Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Revitalizing Historic Sites Through Contemporary Art: New Trust Art: Susie MacMurray at Kedleston Hall, ...

Revitalizing Historic Sites Through Contemporary Art: New Trust Art: Susie MacMurray at Kedleston Hall, ...: "PROMENADE from Benjamin Wigley on Vimeo . Contemporary art at historic sites is strongest when it directly reflects the context and h..."

This is Kate Laurel Mac Intosh's blog. She's Here&Now! revitalizing The Sargent House Museum in Gloucester MA by inviting artists to work in the gardens, making their art on Sunday afternoons this summer. Sound like fun? it is! If you are an artist and want to help revitalize Judith's house through your presence, contact Kate! and it's ok to sell your art too.

best,
deb

ps: if you contact Kate, tell her Deb sent ya!

Here & Now! Sarah Meyers Brent


Somerville artist Sarah Meyers Brent at work in The Sargent House Gardens last Sunday.  Sarah incorporates dried botanical elements into her acrylic paintings.  

Monday, July 18, 2011

Here & Now! a historic house 'Revitalization' project



 deb clarke represents at The Sargent House Museum!  Sunday 7/17.


Spent a white hot afternoon working in the gardens of The Sargent House Museum in beautiful downtown Gloucester yesterday.  2 reverse glass paintings in process, 2 drawings.  a ton of photos. the newly painted blue chairs and tables interest me. I will go back later in the summer for another afternoon of painting.  The fish painting is not what I worked on (it is from 1995), it was there as an example of a finished verre eglomise.  will post pics later of what i did, and need to finish.


The Sunday series of "Here & Now" under the direction of Kate Laurel MacIntosh is a 'revitalization' project to draw interest to this historic house, the one time home of Judith Sargent Murray.  Stop by and chat with the artists working on Sunday afternoons in the garden and get $2 off admission to the museum; pay $8 instead of $10.  the museum is raising funds to re-place the Main Street fence with a fence more in keeping with the house.  here's the link to The Sargent House Museum.  the homepage is breathtakingly beautiful.  If you are an artist and would like to work in the gardens this summer, contact Kate Laurel MacIntosh at the museum.

best,
deb

ps:  if you work in the gardens on a bright sunny day, bring a hat, sunscreen, and an umbrella.  there is no afternoon shade.  i hid in the bushes from time-to-time to escape the sun.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Sargent House Museum, Sunday July 17



If you are in town, come on down! there will be art making and greeting in the garden of this great historic house museum!

the link will take you to goodmorning gloucester, where there is a great write-up about the artists that will be working in the gardens of the Sargent House Museum this summer.  Some of John Singer Sargent's early 'doodles' are on display this summer.  along with Judith Sargent Murray's little desk, and the shoe that was nailed against the chimney? The Sargent doodles are equated with today's 'refrigerator magnets' in one of the write-ups about the museum.  The gardens face Main Street (up the steps).  Entrance to the museum is on Middle Street.  come on down and say hello!

there is fruit growing in this garden.  it's going to be hot; so wear a hat.  i will bring some glass, some sharpies, some foil, some water, a hat, and see what happens.  oh, yes!  I am one of the artists working in the garden tomorrow!

best,
deb

Saturday, July 9, 2011

faces i remember: new work-in-progress. Marilyn's Drawing Board


mixed media on laminated fiberboard.  a palimpsest.  Marilyn Buckles, an artist friend of blessed memory, gave me this drawing board to work on.  She had used it as a drawing support for several years, then I used it as a drawing/painting support for a decade or so.  Yesterday the memory of the plant series that we worked upon, together/apart led me to consider drawing.  This I did while all of our art conversations, visits flowed through me.  A figure emerged:  Marilyn at 3 and !/2 ' (a glass drawing of Marilyn advancing towards me.  her exact shape drawn upon the front of the glass, the exact size she appeared as i stood 2 feet in front of the glass, while marilyn stood 3 1/2 ' behind it.)  the painting broke.  i kept the shards.  after the memory moved through me, the marsh paintings appeared, dissolved, then the face began to emerge.  Marilyn's remembered words:  it is everything.  it is the surface, it is upon it, it is in it, it is object.  it is just everything.  yellow light fills the south window where we last met. 

best,
deb

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Post number: 501 Red Chair redacted





took the red chair outside yesterday, re-worked the canvas with fusion acrylic spray paint and some oil paint. next step? loaded palette. brother Mike asked:  'do you go through this process with all of your paintings?' yes. 'you work until your happy with it.'  no, it's not about happiness.  it's about the energy.  i work until there is understanding, then the paint and action take over.  the action ceases when the energy is 'right'.  it may take weeks, or days or hours.  something happens, the work then goes quickly, it may be minutes seeming like hours or hours seeming like minutes, then it is good.  then it is finished, and done with me.

while preparing this post yesterday i read this  about Cy Twombly's process in the New York Times article about his passing yesterday.  

“It’s more like I’m having an experience than making a picture.” The process stood in stark contrast to the detached, effete image that often clung to Mr. Twombly. After completing a work, in a kind of ecstatic state, it was as if the painting existed and he barely did anymore: “I usually have to go to bed for a couple of days.”

the link for the full article:  'Cy Twombly, Idiosyncratic painter'.   

best, deb