Here are all the things going on since I last posted I guess a year ago. Sorry I’ve been so busy making art there hasn’t been time to write about it. I will try to do better this year.
BWAC will open again this weekend for our fall show Brooklyn Is . . . This show will include two juried exhibits. Downstairs our second annual Really, Really Affordable Art Show and upstairs along with the members exhibit of Brooklyn Is . . . in the center aisle of bay two Art In Clay IV: Up Against The Wall with incredible work by 30 great artist. I am one of the curators for that exhibit along with Susan Handwerker. Stop by for the opening. To celebrate the art and artist there will be live music & great food!
But don’t forget to check out my new paper collages in bay one panel 160 right next to the desk so you can say hello to me while looking.
My landscapes and city-scapes have always celebrated the land and the beauty of Red Hook but last summer when it was too hot to fire I brought out my paper collage portraits that had been hanging out on a shelf in my closet. They demanded to be seen and now have taken hold of me. I love the experience of creating them, meeting the challenge of how to express what I want you to see and feel. Tell a story in an image. You decide what the story is and the relationship of the characters. Here is The Jay Street Stop
Some of the new pieces like this one are based on old subway sketches. I love being able to re- invent an idea. Whenever I am asked how long it has taken me to make something I have to ask you mean from when I first thought about it or the idea occurred to me . . . or when I first began working on it. Are we including the changes? The re-thinking and what it became. When I have taught I always said there is what you intend and there’s what you get and they are both valid. When working with clay you really learn this lesson if you allow yourself to surrender to the process the clay will tell you what it wants to be you just have to be able to let go and let it be. A little bit harder when working with paper it can be not as forgiving.
And what about my clay works you may be asking. I didn’t get into my own exhibit but I do have some of my favorite pieces on the auction wall. They just can’t live at my house anymore. There just isn’t room for both of us. I needed to let go of them to make something new because I’m ready for a leap. I took one last year or was it the year before with the whole Red Hook series but now I’m ready to re-see the land. But as I said I do have a few pieces on the auction and in the Brooklyn Is . . . exhibit.
On the outskirts of the clay exhibit you will find a few of my clay pieces like the one here on the left. Its a rethinking of ASL for thoughts explode but with the hand over the mouth I’m calling it Unspoken Words. I’m not done with the sign language yet. All these “words” are hanging out in boxes in my studio and I am now beginning to “hear” them murmuring from inside their boxes that I let them out and do something with them so this winter should be interesting when the BWAC show is down and my crafts shows are over (I’ll talk about that later) I have time to think and experiment and that is the fun of creating.
But before I forget If you are up in Westchester or want to take a ride up to Port Chester NY on the same day as BWAC’s opening . . . but in the evening so you can do both you can catch one of my teapots on display and sale at the Clay Arts Center. The show is called Hot Pots.
This is my tribute to ladies who lunch of which I am one. When I have more time I will give you my recipe for my killer lemon squares. But back to the show. Its September 24th until the 10th of November 40 Beech Street, Port Chester, NY.
By the way if you wait until that first week in November to go you will catch The Hudson Valley Restaurant Week. There looked to be some great farm to table places plus a wonder time in the country. We’ve had a rough couple of days here in the city and looking at the water along the river and trees and grass sounds good. Not to blow off Prospect Park where you will find some great outdoor sculptures during this weekends continuation of Artslope and then take a stroll through Park Slopes stores and restaurants to see more art as part of Artslope. Bye.
For those of you who stopped by to see my Prospect Place street portrait at Corcoran’s on 7th and Carroll thank you very much. If you missed it ~ here it is and there is still time to see it in person. I will take commissions and this could be your house or your block or just one you love and can visually own.
Sorry, Bilyana can’t make it with her jewelry . . . but instead Ellen Kaufman is back with NYCreate’s at Saint Monica’ Holiday Bazaar with her wonderful glass mosaics. Come and see what everyone has. I’m working on new serving trays that will be great as gifts or you can make a moment special entertaining for the holidays.
BWAC closed for the winter last fall and I thought I had all this time to make new things for the new season but winter was full of its own surprises and once again it was a rush to the finish to have work for BWAC’s spring show opening this weekend.
Where I live and the people around me are what inspire me and Brooklyn is filled with so much history told through its architecture because it is the one NYC borough that still has existing examples of all of the types of architecture the city has ever had. For me Red Hook still has the feeling of a pioneer town filled with possibilities and I love the solidness of the brick buildings that have survived the wearing of time. I also find something so calming about a place where the water and the sky are so much bigger than the land.
So if you come to BWAC over the next 6 weekends between 1 and 6 pm you will get to see my new works but also the work of over 200 artists many who live right here in Brooklyn.
There is a reason Brooklyn inspires artists. Not only its architecture e but also the tree lines streets and gardens filled with flowers. In about another week the bluebells will be in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and each year love to stand in the middle of the field of bluebells surrounding the birch trees and feel I’m in a Van Gogh painting. It was my love of flowers and gardens mixed with my passion for food that moved me to create my mini cup cake stands.
But that is not their only purpose. They can multi task as candle holders or
as a soap dish . . . . ring dish or . . . . votive candle holder sold in sets of four.
December 6th and 7th I return to the Brooklyn Historical Society with NYCreates. I will be there with a great group of artists and artisans with everything from photography and painting for gifts to jewelry, clothing and hats. This year I will have have several other potters for company all to tempt you to buy a little something unique for yourself or for someone you love.
Dine and travel the world with Egyptian napkin holders
Dress your table with the napkin holder or accessorize the walls with a Red Hook landscape tile.
For those of you who didn’t make it to BWAC this year to see what I’ve been up to . . . there is still time to check out my latest work. I am happy to be a part of the Park Slope Windsor Terrace Open Studio Tour. You can get a jump start on your holiday shopping or a look see at what I’m working on that will be for sale at NYCreates’ Holiday Crafts Sale this year at the Brooklyn Historical Society in Brooklyn Heights December 6th and 7th. More details to follow.
I’ll keep you posted so keep checking back to see what’s new and where I will be. Whether you check out my studio or come the the Historical Society I will be with a great group of Brooklyn artist.
