Sunday, October 21, 2012

Playing Favorites: Chapter 10


Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...


Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
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"The Morning Smelled of the River. This piece incorporates the many things that I love: limestone clay on a wood substrate, which allowed me to paint, scratch, add texture, sand away, and add more layers. It also has a niche, so I was able to add a 3-D element, in this case, a stack of river rocks. This piece represents a peaceful, natural setting brought indoors."

"Thicket was one of those paintings that I consider a happy accident. I mixed the background color using the remnants of paint from a very old tube, along with a few other colors. The wet color was shockingly bright and I decided rather quickly that I'd have to paint over it. Then it dried to a beautiful deep curry color. I keep a color journal and had documented my color recipe but have been unable to replicate it."

"This book, 9/11+5, was conceived in response to the question, 'What can an individual do about the war in Iraq?". It first existed as a drum leaf book, 5.75" x 5.5", with acrylic paste paint and collograph printed pages on Fabriano paper, ceramic covers painted with acrylic and red kangaroo spine. The pages were scanned and text added in Photoshop. It can be seen as a page turning flip book here."

"Carnivore, a Polaroid emulsion transfer, is one of the few pieces I have carried around for years. In the early 90s I took a museum sketching class, which included working from Antoine Louis-Barye's bronze Tiger Attacking an Antelope. Drawing in the museum was a great experience. I found myself really looking at the art plus got over my discomfort with onlookers. Years later I had fun reinterpreting this sketch using the emulsion transfer technique. The fluid nature of the wet film gave me room to play, tearing at the edges to add energy to the piece."

"Decay 1 is a chine colle print created using a solarplate created from a photograph taken in Chinatown of a graffiti covered wall, Akua printmaking inks, and Chinese joss paper. It reminds me that beauty and meaning often lie beneath the surface and aren't always recognizable to everyone."

"This Blue Earth is a mixed media collage that portrays the micro and macrocosmic patterns repeated on different scales. It's an old work that I've never parted with because it's where I discovered what I wanted to say."

"This is a part of a piece called Jazz en Ciel, created in 2010. This is a summer night in a castle in France, during a Jazz concert. The piece was reflecting the warm atmosphere and wonderful sky on that night."

"I want more out of life 2008. The title says it all - I always come back to this one for a benchmark. There are parts of this drawing that are in perfect pitch for me, and then there are parts that are textured meanderings that seem to go nowhere and are seeking, exploring (like the grape vines sending out its tendrils to reach out and grasp and grow) - I love the random nature of it and the depth."

"Dream On. The first mixed media piece I did that I really liked. Love the prussian blue, the cards, my handprints, the raven. People see this at shows and stand in front of it and talk about how they could look at it a long time and always see something new. I love that about it. Successful use of transfers, stencils and layers. Good rock n roll name."

"The sum is greater than the parts."

"Vintage Woodland journal page. I made this book page for a tip-in project and didn't have any idea at first what to do for a journal with this theme. Then when I began gathering material appropriate for the theme, I began to be excited about it and a whole quiet world seemed to grow before my eyes."

"Keys to Contentment. I made this a few years back. It represents the special place my partner and I like to go on the north shore of Lake Superior."

"Approaching Fear is a shadowbox (one of what I call my scrapboxes). The title has a double meaning, which is, to me, almost like a question and an answer: fear is approaching someone, but that 'someone' has ways of dealing with, or 'approaching' this fear as well (a negative countered by a positive!)."
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Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, October 28th and will be the last in the "Favorites" series.

8 comments:

Artsnark said...

what a fun assortment! Thanks for sharing

bohemiannie! art said...

Lots of wonderful art this week (as always). I'm off to click links. Thanks again Seth! You is da bomb. :)

Laura J. Wellner (author pseudonym Laura J. W. Ryan) said...

Dear Seth, I just linked my blog post with yours, as always, you have a beauty of a blog with so many fascinating artists to see! Thank you for posting my little drawing today! Best wishes, Laura

Jill Zaheer said...

It's sunday funday- a great way to be in your own private gallery with artwork so close and up front with their meanings to the artists! Just great- and once again, look forward to more time researching the artists!

Unknown said...

Thank ou for sharing these artists -- so much inspiration here.

The Creative Beast said...

Another great selection of great artwork Seth! Thank you for curating this wonderful 'gallery' of yours =-)

Darlene K Campbell said...

Oh Seth, I know there is so much "behind the scenes work" in order to bring this series of work to us, and all the other art opportunities you present. Each time I see "The Altered Page" pop up in my in-box I think ooh, let's see what Seth has for us today. I just want to say a simple (but meaningful) thank you for finding creative avenues for artists to explore and celebrate in.
Cheerios,
Darlene

Jo Murray said...

A heap of wonderful inspirational browsing for me today thanks Seth.