Roots

I am excited that some of my reliquaries will be on display in the "Roots" exhibition at the Franklin Commons Gallery in Pheonixville, PA.

I was asked to write something about my pieces in relation to the exhibition. 

My words:

This series is a set of my own personal reliquaries. These paintings contain objects that i have gathered over the years. While they might seem unimportant, they have become cherished objects to me because they represent an important experience in my life. Often these objects also reference the history of my family or ideas from different cultures that inspire me. I created a painting in response to each object and tried to express the reason for my attachment to it.  As with most of my work, while I might have a very personal meaning for the paintings, I try to keep them open so that each viewer might be able to form their own connection to them.

The pieces included-

    

"Reliquary No.1"

http://www.ebcbrown.com/gallery/reliquary-no-1-2/

"Reliquary No.2"

http://www.ebcbrown.com/gallery/reliquary-no-2-2/

"Reliquary No.4"

http://www.ebcbrown.com/gallery/reliquary-no-4-2/

Surprise

This spring my daughter and I planted 4 watermelon seeds in the corner of our small yard. (She absolutely loves watermelons.) Expecting nothing to come of it, we were delighted when 6 watermelon seedlings popped up. We weren't sure how they became 6, but we were delighted none the less. They became massive plants and have grown over the fence and threatened to dominate the whole yard. We had our first signs of fruit a few weeks ago and I finally have to resign myself to the fact that these are not watermelon plants. The fruit was instead giant decorative gourds and Mimi pumpkins. Arg. The small gourd and mini pumpkin we tossed over in that corner last winter have won the yard.

Gone our my ideas of giving away all the extra watermelons and trying my hand at watermelon jelly.

So what do you do when life gives you an abundance of inedible gourds? Maybe we'll try to make art out of it? Just out of curiosity, I googled gourd art and was amazed by what came up. I'll let you know how they turn out, if I try it or maybe I'll just be amassing a large amount of autumn decorations.

http://www.gourdfestival.com

Prodigal child

12 years ago in art school, I created this piece, "Intervention". (Encaustic, oil and paper on canvas),

It was the last piece I made before moving into full abstraction, one of my first pieces experimenting in wax and by far (with the exception of murals) the largest piece I've ever done. 

At 72"x78", this piece dominates much needed space in my studio and is bigger than I can fit into my storage unit.

For many years a wonderful friend was willing to house it for me and look after it. Just recently I received the call that it needed to come "home".  So now it is in my studio.

What do you do with a painting that is an incumberance of creative space but possibility significant in the legacy of your body of work?

Incongruent with any of my current work but a part of the story on how you got there?

Honestly, I was overjoyed to see it again, but space continues to be the issue.

I've yet to figure it out, but I know I'd like to keep it as close as I can...

Reacue

I'm not sure why, but today kept twisting and turning in negative ways. I got home from bartending a little while ago, exhausted but with my mind still too awake.

Thinking about the day and getting ready to finally sleep, I wistfully googled "happy news" and this came up.  The world is put right a bit more for me by this article. 

Szot, you are my hero!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/20/zot-artz_n_7747146.html

Theif

While cleaning out my studio recently, I stumbled upon that same old box...

Where I stick the credit card offers that I receive several times a week. It's been a long time since I shredded these sensitive documents and the build up was occupying precious space in my small studio.

I thought that I could make a game out of it with my daughter. Then I thought- what the heck, why not make art out of it?!

We shredded the documents and then set them to soak in a very large bucket.

I was about to run to our local Ace to get materials to construct the paper making screens when I happened upon 3 screens in a neighbor's trash. Excellent.

We were able to get 6 sheets out of the mangled mess. After pulling the sheets and letting them dry, I have begun to embed them into the base of encaustic paintings.

See below:

(In progress)

"Thief No.1"

Encaustic and credit card offers on panel