July 14, 2008

Photo by Sharon Lee
Old Main Frame Shop

Last week I found out that three pieces of mine (Big Gulp, 7 Rays and Blah, Blah, Blah) were accepted into the Artists in Our Midsts show at the Southern Alleghenies Art Museum in Altoona, PA. This is nice regional show to do as the museum, though small, is a good space that is climate controlled and has good lighting. Of the three pieces, two needed to be framed so today amidst the reconstruction of downtown State College after an event that brought 125, 000 into a town that houses only 40,000 I headed to "my" frame show.

Old Main Frame Shop is in downtown State College. The retail part of the business is a rather tiny affair-generally only one or two people are working "out-front". The walls are lined with fat strips of velcro to which corners of frames are attached. The frames are about 1 foot in length from the corner to each side.

Today we had three people (a clerk, the gallery manager and myself) working on choosing the correct frame for my paintings. It is a delicate balance of texture and color-some frames work only if they're smooth and some need texture to duplicate the indication of texture in a painting. Depending on the depth of the stretchers, only certain frames visually work. One of the paintings took us over an hour to figure out because we were looking at black frames and the color that worked was gold with red hues and black scratches.

I like going to get my work framed. It visually brings the painting into the fore front. It can add or take away emphasis. It make the painting feel complete.

July 13, 2008

Photos by Sharon Lee
Beaver Chewed Tree
Pink Poppy
Pink and White Flowers
Two Brown Mushrooms

I've been thinking lately of additional ways to earn income and still keep the free-lance flexibility that I would like to hold onto so I can create art when my creativity is highest not necessarily when the clock has been punched out. For the past six months or so I've been taking nature photographs in the woods as well as in my garden. Each day I attempt to get one or two successful photos taken. This does not mean I only take 1 or 2 photos but perhaps 20 or more. Right now I have about 30 fairly successful photos and I hope to take 20 more before I start scaling down the photos to the absolute best and start the printing, matting, framing process in hopes of selling these photos in several art fairs.

I am often intimidated by the quality of my photographs. A few weeks ago I was watching a documentary on Cindy Sherman and fell in love with the way that she set up photos to tell a story. Some people are brilliant at capturing interesting light, some photographers travel to exotic places and take interesting photos of other cultures and some are remarkable technicians. I feel honestly I have not mastered any of these skills. Then one day I realized that color is my thing as well as nature and I could find my photographic voices through these two things.

July 12, 2008

"I Met Andy Warhola"
1998
acrylic on linen
30" x 36"
Occasionally I get an idea for a painting from a non-important observation of human nature or something I find silly. Several years ago I had a conversation with an acquaintance, trading stories of career and family. I was very excited about having one of my paintings hung at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and shared this information with her. She then told me a happenstance she had with Andy Warhol in New York on an icy night many years ago. Both Andy and my acquaintance were walking with their heads down somewhere on Fifth avenue. They smashed into each other and both landed on their asses. "You're Andy Warhol!" my acquaintance exclaimed. "And you're a bitch" Mr. Warhol retorted.

July 11, 2008

My stretchers arrived and today's the day I begin a new painting except......not enough canvas! The two pieces of hemp/organic cotton canvas I have are too narrow so I order on-line a couple of yards from Near Sea Naturals thus delaying things a few days. Actually this gave me time to think about the painting to be. Would I pick subject A or subject B? Subject A was to be a scene from the Darfur Genocide. The image that comes to my mind when I think of the issues Darfur is facing id a dusty road strew with dead men, women and children and a jeep filled with armed militia driving past the bodies.

I decided to wait on painting this subject until I do a bit of research and form my own vision.

When I was in Washington DC several years ago, my daughter and I visited the Holocaust Museum. There are many memorable visuals in the Museum but the one that struck a cord with me was the pile of shoes. I don't know what it was about this pile of shoes that affected me so deeply. Maybe it's because I can relate to shoes. A majority of the people in the concentration camps did not share ethnic background, religion, generation or nationality yet we all wore/wear shoes. Tonight when I was making my nightly trek through the woods to the berry patch I looked down at my bruised and battered black shoes I thought how similar they looked to the shoes I saw in the pile.

July 10, 2008

I spent much of today perusing the artist booths at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Thursday (The festival runs Wednesday (kids day) to Sunday evening) is generally the day locals come out. The "Arts Festival also has several musical performances occurring simultaneously and I got to catch the tail end of a duo that was a joy to listen to.

The visual artists themselves cover a wide gamut of styles and mediums. There were booths and booths of jewelry (I went with my 19 year old daughter who loves jewelry), photographs from around the world, the requisite Amish photographs of this area, collage clocks, glass, wood items such as bowls and kitchen utensils, marbled paper (I bought a box of note-cards), dulcimers, bird houses and more.

It is always inspiring to see lots of creativity in my neighborhood as well as getting a chance to talk to others who make art whether through dance, visual arts, music or performance. Because I live in a fairly rural place opportunities for artist dialog is somewhat limited. I'll probably stay clear of town until Saturday night because of my aversion to large crowds. The annual AIDS fundraiser casino night and drag show is held then and looks to be a blast. Until then it'll be stretching a new canvas, gardening, picking huckleberries and the required hike in the woods.

July 9, 2008

Detail photo of painted dresser by Sharon Lee

For the next five days our region is saturated with the arts. The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts begins today with kids day and continues Thursday through Sunday with the "Official" part of the Arts Festival. Because I am an artist it is always assumed that I participate with this festival. In years past I have as a demonstrator (spinning wool) but generally I join the masses as an observer.

There is a difference in the art that appears in this type of show and the art that I produce. Production art is made with the audience in mind while mine generally is not. Still and all there is plenty of visual stimulus from the hundreds of artist who peddle their wares here. Occasionally I'll run into an artist whose name is familiar from fine art shows.

Of course a festival of this size includes many genres of art. There's theatrical performances, dances, music, fine art shows, chalk drawings on the street both done as part of the official Arts Festival as well as local groups that want to take advantage of the influx of thousands of people into our community which is rather sleepy and slow in the summer without the mass of Penn State students.

Thursday is traditionally the day most local people go to look over and discuss (criticize) the Arts Festival and its sister fair 4 miles away-the People's Choice Festival. I see acquaintances that I haven't seen since last year, buy some kettle corn and duck into one of the bars for an afternoon beer.

July 8, 2008

About nine years ago, due to a rodent infestation I gutted my entire house. I couldn't stand the idea of dead rodents rotting in the walls and felt the need to strip the house to it's bare foundation. Because I had no skills in home remodeling, I wasn't sure how to approach the re-construction. One day while sitting on the porch of a next door neighbor, Mrs next-door asked if I was interested in hiring Mr. next-door to work part-time rebuilding the insides of my house. Seizing the opportunity I instead paid Mr. next-door to teach me how to do home remodeling, thus the beginning of learning new skills and a friendship that still exists today.

We fell in a pattern of working every weekend. Because we both had young families at times we were interrupted by our families whose needs did not slow down and we would often stop work to drive someone or another here or there. When I waited for my friend's return I began to paint the progress of the reconstruction on a wall in the room that was at the time my painting studio. When I learn wiring I painted scenes with exposed wires and electrical tools. There were scenes of my frustration in learning new skills. At one point I ran out of wall and considered the piece finished.

I was entering my first annual show for Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and decided that I should remove the wall and enter the wall and the mural that was painted on it. We filmed the process which took up the better part of the day. Highlights of the day include using a chain-saw to cut out the wall as the sawsall that we were using broke down and was unusable.

I never got into the Pittsburgh show but was able to show this piece at the Southern Allegheny Biennial. Currently the "Wall" resides packed away in a pole barn about seven miles from my home.

Peace Always

Sharon