I attend lots of art openings and cultural events. I generally don't blog about them. Juggling a "day job" with making art as well as pursuing/keeping track of art opportunities leaves only enough time to blog about my own work. Yet, last night's opening reception for Judy Hubbard's incredible exhibition Envisioning O'Keeffe at Columbia College, an all girls school here in Columbia, South Carolina, is an exception. First, it was a great show! Second, the local college is celebrating the centennial of Georgia O'Keeffe's year in our city. (Okay, Georgia O'Keeffe hated it here ... really HATED it ... but under duress an artist often is compelled to create awesome work. While here, Georgia O'Keeffe completed a series of highly innovative charcoal abstractions that caught the eye of Alfred Stieglitz, and the rest is history!) So ... Columbia celebrates.
(Above: Envisioning O'Keeffe.)
The third reason to blog about this exhibit is because I contributed to the installation! Earlier in the summer Judy Hubbard sent invitations to several female artists asking each one to alter a pair of shoes. The shoes were cast offs, found in thrift stores. At the time, I was at the Wormfarm Art Residency in Wisconsin, so my husband Steve mailed the pair to me.
Lo and behold, Wisconsin is where Georgia O'Keeffe was born! I had fun taking location photos of the altered boots. I blogged about it HERE.
Judy collected LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of old shoes! My favorite piece was made by Judy Hubbard, not one of the other participants. It is this beautiful spiral of gold toned footwear arranged with antlers.
It was fun to see the different ways other artists altered their provided shoes ...
... but none were as strong as this one!
So ... where did the pair I altered end up ... on this tasteful arrangement of pedestals ... near work by some of my favorite, local artists ... and very near the lovely, golden spiral! Nice!
So ... what have I been up? New work, of course! Hilariously, the piece above called Torso was the result of epoxy overflowing and dripping onto a piece of masonite placed on the ground. The shiny brown stain looked like a torso. Later I added Golden's fluid acrylic Interference Oxide Green # 2480. Interference paints are strange but very interesting. From Golden's website:
Interference Colors offer a range of reflective properties and interplay with light. When viewed from different angles Interference colors flip between a bright opalescent color and its complement.
Interference acrylics are relatively transparent, allowing artists the ability to glaze with unique effects.
I didn't actually purchase this container. It was a sample from City Art, my local art supply store. Perhaps it was a shade being considered but never put into production. Perhaps it was being discontinued ... but it doesn't appear on Golden's website with other interference paints. (That page is HERE.) That's okay! I had enough of it! In some light, the paint appears as an oxidized green. In other light, it is a rusty orange-red. On the masonite itself, it seems to stay rusty red. I particularly like the play of light with the glossy surface of the epoxy. As a final touch, I used an old toothbrush to flight spots of black ink. I even hand toned the rough wooden frame to match. For an "accident", I'm pleased with this new piece!
I've also been busy intentionally making art! LOL! Here are the two most recently finished In Box series pieces. I'll be making more as I just signed a contract with the Cultural Arts Council of Douglas County in Douglasville, GA for a solo show! It will be called Buildings in Stitches and feature works from both my In Box and Stained Glass Series. The show runs from November 5 - 20!
I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber arts.
1 comment:
It took me a minute to figure out that Judy Hubbard's shoes were on antlers! What a wild combination of things! Torso looks great and so does Steve (as he always does!!) Your In Box pieces are beautiful. I never get tired of seeing them!
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