Another table picture

This time, Easter dinner.

EcoArt installation - shower curtain redux

The EcoArt show now at Barnsdall Junior Gallery is a group show with art by women interested in environmental issues. I was able to revisit "Arroyo Seco watershed and surrounding environs" -- a water/shower curtain project that I began during the "Intimate Geography" show last spring. This time I doubled the square footage of the shower curtain(s) and made some adjustments to the fabrication process in hopes that the ink won't discolor. I also spent a lot of time modifying the arrangement of the photos and documentation. The photos were taken during the torrential rains of 2005, in and around the Arroyo Seco and Los Angeles River. I added documentation from various water companies in the area and a map, plus some photos of swimming pools to provide contrast with water flowing from the mountains into and through its channel.

Here are a few closeups of the new shower curtain:








































Here is some catalog commentary that explains the purpose of the piece:

My aim was to create an installation in which the viewer is prompted to recall an intimate relation with water (the shower), and where the scale (tiny) and number of photographs (multiples) challenge assumptions about traditional picturesque landscape presentation. I also hope questions about landscape and power, the act of looking, and specific local concerns about water rights come to mind. Who “owns” local water? Who channels or uses it at what price and to what end? By manipulating the way landscape is depicted and viewed, I want to question where a viewer stands, both literally and figuratively, in relation to landscape -- and what a more enlightened role might be in relation to the natural environment itself.

HAUSGUESTS

William Rabe and Nena Amsler of HAUS gallery recently put together a wonderful show called "HAUSguests" at the Brewery Project in order to raise money to help alleviate the suffering in Darfur. Each piece of art carried the name of a person -- the art works were the conceptual guests. I contributed a small installation called "Frances Jeane Crawford Thomas," consisting of a small towel bar with three huck towels (guest towels) bearing three vintage pictures of Grandmother -- sitting in the garden, in the side yard of the house in New Brighton, and at the kitchen sink.

Although the show has come down, William and Nena have photographed each work and posted the works online so that viewers can still buy art and participate in the fundraiser for Darfur. Please visit the show through the "HAUSguests online gallery" link at right and consider making a contribution.

Roses are Red. . . .

The past two months have been very hectic in the life department, but I have still been able to put up two small installations in two recent group shows. The first piece was for a Valentine show about food at the Acorn Gallery that was organized on the fly -- I put together an installation called "Sweet" that involved word and image play on the old "roses are red, violets are blue" rhyme. Here is what it looked like:



The first bag said "red", the second bag said "blue" and the third bag said "sweet."

Favorite Christmas pictures

Lacy on Christmas morning.


Using the china and crystal from Pittsburgh for Christmas dinner.


Michael in a festive mood.

"Material Girls" opening reception

Michael and I drove out for the opening of "Material Girls" in what turned into rain last Thursday evening. The show is very interesting -- several quite dramatic pieces, including two enormous embroidered white aprons hung from the ceiling, and a lot of good work. The museum employees installed "Porte bonheur," and it was a treat not to have to show up with a drill, contingency plans, etc. to get the thing on the wall! Here are a few photos of the rest of the show. I'm going to have to take more photos of my piece when we go back out to Riverside -- I didn't get any that look right. There will be a catalog of the show by the beginning of February and the show will remain up through March 10.

Material Girls to open the Riverside Art Museum

I just received cards for "Material Girls" -- the exhibition I have been invited to be part of at the Riverside Art Museum. There will be work in the show from 15 women artists working non-traditionally with fabric. The Museum itself is in a Julia Morgan building in the historic district of Riverside. I am to deliver the work during the week after Christmas (next week!). The reception will take place on Thursday, January 4 from 6-9 pm. The show runs until March 10. I can't wait to see the other artists' work -- a good show and an interesting venue. I am also very excited that my piece with Granddaddy's photos has been so well received. I wonder what he would think if he could know that his pictures were being shown in a museum in California? He really loved traveling to California every winter -- I have another series of beautiful slides he took while traveling. (Another project??) I wonder if he ever visited Riverside?

More holiday sales! Post-Postcard 2006

December just turned very busy -- I am now participating in three holiday sales! Tomorrow night I will have two of my new paintings on panel at Yong Sin's studio in San Pedro (see post below). Friday through Sunday I will be participating in "Post-Postcard 2006" with Outpost for Contemporary Art. This sale is small-format work or multiples that will be displayed in shelves full of long, narrow cardboard boxes. It is called "an annual open-invitational show of small-format work that challenges artists to stretch the parameters of media and conceptual strategies by doing what they do best -- subvert and manipulate the theme to their own ends." So I have created packets labeled "A bit of Los Angeles" -- small glassine envelopes labeled with a fragment of various vintage maps and guidebooks of Los Angeles, each containing a quarter-teaspoon of Los Angeles dirt.



Post-Postcard will be open from 7-9 pm (Members' Preview) on Friday, December 8, 7-10 pm on Saturday, December 9, and 12-5 pm on Sunday, December 10. Location is Outpost for Contemporary Art's new Highland Park facility at 6375 N. Figueroa in Highland Park. More info at www.outpost-art.org.

I will also have another of my new, small paintings on panel in the Cash and Carry show at the Acorn Gallery -- work sold straight off the wall, everything under $100. Works will be replaced as they are sold. Reception December 9, 7-10 pm, show goes on through January 5. There will also be a special one-day holiday sale with Avenue 50 Gallery on December 17 from 12-6 pm. The Acorn is at 135 N. Avenue 50 in Highland Park.

Material Girls and EcoArt shows coming up --

One of the nicest results of participating in "Hung Out to Dry" at OneLeaf Gallery in Pomona was having "Porte Bonheur" chosen for a show called "Material Girls" opening on January 4 at the Riverside Art Museum. It is gratifying to experience the positive response that has developed around this piece. From what I have been told, "Material Girls" will be a women's fabric show but the art will be on the experimental side.


The Southern California Women's Caucus for Arts EcoArt group show at Barnsdall is also opening in April, and I am looking forward to expanding my shower curtain installation, "Arroyo Seco Watershed and Environs," for that show. This time I will use two plastic shower curtain panels to give a fuller effect and allow for more images to be displayed.

Art sale at Yong Sin's studio in San Pedro

Coming up this week --

Thursday, December 7, 2006, 6-10 PM

Special One Day Art Sale (for 1st Thursday in San Pedro)

with Edith Abeyta, Chris Elliott, Carol Es, Christopher Grinnell, Betsy Lohrer Hall, Kimiko Miyoshi, Lynne Mori, Florence Rothbart, Harold Rothbart, Howard Sacks, Yong Sin, Deborah Thomas, and Matthew Thomas

at Yong Sin's studio: 414 W. 7th Street, San Pedro, CA (Cook's Kitchen Center building)

I am looking forward to visiting San Pedro and meeting some new artists. Please come if you are in the area!

Thanksgiving in the Bay area

Two days after the Tour Michael, Olivia and I left town to spend Thanksgiving with Michael's sister Theresa, his brother Brian and family, and our friends Alex and Bezi. Here is a picture of Theresa's lovely dining room.

Oh, yes -- the other guests were Lacy, Boris and Max -- all on their very best behavior.

Work on display during the AAC Discovery Tour

A few of my smaller paintings and mixed media pieces on the mantel; paintings on steel (one on the easel) and a painting on spun polyester on the wall.

Thanks to Susan and Patrick Gleason for opening their home.

Discovery Tour coming up!

The Arroyo Arts Collective annual Discovery Tour is next weekend! There will be nearly 100 artists (including me) showing work on the Tour, and the price this year is quite reasonable -- $10 in advance, $15 the day of the Tour, or $5 if you bike, take public transportation, or are a senior citizen. I think it is one of the best local art tours around -- really diverse people involved, really interesting houses and neighborhood idiosyncracies to explore. Highland Park is one of the oldest art neighborhoods in LA.

So -- I started working on some new paintings. It feels good to be working with paint again, and I hope to have some new, small pieces to show on the Tour. This year I will be at a new place, the home of Susan and Patrick Gleason, at 516 N. Avenue 53 in Highland Park. It is located in a cluster of Craftsman homes hosting Tour artists, and it should be a lot of fun. Alexis Abrams, who makes wearable art, will be showing in the same location. Tonight is the preview party at Avenue 50/Acorn Galleries. (7 to 10 p.m.) You can buy tickets on the AAC website (see my links section), at the preview party, or just stop by to say hi at the Gleasons' if you don't have time to do the whole Tour.

Beth's work enters another dimension

Beth sent along these pictures after Estate of Mind. As she describes it, she and her daughter forwarded some mail to her parents at the full moon. (This was not one of the pieces in the show, though part of the same series.) Thanks, Beth.

"hung out to dry" in Pomona

Michael and I just spent yesterday installing "Porte bonheur" at a gallery in Pomona -- it was selected for a women's show called "hung out to dry" opening Saturday at OneLeaf, an experimental gallery run by Jena McRoberts. (Invitation image above.) The show will open on Saturday, November 11 during the Pomona Art Colony art walk (6 - 10 p.m.) and run through December 2. Installed on another brick wall -- this one raw, which actually is a nice background for the diapers. We bought a masonry drill bit ahead of time and were glad we did!

Here is the gallery information:

OneLeaf Fine Arts
153 West Second Street
Pomona, CA 91766
323-496-1736

www.oneleaf.us
jena@oneleaf.us

Gallery hours Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or by appointment (worth it to call ahead)

Future Studio and Chicken Boy

Amy Inouye and Stuart Rapeport host Future Studio in their live-work loft. Stuart is an artist who paints, draws, and makes interesting dog sculptures from reclaimed wood. Among other things, Amy is a talented graphic designer, a lover of pugs and Chicken Boy ("too weird to die"), and a collector of just about anything from funky lamps to Dodger Stadium seats. She also operates a gift shop on the premises (see photo) that stocks items ranging from Chicken Boy memorabilia to snow globes to rubber duckies in the image of James Brown. If you want to find out more about Amy's projects you can navigate directly to her Chicken Boy website from the links section of this blog.

A few of my favorite baby pictures from the project

Here are a few of the pictures of me that my grandfather took. I had not seen these in several decades.




This is the caption that we posted on the wall next to the installation:

"Porte bonheur means 'good luck charm' in French. In cleaning out my parents’ house I was lucky to find a collection of slides taken of me by my grandfather, Joseph Thomas, a gifted amateur photographer. I was my parents’ first and only child and my grandparents’ first grandchild. As these photos attest, during my early childhood I was fortunate enough to have been very much adored. Granddaddy and I got along famously and I remember enjoying it as a little girl when he brought out the camera or the slide projector to take pictures or show slides on Sunday evening. Granddaddy later gave me his slide projector and his prized Exacta SLR, used to shoot these slides. I still have the projector and the camera and I am lucky to have rediscovered the slides. I am even luckier to have had such a nice grandfather."

Gallery photos from Estate of Mind

Here are some of the photos I took at the opening party for "Estate of Mind." Suzanne Siegel's assemblages created from lingerie and personal items belonging to her mother formed a grouping inside the door to Future Studio, Amy Inouye's live-work space at 5558 Figueroa in Highland Park.


At the far end of the gallery area, Beth Elliott's sculptures, braided from shredded paper collected from her parents' documents and mail, carry the corner marked by the magenta wall.



My installation, consisting of a collection of "preemie" sized cloth diapers printed with a series of baby pictures of me taken by my grandfather, was located between the two.


Some smaller pieces by Beth and Suzanne were also placed around the gallery.



The kitchen featured quite a spread, including Beth's collection of cakes, baked in a mold of her face (lower right).


Here is Beth, photographing her handiwork.



The show will be up through November 4 -- contact either me or Amy Inouye at Future Studio, 5558 N. Figueroa in Highland Park, to make arrangements to see it (Amy can be reached at 323 254-4565 or amy@futurestudio.com).

Mrs. O'Rourke's gingerbread recipe

"Estate of Mind" opened Saturday night at Future Studio -- we had a good crowd and the art was well received. In addition to the art on the wall, however, we also put together quite a spread of refreshments in the kitchen. In honor of the occasion, Suzanne, Beth and I decided to make recipes we had gotten from our families. Choosing to avoid the whole issue of 50s and 60s suburban cooking and various strange recipes we encountered as children (for example, Beth revealed that she has a vintage WeightWatchers recipe for chocolate jello that her mother often made), I decided to jump back a generation and bring gingerbread from a recipe I got from my paternal grandmother, Jeane Crawford Thomas. The funny thing about sharing a recipe from Grandmother is that although she got meals on the table for her family for years, she never liked to cook. In fact, Grandmother thought housework was a demeaning activity for any woman with a brain. Her creative solution to the problem of having to cook for her family in any case, was to become as efficient as possible at it. This recipe that she got from her neighbor, Mrs. O'Rourke, in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, wins over mid-century boxed mixes, hands down. It is both easy to make and uses simple ingredients that would have been stocked in any early twentieth-century kitchen. Here is the recipe, plus a photo of my grandmother at her sink.

MRS. O'ROURKE'S GINGERBREAD (from JEANE CRAWFORD THOMAS)

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening (butter can be substituted)
1 cup black strap molasses
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 1 cup boiling water (do this at the last minute)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar and shortening. Combine with eggs and molasses and beat well. Sift flour with dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Dissolve baking soda in the boiling water and add to batter. Mix thoroughly (by hand) and pour into a greased, square baking pan. Bake 25 minutes. Cut into cake-like squares when cool and serve with whipped heavy cream, if desired.

Press release, "Estate of Mind"

Future Studio Gallery presents:

ESTATE OF MIND

art created by Beth Elliott, Suzanne Siegel and Deborah Thomas
using things belonging to their parents’ estates
curated by Deborah Thomas

October 14 – November 4, 2006
Reception Saturday, October 14, 6 – 10 pm

Calendar Listing: ART – “Estate of Mind” – art created by Beth Elliott, Suzanne Siegel and Deborah Thomas using things belonging to their parents’ estates, curated by Deborah Thomas. Future Studio Gallery, 5558 N. Figueroa Street, Highland Park, October 14 – November 4. Opening Saturday, October 14, 6 – 10 pm. By appointment: (323) 254-4565 or amy@futurestudio.com
Who: Artists Beth Elliott, Suzanne Siegel, Deborah Thomas; curated by Deborah Thomas
What: “Estate of Mind” – art created by Beth Elliott, Suzanne Siegel and Deborah Thomas using things belonging to their parents’ estates
Where: Future Studio Gallery, 5558 N. Figueroa Street, Highland Park, 90042
When: October 14 – November 4, opening reception Saturday, October 14, 6 – 10 pm (by appointment after opening – 323 254-4565)
For information: 323 254-4565 or amy@futurestudio.com


What do you do when your parents get old and turn the tables on you, needing time and care? In addition to taking on their parents’ immediate needs, the three artists whose work is represented in “Estate of Mind,” curated by Deborah Thomas at Future Studio Gallery, make art. Artists Beth Elliott, Suzanne Siegel, and Deborah Thomas have fabricated sculpture, assemblages and installations which are both directly reminiscent of their personal family experiences and, as Elliott puts it, universal “messages from the past moving into the future.”

Suzanne Siegel’s assemblages, created from her mother’s 50s-era lingerie as well as natural objects and domestic artifacts ranging from rose petals to razor blades, carry implicit social commentary and bittersweet emotion. Ordinary items are delicately modified in ways that embody a material vision both whimsical and surreal. Siegel approaches these remains of her mother’s wardrobe as a language to be interpreted; her pieces communicate longing, secrecy and loss reflective of her mother’s personal history. As an artist, Siegel finds it crucial to interpret and contextualize what she reads and engages with in these items of apparel as common to the ordinary experience of many other women and part of a larger socio-cultural picture.

Deborah Thomas finds herself compelled to “time travel” into her family’s past, as she puts it, by working conceptually with family photographs and slides found while cleaning out her parents’ house. Her work is motivated by a desire to re-visit family relationships she remembers from childhood. After selecting images that resonate intimately for her, she maps out formal groupings according to patterns and repetitions only marginally related to any information the photos might convey. What results is a shift in emphasis away from any particular personal content or affect attached to the images to a more suggestive and universal zone of perception neither purely representational nor non-representational.

Beth Elliott, who describes her work as “destruction and creation,” relies on visceral process to cope with the shredded personal papers and junk mail addressed to her parents that continues to arrive in her mailbox. In order to make a universal statement, she shreds and braids the paper into irregular sculptural forms that are dynamic in their materiality yet restrained by means of her hands-on engagement with the paper discards. She produces organic shapes that reveal pre-logical formal qualities as well as an unexpected randomness or lightness of being.

Through their work, each of these artists moves between evocative past and ordered present, transforming highly personal reactions into universally resonant visions of life.

“Estate of Mind” at Future Studio Gallery, 5558 N. Figueroa Street, Highland Park 90042. Reception: Saturday, October 14, 6 – 10 p.m. (part of NELA Second Saturday art walk). Open by appointment (323 254-4565 or amy@futurestudio.com).