The Art of Wonder

“Experiencing wonder enables us to believe in the expansiveness of time, meaning, and beauty. In this openness, we often feel that anything is possible and that we are connected to something much greater than ourselves.” – Kaywin Feldman    

Mid-week greetings! I have taken down the works in the exhibition in Sioux City and am slowly photographing them to share with a larger audience. For me, the highlight of the show was the body of work that inspired the exhibition title, The Art of Wonder. The use of the phrase "the art of wonder" was inspired by a book of that name, published by the Minneapolis Institute of Art to celebrate their anniversary....filled with photos, essays and other inspiring pieces. The quote that began this post came from that book and reminded me of the wonder, excitement and creative energy I experience when looking at works of art. My husband and I love going to museums, especially art museums, and more often than not, build our trips around them. Visiting museums reminds me of the importance of art, the way it speaks to the deepest part of our humanity, across time and culture. I am always inspired by something during a museum visit.

But, there is wonder to be found absolutely everywhere....from the way the light falls on your teacup in the morning, to the teacup itself and how it was made....the tea and how it was harvested....and where and by whom. The wonder cascades, falling over itself...picking up steam as one thing leads to another and we are filled with awe over something ordinary. In this way, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. This, of course, does not discount the many moments filled with more momentous grandeur we all experience.

Below are some of the pieces that spilled forth as I experienced the flow and joy of making during the month of January in the studio. The Art of Wonder pieces are all 8" x 8", mixed media on Japanese paper dipped in beeswax. I did them in three sets of nine pieces each and hung them in three separate grids. Below is The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, nos. 1-9, which are now all listed in my Etsy shop!

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no.1

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no.2

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no.3

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no. 4

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no.5

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no.6

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no.7

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no.8

The Art of Wonder, Suite 1, no.9

I'll share Suites 2 and 3 in the coming days, along with some of the other work that was made for that exhibition. I do hope your week has started off well. We are having some cool rainy days mixed in with the warm and sunny ones....that's spring! Enjoy your week!

Portals, Gateways and the Next Big Thing

The Portal

(collage & embroidery on Japanese paper dipped in beeswax, 13 x 9 3/4"

Maybe it's the winter blues, maybe it's a stage of life, but I find myself with a restless energy wondering what's next. I'm sure many of you can identify, especially if you are in your mid-50s and still in awe that you could have come to be such a ripe age, wondering what you are going to do when you grow up. Sometimes I look around and see that I have all the trappings of a grown up, including a wonderful husband (although no children), a too-big house full of too much stuff, more than enough responsibilities, financial worries, never enough time...the list goes on. But I certainly don't feel like a full-fledged adult. I haven't gotten it right yet....there is still something else...the next thing.

My father had a saying that has stayed with me through the years and which I find resonating even now, providing a push of courage to keep moving forward. He was fond of saying, at just the right moments, "It's never as late as you think." In some circles, these are known as the encore years and people often switch gears at my age and even older, to give themselves to another career entirely. 

I think this is why the notion of portals are coming to mind. Gateways, entrances to the next thing. A curiosity to discover more, to continue learning and to grow. I'll be posting this new series at Missouri Bend Studio . In the meantime, I am summoning the trust to move through the next portal, just to see if I can become more fully me.  

The Portal (detail)

Two In One

I got a little chuckle yesterday when I read Gloria Freshley's most recent post from her blog, Gloria Freshley Art and Design...as she was surprised and delighted to discover the back side of a printed fabric.  It's often the case that we find the beauty in the unseen and undiscovered.

I had the same experience a few days ago when I decided to tear down a larger drawing that had been laying around for many years.  I liked parts of it, not enough to keep working on it, but just enough not to throw it away, so in moment of do or die, I started to tear it down into smaller pieces.  The drawing started out about 11x15" and was on the handmade paper that my husband makes periodically, so earthy and sturdy and lovely to work on.  I'd painted the piece a kind of minty green and it had been dipped in beeswax, with some drawing and sewing on it already, much of which I'd ripped out...but that made it even better...the trace of the earlier sewing and the holes left behind.  So, since I've been working smaller lately, I thought I couldn't go wrong by tearing it down and reinventing the piece.  As I thought about continuing to sew on one of the new small pieces, I casually turned it over and fell in love with the backside...unpainted paper flecked with bits of of color left from the ink on the prints he'd torn down to turn into the paper, made all the more luscious and rich by the addition of beeswax.  So exciting! I finished the little piece and added it to my shop titled Lost Book Page.  As you see, I think of it now as a book page, a fragment torn from an ancient volume, so there is recto (front) and verso (back)...2 pieces in one! I know, for me, which side is the front and which is the back.  Here it is, back side and then front side below.

Here's to the happy surprises...keep your eyes open!

Summer no.4 (Season Cycles Series)

I just finished the fourth summer piece in the Four Seasons series and posted it in my etsy shop today!  Drawing and sewing (another form of drawing) are so satsifying for me.  I've been working on several groups of work alongside each other lately...Pearls On A String, Summer season pieces and works for a collaborative show that my husband, Johntimothy, and I will be having later in the summer at Black Hills State University.  Sometimes, it's been hard to switch gears from one to the other, as I think I've seen them all as separate entitities....which they are, but somehow today I was better able to just be in the moment and watch as the imagery and mark-making became a little more fluid as I moved from one to the other.

Cheers!

Season Cycles/Spring no. 23

I posted this piece, Season Cycles/Spring no. 23, in my shop this morning! This is all about the wind, which once again, has stirred up and rustles the cottonwood trees noticeably. The wind is a fact of life on the Plains, but seems like this spring has been more-than-the-usual windy! Plants are blown in one direction hour after hour and the next morning, when the calm returns, they stand upright none the worse for wear...except for the daisies, that is.  Those little flower beads on this piece are about to get blown off the little piece of paper!

Had a productive day in the studio today.  Don't think I've mentioned it here, but I went ahead and quit my day job, which was only 1/2 time anyway, so that I could be in my studio full-time.  I am so much happier and hope that my creative life will also bring some financial stability--that would be even better!

Here's to all the artists and craftsperson creating something out of nothing--bravo to you all!

Season Cycles/Spring no. 21

Season Cycles/Spring no.21 was posted this morning at my shop on Etsy.  Now, I'm excited to get down to the studio to begin some watercolors!  I'll keep up with the Season Cycles, but have been getting excited about branching out and working in a looser way in a medium I haven't touch in decades...should be interesting!  The weather is quite cool lately...rain on the way I'm sure, given this overcast sky.  A great day for working in the studio.

Season Cycles/Spring no.19

The latest in the Season Cycles Series, this is Spring no.19, which has just been posted at my Etsy shop, MissouriBendStudio.  I'm having fun abstracting plant forms from nature...the variety is so vast and amazing, there's probably nothing I could make up that isn't already out there in the universe in some form or another!

These little pieces are great fun to do--always a surprise by the end, since I never know what I'm going to do when I begin.  Often this means, lots of layers of paint and drawing until the little item announces itself and I know what it wants to be!

I think I'll begin to delve into some watercolors very shortly and see how this changes the way I work...never a dull moment!  It's kind of a cloudy rain day here in South Dakota and while, I'm itching to get out and work in the garden, think I'll be happy to head back to the studio!

Enjoy!

Sewn Paper

Just finished up Season Cycles/Spring no. 13 and no. 14 and added to MissouriBendStudio on etsy.com.  In my last post I showed this piece (Spring no. 14) before any of the embroidery and beads were added.  Here it is in its finished state, many hours later!  It's fun to watch what happens as each stitch is added...a very slow and meditative way of drawing!

Embroidery on Paper--A Work In Progress

I love being in the studio--working, thinking through my hands, holding brushes and pens, along with needle and thread.  And I adore sewing on paper!  There are lots of stages to the work that I make, starting with layers of paint on paper...getting the colors working together just so.  Many of the pieces eventually end up with embroidery and that's my favorite time....the meditative state of slowly stitching through paper.  I love the feel of the needle poking through that very textured handmade paper and the way the colored stitches lay against the color of the paper.  The simplest of pleasures.  I'd love to hear from anyone who also loves to sew on paper!  Here's a shot of a work in progress...before the sewing...you'll see this again soon in my shop, looking much different!