Facebook Challenge Part 3

My Facebook art challenge day 3 featured performance art. This work was not made specifically to be exhibited. The drawing/painting/collage was made for the joy of seeing possibilities. The work presented here had holes cut in it, and the holes become planets, worlds, or vistas that can be seen as it is held up. I took the drawing outside, clowned around a little, and had pictures taken of me with it. Along with the planet drawing, is a ball of paint I have been building and liken it to making a planet. It is built like a snowball from my leftover acrylic paint. The last image here is likely what inspired the others. It is a print in a series of prints (all can be found on my website). It includes a circular etching made on a plate that Sharon Massey gave me. Who wouldn't want to make a circular etching if you were given a cut copper plate?

Below are the four images I posted for the challenge (I needed an extra image of me clowning around). 

As a part of the challenge, I next nominated Richard Barlow as well as metals artist Kit Burke-Smith. Although these artists have yet to take up the challenge, below is an image by Barlow and here is a link to a recent interview with Burke-Smith (Kit is also on Etsy).

Richard Barlow, 120" x 120", Media: sequins and latex, 2015

Facebook Challenge Part 2

Day two of my Facebook Art Challenge (post 3 images a day for 5 days) featured large collage works. Two of the works depict a boat I had named the Arkadelphia (named after a street I passed in Alabama, I later created a little story about it's history). After making the first image with a series of black and white printed portraits, I later wanted to try printing the figures in color and created the second image.

Kip Deeds, Moving Company, Collage Mounted on Canvas, 60" x 72", 2005

Kip Deeds, Poe Procession, Collage Mounted on Canvas, 46" x 61", 2009

The third image included was a portrait of Goethe after a sketch by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein. I learned a lot making this image. Tischbein's drawing wonderfully captures Goethe in a private moment. It functions the way a sketch does best (i.e. getting to the essence quickly). However, when interpreting the image I had to decide wether or not to make corrections (I was not sketching). I fixed the perspective in the chair and in doing so I think the drawing lost some freshness and became more mechanical. That being said, all the other information I added created a new realm, one that I think Goethe would appreciate.

Kip Deeds, Goethe, Ink, Collage, and Relief Print on Canvas, 45" x 50", 2009

Next I nominated Rachel Welling to participate in this illustrious FB challenge (3 images a day for 5 days). I met Rachel at the Vermont Studio Center in 2003 and I am pleased to see her work grow and grow. Below is a sample of her work.

Rachel Welling, A Calling, ink and acrylic on paper, 17" X 11", 2011-2014

Facebook Challenge Part 1

Artists on Facebook are challenging one another to post three images a day for five days. Artists are suppose to invite a new artist to post each day and they will follow the same rules. This is like the ice bucket challenge (i.e. peer pressure challenge) for artists. I will thank New Mexico based painter Scott Anderson and book artist Jeff Abshear (he is the director of the Kalamazoo Book Art Center), for this opportunity to plaster Facebook with odd pictures. At least I am assured they will enjoy my pictures and may be pleased that the challenge is alive outside Facebook. Also, one of the advantages of not being on Facebook is that I can curate my peers into this post. The following are examples by Anderson and Abshear:

Painting by Scott Anderson

Book Page by Jeff Abshear

The theme I chose for day on are "car" paintings. Specifically, the cars I have owned. Some say "you are your car". In other words here are three (or four) self portraits.

Kip Deeds, Self Portrait and Subaru, 2001

Kip Deeds, Self Identification, 2001

Kip Deeds. Passed By, 2009

As part of this challenge process, I chose Dawson Weber to next take part in this challenge. He is one of the few artists I know living in L.A. who also is a Midwesterner through and through. Go Dawson!

Dawson Weber, Study for Malagasy Notebooks (October, pp. 2-3), 2010

Smorgasbord

This photo of Miss Maud Swedish Smorgasbord Restaurant is courtesy of TripAdvisor

When I was young I would take trips to Reading, Pennsylvania with my parents (this was their hometown). Through out my childhood, these journeys were made to see relatives. Along the back roads I would take note of the landmarks (no tv in cars in those days). One such landmark was a restaurant advertising a smorgasbord. In my mind this conjured up an image of the most amazing spread of food. The somewhat exotic name "smorgasbord" gave me a sense that there was an ethnic connection between the foods. However, in reality the connections may have been minimal.

After posting about breaking records 2014, a certain amount of fear entered into my mind as 2015 approached. Could I live up to the high standards of 2014 and make 2015 even more special? I felt the need for a grand post to introduce this new year. Here I am attempting to offer a pictorial smorgasbord (i.e. variety with the hope of connections). I am seeking to recapture some of the experiences of 2014 and add something new.

My first drawing started and finished in 2015

Perhaps today was a suitable day to look back. It rained all day, and so I stayed in and worked on a few drawings using adobe illustrator. First I tried to capture the mood of the day.

January 18th, 2015

I also tried my hand at drawing a "recap" that represented 2014. Although I am am not fully satisfied or finished, I thought I would post the result so far.

Cap over cap, a recap.

One of the most enjoyable events in 2014 was a September trip to Detroit. At the time I had a print in an exhibit at Re:View Gallery in Detroit. Although I made a post about making this print, I never showed the finished result.

Detroit Diamond, Screen Print, 2014

On the way to Detroit, I stopped in Indiana, Pennsylvania and visited with metals artist Sharon Massey. Below is one of her sculptures.

Sharon Massey, Metals Sculpture from the Streetview Series

There is a gallery on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania called the Kipp Gallery. Below I am pictured standing in front of it.

While I was pleased to see the prints by the other artists included in the group exhibit at Re:View Gallery, I was also thrilled that in the gallery's second exhibition space was a show by my friend and mentor Timothy Van Laar. Tim was one of my graduate school professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While at UIUC, at the turn of the millennium, Tim was making small scale abstract paintings. I loved the way bits of color jumped out of these paintings. It was nice to see in this exhibit the continued sensitive but certain handling of paint and mark. While the paintings remained mysterious (answers are not given but the clues are numerous), content was introduced that feels personal and gives a sense of warmth. Below are several images from the exhibit.

Timothy Van Laar. Painting included in 2014 exhibit at Re:View Gallery

Timothy Van Laar. Painting included in 2014 exhibit at Re:View Gallery

On the return trip from Detroit I had the chance to visit Chad Andrews. Chad is artist friend who lives in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Andrews makes prints but his work also stretches into painting and sculptural drawings. Below is a view of six of his "Black Cat" drawings in progress at his studio in the Pajama Factory building.

Chad Andrews: "Black Cat" drawings in his studio.

After such an event filled break, I was sad to return home. Now that it is January, I also miss the colors, warmth, and smells of late summer/early fall. Below is an image from Hanna Farm where Chad and his family live. I have to sigh a bit here but I am full. Although I could not pack all of my experiences from the Detroit trip into this post, at least for me, the smorgasbord idea worked.

Hanna Farm, Near Williamsport PA.