Artist Date: #62 Safety in Smallness.... 7.9.2015

Official start of the final I Ching painting

About every three weeks… or so, I get together with my friend, fellow artist/photographer, Bridget, for an informal drawing session. The sessions grew out of a desire to simply hang out with like-minded artists to talk about all aspects of art: history, business, techniques, shows to see, art films to check out, and, above all, to draw together.

It is during these sessions that we share our most recent work and listen to each others advice and/or suggestions on tricky art problems. It was during such a session in which the suggestion to use a gray Sharpie to address the issue of how to show more definition with more complex Celtic Knots was first mentioned (Thank you, Bridget! The effect worked wonderfully!)  and allowed the final I Ching Paintings to evolve even further.

One of the most difficult things we had to do when were decided to initiate these drawing sessions was to locate a safe environment in which we can set up and draw for a minimum of two hours as neither of us have studios big enough for two artists to work in at the same time.

Preliminary Celtic Knot design completed during this Artist Date

The majority of our drawing sessions have been held at the McDonald's on Pelham Street in Methuen, MA. We picked this location, after a bit of trial and error, because it was family-friendly and, after 7:00 pm, it is pretty much empty.

Also, the manager at the Pelham Street location has been very accommodating and extremely understanding and has allowed us to work in the restaurant. Over the past couple of months, we have had several interesting interactions with our fellow customers, most memorable being with the children whose endless curiosity about the drawing process is infectious and endearing. During one drawing session, one extremely curious young man drew a picture for Bridget.

Our August drawing session was, for me, momentous - it was during this session that I completed the  design for #47 Exhaustion (the Chinese character and the ink layers were added at a later date) and began the 64^th and final painting of the I Ching Project: #62 Safety in Smallness:

One set of Celtic Knots are filled in with a gray Sharpies

The majority of the biomorphic shapes were added during another Artist Date, this one at Lake Masabesic in Auburn, NH

Design prior to blocking in biomorphic shapes

Final design for #62 Safety in Smallness

The final three I Ching paintings: #47 Exhaustion, #59 Dispersion and #62 Safety in Smallness prior to final in layers which were added on 29 August, 2015

#62 Safety in Smallness prior to final ink layers

How do I feel now that the project has been completed?

I believe that I have mentioned this before: I am a great planner. I have dozens of projects in various stages of completion, but up until now I have never able to complete them, or, in some cases, to start them. This is the one project that I have been able to see from start to finish... even if at the beginning of this project, I was skeptical of actually finishing it.

The object of the I Ching Project has always been to simply to play. To explore the idea and see where it will lead me. I feel that even after 64 paintings, there is still much more that can be discovered and ideas to be pushed further still.

There is so much more to simply explore and to PLAY with that I am now working on a new project, still untitled - and, no, not quite as large, that will push what has begun in the I Ching Project even further. I can't wait to see what this evolves into.

I have loved working on this project and feel that I have grown more as a person and as an artist during this past 30 months than I had ever thought possible. I cannot thank everyone enough who have supported me and I Ching Project throughout this entire process. Without them... without the assistance of the occasional drill sergeant, the cheerleaders, the much needed reality checks and valuable suggestions, this project would not have been completed.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, EVERYONE!!! I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!!!

Jenn White
White Rooster Studio

 

Artist Date: The Addison Gallery of American Art ... 11.7.2015

Alfred Maurer, portrait by Alfred Steiglitz

We visited the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA this weekend with the intention of seeing the Alfred Maurer show and, as it turned out, we got so much more out of the afternoon than expected.

I will not pretend that when I was asked to see the Maurer show that I knew who Maurer was or what his contributions were, I had to Google Maurer before agreeing to see the show. As it turns out, Maurer was a Fauvist and I haven't had an opportunity to see many Fauvist works up close, so this was a rare event for me.

I think what I loved best about Maurer's body of work is the evolution of style. Maurer had the great luck of being born at exactly the right time - he started his career painting more traditionally - with influences from Whistler, then, during his 17-year stay in Paris, was exposed to Fauvism and Cubism.

"Alfred Maurer: At the Vanguard of Modernism" will be up only until the 31st of July.

Woman in a Kimono

Still Life with Doily

Flowers in a Vase

Also at the Addison Gallery is the exhibit "Light/Dark, Black/White", which will also only be up until July 31st.

The exhibit offered a rare opportunity to see some amazing works by several small works by Josef Albers, four of Robert Mapplethorpe "Thomas" pictures, a small Louise Nevelson scultpure, one of Naum Gabo's constructions, a Joseph Cornell shadow box and Georgia O'Keefe's "Black Line":

Georgia O'Keefe "Black Line"

Josef Albers

Naum Gabo

The Addison's third exhibit is "On the Scene: 20th Century Street Photography" in which I finally had a chance to see work from Berenice Abbott, whom I have just discovered recently while reading a biography of Man Ray. Berenice was one of Man Ray's assistants who eventually opened her own studio and produced some very striking images of New York City in the 1930's.


Berenice Abbott "El 2nd and 3rd Avenue Lines"

The exhibit also showcased work from Paul Strand - another first for me, I have read a lot about Strand in connection with Alfred Steiglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe and have seen reproductions of his work, but not any actual photographs:

Paul Strand "Fifth Ave"

Steiglitz, Walker Evans and Diane Arbus are also featured in the exhibition.

The fourth, and final, exhibition at the Addison Gallery that we took advantage of was "Searching for the Real" which featured works from Edward Hopper, Hans Hoffman, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent.

"Searching for the Real" also has an early Man Ray painting on view from his Ridgewood, NY days. This was especially exciting to me to be able to see because I recently started "Man Ray: American Artist" by Neil Baldwin. The Addison also has a Man Ray photograph on view in, if I remember correctly, the "Light/Dark, Black/White" exhibit.

The Man Ray biography is only one of four that I am in the process of reading - I have a habit of picking up and putting down books as my interests change (which can be daily :)). I am also about halfway through "The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell" by Deborah Solomon,  3/4 of the way through "Emily Carr: A Life" by Paula Blanchard and, at the moment, thoroughly involved with " Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E.J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House" by Franklin Toker. One of the things I have learned through my studies is that all art and artists are interconnected.

All of the exhibitions on view will only be up until July 31st and each offers, small unexpected surprises and rare treats to view.

Jenn White
White Rooster Studios

Artist Date: Fort Stark, Newcastle, NH... 5.6.2015



The jetty at Fort Stark looking over to Odiorne State Park


It's been a while since I have posted about an Artist Date, so I thought now would be a great time to start setting some personal goals and one of them is to post more often and to post at least one Artist Date a month... they haven't been abandoned, they just haven't been documented :)

Recently, we drove up to one of our favorite places to spend a quiet afternoon: Fort Stark, located on Route 1B, New Castle, NH. We had discovered Fort Stark a couple of years ago while hiking in Odiorne Point State Park/Fort Dearborn in Rye, NH. We eventually came to a jetty and while looking across we immediately wondered: what were we looking at and how could we get there?? Naturally, maps were pulled out and with a little trial and error, we found ourselves at the fort soon afterwards.

Fort Stark has a total of 10 acres right on the ocean on Jerry's Point off of Route 1B in Newcastle, NH, just past the newly renovated Wentworth by the Sea Hotel. There is a small parking lot with limited facilities and a "museum" that is open a few hours a week. The views and the grounds are spectacular: there is a rocky beach area, a large green space for picnicking and impromptu games, and the remnants of the fort's structures, most of which are off-limits for exploring due to the state of disrepair that they are in.
 
For anyone interested in additional information and historical background of the fort check out: http://www.nhstateparks.com/fortstark.html.
 
It had been a while since we had an opportunity to spend an afternoon at the fort, so I was well-prepared to settle in and start a new picture... and enjoys the views, of course - check out my view from where we set up our chairs for the afternoon:
 

The following pictures are of a new work in progress called "Nobility". For this picture, I have abandoned my traditional black and have used purple. According to the Chinese, purple means love and nobility:

Purple is also associated with "spiritual awareness, physical and mental healing, hence strength, abundance, red purple brings luck and fame. Purple (紫; zǐ) refers to the North Star (Polaris), which in ancient China was called the Ziwei Star, the North Star was in traditional Chinese astrology the abode of the Celestial Emperor."
 

Beginning stages of a new picture "Nobility"

The Celtic Knot has been designed and the border added

The biomorphic forms have been added

The shapes are now being blocked in
 

I will post a completed picture of Nobility soon as I will be donating the artwork for the Arts Institute Group of the Merrimack Valley's 6th Annual Art in the Orchard Show at
Mann's Orchard, 27 Pleasant Street in Methuen, MA on Saturday, June 13th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm - hope to see you there!

Jenn White
White Rooster Studios

News: Monson Arts Council's 22nd Anniversary Spring Art Show

Just received notification this morning that I have been chosen to participate in:

Monson Arts Council's 22nd Anniversary Spring Art Show and Exhibition

"Welcome to the World of Art"

Saturdays & Sundays ~ April 11 to April 26, 2015

I will be showing "#1 Creative Action" 

Exhibit hours are:

Saturdays: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Sundays: Noon - 5:00 pm

The MAC will also be hosting the following events:

April 11 Saturday	HOA open 10am to 5pm 1pm to 4pm Opening Reception, 1-4pm Wine tasting with Lazy Valley Winery
April 12 Sunday	10am to 5pm – HOA open
April 15 Wednesday	6:30 - 8:30pm Poetry Workshop with Maria Luisa Arroyo Sponsor: Massachusetts Cultural Council
April 18 Saturday	10am to 5pm – HOA open Chocolate with Maureen's Sweet Shop & Wine Tasting With Lazy Valley Winery
April 19 Sunday	1pm to 5pm HOA open
April 25 Saturday	10am to 5pm HOA open
April 26 Sunday	1pm to 5pm HOA open - Last Day of Show Beer Tasting by Tree House Brewing & Livestock band

Artist Date: Homestead Book Store… 15.3.2015

Last March I wrote about an Artist Date to used book stores… and this year I am following it up with the upcoming closing of a long-time favorite of ours: Homestead Used Book Store, located in Marlborough, NH.

Every year we participate in both the spring and fall Round the Mountain Book Sale, in which four used book stores in and around Keene, NH participate in. Homestead has long been the one store we are most excited to visit. This year, when we received the notification of the sale dates of the spring sale, there was a note at the bottom of the card stating that:

“Homestead Books is going out of business and will no longer be participating in the Round the Mountain Sale.”

We were horrified and heartbroken at the same time. Homestead? Out of business? It just seemed impossible. Homestead has been there for us for almost 13 years and I have been visiting at least once a year since the early 1990’s… to suddenly have this valuable resource taken away was unthinkable.

Yesterday we traveled out to Homestead to visit Bob to thank him for his amazing store and to let him know how much we would miss both him and Homestead. When we arrived, there were cars in front of Homestead but when we reached the door there was a handwritten sign that simply said “Closed”. We had traveled over an hour and a half and to have the store closed at this point was very disappointing. Thankfully, after peeking through the windows, we saw Bob sitting at his desk by the front door and ventured in… anyway J

Bob's desk... you can actually see most of it now...

It was a shock to see our beloved store in such a state of disarray: most of the lights were off and the books at the entrance were all piled up haphazardly, a lot of the shelves were empty.

We were able to talk to Bob for a while about the store closing and possible future plans; he mentioned that there were a lot of regulars, like ourselves, that had made the trip to see him before the store closed for good on May 1^st, 2015. We talked about the changes in the book selling business over the past 20 years and how stores like his were able to stay open despite the advent of Amazon and the online book selling boom.

The entrance to Homestead Books as it is now:

The children's book section:

One of the fiction aisles:

Hoemstead has long been a great resource for art books and to see the art section completely decimated was a total shock:

The now empty art section:

Bob allowed us to wander through the store and see if we could find any last minute treasures. It was a bittersweet afternoon: as wonderful as it was to visit with Bob, the circumstances surrounding the visit were sad, knowing that we would only have one more opportunity to visit: next month at the Round the Mountain Sale… although Homestead is not participating in the sale, Bob has assured us that he would be at the store for one last visit...

... Thank you Bob for being there for us for all these years... it's going to be very hard to let this particular store - and you - go :(

Jenn White

White Rooster Studios
 

Artist Date: Film: Mr. Turner... 013115

We had the opportunity to see Mike Leigh's film "Mr.Turner" now showing at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, MA yesterday afternoon... and I am conflicted about how I feel about it.

There is a huge part of me who wants to champion the film, to talk about how beautifully it was filmed - there were many outdoor scenes reminiscient of Turner's work - and  about how wonderful it is that Hollywood is looking at artist biopics... but it is all overshadowed by a total lack of background information and a series of scenes seemingly linked together by unexplained events.

The film focuses on the final 25 years of Tuner's life and without knowing much about the artist's life, it can be confusing and leaves you with the feeling that you had walked into the middle of the story.

We had some background on Turner, having seen the "Turner and the Sea" exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum last September. The PEM also showed the documentary "J.M.W. Turner - A National Gallery Production" (2007) which was narrated by Jeremy Irons, so we felt relatively prepared to see the film... but we found that we had the most difficulty figuring out the relationships in Turner's life and if it wasn't for the assistance of the man sitting in front of us who had just finished reading a Turner bio and offered some information at the end of the film, we would have been Googling Turner's Wikipedia page on the drive home just to sort things out.

For example, the film really doesn't explain Turner's relationship with the mother of his two
daughters or why he continually denied that he had children or what happened to the relationship and we were almost 30 minutes into the film before I realized that Turner's assistant was his own father.

Generally, I enjoy Timothy Spall... however, the majority of his dialogue consisted primarily in variations of grunting. I had some idea that Turner was "excentric" but he was potrayed as almost inarticulate for the majority of the film. The actresses potraying the two women in this stage of Turner's life, his long-time housekeeper and sometimes lover, Hannah Danby (portrayed by Dorothy Atkinson) and Sophia Booth (portrayed by Marion Bailey) with whom Turner lived with as Mr. Booth for 18 years, both give memorable performaces and it is their reactions and involvement with Turner that I was most intrigued by.

I am not an expert on John Ruskin, but Joshua McGuire's portayal of him in  the film is comical. I had  seen Tom Hollander portray John Ruskin in "Desperate Romantics" (2009), the mini-series about the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood... and, yes, Hollander portrayed Ruskin as awkward and repressed, as I had heard Ruskin was, but there was a part of you that connected with him and made you understand why he was the way he was - I did not get the same feeling from McGuire's Ruskin.

On a side note regarding Ruskin, Emma Thompson is behind the film, "Effie Gray" (2014), opening in April of 2015, about the "scandal that shocked Victorian-era England"... the film tells the story of Euphemia "Effie" Gray", Ruskin's wife, who ultimately left him for pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. The film also stars Dakota Fanning and Greg Wise.

I don't want to discourage anyone from seeking this film out, especially if you are a huge Turner fan, but I highly recommend that you read up a little on Turner before you go.
 

Turner's "Slave Ship" - this painting was portayed in the film

Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire" - there was a scene in the film where Turner is out in a small boat and witnesses the decomissioning of this ship

Turner's "Rain Speed and Steam" - there was a scene in which Turner observes a train passing by similar to this painting

 

 

Jenn  White

White Rooster Studios