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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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Greetings in the First Days of Summer

Dust to Dust no.4

Dust to Dust no.5

Dust to Dust no.6

Hello! Hoping the summer season is finding everyone well. Here in South Dakota, the temperatures are turning warmer and more like summer every day. I'd say spring was mostly cooler than normal, but we've also had a fair amount of rain, which is a very good thing! Last year's severe drought is still on everyone's mind, so there is a grateful sigh of relief to have rain this year. The garden is thriving, including all manner of weeds. Time to get back out there and do some serious weeding! The irises and peonies have had their time of beautiful blooms and are now turning the stage over to the day lilies which are showing signs of flowering sprouts that grow what seems like inches each day.

Johntimothy and I had a much needed rejuvenating vacation in Washington, DC, where we immersed ourselves for days on end in museums surrounded by amazing works of art. We were there at the tail end of the Albrecht Durer exhibition at the National Gallery, which was a highlight especially for Johntimothy, the printmaker! We chanced upon a fascinating lecture on the Sunday afternoon we were at the National Gallery by author/historian Ross King who was discussing his new book Leonardo and the Last Supper. We now have a signed copy and I can't wait to read it! One of the surprise highlights of our trip though, was the exhibition at the Phillips Collection, Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life. I had seen Braque's paintings before, but not a collection of them and somehow this time they hit us with their subtle power and for both of us, Braque's work stood out as much more interesting and nuanced than Picasso's. Interesting.

So, back at home now, fully immersed in the chaos of daily life and work. Trying to reestablish rhythms and continuing my reading explorations. Just finished a fabulous book by a local author, Jerry Wilson, Waiting for Coyote's Call: An Eco-Memoir From The Missouri River Bluff. The book is beautifully written and centers around the building of his home and the restoration of much of the land to native grasses. It is labeled an eco-memoir and it is definitely that, but more.....a inspiration for living a thoughtful life connected to place and learning to find the wisdom found in nature and within. Highly recommended!

Somehow in recent weeks I finished these pieces from the Dust to Dust series. I believe I showed them to you while in progress, but now I call them finished. I didn't take any shots of the sides which have drawing on them as well, but they are on 1 1/2" cradled clayboard....they hover somewhere between painting and drawing, but lean more toward drawing with layers of acrylic paint and acrylic ink. I'm still haunted by notions of the buried history in the land....time and memory, the lost traces of our collective lives.

And now....it's a beautiful Sunday and Johntimothy and I will take a drive over across the river to Wynot, Nebraska to the St. James Marketplace crossing our fingers all the while that there will be at least one homemade blueberry pie for us to bring home!  See you soon....enjoy the day!

6 comments:

  1. I love these pieces. Something about the slants that I really like. Know what you mean about weeds!! My plot has ambitions to become a prairie. I try to remind it that we grow food there, not just waist high grass. Hope you found your pie!!

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    1. Hi Annie....yes, not quite sure i chose those slants...maybe it's the land itself divided up into a square grid...but when looked at off-center it looks skewed. In fact, maybe it is the falsity of the geometric grid laid on the land that is skewed! And, there is that balance to strike, which you allude to....a little control over nature. Yes to the pie! Great to hear from you!

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  2. Sounds like life is good Patti! I like the 'script' in Dust to Dust 4 - always makes me wonder what is said, spoken, unspoken...

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    1. Fiona....yes, life is good, although as always, too busy to fit everything in. Summer has been cool until now, but summer has finally kicked in. Plenty of rain now and sunshine. The script....well, we both respond to that don't we?? What is spoken, the voice of history...there in the pseudo writing and in all those rows of dots....the march of time and memory! Hope you and Barry are thriving....I've been remiss in visiting, but think you both so often!

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  3. Lovely work! More time away seems to have been good for you,huh? I'm reaching the end of my tether and, once again, re-evaluating. A good thing. I think the daily quilted drawings are truly reaching an end point as I long to work larger, do some works on paper, some sculpture, just s-t-r-e-t-c-h a bit more. As I look at new and old work, though, I see I am definitely "dedicated to the stitch" as a new acquaintance recently observed. That realization pleases me.

    I will lift my glass of wine tonight in honor of your journey through the prairies! Now I'm off to find a blueberry pie (easily proportional if the crust is not too think, right?) Cheers, Miss Patti!

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    1. Karen Anne....isn't it funny these endless cycles of energy and reaching the end of our tether! Always a chance for renewal and finding a new voice. Where ever we seem to be, something else seems to call us!! There is that "thread" there that you've discovered, that can give you an anchor no matter what direction....dedicated to the stitch....even if it is a drawn stitch!

      It turned out to be a last pie...blueberry/peach. Actually John is the pie lover...but yes, could be seen as proportional...or not! A glass of wine lifted to you as well!!

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