Mile Post 42, 12 x 12 x 2 © 2011
This is my contribution to the 100 Artists Show at the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem, Oregon. My challenge was to respond to a letter sent by my partnered artist and to create an art piece that represented our communications. The Mary Lou Zeek Gallery will be blogging about the show and the artists - and how you can bid for your favorite piece - here.
Artist Statement
My letter contained an evocative poem by Portland artist Jeanne Levasseur, titled Winter. As I read her words I could feel the dampness in the air, the cold bite of frost. I wanted to capture that sensory experience of time and place in my artwork.
I am inspired by landscape. Looking, experiencing, touching, and feeling the place and form are all necessary for my work. I pick up a dry and brittle twig from the debris of a passing storm, feeling the energy in my fingers, delicate, before crumbling away. This is the energy I try to interpret with my work.
Paintings often begin with a textured layer of gesso. I rub color onto the surface, or place a gestural mark to suggest the landform. I am interested in the transforming power of light, and like the Impressionists, I want my paintings to be recognizable but not familiar, a place of memory and not subject matter. I move from the abstract to the specific, bringing what I know about the landscape into the abstract forms, colors and shapes, and transforming them into a living, breathing place.
Being open to where the paint takes me is part of the process, like a traveler in unknown terrain: the work is successful when I create a space that others want to explore.
This is going to be a fabulous show with so many different artists participating - I hope you will join along in the fun!
Press Release and Info:
100 Artist Show
Art of Communication-10th Annual 100 Artist Show
Show Date: February 1 – March 3, 2012
Opening reception: First Wednesday February 1, 5-7pm.
Location: Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, 335 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301
Salem – Remember when we looked forward to art class at least a few times a week in school? How about all that time spent learning how to print and write cursively? All of those assignments written on notebook paper? With budget crunches and ever-evolving technology in schools we have to wonder what will happen to all those words and art produced by hand. And, as technology marches on, what will be the memories that today’s children leave their family and friends? What if John and Abigail Adams had tweeted across the ocean instead of posting letters? How about Julia Child and her friend Avis emailing instead of writing? All of that amazing correspondence gone in the flash of a DELETE button?
During the month of February, the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery will be presenting The Art of Communication, the 10th annual 100 Artists show.
Over 100 artists were sent blank letters which arrived with instructions and included a stamped envelope with the address of a partnered artist. These letters made their way to 100 different artists across the country and beyond! Participating artists received a blank letter through the mail and were asked to write a thought, a story, or whatever they so chose and then send to their “partnered” artist. The artists had over three months to transform the writings into their work of art.
During this show, the artists will present their own ideas of what it is to “communicate”, while creating striking and inspiring art pieces. The act of letter writing is beginning to be a lost art, and receiving letters through the mail an almost forgotten pleasure for most of us. The idea of “mail art” and keeping letter writing as a form of communication is our theme for the 10th annual 100 Artist show.
The artwork will be on display and the letters will be available for viewing. The sale of the art will last the entire month with a silent bidding process ending at different times throughout the month. Anyone interested can call the gallery for a bidding number, see the artworks online on the gallery website or stop in and do the bidding in person.
This year the proceeds from the 100 Artists Show THE ART OF COMMUNICATION will be used to fund a special after school art and writing project for kids. We want to replicate the DNA of this 100 artists show pairing children with each other as art pen pals and perhaps even with some of our 100 artists. While this project will be launched in the Salem area community as a pilot, an important component will be to record what takes place so that the curriculum can be shared free of charge with other communities across the country who are interested in this hands-on experience.
The Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, located at 335 State Street in downtown Salem, Oregon, is the premiere place for purchasing contemporary arts and crafts. Open hours are 12 pm to 5:30 pm Tuesday through Friday, and 12 pm to 5 pm on Saturday. The gallery is closed on Sunday and Monday. To preview the upcoming show and see work by many other Northwest artists, visit www.zeekgallery.com
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Thank you, Maggie. It's the gesso that does it.
Posted by: sue | January 20, 2012 at 05:08 PM
Patrick - the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery hosts the 100 artist's Show every year.
Posted by: sue | January 20, 2012 at 05:07 PM
Sue,So glad the painting enlarged when I clicked upon it! It's a beautiful response on many levels.
What a wonderful idea for the gallery and artists to help benefit arts in the schools.
If you do it again, I'd love to participate.
Posted by: Patrick Gracewood | January 20, 2012 at 04:37 PM
This is a beautiful painting. I really like the torn look of the sky, and the hardness of the frozen ground. Good job, and what a good project!
Posted by: maggie | January 17, 2012 at 07:46 AM