Kent Art In The Park, Sept. 10-11

New to my show roster this year is Kent's Art In The Park. I've attended the show as a guest many times, but this is the first year I've had a booth there.

Held in Kent’s Fred Fuller Park on Middlebury Rd., the location is beautiful and shaded. The festival has plenty of artists, food, music on 2 stages, plus activities for the entire family. Parking and admission are free. Hours are:

Sept 10, 10a.m. – 6p.m.
Sept 11, 11a.m. – 5p.m.

For more information, visit http://www.kentparksandrec.com/annual-events/art-in-the-park

Art on the Green 2016

This year's Art on the Green was another lovely event. The weather was hot and sunny, and brought out the crowds.

I love this show (it's around the corner from my studio, after all) but it's a bit bittersweet. Because it's held on the last weekend before Labor Day, it's a signal that summer is coming to an end.

This year's show was held:

Saturday, August 27: 10am – 5pm
Sunday, August 28: 11am – 5pm

Art On The Green attracts 150 local and regional artists, showing art, woodcarving, glass, metal, sculpture, fiber, jewelry, enamel, and more. It is consistently one of the nicest shows around.

The show is presented by Hudson Society of Artists. Be sure to visit their page and give them a like: https://www.facebook.com/groups/148018308548353/

Also visit: http://www.lifeneedsart.com/events/art-on-the-green-2016/

Coming Soon To An Art-o-Mat Near You

It’s been a while since my last series of artwork for Art-o-mat, and I’ve missed making them. I really enjoy working on these series, and love seeing these little guys come together.

My larger artwork has been exploring envelopes. They’re a dying art – who sends letters anymore? Envelopes (at the root, “envelop”) are meant to wrap and contain things, and then to be opened and the contents released. I’m interested in the contrast between open and closed, hidden and visible, and the emotions they evoke.

The current Art-o-mat series plays on the theme with a little handmade envelope with an unexpected surprise peeking out, attached to a wooden block covered in vintage map or book page. The surprise might be flowers or pets, people or sayings. They are light and humorous, and hopefully will give patrons a chuckle.

Insufficiently Wrapped, a collage

“Insufficiently Wrapped” plays on the envelope theme with an image that couldn’t be contained.

I liked the idea of a neat and tidy envelope spilling messy contents all over the place.

Envelopes are meant to contain, but sometimes they just can’t hold it in anymore.

The envelope is made from a magazine image that I altered with solvent, then painted with transparent gold paint. The button is not real – it’s a sticker.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/insufficiently-wrapped/

Too Much To Contain

“Too Much To Contain” looks at what happens when the envelope is too full and the contents are released.

I love the mix of modern and vintage bits here: graphs from a 1950s physics book, vintage elements from the 1880s, mixed with modern snapshots and maps. It’s a wonderful, complex mix of items.

The envelope is made from a piece of paper that I painted, along with a vintage stamp. An odd view of it from the side is below, taken while I was holding a mat on it to check the progress.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/too-much-to-contain/

Remembrance, a collage

“Remembrance” uses a modern envelope paired with a vintage greeting card. I wanted to echo the greeting card with the other elements in the piece, so looked for papers with a similar feel.

As I have tried to do in other recent pieces, I tried to be somewhat spontaneous in my approach and not over analyze the selection and placement of elements. I wanted the overall effect to be loose and energetic, full of life, though the style of the vintage card hints at having been used to remember a life.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/remembrance/

Going Forth, a collage

Remember the excitement of finding a real envelope in the mail, one with a card or letter?

Envelopes are more than paper: their purpose lies equally in being able to wrap, contain, and conceal, as well as open and release. They are the messenger, so rarely (never?) are they the reason for the missive.

Yet being wrapped and opened, sent and delivered conjure up all kinds of emotions for us. In the Envelop/e series, I’ll explore those emotions.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/going-forth/

Walk In The Woods, a collage

“Walk In The Woods” continues my exploration with a collage process that is more free and intuitive.

No carefully analyzed plan, no agonizing over each piece. Instead, I tried to put pieces together because they felt like they belonged together.

Do vintage buttons, corrugated cardboard, and French knots really belong together? Who knows, but they seemed to belong together.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/walk-in-the-woods/

Waterfall, a collage

“Waterfall” began, as so many of my abstract paintings do, with quick and instinctive swatches of paint on paper. Quick and energetic, applied in an intuitive, physical way.

After the paint dried, I enhanced the paint with some machine stitching to draw attention to it and add texture, then added the puff of shredded black paper.

http://www.lifeneedsart.com/gallery/waterfall/