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

FORTY PRINTS - EVERY ONE UNIQUE

All forty of my Actaeon prints has 'IMP' after the signature. Few, if anyone, will know what that means. It means not only did I hand engrave the plate, I "hand" printed it as well. I warmed it on a hot plate, slathered the stiff ink carefully over it with a spatula, wiped all the surface ink off starting with a starched piece of gauze and ending by wiping it off with the palm of my hand. This resulted in a shiny metal surface covered with a network of ink-filled engraved lines. A damp piece of thick handmade paper is laid on top, and then run through the steel rollers of a hand press at terrific pressure. The pressure is so great that 100 prints later there's not much left to print.

These will only be sold as part of a "special edition" of forty catalogues also containing prints by Jamie Paxson, Jeff Schaller and a clay multiple by Rhoda Kahler. The forty lucky people that buy this catalogue will have a piece of history as well as art.

In the late 60's, my father gave me a half a dozen issues of Alfred Stieglitz's early 20th century art magazine "291." In one issue was a photogravure of The Steerage. H.W. Janson described it in his monumental History of Art as, " the first time that documentary photography reached the level of art in America." After my first marriage broke up, I sold it to a famous museum and bought an MG sports car. It had a padded roll bar and twin SU's. Ported and polished with a turbo exhaust, it was about as race prepared as a street legal car could be.

I'm just saying if you see a Lamborghini or Maserati in your future, buy this catalogue. Reasonably priced at a few hundred dollars - it's the best investment that you will ever make.

Adrian

Tour De Force

I agreed to do a lecture for the benefit of Downingtown Library last Thursday. The topic - "Influential books for and by artists - from the 15th to the 21st century". It began with Cennino Cennini and ended with the book I'm presently writing, "The Golden Age of Oil Painting - 1400-1800". The PAINT, PAPER, CLAY, WAX, WOOD show opening is imminent (November 10), so I had no business going off the rails this late in the process. But it got worse.

In the last few days, I began experiencing a new kind of fatigue. Around 3 or 4 PM in the afternoons, I would completely shut off. I'd find myself sitting in a chair or standing in a corner, vacantly staring at nothing, thinking nothing, practically unable to move and not knowing how long I had been there. Re-booting perhaps? It occurred to me later that this kind of mental exhaustion comes from trying to change yourself. Marie Paxson said to me a couple of days ago, "When you're going somewhere you've never been before, you have to do things you've never done before."

Thursday afternoon came, and what I feared most happened: total intellectual collapse and the lecture only three hours away! Getting in bed I thought, "Rest a bit and hopefully figure out something to say." Surprisingly, I fell asleep and awoke with a start. The entire lecture, presented itself complete and I immediately went around purposefully collecting books, paintings, drawings and etchings. I spoke for one hour extemporaneously, entirely without notes, surrounded by books and art. When asked for questions, an enthusiastic woman announced to the audience, "Each one of us has to go out and tell twenty people about this show coming up!" On the way home Leah said, "Adrian, that was a tour-de-force."

What just happened? Did I dream a lecture? Was it inspiration? Fatigue? Strange things can happen when you're trying to change.

Adrian

ENGRAVING IS DONE-15 DAYS TO GO!

My limited edition engraving for our catalogue is done. Having a limited edition piece for the show catalogue was Jeff's idea. I know at the time he brought it up everyone was thinking, "No way!" but he insisted it was a good thing to do and we should do it. So we did and now I can't imagine not doing it. It will be a great addition to the catalogue and the show.

With 15 days to go, I've got to move on to the next project, but first a pause to reflect. As I write these words, I know the other three artist are hard at work. It is difficult to speculate on just how much we have influenced each other, but I know we have. Being in such close and constant contact, reviewing each other's work and being energized by it has kept us all simmering in a bath of adrenaline.

An artist's profession tends to be a solitary one. As much as we love being around people, we all treasure our time alone. When you are alone, holding a cup of coffee, watching the steam curl up, with paint or clay all over your hands - that's when the magic happens. In my case, when I'm actually painting I'm probably in some sort of trance state because I lose all sense of time and myself. The times I'm actually aware of joy, inspiration, consternation, or outright fear is during those in-between moments.

Like right now. And yes I'm feeling all of the above.

Adrian

Not Shoulder, but Actaeon

After two days, the engraving has transformed from Shoulder to Actaeon. The shoulder is an anatomical mechanism. Actaeon was a famed huntsman in Greek mythology who stumbled upon the goddess Diana, naked, bathing in a sacred spring. Actaeon was hunting and the impertinence was totally unintended. Too late, he saw what no mortal should see and in revenge Diana turned him into a stag and his own dogs tore him to pieces.

What does all this have to do with shoulders, or engravings for that matter? First of all, you may be able to see in the photo of the plate after the first day's work a dark spot to the left of the figures elbow. This spot was a deeply corroded area that I could not easily polish out, so I left it thinking, "I'll deal with this later." At the end of the first day, I was musing on how to proceed and the thought occurred to me that that spot was a eye. But and eye of what? An eye of a dog. Why a dog? Because it's Actaeon! After all, he was already looking rather classical.

The next day, I started to work. Going through my dog pictures, I pulled out an Ibeza hound - perfect! The same animal is featured in my paintings, Picnic and Peaceable Kingdom. But first, my Greek hero needed some luxuriant hair. I wanted turbulent lines to contrast with the mostly straight hatching marks that made up the head, plus a dark area was needed on the side of the face to give it more depth and roundness. Tomorrow, I'll pull my first proof - always an exciting moment.

Wait! What about the dog? I lost the dog - too much of a distraction. The blemish got scraped and burnished off the surface and now it's smooth as a baby's butt.

Adrian

collector's edition

The catalogue for the show is looking amazing! Adrian and Jeff have been meeting with Bob from Brilliant Studio and continue to make it better each time. Just to give everyone a "head's up", there will be a small portion of the catalogues that will contain original pieces of artwork from each artist! These will be part of a "collector's limited edition" that will be personalized by each of us. I have just finished making my tiles for the catalogue...however, they still need to be fired, glazed and put back into the kiln. We are all currently working on our original pieces of artwork that will go into a select few of these catalogues. These will be for sale the night of the opening and during the show, don't miss out, they are limited in number and fabulous!
Rhoda

Shoulder

I started my new engraving today. It's called "shoulder", because that's what it is. I'll be working on it the rest of the week and into next week, so you can't see it yet. Hopefully, it'll be done and printed in ten days. The plate is a thick 4" x 6" piece of copper that I bought over 30 years ago. Originally, it was 18"x24" but it's been clipped smaller and smaller over time, and used for very special prints. I found it all crusty in the bottom of a box in the attic (yes, we have a real attic - including bats and cobwebs). It took an hour to polish the surface and bevel the edges so the plate won't cut the thick paper when it's inked and run through the press.

The basic drawing is already scratched in lightly with a drypoint needle, and I'll start the actual engraving tomorrow. The last thing I've got to do tonight is sharpen the burin. The burin is a small tool and there's not much to it, but it hasn't changed for thousands of years. Of course, it's only been used for printmaking in the last five hundred. When the burin is resting in the palm of your hand and you're pushing it forward like an index finger extension, there is a barely audible sound of copper coming up in curls as it's cut away.

Tomorrow, I'll spend five or six hours hunched over a table with my nose a few inches away from both hands as they work the plate. This probably sounds impossibly uncomfortable and, believe me, after six hours it is, but most of the time I'll be oblivious - lost in the reflections of a small gleaming piece of metal. The print must be built up line by line. During all this time you must hold to your vision with intensity, remember every stroke made, and anticipate every stroke to come. Six hours will pass as if they're sixty minutes.

Adrian

Part 3 - Inspired by Rhoda

"Remember that there are parts of what it most concerns you to know which I cannot describe to you; you must come with me and see for yourself. The vision is for him who will see it."

Plotinus said that more than 1,500 years ago. In two sentences, he has described the very core of art. Voice, vision - I have used both words interchangeably in this blog. The point is all artists must do two things...make and share. When I was a young artist (like all young artists), I tended to borrow what I wanted to share from older, greater, more mature artists. How could it be otherwise? I had skill but little experience. As I've aged, that has changed. With mastery, it's all me. Whether quoting in my work a beautifully painted passage from Piero Della Francesca (Florence 15th century) or Clifford Still (America 20th century) I make it mine. This is what Picasso was referring to when he said, in his typically pugnacious way, "Mediocre artist borrow, great artist steal!"

Does this mean that I think every artist's personal voice is ultimately somehow stolen? Is this a paradox, or worse, an irony? You can't steal what's given to you. No matter how ingeniously crafted or elusive a great work of art is, no matter how shy or evasive an artist is, what's ultimately created is meant to be shared.

"The vision is for him who will see it."

Adrian

Humbling Experience

Asking for help is never easy. I usually don't ask when it comes to something for myself, but this show is different. I have the privilege of working with these amazingly talented artists and am constantly in awe of what they can do...you would be surprised at their range. But now, it's not just the talent of these artists, but the support of friends, colleagues and art supporters. The old saying, "It takes a village.." is so true. When I am in my studio creating, my mind often wanders to past show openings, recalling all the friendly faces coming out to support me...wow...that's powerful. What a motivator! As Artists, where would we be if we didn't have people coming to view our masterpieces? The support from this show has been humbling, and we thank you. We need you and look forward to seeing you on opening night 11/10.

Rhoda

Printmakers Part 2

After the preceeding blog, you might be saying, "Considering all the great artists you just mentioned what's the point of even trying to make art today? There is nothing left to say." Andy Warhol was the first "famous" artists to address this essential problem of modern art directly, but artists have been chewing on this indigestible piece of gristle beginning with Dada to Marcel Duchamp to Damien Hurst. For myself, I have come to my own conclusions.

Conclusion No. 1: Old geezer that I am, I'm still passionate about the past masters. I'll never be able to stop painting, printmaking, drawing or sculpting using traditional techniques.

Conclusion No.2: Harold Bloom the poetry critic and scourge of intellectual mediocrity once said something like, "Contemporary poets and writers have complained that there is nothing left to say, and this is how they justify their literary abortions and grotesqueries. But! provided one finds his own voice, there is everything left to say."

I'm guessing, you're now thinking "So what's this 'your own voice' stuff?" If you are, I commend you, but you'll have to wait for Blog Part Three.

Printmakers Part 1

In preparation for my next engraving, I've been intensely studying my favorite printmakers - Rembrandt, Meryon, Whistler, and Hopper. You might say, "But these aren't engravers, they are etchers." And you would be right. For those unfamiliar with the process, engraving is cut directly into the metal plate with a sharp burin. The etcher, on the other hand, lightly scratches through an acid resistant film, then puts it in a liquid bath and lets the chemicals do all the work.

I only mention it because the first takes strength and great control. The second can whip along with the freedom of a sketch. Of course, neither of these techniques guarantee great art or even good art. I've worked a lot in etching and engraving and, believe me, they're both extremely demanding - taking years to handle skillfully. Still, relatively speaking, technique is the easy part; the difficult part is seeing everything in terms of black and white lines. This takes artistic vision and an extraordinary memory.

For a number of reasons, I do mostly engravings. A great artist and the greatest engraver of all was Durer. But his technique is over the top and rather scary. As far as etchings are concerned, compare technically superb but artistically limited portrait etchings by an artist like Anders Zorn with some Rembrandts. If you do this, you may get an inkling as to why Rembrandt is such a great painter, draftsman and etcher.

Adrian

Rhoda and Mike Came to Dinner

Rhoda and Mike came over for dinner last night. We went over Jeff's beautifully designed catalogue again (as per his instructions) to see if there were any changes to make. Every time this catalogue goes through Jeff's hands he makes it more beautiful, more perfect. I don't know what his limits are but we have not found them yet.

Rhoda and I made a pact yesterday promising we would not talk about art all night. We didn't really stick to it, but the four of did have a great time talking about other stuff and our lives in general. Rhoda and Mike are such a great couple, as well as being wonderful individuals.

But! before I appear too disingenuous, I must admit I did have a minor agenda: Paint and Clay. A week ago Rhoda returned a plate she had bisque fired for me. It's a non-functional plate with a snake and frog and I still have a lot of work to do before it is finished. The piece is inspired by the great ceramicist Bernard Palissy (1510-1590) and his 19th century French followers like Joseph Landais and Charles-Jean Avisseau. I can't control ceramic glazes well enough yet so I painted it with oils. When Rhoda came over I showed her my plate and the Palissy website, and asked, "Will I be able to do this?" She said, "Yes!"

Adrian

Today I Finished a Painting

I put the finishing touches on a self portrait today. The last time I could stand looking at myself that long was 30 years ago. I was 30 years old then (you do the math). For my age I don't look too bad, kind of gnarly though. In the background of this current painting is the very same portrait I did so many years ago. It will also be in our current show. It's a very good painting and I find myself wondering, "Of course it's very different, but is it any better?"

Technically, there is a world of difference. The earlier work is done "Alla Prima" - all at once. The paint is laid down with total self-assurance. The current painting is done with glazes, scumbles and layers upon layers of the thinnest color, this painting will never be cleaned, it's too fragile.

I think as I get older I can afford to fret more, doubt more, improvise more than I could have tolerated as a young artist, or as a young man for that matter. A little older, a little more confused. There is one thing I'm very clear about; my passionate feelings for art have never changed. Our show; PAINT, PAPER, CLAY, WAX, WOOD is, for me, tying up loose ends, settling accounts, reckoning the score while I prepare for my next thirty years in art.

Adrian

I Love Everything About Printmaking!

I love everything about printmaking, the gooey black ink, the polished copper plate, the hand tools unchanged for centuries, the quiet hand-powered press as it smoothly shifts the steel bed back and forth, but most of all I love the paper. The paper I use comes from ancient French, Italian and English paper mills, some in operation since the 13th century. I've held in my hands a young scholars vellum-covered edition of Virgil printed in the 16th century. The paper is the same as I use today. Most modern high end prints and books today unfortunately use crappy paper and consequently they have no have no soul.

It's good to look at a fine print closely, but it's even better holding it in your hand while you're doing it. Feel the pulse as well as drink in the image. My stuff is old timey, basically the same technique as Rembrandt. Jeff Schaller uses multiple cutting edge techniques in his prints but he uses exquisite paper as well. Jamie prints his lustrous black and white photographs on the best paper. And Rhoda? Offhand I'm not familiar with anything she's done on paper, but knowing her I'm sure she has. Probably some thick, felted, delicately stained thing that, of course, she made herself.

Adrian

tile and more tiles...

Oh, thank you for those nice compliments Adrian. You are so kind.

So, my new studio that seemed so large when I moved in, is getting awfully crowded. Every flat surface has a board with a tile on it, a sculpture, or part of one, or a wad of clay that seems to have some potential that I need to harvest. The tension is rising as the contdown continues. I find myself thinking about art even in my sleep (or lack there of) these days.

I just finished my "Splash" series of tiles that were inspired by a photograph of a drop of water hitting the surface of a pond...thus, a microscopic "SPLASH"! I took that idea and made its' motion -concrete. Given an artistic liscence, I made it a little more exciting, by adding high temp wire, broken glass and oxides, all on top of a porcelain surface...so cool.

Today I am folding up a large clay bowl that I finished last night at about 2am. I am making it into a giant shelter or birdhouse. Now, this isn't going to look like just any birdhouse, this is going to be a "contemporary" home for the aesthetically appreciative bird. It's filled with texture and surface decoration....so yummy for the eye. I want it to mount on a tree and look like a giant pod or nest or even "growth" coming out of the tree.

After that, I will continue on my Alphabet City Tiles...I am making some of the biggest yet...oh, where will I put them all? I need to buy more shelving!
Rhoda

Rhoda's Studio

I went to Rhoda's studio the other day. I have always been a huge fan of her art, but she is pushing the envelope and doing astounding work. Some pieces are very small, you could hold them in one hand - some have truly heroic proportions. One piece is already easily over one hundred pounds. Looking into the unfinished top you can see the elaborate clay structural supports.

On a drying shelf nearby is a platter, supported by a garland of organic shell-like forms. The smooth inside of the platter puts me in mind of a giant mussel shell held aloft with an exuberant encrustation of barnacles. I told her I've dreamed of making such a thing. I think she has that effect on artists.

Adrian

West Chester, PA hosts the arts!

Sometimes things aren't flowing and I wonder why I'm an artist...but not last night. At the opening of my flower pieces from Brandywine Cottage (Sunset Hill Gallery in West Chester) the response to my work was overwhelming. People were literally standing in line to shake my hand, hug me and kiss me. Friends, patrons and strangers who might soon be friends all turned out for a beautiful night of art and I am so grateful to everyone who was there. An artist's work isn't complete until it has been seen.

Jeff's show was just down the street at the Serpentine Gallery, Rhoda and Jamie were showing in the lobby of the Franklin Mint and there were many more artists spread throughout the town. Art happened. And you can bet I brought up Paint, Paper, Clay, Wax, Wood. Sandy Riper, the owner of Sunset Hill Gallery who is an amazing and supportive patron of the arts, generously put out invitations to our upcoming show and there is a definite buzz in the air.

I Heart WAX!

I paint in a medium that is called encaustic. It is a beeswax-based paint mixed with pigment and kept molten while painting. The word encaustic comes from the Greek meaning to "burn in", which refers to the process of fusing the paint. This type of painting was used in the 5th century B.C. for weathering boats and coloring marble. Encaustic is the most durable of the artist's paints because the beeswax is impervious to moisture.

This is why I love it; the beauty in the paint is found in its immediate drying time. Because it cools immediately, the gesture and brush stroke are captured. Wax has this translucent quality that captures light swirls it around and swings it back at you in full HD color. You can scrap it, paint it, heat it, reheat and melt it into a puddle of color. But it is the brush stroke that captures the motion of head, heart and hand that brings me to the easel. To capture that confidence and where by a single series of marks can make a perfect painting keeps me coming back. As Picasso once said, “There is not one too many or one too few brush strokes that made this painting perfect.” It was something like that. (If you copy and use that…put me as the credit.)

Cheers
Jeff

Blown to Bits...

Unfortunately...I am refering to one of my pieces...oh well...just dirt right? I opened the kiln this morning and was slightly deflated when I got to the bottom. As I took out each shelf and held the pieces proudly...still just a little warm...the kind of warmth you feel when you are holding a sleeping kitten... until that last shelf...aaaah there it was so sad, sitting in a pile of crumbs on that last shelf. The piece that blew was also part of a set too...ouch! Just like adding lemon juice to a wound. So, to my painter friends out there, remember how lucky you are that you don't have to walk into your studio in the morning and hope that your painting didn't explode in the night! Yes, this does make each piece that does come out of the fire all the more special. With the help of Adrian's enthusiasm, I will accept this challenge and get back to the studio to keep working...less than 6 weeks left....nothing else is allowed to crack or blow up..I won't let it.
Rhoda

What is this show about, anyway?

Jeff is doing painting, prints, and a very elaborate installation (as well as brilliantly designing the catalog and postcard). Jamie is an amazing photographer as well as furniture maker. Rhoda is doing "precious" little pots (her words) in clay, functional mixed media pieces as well as truly heroic architectural sculpture. I am exhibiting painting, prints, ceramics, sculpture and furniture as well.

It is a renaissance, not just because we are different from each other, but because we each do such an extraordinary range of work with mastery. In this age of specialization, our commitment to being individually "renaissance artists" is totally subversive. This is the most important thing for people to get their head around. Many times dealers have told me, "Adrian, just paint flowers (or portraits or landscapes etc.). That would be so much easier to market." What we are trying to do is exactly what I was taught in art school was impossible- being a generalist..and a master, not of one thing but many. This would make perfect sense to a 15th century Florentine. Why are we not allowed the same latitude as artists in the 21st century?
Adrian

The Paint is All Dry and Crusty

The paint is all dry and crusty on my pallet. I have not painted for four days and "The Poetry of Craftsmanship" opens in six weeks! Everybody is working like crazy. It's not often I'm so scared and excited at the same time. I'm working on ideas for an engraving. I can visualize the tiny threads of copper curling up in front of my sharp burin. Unlike etching, engraving will print the very finest of lines. Every plate is hand wiped before it goes on the press. I'll do fifty small prints in a day. By three o'clock the palm of my right hand will be sore and no amount of scrubbing will get the ink out.

Adrian

Find a Way, or Make One

At some point in their career, every artist has to ask themselves, "Dare I risk the marketplace?" I don't mean your hometown or your county or even your state, but your country and even (gasp!) the world. You get the stones to contact someone like Cheryl Squadrito Moskovitz (Media Friendly Public Relations) and assure her (1) you've no principles to speak of, and (2) you're ready to ride - whatever it takes. And she says, "But I do, and there are limits, and this is my contract, sign here." At that point you realize (1) Oliver Stone is an ass (random, but I needed to say it) and (2) all you have is your friends, and that net is wide enough to change the world.

Jeff, Jaime, Rhoda and I are ready to get the PR train rolling and the show is only 6weeks away!! The opening reception is Wednesday, November 10 from 5pm to 9pm at West Chester University (Mitchell Hall, McKinney Gallery) and everyone is invited.

Art will happen
Adrian

Genuine

Seriously though, awesome photos. What a tresured friendship you both share. I was looking for a little "friendly banter" last night but I think everyone is too busy painting.

I added 3 feet in height today to my largest piece...I've been looking through Gaudi's eyes and have changed my direction. I had been mentally fighting my previuously "stiff" design. Gaudi used so many nature inspired motiffs in his work. It really makes you look that much closer at your suroundings. I often think about what I want to feel when I see the finished work. I haven't decided how I want this piece to convey. But I do know that I want the genuine feeling of soft plastic clay to be the prominent impression...so much so that you just have to touch it.


Rhoda

Hair

Adrian,
So what is going on here...are those sideburns? I think Jeff should do a painting based on those...or perhaps a sculpture could be found within them...I could use a little inspiration for my bench legs. The one I was working on finally collapsed...I had pushed it too far. I found it when I walked into the studio today...so I will just have to come up with a better design. I felt like the clay just gave me a slap in the face....so I will slap it right back!

Love the burns,
Rhoda

friends

What a wonderful friendship...

LETTER FROM ADEM (TURKISH FRIEND)

Dear Adrian,

Your letters arrived while I was away. Thank you for your extraordinary comments. I felt in a way as if my physical sensibilities were discovered in my work. I am an aged artist but I find my ideas of art have been constantly renewed. Our generation of artists grew with Herbert Reads' On the Meaning of Art. He says, "all art is primarily abstract," so I think that as he defines it, art creates an empathy that transcends reality. Getting my Doctorate on a Fulbright in the U.S. taught me a great deal. I'm now convinced that my core ideas concerning painting will never be accepted in Turkey, only internationally, if at all.

As you stated in your letter I, too, believe there is no progress in art. Art changes but does not evolve. The evolution of technique has never been the focal point of artistic interpretation. But concepts, for example; religious, ideological and philosophical, play an important role in human creativity.

From the point of art evolving, your work does not fit nicely into any sort of category or art movement, and I do not think that that should disturb you at all. You are not a postmodern "genre" painter although it is obvious that you admire 17th century still life's and history painting. No matter how classical your technique and no matter how traditional your work may appear to a superficial viewer, no matter how deeply you study history, your work is not "historical'. Rather, you constantly read, re-read and revise the background of American civilization. What A.C. Danto called, "The transfiguration of the commonplace."

In a way, all artists are storytellers. While you were in Turkey I believe we had a conversation about Marquez and his book Vivir Para Contarla (Living for Telling). We live to make stories, constructing meaning, constantly revising the significance of things. If we do not, we cannot survive.
Alles Gute fur Sie und Ihre Familie mein elemental Freund.
Adem

To a Turkish Friend

Dear Adem,

Because of people like you the old art history paradigms are breaking down more and more. Like I mentioned before, I'm coming to believe that the ancient artist drawing squares with a stick in the dirt is fundamentally no different than Frank Stella drawing squares on canvas with paint. And the caveman drawing bison on his rock wall is not fundamentally different from Chardin painting one of his still lifes. I know that they have different training and different materials and different paradigms, but the head and heart is the same.

The older I get, the more I believe that the idea of "progress" in the arts (as art historians tend to define it) is an illusion. Traveling to Turkey and seeing the ancient Anatolian art and the spectacular Ottoman architecture and design made me more sure than ever that art has always served the same intellectual and emotional needs. BUT! without a doubt something is greatly changing and that,I believe, is how we as artists see ourselves. For example, in my opinion you can, and do, draw inspiration consciously or unconsciously from thousands of years of art. One day you might do a completely abstract painting, the next day it might be from nature, the next day it might be both. Believe me, I know how annoying this can be to collectors and art critics. And here is the point - I think that the terms realism, abstract, modern, international, local, old fashioned, progressive, etc., etc., are all mistaken because they are based on the assumption of art evolving, like Darwin's theory of evolution. Darwin may work well for biology but it's meaningless as a way of describing art.

Today (in my opinion) artists with many gifts like you are now free from all labels that in the past have been useful to historians but actually have nothing to do with what you actually do and why you do it. This is a wonderful thing that has never been possible before, but it does imply a new danger. If you don't make a point of defining yourself and setting your own agenda, then critics and dealers will rush in with new categories to explain you, and the whole cycle will start again. This is one of the things I meant by turning the entire chess board over. I think we have no choice. We are the first and only generation that will have the possibility of doing this. If we don't do this, mark my words, in our life time "art" will become more and more trivial and artists like us will wind up being cranky old men muttering to ourselves by the seashore and thinking, "I should have done something, they got the labels all wrong."
Adrian

Exhibition Pressure

I’m surrounded by names like “Happy Hours,” “No Worries,” “Southern Treasures”. I’m trying to soak in all these beach house names and their pleasant themes. I’m supposed to be on vacation, relaxing and taking in the fresh smell of the salt air, not to mention the salt from the rim of my margarita glass. Nope, I’m thinking of what I should paint when I get back to the studio. With the impending show coming up, I and I think all artists, put on this self-imposed pressure to create masterpieces.

I have the most beautiful thought, a vast expanse of large, blank, freshly painted white walls of a gallery anxiously awaiting my paintings. The thought quickly turns to anxiety; how many paintings do I need? What will I paint? Should I have a theme? Does it need to be a cohesive body of work? The questions swirl in my head creating self-doubt and paralyzing my creative non-linear thought process. How can the past 15 years of painting all of a sudden be discarded as practice? With every show, not like this is my first, it is a struggle to get started. Once I realize that I’m not curing cancer, I’m not saving the world from hunger or coming up with an alternative fuel source, I can relax. Really I’m just making paintings…I’m putting my whimsical thoughts that dance in my head onto a board. I play with imagery, texture, light and color. It’s this “playing” that got me into this position in the first place; to create paintings to grace the blank white walls of the gallery.

I’ll convince myself that I have the confidence of a master and the innocence of a child to create something that someone can relate to, something that will let their own ideas swirl in their head or inspire in a way I couldn’t imagine. I’ll go back to the language of painting that I have created over the last 15 years, the skills, the things that worked, and the things that didn’t work. I’ll break my rules that I have become comfortable with while borrowing others that I find inspiring. I’m going to have fun with this. Speaking of which, I’m on vacation and I’m going to go have fun.

Cheers,

Jeff

Lunch Finale

It's good having lunch with artists - some wine, some cheese (will you have a venison burger with that?), perfect weather, green trees all around and conversation that just might change the world, or more likely supply some thoughtful lines to mull over later by yourself in the studio. Tipsy but "no worries" Leah's driving home.

After our art meal started winding down, Jamie and Marie had to leave because of a previous commitment. Rhoda and Mike, Leah and I decided to see what Jeff was up to in his studio.

When you've had a bottle (or two) of Spanish wine, his flagstone walkway is not the easiest to negotiate. Once inside, I sobered up faster than an ice water bath. The paintings Jeff has been working on are stunning. One in particular made me gasp. It was of his wife, Desiree. She was painted larger than life, glowing with golden colors, arms resting on a table and completely surrounded with a vivid inky blackness that only the encaustic technique can manage; believe me I know, I've tried many times with oil paint. No gold or diamonds could be as priceless as this enveloping blackness that held all possibilities and promised everything.

Part of my esteem for this painting came, of course, from respect for the technical achievement. But several glasses of wine and Jeff's skill alone could not account for the awe this painting inspired. The reason in a way is simple, though art history scholars will start backing out of the room at this point. With preternatural skill he has fashioned a portrait of his wife into an arrow of meaning that simultaneously strikes both the head and heart. This most intimate of paintings has, paradoxically, a universal quality. It's a marriage of analytical and intuitive, logic and poetry.

P.S. Of course, no repro can have the punch of an original, this is especially true for encaustic work. As far as Jeff Schaller's painting goes it's simply impossible. If you want to see Desiree's portrait you have to travel to West Chester, PA this fall. I assure you it will be worth it.

------Adrian Martinez

lunch continued...

Brownies...did I say that? Leah's double chocolate brownies certainly rocked. I already put in my order for yummy Yellow Springs Farm goat cheese for the opening....now at least I can check one thing off my list. So did anyone really paint after that lunch? I had good intentions to work in my studio...but it was awfully hot in there.

So, I think I want to buy one more kiln. A big one. Not for the brownies of course, but I keep making pieces that don't fit into my existing kilns....funny problem...perhaps I need a new tape measure instead......naaaa...I'll get the kiln.

Hasta luego
Rhoda

A Luncheon to Take Over the Art World

Ok so this is not going to be a surprise attack since I am blogging about it. It is my way of giving everyone warning that we are gathering; we are creating and we are coming to a gallery near you!

The well attended lunch was launched yesterday. The artists in suspect were; Adrian Martinez local hero and classical painter, Rhoda Kahler with her fast acting, energetic fury of sculptural accomplishments, Jamie Paxson man of all trades with the skill and patience to see any project to completion and myself Jeff Schaller painter, entertainer and host. We were all equipped with our very patient sidekicks (aka our spouses) that graciously smiled as we rambled and dissected intellectual thoughts.

The wine flowed as we discussed the best ways to make everyone aware of our gallant efforts in the studio. We discussed ideas on what we wanted to accomplish and what we could accomplish. Rhoda suggested brownies for the opening, having tasted the salad she brought this is an accomplishable task. Jamie told us about his recent trip to Spain and how he snapped some pictures of unusual juxtapositions. Adrian’s wish list of accomplishments is to sell a painting in Dubai for $2 million dollars. Considering the show is at West Chester University and I’m not sure about their foreign exchange program, this is still something to aim for. I, on the other hand reached for another piece of that farm fresh goat cheese and reconfirmed the deadlines in which we had to get everything done by, November 10^th.

— Jeff Schaller