In the Pink
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Author Archives: mariecameron
Blue Blood
Honoring the Legacy of David Park at SCU April 3−28
Yesterday was the opening of this invitational and juried exhibition at the Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building at Santa Clara Univeristy which runs until April 28. Curated by John Seed upon invitation from Kelly Detweiler, Professor of Art, Santa Clara University, this show includes the work of two invited artists, Jennifer Pochinski and Kyle Staver as well as 35 artists chosen by jurors, John Seed, DeWitt Cheng, Andrea Pappas and Jessica Phillips. These works were not selected as mere imitations of the paintings of David Park, the founder of Bay Area Figurative painting who turned to the figure in the time of abstraction, but to honor “artistic independence and integrity” and “his interest in painting people and places that held personal meaning”. It’s amazing to appreciate each artist’s approach to the figure and then to contemplate how individual pieces resonate and diverge with each other!
On Saturday, April 15, there will be a panel discussion at 4 pm (doors open at 3 pm) followed by a reception.
I am so thrilled to have my painting Blue Corset included in this exciting show, with the work of so many talented artists!
Alix Bailey – K – oil on linen
Sue Ellen R. Leys – Asbury Surf (detail)
Phyllis Gorsen – Metro (detail)
Irene Cuadrado Hernandez – Julia Dreaminess (detail)
Melinda Cootsona – Horizon (detail)
Janet Norris – The River Comes In (detail)
Nicholas Mancini – Galen, Shift (detail)
Jose Luis Ceña Ruiz – The Floral Dress (detail)
Kurt Solmssen – Reading Sociology (detail)
Linda Christensen – Lifeguard (detail)
Jennifer Pochinski – Strand (detail)
Kim Frohsin – Nightime at the Fair
William Rushton – Afternoon Light (detail)
Jill Madden – Super Moon Ski (detail)
Ashley Norwood Cooper – Glass Table (detail)
James Bland – Gold Trousers
Kathy Liao – Float (detail)
Kyle Staver – Flub and Tippy (detail)
There is a beautiful exhibition catalogue available for purchase by mail or download with full page images of the art, statements by the juried artists and interesting passages about the invited artists, Kyle Staver and Jennifer Pochinski as well as notes from the Curator John Seed and acknowledgements from Kelly Detweiler, Professor of Art at Santa Clara University who had made it all possible. Click here for the link.
Invited Artists: Jennifer Pochinski, Kyle Staver
Juried Artists: Alix Bailey, James Bland, Marie Cameron, Linda Christensen, Ashley Norwood Cooper, Melinda Cootsona, Kim Frohsin, Sonia Gill, Phyllis Gorsen, Cynthia Grili, Nancy Gruskin, Mark Hanson, Irene Cuadrado Hernandez, Mitchel Johnson, Betsy Kendall, Rachel Kline,Sue Ellen R. Leys, Kathy Liao, Fred Lower, Janet Norris, Gage Opdenbrouw, David Iacovazzi-Pau, Jill Madden, Nicholas Mancini, Sandy Ostrau, Catherine Prescott, Jose Luis Ceña Ruiz, William Rushton, Francis Sills, Kurt Solmssen, David Tomb, Christina Renfer Vogel, Martin Webb, John Webber, William Wray
Fur Feathers and Fins Reception
Fur, Feathers & Fins is currently showing at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto, California, where I have three of my Birds & Teacup paintings. Juried by DeWitt Cheng, curator, critic and teacher, this exhibition explores a variety of approaches to depicting animals and our relationships to them from the purely representation evocations of them in their natural habitat to the utilitarian, metaphorical, symbolic, playful and even removed. I can’t help but think about this subject matter in terms of the Anthropocene, how do we look at animals now that most of their worlds are impacted if not threatened by ours. Is the new wild, one of suburban back yards, zoos and laboratories? Something I think about anyway – Elizabeth Kolbert’s, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History is a great book on this subject! This show wraps up March 30, here are a few pictures from the opening reception, with links to artist’s websites, if available, when you click on their names.
Devan John, Gallery Manager of PAL announcing the awards.
First place went to Janey Fritsche for her oil on cradled panel, Sea Shepherds.
Second Place was awarded to Ellen Kramer for her photograph Discarded.
Third Place was given to Maura Carta‘s oil on panel, Nose-less Bunny.
Honorable Mention for Ann Sismore’s photograph God’s Got Your Back.
A second Honorable Mention for Bob Carlin‘s digital print under resin, Blue Footed Boobie .
A third Honorable Mention was awarded to Beka Brayer for her one of her Waiting for Wings mixed media assemblage pieces, details shown here.
Me with three of my Birds & Teacup paintings, Tea II, Petunia Tea I and Anemone Tea I.
Kathy Kleinsteiber and her acrylic portraits of animals.
May Shei – Joyful Moment – Watercolor on Rice Paper
(detail)
Judy Kramer, Insect Photography – Fur Feathers and Fins
Linda Maki – Fish on Lahina Wharf – Oil on Canvas
Leah (Jay) Jakusovszky – Amphibian Illustrations
Oleg Lobykin‘s Sea Foam sculpture and a crow painting by Janey Fritsche.
Detail from Peter Koronakos‘s assemblage Penguin.
Jihoon Choi with his painted steel Pink Rhino and Yellow Giraffe.
I was delighted to become familiar with Jihoon Choi and his fantastic work!
To hear the Artist Talk he gave click on this link for the video I shot: Jihoon Choi – Artist Talk
Jihoon Choi photographs of his scupltures in Bay Area locations.
Amer Kobaslija – Places and Spaces at SCU
Amer Kobaslija‘s solo exhibition, “Places and Spaces” has been installed in the beautiful, new Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building Gallery in Santa Clara University since January and I was lucky enough to catch the last day while dropping off a piece for next month’s show, “Honoring the Legacy of David Park”.
Amer Kobaslija is a very accomplished artist, a Guggenheim Fellow who has had solo shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York and Paris. He was born in Bosnia (then Yogoslavia), fled to a German refugee camp, received asylum in Florida, did his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sarasota at the Ringling College of Art and Design and his Masters of Fine Arts at Montclair College in New Jersey. The artist is now based in New York where he is represented by George Adams Gallery.
Kobaslija’s work is intricate, intimate, unsettling and thoroughly mesmerizing! This exhibit is comprised of interior and exterior landscapes with careening perspectives (I felt a little dizzy at times) as viewed from a bird or a drone or an actual ladder. The subject matter ranges from cell-like perspectives of artist studios, (an easel, a bed, a sink, a toilet – seeming almost monastic to me suggesting feeling of self-imposed and obsessive confinement) to epic views of post-tsunami Japan with it’s jumbled, blown-out and washed up detritus of cityscapes.
All of this is handled with a deep love of paint, both loose and gestural and exquisitely and impossibly detailed! I think it’s this very love that speaks of a tenderness for the human condition. For me they are akin to Momento Mori!
Amer Kobaslija – Arrival of Winter – Oil on Panel
Amer Kobaslija – Arrival of Winter – Oil on Panel (detail)
Amer Kobaslija – Not Everything will Perish – Oil on Panel
In this shot you can see not only the scale of the artist’s large work flanked by his smaller pieces, Not Everything will Perish and Painters Studio Pollock East Hampton but also see the artist’s foot as he stands on a ladder to get this bird’s eye view of his studio (at the foot of the painting, center).
Amer Kobaslija – Painters Studio Pollock East Hampton – Oil on Panel
Amer Kobaslija – House Near Higashihama Highway – Oil on Copper Panel
Amer Kobaslija – Nainowaki Residential Area – Oil on Wood Panel
Amer Kobaslija – Black Smoke Raising Over Kesennuma – Oil on Panel
Amer Kobaslija – Smoke #3 – Oil on Copper Panel
La Estancia
I had the chance to paint with the Los Gatos Art Association’s Plein Air Group a few weeks ago at La Estancia in Los Gatos. I’m afraid I don’t get out with them more than once or twice a year but I always love it when I do manage to break away from the studio. They are such a great group of talented artists who generously share tips and ideas. It’s so invigorating being out “in the field” trying to throw it all down before the light changes or soup’s on!
Vincent Liu
Liz Fennell
Wheelbarrow full of arts supplies!
Veronica Gross
My painting in progress – the tree was in silhouette when I began.
My 11X14″ oil – trying to keep it colorful, wild and loose!
Nancy Takaichi’s palm painting.
Lisha Wang
Kathy Carlquist
Al Shamble
Rebecca White’s oil.
Gathering after lunch for the critique.
So many paintings in only few hours!
Sam Pearson’s pastel.
Will Maller leading the critique and discussion.
Will Maller’s palm.
In the Pink (WIP)
I love color soooo much that I rarely limit myself to just one! But there was a call for monochromatic work that got me thinking about what would I do if I had to just pick one color? I was fresh off the Women’s March, that sea of pink still swirling in my mind and I knew right away that I wanted to paint a still life of a pussyhat! I have to say I’m tickled pink with the way it’s shaping up!
Here’s today’s progress:
Fur Feathers & Fins Tonight!
Tonight is the FUR, FEATHERS & FINS exhibition, juried by DeWitt Cheng, Curator of Stanford Art Spaces, at the Pacific Art League from 5:30 − 8:00 pm. I have three of my Birds & Teacup paintings in this show where a percentage of proceeds from sales will go to support the local Humane Society. I can’t wait to see this Pink Rhino #1 by Jihoon Choi!
Anemone Tea I – oil on board – 12″x12″
Petunia Tea I – oil on board – 12″x12″
Magnolia Tea II – oil on board – 12″x12″
Jennifer Lashbrook Demo at JCO’s
The Art Docents of Los Gatos were treated to a demo by Dallas artist, Jennifer Lashbrook and her “Swatch Paintings” at JCO’s Place on Friday. Lashbrook creates collages using paint swatches that she gets by the forklift load and through an extensive process of sorting by value and hue builds a palette for her pixelated images, squares of color fixed with rubber cement and clear acrylic onto gridded panels. This series at JCO’s were all famous, recognizable images from art history and part of the fun is the process of recognition, but she also does landscapes and portraits which can be seen on her website .
Owner of Jco’s, Julie Jenkins greeting the Docents.
Jennifer Lashbrook walked us through her exacting process.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (Vermeer) – 36 x 36 – paint swatch (paper)
Paint swatch sample names can be playful, and witty and very literal, the pearl earring is actually “pearl”.
Frida with begonias – 48 x 35 – paint swatch (paper)
Quickly scanning a Frieda, I find “Adobe Straw”.
Marilyn (Andy Warhol) – 36 x 36 – paint swatch (paper) detail, I wonder what her swatches say?
Julie Jenkins atop a ladder catching the Docents on their phones… Up close these pixelated collages dissolve into a grid of colored squares, the analytical brain clicks in, categorizing the material and reading the chips. The more distance you can create between yourself and the piece, the more the image resolves before your eyes. Your spatial, arty brain clicks in and starts seeing the big picture, “connecting the dots” and filling in the blanks. The same effect can be achieved by squinting or looking through your smart phone. Super fun!
Blue Corset & David Park
I am delighted to share that my painting, Blue Corset has been selected for the upcoming exhibition, Honoring the Legacy of David Park, at Santa Clara University, April 3-28. This show, supported by a grant from the Sam Francis Foundation, will be anchored by the amazing work of Jennifer Pochinski and Kyle Staver with a panel discussion and reception on April 15 from 4-7pm.
David Park – Seated Figure, 1960 (artnet)
You may wonder how my work relates to the bold abstracted figures of David Park, but more than seeking out pieces that are a close copy of his style, this show called on artists that honor Park’s “legacy of artistic honesty, strong work ethic, and commitment to the figure”.
For a bit of background, John Seed, who helped to organize this exhibition, wrote a very moving piece for the Huffington Post which really touched a cord with me – Social Media Friendships, Artists As A Tribe And An Homage To Artist David Park (1911-1960), underscoring how meaningful creating an artistic community and paying it forward can be!
Quinn Peck – Artist Talk
Aside
Tuesday, the Art Docents of Los Gatos were treated to an Artist Talk with Quinn Peck!
Julie Jenkins (owner of JCO’s and fellow board director for the Art Docents of Los Gatos) opened up her ArtHaus for the first time to introduce us to the dreamy and ethereal photo based work of Oakland based artist, Quinn Peck.
Elizabeth Greer, co-chair of the Continuing Education committee welcoming us to the talk, introducing us to Quinn Peck and recounting how his Liminality Series had stood out at Anne & Mark’s Art Party this past fall, on EVERYONE’s top favorites list.
Julie Jenkins describing her reaction to Quinn Peck’s work when she first saw it at Anne & Mark’s Art Party last fall, how the pieces would move as you rounded the corner, lifted on the breeze of the motion of the viewer’s passing and draw you back in, how moving they are and how happy she is to represent his work now here in Los Gatos.
JCO’s gallery director, Bridget McMahon welcoming Quinn Peck.
Liminality: Self-reflection from the space in-between, is a series of archival inject prints on layers of silk. The top layer is a transparent silk organza and the base a heavy Fuji silk, the layers are hung loosely from a bar allowing for space and between the layers. As you move past the piece, viewing it from different angles the images shift slightly, almost like a stereograph or a hologram. The effect is like a dream or a shifting memory, something unstable, unfixed. In fact, Peck was inspired by Civil War era spirit photography which used double exposures to “capture spirits”. Liminality itself refers to thresholds.….(from the Latin word līmen, meaning “a threshold”) is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of rituals, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the ritual is complete …(thank you wikipedia).
These deeply introspective pieces invite viewers to identify with the subject who is either facing a void or a gate, a passage, a path or a plunge. All of this is emotionally engaging with rich with and powerful metaphors, but what is even more profound is that these pieces were all self portraits from before Peck began his transition from female to male! I am so deeply touched by how many levels this work is operating on, all in it’s quiet and sublimely beautiful way!
Jumping Off Place
Edge
Broken Steps
Tunnel
A native of Cambria, Quinn Peck holds an undergraduate degree in Visual Art (emphasis in photography) from University of California, Santa Cruz, a Masters in Photography from the Academy of Art University, and a MA in Counseling Psychology, Expressive Arts Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies and is currently working on his certification in Permaculture Design at Merritt College.
To see all of the work Quinn Peck has at JCO’s check out all the gorgeous images on their website. I love them all but Edge is coming home with me!
New Crown for Lady Liberty
I have to share how excited I am about this….
I know the fabulous editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder from my art school days and have enjoyed his sharp and witty work for a long time now. So when I had the vision of the Statue of Liberty wearing a pussyhat early yesterday morning (after basking in the afterglow of this past weekend’s Women’s March) I messaged him…and like magic he had created this beautiful, powerful image by nightfall! Lady Liberty has been the victim of a lot of mishandling lately and seeing her like this is so inspiring! THANK YOU Michael! THANK YOU to all you marchers and knitters. Who’s up for knitting a giant one?
The Chelsea Hotel
While staying in Chelsea recently I couldn’t resist stopping by the Chelsea Hotel, of Leonard Cohen fame, and although I couldn’t stay in room 424, (big reno going on) I enjoyed hanging out by the front door (which I held open for a workman with a gigantic spool of electrical wire who in turn took this photo of me on my pilgrimage – he knew my selfies were not going to cut it). One day I’ll come back, in the mean time here’s a link to the song The Chelsea Hotel #2 and a Rolling Stone article about the song. Turns out Leonard and I were both in New York in 68 though I was a little young for him and we ran in different circles (I was crawling then).
Snow
Blue Sailor
Insectopia
Yet another magical window display at Bergdorf Goodman’s, this time a frosty insect fantasy in verdigris! Wow!
Pond Creature
I love the whimsy of this sequined tight rope walker in her heels above the dark waterlily pond with its fierce looking birds in this Bergdorf Goodman window display on Fifth Avenue! The manikin is looking a little amphibious herself!
Aviary on Fifth Avenue
More window shopping along Fifth Avenue at Bergdorf Goodman’s, this vignette is called A Bird’s Eye View. These windows glow like jewels at night but during the day they play with the reflections of the city, creating a wintery dreamscape. Beyond all the white feathered birds here, I love the languid gesture of both the peacock’s neck and the manikin’s arm! In the final photo a woman seems to materialize from a glowing curtain of feathers!
Gorillas in Our Midst
Window shopping is at it’s best during the holidays and nowhere better than Fifth Avenue in New York City! Bergdorf Goodman’s was far and away my favorite, each vitrine a world in itself! Beyond the artistry that’s gone into each one I loved the way these fantasies interplayed with the reflection of the city beyond the window! It’s a jungle out there (Trump Tower is across the street (beside Tiffany’s).
womanKind Reception
The womanKIND reception was a warm-hearted gathering on a very cold night at the Citadel Gallery in San Jose. The exhibition, a Cole / Drews Watkins project was held in support of the YWCA Silcon Valley – eliminating racism, empowering women! Last day to see the show is Monday, December 19th from 12 to 6 pm.
Power houses Susan Drews Watkins and Sara Cole who put together the show welcoming us all to the exhibition.
Tanis Crosby, CEO of the YWCA Silicon Valley speaking eloquently about the importance of being there for each other as women, as community. Very inspirational!
We were touched by the powerful spoken word poetry of Diana D’Angelo, Sara Cole and Ashlie Andrade. Check back soon, I’ll be posting video links to these readings!
Many of the exhibiting artists were present, here I am with my floral paintings.
Jhina Alvarado with her Mixed media encaustics.
Diana D’Angelo and her mixed media paintings.
Ashlie Andrade with Sara Cole’s paintings on paper.
Sara Cole with her self portraits.
Susan Drews Watkins and friends.
Susan Drews Watkins sculpture, metal, water and glass.
Joy Redick and her watercolors.
Lisa Renée Falk and her Citrus Dress – glass, silk and plastic citrus bags.
Lisa Renée Falk and her Citrus Dress, glass, silk and plastic citrus bags.
Trace Galbraith and her slumped glass work.
My Birds and Teacups cards.
Tableart by Henri Mansfield Herns.
Work by Tableart, Gutfreund, Cole, Cameron
Marti Somers Squirrel over Tumbleweed, Mixed media on panel.
Karen Gutefreund‘s Perpetual Motion, mixed media on canvas. Karen had been to the show early in the afternoon before racing off to Arc in San Francisco for the opening of the F*ck U! exhibition reception!
Brigitte Carnochan‘s Pot of Daffodils , silver gelatin print.
Jhina Alvarado’s Alberts, mixed media encaustic paintings.
Jamie Woods, YWCA Silicon Valley’s Associate Director of Philanthropy and Sara Cole.
It was an honor to meet Tanis Crosby and help to support the YWCA Silicon Valley for all that they do – eliminating racism and empowering women! I hope we’re able to raise lot’s of money with this show for the important work that they do in our community!