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Posts Tagged ‘Erie PA’

Labyrinth

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Neat Stuff, tagged , , on July 2, 2013| 3 Comments »

labyrinth_sketchI am on the road today, visiting my good friends at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  One of the paintings that I am taking out to them has a distinct labyrinth-like pattern in it, a twisting maze that always captures my attention.  I love the idea of  it as an analogy for many of us for the journey through this life, seeking an unseen, and often unknown,  goal.  We travel ahead on a path that takes twists and turns and often we find ourselves feeling as though we are within reach of that central goal only to find that the next turn has taken us as far away as we can imagine.  And vice versa, we often feel adrift and lost only  to suddenly find that the goal is suddenly there before us.

There’s something very balancing in thinking of life in this way.  You become wary of the highs and lows, knowing that one’s fortune  can spin on a dime.

Here’s an interesting video showing the constructs of several different labyrinths, all accompanied by a chorus with a basso profundo that gives the whole thing some real weight. Enjoy and make  a labyrinth for yourself!

 

 

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A Quick Look Back at 2012

Posted in Biographical, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 2, 2013| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- The Internal Landscape 2012I’ve been hobbled a bit over the last couple of weeks by a pinched nerve in my neck that has made any work (or sleep) almost impossible to accomplish. Hopefully, it will soon fade and I will be working feverishly again.  But while it has kept me from work, it has not prevented me from thinking back on 2012 and what it meant for my work.  It was truly a great year for it, one that will be hard to replicate.

Four solo shows in galleries.

In June, there was A Place to Stand at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia.  It was my  thirteenth solo show at a gallery that has meant very much to my career.

July found my show, In Rhythm, opening at the West End Gallery in Corning, New York.   I started my career at the West End and this show, my eleventh there, may have been the best of the lot.

Inward Bound opened in October at the Kada Gallery in Erie Pennsylvania.  I have  been  showing with the Kada for what will be seventeen years  in early 2013 and had a show there every two years since 2004.  This was one of my favorites there or anywhere.  There was a wonderful review in the Erie paper that I featured here.

December found me on the west coast with an opening of my show, The Waking Moment, at the Just Looking Gallery in lovely San Luis Obispo.  It was my first show with this long established California gallery with whom I began a relationship earlier in the year.  They have done an absolutely terrific job in exposing my work to folks from LA to San Francisco.  It was a pleasure meeting the collectors and staff out there I look forward to a long term partnership with them.

Of course, the biggest event this year was my first ever museum exhibit, Internal Landscapes: The Paintings of GC Myers, at the prestigious Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York. It opened in August and just closed this past Sunday,  A fitting end to a great year.  The show featured a group of my work from the past several years including the new The Internal Landscape , shown above, which is the largest piece I have painted and one that I featured on this blog early in the year as it was being completed.  The response exceeded my expectations in all regards and remains the high water mark  in my career to date.  It has given me a new perspective on what my work is and what it might be.  A great experience, all in all.

In between shows, there were gallery talks as well as my work being featured on the cover of a new CD, Lowe Country.  Plus, several of my paintings found their way to Uganda to hang in the US Embassy there, accompanying the new ambassador.

Along the way, I met scores of great folks who shared their stories with me.  Many thanks to everyone I encountered as well as more thanks than I can ever fully express to all of the  staff at the galleries and at the Fenimore who gave me the gift of this year.

As I said, it was year that will be hard to match.  But as soon as I am able, I will be trying to do just that. Or more.

 

 

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Serendipity: Redux

Posted in Biographical, tagged , , on October 19, 2012| 3 Comments »

As this week winds down toward the opening  of my show Saturday night at the Kada Gallery in Erie, I am reminded of how I first came to show my work there.  I’ve been working with owners Kathy and Joe DeAngelo  for well over 16 years now meaning that they have seen my work evolve from the very first incarnations.  They have offered nothing but encouragement over the years, always eager to see any new developments.  Just good people.  But I probably would not have found them had it not been for a chance meeting that would lead me to them.  It was a bit of true serendipity.   I wrote about  this fortunate event on this blog  back in August of 2009 in a post that featured a painting, Interloper [shown here],  from about the time I first encountered the folks at the Kada. 

It’s not my best writing but here’s how I came to show at the Kada Gallery:

It was in  late summer of 1995 and I had been showing at the West End Gallery for several months which was my first experience exhibiting in public.  I was still waiting tables at the local Perkins Family Restaurant full-time, working on building our house and painting every other available minute.  Man, I had a lot more energy then!  I still had no idea that I would or could have a real career as a painter.  My work at that time was very small in size for the most part and was just starting to gain some notice locally but I really didn’t know if it would ever transfer outside our local area.

One Saturday morning, I was at my job waiting tables when a family with a daughter about 10 or 11 years old sat in my station.  They were very nice, smiling and talkative.  Typical chit-chat.  I took their order and that was that.  After a bit, as they were eating I was going through my station checking on each party and I stopped at their table.

The daughter, Hillary,  asked, “Are you a painter?”

I was a little taken aback by the question.  Nothing was said about painting or art, to them or any of my other tables and that was the last thing on my mind at the moment.

“Well, yeah. I am.”

“My mother said you were.  She said that anyone that happy doing their job had to be a painter.”

I just stood there with nothing to say.  How do you respond to that?

It turned out that the mother was a painter as well who lived, for the time being, in our area.  Her name was Suzi Druley and she was on their way out to a gallery that sold a lot of her work in Erie, Pennsylvania.  They had me run out to their vehicle to take a look at her work, which was very interesting, particularly for our area.  It had a sort of Southwestern/Native American feel with with vivid, deep colors and a lot of symbology.  Turns out she was from Texas originally and they had moved here for a job her husband had taken.  She asked what my work was like, saying she would like to see it.

A few weeks passed and I decided to take her up on her offer and went out to their home.  I took photos and some pieces and she really seemed excited by the work.  She said I should show the work to Kathy at the Kada, that she would really like it.

Long story short, she called Kathy and a visit was arranged.  I hauled my bits of paint and paper out there and I’ve been showing with them for going on 14 years.

I’m glad I was in a good mood that Saturday morning at Perkins- I most certainly would not have found made my way to the Kada Gallery without Suzi’s simple observation that I must be a painter.

Serendipity…

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Idyll By the Lake

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on October 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

–Christopher Marlowe

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

These lines are an excerpt from a poem from Marlowe which is  considered an idyll, a poem which typically depicts a peaceful idealization of rural life.  I chose to use the word in the title of the painting shown here, Idyll By the Lake, which is part of my show which opens Saturday at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  The painting is a 12″ by 36″ canvas and has that  feel of a rustic haven that comes with the word.

The feature of this piece that stands out for me is the small round lake that is the focal point here.  I made it appear as thought the viewer was looking directly down on it which gives it a round , flat appearance on the canvas.  There was just something that I liked in the way the lake appeared this way.  It reminded me of the eye from a peacock’s tail feathers and I liked that shape and color contrasted with the lines and warmth of the rest of the painting.

But , while the painting is blissfully upbeat, I still think it is strengthened by the darkness that comes from underneath the bright colors.  It  gives it a bit of an edge, a feeling of wariness that takes away that feeling of cockeyed optimism that it might otherwise have.  Kind of like a shepherd who happily watches over his safe flock but knows that he must always be watchful because there may always be great danger  just out of sight.  Maybe the Red Tree is such a shepherd here, enjoying such a peaceful moment.  Taking in all the pleasure and satisfaction that the momentary idyll offers while keeping an eye for whatever might emerge from over that next rise.

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Inward Bound

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on October 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I am putting the finishing touches on the new group of paintings that make up my upcoming show at the Kada Gallery in Erie , PA, which opens on October 20th.  The name of the show is Inward Bound which is also the name of this new painting, a smaller piece at only 4″ by 7″ on paper.  I normally try to have a substantially larger painting than this as the title piece for a show but I really thought the title was perfect for both the show and this painting, regardless of size.

The title refers to an inner journey of discovery.  The Red Chair is facing symbolically inward, away from the broad expanse of night sky with the moon and stars, which represents the  reference points by which the ancients guided their travels.  But there are things in this world that can’t be found in all the lengthy expeditions in this world, things that must be  first uncovered within ourselves.  Wisdom.  Love.  These are not things that cannot be discovered in any outer travel unless one first looks inward.  It is sometimes easier to seek the external  simply because traveling inward  is the scariest trip that many of us will ever face.  It’s not an easy thing to face the absolute truth about our own reality, to stare down our own flaws and shortcomings.

But the rewards can be priceless.  For some it is wisdom,  a calmness  seated in the knowledge that they are completely at ease with who and where they are, inside and out.  And that’s what I see in this simple, small painting.

All aboard…

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Good Reviews

Posted in Opinion, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on November 12, 2010| 4 Comments »

I received a very favorable review yesterday in the Erie newspaper for my show at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  I debated over writing about mentioning it at all this morning.  There seemed to be something just a bit too self-congratulatory in saying, “Hey, look! They wrote nice things about me!”  But unfortunately, that’s part of the business, this sometimes shameless self-promotion.

I’ve written about this before here.  One of the things an artist must do to succeed is to get their work and their name in front of as many people as possible.  An artist seldom succeeds in making a decent living without stepping forward and drawing some attention to their work and themselves, which is usually a very difficult thing for many artists, given that many artists tend to be observers rather than instigators of action.  Myself, I would certainly rather stay in my studio and paint  than have to go out and promote my work.

But it is part of the package, part of the job.  So I will mention this lovely review in the Erie Times-News from writer Karen Rene Merkle.  Visual art does not get a lot of press these days and unless your show is in a major metropolitan area reviews of any sort are rare.  Just getting press coverage beyond printing the details contained in press releases from the galleries is becoming more and more difficult, given the dwindling status of the print media.  So, as an artist, you can imagine my surprise and delight when I found that someone had taken the time to spend real time looking at the work and to write substantively on it.  And in an effective and well written manner, to boot.  Ms. Merkle, who I have not met, is a very fine writer and gives the fortunate people of the Erie area a much deeper examination into her subjects than most would expect from a newspaper of that size.

To you, Ms. Merkle, I extend my thanks for taking the time to look at my work and give your opinion.  It is most appreciated.

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Show Statement/ Kada 2010

Posted in Opinion, Recent Paintings, tagged , on November 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There is an opening Saturday night from 6-9 PM at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.    It is for start of my new show which is currently hanging there.  Below is the statement that accompanies that show:

 

Toward Possibility

Kada Gallery, November 2010

 

For this show, I decided to use the title of the painting above, Toward Possibility, to act also as the title for the exhibit. I felt that the tenor and tone of this painting very much represented what I was trying to get across with much of this show, that being a sense of self-revelation and self-acceptance we sometimes find on our journey through this life.

The possibility mentioned in the title is the pure possibility offered in our simple existence and our imagination, the chance to evolve and grow individually and as a people. The possibility of moving beyond the obstacles put before us by our own shortcomings and prejudices to find a place where we can fully express our better selves.

The possibility to simply be better.

That’s not an easy task to accomplish or even attempt in this world. Perhaps that is why my paintings often deal with a landscape that is not solely of this world. One can step back and analyze them with a cool eye and say that this or that element in the painting doesn’t or couldn’t exist in the real world. An orange field or a bright red tree. But my goal and hope is to make them seem possible in the eyes and minds of the viewers, to create a harmony in the colors, textures and forms of the painting that allows them to comfortably assume the reality of the landscape I’m putting before them. To create a world that opens the mind to this and other possibilities.

Just having the knowledge that there is a possibility for a better place and a better self makes the journey that much easier to endure. And that is what I hope my work does in the long run– makes the journey easier.

 

 

 

 

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The Question

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on October 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There are times in the lives of many when they find  themselves at a particular point and they move beyond what the everyday has to offer and they begin to question what they are and why they exist.  It may be a question of the spiritual or it may be some internal yearning to be more than they see in themselves.  Whatever the case, they find themselves on the brink of what seems like eternity,  seeking to comprehend the answers that swirl around them.

 A time of questioning.  A time of definition.

That’s the feeling I pull from this painting, a 7″ by 7″ piece on paper that is part of my show, Toward Possibility, which opens November 6 at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  This painting is titled The Question.

There’s a brightness in the colors of this piece that give it, at first glance, a deceptively happy feel.  But the merging lines of the field moving  into the swirls in the blue of the sky tell a more serious story.  Even the tree has this same appearance of simple joy in the way it is shaped but when placed against the light that burns through the blue, it takes on a more somber look.

It appears to be one thing but can be something quite different, depending on how one views it.

I think that’s what I like about this piece, the fact that if one wants to see it simply as a pleasant composition with nice colrs and contrast, it is just that.  But if one desires to see a layer of depth beyond that, one that might echo their own questioning, it serves that purpose as well.

Hopefully, The Question does either of these for someone besides me.

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Edge of Light

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on October 22, 2010| 2 Comments »

This is a painting I just completed yesterday, an 8″ by 26″ piece on paper, that I’m calling Edge of Light.  It’s another piece that I am showing at my upcoming show, Toward Possibility,that opens November 6 at the the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.

There is a lot that I could talk about in this painting.  It has great underlying texture with swirls of chaotic fingerpaint-like slashes in the gesso.  It has great depth into the picture plane that gives one the feeling of being able to fully enter the landscape.  It has elements I seldom use in the stone walls of the short cliffs next to the water.  It has rich colors and a winding road that pulls the viewer along.

But the element that stands out for me is the balance in this piece between the light generated from the hazy sun that burns through on the right side of the painting and the darkness in the color and shade of the left.  When I look at a painting like this, one that is more horizontal, I always look at it as though there is a fulcrum underneath it, as though the painting were a teeter-totter and it rested on a support which allowed it to pivot upward or downward depending on which end had the greater weight.  What I am trying to do is make the painting on that fulcrum, balancing elements so that it seems to hover effortlessly level above this pivot point.

In this painting, this is all about balancing the light between the two opposing sides.  The greater the light coming from one side, the greater the darkness in the other side.  The darkness on the left makes the light coming from the other side appear brighter.  However, in a wide piece like this, if the the contrast is too great, the lighter side becomes too dominant, too heavy in a way,  and the balance on the fulcrum is broken.  I think this painting has that balance that I’m seeking.

I don’t know if this makes sense to anyone but myself.  Like a lot of things I do, this is a matter of feel and trying to describe how feel works often requires using analogies that may not always make sense.  In the end, I simply paint and if I’ve done all I can with the feel of which I talk, the viewer will easily take in the painting without considering things like balancing on a pivot point.

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Show Date Change

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on September 21, 2010| 1 Comment »

The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

—Robert Burns

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

I decided to go with the less Scottish version of this verse.  Trying to decipher “gang aft agley” (which is shown here as “oft go awry“) into something coherent this early in the morning just seemed cruel.  But the verse is here to remind us that plans often change desspite our best efforts and intentions.

We had originally planned the show, Toward Possibility, at the Kada Gallery in Erie, Pennsylvania for October 23 but found that there was a very big event at a local museum that would be in direct conflict.  So, at almost the last minute, we switched it to the 16th.  Unfortunately, over the weekend we discovered there were other unforseen conflicts that made the doing the show at that date very difficult.

So, we put our heads together and have settled on a final show date for the Kada show:  November 6.  It’s also a Saturday opening starting at 7 PM.

For me, it’s not a problem to switch the show date to a later date.  It gives me extra time to fine tune the details of the work and possibly have new pieces that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.  The earlier date had me hustling around to meet the deadline.  On the other hand, I feel this is a really strong group of work and  would like to have it in front of people as soon as possible.  But the extra time is good and I feel very comfortable with date of November 6.

So, if you have any plans for seeing this show, make a note of the date change.

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