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Archive for the ‘Neat Stuff’ Category

Food For Thought

Posted in Neat Stuff, tagged , , on November 8, 2012| 8 Comments »

I had a good time  yesterday at a Food For Thought lecture at the Fenimore Art Museum where I was the speaker.   We first had a lovely luncheon in the museum’s Study Center, surrounded by cabinets full of artifacts from the fabulous Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, one of the prized collections of the museum and arguably the finest collection of  Native American art in the world.  I spoke briefly after the luncheon in the Study Center, filling in some biographical details, before we moved the talk up to the gallery  containing the show, where I continued the talk and fielded questions.

All in all, it went pretty well.  The attendees were wonderful and attentive, making me feel very welcome, and their questions and comments were insightful.  As always in the aftermath, I felt that I had omitted  crucial details. But I have come to the understanding that if I were to try to tell all the anecdotes and pass on all of the information about my work that  I’ve amassed over the years that these talks would never end.  I know that I wouldn’t like that and I can’t imagine anyone else who would.  That being said, I thought that yesterday’s talk went just about right  and I left feeling that most everyone found something enjoyable or informative in some part of the talk.  I sure hope so.

I have to extend some huge thanks here to a group of folks who made extraordinary efforts to come to the talk and to who I don’t think I can ever fully express my gratitude.  They all were owners of my paintings who had one ( or two, in one case) that were part of the show and had accepted my invitation to attend the event so that they might see their paintings in the lovely setting that the Fenimore affords.  All came from considerable distances and took valuable time from their lives to make the journey.   I would like to deeply thank Gary Tanigawa who traveled up from the Alexandria, VA area,  Dominique and Vince Haibach from Erie, PA and Loni Kula and her friend Mary Helen Olmstead  from the Corning area.  I am humbled and moved by your willingness to participate yesterday and can’t say “Thank You” enough.  I can only hope that you  found it worth the effort.

I must also thank  photographer Moira Law and friend ( whose name evades me this morning– I am so sorry!) who traveled down from Ottawa for the talk.  We have corresponded briefly over the last few years and it was wonderful to finally meet her and to talk for a bit.  Thank you so much for taking the time, Moira, and thanks to everyone who made time to attend  yesterday.  It was most appreciated.

And finally, thank you to Paul D’Ambrosio and the great staff  at the Fenimore Art Museum– Michelle Murdock, Maria Vann, Sue deBruijn and Kajsa Sabatke, among others–  for the wonderful experience.  They are true pros and have made  this whole thing feel very special for me, something I will always remember with great warmth.  Thank you so much allowing me the chance to experience this.

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Reviews

Posted in Neat Stuff, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on November 1, 2012| 3 Comments »

There is a very good review in today’s Erie Times-News of my Kada Gallery show, Inward Bound, written by Karen Rene Merkle who has reviewed my Erie shows in the past.  Reviews of any kind have become more and more scarce over the years as the influence of the newspaper has waned in most markets, especially in those the size of  Erie, so I am always interested in seeing what an unbiased observer might see in my work.  As an artist, you set up a defense mechanism of sorts by trying not to put too much emphasis on what someone might say or write about your work.  But in the end,  your human nature wins out and you react accordingly.  When someone knocks your work, even in respectful terms, it still bothers you. Conversely, when someone praises your work you are happily satisfied.  This is, as I said, a very good review so I am happily satisfied.  I have written here that I felt  that this show was a very strong group of work and it is gratifying that someone such as Ms. Merkle takes the time and effort to  take a long and  insightful look at it.

Thanks so much for the kind words, Karen.  It is most appreciated.

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Shedding Daylight– The Backstory

Posted in Neat Stuff, tagged , on October 17, 2012| 3 Comments »

I am a bit busy  and wasn’t planning on writing this morning but wanted to pass on a link to a blogpost from Linda Leinen, who recently submitted the winning title, Shedding Daylight,  for this year’s Name That Painting! contest.  In her blog, The Task At Hand, Linda talks at first about my work then segues into how she came to the title, weaving a wonderful essay on how the symbolism of the painting fit so well with her mother’s attitude as her life neared its end .  It’s a beautifully written post that gives both the title and the painting an added layer of depth that I never anticipated.

Thank you again for the wonderful title, Linda, and for this lovely essay.  It is most appreciated.

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Bridges

Posted in Neat Stuff, Recent Paintings, tagged on September 27, 2012| 9 Comments »

Here is a new painting that is part of the upcoming exhibit, Inward Bound,  at the Kada Gallery which opens October 20.  I gave this colorful  8″ by 24″ canvas a most obvious title, Bridges.  I tired different themes in coming to this title but it always came back to those two small bridges .  The bridges really stand out for me as connectors here, as though they are butterfly stitches holding the land masses  together as the stream cuts through.

The title could simply refer to the two small bridges that go over the winding stream in this picture but I tend to think of  the bridges acting as links in our continuum, links to our past and our future.  That would put the house in this scene that is between the two bridges in the present while the Red Tree would represent the future and the path in the foreground that descends to the first bridge would be the past.  The orange/red and yellow wavy fields in the center are also in the present and that makes sense as well.  Their vividness is in the now, not yet faded as they move into the past.

The other way I looked at this painting was as a  military portrait  of sorts with the Red Tree serving as the head and the stream and road acting as sashes of some sort and the alternating fields  acting as rows of medals and the house a large hanging medal of  honor. It works in my mind but I kept coming back to those bridges and their symbolism for our connectivity to the past and future.  I think I’ll stick with the simple Bridges.

Speaking of titles, don’t forget to get in your titles for the Name This Painting! contest that started yesterday.  Just come up with the best title for the painting shown to the left and you could walk away with a priceless prize package.  I’m keeping the prize a secret but I think you will be pleasantly surprised.  Hint: It’s not a Mercedes or a Maytag refrigerator.

Rules are simple: Send your titles in as a comment on this blog or email me at info@gcmyers.com by midnight of next Wednesday, October 3.  All the titles will be affixed tot he back of this painting for posterity so even in you don’t come up with the winning title, your title will live on.

So, put on your thinking caps and send me your titles!  Good luck!

 

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Name This Painting — A Contest!

Posted in Neat Stuff, Recent Paintings, tagged , on September 25, 2012| 29 Comments »

I haven’t done this in a few years but I was looking at this new piece that is headed for next month’s show at the Kada Gallery, trying to figure out what it was saying to me and a thought came to me.  Why not ask you guys what you would  title it?  I’ve done this a few times over the years and I always get a great mix of responses.

Here’s how it will work:  You can either post your suggested titles here on the blog as a comment or, if you prefer a bit more  privacy,  you can email them to me at info@gcmyers.com.   The contest will be open until Midnight of next Wednesday, October 3.  All titles will be documented and affixed to the back of the painting  so that posterity can get a load of  how we thought back in the day.  The person who submits the winning title will receive a prize package that includes a signed copy of my book and a special surprise or two.

The painting shown is a 6″ by 12″ piece on paper.  That’s all I will tell you.  You fill in the blanks with your own title.  I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

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Off to Africa

Posted in Neat Stuff, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , on August 31, 2012| 17 Comments »

9GC Myers- Coming to an Understanding

A couple of years ago, back in April of 2010, I wrote here about one of my paintings being selected by the then Ambassador to Nepal,  Scott DeLisi,  for display in his offices at the American Embassy in Kathmandu.  And earlier this year, I wrote again about that painting being part of a intercultural exhibition and gala featuring the art of a number of Nepalese artists and the eight American artists whose work hung at the embassy.  Being chosen by Ambassador DeLisi was a great honor for me, particularly since  there aren’t a lot of chances for an artist to represent their country in any meaningful way.  I almost felt like an Olympian, even if only in a very small way.

Ambassador DeLisi   however had his assignment altered and left that position earlier this year, which meant that the painting in Kathmandu was returned to the gallery.  My Olympic dream seemed to be at an end.

However, Mr. DeLisi was nominated by President Obama to be Ambassador to the African nation of Uganda and was confirmed by the Congress in May.  Yesterday, I was notified by the Principle Gallery that the Ambassador had requested three of my paintings for display at the Embassy in Kampala.

I feel Olympian once again!  I was especially thrilled that it was going to Uganda after having watched the young Ugandan boys who came to Williamsport, PA  in the past few weeks as the first African team to play in the Little League World Series.  It was a great story as the other teams and the crowds there seemed to truly embrace these kids.  Remarkably, they won a game even though most of the kids had only been playing  baseball  (or even known about baseball, for that matter) for about six months.

But I was mostly thrilled at the prospect of my work once again being representative of our country and honored that  Ambassador DeLisi had once again found something in it that enabled his decision.  I hope these paintings serves him well in Uganda.

The pieces chosen are shown above and below.

GC Myers- Pot Luck

GC Myers- Sovereign Solitude

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The Ephemeral Nature of Art

Posted in Folk Art, Neat Stuff, tagged , on August 20, 2012| 2 Comments »

I came across an item that caught my eye on the blog of Candler Arts, a great folk art site that I check out on a regular basis.  It was a page from a book with an old photo of a man standing next to a dead tree that had been carved with all sorts of figures.  Alligators, monkeys, lions, Indian heads and bunnies adorned the tree.  What caught my eye was that it said he was from an area not too far from here, just below Auburn  in the Finger Lakes region of NY.

His name was George Carr.  According to his obituary  (Totem Tree Man Dies at Age of 86) in the Auburn newspaper that appeared in 1926 after his death , he was a veteran of the Civil War, serving as a musician in both the army and navy during the war.   It also said that his carved tree was a big tourist attraction in the Finger Lakes, drawing thousands of visitors from all over the country over the years and giving Mr. Carr nationwide celebrity as the story of his tree went out in the press.  Unfortunately, it also points out that the tree was destroyed in a cyclone that struck in the previous year, bringing to an end the  attraction for tourists.

I had never heard of George Carr or his totem tree nor have I been able to find much beyond a few photos, postcards and a thin but very collectible book on Ebay, George Carr’s Totem Tree and Other Curious Things.  This lack of available info and the obvious fact that the tree and any other carvings from his home no longer exist brings me pause.  As an artist, I always consider the possibility that my work may or may not live on beyond my own short lifespan, hoping that it does find a way to continue on its own, of course.  But the thought that it might someday fade completely away but for a few images caught in photos or a few words in an old newspaper is sobering.

Art is life and life is ephemeral.  Some fortunate art will always live on, carried by a life force that is continually replenished by those who see and love it.  Some art is less fortunate and is forever lost to new eyes and new energy that could carry it forward through time.  The same things could be said for any of us.

Maybe by writing about George Carr and his Totem Tree, I am actually hoping that someday someone in the distant future will do the same for one of my paintings and help revive it in some way, even if only a memory.

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Wonderful and Awful

Posted in Neat Stuff, Photography, tagged , , on August 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I wasn’t going to post anything today but there was this photo on a site  to which I subscribe, PhotoBotos.com, from photographer Nima Moghim.  It was of the tracks of the metro line in Dubai.  It is  an image of converging lines and stark tones that is at once both wonderful and terrifying.  It has a feeling that is devoid of anything natural besides the beautiful curve of the lines as they race towards each other in the distance.

Moghim’s own description of the photo only enhances the dark, dystopian nature of the image:

I took this photo in Dubai metro in late spring of this year. When I am on the metro train and pass all of these modern life indices which have been arranged like the children logo in this new city, I asked myself where the end of this luxurious life is and whether we don’t get closer to the Apocalypse with progress. The following sentences are my statement to the “Apocalypse now “and my declaration for this photo: 

“Apocalypse now….the words which hear frequency at these days and we almost fear. But who takes us toward the Apocalypse ? Who melts the Antarctic ices? Who makes a frightful weapon such as HAARP instead of music? Who throws bomb on his head? Who pours oil in the dark depth of ground in the clear waters? Who leaves his kin at the bottom of well for gaining power? Who prepare the blood baths for the naïve people on the pretext of freedom? Who focus the best trade in the world on the weapon? Who ridicules his fellow citizen on the pretext of inspection? And who transgresses all ethical virtues on the pretext of modernization? All people on the modernity express train are directed to a great explosion and we don’t know where the end is, 2012 or the next thousands of years? God is very patient …..”

Sorry for such an unsettling photo on a Sumday morning in the summer but it was too intriguing to not pass along.  Awful beauty…

PS– The HAARP mentioned in his declaration stands for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, which is a US Military research project that deals with the ionosphere and has been called the Moby Dick of conspiracy theorists who claim it is responsible for all sorts of recent natural disasters.  It was new to me but you can read a bit by clicking the link above.

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A Fine Kind of Flattery

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, tagged , , , , on August 15, 2012| 1 Comment »

Back in February of this year  I wrote here  about a friend telling me of a group of folks at the Corning Senior Center who meet weekly to practice the art of marquetry, the inlaying of wood to create pictures.  He told me that there were some there who regularly copied my work with their work.  I have not had a chance to visit the Center yet but mentioned the marquetry group a couple of weeks ago at my Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery, explaining how flattered I was by this.

Afterwards, a friend in attendance, Kathleen Richardson, said she was in and out of the Center on a regular basis and would check it out.  A few days later Kathleen, who writes a blog called Corning NY Step by Step which documents her discoveries as she walks about the city, posted an article documenting the work of one of the folks who practiced the marquetry of which I had spoke, a woman by the name of Nellie Telehany.

Nellie Telehany at Work

There were several photos showing Nellie at work and a piece in process, including showing how she would transfer the composition from an image printed in the newspaper by tracing it on  an overlaid clear sheet of acetate.  It was great to see how well she captured the essence of the paintings with her work and I have to admit to being very flattered, thinking how neat it is that this piece of marquetry will be around somewhere for many years to come.  If my paintings are my children, then these must be grandchildren. Cheri, my wife, was even more effusive in her praise of the work– more so than she is for my own work!

Thanks, Kathleen, for looking up Nellie at the Senior Center and showing her work on your blog.  And a big thank you to Nellie for making such lovely work from my images.  I love your work and hope you’ll continue.  I look forward to meeting you someday soon and seeing your work.

 

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The Treasure of Ulysses Davis

Posted in Favorite Things, Folk Art, Neat Stuff, Outsider Art, tagged , , , , on August 6, 2012| 2 Comments »

Ulysses Davis- Lost Tribe in the Swamp with Alligators

I recently came across the work of another folk/outsider artist whose work really resonates with me.  It is by Ulysses Davis, a barber who lived in Savannah, Georgia, passing away in 1990 at the age of 76.  His medium was woodcarving and over the course of his life he created a very diverse body of work that had both the simple and free feel of the Outsider artist’s vision and the compositional sophistication of a fine artist.  His subjects covered a wide spectrum,  ranged from the fantastic to straight portraiture including a series of busts of all of  the US Presidents up to the year of his death. Very striking stuff.

Ulysses Davis- No No Bird

He  seldom sold his work, saying “They’re my treasure. If I sold these, I’d be really poor.”   As a result, his work never garnered the exposure or the recognition it deserved although he did receive a few honors before his death, his work showing in an important 1982 exhibit of modern Black Folk Art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  In the years since, the American Folk Art Museum did mount a retrospective of his lifework in a 2009 exhibit called The Treasure of Ulysses Davis,  the title playing off of Davis’ own words on his work.

And what a treasure it is, one that we are fortunate enough to at least share in images and in a few museums.  Beautiful work with a unique vision…

Ulysses Davis- Get Off My Back

 

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