Openings Connecting: March 2012

Monday, March 26, 2012

Spring HAPPENS....whenever it wants

The last 'winter shoot' had to happen in the middle of the week and near the end of the day. Last Wednesday. March 21st. according to the calendar, it was official. very vernal. but not our usual weather...it felt more like summer, in the 80s, with bugs bugging me. hot. sweaty. it was nonetheless a sweet pleasure to veer off the worn path in these woods and find the light waiting, while i basked in the shade of the big old trees with the wicking of green.

twelve weeks of camera work. falling way in love with winter. weekend 'shoots' have been so exciting to me.
being up very early to 'catch the first light'
found me throwing on my warm gear
and driving off to meet the group in 15 degree temps.

that seems to have ended rather abruptly in Michigan.

WICK comes to mind from the book "The Secret Garden"

the drama of Michigan's seasons and seasonal surprises.

all beautiful when we stop and look

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

"catching up" to my brother Michael 25 years later...

Kodak Gallery: NancyNeva's http://pix.kg/p/792591405409%3A1886098358/sct
the link above shows some of my brother Michael's drawings, news posts about his show at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art in 1986, where we were raised, a few snaps.
he was happiest with his natural 'art spirit' .... in the FLOW.
never a 'mistake' stopping him...just perhaps an "oops, i goofed" as he picked up his crayons again.

i think i may have wanted to follow his lead all these years, how to freely feel that creativity he possessed.
i'm not there yet, i don't feel all that comfortable putting pen or pencil or paint to paper, but i have found an expression this last year via my photography and alternative printing methods.

so finally, i'm in that same venue where his 30 pieces were shown...with my one small golden print of the church in ranchos de taos accepted into the juried area show...opening this friday. 14 counties, 600+ entries, 100+ accepted.

thank you, darling Michael, for loving and inspiring me!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

NEVER SEEN...

UNTIL YESTERDAY MORNING,

I'D NEVER SEEN A FLOCK OF CRANES.

FLYING IN FROM THE EAST

TOWARD WHERE I STOOD

IN THE SAND DUNES

AT THE EDGE OF OUR BIG LAKE,

THEIR CALLS TOOK ME TO MY KNEES

and made me

COMPLETELY PRESENT

FOUR DIRECTIONS/FOUR VISIONS: Two Graces: First showing for me, JUNE 3, 2011

With no directions home, I found Taos in the late 60s. It felt like home immediately. It still does. I know this sentiment is familiar to countless others.

The mountain stopped me in my tracks, and I stayed for several years. Since that time, I circle back annually.

To me, that circle is symbolic of this body of work at Two Graces. This is a time in my life when I've been fortunate enough to experiment with art making. Not surprisingly, I found myself drawn back to the images in the Ektachrome slides that I'd taken in the early 80s of Chaco Canyon, the San Francisco de Asis Church, dusty roads, and the ever changing skies of Northern New Mexico. The spirit of this adobed land lingers in my core and manifests itself within these works.

This past Michigan winter was spent creating enlarged negatives from my thirty year old slides, pulling part of my past into the present via today's tools of scanner and computer. Using traditional silver-gelatin darkroom processes, these resurrected and modified negatives acquired a new life. The majority of these prints are the result of this mediated reincarnation.

The smaller images took me into photographic processes from the mid-1800s. These handmade platinum/palladium prints are created coating vellum, for translucency, with these metal salts and exposing them to ultraviolet light. They are then bathed in the alchemy of the darkroom. The tonal qualities are unique in each print. Finally, 24k gold is layered to the backs of the prints, emanating the warmth, glow, and depth of these beloved places.