WHERE ARE THEY?

I have great fondness for the art of genealogy as well as for the visual arts. This has led me to think about the many people of earlier eras that I have ties to. If one looks at my Google profile photo you will see a rather typical white gal smiling back. But not so fast. Today's genealogy includes DNA, not just facts and figures. Although Western Europe does dominate my DNA, just two generations back in one of my blood lines Native American and African American DNA shines through.

Those two cultures in the 18th and 19th centuries lived with unspeakable cruelties. I think about those souls a lot.

With the recent MLK Day I was looking at the memorial sculpture in Washington D.C. and smiled at the way his figure emerges from the stone, as if an addition to the Mt. Rushmore sculptures.

Thinking about art, and remembering that February is Black History Month, I wondered about any African American artists that might be in my immediate locale. I did a fairly good search but could not find any! So I took a broader look and found many interesting artists, both past and present.

Edmonia Lewis (1845-1911) was a sculptor born in New York. She had both African American and Ojibwa heritage. In 1865 she went to Rome to study and spent most of her life there. Here is Hiawatha, done in 1868.

Henry Osawa Tanner (1859-1937) was born in Pennsylvania and studied in Philadelphia. He went to Paris in 1891 and lived the rest of his life there. Here is his painting Banjo Player.

 

Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998) was a Boston artist.

Charles Alston (1907-1977), a native of North Carolina, made his art in New York City.

 

And contemporary artists:

Bisa Butler's Sista Quilta, merging painting and fabric.

 

LA's Cecil Fergerson's giant facial portrait.

 

Ed Clark's untitled abstraction from 2009.

 

Anthony D. Lee's Mama's Boy.

 

 

 

Mickalene Thomas from 2007, Baby I Am Ready Now.

 

Kehinde Wiley, LA born, New Yorker now, paints his subjects in art historical poses.

Alex Jackson gives us Invisible Man.

 

 

IT'S IN THE WATER

Remember the palettes of watercolor paints we were given to use in grade school? Fun memories of learning to express artistic ideas.

To the sincere artist though, watercolor painting is a unique and difficult challenge. Tame the flow, or go with the flow: that is the question. As wonderful as oil paintings can be, watercolor paintings bring a sensuality to the image and design that inspires a different kind of awe from the beholder.

Ancient manuscripts were illuminated with this method, but I want to begin with the 16th century German renaissance work of Albrecht Durer (1471-1528). He was an illustrator, but his botanical and animal studies were stunningly beautiful in their detail. Shown here is his Young Hare from 1502.

 

American wildlife and botanical illustrator John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a cultural superstar in his time. He traveled with an entourage of shooters and taxidermists on his expeditions to enable him to capture the details of his subjects so precisely. Here is his depiction of an American Crow.

 

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) flourished in the art of watercolor painting. Here are his John Biglin in a Single Scull (1873), and Baseball Players Practicing (1875).

 

One of my all-time favorites, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) presented us with The Red Canoe in 1889.

 

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) excelled in capturing portraits in watercolors, such as A Tramp (1904-06), and Man with Red Drapery (after 1900).

 

Another of my personal favorite painters, Edward Hopper (1882-1967) produced this image of Pemaquid Lighthouse in 1929.

 

Beloved American artist, Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) gave us this scene called Border Patrol.

 

And today the art of watercolor painting is thriving in Sonoma County:

Fig Season by Barbara Ware

 

Fire and Ice by Jeanne Lamar

 

Mum's the Word by Jeanne Koelle

 

Beetle Pattern by Susan MacMillan

 

Peace, and Boat Shadows by Mara Farnworth

 

FOLLOW THE MONEY

I always enjoy, when each October I see the "ARTrails" flyers posted around town. It reminds me and everyone else that there are flourishing artists in our midst.

Sadly, this past October the umbrella organization for ARTrails, the Sonoma County Arts Council went kaput due to lack of funding.

Also last fall, the largest price ever paid for a work of a living American artist was paid, $58.4 million, for a piece called Balloon Dog (Orange), by artist Jeff Koons.

 

In 2012 a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream sold for $120 million in Europe.

 

A painting by American artist Norman Rockwell, whom I practically apologized for in my Thanksgiving week blog, had his painting Saying Grace sell for $46 million just a few weeks later.

My thoughts here are about the great disconnect between the people and/or organizations who pay these monumental sums of money for artworks, some works not very many years old, and the vast number of American artists currently producing interesting, quality works. President Reagan's trickle down economic theory doesn't work in the art world either.

 

I know that the reasons for the dissolution of the Sonoma County Arts Council/ARTtrails are probably not simple. I also know that Sonoma County harbors many wealthy companies and individuals who could be patrons of the local arts. In my idealistic world I would see these businesses/individuals supporting the arts at the local level, rather than spending their funds as big profit art investors. For the love of a rich local culture, rather than for the profit. In an ideal world.

 

I hope ARTrails is revived somehow. The citizens of Sonoma County would surely benefit from that. Here's a sample of why that is true, examples of some ARTrails participants.

Cumulus, No. 1: Come with Thunder, by Brooks Anderson

 

Sycamore Leaf Carved Vessel, by Ralph Ramirez

 

Gower Gulch, by Henry White

 

The Sun, by Deborah Garber



 

Bridge Over Salmon Creek, by Charles Beck

The Collector, by Brennie Brackett

LET THERE BE LIGHT - 2014

With the turning of a calendar page, our minds gather fresh hope for the continuing stream of our lives.
Sunlight angling down upon the California landscape adds a wonderful dimension to the already bountiful compositions to be found here, reminding us of how lucky we all are to be living in the midst of this fascinating west coast.

Pleasure Point Santa Barbara by John Comer

Sunshine and Sandstone by Robin Hall

 



Poolside Lafayette Hotel San Diego by RD Riccoboni

 

Mount Diablo Morning by Robin Purcell

 

California Palm Trees, Ocean by Tom Brown

 

Afternoon Shadows by Kathy O'Leary

 

Santa Barbara Cliffs by Matt Smith

 

May 2014 be a good journey for us all.