Worldwide Sketch Crawl Day 2009.07.11
090711 Sketchcrawl 08 by Flickr user Borromini Bear. Click image to view source.
Via the SILA blog.
Today is the 23rd International Sketch Crawl Day! Go ye and make drawings in ye Books of Sketch. Browse the SketchCrawl Flickr pool here.
Hey, Okies: who wants to converge for the next Sketch Crawl, in more or less October? (The official date has not yet been released.) All we have to do is draw. Let's talk about it.
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.
Carrie Ann Baade Interview at Hi Fructose
Wedding Portrait of Madam Himmelblau, oil on panel, 2005 by Carrie Ann Baade. Click image to view source. This painting is from the Secret Lives of Portraits series.
via Right Some Good.
The Hi Fructose blog is featuring an exclusing interview with contemporary pop baroque painter Carrie Ann Baade. Reading Baade's description of her working process, I found that she uses collage as a sketching method, just like I do! Quote:
The spark of the muse that could be called intuition is present when I make the collage for my work. I begin this process by covering the first floor of my house in photos and ripped out pages from books. After the floor is covered I walk around looking for images that fell on top of each other in an interesting manner…this is similar to reading tealeaves. Often I will have a question in mind while diving into the piles of picture images, such as, “What can I say about the horrors of dating in Tallahassee.” This process reminds me of reading tarot cards and getting an answer through the cards that can sometimes be uncannily accurate. Looking for the divine spark to speak to me through these images, I collect and adhere together with cellophane tape to paint later. I know something is really working if I involuntarily laugh aloud at the juxtaposition.
I feel the same intuitive connectivity when I'm making collage sketches. Sometimes the best compositions happen by accident, because I left two scraps in the same pile. I look over and realize, with a little rush of adrenaline, "Of course those go together!"
Ostrich, collage sketch, 2007 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.
I like how Baade allows the collage aesthetic to show through in her finished paintings, without her images appearing slapped-together. She does an excellent job of creating integrated compostitions from a variety of sources. The world is a vast grab-bag of information, and our job as artists is to interpret, reinterpret, and dis-cover meaning through our medium. Although Baade has been told that "paint was an inadequate media to display the complexity of [her] ideas," her intricate creations overflow with narrative and emotion. You can explore more of Carrie Ann Baade's work here.
As I was reading this interview on the Hi Fructose blog, I felt an eerie similarity between Baade's collage process and my own. This feeling was redoubled when I saw the previous blog post about the release of Isabel Samaras' new monograph by Chronicle books. The gent on the cover bears an uncanny resemblance to this guy here. The similarity is a coincidence.
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.
Modern Materials Contemporary Quilt Show at Untitled
Modern Materials: The Art of the Quilt at Untitled [Artspace], July 11 through August 29, 2009
Untitled [Artspace] in Oklahoma City (map link) has just opened Modern Materials: The Art of the Quilt. By all accounts, this show is not to be missed. These works are especially suited to art audiences in Oklahoma, where the traditional so often collides with the contemporary (as in the excellent VisionMakers show).
On Saturday July 11 at 6:30 pm, there will be a talk in the gallery by one of the participating artists, contemporary quilt maker Pam RuBert. Looking around RuBert's website, I'm particularly enjoying the yoga posture series, and this narrative quilt Robbery at the Lingerie Boutique.
Untitled [Artspace] has a great e-newsletter to help keep us abreast of art events in the OKC area. Sign up here.
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.
Back To Normal now open at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum
Installation view of Back to Normal, photo by romy owens.
My new solo show, Back to Normal: Normal, OK Revisited, is now open at the Gaylord Pickens Museum in Oklahoma City. Come on down!
I'll be giving a public talk in the gallery on Saturday July 18th at 2 pm.
Meet some of the Normal people in here.
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.
What's the Story? Peggy Preheim at the Philbrook Museum
Kid Napping, (pencil on paper, 14 x 11 inches) 2003 by Peggy Preheim. Collection of John Carhart Ebeling.
When we look at figurative art, we inevitably place ourselves inside the narrative, whether consciously or subconsciously. Peggy Preheim's work presents us with a complex set of visual information, but no clear story lines. As viewers, we create personal narratives through which we can interpret her work. On Thursday Wednesday July 8, 2009, I will be leading a discussion about symbolism and implied narrative in the work of Peggy Preheim at the Philbrook Museum. The talk starts at noon in the Helmerich Gallery.
Little Black Book, a comprehensive collection of Peggy Preheim's drawings, sculptures, and photographs, is on display at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa through July 26. Here's a map.
I highly recommend the catalog that accompanies this show. Not only is it a beautifully made book, it contains insightful interpretations of Preheim's work and an "Object Map" of some of the artist's sources.
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.