Thanksgiving

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. 2010 has been a big year for me. Along with moving to a new home and studio with my loving husband, I also have two of the biggest shows of my career hanging right now, one mile apart, in West Chester. I am so proud of these shows, I just want the world to see them. The show at WCU, PAINT PAPER CLAY WAX WOOD, is so amazing. Adrian, Jeff and Jamie have so much depth to their skills....I keep thinking to myself, does anyone know how talented these artists are?....Really Know? We just finished a mural for the Friends Association and I spent a day outside with Adrian at his house painting this canvas. We had previously worked on the canvas with the children but weren't able to finish it. I must admit I was slightly intimidated to work beside Adrian with his mad painting skills, but he cheered me along, giving me gentle advice and encouragement (remember, I am the CERAMIC artist of the group). It was a fun fall day of painting, eating and talking art. Jeff was the next recipient of the canvas. I hear he did some CRAZY work on it and can't wait to see it. He is the expert "collaborator" of the group. Adrian has added the final touches and this masterpiece will soon be unveiled....very exciting!! Along with my theme of "Thanksgiving", I must say I am so grateful to be a part of this show, with these artists. Now we just need the world to see it...any ideas out there?



A Thankful Artist,

Rhoda

Where?

Where does the time go? Where are all the people? Where am I going with this?
The show is finally up and I want to sit back and enjoy it. But I ask myself where did all the time go? I had a year to get ready for this show and I found myself working until the last minute. Waiting for paint to dry was not a problem considering I use wax and it basically dries instantly. Upon contemplating this last minute pressure maybe that is one of the reasons I paint with wax. For me there is nothing like last minute pressure to make decisions. They always seem right because they are responsive and instinctual.

Where are all the people? This is the other anxiety followed by the anxiety of mounting such a large show. Don’t get me wrong I’m very thankful for all that came out opening night and continue to see the show. I quietly worked in my studio and in my head for a year making this. The details where well thought out in regards to how I would make the wall, paint the wall and display everything that I created for the wall. Maybe it was the grandiose ideas I had in my head or maybe it was too many red carpet events I had watched on TV. We are in a “show stopper” society and we all want to be entertained quickly because we can’t seem to find the time. That is one reason I make big and bold work. I figure I have 3 minutes to make an impact. This thought helped me to get where I am going.

As I reflect on this show, I have a chance to look back and see where I am headed. The paintings I created focused on my family; it was a vain attempt for the pursuit of happiness. I wanted to stop, take a step back from the glamour I was creating and ask “What makes me happy?” After looking around and listening to the voice that kept telling me “paint what you know.” I decided to paint my family. Maybe that is why it took me so long to create the show. I was spending so much time enjoying my research that I didn’t stop to paint.

Cheers
Jeff

IF JEFF IS A GREAT ARTIST AND RHODA IS A GOD: WHAT AM I?

What am I indeed! It's been a long haul these last eighteen months and the only thing seriously wrong with our show is that sooner or later it's got to come to an end. Or does it? For me in some ways this show started many years ago and perhaps the other three artists would agree. The influence we all had on each other recently has been intense, but even if it is diminished in the future, that won't end, either. Besides Jamie, Jeff and Rhoda, there were other people that changed the way my work looked in the PAINT, PAPER, CLAY, WAX, WOOD exhibit.

The head of the art department, John Baker, designed wall cases in the lobby fronting the gallery that are filled with the working tools of each artist. During frequent visits to the exhibition, I often see students carefully examining these didactic displays.

Chris Curtin, owner of Éclat Chocolate, cast my sculpture "Chocolate Goddess" in the finest blend of rare cocoa. David Culp and Michael Alderfer of Brandywine Cottage did the dried flower arrangements in my "God Head" flower pots.

Do you see where this is going? Early on in the blog I defined myself as a "professional rememberer," and the means I use to do this is picture-making. Looking back, that now seems a little disingenuous. Besides being an emotional responder to the world around me, I realize how actively I create things that I need to see... and feel.

This is done with a lifetime of craftsmanship and lots of tools, but most importantly - other people. Do I need people more than most artists, or am I just becoming more aware of it? I don't particularly need to know the answer to these questions, it's enough for me to know that the matrix of my life is made up of profound connections with others. Friends have often heard me say that I've got to live a hundred years, otherwise I'll never get all my pictures painted. Pictures painted, things felt, connections made.

There's so much left to do, I better get started.

Adrian

RHODA KAHLER INVENTS THE UNIVERSE

Rhoda's work is indescribable, but I'll try to describe it. In a sense, her work is easier to capture in photographs than Jeff's, on the other hand you can't really get a sense of scale. You have to see her work in the PAINT, PAPER, CLAY, WAX, WOOD show to believe it. I named this blog entry, "Rhoda Kahler invents the universe" because this woman is absolutely primordial. In the same room, she's got everything from tiny budding seeds, sacred containers of mysterious life forces, and gigantic columns of vegetal exuberance that risk crashing through the ceiling.

The night before the show opened, Leah and I were helping Rhoda take some of her latest pieces hot out of the kiln. They were done to a turn. Toasty clouds and hot nails. Rhoda started with a few things on pedestals and hanging on the wall but before long she was spreading clouds up to the very edge of the wall and tiny bits almost down on the floor. She got the idea, at the last minute, of turning the passageway between two rooms into a "doorway to the renaissance." To Rhoda, the difference between "idea" and "actuality" is very small, so it was no sooner conceptualized than done.

She lavishes earthy greens, reds, browns, and a delicious creamy white over her pieces, with occasional jewel-like blues. These blues are brilliant, hard, but never cold. They are the spark that ignites her Big Bang. You better stand back, and don't try this at home.

Rhoda is going to change the way people think of clay.

Adrian

TAKE A BREATH: AND THEN ANOTHER - JEFF SCHALLER'S WORK

This is the most extraordinary art show that I've ever been involved with. It makes very clear the audacity of Jeff Schaller, Rhoda Kahler, Jamie Paxson and Adrian Martinez. We all kept upping the ante and continually topping ourselves. Particularly Rhoda and Jeff. They created never seen before masterpieces up to the last minute.

Jeff had a carefully painted giant splatter on a wall he built for the show (yes he built an entire wall). This very splatter was included in a painting and a print for the show. "It's vectored so you can blow it up without distortion" he explained. You can't make this stuff up.

In a sense, the wall and everything hanging on it can be seen as one gigantic piece. It's brash, assertive, full of the self confident brio that Jeff does so well. On the other hand, with a closer look (Jeff's work always requires a closer look) you realize he's pictured his entire family, including their dog "Pooh." His work can be funny, whimsical, clever, but it's always filled with a joy and tenderness that is never too far from a certain melancholy that makes his work profound.

His superb technique gets him out of every difficulty except where he chooses to walk on the razors edge. Reproductions never capture any original, but the magic of Jeff's encaustic paintings is particularly difficult to communicate in a mechanical reproduction. This may be one reason why he's so seriously involved with creating prints using serigraphs and half a dozen other exotic processes. Prints make up a significant part of Jeff's oeuvre. If you're lucky enough to own one of his paintings, you've really got to get some of his prints and oil stick drawings as well.

There is now no doubt.... Jeff is a great artist. Get the word out. Five weeks left for the show.

Adrian

Three Days to Go!!!

Installation Begins