A First Visit to NUMU

I was thrilled today to visit a new-to-me museum that had two extraordinary exhibits!

The New Museum Los Gatos is showing 'Made of Memory', a curated exhibition of five female artists exploring memory from generational and cultural perspectives. The photo is a piece by Priyanka Rana. She used sustainably-obtained wood (not felled wood for the project) that she charred with a blowtorch. In the charred areas, she added what she calls 'memory pods' -- the ones in this made from wound remnants of her mother's saris dipped in polyurethane. Priyanka's pieces are such a lovely and symbolic representation of her accompanying life and cultural story.

The other exhibition was of the works of Holly Lane in 'Not Enough Time to Love the World and In the Artist's Studio'. It contains an extraordinary body of work and craft! The pieces on display have been created over the last 10+ years. Holly is a painter and a woodworker, and her woodworking is spectacular! I can envision her pieces gracing the walls of classical cathedrals. Because to me, they are like temples of the artist's thought, imagination, and awareness while delivering a contemplative experience to the viewer. Here are two examples of her work.

This is the kind of museum experience that stirs and energizes me, because I had no idea what to expect and was delightfully surprised!

Comments

Highjacked Blog Photo

My profile photo was highjacked ! For those of you who are blogging, be wary. There are some unscrupulous folks out there who may be using or about to use a photo(s) you've uploaded to an online photo-hosting site. At the time I created a blog, having a URL for a photo uploaded online was the only way to insert a photo in your profile or to create a custom header. There had been no problems for a long while. This morning, however, I did a Google image search for my name and found my photo linked to a totally different blog than my own! It is possible I didn't mark my file with the online photo-hosting site as private, but I didn't expect this to happen. I don't know whether marking it private would have actually averted the situation, but I'm not waiting to find out. I eliminated my membership to that online photo-hosting service today and caution anyone to be careful with uploading images to the internet . If you read the terms of agreement at many sites, you'...

Life Book 15 - Week 36 Project Completed (or nearly completed)

This project went in an entirely different direction than the Life Book 2015 lesson. That's ok because we're also working on accepting those times when we move in our own direction using the lesson purely as a launching point. This piece involved experimenting with collage on a substrate (muslin covered with joint compound), followed with paint, more collage, and then the felt, fabric and beaded plant. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link: www.willowing.org .

Get to Work and Get Clear - Stop the Waffling

I haven't painted in some time. So it seemed like the perfect time to sign up for Louise Fletcher's 10-day free taster course titled 'The Creative Reset' that recently started. She has re-engineered the taster since I took it last, and I'm liking how it is rolling out. The images below are from our first lesson that were timed studies with additional constraints. The purpose was not to have finished pieces. Rather it was to help students identify their preferences and gain clarity about our likes. This means not choosing to like what others want us to like or think we should, but what we honestly like. From my six-block painted sheets, I chose one favorite from the first grouping and two favorites from the second grouping. The step I'm choosing to do is to write down why I like those three in particular. The reason is because being able to articulate my reasoning will help clarify, strengthen and hone my voice -- not just in art bu...

Cay Denise

Search This Blog