From Philadelphia with LOVE

Frank, my marriage partner of 10 years, is an academic and newbie PhD in English Literature. As such he has been, with nearly every other English Lit academic, at the MLA conference in Philadelphia for the last several days interviewing for tenured faculty positions and presenting one of his articles.

Just thought I’d share this photo of Robert Indiana’s sculpture at LOVE Park that he emailed me from his cell phone:

Remiss in Writing

I’m still here... though busy.

I found an old note that I wrote to myself on an discarded library card that read: Realism doesn't trust memory.

It prompted me to reread Susan Sontag's article, "On Photography," which then prompted me to go to the used book store to find a copy of her 2001 book of the same title. I didn't find On Photography, but did find (and purchase):

Sontag's Under the Sign of Saturn

Cold War Pastoral, documenting the photographic work of John Kippin as he explores the Greenham Common transformation from military base to site of protest from the Womens' Peace Movement to common land

Painting by Numbers: Komar and Melamid's Scientific Guide to Art

and some fiction: George Saunders' Pastoralia

Leaf Angels in the Manner of Ana Mendieta: Ground

Here's part of another piece I've been working on for the Tourism and Tragedy series, which overlaps with The Perfect Fall series. It's called Leaf Angels in the Manner of Ana Mendieta:


I dyed a mottled ground on raw canvas, then applied a beeswax resist through rubbing pebbled pavement and brush painting. I redyed it several times, removed the wax and brought out more definition with fabric paints. I chose fabric paints so the canvas would remain soft and pliable. I wanted the paint to meld with the fibers (as in dyeing processes) rather than just sit on top of them like a traditional painting.

Finally, I drew a chalk outline where the shadow of a figure is suggested and photographed it outside on the ground. Something intrigues me about returning art to a site of inspiration like this and then (re)photographing.

I use the word 'rephotographing' because this piece was inspired by photographs I took in the Smoky Mountains for The Perfect Fall Series.

Ana Mendieta, some links

A Whitney Museum survey of Ana Mendieta's work

Guggenheim art lesson

a Washington Post article by Blake Gopnik

Woven Glass and my absence in December's First Friday

On Friday and Saturday, the Emporium Building, where my studio is located, hosted an event for local artists and artisans to sell their wares. I didn’t make it for Friday’s Events, which was reported to be lovely with members of the Symphony Orchestra playing in the wings.

However, I did make it on Saturday and saw some remarkable fused glass by Paula Mealka. Paula takes pieces of glass, heats them in a kiln and then manipulates the molten glass with long tools she specially designed for this process.

check out this vessel woven from tiny glass rods

and another of her more brilliantly colored and typically massive pieces