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SO Much Art

This weekend on San Juan Island, there is so much art going on.

At Gallery San Juan, Barbara and a few other artists are opening up a show,
Women with texture and one man with flowers."

Experience the texture and colors of hand picked Northwest women artists

and one man with flowers. Also enjoy food of color and texture.

Artists: BJ Dollahite, Barbara DePirro, Jocelyn Russell, Teri Jo Summer,

Ann Walbert and Kevin Roth.

Down the street, or rather up the street on Sunday, Arctic

Publish Post

Raven in conjunction with the San Juan Island Library and Skagit Valley College will host, "In Creation the Raven Sings" at San Juan Island Grange Hall on Sunday, July 12, 2 PM. Acclaimed Northwest Coast Native artists Rande Cook and Francis Dick will bring their culture alive by connecting the elements of art and song in a presentation. For more info call 360.378.

And uptown at waterworks gallery, the gallery features new water and landscape paintings Tim Schumm, an impressionistic painter. Stop by the gallery and meet him on Saturday,July 11, from 4 to 8. Some beautiful water lily paintings and a collection of lively simple daisy paintings. Stop by and visit the galleries of San Juan Island.

It may be art but is it stimulus?

Recently reading Sculpture Magazine, I read an editorial from the Chairman of the Board of the International Sculpture Center, Josh Kanter.
Josh proposes a case for looking at the ongoing argument of supporting the arts or not supporting in new light.

I too, think it is time to retire the argument. The arts are the soul of a creative society.


It may be art but is it stimulus? There has been a lot of press about the arts lately. Some articles focus on the funding difficulties facing nonprofits in the current economic environment, others on the dwindling number of nonprofits and the resulting loss of art opportunities for children and society. Still others discuss whether the arts—and public support—are stimulative.

However, I would like to argue for intellectual honesty in the discussion.

Is spending on the arts stimulative? What, after all, is stimulus?

To read the entire article more

The debate continues .
Published with permission of Sculpture Magazine.

Get outside

This beautiful weather makes me want to spend more time outdoors. With this in mind, I ponder creating spaces for sculpture outside in our personal environments. Now is the time of year to install sculpture in our gardens, in our woods or on our decks. The ability to interact with artworks outdoors is not a new concept.

In centuries past, we were shown gardens filled with sculpture in the somewhat formal landscapes of the English, Italians or French. Themes for sculptures might range from human or animal form, humorous, abstract to utilitarian. Sculpture creates scale in our landscape. Depending on placement, create a unexpected surprise in a landscaped vista.

Today, we enjoy sculpture in a natural and or created environment, perhaps a less formal style than previous designed gardens. Our gardens like our walls of our homes are a personal expression. Indoors and out, living with the beauty of art, is a constant theme.

This past week, I helped with 2 sculpture installations. One for a client and one in my own yard. It's all about incorporating sculpture into your environment. The places where art and nature intersect. It is the texture, the ability to touch and how bronze or stone feels to your touch. The light bouncing off the surface. These special places allow us to reflect and to meditate.

Take a look out side. Find a spot for art in your yard. This is a good thing.

Sculpture news:

Walking past the gallery, Winter Mandala, by David Eisenhour is on view. This bronze was recently written up in Sculpture Magazine, June 2009...."loosely referenced Buddhist spirituality, it also suggested the balance between man and the natural world. David taking inspiration from a sand dollar that served as a personal meditative aid, David's larger than life bronze form displays the marine animals' five fold radial symmetry, together with the pores that draw water into internal vascular system and allow it to move, thereby underscoring an important interdependence between the environment and those that live in it "....


Tom Small will install a new steel and stone sculpture in front of the gallery sometime next week. Pretty exciting to have another beautiful piece of sculpture outside. The gallery has been showing Tom's work for 23 years. Inside the gallery, are a few stone basin sculpture that would be a beautiful addition to any garden.

If you have peeked in the gallery's rear windows, one cannot help but smile at
Barbara Duzan's latest paper mache image sculpture, "I am a star". A black and white dog sits with foot resting on a hand beaded starred ball. The look in this dogs eyes is hard to resist.

[No this one is for indoor only]. And then there were bronze puppies, Yes that 's true. There's one begging for attention, another rolling over, one playing with a butterfly and one just looking at you. They do beg for adoption.

In any weather, we can experience of art in an outdoor environment. get outside and visit a sculpture park, ie Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park, the local Wescott Bay Sculpture Park or one of my favorites, Storm King Art Center Sculpture.

A visit to the garden

Ralph welcomes Georgia & Gail

Every year in Spring, I feel so privileged to visit a few gardens
on Whidbey Island.These visits started many years ago. The annual garden party created a way to share interests among myself, my staff and a few artists.
While enjoying lunch together,
we talk about art, gardens and plants.

Tree Peony

Driving south to the bottom of Whidbey Island, I stop by Gail Gwinn's place in Coupeville for a studio visit. Her husband Joe Patrick, undertook a huge gardening project last year. This year he is doing the house remodel thing, so not much time left for gardening. This past winter, Joe was able to renovate Gail's studio. It is a beautiful place for Gail to create intaglios or paint in.
Everything had a place and it seemed just right. No garden party here.

Continuing driving south, I stop at Anne Belov's home. Anne built her home at the edge of the woods. It has taken a few years for her gardens to fill in. Her gardens are a beautiful mix of plants, some given from friends and some bought. These plants take turns flowering thru out the year. Always looking beautiful. No garden party here.

Anne & Gail in the garden

The location of this years party was at Anne's good friend,
Ralph Hastings home. His fabulous home and gardens are called Froggwell located in Langley. This garden was planted approximately 25 years ago. Lots of design and intent are evident by each of the garden areas. The artistic views down the garden. The egrets nest high in the trees. A place for all types of peonies. A boxwood hedge. A bronze Scottie dog named Kelz. An unkempt section with Columbine and the biggest Trilliums I have ever seen. Lots of Rhododendrons. Maples and many plants whose names I cannot remember, some very unusual. Over the years as plants live and occasionally perish, this garden has evolved. Truly magnificent and stately in an unpretentious manner. This is the place to be the first weekend in August for an art exhibition.

Personally, this garden visit represents the arrival [finally] of SPRING.
Some years not much in bloom, this year the garden is spectacular.

After the garden walking tour led by Ralph, we adjourn to the table.
The delight of sitting in this magnificent garden setting, eating fabulous food,
drinking the occasional glass of Proseco and sharing all sorts of stories.
This is very special to me. This year was cold and a bit wet.
An experience I treasure, a story still unfolding.

The cast of the garden party group
is of Anne Belov, Gail Gwinn, and
new to the group, Georgia Gerber.

Pictured from left, Gail Gwinn, standing, me ,Georgia Gerber, Anne Belov and Ralph Hastings

Unfortunately, my fabulous shop girls, Carla Wright and Julie Anderson were unable to join me. Little do they know if this weather holds on, we have agreed to do this garden party again.

Summer hats will be mandatory not rain hats.

Ahhh here's to spring and the beauty of gardens.
Cheers

Love Always, Live

Somehow this past weekend, I ended up at 2 different theatrical events.
The first one is the San Juan Community Theater's presentation of the Patsy Kline story entitled, Always, Patsy Kline with 2 amazing and talented woman, Kate Schuman as Patsy Kline and Julie Greene as her friend, Louise. The play about the short life of this country singing artist, Patsy Kline was well done. Having a live band of local musicians on stage was fabulous. I did not know that she died as young as she did. What I loved was how the songs touched my heart. The songs were sung with gusto and grace. I gained a greater understanding of this singer's short life as the show was based on the correspondence of these 2 woman over a 2 year period .

This play is up for the next week at the San Juan Community Theater, if in Friday Harbor, go and see it. You can sing , dance and yes even a bit of a cry!

The next day I had the pleasure of getting on the 8 Am boat to the mainland. My idea of fun for Mother's Day was to have an experience to share with my 21 year old son. My choice, the Seattle Opera's presentation of the Marriage of Figaro. I had taken my son to another opera,The Skagit Opera's LaTraviata at McIntyre Hall in Mt Vernon. I wanted to share my enthusiasm of how wonderful the Seattle Opera is at McCaw Hall.
Turns out, I was not alone in my idea of how to spend Mother's Day! [Another story]

The singing was wonderful, the sets were very minimal, and the sounds produces by a live full orchestra are music for my soul! For an opera, it was very funny and contemporary in issues. Love as a theme. Love as an object lesson and love lost and regained. [Hmm no war in this one] I loved it, even though that song [think cartoon] that you think of in Figaro, is really not in the opera the Marriage of Figaro. My son, sat through the opera, though he did admit to dozing off. I asked him what he thought. He stated, Mom, I loved the music, but it took so long to get through it! Hmm to me this was enjoyment. I will find a new artful experience for us to share on Mother's Day next year.

Unleashed - Catherine Eaton Skinner

Warm and sunny. Gorgeous day in the neighborhood !

I have spent the day,hanging,talking,typing and cleaning up here at the gallery. The vacuuming is yet to be done! Catherine dropped off the books for the show. The gallery looks great !

A bit of background on this show I am opening on Saturday. In fall of 2006, this exhibition of mixed media encaustic paintings Unleashed was premiered. There were approximately 30 paintings in this show. It was a wonderful exhibition of paintings of the animals that dwell in the wilderness of the landscape. The range of animals ran from a Yak to Lizards, Zebra to Monkeys, Antelope to Polar Bear. The show was a compilation of images. Some animals where seen in total, others an element, specifically an eye.

Saturday's show celebrates the book Unleashed, published in conjunction with the University of Washington Press and the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. All paintings from the original exhibition are featured in the book. The book retails for $ 50. Catherine will sign and dedicate your copy.

Selected mixed media encaustic paintings on view at the gallery and
posted on the gallery's web site

Selected animals from the book, have been reproduced in an edition of 9 prints.These images are pigment ink prints pulled on rag paper that measures 36 x 24. A few are hanging at the gallery. Stop by and see the show