ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL

Featuring:
Meeting: Pat Shapiro, Sculptor
Artist Spotlight: Jane Pettit, Marilyn Hayes
StoneWomynArt- Viva la Femme!

All things Beautiful

I'm out and about again after a brief moment that required me to be close to home. Exploring my world is what I do best, and from a creative standpoint a necessity. There are beautiful things everywhere, especially in the city. I love nature, as long as it respects the fact that I don't want it crawling or biting on me. Leave me alone, and I will admire you from a safe distance. All will live to see another day, or at least until something else eats it or kills it!

Pennsylvania Avenue has a small revitalization going on and people are making natural beauty a part of their landscape.  Like this fir tree, its in a small garden next to a townhouse, kinda reminds me of a green creeping schmoo! There is a schmoo that lives in the bush out in front of my house. There are also gnomes and elves too! But that's another story! Imagination is great for adults and kids alike and the schmoo fits right in. My green schmoo lives quietly in my large green bush near my front door.  When the bush gets too large is reaches out, much like the fir tree in this photo. Except, my schmoo will pull you back into the center of the bush where little green mini schmoos live, with the aphids, preying mantis, and other flying insects. So I keep the bush trimmed so that no one gets pulled in.lol.

Along my journey, there are flowers in bloom, and the stench, oops! I mean smell of foliage flows through the air,gagging me. I came across a flower unique to me, it looks like an eye from a distance, but upon closer inspection, it was a purple yellow, and white flower with bees anxiously sucking up the pollen.  The smell of honeysuckle became apparent as I moved closer.  Sorry, nature is beautiful to look at, but smells awful! 

There aren't many butterflies in the city, but there are many near me. When I go for my daily walk, it's amazing to see different varieties of butterflies. Some are black with vibrant colors, others are yellowish brown and when they land on a flower, they look like a fallen leaf. Such great camouflage! Dragonflies are in abundance too.  Be aware they don't bite people, but will eat a mosquito with a quickness, long live the dragonfly!

Waxing poetic on nature, be it smelly, creeping or fluttering are part of...all things beautiful! Mother Nature rules!

MEETING: Sculptor Pat Shapiro

On Saturday I met sculptor Pat Shapiro, we talked about sculpture of course! she talked about making bronze sculpture in the Ukraine, immediately, I was fascinated. Pat will be in Paris in a few weeks, while I envy her for being there, mastering the french language is something I'm not sure I want to do. It's hard enough trying to keep up with the English language native to me.lol Although Spanish is easy enough for me to grasp and I can speak it moderately. Aah, being multilingual is every one's wish. Right? 

Pat also gave me a new appreciation for beautiful horses.  When she showed me a picture of her horse, it was animal love at first sight. Always, thought horses were beautiful and I rode one when I was a kid, briefly. Her horse has a sense of humor it seems, and looks like a joy to have. Must get to the other side of the world! Beautiful horses await!

We chatted outside at Starbucks, it was nice to talk about process with another sculptor. No offense painters etc., but discussing 3-D issues such as where shadows fall when your pieces are photographed, the idea of working in the round, or switching materials to achieve your goal, many 2-D people don't understand the differences.  We talked about using plaster, clay, stone and the process of making bronze sculpture, this is a dream come true, at least mine.  So often, I'm faced with researching information about my own craft, or talking with people via email that talking face to face with another sculptor is wonderful. Once she gets settled in Paris, Pat will send me some photos and she will be featured in the Artist Spotlight.

Thanks for sharing and talking with me. Pat your awesome! Have a safe journey!

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

These women artists are members of the Women's Caucus for Art and each has a unique style. It is great to know these incredible women as they make a valuable contribution to art and are activist for Women in the arts.

If your into mosaic assemblage then Jane is the woman to know! Her work makes me think of what Picasso's work would look like in mosaic form. Jane's use of vibrant colors and the slight asymmetrical feel of her work, is beautiful, not just to look at, but take in, like a deep breath.  I love work that gives me something different to see every time. Jane's work does that. Her pieces are glorious and one day I hope to have one on my wall!

Jane Pettit, 

Mosaic Assemblage Artist

Jane Pettit makes contemporary sculpture and wall art. She loves intense color, bold texture and the look of ordered chaos, all of which are present in her art. Jane’s art form is a unique combination of mosaic, collage and assemblage.  She combines mosaic materials and techniques with three-dimensional objects and paint.   Whether a large garden sculpture or a miniature wall piece, every viewing can bring a new discovery.  In her portraits, she uses a combination of abstraction and realism to convey personality and circumstance.   Recent work in Italy has prompted the use of ancient techniques in combination with her modern aesthetic.  A current passion is creating sculpture whose elements can be combined in multiple ways.  

Mandolin

Jane’s studio is housed in an old barn which gives her lots of space to store her materials and to display her art. She welcomes visitors!

Nice Apples

Jane has exhibited widely, including NYC, Bucks County, PA, Connecticut, Frederick, MD and many venues in the DC area.  Her art is in private collections throughout the eastern US.  Her recent show, "Messages from Outsiderdom: Visionary Artists Reveal their Uncooked Realities”, Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery,  1632 U Street, NW , was selected by the Washington Post as “The Gallery Show of the Week”.  Her art is in private collections throughout the eastern US. 

Josep8

Contact info: www.janepettit.com...202-494-4801…janepettit1@verizon.net

Red Earring

Marilyn's work speaks volumes with visible watercolor brush strokes and a gestural feel within her images. These feminine images are transparent, layered and create depth. The colors and forms gives way to the spiritual elements implied in her work. Her depiction of the female is "goddess like" and transcends beyond the surface.

Marilyn is also former President of the Women's Caucus for Art D.C. Chapter and is the one I turn to for advice now that I am President. She is helpful, informative and really a fun person to talk to. Marilyn is always involved with something, her home is full of art and vibrant with life; busy, much like she is. How she finds time to make art, I don't know. Her energy and passion is only rivaled by Jane's. Both women are miracle workers, something I hope to be when I grow up.lol

Marilyn Hayes

My work reflects the symbolism, experiences and mystery of my inner life in figures and symbolic images as seen through shamanism, the framework of Jungian psychology, in particular the symbolic approach to mythology.  The work also expresses the power and mystery of the feminine through the images and symbols reflected in myths from ancient cultures.  In those cultures, images of goddesses empowered women by providing positive symbols of feminine energy in the natural, instinctive world. Themes related to the natural world and its symbols are another aspect of my work. I include these themes in my work because I feel that connecting to the natural world balances my involvement in the technical world that surrounds me.  My primary influences are the impressionists and abstract expressionists but I am also inspired by my ancestry and the stories about my Haitian grandmother.

Delaware River

Currently, I am working in watercolor and gouache and making monoprints using Akua water-based inks.  At the beginning of my life as an artist, I focused on drawing because I loved the magic of creating a three dimensional space on the blank page.  Drawing is still an essential part of my work.  When I encountered watercolor I could see that I could express myself more fully in color and continue to draw.  While drawing is still an important part of my work, watercolor appeals to me because of its flexibility and fluidity and because I can apply it in so many ways (brushes, fingers, handprints, sponges) and in so many intensities and textures.  I also love working in water-based media because the results can be unpredictable.  

Over the years I have experimented, gaining skill with additional techniques.  I am constantly returning to familiar methods and building on what I know. I am concerned with both expressing flow and improving my control and skill.  I make my monoprints at the Lee Arts Center in Arlington, VA.

Emergence

Marilyn Hayes, a student of myth and spirituality and concerned with feminine power, includes her life passions in her work. Born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1944, Marilyn Hayes family later moved to Pontiac, Michigan.  After earning a degree in Secondary Education and Social Science, she moved to Washington DC to work for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

The experiences and mystery of her inner life inform Marilyn Hayes work. Her mother taught her to draw and paint with watercolors when she was in elementary school.  Nearly 40 years later Ms. Hayes began her career by studying drawing at the Washington Studio School where her drawings was accepted in the student exhibition. Subsequently, she studied watercolor and monoprints there.  She began exhibiting her drawings and later worked in pastel. Currently she is working intensively in watercolor, producing abstract watercolors in a variety of styles.  She has recently extended her media to include monoprints which are similar in style and focus to her watercolors.

Ms. Hayes has exhibited her work in the Washington DC area, in New York, and internationally. 

StoneWomynArt

Well, it's on! Inspired by these energetic women, I take on my work with new enthusiasm.  Recently, I began making little pendants for necklaces out of stone chunks that are left after I'm finished carving. Taking the name Viva la Femme! (thanks Dani), these pieces include Slits, tits,& bellies. Oh, am I being vulgar!? They are what they are, plus its fun to say!lol  I'm creating bellies now. Each piece has a hole for a cord. 

Eventually, I will expand to the one eyed bandit and its twin brothers. Along with some other body parts, like hands & feet. But for now, its all Viva La Femme!

If the stone chunk is large enough for an entire body, like this chunk from the making of Red Hot Mama, they will also be available.  Working this small is difficult so only the dremel tool, files and rasps are used. The stone size and shape determines what they will be. Most of the pieces maintain the original shape of the stone chunk.

Colors are limited at the moment, but soon that will change and they will be available in a rainbow of colors, shapes and sizes. Give me a little time to make em all!

It's been wonderful as always sharing my art world with you.  Your feedback is always appreciated.  If your interested in any of my pieces, please contact me. You can find me on facebook.  Maybe a slit is in your future! Hail to the "V"!

Until we meet again, will see you......

Same blog time, Same blog channel!