Elles: Pompidou at SAM, Women in Art and Seattle Shopping

I went to the Elles: Pompidou exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, yesterday.  It is a gathering more than 130 works of art by 75 Women artists that rocked the art world from 1907-2007.  It was not only paintings, but video, sculpture, photography and installations.   I can't say that every piece there resonated with me, nor can I say that I really loved any one piece.  Yet, the thought that some of this art was produced in the 1950's and it is still compelling today is remarkable.  These women walked up to the edge, looked over, and with no fear they leaped.  They put themselves out there in ways that were remarkable for the times.  They created daring and creative works that challenged the stereotype of the art world.  They showed humor, sensuality and innovation through modern and contemporary art.  I left there not sure whether I liked it, or didn't like it.  But I do know that I keep thinking about it and the amazing courage these women artists demonstrated. They pushed the envelope of women in art in a provocative and thought provoking way.  There was no internet, no connectivity, no social media in their time.  They just did what they did.  They were compelled to make a statement for women through art and they broke the trail for the rest of us to follow.
Artists include Sonia Delaunay, Frida Kahlo, Dora Maar, Diane Arbus, Marina Abramović, Louise Bourgeois, Atsuko Tanaka, Cindy Sherman, Sophie Calle, Hannah Wilke, Nan Goldin and Tania Bruguera, among others.

If you are up for a bit of shopping after leaving the SAM, there are some stops that make the day complete.  I love beautiful paper as much as I love beautiful fabric.  Often, I have no idea what to do with it, but I love looking.  de Medici Ming is a sweet find in Seattle.  If you love fine papers you need to go here.  Its across University Street towards the south of the SAM.  Its a tiny little place, but packed with pure paper goodness.  After you leave paper heaven, continue heading south to Spring street.  On the corner you will find Watson Kennedy.  Its no wonder they won an award for outstanding visual retailing.  Plan an hour here.  It will take you that long to make one lap through and see all the eye candy.  Gifts galore and amazing merchandise to fill your senses.  Next door you will find Far4, which is a unique small little boutique with interesting selection of porcelain pieces as well as a collection of local artist's work and beautiful glass pieces.  The sweet white pomegranate above is from their fruit and vegetable collection.

Also, one of my favorite local encaustic artists, Stephanie Hargrave is showing for the month of November at the Partrica Rovzar Gallery.  The gallery on the corner of University Street and Second, across from the SAM.

Hungry?  TASTE, the restaurant at the SAM is the perfect choice. 

Rainy Day Sanctuary - Part 2

Yesterday, I introduced several of the flower houses at the Seattle Volunteer Park Conservatory.  I spent a rainy afternoon there about a week ago.  After I got home and looked at the photos I took, I decided that it was pretty obvious by the number of photos that I kinda took a hankering to the Cactus House.



I totally admit that I have a thing about texture.  I really am drawn to texture and line.  So what is there not about that in the Cactus House - its like texture and line Heaven.  I love finding inspiration in Nature.

 The Cactus House itself is not huge by any means, but it is packed with so much interest that I was a little like a kid in a candy store. 

For those of you who are desert dwellers - this is kinda ordinary and a little old-hat for you - but for me.. a girl from the Pacific NW - this is cool.

 Sharp and soft

 I love the whisker effect on this one.. and the cactus bokeh

 Its like a nest

 Who knew there were blue cactus in the world?

These look like sea anemone

 Line - texture - Love

More Cactus Bokeh.
*Sigh*  cactus love.  Have a happy weekend.  Its Paint Party Friday tomorrow.

Rainy Day Sanctuary

About a week ago, I had some time to kill on a rainy day.  A trip to the Seattle Volunteer Park Conservatory has been on my list.  There had been an article in the paper about how the funding was tight and how it perhaps might be closed due to the cost of maintaining this building.  I was really feeling it would be a shame if I didn't get there before it was shut down.  Plus, I had some film to drop off on Capital Hill and I had to wait for it to be developed.  Perfect timing, perfect day for a visit.

It was built 1912 and fashioned after the Crystal Palace in London.You enter under a 35 panel hand blown and etched stained glass canopy.

 There are five Houses within the Conservatory, each with its own theme and climate.  I got to travel around through the botanical world in mere steps. 

 Each room has its own climate that happily supports the lovlies that reside within.  The colors and textures of the plants and foliage were beautiful. 

 I wandered through the Bromeliad House

 Then came upon the Fern House

 The Palm House is where the Orchids live

 The Seasonal Display house was full of beauties

 And of course... can't pass by the Passion Flower

It was a beautiful place to spend a rainy day.  Tomorrow, I'll show you what I saw in the Cactus House.  You can learn more about this place through its friends

Inspiration Today::Blue Trees

There is a place in Seattle with blue trees.  Its Westlake Park in downtown Seattle.
An Australian artist, Konstantin Dimopoulos is coloring some of Seattle's trees with a water soluble ultramarine blue.  It is part of his international art installation The Blue Trees.  A week or so ago, I talked about pushing our creativity.  If you missed this post, I would at least urge you to go and watch the OKGO video there.  I could really see this concept of pushing creativity in Kon's Blue Tree Project.  He had an issue that he felt needed to be raised - but how do you do that in an Ultra - creative way? 

Well, you paint trees Ultra Marine Blue. 

His idea is to bring attention to the deforestation of millions of acres of forests on our planet.  About 32 million acres of forests were converted to other uses or lost to natural causes each year between 2000 and 2010.  This is a big loss of our green nation.

The color itself is made of azurite which is a vibrant blue rock that is ground and mixed with water. It does not harm the tress and will fade away with the rain.  Its an unexpected color to associate with trees, thus bringing our attention to notice them. 

The artist believes that deforestation is a topic that is out of sight.  Its not one that many people stop to think about.  His idea is that with this odd color for trees that people would take pause and learn what the project is and what it represents.  

This is an interesting example of pushed creativity. Point taken. 

"I don't have the answers but I can raise the issue" Dimopoulos said.  

I've been thinking a lot about voice in art.  Its more than just a painting or a photo.  Its what it has to say.  I know I'm trying to find the voice in my art.  How do I make what I do speak of something?  How do I give a voice to a subject or to something that can not speak?  And how do I do this in a two dimensional way?  Its an interesting thing to think about.  I found the Blue Tree project inspiring in the regard that it gives a voice to something that can not speak on its own.

Where is summer?

I couldn't help but to take this photo as proof that it is true that summer is really eluding us here in Seattle. Yes, that really says 58 degrees Fahrenheit. And... the worst part?  This was taken today at 1PM.  The rest of the world is literally sweltering and here - officially - 78 minutes of summer this year. That is minutes where we have been 80 degrees or over since well, like the beginning of the year.


Yes, I am whining.... I can't help myself. I don't even get to wear sandals or summer clothes for that matter.


Although, as much as I whine and wish for warmer days to play in the sunshine... I don't think I would trade with any of you who live in the HOT cities to the east of me.... unless you live on a beach or a lake :)

Seattle Day

 Today was an afternoon in the city.  It was sunny and warm - the warmest day we've had in monthes.  Remembering of course this is Seattle... and warm means about 60.  I wanted to try and get some b+w iphone photos.  I'm on my scavenger hunt for Sunday + I was on the mission to find some Vanilla Sugar for a special receipe from my good friend Ingrid over at her blog Fable of the Table.  Her cookies are going to be the stars of my Kitchen photo for the Scavenger Hunt.  So come back for Sunday and there will be receipe and link too. 

 

I've been really facinated by b+w iPhotography lately - I've been liking to shoot with the Classic Toy app in the overexposed b+w film option.  I also like Vintage BW app for shooting some great b+w photos. 

 Today I had some fun and carried my camera in my hand by my side and clicked off random photos as I passed by people on the streets.  I'm still a little shy about actually pointing and shooting someone.  So, today was stealth mode. 

 For the most part - those photos taken on the go weren't good.  They were blurry and pretty random if I got my subject at all.  So, I need to work on my technique.  Next time, I'll go for the look like I'm texting someone approach. 

 I arrived at my destination after a pass through Nordstrom :)  This is DeLaurenti's at Pike Place Market where I actually found the Vanilla Sugar.  Its a great import food store with all kinds of cheeses and imported food items.  And, since I was at Pike Street Market, I had to wander through and take in the atmosphere. 

 Pike Street Market goodness.  Its nice to have the market back up and running in full swing.  Last time I was there it was under construction and many of the shops weren't open. 

And yes, of course... a coffee break for the way home.  A beautiful day in the Emerald City.  Be sure to come back on Sunday for the Scavenger Hunt photos, more about Vanilla Sugar and the Receipe for some pretty awesome Almond cookies.

Black and White and Square

Kat Sloma has us exploring square format in her exploring with a camera series. I love square. Its may favorite format and I find myself using it lots. After downloading photos into Picasa, I find the ones that catch my eye. I straighten and then experiment with cropping. I almost always try the square first - just to see what I see.

This past week, I gave myself a tall order. My living room needed some zip and quite frankly at little injection of me. I felt that I had only decorated to about 85% and then stopped. So a trip to IKEA for frames got me started. I sat down at the computer and looked through the photos - new and old. I decided my theme was Seattle specific, black and white and square. Little did I realize what a task that would be.

I figured square was easy - not necessarily so. It seemed like a lot of what I felt were my really good photos didn't fit with square. Seattle specific cut the archive by alot. Black and white is what proved to be the really tough part. I find that many, many photos just don't cut it once transfered to b&w in photoshop. They just lack the punch they need. I have much better luck with my iPhone apps when it comes to b&w.

I printed a bunch of little square photos of any that made the cut. I cut them out with scissors and sat on the couch and held them up at arm's length to see what I thought they may look like once on the wall. The project took forever... this one.. no that one... how does is look with this one... etc.. you get the idea. Anyway. I picked 4 - 4 frames, 4 photos.

I then uploaded them to Costco's photo website and picked them up 2 hours later. $13 for 4 12X12 prints - not bad. I framed them, hung them and have been really happy with the outcome. I have to make a change or two, but overall - pretty good.

So, as inspiration to you - a give away! YAY!! We all love giveaways. - make a comment, become a follower and I will send the winner a copy of the Seattle Space Needle photo. Think of it as a little love from Seattle. You will have until Sunday March 20 to enter. I'll pick a random winner and announce on Monday March 21.

Inspiration File

color, line and texture

I had an assignment to set up an inspiration file. That was the easy part. Review recent photos I've taken and pick my favorites. The hard part was then really looking at the photos and finding the commonalities... what is the common thread that runs through the photos?

I also looked at the entire collection of 365 photos that I have taken over the past year. My first impression was that the photos are all over the map... subject, location, vantage point, color - all aspects. So this assignment has been good for me. Good for me to really look, to go beyond first impressions and really look deeper and see what I find. I had to mull this over a while because I was disappointed that I couldn't see a style and a voice that just jumped out. At first glance it looked like a jumbled mess of whatever.

I did notice that I like close up photos and nature. Not really quite macro, but in some cases yes. I like to fill the frame. But, why? To cut the crap? - yes. Do I focus too narrowly - not seeing the forest through the trees? - yes, sometimes. I had to think on this too. Do I need to stand back more and take in the whole picture rather than the detail? re-compose a little - yes.

My conclusion is I like three things in my photos - color, texture and either line or shape depending on the subject. When I take a step back and really look, I find these elements are dominent. I like to focus on the texture of the cool things in nature that I find along the way - thus the close up detail shots. I also tend to take photos as I am out walking the dog... which brings my subject matter and location to --> Urban nature.

The missing elements of design? Pattern and Form. These are good things to identify and give me a challenge to try and include more often. I also need to stand back more and see the whole picture. I'm chalking up my first year of photography as a year of exploration. No judging, just accepting the things that documented my year for what they were. This is the year to take what I learned and am learning and see what I can do. It will be interesting to see if I can clear my throat and find my voice this coming year. Will be it be tight and linear? Or bold and loud? Or colorful and exotic?