A Small Artist Book

I have been creating artist books for several years.  Often, I start with an old book that I repurpose with collage and paint directly onto the pages.  This is the smallest book I’ve done so far.  Starting not with a book, but an expired passport.   
This little book tells a story.  The passport belonged to my grandmother who travelled the world more than many people I have known.  Growing up, I knew no one who travelled like she did.   She was a department store buyer who made frequent trips to California, New York, Hong Kong, and Europe.   As a child this was just grandma’s job to me.   I knew it was a bit unusual but as an adult, I started to understand how extraordinary it was for a woman born in 1919 to have that kind of career.   She also played the more traditional grandmother roles with ease — no one made a better apple pie than she did.

Air Traffic

This is my latest travel-themed commission.  Grid-based collages that are reminiscent of patchwork quilts is not a new territory for me — but I rarely source magazines for my collages.  For this piece I started with a stack of airline and travel magazines.   Then came the cutting out of hundreds of airplanes.  Finally, they needed to be layered, cut, and reassembled.  How many different airlines can you identify in this piece?

Travel Chaekgeori

Here is the latest painting in my Chaekgeori-inspired series.   Nearly everyone tends to put souvenirs and things we pick up when travelling on their bookshelves.  When I paint one of these, I usually spot a travel guide on the shelves too.   But with this painting, it is all travel.  The books and things belong to a couple in Milan that has dedicated a whole corner of their adventures.  The travel guides, custom photo album, the model of the iconic VW van — it is all there.    Does anyone who travels not have at least one piece of driftwood on their shelves?  A piece of wood that has already been on its own journey before you find it and bring it home.   That might be the best souvenir one could have.   The only thing missing from these shelves is a California travel guide.   But one day, hopefully soon, we might start wandering our planet again.

More Books and Objects

Here is the latest still life in my Chaekgeori-inspired series.  This is one of my own bookcases — I can easily recognize nearly every title and I know the story behind every object.  The glass insulator was purchased at a roadside stand on my first trip to the Grand Canyon.  The Canadian, soapstone, totem poles have been on my bookshelves since I was about 10 years old.  On the bottom shelf there is a painting of Rhyolite, Nevada from my 2011 Project and mail art from South Africa from the artist Cuan Miles.

The curious object on the top shelf is a Mörksuggan.  The Mörksuggan or “dark sow” is a piece of folk art I received as a gift 40 years ago when I was first in Sweden.  It gently swings on the edge of a shelf and can come take away bad children during the night.  It’s a rather local and obscure piece of folk art and may be the only one in all of San Francisco.   I never have problem with bad children in my home, so it must work.

Isla del Torso

Traveling can be a break —a break from our normal routines and habits.  For an artist, it can also mean going in a different direction and trying out some new things.  Puerto Vallarta has become a place I escape to a few times a year.  From my first visit I recognized an affinity for Cape Cod where I grew up.  Tropical Mexico or coastal New England, resorts towns have much in common at their core. Unsurprisingly, I prefer the quieter off-season, which in Puerto Vallarta is summer.  

I just returned after a few weeks of low-key tropical fun.  The world of bars, clubs, go-go boys and drag shows has little appeal for me. Give me a beer and plate of tacos, and I am happy.  That said, the alluring advertising is everywhere.  And from that I took my inspiration.  Filling a sketchbook with images of the imaginary resort Isla del Torso (Torso Island).   A tropical paradise of tanned landscapes, condo towers, the warm seas and UFOs that sparkle like a drag queen’s gown.

Florida Hijinks

What to do with a bunch of old instamatic photos from the 1970s. Instamatics were popular point-and-shoot cameras that used square format, 126 film in easy to install cartridges.  My own first camera was an instamatic.  The low quality of the camera and the cheap film has left us with faded snapshots 40 years later.  

Technically these are not “found photos” as I know the source. I ended up with a stack of some of my grandmother’s photos albums.  Albums filled with snapshots from Florida vacations with her friends and coworkers.  My grandmother had a successful careeras a department store buyer and these pictures were taken on well-deserved vacations.  Look closely, she is in some of the shots.  There is a lot of drinking, smoking, and partying going on as well as fishing and lying in the sun.

Because the photos are not family photos, they had no personal, sentimental value for me.  Get out the scissors, reach for the glue!  Here are some of the originals now repurposed in a new series of photo collages.

Who needs souvenirs when you can buy art supplies?

When I travel I always have an eye for some inspiration and often find art supplies on the road.  Oh sure, I could go to an art supply store anywhere, that isn’t quite what I mean. I’ve been picking up things down in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  After a trip to the arts and crafts aisle of Woolworths, I now the word in Spanish for googly eyes — ojos móviles.  The 25 Pesos store had Loteria de Los Estados – Mexican geography-themed loteria cards. Had to have them.  And I could not resist these sheets of neoprene at a fabric store, the plain ones were 2 pesos each, the glamoury glitter ones were 5 pesos a piece.  And shopping at the fabric store was amusingly bureaucratic, three separate counters to make a purchase.  Now, what am I going to do with all these supplies?  Hmmm….

Art Treasures in Silver City

Silver City, New Mexico has been a place I have been thinking about visiting for some time.  It’s isolated in southern New Mexico and an hour detour off the Interstate.  I finally made it there this month and nearly missed it.

I was hesitant to make the trip because of experiences in other “artsy “ towns along the way.  So many places have gone from funky and artsy to bland and high end.  The rents go up, the prices go up.  What had been cool and interesting, is now expensive gift shops and dull galleries.  The art is often well executed but generally predictable and safe.    These towns have commercial centers that offer nothing for locals who are pushed to strip malls on the edges of their communities.  Does it sound like Santa Fe?  Well I could also be describing most towns on Cape Cod and just as many along the coast of California from Hermosa Beach, to Carmel to Sausalito, etc.  I could be even describing San Francisco.

With this fear, I made the trip to Silver City, arriving from the East to be greeted by the ubiquitous sprawl of chain restaurants and motels.  Keeping my mind open, I drove through town, followed the signs and found the historic downtown.  What a treasure, it’s a good size, full grid of tight streets filled with Victorian, Western and Southwestern Architecture.  On it’s own it’s a photogenic gem.  And yes, I did see some of that high-end kitsch.  But I also saw what happened when a town is relatively isolated and rents remain affordable.  Now it wasn’t all to my taste, nor should it have been, but there was a real mix of art going.  And in case you were having trouble finding art, those big red dots painted on the sidewalks helped you find the way.

The new prints of old photos at Lumiere Editions Gallery caught my eye. They are reproducing early prints from Kodak proto-Brownie cameras.  They are a round format from a camera that was designed for amateur use.  If you remember instamatic cameras, you kind of get the idea.  The originals were taken by one of the gallery owners’ great grandfathers on a western trip in the late 19th Century.  Now, if you want to see something new in the gallery, just look to your right, that’s a John Baldessari hanging right next to you.  Lumiere Editions is also the exclusive printer for some of the powerhouses in American Art (see their website for more).  That’s how New Mexico is – you never know what you’ll find in the most seemingly isolated place.

More wandering around town lead me to loud music blasting from an open door.  I walked in, and before I found the art and was reminded why I need to do a second Collage meets Landscape show.  I fell in love with Jean-Robert Béffort’s work (see above).  His ASpaceStudioArtGallery makes me want to leave San Francisco and just to go to a place where I can have a big old warehouse full of art and coolness.  Jean-Robert’s great and his art is out there – out there where more of us need to go.  I also always get excited to see other artists re-purposing and doing amazing things with old globes.

Silver City, I’ll be back – just try to stay the same and not get all fancy on me.

A Museum Day in Santa Fe

I like to get to New Mexico at least once every year.  Unfortunately I had not been back for a few years.  But that situation was remedied by a visit earlier this month to the state I like to call The Holy Land.  It never disappoints and it was great catching up with friends, eating a lot of good food and seeing some awesome art. 

In spite of the touristy, over-turquoised side of Santa Fe, I always enjoy the place and the collection of art museums there are world class.  I started with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum where I learned something new – I had no idea she visited Hawaii and did some incredible work.  I began my day with those green lush landscapes and already knew it was worth the trip.   

The next stop was the New Mexico Museum of Art.  There’s a fine permanent collection and my personal “discovery” of the artist/printmaker Gustave Baumann. Delilah Montoya’s show Syncretism included an installation of photos depicting the desert landscape migrants cross to reach the United States with empty plastic water bottles dangling from the photos (see above).  A compelling installation but I am curious why the curator failed to label the work in Spanish as well as English.  It seems odd that in a place like the New Mexico Museum of Art the labels are not bilingual.  

The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts retrospective of Ric Gendron’s paintings was another show that asked me why we don’t get things like this in San Francisco?  Not that I regret travelling to Santa Fe, but one wonders about some of the curatorial choices made in the “big” city I call home.   One of the docents very correctly recommended I watch the video of the Bert Benally and Ai Weiwei installation. 

Lunch was up the hill and then visits to the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and a perennial favorite – the Museum of International Folk Art. 

You might be wondering why I haven’t mentioned any galleries?  Well, in 20 years of visiting Santa Fe, I still have not made it Canyon Road – maybe next time, well, probably not.  And I also missed SITE Santa Fe – just because the New York Times gushes, doesn’t mean we have to go.  Plus, it was also closed the day I was there.  When I got up the next morning, I left town instead of seeing SITE Santa Fe.  I headed south for the sublime experience of remote abandoned missions instead.  Plus there is plenty of contemporary “art” for me to see in San Francisco if I choose to. 

My museum day was a full day and a perfect day – finished off with green chili mac-n-cheese washed down with cold beer.

The Escape Series

The rains back, staying inside and it’s time for a new series (20 pieces) of mail art.  This is the Escape Series, done on the backsides of recycled airline safety cards – many from now-defunct airlines.  It’s all about escaping the cold, the winter, or just plain (or plane) getting away.  Receiving a piece of exotic mail in your mailbox might be the next best thing to traveling somewhere exotic yourself.

SFO or MILK?

As San Francisco plans to vote on renaming our airport to honor Harvey Milk, I have to wonder, if we will still put SFO on the luggage tags or MILK?

Installed and Ready to Go

I am so used to seeing my art close up, in the cozy space of my apartment.  It’s such a different experience seeing it from across a big room.  Here’s what it looked like at 9:30 last night.  40+ pieces of art installed and now just waiting for you.

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Imagining Val Travel

A site-specific installation of mixed media art made from travel-related ephemera.  The installation infuses the space with the soul of an imaginary, long lost travel agency.

Glama-Rama Salon & Gallery

304 Valencia Street (at 14^th St.)

San Francisco September 16^th – November 3^rd, 2012

Opening Reception
Sunday, September 16^th, 6 pm - 9 pm

Imagining Val Travel Opens September 16th

Below is the information and statement for my upcoming installation:

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Imagining Val Travel

Glama-Rama Salon and Gallery

304 Valencia Street (at 14^th St.)

San Francisco

September 16^th – November 3^rd, 2012

Opening Reception

Sunday, September 16^th, 6 pm - 9 pm

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I have always been interested in history, from the big moments to the everyday.  I have a special fascination for San Francisco history.  I even like to look-up the history of spots in my neighborhood.  For a relatively young city, San Francisco has a rich, layered history.  It is also a city full of ghosts.  It made me wonder about the space at 304 Valencia.  What was there long before Glama-Rama?

Now, just imagine what it was like at 304 Valencia Street when they were renovating and moving into the new location for Glama-Rama.  Imagine a trip to a dusty, dark basement and finding a forgotten corner.  They might have discovered a box filled with discarded items from a long gone tenant.  Imagine Val Travel.

Ask yourself, could a former travel agency be haunted?  What sort of ghosts would be there?  I like to think it could be a place of pleasant and happy spirits.  The positive energy left behind would be from the years of customers coming by to plan and anticipate exciting adventures.  A salon and a travel agency have something in common.  They are both places that fulfill dreams and make our lives more glamorous. It’s no accident that Glama-Rama found a new home at 304 Valencia.

With this mind, I wanted to create a new series of travel themed, mixed media pieces using travel-related ephemera.  The installation at Glama-Rama Salon & Gallery is meant to infuse the space with the soul of an imaginary, long lost travel agency.  The work pays homage to all travel agencies because they have all but vanished from our urban landscapes.  

I reuse and repurpose old bits of paper, everything from maps to postcards to stamps to photographs to magazines to various travel ephemera.  Recycling is only part of the agenda.  Even though I may destroy certain items to reuse them, there is a side of historic preservation with my work.  Rather than tucking something in a box or drawer, I prefer to permanently add it to a piece of art.  The work may have aesthetic value, but it also can serve as a time capsule by using items that would otherwise be lost or forgotten.  Many of the items I use are being rendered “obsolete” in our digital society.  Snapshots, postage stamps, tickets stubs are among things that are vanishing from our day-to-day lives.

It started with a box in a basement...

A forgotten box full of old travel brochures, maps and postcards, etc. + an old photo = more than 30 pieces of new work.  The story is revealed on September 16 when Imagining Val Travel opens (click here for details).  

Southwest Kaleidoscope

Southwest Kaleidoscope, mixed media on canvas, 8”x8”

My work tends to be both labor and time intensive.  I always like to start small and experiment first before committing to larger pieces.  I feel yesterday’s experiment with vintage postcards of American Indians was a big success.  Stay tuned, bigger versions on this idea will be coming…

You can also get prints and other goodies with this image from Society 6.  

Atlantic City Boardwalk

Atlantic City Boardwalk, mixed media on canvas, 8”x8”

Atlantic City has been done over a number of times over the years.  Most famously, or notoriously, in the 1970’s when much was torn down to create a bit of Las Vegas on the Atlantic.  It’s a shame that it has always been about renovation instead of restoration.  Imagine if we had waited and now, a century later, Atlantic City’s Boardwalk was meticulously restored to its early 20^th Century splendor.  All we have now is old photos and postcards. The postcards used for this piece were nearly a hundred years old.  Come on down to the Boardwalk, jump in the sea, get some saltwater taffy and imagine the days when Nucky Johnson ruled the town.

Old Photos

I love old photos of San Francisco.  I love seeing pictures of familiar places the way they looked in years past.  I can spend hours online browsing the San Francisco Public Library’s Historic Photo Collection.    It’s fascinating for me to see what was there 50 years ago, 100 years ago, or even in the 19^th Century.  The library doesn’t have every photo though.  I find old photos from other online sources or poking in old albums at thrifts stores or at paper fairs.  Sometimes old photos just fall out of some used book I bought.

I am not sure where the photo pictured above turned up.  It’s marked “Valencia and 15^th” in handwriting on the back.  I’d say it’s 1950’s.  And something tells me, we’ll know more about it soon.

One City, Two Bridges

One City, Two Bridges, mixed media on canvas, 10”x10”

No travel themed series would be complete without a San Francisco piece.  It’s easy to forget that we are a travel destination when we live our lives in Everyone’s Favorite City.  Living close to Alamo Square, it still baffles me a bit the way so many tourists traipse up that hill for that photo.  I did this piece with vintage postcards from the 1930’s and 1940’s.  It’s noteworthy to point out that San Francisco postcards were all about our two bridges back then.  Other themes were our skyline and the exoticism of Chinatown.  There were no cable cars or Victorians on San Francisco postcards in the 1940’s.  Obviously these were just seen as old and had not yet reached the point of being charming.  As I go through postcards from different places and different eras there are noticeable changes in what sort of attractions are “postcard worthy.”  That’s said, our two bridges are still the big stars.