Welcome to MissouriBendStudio!

This is an online journal of my artistic investigations and a way to communicate about my work, ideas, quandries and queries! I welcome comments and conversation and do hope you enjoy these musings. My artwork is available in my shop MissouriBendStudio on Etsy.com or on my website.

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Monday, October 25, 2010

A Walk Through The Universe: Place, Part III

The last Monday in October, and just how did that happen, I ask you?  As usual, time is flying by and it's really true what they say...the older you get, the faster it goes!  We're still thinking about Place on this meander through the universe and I'm going to bring you some of the latest paintings by another dear friend, Robin Cody, who is also very much an artist tied to the idea of conveying a sense of place. Incidentally, she happens to be the wife of our earlier feature, Peter Brown--it's a fine painting partnership, to be sure.  Robin is on sabbatical this semester and was able to extend the summer months they usually spend in Maine through a bit of the autumn. She is a painter through and through, along with many other fine qualities, including a wicked sense of humor and my husband, Johntimothy, still says she makes the best pecan pie on the planet! Robin spends her time painting on location and I include a few words direct from the artist about that process. Works painted while recently in Maine follow.






Landscape sketches on the beach in Maine:

The speed with which all things change in the landscape is daunting, but it establishes the game - the race, or pursuit that is painting. I’m aware of painting from memory, remembering certain colors or gestures that define time and place. All of my looking is in the past as I rush to record it.  Possibly, Boudin and Constable are standing behind me, one at each shoulder, sadly shaking their heads. And sighing. -- Robin Cody









Robin is in the midst of creating a new web presence, so at this point additional work is not available to view, but please leave a comment here that you'd like to see more and I'll make sure to get you a link when the time comes! I love the sense of light in her work, the delicious paint surface and always, a sense of time and place.

What path shall we follow next month? Clearly, the thread that has connected each post in this topic of place, has been memory. But, that's just so broad, I'd like to sharpen the lens just a little bit and use this very powerful notion that Robin brought up in her statement. I'm very intrigued by this idea of looking backward, which is of course, what we do, because by the time we record and process the present moment, it has quite vanished, often without a trace. Let's frame it this way: The Fleeting Moment, The Backward Glance.  See you next Monday for A Walk Through The Universe.  But I'll be back before then with posts of a different order!

Thanks for your interest and would love to hear from you...cheers!





4 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing Robin's work and the idea of a fleeting glance and looking backwards (glimpses over your shoulder). I think her skies are what speak to me most - stunning and full of mood and atmosphere...

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  2. This is great stuff - definitely let us know when there's a web presence to check out! I love the idea of the fleeting glance - our brains apparently take in quite a lot of information in just a quick look at something, but what our minds then do with it can be quite transformative, altering it in a way that suits or benefits us in some way. Maybe that's why I like photography and so rarely post-produce an image. It may be a selective capture of everything that was going on at just that moment, but it is not manipulated by memory or artistry in the way my writing about it cannot help but do...and of course anyone looking at the image later, myself included, will layer on it their own way of seeing and organizing stimuli...so can there ever be such a thing as a "pure" memory?

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  3. Thanks Fiona...glad you like Robin's work. I agree, the skies are powerful!

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  4. Gabriella...so glad you like Robin's paintings. I'll be sure to let you know when she has a new site. I'm really interested in this next subject as well...so many avenues to explore....seeing, memory, time. Interesting idea you bring up with the photograph, selective...yes, but also objective. Another busy week and poking around and pondering! Thanks for your comment!

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I'm happy to hear from you...comments and questions are welcome!