October and November

I got busy.
busier than normal and then I had to decompress after all the business.

Most of October I did one of 3 things: Worked at Pablo's coffee where I always work on the weekends, worked weekdays at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver where I do install on contract a few times a year, and worked on a large cross-stitch.  I also spent a few days with my amazing, artful friends, Nina and Craig who visited from Wisconsin and I also did the work of GroundSwell Gallery because we had another opening (as we do every month).  Here are a few notable pictures from that time:

MCA's Postcript show up through Feb. 3, I helped hang the many grid layouts

Lindsay St. Antoine opened at GroundSwell Gallery Nov. 10,  I bought this painting.

field trip to Clyfford Still Museum with Christian, Nina and Craig.

Pablo's Coffee...  mmm, latte.  I can sling a lot of lattes in 5 - 7 hours

This is the project that it's been all about for the last 8 months.  Showing one more week at Redline Gallery for the Art by Craft exhibit. (click image to see full size)

The month of October was especially important for completing this cross stitch project.  Spending Time, a double portrait of my husband and myself created from a photograph that I took and then pixilated.  Each stitch recreates the image pixel by pixel.  Formally, this work nods to early American needlework and the tedious work of commemorating family through stitches.  Conceptually, the sustained work of cross stitching over 8 months, spending time with the image of us together, builds to a meditative practice.  I felt the work became compulsive as the deadline for the Art by Craft exhibition neared, though I doubt it would have been so, had there not been a deadline.  This piece is immediately very personal to me.  Maybe that's obvious, but unlike other artwork that I have made, I feel more protective and private about this.  I want it to be as simple as it is and as monumental as it is without elaboration.

Also installed at this exhibition, the Tinnient Campana installation (previously installed at Forest Room 5 in September). 

Tinnient Campana also on view at Redine through Nov. 29 (click image for full size)

This artwork refers to the proliferation of ring tones without bells in modern culture.  The bell itself (like latin and other obsolete forms of communication have done) is gradually becoming a lesser known object or tool for communication.  Lovely in tactile forms and unique resonances, I wanted to make the bells for this installation out of adoration for the antiquated object and recognition for its outmoded-ness highlighted by our dear cell phones.  Tinnient Campana literally means, ring the bell, and our unknowing of that meaning may leave us hesitantly reaching for the bell as though to ring it, unsure of our intuition.

This installation is difficult to photograph because it is about 25 ft. long in total.  Eventually, my website will be updated to include best images.

Last note:  Because I needed to get back to it, a thank you to Mark Bystrom for noting that my blog has been ignored since early September.

T

Left: T shirt I bought in San Fransisco at a thrift store when I was 17 - quickly became my favorite T and remains on top today.

Right: T shirt I bought last Friday at Civilized Living (Fancy Tiger) made by Denver's Adam Sikorski (a mono print).  May be my next favorite. 

Can't help pointing out that this is clear evidence that I've become somewhat of a minimalist (probably thanks to my minimalist architect husband). Thanks Adam, Thanks Fancy Tiger, Thanks Daytona....

ceramics for the summer

This Summer, I decided to take on a new installation project after an April conversation with Jordan from Denver's Forest Room 5 (Restaurant, Bar, Lounge, Night Club, and more recently - Gallery).  The offer was simple, they have a newer large room (I call it the tree-house) where DJ's play out to crowds and the walls are dedicated to monthly art exhibits.  I decided to do an installation that I felt could interact with this thematically rich space.  Henceforth, a plan to create as many bells out of porcelain as I could and figure out a way to install them along a long wall in the space. I wanted to continue work that addresses a concept I've been addressing in my work lately - cryptic or obsolete language, while also creating a piece that interacts with the "trees" at Forest Room. 

I talked about cryptic language in an earlier post about a drawing I made for the Exquisite Corpse project at my gallery, GroundSwell.  The idea of creating works that have a message though the message is not entirely obvious or understandable to most, makes sense to me as a way of avoiding a didactic or even trite nature.  I have a subtle irritation with artwork that poorly uses statements or words (so obvious, too moralistic, awkwardly immature, etc.), so I try not to use words in my work.  ...lately, I can't help myself as I realize I can make the message or the words only known to me and maybe a few focused, intent, or just in-the-know individuals.  This work is about the obsolescence of bells and their "language" of timbre and pitch, timing and number, but it is also about the constant language of "ring tone" in the contemporary bell or chime known as a cell phone.  It's a note that says, "oh yeah, remember these?" to my peers and also says to the chicos, "Hey kids, this is what a ring tone used to come from!"  I know bells aren't extinct, but...  you know, I just love bells and I think it's interesting that I love something that is now becoming a sentiment or nostalgic item of antiquity.   This artwork is titled, Tinnient Campana. 

So this summer, I worked on Tinnient Campana for daaaaays at the Art Students League of Denver (which is awesome) with Barry Rose (who really knows his stuff when it comes to ceramics) to make by hand as many porcelain bells and clappers (the piece that strikes the bell from the inside) as I could.  There are 108 of them.  I'm exhibiting 99 in groups of 3.  The purpose of installing a large number is to identify the proliferation of "ring tones" in our lives and the relationship to the origin of the ring tone. All 33 sets of 3 go on exhibit this coming Saturday at Forest Room 5 (2532 15th Street Denver, Co 80211).  I hope you'll take the time to drop by and see this new work before the end of the show on October 2. 

coming in for a landing!

My dear yoga teacher Alex will be having her first baby this October!  This bird is for her little.  It feels good to just make something for someone. 

work in progress

click on this image to see full size.

...only a few thousand stitches to go.

Nina Bednarski, Craig Grabhorn, Mark Bystrom

Wood Thrush - Nina Bednarski

I recently visited Wisconsin to see a group of friends whom I admire and love from afar, though we used to be neighbors in Madison.  It occurred to me, having caught up with everyone about their doings, that I'd not talked about these friends on my blog.  Without further adieu - my friends making art and food and other beautiful things in and around Madison, Wisconsin:  Nina Bednarski, Craig Grabhorn, and Mark Bystrom.  There are more beautiful friends doing beautiful things of course, but I'm spotlighting these 3 today!

Pop Forest - Nina Bednarski

Nina and Craig are a talented artist couple designing and making awesome stuff for art, home, employment, etc.  Their home in Lake Mills, WI is virtually an Artists' Resort...  and I often wish to be there in their garden of fertile creativity or swimming in the lake nearby.  Nina now works on a contract basis so that she can focus on the work from her personal studio, so her primary output are her paintings on canvas and glass.  She's been working with bright, colorful enamel on glass for most of her art making years, creating beautiful scapes of natural botanicals and wildlife using a graphic style.  Her website is lovely and soon you can see her work at Madison's Obrich Gardens - a huge solo show for Nina running September 30 - Jan. 6.  I'm fortunate enough to have one of her Bird Heroes pieces gracing my own home.  Craig is also an artista mucho talentoso!

Mustache - Craig Grabhorn

Working by day as a designer in Trek Bicycle's apparel department, Craig creates incredible designs for businesses, bands, events, weddings, etc. with his cute but smart style.  He and Nina are starting up their own housewares design co. to be based out their own (named) Chalet and partnering with other craftspeople (ie: ceramicists, seamstresses, etc.) and I'm looking forward to the smart goods they've been talking about.  Craig's artwork emphasizes his personal themes and interests while expounding on his graphic style - you can really see the relationship between his art and design in looking at his poster designs. Craig has a nice blog where he talks about travels, gardening, the Chalet, and even politics (these guys are activists after all) - see Living Texture.

Poster - C. Grabhorn

 Craig and Nina have befriended my other good friend Mark Bystrom and the designer love spreads as they have worked to create a lovely look for some of Just Coffee Cooperative's awesome coffee!  Mark Bystrom, a dear friend and talented purveyor of fine food, fine liqueurs, infusions, and preserved fruits often gifts his family, friends, and the world with his constant creative output!

label design by Craig for Just Coffee

His work with Just Coffee often leads to good coffee, good design, and good partnerships resulting in products like Just Coffee's Early Bird Blend (for which I got to do the label design - see the old post about it).  Mark often sends gifts in the mail with examples of his genius like Raspberry liqueur, Peach Bitters, and a few pounds of amazing coffee.  Mark also works as a chef for the Farm to Table dining club at LightYears (West of Madison near Spring Green, Wisconsin).  It is a very very very good idea to make a reservation at LightYears for a dinner infused with French wisdom from co-founder Serafina Kent Bathrick.  Brilliantly prepared summer meals are served on a terrace overlooking a vista of rolling hills and neighboring farms. A good review of LightYears by Laura Murphys (see #11 on the list). Call 608 929–7829 for info, reservations and directions.  Seriously.

my liqueur collection from Mark

It's not enough - everything I've said here, but I've taken the time to write it because these people are doing genuinely good, skillful and honest work in the name of art and joy.  I love them and look forward to seeing them each year on our annual July trip to Wisconsin.  I wish them each the most and best happy returns for all they do.

About You

About You, Rebecca Peebles, 22" x 30," graphite, pen & colored pencil on paper

For the June show at GroundSwell Gallery (where I curate with Danette Montoya), we hosted a group show under the concept of Exquisite Corpse drawing.  Most versions of Exquisite Corpse drawing projects incorporate the rule that each artist participating has no idea what the other artist(s) are doing. The rules for our version also included that each artist creates a drawing using the same media and must utilize pre-drawn "starter marks" that connect each drawing to a left and a right drawing (see images).  I decided to participate with the project because I wanted to get in on that "surprise" feeling of putting all the finished work together to see what it all looks like, and of course I like to draw.

 The task of drawing "whatever I want" seemed simple at first.  Then the anticipation for the unknown drawings on left and right...  I had to put aside my tendency to plan and just let loose with the drawing. The only control I seemed to have (or thought I had) was effectively using those "starter marks" drawn from my margins across to anothers' margins.  I tried to think of them as bridges to another drawing.  Anyway, the drawing was satisfying work.  I felt explorative with the media that I wouldn't usually combine in one work.  I enjoyed placing my mind upon the irrationality of Surrealism and Dada (the art movements which originated Exquisite Corpse drawing) and letting go.  My drawing, titled, About You started with drawing my hands (seemed like a good place to start) and ended with a sensual and dynamic drawing.  I couldn't help but to footnote (in sign language) the main line from the Divynals 1990 hit song, I Touch Myself: "When I think about you, I touch myself." 

Putting all 16 artists' drawings together was, as expected, a delightful surprise.  Each juxtaposition of drawing to drawing was uniquely interesting and unexpected.  To see images of the works (each including some of the left and right "neighbors"), please visit GroundSwell Gallery's website.