Joy Dai Buell in The Empire Window

Juni Van Dyke is curating shows in The Empire Windows at 169 Main Street, Gloucester.  Three of the windows are dedicated to the art efforts of the seniors that participate in her art programs at Gloucester's Rose Baker Senior Center.  One window is for invited artists to exhibit for a month and then talk about their work at the center.  May's offering is the work of Gloucester artist, teacher JoiyDai Buell.  Joi's paintings can be viewed 24 hours a day until June 4, and on June 5, I will install my work.

this last painting looks like 'whale's jaw'.

best,

deb.

Seen in Glosta!

5:19 pm today.

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 7

Transferring Hokkusai 'The  Great Wave".  4 panels complete.  Brother Mike notes the images get very dimensional when the voided space of the 8x8" stretchers is considered during the re-construction.  

copyright debbie clarke 2011

gloucester ma

vinyl transfer, packing tape, aluminum leaf, Kanku dye (non-edible, not for human consumption)

Transferring the Hokkusai

Hokkusai "The Great Wave"  from the 36 views of Mount Fuji.  This image was on my shower curtain.  A few weeks ago I started to 'see things' in the shower curtain.  What I was seeing was the slow dissolution of the vinyl print dripping down the plastic curtain.  It was not The Virgin Mary.  It was not the face of Jesus.  I replaced the shower curtain with a light green leaf printed affair.  the price was right $4 from Bananas.  long/short on the way to becoming a drop cloth I experiemented with lifting the print with clear packing tape.  yes, success.  below is an image of the work table with the transfer in process.  i will use it up, print, plastic, tape and all.  8x8" on stretchers.

best to all,
deb

hello dear readers, friends, followers and transient, random drop-ins to this blog

family matters have caused a hiatus in my updates to this nest; however, the art continues.  my travels bring me to  burlington where my baby brother has just undergone open heart surgery.  he is progressing well and should be out of hospital by monday (fingers crossed).

 i changed his diapers for the first time when i was 4 and he just wee..3days, 3 weeks?  one of my earliest memories is carrying his swaddled body from the center of a military double bed to my mother in the kitchen.  her mouth dropped at my simple words "i was afraid he would fall off the bed".  the next memory is my brother pissing in my mother's face, may have been a few days before or a few days after my intrepid carry.  he is a good man and should heal well.

thank you for sharing your time with me.  i will capture some pics of my art, when i can.  but, i think i will first share some pics of the Indian grocers that i have found in my travels.

eat your fiber, give up the salt. in our family it is genetics.

best to you all.
deb

btw:  know of any good Indian grocers in the Burlington/Woburn MA area?  let me know.  i have time to explore and compare.

Hopskipping through Social Media

If you click the title, it should take you to goodmorninggloucester wherein a discussion about art is going on. 

This all started from my Facebook Friend Paula's link to a video share about art; which I then shared through my  wall.  I then posted the link on Paul Frontiero's Facebook wall, with a suggestion to post it on goodmorninggloucester.  Paul posted the Creature Comfort's video with a question to consider art, thus the discussion thread.  I love the irreverent ending of this video.  

I will now tweet this message.  I don't use twitter often, but would love to see where this post goes. looking forward to seeing where this post gets shared to whether twitter, gmg, facebook, your blog, your friends.


My contribution to the art discussion on goodmorninggloucester is about art as an energy exchange.  This idea was first presented to me through the writings of American artist Audrey Flack.  This little book has been a studio companion for 20 years.  always recommended to my students and artist friends.  She covers vast territory of contemporary art thought, process, the market place, the national juries.  always thought-provoking.  "not everyone can be in New York.  there is a place for regionalism."

more true today, than when American regionalism was the rage.

happy travels post! time for a game of Hop, Skip and Jump!
best, deb.

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 6, The Last of the Stretchers

'have you done anything?'  'why, yes.  i have drunk all of the rum.'

and i have used all of my stretchers.  now, to take the work off the wall.  a few views of one possibility.  flat, on the wall, and off, free form.  

i have a little over 14,000 inches of packing tape.  50 feet or so of wire.  75 running feet of 5x5" aluminum leaf, a 1/2 pint of gesso.  a pint of matt medium.  10 sticks of chalk.  5 sheets of 30/40 stonehenge.  several hundred feet of rice paper.  a few gallons of wax.  several hundred yards of kodak laminate. 2 square feet of fine genuine silver.  

off the wall.  off the wall.  i have to let go.  sometimes i am a control freak.  

best, 

deb

packing tape art and a word on inspiration.

 reverse, adhesive surface. foil transfer.  2,3" 

 on black background. front, non-adhesive.  'the window'

 on white background. window face. non-adhesive

 detail.  leaf transfer in process.  window side, leaf on reverse.

my rather tidy workspace with work in progress.  expecting studio visits soon.

best,

deb

ps:  where did this packing tape art idea come from?  i use tape for grids.  the tape became more interesting once i started using it to clean up stray leaf droppings.  then i started to transfer the leaf from the tape.  and i had a lot of leaf, and i had broken one too many glass paintings, and i wanted to be tidier, and i wanted to just work with light.  

then, just now, i see the CSI using transfer tape to lift grit, fingerprints, evidence.  love those CSI shows, Criminal Minds disturbs me, so I don't watch.

Easter doings, and Building the Empire Show sneek peek 5

 white eggs dyed orange by putting onion skins and vinegar in the water bath

 this face emerged in the palette knife scraping

 packing tape with paper transfer

 epson print transfer with palette knife scraping 

 palimpsest with aluminum leaf, chalk transfer and kodak laminate

the palimpsest described above with brighter light

highlights from the work last week.  the palimpsest completed yesterday morning.  boiled the eggs yesterday, recipe courtesy of my good friend June, with a nod to her childhood memories. started cooking yesterday am, didn't stop until 6 or so.  hightlights of the efforts:  2 quiche lorraine, 2 sweet potato pies, one roast beef, scalloped potatoes, asparagus and...

Hey EB!  I have your D&G Sunglasses! 

best,

deb.

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 4

putting in my time.  have lost count of work.  wanted to share the work with you under the moment-to-moment light changes.  very plastic.  very bright.  panels to live with and dream into.  the work table is manageable, still can't find the new deck of charcoal.  running out of aluminum leaf.  running out of stretchers.  2 books of genuine silver leaf.  lots of combination leaf, but want to stay away from gold for a bit.  palmisest in process on the shelf.

what do you see when you peek into these works?

best,

deb

ps:  just found 2 fresh rolls of packing tape: 3,871.8".  maybe i'll build some work without stretchers.

seagull squall

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 3 (work in progress)

there's a lot of light in the kitchen studio.  walked into the room early last evening and was struck by the light of the windows and the taped panels. the panels give the essence of the ever changing light around here.  it bounces off of everything.    there's a new palimpsest on the shelf.  dragged my bathrobe sleeve through the wet grumbacher white this morning.  didn't notice until the damage was done.  also surprised by how tidy the workspace feels, but when i look at this picture, i wonder at the chaos i can tolerate.  

best, deb

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 2

 newest work:  palimsest.  oil with m/m on panel

 the work wall with drawing

close-up.  the packing tape work has a see through panel.

best,

deb.

gifts for a personal puja

Lakshmi, a gift from Richard.  dotted with red, is heavy with use.  the stone heart has many vistas and faces; from my sister Jeri.  she was here briefly for a funeral.  she crashed on our couch.  it was sweet sleeping on the other couch with her near me and my brother mike and my david asleep  in the upstairs' bedrooms.  for a bit we dreamed together. remembrances of childhood when jeri shared a bed with linda and me.  jeri in the middle. 

 then, on Sunday, we got to shop in Cambridge at Shalimar, after eb's 'josh' made us waffles for breakfast (yes, we were early!) at their place in Allston.

found this puja pack for a very reasonable $3.99

 the contents.  seeds, nuts, spice, wicking, rock cand, lakshmi string, tumeric, candy, honey. this is 'non-edible' and for ritual use only.  "The Family"  Siva, Parvati and Krsna has a sacred holiday calendar on the reverse. 

one last view because i think it so pretty.  is it okay to use these in art?  i'm particularly interested in using the dye and the tumeric.  have been told that grinding the tumeric and applying it to my face is what i should do.  the lakshmi string?  can i take it apart?  do i have friends tie it to my wrist in a mala? or do i put it in the art?

Oh, if you are in Central Square, here the link to Shalimar.  

Shalimar, Indian food & spice, great takeout! or eat-in.

best,

deb.

From the Archives: "Alberta Hay"

"Alberta Hay" 

rice paper, alberta hay, ink, glass, sealed environment 2007 

Magnolia/Rocky Neck, Gloucester MA

the Alberta Hay bales in front of the Randomarts Magnolia Studio were about to thaw.  i sliced a 4x6x10" leaf from the bale.  sliced the leaf into 8 sections, watered each leaf, added wildflower seed, sealed the environment.  the Alberta Hay produced several generations of midgies, seed sprouted, tiny flowers formed.  two of these works 'lived' in our kitchen, right above our sunny kitchen table.  two sprouted on my friend Karen's wall.  four lived on the installation walls/trees of the 'then' neighborhood art installation.

this is the only evidence left of the event.  the other leaves were opened and used to enrich other gardens.

best,

deb.

Beginning: marble dust monoprint

the things i do for art.  can you see the print on the tape?  starting a new work 10x10".

best,

deb.

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek

#24 in progress.  idea for palimpsest in wax on shelf.

Debbie Clarke

The Empire Show

June 2011

Gloucester MA

artists, followers, friends:  do you share your works in progress on-line?  or do you only share completed work?  pros/cons.