Back in the studio

After a wonderful music-making weekend last weekend, this week has been dedicated to visual arts again. The 4 Elements Art Expo was a great opportunity to hang with other artists, and having work on exhibit always seems to motivate me to do more (it's so nice when you get to see the "fruits of your labor" in one place at an exhibit). So I spent some time in the studio this weekend and I have finally settled on committing to two projects (I actually have TOO many not-even-half finished projects going on... it can be overwhelming). Once again -- like I have written so many times -- I should wait for the finished product... but I am SO excited that these two compositions have begun to emerge, I wanted to show images of portions of the compositions as "teasers". So here you go...

Can't wait to see how they turn-out in the end!

4 Elements Art Expo (UTICA, NY)

 The Art Expo at 4 Elements Studio this weekend was a lot of fun. The Expo features work of some of the very impressive visual artists from the Utica (NY) area including the AMAZING large scale pen-and-ink drawings of David "RC" Oster:

The glorious work of Vartan Poghosian, the owner of 4 Elements Studio:

The beautiful prints and paintings of Tim Rand:

The playful and creative wood sculptures of Marc-Anthony Polizzi:

The thought-provoking and diverse works of my friend and sometimes collaborator, Tony Thompson:

The emotional and expressive splashes of color that comprise the powerful pieces by Kathy Donovan (including wonderful abstract collages):

And, of course, yours truly...

There were a number of other great artists featured in the expo. It was so nice to take it all in. I was also happy to sell 5 small pieces (I used that money to buy artwork from others to give as holiday gifts). I always find that hanging out with artists is good for my soul. The works will remain on display through the holiday season. 

4 Elements Studio Art Expo

So pleased and humbled to be showing 22 of my artworks at this year's Art Expo at 4 Elements Studio in Utica, NY. It's such a nice alternative to "Black Friday" and corporate greed!

Auditory collage

Well, if there is such a thing as an "auditory collage", we put one together as a group on Saturday. I have been playing guitar with my dear friend "Goody" for 25 years now (along with our friend Gabe Lockwood for 7 or 8 years). They have both been involved with various bands for years. When the three of us get together we mostly "jam" (although I prefer to call it "improvisational playing"). One of us will start with some "riff" we have been working on (or we will start playing a riff that we have played before), and then each of us will join in and add texture. The tempo and melody can change as auditory ideas emerge through our playing. It's so much like the way I approach my collage-making... and I love it! I can play guitar well enough to do cover songs. But I typically don't -- partially because I'm lazy; and partially because that kind of playing doesn't fulfill my need for creativity and spontaneity. I sometimes tell people, I like to create music more than playing music (i.e., like playing cover songs). But by no means am I opposed to playing cover songs (I've been working on a couple. "Neil Young's "Down by the River", for example). Goody visited from Boston this weekend, and Gabe was in town (we haven't played together for a while). I was excited to get together and create! I also invited special guests Colin Hubbel (guitar) and Anthony Bianco (keyboard/synth) to sit-in. I suspected they had a similar approach to improvisational music-making. WOW! We had a great session on Saturday evening! So good for the soul to create music improvisationally with such good musicians! Soon, I will get back to the wonderful world of making collages. But for now, I am enjoying basking in the memories of making an auditory collage with other artists.

L to R: Me, Gabe, Goody

Main Street Merchantile (Little Falls, NY)

Had a wonderful time last night at the opening reception for the current art exhibit at Main Street Merchantile (in Little Falls, NY). 

 

"What's Next"

 Not 100% settled on the title, but it was the first "feeling" I got from this image. Below the images of the completed piece (4" x 6"; 10" x 12" framed), I have included two others to show the effects of some "micro-manipulation" of the image.

Take notice of the bottom left hand corner of this image. Initially, the cut was parallel to the bottom horizontal axis, because I hand cut out another building piece (i.e., rather than it being a "hole" in the white brick wall). Leaving like that would have created an interesting point of "tension", perhaps. But I wanted to see how it would look if I created the appearance of a hole in the all. So I cut out a tiny piece of  dark blue paper to see it that way (I had to use that strategy, because it would have been difficult to put the corner back, had I cut it from the original). I MUCH prefer it asa "hole-in-the-wall" illusion, so I made the actual cut on the element.

Anthony Morgan video

Had to share this very cool time-lapse video of my friend and fellow collage artist -- Anthony Morgan -- putting together a recent collage.

https://youtube.com/shorts/jAYdvhR0vQ0?si=27e2xdFEgR7lkZ73

 

Utica University NEXUS tallk

I really enjoyed giving my talk at Utica University yesterday afternoon, entitled "Collage, Creativity and the Humanities". And the talk was accompanied by a mini "pop-up" exhibit of my work. Here's one of the strong messages that I had on my powerpoint slides:

 

The Old Schwamb Mill

The Old Schwamb Mill is located in Arlington, Massachusetts (on the outskirts of Boston). It is rumored to be the oldest continuously working saw mill (powered by the small waterway just outside its doors) in the country. They specialize in beautiful oval frames. During a recent Octoberfest celebration, my good friend Goody played outdoors with his band The Gruvmeiners (great job guys!). The mill itself was open to the public on that day and displayed very impressing wood-cutting machinery (powered by the moving creek water). But they also have a small art gallery, and I was very impressed that it featured some beautiful collage (mixed media) and assemblage work. The exhibit is no longer up, but I thought I'd share some of the images of the great work that was on display. I love looking at others' collages!