Doing the Art Fair thing.

A year since I opened this blog about my art, repeating the attendance at the Abbeville Art Fair in Abbeville, SC. Another beautiful weather weekend, although it did threaten to sprinkle a bit early on in the morning, by mid day it had turned sunny and warmer, but not hot. Taking time out in the afternoon to walk around to several storefronts around the town square and sample different wines was very pleasant. It is a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I was pretty lucky to sell several prints and two originals; the "Trinity Street" watercolor and a charcoal drawing I had made of my grandfather, dating back to 1983 or so. I had assembled some wire mesh walls to hang the artwork on this time, vastly improving my ability to display the original and framed prints. My next goal is to build or purchase the print bins and print several versions of the Abbeville series of images. To that end, I have recently purchased a (used, but hopefully in very good condition, as promosied by seller on eBay) an Epson R1800 pigment inkjet printer, which will print 13 x 19 or longer prints with 8 colors of pigmented archival inks.

Now.. how to do it...

The new piece below, which I have titled "Past Tense, Future Imperfect" is a preliminary arrangement. I gathered the objects and the painting and laid them out in the way I wanted. I now want to construct them and apply the materials in a permanent way. This poses some interesting challenges as there are many different types of material; brick, plastics (some hard, some soft like the bag), metal (rusty, clean, and heavy), wood, paper, glass. Just about everything really.

I have researched various adhesives for the brick and wood and have settled on Liquid Nails Heavy Duty construction adhesive. To make matters more difficult, I want to adhere all this on a plywood panel backing, and be able to gesso and add color to certain "open" areas. This has led me to explore and learn about various collage and assembly art techniques. Very happy to do that and I am liking this piece more and more as it develops. I have designs (and found materials) to do a similar thing with the painting "Scott Fertilizer Plant"... first things first though.

Fall 2007 and Summer 2008 work

The original oil painting has been added to this found object assemblage. I started to gather objects at the painting site, adding to the collection with satellite images from the internet of the location with my marks drawn on them, indicating direction and angle of view for the painting.

This new arrangement suggests to me something of an urban archeology of abandoned, liminal spaces... border territory between the past, present and future. Often these spaces are marked by borders between human activity and demographics. This location is on a busy street where lower income families live to the west (left of the image) and commercial development is taking place along this route to the north and east. I have titled this new work "Tense Past, Future Imperfect".

"Scott Fertilizer Plant"

11/17/07 - 03/15/08 4:30-5:45 PM

This image of a recent plein-air painting is facing north, looking down what is now known as the "Swamp Rabbit Trail", a recovered rail line being converted into a recreational pedestrian pathway following the "rails to trails" program. The industrial building was a Scott brand fertilizer manufacturing and distribution plant, abandoned since the late 1990s.

The CONNECTION art show and historical exhibit

I was juried into this regional traveling exhibit, connecting the history of South Carolina and the Caribbean island nation of Barbados.

The Connection Art/History show and exhibit. Organized by the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor organization.

International Plein-Air Painters Featured Artist

I am currently the featured artist for August, 2008 at the International Plein-Air Painters website and at their blog. Please check it out (through 08/08).

Coming soon... information about shows and exhibits in late summer and fall '08 and the possible "Liberia" project...

D.

"...6, 7, 8, 9..."

"...6, 7, 8, 9..."

A group show with the above title opened in downtown Greenville, SC this past week. I belong to an advanced critique group, run through the education section of the Greenville County Art Museum and facilitated by Michael Brodeur of Furman University. There are 8 of us in the group, hence the name, exhibiting a variety of new and past works on at a new gallery, organzied through a cooperative venture between Furman University and the local branch of the YMCA. The gallery is located at 612 S. Main St. downtown Greenville.

Abbeville Art on the Square Event

Just returned from the "Art on the Square" art fair in Abbeville, SC. Weather was absolutely perfect, even with the strong breeze gusting through once in awhile, just to make things interesting. The outdoor fair coincided with the "Wine Walk" annual event, where the public (with purchased ticket and armband) can walk around the town square and stop in at the designated store to sample wine and visit the shops. Highly recommend this event to all artisans. Expect this one to continually grow over the years. Sold many smaller (8 x 10) prints of the "Trinity Street" watercolor painting, and possibly one or two of the larger prints (still "thinking about it").