Another Kind of Art

Flower art: sculptures, landscape designs, handmade gardens, installations, collages and works of pressed flowers. 

All so pretty, and a foreshadowing of spring, at the Philadelphia Flower Show. 

China Ink Art at the Met

China Ink Art is the first exhibit of Chinese contemporary art by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. This exhibit focuses on new expressions using the traditional ink medium of Chinese art. The exhibit includes a wide range of works--painting, calligraphy, woodblock prints and more. The two ink on cardboard pieces shown here "Beautiful Dream #7"and "Beautiful Dream #2" by Duan Jianyu were my favorites. The simplicity of the images and the creative use of the surface of the cardboard interest me. "Ink Art: Past and Present in Contemporary China" is on exhibit until April 6.

Ice Book #2

I am now the proud owner of a commission by Sukey Bryan. Based on her "Ice Book"--my favorite piece from her 2013 exhibit at the Stanford in Washington Gallery--she created a smaller version of the work for me. 12 panels of acrylic on paper covered with floating ice. Very fitting for these cold winter months. I especially like the full range of blues and the pink highlights on the ice.

Sukey Bryan in "Portent"

Sukey Bryan's "Volcanic Field" pictured here, and her other oil paintings in "Portent," evoke the volcanic landscape so well that one feels the hot lava and steam coming up from the earth. My other favorites were "Volcanic Landscape 2" and "Eruption." These hot volcano paintings look so different from the cool glacier paintings shown earlier this year, but in both series the color and composition give the viewer a strong sense of place. These volcano works also integrate nicely with the waterfalls, waves, and rocks of Freya Grandis--one of the other artists in the exhibit. At the Athenaeum in Alexandria through December 8, 2013.

Sukey Bryan's Glacial Visions

Sukey Bryan is interested in the "challenges of climate change across the globe," and her body of work, based on her 2008 residency at Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, explores the glacier environment. The works are wide ranging, from large oil on linen pieces depicting huge glaciers and icebergs, to small monotype prints of snow on pine trees. The cool blue palette of the ice paintings makes you feel you are standing at the glacier. Pictured here are two monotypes I liked, "Blizzard Pines" and "Wet Snow," made in 2011. My favorite piece, "Ice Book," 2013, is a unique work of paper folded accordion style into 10 panels painted with acrylic. The exhibit also includes sketchbook drawings with pencil, oil pastel, and watercolor with observational notes. Glacial Visions has been extended at the Stanford in Washington Art Gallery through October 20, 2013.

Georges Braque and Collage

I was hoping to see some collage at the recent Phillips Collection exhibit of Georges Braque, but the emphasis of the show was on a different time period. Braque worked closely with Picasso and began to experiment with collage in 1912, creating the "papier colle," or "pasted paper," technique. He first used wood-grain paper made for interior decoration and pasted it into his drawings. He also pasted cut-up advertisements into his paintings. At the same time, Picasso began to make collages, although his techniques were different. The experimentation with collage led to mixed media in Braque's work. He later began to mix sand into his paint, which he made himself from natural pigments, giving a rough texture to his paintings. This post brings to a close my summer of collage. 

More Collage--Alan Shields at The Drawing Room in East Hampton

Caught The Drawing Room's exhibit "Inventive Editions" of Alan Shields' prints. His work encompassed all types of printmaking from screenprinting to etching to lithography to woodcut and more, and he created his own formula for handmade paper. Pictured here--"Cocles"--the square standing in a wood frame--is a network of grids with screenprinting, flocking and collage. "Alice in Grayland" is serigraph, intaglio, stamping, stitching and collage on paper. Others here are woodcut, etching, relief, stitching, and collage on layers of handmade paper. I have also done some printmaking with collage so was inspired by the versatility of his work.