memories to offset winter blahs

It's yet another cold, grey Michigan winter day. Fighting a bug and lacking the energy to go play in the snow I distract myself by looking back at more pictures from our trip to Canyonlands two summers ago. Wish I was in the desert now!

Write up on the alchemists

John Cantu of the Ann Arbor News came to last weekend's panel on digital art at WSG Gallery and wrote a good article on the exhibition of the 10 x 10 portfolio. My piece from that group project is above - wetland petroglyph - digital print from satellite image, encaustic and Photoshop. The art alchemist (digital artists collective) website is here.

sand/water/edge

This is the image I'm working with at the moment - it's the basis for a new painting which is in progress. I'll post the finished piece in a few days. This is from a lovely dusk walk at Wingaersheek Beach last summer when I was attending the National Encaustic Conference at Montserrat College. We stayed at a friend's family beach house - such as beautiful place as the photo shows.

more on presenting ecology of place

The Ann Arbor Chronicle posted a nice piece on the artwork and the presentation. Scroll down when reading for more pictures of the event. Thanks Mary!

ecology of place presentation

The presentation of Where We Live: The Ecology of Place to the County Board of Commissioners went well. Mary Morgan of the Ann Arbor Chronicle took pictures which I hope will be on their website at some point.

The piece will be permanently installed at the LLRC (Library Learning Resource Center) at the Hogback Road Service Center at the corner of Hogback and Washtenaw. I don't know exactly when it will be up but will post here when it is. It was a rare treat to be able to get feedback from a group of people about a public piece - nice to have it so well received!

upcoming exhibition at Sweetwaters

Three Artists....Three Generations
Nancy Feldkamp, Leslie Sobel, and Katie Halton are three generations of artists. This exhibition is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Women Artists.

March 2 - May 4, 2009
Sweetwaters Cafe Downtown
123 West Washington Street · Ann Arbor, MI 48104 · (734) 769-2331
Hours: Mon - Fri: 7am to midnight
Sat & Sun: 7:30am to midnight

edited to add links

Where We Live - The Ecology of Place

Today is the day my public art piece Where We Live - The Ecology of Place will be presented to the county at at County Commissioners Meeting. The piece was commissioned by the Street Art Fair and the Washtenaw Land Trust. I'm thrilled about this project. I was able to collaborate with a lot of people to make it happen - people at the county and the Land Trust provided me with high resolution satellite maps and GIS layers showing protected land, wetlands and wooded areas. Many people around the county sent me photos and words to incorporate. Susan Lackey and Suzanne Heiney of the Land Trust helped make it possible as did Aaron Gold at the Street Art Fair. I have to extend special thanks to Shary Brown, whose ideas, energy and enthusiasm made the project happen.

desert photos

Sitting here on a very snowy Michigan winter afternoon I've been looking at photos from a camping trip we took two summers ago. I love the southwest desert. I've been traveling out there for most of my life and someday I'll manage to move closer. Two summers ago we did a lot of hiking in Canyonlands National Park. Back in the Jurassic (at least that's how my kids describe it) before I had kids in school we used to travel west in spring and fall - much nicer time of year to be hiking in the desert than in August, which is when this most recent trip happened. I will say there are no crowds in Canyonlands in August since most people think hiking in 100+ degree weather is crazy. Anyway, here are a few photos from that trip. Canyonlands is a place replete with the wonderful silence I love about the desert.

new year and new art

Boy it's been far longer since I last posted than I realized. Somehow the winter holidays just take over my life entirely. While it was lovely seeing family and having a houseful of guests getting back to a routine that includes regular time in the studio and quiet feels very good just now.

I "met" an encaustic artist over the net - hi Karon! and have added her to my blogroll. She lives in the southwest. I'd love to have views like hers from my studio windows!

I've continued to do a lot of encaustic monotypes and have a group of them along with some works on panel at Yourist Studio Gallery in Ann Arbor. The monotypes are small, loose works on paper. They feel very exploratory and freeing to me so I'm really enjoying working this way. I'm in the process of assembling a couple of hotboxes so I'll be able to do much bigger ones - all that's left to do is the wiring now so I'll be up and running with them by the end of this week I hope.

These four pieces are all multiple layers of encaustic on kozo done directly on the heated palette. Not really monotypes if one is going to be technically accurate about it. They're all 6 x 6" and are mounted on cradled panels.