Richard Notkin Studio Visit

This afternoon I was, yet again, lucky enough to tag along with the art grads to another artist’s studio. This was actually a joint visit, as Richard Notkin and Phoebe Toland are married and share studio space in Helena, Montana; we got to meet them both. I’ve been excited to (hopefully) meet Richard ever since I moved here. I saw the PBS Craft In America documentary just before moving and thought, ”Alright,  there are interesting thinkers in Montana!” Notkin’s work has always been about the state of the world and how we need to save ourselves from…ourselves (nuclear weapons, war, etc). He works with traditional forms like teapots and tiles, and you might also know about his ears.

The pile of ears has a few influences. One is the pile of shoes from Holocaust victims- he was raised with Holocaust survivors who taught him to pay attention to what was going on and change what he could. The ears vary in size from an inch to over a foot and are made of clay that’s rendered to look like stone. Their stony appearance is meant to represent deaf ears. In his studio among the many post it notes, he has listed  the old proverb “We were given only one mouth to speak, but two ears to listen.” His work is political (this collage speaks to his thoughts on the current administration) but in a sweeping way–even without the current administration, he’ll be pissed off about something.  He noted that he thinks all art is a political statement: artists are exercising their creative minds instead of the also human take-over-the-world urges.

 

All in all, he’s a really interesting guy and I love that he speaks his mind. That was what was so great about seeing him in the documentary. Parts of it were very hippie-esque but I remember him saying in the doc that he was angry and pissed off about the state of things– and he told me today that they fought hard to keep that in the film. 

 I’ll end with a quote from Notkin, posted in his studio: “I continue to make ceramic sculptures which reflect on the social and political dilemmas of our world. As André Malraux observed, “Art is a revolt against man’s fate”. Need I say more?”

You can see more of his and Phoebe’s studios in my flickr, along with some pics of the Archie Bray foundation in Helena (which perhaps I’ll write more about later).

Gary Bates’ Studio Visit

Okay, here’s one more post for the week, before too many things escape from my memory. I’ll be back after Turkey day to show you my holiday cards and maybe even some craft fair setup. Enjoy your holiday!

Last Friday I got to tag along with the grad students on a field trip to Amsterdam, Montana (!) to see Gary Bates’ studio. Gary is a local artist who makes large-scale metal sculptures out of things like bars from old jail cells and boiler parts. A lot of his pieces are kinetic and he says he intends for them to be a pulse on the environment. For example, this spinning piece (for which I don’t remember the name) weighs some ridiculous amount but the way it is balanced means even a small wind will set it spinning. Gary has a telescope in his house aimed towards the piece and he looks out to see what the weather is like based on how fast it is spinning.

His Wind Arc, on the MSU campus, spins only when the wind hits a certain speed (it’s a bent tube, and the spinning to wind speed ratio has to do with how far down he cuts the tube). He said one professor told him that he looks out to see how fast it is spinning to determine if it’s warm enough to ride his bike home, or if his wife needs to come and get him.  He showed us another piece he’s working on that’s activated when it rains a certain amount. Here’s a sculpture on his land, where the mountain silhouette lines up perfectly if you lay on the grass and look at it.

In addition to all of the sculptures, I thought the land was just gorgeous. It’s a huge farm with a little house he built in the middle. I am still so amazed at how beautiful it is out here. I love learning about all of these thing that I’d seemingly never come across otherwise. Living in New York it was so easy to be consumed by everything that everyone is consumed by (the latest this, that and the other), but here I feel like I can breathe, and appreciate each beautiful thing, because I don’t pass a million influences on my way to work every day.

You can see lots more photos and stories of the art and the land (which are so interconnected) on my flickr page.

I can knit! + Anna Schuleit

I admit it: for the longest time, I thought that I would crochet everything. Knitting didn’t appeal to me: all of that swatching, counting, making sure things fit. But when I saw some beginner knitting classes at the local yarn shop, I decided it was time. After all, they were only $15/class. I knit this hat over the last two weeks, my first ever!

I added pom-poms instead of braids. It turned out a little large, but that’s actually a good thing because I hate too-tight hats.  Next week we are learning to knit in the round, which I’m excited about too. Don’t worry, I still love to crochet, but I thought the idea of crocheting an entire garment would just be too hot to wear (Unless I use tiny yarns. Which are not my favorite). I’m excited about the possibilities of combining them, too.

Things are going really well here in Bozeman. I now have hats and scarflets for sale at a local boutique called Tart (I put them in the shop last Friday and sold one already), met some cool local ladies (including Carrie, who found me via Alicia’s blog–thanks Alicia), and I’ve got some freelance work rolling in. I couldn’t ask for more!

I also had the pleasure of meeting MacArthur Genius Grant Award recipient Anna Schuleit this week via my day job. She does truly amazing work- she spent years funding a project wherein she made a dilapidated mental hospital sing, and recently wired an entire forest to receive phone calls. I just got back from hearing her talk about her work, and she’s an amazing and generous person. She is done with public art for the moment because she (understandably) needs to withdraw from people and paint in order to work with them again. But when asked how she could pull off these seemingly impossible public works, she said something to the effect of “It’s easy to have one clear idea and tell people what to do and make it happen. To paint is more challenging.” So true. I love meeting people like Anna- she has an idea, she makes it happen. What’s sad to me is that some people never realize that they are fully capable of the same things. Even Anna Schuleit has her doubts about whether her projects will succeeed- but she keeps on. To me, that’s what life’s about. Keeping on.

Happy Friday!

Hope everyone is having a great day- it’s absolutely lovely weather here in Bozeman. Fall has started and the leaves are changing- I need to get my camera out before it’s too late.

I got up at 7 this morning to start my! new! job! and the light was lovely. It’s a part time job with an office full of great ladies, so I think it’ll be fun and also, get me out of bed every day. Which at this point is very necessary! Plus I can walk there, which is awesome.

I’ve sent out about half of the patchwork swap partners, and plan on sending the rest out this weekend. Don’t worry if you haven’t gotten yours yet, it has nothing to do with the order in which you signed up. I just went a little blind with all the emailing, so I needed to split it up into a few days. Plus I am going out for sushi tonight. We are far from the ocean, but I’m hoping it’s still tasty.

And finally, here’s a nice drawing (but I am biased) by Paul Heaston, AKA the incredibly talented arist/ reason I moved to Bozeman. He’s been working furiously on his website this week, and I wanted to share. It’s still under construction a bit, so be sure to check back. Enjoy!

Color Inspiration

Tomorrow is moving day, and we’ve been running around like crazy packing things, sweeping up dust, and deciding if throwing away a 2″ square decorative box will save me space in the truck, in the long run. I’m pretty much set at this point, everything is cancelled and in order. 

I wanted to share these two paintings that I saw at the MoMA the other day. They both use the same color palette and a similar layout with completely different outcomes, and I like each result.

Succulent Eggplants by by Beatriz Milhazes, 1996

Creative Artists Agency (Los Angeles) by Sarah Morris, 2005

I love these colors together, too, so I’m filing them away for a project someday.

I’m putting away the laptop now, and we’ll be on the road for the rest of the week. I’m really excited because we’re driving through parts of the country that I have never even seen. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures to share.

Thursday: Orange

Today I’m going back to some photos I took over 2 years ago, of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s public art project, The Gates. At the time, I was just leaving my job at Newsweek, which was right by the park (which made for some lovely lunches!). I went out every day and took photos, and on weekends I would roam to the other parts of the park to see more. I even went on opening day to see the unfurling, dragging different people with me at different times. Say what you will about the piece, but I loved that it made me go outside and follow the orange trail all throughout the park. Here are what were some of my favorites (they are still hanging around on my site’s server, I haven’t revisited the photos because they’re on a disc in a box somewhere!).

And, as a little extra, here’s a self portrait I took on the train on the way to meet Paul. I was so excited sitting on the subway and then I noticed the light on the seat, and the organic quality of the skirt next to the plastic subway seat.