Denise and Alison do DC

Alison Oakes and I needed to head to Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA to pick up our work that was on exhibit in "In the Flesh 3", earlier this week, http://www.torpedofactory.org/galleries/target.htm so we decided to hit the National Gallery in DC. They had a special exhibit by 17th cent. Dutch genre painting Gabriel Metsu we had to see.

It takes eight hours, so I picked Alison up at 5AM. This means I had to pick up coffee and a veggie egg white wrap at 4:30 AM in Cedar Bluff. The Dunkin Donuts there is no longer a 24 hour one-they didn't open until 5AM. Jerks. Alison was ready right on time with a cooler of food and her bags of important stuff.

We hit the Rt. 40 Dollywood exit right when the McDonald's opened at 5:30 AM for coffee and a no-meat egg McMuffin. Not that bad. Alison went back to sleep while I drove into the dawn coming over the approaching Blue Ridge. Coming close to Johnson City, I experienced horror. I saw it come out from the median-a tiny piece of fur that was running, blindly running. It was a rat. I like rats. I instantly calculated all the possible parameters that would ensure me not hitting the rat with either of my tires...change lanes, slow, swerve. Not one was doable, so it was up to the rat. The rat failed, and ran under one of my tires. this was horrible. I needed absolution for this event. Alison was needed to give it to me, but she was still sleeping. Shit. A few miles down the rode, I passed Megabus on it's way back from it's nightly DC run.

Eventually Alison was woken up by the sun shining in her face, and I told her about the kamikaze rat. We invented a narrative where the rat was really a bad rat who had been up all night womanizing and cooking meth, and was just running home in time to not get caught by his family. That was better.

We got to DC before 2, and only had to do three rotations around the block before we got a parking spot.

We Arrive.

I'm not sure what this installation with all the rocks was, but it was cool.

Alison finds a Bryon Kim and swoons. The tiled piece is a portrait of the skin tone of a whole ton of friends, family and fellow artists. The key, which I've inserted above the photo, shows everybodies name. Alison wants to do more smaller tiled pieces again after she looks at it.

I'd never seen Kerry James Marshall in person before....nice!

Wayne Thiebaud!

We now look for food. They've got a great cafetaria located between the twin opium addiction that is their art bookstore. I cannot be allowed to penetrate this too deeply, but I find a cool book called "Good Bye Kitty: Comtemporary Japanese Art" I need to see how much that is on Amazon.

Alison gets some good stuff.


I get something I can play with and mutilate. It also worked with coffee.

I needed to do reserch on molding construction of alters for something i'm planning, and they had tons of them.


Alters, alters.

More stuff we liked.. (we couldn't photograph the Metsu's since they wern't the galleries property)

Alison like the flesh tones, but decided the landscape background sucked.

I really liked the cat. The guy is pissing it off, I think.

Jan van Eyke details- an Astrology floor.

Same piece-rainbow wings and jewel details. Amazing stuff.

This guy looked like he was watching people in the gallery out his window.

We barely touched on what ws in there before we had to leave, but I had no idea of the quantity of iconic pieces of western art they owned. Alison took notes for upcoming lectures in her art history classes for her students at Pellissippi. (I need to send her the big jpgs for that...)

We made out own alter piece using the drinking fountain in the woman's rest room.

THEN we head to Alexandria. I got screwed up just once and we ended up at the gates of the Pentagon. I made a u-turn that I think was legal.

Alison, Allison the gallery director, and my dismantled installation. The show went great, got reviewed and viewed. Target Gallery has international juried themed exhibits most of the year, with a couple curated here and there. Unlike most juried exhibit, they don't get higher concentrations of local submittals. It all just comes from everywhere, all the time. Alison had been in "In the Flesh 1", and I was in last fall's 5" x 5" photography exhibit, and we really noticed that-and liked it.

We went to eat dinner at Mai Thai restaurant, which is just up the street and is really good despite a somewhat snotty waitress. I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures of the food.

Alison on the walkway by the Potomac. A lightening storm started up, so we got out and headed the 2 1/2 hours out to Harrisonburg-just far enough to find good hotels cheap. We saw the end of Inception and still can't figure out if he is in reality or not.

Alison gets to drive the Cargo-Caravan. She felt the power of Super Mini Van.

After i took over the wheel, Alison used my camera to do some work. I can see this on a 2'x2' porcelain tile! www.alisonoakes.com

We're back! Justin unloads Alison's piece from the show.

I check out Justin's organic garden, and score 3 cucumbers, some thai hot peppers, and some mint!

Solo Exhibit, Appalachian Center for Craft at Tennessee Tech

My charcoal drawing on plywood quantum physics Installation "Quantum Confusion", which I'm trying to tour like a hyper Indie Band, will be at Tennessee Tech's Satellite campus, The Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, TN, until Aug 19th. The center is 6 miles south of the Smithville exit, and the 1st left after the bridge over Caney Fork River, which is massive at that location. The campus is deep in the woods, and is a collection of teaching studio buildings, arranged by media. The main building contains two gallery spaces, a gift shop where you can buy fantastic work from both the faculty and other regional artisans (including some of my friends :-)), and a really, really good cafe. Their hummus salad plate is the best I've ever had.


My installation is in Gallery Two, which means you have to go through the gift shop to get there, and, ha- "Exit Through the Gift Shop" to leave. (Thank you, Banksy!) The gallery architecture is very sculptural-it has a sloping wood slat ceiling with big beams, and an extension area with huge windows looking into the woods.


The lighting makes cool shadows in the back.

Detail. The lighting with the rest of the space in shadows makes reflections really strong.

Gallery One had a Studio Instuctors exhibit-killer glass, ceramic, paintings made from dyed and textured paper pulp, mixed media work, and a cockroach in a tiny silver and copper coffin. I know students who've gone to school here, and they hate to leave. One of my friend's daughters even slept in her car just to afford to be here. I don't blame her-this place is another world.

ArtPrize

My installation, "Quantum Confusion", will be hosted by Open Concept Gallery http://www.openconceptgallery.org/ in the 2011 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan from Sept. 21-Oct. 10.

ArtPrize, in it's 3rd year, is one of the most unusual art events internationally, and can best be described on it's website: http://www.artprize.org/.

In the meantime, "Quantum Confusion" will be installed later this week in Gallery 2 at The Appalachian Center for Craft/Tennessee tech in Smithville, TN, untill Aug. 19th.

June 3rd Asheville Art Walk/Crawl

Friday, June 3rd, 2011 from 5-8 is the next Asheville, NC Downtown Art Walk. Danna Anderson at 16 Patton is getting "Twisted Jimmies" ready for the window that looks all the way down Patton Ave. Anybody getting a donut urge after seeing it while walking or driving up the one-way section of that street will have some trouble-despite Asheville being a food-topia, I don't think anyone downtown sells donuts. They'll just have to buy the painting. It is even better than the real thing-0 calories.


Besides my Produce Paintings and one more snack cake painting at the gallery, there will be some plywood people hanging around.

Megabus won't be my buddy

I tried to talk Megabus into letting me buy an extra seat to carry a packed up plywood people piece to the DC area, and they turned me down. Rats. It would have cost an x-tra $15.00, added to my $15.00 out, and $10.00 back. Then, I would have had to pay for one bus to get the couple of miles to Alexandria, VA, (maybe $1.00?) then one free trolley to the Torpedo Factory's Target Gallery. So much for my efforts to use public transportation. if this was South America, they'd even let me bring my free-range chickens!

More Exhibits/ Spring 2011

I've got some of my plywood people in "Mountain Visions", at the Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. (The exhibit name doesn't fit the show-it's very progressive)

The exhibit was juried by Greg Shelnutt, who is a professor at the North Carolina School of Art in Winston-Salem.

http://www.etsu.edu/reece/default.asp

Exhibit overview

My plywood people, from my big installation"Quantum Confusion", enjoyed the reception.

Daniel Marinelli, and instructor at Penland, had quite a few pieces, and got the big award.

A Jackson Martin wall installation. We are both in the Tallahassee International at the Florida State University Fine Art Museum in Tallahassee later this summer.

Gorgeous fiber piece by Stacey Isenbarger.

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One of my Produce Portraits just got Best in Show at the "American Still Life: Yesterday and Today" at The Bascom, in Highlands, NC. http://www.thebascom.com/ They are mixing contemporary work with a selection of 18th and 19th century work, which should be really interesting.

"Observation" oil on linen. Commentary on human migration over political borders. Historically, Still Life was always way more than stuff on a table. It was always loaded with symbolism.

Its' a very cool teaching art center, similar to Arrowmont and Penland. They have 2 really nice galleries in the main building, and a series of walking trails outside. They regularly have exhibits with sculpters who do found object outside sculpture and installation art along the trails which I love. The exhibit was juried by Kevin Grogan, Director and Curator, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA

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Both Alison Oakes and I have work going to Target Gallery's (Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA) "In the Flesh lll". 630 entries, 28 accepted, 2 from Knoxville, and this is the 2nd time Alison has been in it! I was hoping they'd take my nude paint-flesh ladies with the glitter, but they wanted the one that has been up at the Custom House Museum in Clarksville in their "Ladies First" exhibit (along with 3 Alison Oakes paintings) since March.

http://www.torpedofactory.org/galleries/target_calendar.htm

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More upcoming exhibits and stuff:

"Point Time", a group exhibit of Knoxville artists curated by Jean Hess, that has been at the William King Museum and Slocumb Gallery, goes to Association of Visual Artists Gallery (AVA) in Chattanooga, TN this May.

http://www.avarts.org/www

Knoxville Arts in Airport, reception 5:50 -7:30 May 5th. The work stays up 'till October. (group exhibit)

http://www.tys.org/arts-in-the-airport

I'm waiting for my copy of INPA 1 (International Painting Annual 1) to arrive from Manifest Gallery Press http://www.manifestgallery.com/ I believe they are being printed now. I will also be in INDA 6 (International Drawing Annual 6) along with a couple other Knoxville area artists, and other artists from around the country and world. That publication will go to press later this year. Manifest makes awesome publications, and the gallery has really great exhibits, most of them open juried with very cool themes. Being on their mailing list is critical, I think. If you get into an exhibit, delivery to Cincinatti is easy.

Solo exhibit at Appalachian Center for Craft at Tennessee Tech that opens in June.

http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/exhibitions-calendar/

Tallahassee International, starting in Sept.

http://www.mofa.fsu.edu/pages/explore/schedule.shtml

A two person exhibit at Yeiger Art Center in Paducah, KY with Christine Wuenschel in 2012

http://www.theyeiser.org/

http://www.christinewuenschel.com/ChristineWuenschel/Home.html

Nu Nudes

I haven't done any serious nudes for awhile except for fairly regular life drawing sessions, and keep missing opportunities to submit to figurative and nude shows. SO-I searched a whole pile of reference photos I had taken at the Notorious Fleshpainter exhibit I helped curate a few years ago. (Those who participated or attended definately remember this night with a smile. Yes, this did happen in Knoxville. Yes, the Naked Carpenter was there, too, and he did get painted. Yes, it was fun, and nobody got arrested. John, the Fleshpainter, has unfortunately gone back to Orlando, though.) Both drawings are both full scale, free standing, charcoal and pastel pencil on plywood. And glitter. I'm still undecided on a title. Paintskins? Paintskin Glitteratti?

Do You Think We're Naked?

The boots and shoes were real. They had to wear something on thier feet. We had this event in that place next to the old Blue Cats and it was a bit nasty. Used condoms behind the plastic couches nasty.

I mention Glitter because I used lots of it it. Lt. pink, hot pink, green, bronze. I soaked it in the varnish layers where the color is. It adds sparkle that is, of course, slightly lowbrow and ironic. And make-up/beauty industry appropriated. And made a hell of a mess in the garage where I spilled some. Now if I get lucky-they will be going somewhere. If not, they will wait around to go somewhere else. Hopefully. They really want to go out and have a good time.