November 3, 2008

The Nativity
1996
acrylic on cabinet door with plastic hula skirt
18" x 12"

Every year the holidays bring interesting open houses filled with crafts, arts, music and entertainment. Even for the non-religious, such as myself, it is a joy to participate in a celebration filled with traditions and the spirit of faith and hope. In the neighboring town of State College, PA there is an annual show of Nativity sets made from a variety of sizes, mediums and styles. There are almost 400 Nativities and with a background of Carol sing-a-long. it is a wonderful way to explore inspirational art.

Peace Always

Sharon

P.S. Don't forget to vote

September 18, 2008

photos by Sharon Lee
2001

Occasionally I like to challenge myself and create a theme for creating. When I made the "Menstruation Theatre" I had also fashioned a wreath made of tampons and sprayed silver as well as several drawings related to a Woman's menses. I painted a series of "housewife"-topic paintings, a series of assemblages of which "The Housewife" is one successful piece, my current series of "Smokey the Zombie Bear" and in early 2001, I photographed "The Construction Series" with locations including: State College, PA., Pittsburgh, PA., Atlantic City, N.J. and Cape May, N.J.

August 31, 2008

Besides getting ready for the show at the Fein Art Gallery in Pittsburgh, I have two pieces (framed and ready to go) for the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art Biennial, and a small solo show at a local coffee shop, Websters on Aaron in State College during the month of December. The space at Websters is fairly small and I'm planning on making at least a couple of paintings site specific (one of the line at the coffee counter and something reflective of life in State College, PA). I also would like to show some of my photographs, most of which are nature photographs taken either at the local state game lands or in one of my backyard's gardens. My plan is to have 10-15 photos double matted at the frame show and then find simple pre-made frames that will suit the photographs. Because the space is small I also would like to paint a few "tiny" photographs. The photo at top is the size and simplicity of the statement the paintings that I see myself doing for this show. Today I had some editing experience as I selected music for the background of "The Making of the Wall" DVD that I am showing at the Fein Art Gallery. There were about 100 options in the library music I was looking through. At first it seemed slightly overwhelming and then I began to get a feel for what was needed and I choose pieces that felt right to the scenes the music will serve.

August 28, 2008

Another busy day yet still managed to get a few hours for painting. Today I started the bottom row. One circle is a head shot of my daughter on moving day and the second a Bart Simpson type character that is saying "You eat no meat!"I wanted to memorialize my daughter on moving day.The most memorable moment of the day was when she first showed up at her new apartment in a totally put together outfit that would translate well to a cinema version of moving (not necessarily the real thing).

My daughter has a fabulous sense of style and always has. Before she was in kindergarten, when we went clothes shopping I would take something to read and plant myself nearby while she sorted through clothes. The sales people were always confused by us but we always left with an outfit or two that was well coordinated (my daughter) and possible to wash (my say).

Peace Always

Sharon

August 24, 2008

My daughter moved into her first apartment yesterday. As she was getting ready in the morning we had several cell phone conversations including one about clothes. Now if you know me I am not the one who would tell anyone how to dress especially not my daughter who can tell you which designer's cut of clothes is best suited for her body type. I wear only comfortable clothes usual of the work-paint-garden variety and I assumed that in this scenario (moving) I could actually offer some clothes advice. I talked her out of wearing flip flops because of concern I had over stubbed toes which would deeply affect her recent pedicure. Finally she showed up at my house from her dad's and she looks like she is about to play doubles at a very upscale country club. Beautifully tanned legs, small white shorts, silver sneakers, white tank top and a summer weight light grey almost white Juicy zippered hoodie.

So in honor of my daughter who has a wicked sense of style for all occasions I started a new circle on the painting I am working on. No title yet, just the laying in of lines.

August 23, 2008

Today, my daughter at Penn State moved into her own apartment. Taking the advice of my chiropractor I hired 4 young men who with my friend, my daughter and I moved her massive mountain of clothes from one place to another with a fair amount of ease. She now lives 12 minutes away now and I get to avoid the angst of other parents packing their children away to school.

After I got home and did some yoga prop and art business I decided it would be relaxing to paint a bit even though it was late and I most likely would not get a chance to hike in the woods, do yoga, wash the pile of dishes in the sink or clean the downstairs floors which are in a sorry state.

I added two more circles to my painting. One is "Fall From Grace" and the other is yet to be named. "Fall From Grace" along "Before the Fall" are a vegan statement using the story of Adam and Eve and their diet before and after their hankering for apples caused a ruckus. Blame it on Eve she was the one collecting their food.

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 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.