Drawing Energy of Form

Sculptor Stan Smokler is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector series.

9" x 12"

©2012BernarVenet

"I am writing this after returning from NYC and visiting galleries.  


I find it almost impossible to enjoy one work that I see.. bits and pieces......but some time ago - perhaps 7 years  or so...I discovered a wonderful artist by the name of  Bernar Venet... and was spiritually moved by the way he used line; creating exciting movement in space.  


He did this by his ability to draw with "steel" both on paper and physically.  ....So, I purchased a work on paper from the artist  Bernar Venet's that captures the movement and energy of form.....Most sculptors cannot draw - including myself! ...but they can see the volume and complexity of the material ...I am thrilled with the work..."


About this week's Guest Blogger:
Stan Smokler is a sculptor, adjunct professor at DCAD and curator.  He also teaches an intensive weeklong welding workshop at his studio in the summer that I hear is awesome
(and HOT).  I also know that he is a passionate and skilled squash player when he is not welding, teaching, curating or looking at art.

Happy Little Corner

This week's contribution to the Artist as Collector Series is from the heartland of America.  Located in Nebraska, Patty Scarborough, artist and blogger sent in this week's post.

Happy Corner from the art collection of
artist Patricia Scarborough

"(Here is) ... one photo holding 3 of my favorite pieces of art.

The box is from Mary Linnea Vaughan of Sonoma County CA.  The little bowl on top was turned by Harold Adams of Grand Island, Ne. and the alcohol reduction vase was created by Leroy von Glan of Norfolk, Ne.

Why?  There's something happy and casual about these pieces. I know the artists personally which gives them a deeper resonance.  I hide little items in the vintage art box like little secrets just for fun, acorns, a tiny china bell, a feather.  They look beautiful together on a desk my grandfather made decades ago.  It's a happy little corner in my house."

I love learning about new artists, seeing their work and... peeking into their homes!  Hope you do, too.  Thanks Patty for opening your door.

On your walls-  or in your corner...Where is your happy corner or sacred space?

Seeing Red

New Year. New Post. And for guest blogger, painter Denise Bellon West - in the coming days, New Home and Studio.


Here's Denise's selection for this week's Artist as Collector Series.  As you can see, the painting is off the wall and ready to be crated for the move to its new home.

Phase Blanket
Acrylic on Canvas
©2012David DeVary

I knew I had to have this painting the moment I saw it. I saw the color, it made me gasp, and that was that. The blanket was bright red; the woman was beautiful; she was blond (being one, I’m maybe a little partial to blonds); the stripes and angles energized the painting for me. But mainly, it was that RED!!! Or maybe the stripes!! No, it was the beautiful blond woman, with her coy look!! No, the red!! 

In fact, it was all those things.  It was painted just for me. 

It was priced VERY high, for me, (heck, my first car – a Toyota Celica - cost less than this, brand new!), but I knew I had at least that much in my checking account. I didn’t care. I should have haggled on the price, at least a little (I will never hear the end of it from my daughter and my husband, who were with me at the time and thought I’d lost my mind!). But all I could think of was that I wanted to see this painting every day. It would excite my eyes every time I saw it.

         That was several years ago, and it still does. 
         Thank you, David DeVary for the spark this painting adds to my life.  

Good luck in your new home Denise!

What work of art adds spark in your life? 

This Artist as Collector post is from Tatiana Garmendia . 

Ben Shahn
Lithograph

Since the studio is the public area of our apartment, I actually took down most of the art that wasn't ours this summer. This way,we're ready for studio visits. But we've kept some of our favorite pieces up in our bedroom. Of these, the one I look at before I go to sleep each night and wake to is probably the most inspirational and reminds me that all lovers feel as my husband and I do- like we're one. It's a litho by Ben Shahn of a couple kissing. I love Ben Shahn's wonderful scraggly line quality. 

Speaking of collections, I have a huge collection of prints, most of them from print exchanges.

I did the Cascade Print Exchange last year. The print you contribute gets printed in a catalog, is exhibited, becomes a part of the university's permanent collection, PLUS you get back the loveliest images. No cost, just SASE. If it sounds good to you and your readers, it's listed half-way down the page in that URL. 

Hawaii Calls- Artist as Collectors #6

A.Kimberlin Blackburn and I first met many years ago when we were given a show together at the Art Loft in Honolulu, which has sinced evolved into Fine Art Associates.  Kim has her own unique visual language, seeped in nature, mystery and lore.  She works with a variety of materials from paint to beads to fibre- all richly colored, textural and magical.

When I left the islands to get married and return to my Jersey roots Kim gifted Scott and I a wedding present; artwork of hers -my choice.  Fittingly, the painting that I chose is titled Hawaii Calls for You.  The right choice she said, as she knew that regardless of where we live, Hawaii would always call.

She was right. This piece reminds me of our friendship,  a place I will always love, and Kim's commitment to her own voice as an artist.

The power of art- to inspire, evoke and remind us of who and what we love.

What is hanging on your walls?

Email me a jpg and a few lines about what art is in your collection and why it inspires you.

nancihersh@gmail.com

Among Friends- Artists as Collectors #6

Artist and guest blogger Jennifer Hodis from Pasadena, CA writes:

©2011Carolyn Jean
Collection of Jennifer Hodis

"I've known Carolyn (Ryden) Jean since art school, throughout our kids pre-school years
and into her life as a single woman. She paints lovely things in a fresh and
confident manner. She uses canvas paper and simple materials like
masonite and cardboard. She is affordable and I love supporting her as well
as having reminders of her and our friendship on many walls in my house.


But I really wish I could paint like her!"

©2011Carolyn Jean
Collection of Jennifer Hodis

©2011Carolyn Jean
Collection of Jennifer Hodis

"New work my friend Carolyn sent me- I love the "Let go", we are all trying so hard to loosen up! 

Who of your friends inspires you? 

Tending to Art - Artists as Collectors # 4

This week's Their Art, Your Walls post is from guest blogger and artist Karen F. Rose:

I am so pleased to have a Mary Hatch signed original digital print "Tending Alice's Garden" as part of my art collection.

Tending Alice's Garden
©2011MaryHatch

For years I admired Mary's paintings and when I found that she was looking for new painting assistant, I jumped at the chance.

While I was teaching a computer graphics painting course, I worked for her stretching canvas, updating computer files, packing and delivering paintings to galleries.

An accomplished and well respected painter, she took an interest in digital art and soon began to create original digital art pieces. 

I like to think we learned from each other.

When I moved from Michigan, she was very gracious to gift me one of her prints. 

Seeing this print each day reminds me of our love of art and our friendship.

Is there a gift from a mentor or teacher gracing your walls?

Who Knew - Artists as Collectors #3

Just got back from a quick two day trip to NYC to meet up with some friends and see some art.

Bob and Meg

a Duchanp hanging in a stairwell

Megan looking at a John Chamberlain
with a Warhol of Mick Jagger to her right

Headed over to Gagosian Gallery uptown to see Howard Hodgkin when Megan and I discovered that also at Gagosian was a show titled Collections from the Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg.  A great find for my new series Their Art/Your Walls- Artist as Collector. Apropo, and what a treasure trove!  3 floors of drawings, paintings, prints, and sculptures of his friends like Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, John Cage, along with Duchamp, Matisse, Beuys, Morandi, and some Warhol to name drop a few.

Many of the works were signed "to Bob." Two of which were from dancer/choreographer and close friend of Rauschenberg's, Trisha Brown.  Megan reminded me that Brown taught dance while we were Pratt Students. That class fulfilled the one gym requirement for our undergraduate degree. I don't remember her so much as I remember trying to pirouette across the gym floor without hitting a wall!

How many people can say that Trisha Brown was their gym teacher?

Their Art, Your Walls- Artist as Collector

Willow on State, Kennett Square offers artists a discount when they purchase another artist's work from their gallery.  Great idea. Incentive, encouraging, and helpful.

I have traded, bought and been gifted the work of other artists.  I am also honored when a colleague hangs my work on their walls.  So I thought it would be fun to share with you over time different artists and a selection of what they have chosen to hang on their walls.

I'll start. This is a shot from my home and a triptych in my collection.

Eileen's triptych, my favorite chair,
a Hot Pepper Magazine rack by Shari Epstein, and a small painting
on cradled panel by Laura B. Ferrara that
I picked up from the Pyramid Atlantic store in Silver Spring, MD.

Eileen Foti is a gifted artist and master printer.  She is also a good friend, so fortunately, I acquired this triptych through a trade.  Adept in all printmaking, it is her impeccable drawing and lithography skills that shine through.  Titled Caution: Hilo, the work is from her Images of Extinction series, and was her response to seeing so many things on her travels that were facing extinction. This work is about both a plant and a bird endangered from the Big Island of Hawaii.  

Caution: Hilo, 1999
Lithograph with gold leaf and colle`
©2011EileenFoti

Hauntingly beautiful, as well as quite personal, this 3 piece "altar" hangs in our bedroom. It also serves as a reminder of the power of art to celebrate, preserve and remember.

What do you have on your walls? Please send me a jpg and a few lines...

I will post it here weekly.