DIA DE BLOGLANDIA -> REMEMBRANCE

Remembering my mother. Helen Dorner Shechtman 1914-2009, with love and appreciation for who she was and who she became.

She would have never understood the traditional skeleton representation of Dia De Los Muertos therefore, I chose to use one of her favorite photos. I made a breastplate/neck piece that uses some of her old jewelry parts and a piece of her crochet trim. She loved "bling". The bigger the better.

The staff at Elm Terrace Gardens, where she lived, had this to say when she died. Something I treasure.

"Karen, your mother shared a world of warmth and love while living out each day........

.....She had her share of tougher times, yet never lost her way....


....she showed the world what a great person she was in everything she did......


....and for the joy she brought to all, today we honor our dear Helen."


A special thank you to Susanna and Stephanie for organizing this and putting it all together.

With love,
Karen

MANDALAS MATERIALIZE IN MANHATTAN

I am inspired by design that radiates from a central point and was thrilled to discover that the Rubin Museum in New York was having two special exhibits that I thought would be the perfect venue to maximize my inspiration, Mandalas and Carl Jungs' , the Red Book. It was a great starting point to do a workshop with friends and work on copper technique with found objects. I highly recommend this museum. it is one of those "little gems".


After spending the day at the museum and seeing the beautiful intricate patterns and vibrant reds, blues and greens of these amazing works of art, we went to work on our own variation on a theme.










My finished piece.


Joy Snyder

Jerri Weitz

Kathryn Gilbert




Happy Halloween wishes to everyone!!! A Halloween Mandala, of sorts.

ART STEW

"Society is like stew, if you don't stir it up every once in a while , a layer of scum floats to the top". -Edward Abbey

I have already mentioned that when I attended Squam Art Workshop, I met many wonderful people and had an inspiring time. I did manage to make a few things in the workshops I attended, as well.

Above is from Elizabeth Bunsens' "Positives and Negatives" class (journaling with photographs). In this piece we tore up a photo, passed pieces of our photos around and then put everything together in the way we thought best. I ended up making another layer on mine with a transparency I brought, of a black and white drawing I had done.


Took a great class with another wonderful woman and teacher Judy Wise, called "Waxy Layers" (collage, painting and encaustic). I love using photos of my own work to make new work. I did that with each piece I created.....hence the title of this post," art stew". If things sit around my studio for too long, I need to "stir it up" a bit. How about you?


More from EBs' class. She gave us many creative prompts to get us started on each page.


More encaustic.




This last page is from Judys' "Playbook" class. We simply played in our sketchbooks using many ideas for loosening up......funny how you forget how to do that.

Don't forget to stir things up a bit!!!

WHAT TO WEAR TO AN ART OPENING

"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art". Oscar Wilde

This past weekend I was honored to be a part of the opening of a wonderful art show, "The Found Object". My work was very happy hanging on this particular wall, next to the work of an artist that I have long admired, Cathy Rose. Her figures are pure magic. I was delighted that this figure was placed there with its hand extended, as if to say, "look here". The turnout for the show was huge. Thank you to everyone that came out to see me.

I had decided long before, that I would wear black. Somehow, in my mind, I wanted the "cool reserved" artist look. I suddenly realized that if I didn't do something, I might be the "invisible suburban housewife" instead. I decided to create something that would say, "hi, I made this and I also made what you see on the wall".

I decided to make a medieval "breastplate" type piece that would partner with my theme of heraldry. Not being much of a wearer of jewelry, this was a bit of a stretch, but I had a sense of humor about it. I decided to make use of something my blog readers may have seen before. I'll surprise you at the end of this post.









Some of the first people to arrive were Isaiah Zagar and his wife Julia. I have been a fan for years. My out of town visitors usually end up visiting his"mosaic wonderland".

My dear friend Paula is also exhibiting her fabulous glass pieces. Each piece is story full of masterful detail , humor and surprises.

Fellow blogger, creator of beautiful dolls and figures and friend Mo'a came by with her husband and brought me the most beautiful bunch of peach colored roses.

How wonderful to be surrounded by so many wonderful people and do what you love to do. Life is good.



Remember the disintegration project? It is still alive and well and continually reinventing itself.
See anything familiar?

BOOK IT

I decided that before I went to Squam, since I was taking a few journaling classes and I do not usually bind my own sketchbooks, that I would create artwork for the covers. I used my small-scale assemblage work on copper technique.

Can you find the word Squam in this photo? Hint....tilt your head to the right.


I thought I had completed this piece when I left home, but I found this heart shaped stone on the shores of Lake Champlain.


The edge of this piece is tree bark from Squam Lake that was given to me by Elizabeth Bunsen, collector of all things, extraordinaire.




Reminder- if you are near the Philadelphia area this Friday night, please come out and say "hi" at Snyderman/ Works Gallery . I dropped my work off today and saw some of the work by the other artists in the show. It's pretty incredible. I'm thrilled to be included.

The time on this invite should be 5:30- 8:30 and the show will be there until the end of October, not mid November.

GOLDEN MOMENTS ON GOLDEN PONDS

"I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore, I hear it in the deep hearts core."
-William Butler Yeats

I had a magical time last week. I spent a few days on lake Champlain in Vermont visiting with dear friends and at Squam Lake in New Hampshire (with those same friends) at the Sqaum Art Workshops. A few words and photos follow.

Remember to fluff your hair before you arrive.........anywhere.


It's about being creative with others and laughing until you can't breathe. Then looking back and being amazed at what you did together.



My aptly named cabin. Smoke and pine , the smells that are everywhere.

Beautiful on the outside.


.......and from the inside.


Bringing friends with you that couldn't make it.


Crazy, but lovable roommates, out on the dock at 6 am. trying to take a photo.


Glorious photographic opportunities...Leslie, Isabel , Elizabeth and myself.


Great teachers, wonderful people and dear friends....eb and Judy Wise.


New friend and a wonderful fiber artist.

My messy works area. ..........so what else is new?

Finished work with the delicious smell of beeswax.

Share a glass of wine or two.


Sit in an inspiring place.


....and glory in a blazing sunset.

TO WATCH OVER ME.....and YOU ARE INVITED

A piece I just completed entitled "To Watch Over Me". Size 11"x15" Copper, vintage found objects, vintage fabric, acrylic medium, paint and water color paper.

If you are in the Philadelphia area, please come out to see me in a group show "The Found Object" at the Snyderman-Works Gallery. It opens on "first Friday" October 2. I'd love to see you!!! ..........headed to Squam Art Retreat......:-)

THE RECYCLED DOOR

A few years ago, I used a piece of brass to draw and paint the door and a portion of the gate , windows and roof because I could not find any copper. I thought the brass worked pretty well but I never felt that is was complete. The last few days I attached it to copper and water color paper, added some found objects, drawing and more paint and then finished it off with some stitched "drawing". The finished piece is 11"x 15".

DISINTEGRATION IS A BEACH

"Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think." - Robert Henri

I thought I would give you an update on my disintegration project (ala Seth). Since I was a bit short on time to create a new art form from it, I decided to create a new world for it, if you will.

May I present the traveling disintegration project. We had a beachy time in Ocean City. Wonder where we will go next? Wish you were here.

A VISIT WITH JUDY

Isn't it amazing how small the world is today. In 2006 I met Judy Wilkenfeld in Italy for the first time in a Michael DeMeng workshop, she from Australia, me from the U.S. We have kept in touch in a variety of ways, emails, phone calls, blogging (duh!) , she has visited a few times and we worked on an altered book round robin . Above is a part of a page I did in Judys' round robin book. Her theme was "Protection". The full photos are at the end of this post.

She just spent another week with me. She was in town to teach a workshop. If you have not taken a class with her, DO SO!!! Check her blog to see where she will be teaching in the future. I also highly recommend going book shopping, eating at great restaurants with amazing talented women...and men (and eating my husbands cooking as well) and laughing often.


Judy, Leslie Marsh, Michelle Ward, Judi Riesch and yours truly.

These books are just the tip of the iceberg.


Showing my terrific and appreciative better half , one of her fabulous purchases.


Instructor extraordinaire. It was a great group.

Seth aka, the altered page , pouring on the glue.

Leslies' busy hands.

Kecias busy hands.

Janes' tucking in her velvet.

Pamela Huntington admiring her work.

Since I have not finished the book I made in class, here are the pages from the round robin.
I decided on a totemic theme for Judys protection book. There were two sides that needed to be completed. One side had flaps that were tied together with string and ribbons that I beaded. I drew the design in copper and attached it to an old quilt piece. When you open the flaps there was a painted and collaged totem village inside.


Keep an eye out. My next post will be the continuing story of my disintegration project.

ARTFUL EXCHANGE

Two years ago, I was invited to participate in an altered book round robin with a group of women, half of whom were from Australia and half were from the U.S. We completed the round a few months ago, so I thought I'd share one of the pieces I did.

We each had a different subject that was chosen by the artist. In this one, the theme was chosen by Deb Lewis. It is called "Winged Messengers". I did the piece in January of 2008.

I was doing the work directly in the middle of the book and since it was going to Australia after I was done, I decided to use the representative birds of each country as a starting point.

DRAWN TO MAINE

I am "drawn" to Maine. I am" hooked" on Maine. Call it what you will. I enjoyed EVERY beautiful minute of my visit.

My husband and I planned to visit good friends and I discovered that an artist that I greatly admire, John Whalley (check out his incredible paintings and drawings), was teaching a class at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland while I was there. I signed up. I also arranged to meet up with the beautiful , inside and out, Susan Tuttle (check out her amazing photography and art).

Maine is about-

PEOPLE

Susan and I had lunch, checked out the beautiful town of Damariscotta.


I attended two days of a four day intensive drawing class with John. Not only is he an amazing artist he is a great teacher. Here he is explaining the golden mean.

Below is an example of Johns' work, a graphite drawing of my friend Walter. It is available at the Vose Gallery in Boston.

Dear friends, Walter and Arlene. Notice the resemblance. Pretty incredible, huh?


Maine is about-

ART

If you are in Maine , don't miss the Jamie Wyeth exhibit "The Seven Deadly Sins" at the Farnsworth . He uses seagulls to illustrate each one. Fantastic!! The show will be coming to Delaware in the fall.

Maine is about-

LOBSTER


Maine is about-

WATER









Maine is about-

FLEA MARKETS AND TEXTURE

WASTE NOT

Hey all of you savers, junk finders, flea market junkies and whatever else we call ourselves. Just saw this article in the NY Times about an exhibit currently at MOMA (that's the Museum of Modern Art in case you don't know, though you should). It's an amazing installation.

Check out the slideshow here.

KEEPING MYSELF ARTFULLY BUSY

I've been working on a few projects in my studio. I can only show glimpses at this time.......yeah sure. Some people hate that. Me? I think the small sections of work that people sometimes show are little GEMS in themselves.

I have also returned to my roots by going back to sketching. I can thank Barron Storey for that. I returned yet again to see his sketchbooks at the Society of Illustrators and spent a few more hours checking out the magic of his mark making.

Below you will find an "artsortment" of my"glimpses", PLUS my garden, that because of all of the rain we have been having, is looking better than it ever has. Also, when I was in NYC to see the Barron show again, I also went to The Met to see the incredible Medieval drawings. They will be on exhibit through the end of the summer.








Garden glimpses-






Hey Judy, check out the Prato Haggadah circa 1300. Have you guys read People of the Book? It's a wonderful story. Below images from The Metropolitan Medieval drawing exhibit.

A NEW YORK........."STOREY"

The above is a study for a project that is currently "all over my studio" . Just thought I'd let you know that I am still around, even though I haven't been visiting or posting much lately.

I spent a great day in New York yesterday. RUN.....do not walk, to the Barron Storey (he has both a blog and a website) show at the Society of Illustrators on 63rd, between Lexington and Park. It is a collection of his journals and sketchbooks that you can actually pick up , touch and feel, an amazing thing to be able to do in this day and age. It is there until the end of July and it's FREE. Be prepared to stay for awhile. I plan to go again.