present

If you write a newsletter, are you struggling to come up with your own true title, different from others? This is a topic that a group of online presenters has been discussing. Instead of Mid-Season Studio Updates I want to use just one word, which makes it a bit challenging. If it were completely to the point it would be “communication”. True but dull.

Sitting on the tractor seat swing up on the sunset hill this morning in the sun, the first rays in ages, it hit me: present. The news of my studio updates has always been about what’s happening in the here and now, and recently. The present is always the subject of any art work that I begin with an empty mind and the focal point of the Atlas of the Year program. The here and now must always be considered on our farm and sanctuary – what’s the weather, which birds are singing, are the dogs barking at coyotes?

More importantly, what present relates to is –  now that my career is over, I am going to make presents. More about the presents later. The fun part was designing the headers. What do you think of the one I used here? Leave a comment! I’ll be using variations in your emails from now on.

Atlas of the Year Exhibit

Last week we installed the Atlas of the Year art works at the Carnegie Institute for Literacy and Learning in the SkyDome Gallery. It’s not my favorite task, but it’s do-able with help of Greg’s master problem-solving mind, and Kimber from Carnegie. I just love how accessible the artworks are, flat on the wall without barrier of glass or varnish. It’s like the difference between seeing art on a screen and in person in a frame. We had to go through several plans to get it to work, and I’m not divulging our secret…

Your part is to simply come and experience the spread of seasons under the dome. Another thing; I love how the collages feel so small in the hold of the architecture, and the ample space around each piece.

This 20 foot wall holds the 3 Spring~East and Summer~South collages, before signage, with the opening to the first floor

The Spring~East and Summer~South artworks under the dome

Kimber Gray with her chosen art, Atlas of the Year, 2…you make me smile, Kimber

KO’B with the Winter~North collages of Atlas of the Year. I love how they are so present, there without frame, glass or varnish