaurant in the 5th Ward today. This is a place with an amazing history. Before Katrina Willie Mae the woman won a James Beard award for her wonderful food - absolutely fabulous fried chicken. She'd never heard of the award until she won it at age 89. The restaurant was badly damaged by Katrina and repaired by the neighborhood. It reopened with many famous chefs in attendance. There was a program on the restaurant on the Food Channel which Amanda Harper and I had both seen and been intrigued by and another story on NPR. Given all this history we had to try it. The food was amazing. People kept coming. Clearly many of them were from out of town thanks to the stories.

Willie Mae's great grandchildren now run the restaurant. She comes in from time to time but is in her 90s and frail.

feasting away. It's a tiny place but the food is wonderful. I ate fried chicken, cornbread, red beans and rice and it was all terrific.

This is the neighborhood and it's pretty rough.

playground down the street from the restaurant.

Shut elementary school right across the street from the restaurant.

Another closed school in the 5th ward.

tugboat and levee - view driving back to the 9th ward from the 5th.

Louisiana National Guard Baracks. These are huge, elaborate baracks that go on for miles in the lower 9th ward. Far more prosperous looking than anything else.

Huge refinery - also in the 9th ward and right next to residential areas.

New Orleans - Day Eight - Easter

2009-04-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

One of many street musicians. She was terrific!

Not surprisingly there were many people elegantly attired with many fabulous hats today.

Snazzy couple

float at Easter Parade - flying beads are hazardous

more parade

pretty in pink

Freaked out miniature horse at parade

float w/jazz band in parade

French Quarter architecture

Mrs Wolkoff at Jackson Square

Mr Donato joined the break dancers

Cathedral at Jackson Square

Time for café au lait and beignets at Café du Monde

Clearly a rough day with lots of hard work. More seriously today was a real glimpse of the wonderful New Orleans culture. It was also a striking sign of the lousy economy because the crowds were thin. Nice for us, not good for the local economy which depends so heavily on tourism.

tomorrow we're back to work!

New Orleans - Day Seven - lower 9th, farmers market, Blair Grocery School.

2009-04-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

Driving to the lower 9th Ward Village we passed this closed elementary school - note the date on the sign. There is apparently no will to re-open it or many other schools in the city -with catastrophic results for many children in the area.

closed school

Working at the lower 9th

Building shelves for the warehouse to be for Rebuild Green

Cute kid at the farmer's market - she was a fabulous photographer - and she's 7.

Farmer's market in the lower 9th

The farmers market included a lot of prepared food including grilled shrimp, red beans and rice, home made cakes, music - a choir of kids singing at one point and a jazz band later. Lots of church groups and rebuilding groups but not a lot of produce at this point. Turner, about whom you'll hear more shortly, plans to remedy this with the huge organic garden he's teaching kids to grow.

Typical sign post - although they often are only hand lettered signs.

Turner

We met two guys there - Don from ReBuild Green and Turner from the Blair Grocery School. We left the farmer's market to go see the school. Turner has been coming down to work since the hurricane. He was a teacher in New York City and ultimately quit his job to come down full time last summer. He's running a small school, teaching a group of kids to garden organically, teaches them building skills and other highly practical skills. He's got a beat up building he's been rebuilding with his students, a big organic garden that takes up many formerly empty lots and two buses - currently full of 70 kids down from New York City to volunteer. His nonprofit is IFCO/Pastors for Peace

Garden at the Blair School

Turner talking to kids about his curriculum - organic gardening, rebuilding, etc

Don from Rebuild Green

Blair Grocery School (name presumably refers to building's former function.)

Bayeau - maybe half a mile from the school - a reminder that the water is never far in New Orleans. Don took us there to see it after we left the school.

And oh yes - can't forget that today was Maddy's birthday:

New Orleans - Day 6 - play day at the zoo

2009-04-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Today we played - pleasant afternoon spent at the Audobon Zoo.

otters!

Not much to say here - it's a lovely zoo and we had a good time. The contrast of the area and the general prosperity of both the zoo and its visitors was striking.

We also went back to the Reily Center at Tulane where we had dinner.

New Orleans - Day 5 - working in the lower 9th ward

2009-04-09T15:38:00.001-07:00

Surveying the mess in Letitia's workshop.

Letitia Youngblood's story is not unique - it's not atypical but it is heartbreaking. Letitia is an upholsterer. She does upholstery and makes drapery and teaches upholstering. Right before Katrina she was doing well enough that she refinanced her home in order to build a separate workshop out back and to renovate the house. Then Katrina came and destroyed her historic home and workshop.

She came back and found a contractor who took her money, did a lousy job and took off. She worked and saved enough to hire a second, better contractor. The house was getting close to done, close enough that the contractor told her to have her new appliances delivered. And then she got unlucky yet again when someone stole all the appliances, still in their boxes. They pulled a truck up to her home, took a chunk of fence off and cleaned her out. They stole her kitchen appliances, her toilet, the copper pipes in the floor and even the door and windows for her workshop.

If life wasn't harsh enough her mother died 4 months ago. She just wants to get home now and have life stop hitting her when she's down. The gutted house is beautiful - lovely woodwork and historic lines. someday, someday..... to help her you can donate though the 9th ward village here - and yes, it's a 501c3 organization.

in the workshop
in front of her house - note the historic district signs

After visiting her house, Mack, the executive director of the 9th ward village, took us on a tour of the lower 9th - us being myself and my father. We went to his own house. It's an amazing house - built around the turn of the last centery with astonishing details - a lot of stained glass and beautiful carved woodwork, high ceilings and lovely curved archways. It's also totally gutted - Katrina filled the first floor with 3 feet of water. Mack had just renovated the first floor and credits his contractor's zeal for many coats of varnish for an intact floor.

Mack pointing out details in the gutted house.

View out the back - the FEMA trailor is where Mack is currently living - and FEMA has notified him that it will be taken away on May 1 whether his home is ready or no. His insurance company is still stalling on paying the reduced amount they'd negotiated - 1/3 of the policy value.

fireplace with stained glass above

another one of the fireplaces - in the gutted front room.

In front of the house with my father. Mack is remarkably resilient. He's also more focused on helping others in his community so he's put far more effort into the 9th ward village and community center than his own home.

back at the 9th ward - Dave moving some girls.

Kyle working in the computer lab he and a few other kids put together.

intrepid shelf builders - there are a lot of tools here that need a place to be stored.

Another house in the 9th ward

and another
and another
and more - I was told that many of these houses, those that didn't have holes in the roofs, had people in them who drowned - the storm surge in parts of this neighborhood was 32 feet.

another historic house in the lower 9th

This was a really shocking day for me - driving through the neighborhood showed far more devastation than we had seen on the main streets. It's a beautiful, historic neighborhood. It's also been a poor black neighborhood all along and the neglict pre and post katrina is really horrifying.

Day 4 - New Orleans

2009-04-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Mack talking to kids about the day's work and how important what they're doing is in helping rebuild a community where only 5% of the elderly residents have been able to return.

Today half our group went to GreenLight New Orleans and the rest of us went back to the 9th Ward Village where we met with Mack McClendon, continued to work on building a computer lab, setting up the warehouse to work with Rebuild Green and assorted other projects. Mack is an amazing guy who's building a functioning community center with very little in the way of resources. You'll hear more about him and the 9th ward over the next few days.

Gail & Mack

sign for the center

one of the many boarded up houses we drove by constantly

After lunch we went to a city park - one of the biggest in the country at 1300 acres, it had been neglected for years after Katrina. Since then more than 25,000 volunteers have helped clear brush that went uncut for years and that's what we worked on for hours. It was hard work and we were all very glad that it was unseasonably cool.

Jim - park grounds guy who got us started and provided tools

clearing brush

One of many beautiful houses near Tulane - an area far more fully recovered than the lower 9th or St Bernard Parish - the differences are striking.

Dinner was courtesy of Bill Canning (Greenhills parent) at Tulane University and was followed by a couple of very welcome hours at the rec center. A long and physically demanding day full of contrasts.

New Orleans - Day Three - vampire tour

2009-04-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

building in French Quarter

wrought iron "corn" fence

former Ursuline convent - now archive for archdioscese

night tour

Last night after dinner we drove to the French Quarter to go on a vampire tour. It was a guided walking tour around the quarter focusing on all the vampire stories, crazy mass murderer history and the like. Our guide had written a book on the subject and was keen on making things as scary as possible with limited success given a crew of teens prone to laughing at the wrong moment. It was a lovely evening to walk around the quarter looking at beautiful architecture. After the tour we went to Cafe du Monde and enjoyed beignets and café au lait - life is rough!

New Orleans - Day Three - first day working

2009-04-07T17:23:00.001-07:00

computer lab creators

We divided into four groups today. Our group started out at St Bernard Parish Community Center where we did a mix of things including cleaning bathrooms and computer lab, doing inventory in food warehouse, and breaking ground for a garden.

We had a couple of really amazing encounters - a guy who stopped to chat while we were cutting sod for a garden who told us about his experiences during Katrina working to save his family pets when the water was more than chest deep. He told us he was on top of his roof with a couple dogs and two cats after breaking a window to rescue two cats floating on one mattress and a dog floating on another. He said a boat came up to him with a camera crew from CNN but they would only take him and not the animals so he passed. We never did find out if he was able to save the animals although he was walking a dog when he stopped to chat. He was a veteran who had served in two wars and who had lost everything he owned in the hurricane.

The second encounter was far lengthier with one of the guys running the community center. His name is Steve Gonzalez and he’s a guy that Charis, a Greenhills student who came on the first New Orleans trip in 2006 had interviewed extensively. I didn’t realize at first that that was who he was but as he told us his story I realized I had heard it before from Charis.

Steve and his wife of 42 years were caught in the hurricane. She was disabled and used a wheelchair. They had been rescued by boat, during which he had badly cut his leg. He was so focused on his wife that he hadn’t paid it any attention and was very lucky that it healed given the fifth in the water. He told us about driving back in with his wife afterwards and seeing nothing alive for blocks and blocks - no insects, birds, dogs or cats but the smell of death all around. When they saw another couple driving the other way both cars stopped and he and the other couple jumped out and embraced. The others said they thought they were the last people on earth. Then they ran over to his wife and hugged her. When Steve and his wife drove on she said “turn on the radio as loud as you can - the silence is frightening!” His wife had died a few months later after a series of strokes brought on by the stress of the whole experience. I can say with assurance that there wasn’t a dry eye in the group as he recounted this story. He’s an amazing guy - was running the kitchen, helping everyone. He told me that he’s there 7 days a week and that being there, meeting people and experiencing so many connections with people coming to help was all that kept him going.

taking inventory at St Bernard Parish Community Center

9th Ward -warehouse we worked in - will be used for Rebuild Green-New Orleans

Katrina artifacts

building markings - many buildings are still destroyed, some being rebuilt

more destroyed buildings

more to come later....

New Orleans - Day One - getting there.

2009-04-06T17:53:00.001-07:00

on the train

we set out from Ann Arbor at 1pm on Sunday April 5 - 27 of us - 21 kids in grades 7-11, 4 teachers, one mother and one grandfather. We took the train to Chicago and then changed trains to the City of New Orleans - a 20+ hour train trip. The leg into Chicago was late so we ate dinner at the food court at Union Station in Chicago.

The long train trip was fine - a peaceful time while kids played games, watched movies, slept, ate, slept, read, ate junk food and slept some more. When we got to New Orleans at about 2:30 Gail, Amanda and Neil got picked up by the car rental company and came back with 2 oversize vans and one mini-van. Dave, Dad (Alan - the grandfather on the trip) and I rode herd on the kids. We then drove to the house - run by Mustard Seed Ministries where we're staying.

Nick's views out the rear of the train

loading the vans at Union Station - NOLA

settling in at the house

This evening is being spent settling in, doing some errands, finding a spot for everyone to sleep and the like. Tomorrow we'll divide up and go to work with a number of organizations including a group in the Lower 9th Ward, St Bernard Parish & Animal Rescue New Orleans. Tonight we're just glad to be here and off the train!

Encaustic Works 09

2009-04-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

This juried exhibition is at the College of New Rochelle Castle Gallery in New Rochelle NY. It was juried by Heather Hutchison and sponsored by R&F Handmade Paints. I have a piece in the exhibition. More on the exhibition here.