Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Alexandria VA’

Upcoming Events

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on September 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers-Into the Valley of Color smThe summer shows are past now as I turn to the autumn months where there are a couple of things on my calendar.  First, on September 13th, I will be giving a Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  It begins at 1 PM and runs for an hour or so.  There will be a drawing for an original  painting of mine to be given to someone in attendance plus there will be some other surprises.  I am going through my painting here in the studio trying to decide which piece will be the prize this year.  There are some strong contenders, all having some personal meaning for me.

I will also be bringing a small group of new work for the gallery.  Included is the piece shown above, Into the Valley of Color.  It’s a larger painting, measuring 36″ by 36″ on canvas, that I have been enjoying for the last few days here in the studio.  It has a real presence that draws me in when my eyes turn its way.

Next on the calendar is a new solo show, The Common Ground, which opens December 5th at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.  I have been showing at the Kada Gallery for going on 19 years and always enjoy my visits there.  I am pretty excited by the direction in which the work is headed as I prepare for this show.  I think it will be a very strong group.  I will be posting updates through the next couple of months.

So, if you’re in the DC area on September 13th, please stop into the Principle Gallery.  For my friend in Western Pennsylvania and NE Ohio, I will see you in December.  I had better get to work!

Read Full Post »

Proclamation/ Redux

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on June 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I am on the road today so  being short on time  I am reposting a short entry from a couple of months back, in early April.  I normally don’t repost articles so soon after they first appear but I consider this painting, Proclamation,  an important part of my show , Traveler, which opens tomorrow night at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  It represents for me the culmination of the journey, the end point for which the entire journey was made.  It is about a true realization of self, of attainment of goal .  And therein lays the central theme of this show– that our lives can have direction and purpose.

So, without any more words, here is what I posted earlier:

GC Myers- Proclamation By health I mean the power to live a full, adult, living, breathing life in close contact with what I love — the earth and the wonders thereof — the sea — the sun. All that we mean when we speak of the external world. A want to enter into it, to be part of it, to live in it, to learn from it, to lose all that is superficial and acquired in me and to become a conscious direct human being. I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming so that I may be (and here I have stopped and waited and waited and it’s no good — there’s only one phrase that will do) a child of the sun. About helping others, about carrying a light and so on, it seems false to say a single word. Let it be at that. A child of the sun.

—Katherine Mansfield

October, 1922, Her final journal entry

********************

I came across this final journal entry from the writer Katherine Mansfield, who died much too early from tuberculosis at age 35, and thought how much her words fit what I was thinking about this newer painting shown above. I call this 30″ by 40″ painting Proclamation and the thought and feeling it may be proclaiming might very well be the same as those expressed by Mansfield.

It is a painting that speaks of coming to an understanding of one’s self and stepping forward in the light to show that true identity. It is at once flawed and beautiful. Flawed by the scars of attained wisdom and change. Beautiful because it is honest and real, open to the elements and all who look upon it. It has become, to use Mansfield’s term, a child of the sun.

I think it would be too easy to say too much here.

Let it be at that. A child of the sun.

Read Full Post »

Traveler- A Full Preview

Posted in Biographical, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , on June 3, 2014| 7 Comments »

GC Myers- Find Your Way The  painting shown here on the right is a24″ by 36″ on canvas and is part of  my solo exhibit which opens Friday at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  It’s title is Find Your Way which fits neatly in with the show’s title, Traveler.  As concepts, both this painting and this show have to do with moving forward and discovering new territories within, becoming more than you were when the journey began.  Continuous seeking, sometimes plodding along, all to find that internal sense of comfort and belonging that some might refer to as home.  That place where your external reality one day matches your internal reality.

I’m not sure that was my goal when I began painting just a little over twenty years ago.  I knew that I needed to travel from that place inside where I had been dwelling and color and form became a vehicle for me, one that would carry me emotionally to new horizons and vistas, closer to that place where I might feel comfortably at home, inside and out.

And it has.

I am closer to home but it’s a journey that will most likely not end until my final day.  And that’s okay because I have come to appreciate the lessons of the trek and the sight of the new horizon coming into view, knowing that I am further along than I was it all began.

A big part of my journey has been my affiliation with a few galleries, all with which I have had long relationships, who have allowed me to continually keep searching  for that place that I don’t even know.  I began with the Principle Gallery in early 1997 and had my first solo show there in 2000.  It is where the Red Tree was born and this year marks fifteen years that they have allowed me to chronicle my internal travels in a show there each year.  It has been my great pleasure to have stumbled into such a wonderful place with such warm and real people, a place that makes me feel closer to home during this journey.

There’s a full preview of the show below that I quickly put together.  I hope it gives you that sense of the continuity of effort and purpose from image to image that I see.

Read Full Post »

Sunday Morning Jumpin Jive

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , on April 27, 2014| 2 Comments »

jumpin-jive-cab_calloway-fayard_harold_nicholas030It’s another Sunday morning and I find myself in the studio after a quick trip to Alexandria on Friday to show my support for the Principle Gallery and its owner, Michele Ward, as they celebrated their 20th anniversary.  After a truly enjoyable meal with my friend, Mike Mattice and his delightful family, it was on to the show.  It was a great opening with a full house from the start until the end as the many friends of the gallery came out to celebrate.  It was nice to see many old friends without the pressure of it being my own opening, to be able to spend a little more time with them.  Just a fine night, all the way around.

Kudos to Clint, Jessica, Pamela and Kris for putting on a wonderful event and special thanks to Michele for making it all possible through the past two decades.  Thank you for everything.

Since it is Sunday morning, it is time for a bit of music to get the day going and what better way than with the energy and charm of the great Cab Calloway, especially when you combine it with the spectacular dancing of the legendary Nicholas Brothers?  This is Jumpin Jive from the 1943 movie, Stormy Weather.

Read Full Post »

The Principle Gallery Turns 20

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on April 23, 2014| 1 Comment »

Principle Gallery King St AlexandriaThere is an opening that I will be gladly attending this Friday, April 25th, at the Principle Gallery in  Alexandria, Virginia, a celebration of the gallery’s 20th anniversary as an Old Town fixture on  historic King Street.  The gallery first opened in April of 1994 on Cameron Street in a second-story space and moved to their present location in 1997, taking up residence in historic Gilpin House.  Over the years, they have featured some of the finest in contemporary art, focusing on representational realism, and their reputation as a gallery of the highest caliber has grown, nationally and internationally, with each passing year.  In 2013, the Principle Gallery brand expanded with the opening of a Principle Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina.

The rest, as they say, is history.

For me, I first came on board with an invitation from owners Michele Ward ( then Marceau) and the now retired Sue Hogan in early 1997, just as they were about to make their move to their present location.  I had only been showing my work publicly for just two years at that point and had only been painting for a little over three so I was excited to find a spot in their roster.  Little did I know how important my relationship with this gallery would become to my career.

I have written here in the past about the gratitude I have for the galleries with which I have worked over the years.  I have worked with several galleries for the better part of two decades and each has been vital to the growth of my work and my career, providing me with reassurance when I am feeling less than confident  and willing eyes when the work evolves.  Each has provided me with intangibles that I cannot fully describe.  My life would be so different without each of these galleries.  I shouldn’t say galleries because it is truly about the people that operate them.

That certainly has been the case with the Principle Gallery.

Over the years  I have worked with numerous wonderful people there, each of who has  allowed me to let my work grow in many directions, always encouraging me and  treating my work with respect.  They always make me feel welcome as a friend the moment I enter the gallery and I think that is a quality that extends to nearly everyone who comes through their doors.  You see it in the faces of many friends from the area who pop in just to say hello.  That alone says volumes about them as people.  It certainly makes the gallery experience they offer a much different one than most people envision.  It is an experience based on making you feel comfortable and they succeed in every way.

I know that they have made me feel comfortable there over the years and for me that is saying a lot.

I had my first solo exhibit at the Principle Gallery back in 2000.  That was the Redtree show that gave birth to my now trademark image.  This year’s June show, Traveler,  marks the 15th consecutive year I will have had a solo show there.  It has been my pleasure to be able to grow with the gallery, to see it constantly strive to be better, to make itself more.  It inspires me to do the same.  And that, among all the things they have given me over the years in terms of encouragement and friendship, might be the greatest gift of all.

The inspiration to aspire to be more.

So, to Michele and her wonderful staff– Clint, Jessica, Pamela and Kris– I send you a heartfelt thank you and best wishes for many more years of success.  Happy 20th!

See you Friday!

 

Read Full Post »

Harvest Moon

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , on March 30, 2014| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- Traveler- 2014I don’t know if this painting is exactly right for the title of this post or this song.  But in the early morning light it has a moonish glow in its center, the gray of the shadows muting the brightness of the color at its edges.  For a moment, it looks like it could be a harvest moon.  At least, what I think of as a harvest moon.

The actual title of this 18″ by 48″  painting is Traveler, which is also the title of my June show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  It has been above my fireplace in the studio for a couple of months now and is wearing well with me.  I find myself often looking up at it, letting myself be pulled along that winding path toward that beckoning sun.  Or moon, depending on how I see it at any given moment, such as this morning.

I will write more about this painting and the June show at a later date.  For now, its a dreary, snowy  Sunday morning here and I need some music that will change my mood a bit.  Here’s Neil Young with a version of his always lovely Harvest Moon.

Read Full Post »

Time & a “Traveller”

Posted in Biographical, tagged , , , on March 8, 2014| 2 Comments »

Steampunk Breathe Pendulum Clock- Erin Keck

Steampunk Breathe Pendulum Clock- Erin Keck

My solo show this year at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, for which I am in the midst of preparations,  is scheduled  for Friday, June 6th.  This show, which I am calling  Traveller,  will be my fifteenth solo show at the Principle, something which sets my mind reeling with all sorts of thoughts.  I  had no idea when that first show, Redtree,  took place back in 2000 that it would continue for so many years.  To be truthful, I had no expectations of any sort.

I just didn’t know then.  Just as I don’t know now.

Thinking of this show makes me wonder at the fact that I am now in my twentieth year as a professional artist.  While I had no real endpoint to which I was aspiring in the beginning, I was nonetheless impatient to get there. The intervening years have taught me a bit about respecting time and patience, about plodding ahead incrementally and setting aside certain anxieties.  Or at least, coming to terms with them so that they don’t paralyze me.

Time is also a great revelator of  who one really is.  You can’t fake who you are through twenty years.  No, you can’t endure twenty years of creating without revealing your own personal truths.

I think my body work over this time is ample display of that.  It is flawed and imperfect. It is rough around the edges at times yet delicate, almost fragile, at other times.   It is sometimes loud when it should be quiet and quiet when it should be loud.  It is confident and bold yet filled with uncertainties and apprehensions.  It tries to be plain-spoken and easily accessible yet not simple or frivolous.

Unapologetically, it is what it is.

I could easily describe myself with all of these.  I am my work and my work is me and together we travel in time.

+++++++++++++++

The cool timepiece at the top right is from artist Erin Keck of Mechanicsburg, PA.  She does some creative and wonderful steampunk pieces.  Check out her online store  by clicking here.

Read Full Post »

Principle Gallery Talk 2013

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on September 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Principle Gallery - Talk 2013Well, this year’s Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery is over, having taken place this past Saturday.   I have done this talk for the past eleven years, always in conjunction with the Alexandria King Street Art Festival, which fills the well known street in Old Town with artists and artisans from around the country.  It was an absolutely beautiful,  sun-filled day in Alexandria  so I was so grateful for the group of folks who took time from their day to stop in.  I think the talk went fairly well although in the aftermath I felt, as always, that I missed many vital points that I had wanted to touch on.  But hopefully I made some cogent points and everyone came away with a bit more info about my work.

The highlight of the talk was, of course, the giving away of the painting Ode to Whitman, a piece that I have featured here in recent days.  For the last six years or so, I have given away a piece every year at this event and an interesting phenomenon has began to take shape.  I normally ask someone to come up and draw from the container of entries.  The first year went without incident with the chosen person reaching in and picking a name from the assembled audience.  However, prior to Saturday, the person chosen to come up and draw has pulled their own name in two of the last four years.  I am not a mathematician but the odds of a person reaching into a contained held above their head and pulling their own name from a group of 50 to 75 entries seems as though they might be kind of high.

So, when the time came for the drawing I asked if anyone felt lucky and explained the history.  A young lady in the front row agreed to come up and I jokingly asked her to show me her hands so that I could make sure she wasn’t cupping a slip of paper.  We all laughed and she reached up and drew a folded slip of paper.  As I opened the slip I heard her gasp, “Omigod, that’s me!”  I thought she was kidding then  realized that it was indeed her.  I joked that she better show me some ID before I hand over the painting.

But the painting was hers.   She was so grateful, claiming that she was one of those people who never wins anything.   Well, things change and I hope that that painting which holds meaning for me comes to have meaning for her as well.  If that fortunate person is out there reading this, I am sorry  but your name evades me this morning so drop me a line to refresh my memory.

Many thanks to all who made it to the talk.  It was an honor to be able to talk with you all and a pleasure to hear your thoughts and stories.  One of the great rewards for me as an artist is having people share their life experiences with me, feeling comfortable in doing so  because of the bond they feel through the work.  It is a humbling affirmation of the power of art.  Again, many thanks for all that you have shared through the years.  It very much enriches the work.

Many thanks to Clint, Jessica and Julia at the Principle Gallery for taking care of the details and making me feel comfortably at home there, as always.  And thanks to gallery owner Michele Ward  (actually, now gallery mogul as she recently announced the acquisition of the M Gallery of Fine Art in historic Charleston, SC) for her continued support of my work through the years.  Though my work is wildly divergent from the typical work in her gallery, she has always maintained a belief in the work, something which has carried me through the peaks and valleys of what has turned into a career.

Hope to do it again  next year!

Read Full Post »

Saturday Gallery Talk at the Principle

Posted in Biographical, tagged , , on September 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers-Ode to Whitman

“Ode to Whitman” Will Be the Prize in a Free Drawing Saturday!

I am running around today, trying to arrange everything for my quick trip down to Virginia tomorrow  where I will giving my annual Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery in Old Town Alexandria, which starts at 1 PM.  A little framing and some paperwork  then hopefully I can concentrate on my talk although if you’ve read this blog for long you know that I generally speak off the cuff in these talks, trying to create a conversation with the audience that allows them to sort of dictate what sort of information comes out.

Sometimes that means talking about technique, which is okay but not my favorite thing to stay on for long, mainly because I think it is a limited subject of interest for the whole audience.  I just can’t imagine anyone be overly interested in my choice of brush or paint unless they themselves paint or unless these things themselves are the focus of the work.  But I will talk about anything including technique though I prefer to talk about creativity, about motivations and influences, those things that propel the work forward regardless of the how-to aspect behind it.

I am always a bit nervous about these events.  It’s not just the nerves that come with talking before a group of people– that’s understandable and easy to work past.  Rather, I worry about sometimes sharing too much information, revealing more of myself than my work, as revealing as it often is, has shown.  I sometimes beat myself up on the ride home over things I have said during these off the cuff talks, wishing that I hadn’t told this story or that story about my life.   I often wish I were that mysterious artist who just produces the work without a word.  But that is not the path I followed as an artist.  I let my life be part of my work, my memories and emotions as integral to the work as the paint or the brush.

What I am struggling to say here is that I never know what i will say which is sometimes  a scary thing but sometimes makes for an interesting talk.  I guess you’ll have to come out tomorrow to see what I mean.

And…. if you do come to the show you can enter a free drawing for the painting at the top, Ode to Whitman, a 12″ by 24″ painting on canvas that was the subject of my blog a few days ago.  Plus, there will a few more  small surprises as well.  So I hope you can make it tomorrow.  1 PM, Principle Gallery, King Street, Alexandria Virginia.

Read Full Post »

The New Revelator

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , on September 5, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers-The New Revelator smI usually take a small group of new work with me for the Gallery Talk I give each September at the Principle Gallery, which takes place this Saturday at the Alexandria gallery.  It’s nice to have a few new pieces to illustrate some of the points I am trying to make during the talk.  This is one of the new paintings that will be going with me, The New Revelator, a 16″ by 34″ piece on paper.

I’ve been finishing this piece over the last few days and it has underwent a dramatic transformation during the last stages, one that took it from a piece that was struggling to find its identity to one that has what I feel is a powerful presence.  When I look at it I see the bands in the field that run towards the center as being not only a crop but as a representation of some sort of communal knowledge or power that runs through our world, unseen.  The Red Tree stands at the center, joining this gathering knowledge with the greater power of the universe  that I see represented here by the open horizon behind it.  There is an ethereal quality in the descending hills, one that gives a feeling of movement through time especially when coupled with the breaking sky.  The Red Tree is the new revelator here, exposing the hidden powers of the universe to those who want to see.

That might seem a bit of a stretch for some, as far as what they see in this painting.  Again, I remind you that this is only what I see here, what this painting holds for me in an emotional sense.  You might see it as simply a landscape with interesting forms and colors.  That is good enough.  Or you may not like it all which, too, is okay.  Whatever the case, the painting stands as it  now, hopefully revealing something for you.

The New Revelator will be at the Principle Gallery this Saturday.  My Gallery Talk there starts at 1 PM and I will be in the gallery before and after if you would like to stop in and say hello.

For now, here’s an interesting version of the great old Blind Willie Johnson song, John the Revelator, from Nick Cave, who always seems to have a unique take on most things.

 

 

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »