Posts from ‘Sculpture’
Mari Andrews’ Like a Language and Rakudo Naito’s Nature Constructed share an opening reception at the Tayloe Piggott Gallery on Friday, February 10, 5-8:00 pm. The white light in the work conveys winter’s soft delicacy, its silence and ability to allow us to see new the shy details of bare branches, spores, and the simple lines of a leaf. Fluid femininity and structural systems wrought from nature are explored. The show remains up through March 27, 2012.
I’m going for it here: Andrews’ constructions of wire, pine needles, delicate branches and what looks, in press materials, like lichen, are certainly–at least in part—meditations on women’s reproductive organs. Nature as feminine. Tubular constructs terminate in mossy, circular portals. Flattened ovary and fallopian-shaped sculptures are heavily textured and the color of shells mixed with seaweed; expanded hearts. White, lacy blossoms float airily. Beaker-shaped pods and vessels intertwine—the fairest of mermaid necklaces. Indeed, Andrews’ work is highly intimate. Continue Reading
This coming summer, Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) and Grand Teton Association (GTA) are bringing the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters (RMPAP) to Grand Teton National Park, for a two-week plein air paint-out. The event celebrates GTA’s 75th anniversary and the Park’s storied tradition of plein air painting. The paint-out and its accompanying exhibition take place July 1-15, 2012 at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor’s Center, the “focal point for GTA’s educational and interpretive efforts.” RMPAP’s show will be on display at the Craig Thomas Center, home to the Park’s permanent art collection.
A Calder stabile would be nice!
If you’re as talented at Calder, as light on your feet and imaginative, you might be the artist whose work the Board of the Teton County Library chooses to create and install a site-specific work for the new library lobby. Qualifications are due February 15, 2012. Many will apply; three finalists will be chosen to study the site, engage in an interview process, and the winner will granted $65,000 to design and complete their work. The winning artist, library and public should see the final results by November, 2012.
“Artwork for the entryway will be intellectually stimulating—like a good book—and invite various levels of understanding on the part of the many different patrons,” says the library.
Artists interested in submitting proposals can visit the Western States Arts Federation CAFÉ site, at www.callforentry.org.
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The Art Association has added a new Membership Benefit. With your new membership or annual renewal you will receive a punch card for 5 free open studio sessions. These can be used for “figure night,” a day in the clay studio, or a day in the digital lab. More details can be found here: http://www.artassociation.org/education/painting_drawing/w12-NewMemberBenefit.html
Native New Yorker and artist Jane Rosen’s exhibition Two Natures opens at the Tayloe Piggott Gallery this month. On exhibition through August 23, 2011, the show opens with a reception on Thursday, July 14th, 5-8 pm at the gallery.
Visiting any great museum’s ancient collections of Egyptian, Greek, or Native American artifacts, I’m cloaked in hushed reverence. I expect Two Natures elicits similar response. Winds of time have worn these sculptures down to their souls. What’s left is an exquisite silent truth.
Though born on the East Coast, Rosen “found herself captivated by the accessibility of nature on a visit to the West Coast.” Rosen’s work channels ancient world cultures; she has said that 
Eskimo, Native American and Egyptian art histories inspire her. She’s also influenced by daVinci and Michelangelo. A chapel, a graveyard. Rosen’s sculptures stand like Stonehenge’s rock pillars, full of mystery and great powers. These animal forms are not sex specific; but they recall the Acropolis Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion.
“Rosen’s drawings act as her journal where she studies and understands the form before chiseling a limestone sculpture or hand blowing a glass bird,” the gallery says. She relishes process,
the “alchemy.” Works reach their final form after Rosen scratches away and adds layers of sumi-e ink, paint, coffee, beeswax, Korean water color and marble mix.
Gallery owner Tayloe Piggott likens seeing Rosen’s studio to “witnessing the flash of spirit that Brancusi sought to capture.”
“With this perspective framing my vision I capture the profound essence of nature and art seen through the animal life. It was our reciprocal vision of the life force that instinctually and immediately connected me to Jane’s work. Her art, whether bird, fish or fowl, resonates with the fundamentality of the being’s spirit. The word “essence” is defined as “the permanent as contrasted with the temporary element of being.” Her sculpture is essence,” Piggott says.
The gallery has also collected several stunning Dale Chihuly glass vessels. Transluscent and fluid, they provide sparkling juxtaposition to Rosen’s avian sculptures.
For more information, email art@tayloepiggottgallery.com.
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Wyoming Gallery, upstairs at Jack Dennis Sports, welcomes artists Meredith Campbell, Ruth Rawhouser, and Teri Billingham at an opening reception Friday, July 15, 4-7:30 pm.
Campbell paints wildlife scenes on wood; she began painting functional pieces, but her work evolved into the fine art arena. Not long ago she began creating oil-on-canvas animal portraits. Rawhouser paints en plein air, relishing the
world as it is in any given moment. Interestlingly, she never paints in fences or other signs of humananity’s presence in the Wyoming landscapes she loves. Jackson native Teri Billingham’s stained glass panels reflect the artist’s love of the Tetons and surrounding landscapes, its wildlife and inspiring childhood memories.
For information, contact Mindy at jdwyominggallery.com. www.jdwyominggallery.com
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Here it comes again….the Art Fair Rap!
Dude, it’s July, so it’s time to share
‘Bout that annual gig, the Jackson Hole Art Fair!
Or, “Art Fair Jackson Hole” as it prefers to be called;
Nobody asked me. I’m not involved.
Hey man, don’t be bored!
Sometimes Harrison Ford
Comes to check out the art, and he brings Flockhart.
Buy ceramics, toys, fibers – this poem’s the town crier
For an Art Fair Weekend, come rain or come shine-er.
Paintings, baskets, jewels, tents
Sunscreen, beer & fivers
All make for a day art lovers could die for!
See the Fair! Have Fun! This rap is all done.
The Jackson Hole Art Association Art Fair 2011 dates are July 15 – 17 & August 19 – 21. The fun happens at Miller Park, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Daily entrance fee is $3. www.artassociation.org
Quick, where’s the Walla Walla Foundry?
No doubt you answered that pretty easily–Walla Walla, Washington.
But what noted artists—and by “noted” I mean huge, big identities on the national arts scene—have former and/or ongoing projects there?
Partial answer: Maya Lin, Kiki Smith and Matthew Barney (lives with Björk?!).
(This is akin to discovering Banksy! Which I did when I saw Exit Through the Gift Shop. I only admit this because a friend, David Swift, also did not know Banksy before seeing the film. Nobody’s hipper than Dave. Maybe he’s faking not knowing and he is, in fact, Banksy.)
Walla Walla is home to Whitman College. The foundry was established in 1980 by Mark Anderson, a 1978 Whitman College grad. When a friend sent me a link to a story about the foundry, I
was stunned by its list of working artists. Boy, did I feel silly. For those of you not familiar with the foundry, this post is a primer.
According to The Pioneer, Whitman’s newspaper, the foundry’s roster includes local, regional, national and international artists. It’s also responisible for much of the sculpture found on Whitman’s campus and in Walla Walla. Anderson says the place is so busy many students have a hard time accessing all its facilities. The foundry, notes Anderson, has enriched both campus and town over the years. Surfing around–looking for info on Anderson–I found a pdf article on Whitman’s phenomenal sculpture garden, with works created at the foundry. Bronzes, totems, and stone works are stitched into chain of outdoor sculptures, a beautifully landscaped arts experience.
Visit the foundry website, and you can get a jump on projects yet to be completed and installed. Lin is at work on a 70 foot tall stainless steel and bamboo bell tower, to be installed in Shantou, China. Smith has various works in progress; imagery includes Smith’s portraiture of women, abstract, spore-like floral shapes and birds. Thomas Houseago’s massive bronze Sprawling Octopus Man appears on the foundry’s home page and measures 101″ x 84″ x 60″. The foundry even has its own vineyard.
Here’s the full answer to my second question: Jim Dine, Deborah Butterfield, Lynda Benglis, Squire Broel, Tom Otterness, Bob Arneson and Frank Boyden have all created art at Walla Walla.
Images are courtesy Walla Walla Foundry and The Pioneer.
www.wallawallafoundry.com/