I almost forgot that it has been a full year since I started this blog. Here's a treat in the form of a short essay I wrote recently about art and bugs and process. Comments are welcome (it was recently rejected, but I'm OK about it) and the Nancy is this one. Should you be in Atlanta, check out her show at Fernbank . I'm off to draw for real now.
take care and thanks for reading, this has been a treat this year and I'll keep it up for another at least, Rachael

Today I talked to a woman who moved from Houston to Rochester, but also, today as I trudged through messy piles ofsnow, I thought about all the hoopla art schtuff going on in Atlanta. Miss it, sure, but I love being here and I was encouraged to read that we (my husband, my cat, and me) weren't alone in moving to this town.

So I'm about to turn the computer off and draw my way through my day, I need to scribble away some of the frustrations and see if I can't curl together some shapes that keep popping up in my head. I also need to write some letters (you know who you are, my long lost friends and family, yer not fergot).

I still don't get the buying of art as investment, but that's OK, it's not my story. I make art because I need to, help others make art because they are driven to, and make endless efforts to de-mystify the artist as genius (sure, we're smart, but it's work not mystery), orginal work of art as precious object/commodity (yes it's a thing but it doesn't need to cost more than a car, does it? And if it does, who gets that $$?).

take care,
Rachael

Forgive me my absence, friends, I've been snuggled under blankets, barricaded in my house, thinking colorful thoughts in response to white drifts of endless snow. It's enough to make me dream of Atlanta (where there will soon be more art, merci!).

So much snow, so much change, I keep finding ways to forget to blog. But the truth of it is that sitting down and writing is important. I can therefore share the site that helped me rethink Victor Vasarely (thank you Deb), the ridiculous idea that you should follow anything but your heart into buying art(wait, I haven't changed my mind about that. Mr. Investor might not see the mystery, history, joy, pain, and vitality of good art but only money, honey, and that's a little sad from my point of view. Even a slick chart can be misguided and I think this one is.)

My painting class didn't happen tonight but I hijacked a space and painted speedily, sloppily, passionately. I ended up using much more blue than I needed and a gleeful amount of nickel azo and plenty of red lines. Painting is often cheaper than therapy, more exciting than the movies, and my own space. Plus I do think art makes me warmer (all that moving around, all that thinking about anything but being cold).

And maybe, if I am lucky and work hard, the stuff I make will be more important than a profit to somebody other than me...
see ya,
Rachael

Earlville needs art! This is why I like living in New York state again. An active and progressive foundation for the arts posts opportunities for artists like this one:

Earlville Opera House Art Gallery Call for Artists
Earlville Opera House
(Earlville NY)

The Earlville Opera House Art Gallery invites artists to submit slides of recent work for review for 2006 exhibition schedule. The EOH Art Gallery presents 7 exhibitions annually of regional and national contemporary visual artists in all media.

High quality work by professional and emerging artists who live part-time or full-time in the Central New York region is given priority. Artists from greater New York or outside New York State are also considered. All media and styles are considered, as are installations and proposals by curators.

For gallery guidelines, email: earlopra@dreamscape.com or visit our website at www.earlvilleoperahouse.com under Gallery.

Earlville Opera House Multi-Arts Center
PO Box 111
Earlville, New York 13332

Application Date: N/A

email: earlopra@dreamscape.com or visit our website at www.earlvilleoperahouse.com under Gallery.

So now, you know and I know and anyone who makes art can know that there's an opportunity. I see this kind of info sharinmg much more here in NY state than I did in Georgia, although Georgia has an artists registry that rocks.

The way little old me sees it, there are things working artists in this country can do to support a more vibrant, more important, more interesting level of arts production and distribution in this country.

We can:
make more friends with more artists
share information
make great art
speak about our work whenever, wherever, however we can
ask questions about others' artwork
learn more
teach more
refuse to be exploited by galleries
take responsibility for the work you make and the ways it gets seen

Once upon a time, artists formed unions. The John Reed Clubs weren't exactly unions and a little too doctrinaire for Bernarda Bryson Shahn (who recently passed). I'm still amazed by, fascinated with, and influenced by the history, the work and the audacity to be honest I see in the lives and work of artists like Shahn (and her husband, too).

Another thing I know is that Earlville needs good art. Send it on!
take care,
Rachael

I stumbled upon some resources on the work of John Biggers, whose line, whose narratives, whose work continues to impress me. That powerful drawing above is an early work and that's what I think about sometimes. How we can see promise in the marks of the artwork of children, how those who are drawn to draw will always find ways to draw, and how much can be said with light and dark. Sleeping boy sleeps.

Basic Biggers from a Boston show.

Extensive teaching resource from the Getty center

Biggers essay from the extensive American studies resources in Virginia

A beautiful Biggers in the Driskell collection

bigger and better, baby, I'm off to draw some and sleep some and fight the good fight to help more people draw better, bigger, bolder...

take care,
Rachael