Notches in the totem pole


Cranked out a mess of layouts for the new musician I am working with. We are on the fast track to get this package and insert together quicker than quick. The former designer is more of a layout artist--so quick without design is quick. I am pleased with the way the work is going--and we should have something very top drawer, fresh and new which is perfect for her. Its fun, but fast. Its been needles and pins here with clients possibly on, possibly off--and all the sleeplessness of layoffs or not, how to shave the balance sheet. Can I make it work? What goes? Can I cut my salary in half? How can I leverage what I have going on to yield more income? Is there something out there that I can take advantage of--a pocket of preexisting cash--that could be earmarked with my name? I just got a phonecall...deep breath. Over for now...to the affirmative. And the Steuben work apparently is not necessarily done. My contact called and said they are proceeding to sell this job--so there may be 4 + illustrations to do. So plus signs all over.

R in NYC today. K is late with the play. A and I have the early shift. Have been puzzling over the idea of Mis en Place. Mis en Place in the context of cooking are the basics you have around that essentially go into every recipe (olive oil, sea salt, pepper, lemon juice, wine vinegar, chipoltle peppers, parsley, cilantro, onions....basics). Everyone's mis en place have the same core...with variations depending on how they cook, what they cook, what inspires them. I like the idea of illustrators' mis en place. What is your mis en place? Where do you start? Is it the same place all the time? How can you cook italian, mexican, chinese and french--only as an illustrator? What are my mis en place...my sketchbook,ink, pentel brush pen, blue pencil, rotring pen (and odd cartridges that explode in my pockets)? Trace. Pitt pen sharpie and brush. and a ton of books. I really need to keep dogging the sketchbook...it has been invaluable during these speed times for new designs. So, I need to keep the mis en place fresh--and the books ready to go.

How sad about Elliot Spitzer. I bought his squeeky clean thing...silly me. I felt punched in the gut when my accountant told me of it around noon yesterday. Upside is that the deputy governor seems like an interesting guy.

More later

Ice, any way you slice it.



More ice. More branches. More icy branches encasing beautiful, plump, rosy buds. I figured I would give you different ice than the glassy trees we have as I have marvelled at them. We went to Ithaca yesterday to have lunch (tous en famille) at Shortstop (key learning: 1, buy the super big one for a crowd...cheaper by miles, 2. always get the cheap drinks, 3. when travelling with teens, plan on them eating a full 12" sub in a manner that resembles a vaccum cleaner). They loved it. The ice cream picture and the typography from the ice machine is thanks to Shortstop.Then off for 2 pairs of gourmet track shoes for the oncoming season (both kids), and to TJ Maxx for teeshirts, shorts and warm ups. A bit of a financial smarting...but I am recovering. Signed up for 2 weeks of sports fun at Cornell this summer. Am working on K's activity with more choices thanks to my talking to the guidance counselor and reading the posters they have up in the hallways in the high school. We made a huge pile of the branches (some of them as big as trees) in front of the house--and shook all the evergreen's branches which made a tinkling clink clink to loosen up the ice and unburden the weight. More snow today. Hopefully in the 40s later this week.

Pool was perfect. Every shape and size were there. Need to finish my pix and start one of a waterfall. It never ends.
More later>>

something for the armchair

Before the listmaking and planning happens for today, I just wanted to suggest that on this "day of rest" you consider a book I am reading, absorbing and frankly am shouting "right on!" about every other line. It is a very short book, more like an essay, that is a small (in size and page count) and through Audible.com, an hour's listen. It is Sam Harris' "Letter to a Christian Nation". Harris slowly, and simply, starts with those things we all assume are part of the"Judeo Christian tradition" and takes them apart referencing scripture etc. He states facts to the reader he addresses as a Christian (as in right) and peels away all of these righteous approaches to our culture along with the same with Muslims etc. Harris' book makes you think. He makes us consider and weigh our mass think--and really points up traditions and philosophies that really are more moral and balanced. It is worth an hour of listening or a few of reading to shift your thinking during this time of amoral behavior at the highest places--and our lives day to day.

>>Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation
If anything, read the comments left on the page on Amazon. The readers nail it...and present a fairly wide swathe of the thinking around Harris' work.

A breath of fresh fire." —Wall Street Journal

“I dare you to read this book...it will not leave you unchanged. Read it if it is the last thing you do.” —Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion

“It’s a shame that not everyone in this country will read Sam Harris’ marvelous little book Letter to a Christian Nation. They won’t but they should.”
—Leonard Susskind, Felix Bloch Professor in theoretical physics, Stanford University

bowing trees


Slow morning here. Had big, wet flakes piling up all last night and the trees that had shed the heavy ice are now laden with snow, pushing their branches down, down down to the ground. The scavenging deer adore this as they don't have to struggle to eat all of the evergreens (that are promoted to be deer resistant. Do not believe this deer resistant thing. The only resistance/ hindrance for this monsters is a jolt of clean and unadulterated electricity. And even that, they forget over time. Hello Reddy Kilowatt( one of my all time favorite characters. I need to go find one for those of you that were not raised with him!). Meet the Bucholic Deer Family. Deer meet Reddy--he's unforgettable. I need to stop. I may launch into a rant. The deer family is not top of my hit parade (or maybe they are). I did hit one....

I had a nice meeting at the Lab of O Library. Amazing, luxurious place. First off, the building is nice--situated on a piece of property that is soggy and attracts birds (part of Sapsucker Woods). There are handmade chairs in the lobby with scopes on wheels that one can use while viewing the wildlife in the yard/pond in front of the building or all over the plethora of feeders they have suspended artfully. There is a lovely bird shop from smart books to baseball caps to anything avian. Hung throughout the lobbies are bird paintings and prints galore with a focus on Audubon, Fuertez (the avian pride of Ithaca), Charlie Harper. As an aside, Fuertes spent his summers in the playhouse (behind the Luckystone Lodge) in Sheldrake. He is (I think) buried in the tiny, messy cemetery in Sheldrake as well. So...its a bit personal with me.

As you wend your way to the second floor, there is a charming library with windows overlooking the protected pond and feeders, a fireplace, more Audubons (each with a story), and books galore. What a resource! I have got to get there and spend time. The Librarian and my pal Matt, inspired Registrar at the Johnson Museum chatted about all these new worlds like the ephemera collection at the Krock Library and the Uris and and and. Matt hopes to be a bit entrepeneurial in mounting tiny little shows in the niches and corners of Cornell to share the work and collection for the Johnson and other libraries and collections throughout Cornell. There is a tremendous wealth of work, art, words, documents...I feel a frisson emerging! More to discover. There is hope that I may have a little show at the Library in October linking it to the Ithaca Art Trail..but we will see. There was also interest in my avian flu pix. We'll see.

On the way home, my stomach started eating itself. I had to stop. I had to eat. I had an epiphany. I would eat a hot truck sandwich--celebrated in Gourmet Magazine...the Primanti's of Ithaca. I had to have this--and really get down to what helps to define Ithaca. Jane and Michael Stern, the wonderful food writers say:

The wildly popular Hot Truck mobile eatery in Ithaca, New York has a language all its own that's used when ordering one of their fantastic French bread pizza subs. Order yours "high carbon, G and G" and it will come extra crispy with mayo and lettuce (grease and garden.)

While the Hot Truck itself appears on the campus of Cornell University only during the school year (it arrives every night at 10:30 weekdays, 11:00 on weekends), you can get the subs year round at the Shortstop Deli, an establishment given the thumbs up by the Hot Truck itself.

Hot Truck
Parks at 635 Stewart Avenue
West Campus, Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
607-273-1111

Shortstop Deli
204 West Seneca Street
Ithaca, NY
607-273-1030

You can listen to their feature here>>
It was luscious. Delicious. Hot and crunchy--it was a big messy experience that kept getting better and better. How have I not discovered this? Why have I satisfied myself with healthy salads, whole wheat confections and sprouts when there was this local delicacy available either at the Truck or Shortstop. I had only, until yesterday, had ordered coffee at Shortstop. Never again. I am going to be going to Shortstop for their pizza subs. How can I make it stylish enough to take my clients? Buy them in advance and take the goods to their offices? There is no "dining experience" at the home of the hot truck. It was too cold to sit outside on the window ledge as Short Stop as there is only standing space with no seating...just manic sandwich ordering and coffees, sodas, ice cream treats.

It was very much a coded experience. You know, the gettoni experience (the whole deal in Italy that every food experience has some sort of code around ordering and around making change...particularly in the bar/tabbaci set ups--you know, you buy a ticket for the coffee and paste that you want and then wait in line to fullfill your order--or they make change and give you candy instead of money--and this code is surprising or sometimes shocking unless you know it) The gettoni refers to change made with the coin one uses to make phone calls with--and are not easy to acquire. Don't get me going about how hard it used to be to make phone calls in Europe in the good old days...Back to the code-- The code for hot truck sandwiches is the orderform--orange, red or blue. Sauces, Veggies and Meats? Name? cheaper soda? You can fill out your order either on paper or computers in the place. So, I rushed to the warmth of the new and improved Wonderbus and scarfed a small size wgg...and could have gone back in for another 10. But the Wonderbus insisted there was work to do--but promised another visit. We have guests coming soon---maybe a platter of SUI subs? SS does do platters. Makes a girl dream....

Megan and Judson, two Cornell PhDs, on their wedding blog references the Shortstop as a place for their guests to get good eats, They explain the names...and the essence of the wonderfulness. They recommend:

The Shortstop Deli is the only place where you can get world-famous Hot Truck pizza subs at a decent hour. These subs have been featured in Gourmet Magazine, and there's just something addictive about them. Megan's parents insist that we give people insider information about the pizza subs, so here it comes. You want the "sui" (short for suicide). You want to add truck sauce. I cannot under-emphasize the importance of the truck sauce. This delicious, mysterious orange substance is what makes the pizza sub really special. Pizza subs are extremely addictive! Consider yourself warned. If you can look past the pizza subs, the deli also offers a variety of standard cold- and hot-subs. And we have recently discovered that their breakfast selection is also delicious. The Shortstop is a bit of an Ithacan institution, so you should do your best to have a sub there. They are quite proud of their "Ithaca-style" sandwiches. This is a good place to get a relatively inexpensive, filling meal. Ordering subs at the Shortstop is based on a color-coded order slip system. You want a slip with red text for pizza subs; orange for regular subs; and blue (I think) for breakfast/bagel subs. Fill out the slip, separate the parts, and hand the top (white) slip to the guys making the sandwiches. Then get your $0.10 or $0.25 drink and bring that and your remaining (yellow) slip to the cash register to pay. Subs cost around $5. The Shortstop can be found on Rte. 79W (Seneca St.).

Need to get back to reality. The cat picture is "up"--and the new CD needs sketches.
More later>>

Ice box





Look at Shady Grove. Look at how red she gets in the snow...! She normally reads as black with some purple hints...but look at what the camera sees. And, the ICE! Just wanted to share with you.

Mixed bag



A sparkling day. Hard diamond trees, glittering, glazed and brilliant. As you can see --our willow was glazed while Shady Grove collected pinecones and frolicked in the snow. The snow geese were thick this morning in the sky.It was a beautiful drive to the wonderful pool of dilemmas. Had a great call with an old time musician who needs a CD image and brand. Her desires are good and my wheels are rolling. We are going to be working in black and red on white--with florals, birds etc. My only fear is not enough time to do a bang up job...but...I am going to do the best I can do for the time we have. Tissues are happening. Left Foot, Right Foot.

Big News about Steuben. Steuben Glass to close if it is not sold>> Sad, but not surprising. It's been a long time of touch and go...plus the funds it takes to drive that business against the cost of goods, overhead and expectations could be put to funding profitable and more core businesses for the new Corning Incorporated. Corning Incorporated emerged from Corning Glass Works....but they are not the same company. Corning is a technology company not a Glass (capital G) company. Not to say that Corning is not totally amazing in their understanding of glass, glass the material and the manufacturing. But Glass does not drive the train but is integrated in the entire technology story. Corning says that its not a fit...which given the divestiture of all direct to consumer businesses (Housewares (Corelle, Corningware, Pyrex brands), Sunglasses (Serengeti brand), to name the most prominent businesses except (until now) Steuben--it makes sense. They are no longer supporting design centers. When I started there almost 30 yrs ago there were six design centers within Corning committed to excellence in design (Science Products, Steuben, Consumer Products, Architecture, Corporate Design, Corporate Exhibits) with design and production services. Now there is just Steuben. And that, is going too. It will be interesting to see how it evolves. I am sad as it represents a chapter, an aspect of our lives (R and me) that has woven in and out of our careers with interesting travel, design and wonderful people. Plus, the american-ness of the product and how fashionable it was--is sad to see it change. But, change can be good.

>>Here's what the Corning Leader says>>

Having a meeting at the Lab of O (as the locals call Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology) for a teensy show of birds. That should happen in a week or so. Slugging away on the horse...so as to be able to do a cat so as to finish my woodduck. Yipes! And, there will be a Texas picture on the horizon for the U of Hartford.

YES! Neigh!

Slip slide

Hohlwein Poster
We woke up to two hour school delays due to ice. The trees are all bent over, laden with ice which can really damage them…so I hope the forty degree weather they are promising for later will take the burden off these poor things. Shady Grove is begging to have another cone thrown out into this mess—with her back legs scrambling to keep upright and not totally wipe out. R. has the tundrabus as the wonderbus is still at Winks, so I am landlocked with a nonfunctioning internet (power outage last night)…and I have done all the amelioration that normally works—so it may actually be a service interruption. The phone works. And I am canceling my haircut as I really value my limbs functioning—and shorter hair is not the beginning and end of this equation. I need to get the home team moving despite the later wake up. They are going to have a tough day with lots of work, play practices and finally basketball tournaments in Elmira (in the evening!!). I have the first of “get ready, here comes the college freight train” discussions later this p.m. Urg. And then there is summer to plan and pay for as well as taxes (everyone’s favorite), and committing to spring break.

Sorry for the caterwauling…I feel a bit better. Oh, and here is A. saying that school has now been cancelled. He is networking with his pals to validate that –and I think a call from me to the school secretary might be in line. A. is psyched. A day of movie classics here. I might as well start popping corn, ordering pizza and planning the teen party that will happen.

Ludwig Hohlwein
Compiled and Edited by Professor H.K. Frenzel
with an introdution by Dr. Walter F. Schubert
Translated by Herman George Scheffauer
Berlin 1926
Phonix Illustrationsdruck Un Verlag G.M.B.H.

Got the Ludwig Hohlwein book. It is a class on Hohlwein filled with colored plates, monochrome plates and copy (one side is german, the other English) referring to Hohlwein as a genius (as this book celebrates his 50th anniversary) who produced “kleingraphik” or small graphics/posters, and was best known for his involvement and inroads he made as a “Gebrachsgraphik” Or the author modestly refers to Hohlwein as the “most important Gebrauchsgraphiker of present day Gemany.” Here is what is said about “Gebrachsgraphik”:

“Gebrauchsgraphik”– even in German this word stumbles clumsilyover the tongue. The treasure-house of German speech will certainly not be enriched by it to any edifying degree. And yet this term expresses, objectively and technically, its inward and essential significance much more clearly than other designations such as “Reklame” or “Webekunst” (Advertising or the Art of Canvassing). For the second half of the word precludes all those auxiliary means of canvassing or advertising which do not originate in the graphic arts – such as the printed or spoken word, the film and whatever else may serve as a vehicle for commercial solicitation. And the first half of the compound word clearly defines its relation to the graphic arts themselves. "Gebrauchsgraphik" is not free "graphik" whose purpose is bound to a purpose, it is an artistic means for the expression of a definite intention towards commercial propaganda."

I am going to read and scan and share with you. I was stumped with the picture of a horse I was whaling on yesterday. I cracked open this book and I am back on track. Monochrome. Simpler but not as bare bones as Hohlwein...though I want to try that. I love the different lettering styles, his amazing sense of design and simplicity and his pared back narrative--in some cases little snapshots of Germany in 1920s (prewar energy) with domestic scenes that mirror some of the dutch still lives and personal lives imaged by Vermeer. i am not comparing the artists--just the way they capture domestic moments of making tea, looking in mirrors, quietly reading. An individual moment in a frame. A flicker of time.

Onward to horses.

Flaxnation Alert!

Hey!
Flaxnationals reunite for the annual Flax Barn Sale! Pencil it in, once, twice, three times. Take time off from work! Plan your travels, finances and closets. Get Ready!

Flax Barn Sale
Friday, April 25, 2008 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
Saturday April 26, 2008 9 a.m.- 5 p.m.
Sunday, April 27, 2008 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Location for the sale:
Triphammer Mall
North Triphammer Road
Ithaca, NY 14850


Struggling with some pictures. Just doesnt seem to gel. Frustrating. But, I do know that if I dog these things--I can get close--as scrapping is not an option. 


Have been driving R's car as the Wonderbus is at Winks in Perry City getting bumps smoothed, crinkles straightened, bumpers mended (and the deer hair extracted) and painted to make it brand new (at least looking brand new). Yesterday was 57˚--today more normal (20s) and we have driving slush with great promises that we will have a delightful freeze. Can you say school buses sliding off the road? Or that marvelous time when one steps off the porch and end up on your ass as your feet decided to slide and slip on the stealthy black ice.

Met with a group of artists on Sunday afternoon to begin to think about putting up a website of visual artists who live and work in the Trumansburg, Greater Ulysses area --essentially hanging a shingle to say "we're here"--but linking to everyone's individual site. We will have links and notices to regional shows and maybe, just maybe, a bit of PR for those who are getting into things, having exhibitions or being locally, regionally or nationally noticed.  It was trying for me (as I hate teams)--but after some very direct talk about wheither this is very exclusive (6 artists) to a wider group (30+) but still with a bar/ a level set for quality--a standard. We moved to the larger group (my preference)--which gives a range of style, work, approaches. But with this standard, we may limit the sunday watercolorists or the tribe of shaggies where art is part of their individual brand...and not necessarily excellence filtering the work. This site will be something for the local Chamber of Commerce, the Beds and breakfasts to point to...as there isn't any "real" businesses beyond a bank branch, a grocery store, a coffee shop, 3 bars, a few pizza/hamburger restaurants, an insurance agent, an eyeglass company---but there are lot of single people or small teams in Tburg making their living making things....selling things but invisible to the community at large. Should be an interesting process and I think important to giving this quiet aspect of the community a rallying point.

Had lunch with a wonderful artist yesterday. He was an attorney in NYC for decades and recently shut down his practice to devote himself to his art and painting. He is very confident, entrepeneurial and filled with optimism. It was tremendously inspiring to experience his energy and thinking as he is way out there--with this project and that project, this work and that work, how to think about the work etc. I think we should continue these conversations as I can help him with advancing his work, thinking about methodologies and process, and marketing. He can help me by letting some of his confidence rub off. It is cool to begin to link in with the Ithaca tribe of artmakers--a bit a expanding. The other cool thing is that two of the people I had the opportunity to  talk with on Monday and Sunday were participants in the MARK program offered by NY State. It teaches and pushes artists to be able to express themselves, show their work, write a mission and artists statement etc. Pretty much a dose of what spun off the thesis and thesis show from last summer's fun with Syracuse. It sounds like a great program and for both of these artists, they were inspired and challenged by meeting creatives from all over the state and by the work of talking about themselves. I totally agree. It is some of the hardest lifting I have done. But valuable. Really valuable.


Basketball tournaments about to start. K is wild with practice for the school play. She is exhausted and her normally ebullient spirits are deflated and dreary. I am going to have to do some major motherly stuff (like baking) to lift her sights. Nothing like  a big dose of butter, sugar and  flour to do that. Have a nice pot of soup made from the random thises and thats from the fridge. We may have more for lunch as the "smooth boards" are being applied to the fascia of the new pushback on the carriage house, Mandy may paint, Erich and me, and R home with work and no need to drive through inches of slush promising to freeze.

Should be interesting with the voting today.

a tisket a tasket

This and that>>
Everson Museum in Syracuse has a call for entries for their Biennial Show "The Object and Beyond" due April 4, 2008. Check the Everson site for the prospectus and application.

Schweinfurth Museum in Auburn has a call for entries for thie annual "Made in New York Show". Check the web for details.

Discovered this very cool blog called "Artist News" which is focused on local (central NY to Albany) shows. They cite the Biennal, the Schweinfurth, a show at Limestone Art Gallery, and one coming us that is a visual showcase for Central NY called Elements.

So in the spirit of get the work out... I will get the work out locally.

In the spirit of education and learning, I cracked open the new issue of "art on paper" a great magazine I subscribed to at Art Basel Miami (cheap!). It is focused on prints, drawings, photographs, books and ephemera --showing a wide range of terrific work but showcasing galleries and classes. I love this magazine, creasing it,reading it, xroxing it. Here are some cool opportunities:

Wells Book Arts Summer Institute>> in beautiful Aurora, NY for three, one week sessions--hands on classes in letterpress printing, lettering arts and bookbinding.

Another: NYU Steinhardt (Steinhardt Shool of Culture, Education and Human Development)
offers an MA (in Studio art) in Venice for artists and art teachers. From June 29- August 23, 2008--it is more of a time committment...but Venice! More>>

One more jumped out, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture and Extended Media at Virgina Commonwealth for 2 mos. They say they "foster the development of professional attitudes and skills with an emphasis on indiviudal investigation. Non credit.Post baccalaureate style residency studio program." "VCU's School of the Arts graduate program is ranked 6th in the nation by US News and World Report. Sculpture is ranked first and Painting is tenth."

Interesting how they talk about themselves.

grey Saturday


Working on a horse for the Baker. This is the bottom layer, the beginning of the process. I really like it just as a silhouette, the simplicity of it. So, like piecrust, I plan just to hand onto the scraps and see what we can do with the remaining pieces.

The Amanda tattoo from my Memento Mori drawings progress. She picked one design. I reconfigured, simplified and designed it to the shape, the supposed "deco" that her upper arm is. She consulted with her artist (someone I perceive as "the" tattoo star around here)--and it seems there isn't going to be a problem. However, I was unconsious about how much this really costs...and it is a bit shocking , far more than I would have anticipated. However, as it is forever--and compared with Amanda's full chest, and complete back in every color of the rainbow, my little black shoulder to elbow seems almost modest. Do you think I can enter this in the self promotion category when it comes to next year's shows?

Off to the library to get some literary candy. The cupboard is bare. Then, off to the pool while K gets her skin treated at the spa next door. This has been really effective for her versus dermatologists, drugs, etc.Plus, it has motivated her to pay attention to this. We are having success and K can take total credit for this. I am very proud of her. And she, is proud of herself.

Had an engaging conversation with a college entry consultant--someone who is a freelance college counsellor about K and A--and the strategies we need to put in place prior to the hot time of junior/senior years--and the current thinking and changes in this entire college selection/placement/entry process. And! it sure has changed since I did it a hundred years ago. And, two years ago. And six months ago. So, I am enlightened and am very excited to have a partner on this path. Her name is Lucia Tyler and she is a lovely,insightful, caring woman. Learn more about Lucia>> You will be part of this progression.

Won an auction on ebay for a first edition of the only book on Ludwig Hohlwein for signficantly less money than Alibris offers it for. I am so psyched. There is on ONE tome that shows a huge body of his work--and this is it. Hohlwein, for me , is a giant in his simplicity, graphic and elegant illustration for posters and advertising...However, through the lens of my Mentor, he is very much a single potato guy...More to learn.

Must go. Books await. They close at 2.

IF: Leap


All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.
Henry Miller (1891–1980)
U.S. author. “The Absolute Collective,”
The Wisdom of the Heart (1947).

Isn't that what living is? Taking that leap, that risk, that moment of fear? The leap is a moment but the return of that action can be extrordinary and unexpected. The more we leap, the easier it gets--so the risks get a bit higher and payout greater. The more leaps, the less fear, the more we expand, change, grow and live.

Leap a bit today.

tidbits


Little things happening all day. The pool of dilemmas was virtually empty, so the aqueous passigiata was quite delightful and somehow with the sunshine beaming down made all right with the world. Took care of all sorts of small stuff before having lunch with the amazing Micky Roof, celebrity jeweler, entrepeneur and inspired energetic person. Micky always creates wonderful medals for the triathlon in July--very dimensional, big and very Ithaca. They are so great, they could be remade into keychains and stuff like that. Cool, heavyweight--work with a presence. So, we had lunch to talk about her plans so that I can mirror the thinking with the tee shirt. Then, we talked about all sorts of this and that. There may be some other projects we could engage in. Plus, as she was one of the founders of the Art Trail, she sketched out where the art trail could go, the spin, the growth etc. She spins energy and ideas in her wake. She is tremendous. It should be fun doing a little work with her.

Am up to my ears in illustration I need to do...so need to go.

Little bits of Weaver


Overview on Seeing is Not Believing: The Art of Robert Weaver
at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA
November 8,1997- January 25, 1998>>

"stop being conceptual and get back to looking at things, at the details...to observe light and color and pattern." Robert Weaver

Good article. Good insights including his teaching at Syracuse and School of Visual ARts for 30 years(who would have known), his use of different media and actually putting him in context with Jackson Pollock and Willem deKooning. I wonder where the 100 pieces of work reside?
I wonder if there is a catalog. I am going deep on this one.

Also, Leif Peng in his observant, beautifully written and illustrated Today's Inspiration blog talks about Robert Weaver in his February 26, 2008 post. He surfaces the Rockwell show, cites the link to Bernie Fuchs and observed interestingly:

"The article there confirms what I was saying yesterday about this new breed of illustrators having one foot in the commercial art studio and the other in the fine arts gallery when it states, "Weaver was among the first to wed fine art to applied illustration" and goes so far as to call him "the godfather of the new illustration."

I like it that Peng, an illustrator, poses questions relative to Fuchs and to Weaver, open ended queries that leaves me puzzled (charmingly so). Here is a link to Peng's Flickr set on Weaver>>

Steve Heller in his article " The End of Illustration" posted on the Illustrators' Partnership site
puts Weaver in a historical context of illustration and art:

By the mid-1950s modern painting influenced illustration, and a few young illustrators challenged the hegemony of the academic realists. The old school was known for slavishly, though meticulously, rendering exact passages from underlined texts (usually assigned by editors). Conversely, the young turks established moods through the expressive application of color and form in paintings and drawings that wed realism and abstraction. The human figure no longer had to be an exact replica; backgrounds did not have to be thoroughly researched; verisimilitude was not necessary for a successful image.The late Robert Weaver, one of the pioneers in the shift from neo-Rockwellian academicism to representational expressionism, explained that this was the beginning of a time when illustration was used to portray heretofore ignored themes and taboo notions.

Now the illustrator was required to express ideas rather than mimic verbatim scenes: "We had to show the notion of left-handedness and depict crime on the street," he once said, "not a couple on a date."

The "new" American illustration of the mid-1950s can be summed up in one word: Conceptual. Illustration evolved from what-you-see-is-what-you-get to conceptual because the issues and themes covered in magazines were becoming more complex, more critical. Although most neo-Rockwellian illustrations were based on a broad idea, these illustrators rejected illusion, metaphor, and symbolism in favor of the explicit vignette. Precise physical detail was more important than psychological enigma. Even Rockwell's own paintings, which were influenced by allegorical painting of the Renaissance, were precise scenes void of the ambiguity that invites a viewer's deep interpretation.

The younger artists of the 1950s, among them Weaver, Robert Andrew Parker, Phil Hayes, Al Parker and Tom Allen, not only painted in the automatic manner of the Expressionists, their images were designed to be deconstructed like poetry. By the late 1950s photographers vividly captured the surface of things, leaving depiction of the interior world to illustrators. As TV eroded popular interest in magazines, expressive and interpretative illustration offered alternative editorial dimension. Illustrators were given a key role in the phenomenon known as "The Big Idea," which was an extraordinary confluence of rational graphic design and acute visual thinking. The rise of conceptual illustration during the 1960s, furthermore, was marked by an unprecedented collaboration between illustrator and art director/designer because illustration was viewed as an element of design—but design was not only about simply making special effects on a page, it was about making messages. In the Rockwellian era, the art director would position the painting in a layout near the appropriate text. In the new scheme, art directors worked with illustrators on concept, composition and layout, as well. Either an illustration was integrated into a format or given its own page adjacent to an elegantly and sometimes metaphorically composed block of text. Conceptual illustration served two purposes: It provided meaning—and commentary— and gave a publication its visual personality.

Huh. Neo-Rockwellian obsolescence. Expressing ideas versus mimicking scenes. Meaning and commentary. I need to understand this. How? How do I do that? Can I do that? I am scared by this...BIG Idea indeed. And, as I am an art director...phooey on that! There is something here. My brain is kicking into something new.

Later>>
Gathering of Hollywood Notables
Robert Weaver

RISD Alumni Art Sale

RISD Alumni Art Sales feature thousands of items designed and created by alumni from all over the country and the world. Items for sale include fine art, home accessories, greeting cards, jewelry, paintings, furniture, rugs, clothing, photographs, glass and ceramics. Sales occur in the fall, winter and spring in Providence, and in late fall in San Francisco. For more information, contact Alan Tracy at atracy@risd.edu or call 401 454-6618.

ALUMNI SPRING ART SALE 2008: May 3
Benefit Street, 10am-4pm (rain or shine)

No snow day


Everyone emerged from their dens groaning this morning as schools were not even delayed here...with roads a bit sloppy and snow a bit deep...with 1 to 3" expected during the day. Will be entering the 3x3 show today...and start two pictures for the Baker Institute's front lobby. Am working with the intrepid Erich to make some tweaks to our illustration site and may link the new site to Little Chimp (which I haven't done). Now that I have an exclusive illos site, there are other free/cheaper sites I may post to to work around the "I" site. Am having lunch with an artist jeweler who does lovely work and is the designer of the medals/medaillions for the Triathlon in July centered around Taughannock State Park (waterfall pix from last week). My hope is that we can work collaboratively--teeshirt illustration with the medals--so we can develop a stronger annual look/brand.

Off to the whiteness>>