Liza Myers' Blog

Consider the lily

2009-12-24T03:18:21Z

Tell them dear,
that if eyes were made for seeing,

Then beauty is its own excuse for being

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow;
they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. (Matt. 6:28-29)

This painting is not yet finished, but it's far enough along that I feel okay about posting it. I had to get to where I at least liked it.
The goal was to create a painting that was excruciatingly beautiful; ridiculously beautiful. Shimmering sky, iridescent feathers, translucent petals. Yup. Ridiculously beautiful. Still work to be done, but it feels close.
Back to the palette and easel.

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Steadfast

2009-12-16T18:57:22Z

Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of a timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer and the large mind transcend. - Helen Keller

Entering into this long darkness of winter, it's important to remember to be steadfast.

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Whirlwind to NYC

2009-12-13T20:29:56Z

Joseph Raffael exhibit at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery, Chelsea, NYC

"I am treading more and more into leaves and silence.

I see more faces watching, non-human faces.

Ironically, I, who profess no religion,

find the whole of my life a religious pilgrimage.
The origins of this hunger are as mysterious as why we, who are last year's dust and rain, have risen from that dust to to look about

with the devised crystal of a raindrop

before we subside once more

into snow and whirling vapor."

All the Strange Hours--The Excavation of a Life
by Loren Eiseley

The above is a quote from Joseph Raffael's website. Yesterday I took a whirlwind trip to NYC to see an exhibition of recent works by Raffael at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery which, after 35 years in Soho, has relocated in Chelsea.

I've loved Raffael's work since I first saw it in 1974 in New Mexico, when I was an undergrad at the University of New Mexico. He came to UNM to speak, and afterwards we were able to meet with him. Not only was his work radiant, but he was as well.

A calmness and almost zen peacefulness radiated from his presence.

It was exhilarating to walk into a space that pulsed with the energy of his art!

It just made me want to get to work.

So I guess I wil!!

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Gopalan Contemporary Art

2009-11-08T13:39:30Z

Gopalan Contemporary opening

Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance.

It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours.

Orison Swett Marden

I'm still waiting for the success part, but as each step is completed, I choose to mark it as a step on the way.
It's been yet another long haul getting the work done and delivered to the exhibition. Teaching five classes, designing new curricula, arranging new courses for spring summer and fall has been very demanding. I am grateful for the support of friends, family and Castleton College in making this exhibit possible.

Gliding across the heartland of America, a LONG ride across country 938 miles each way to deliver work to Gopalan Contemporary in Terre Haute, Indiana has been a reward. The show was very well received with much positive response at the opening.
Terre Haute is full of art! Museums, galleries, public art in surprising and wonderful places. Visiting the college of St. Mary of the Woods was illuminating. Founded by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin an Catholic American saint who educated young women in the early 19th century. So astonishing to imagine the difficulties she and her sister nuns overcame to

Shell Chapel

bring education to girls in the wilderness.
At one point she was called back to France, a journey which involved stage coaches, ferries, and a perilous journey across the Atlantic. When a storm threatened to sink the ship she prayed to St. Anne and promised to build a chapel for her in Terre Haute if she lived to return. The resulting chapel is encrusted with shells that form images, and decorative colors. It is dear, artful, original and unique.
What fun to go there!

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Past, Present, Future

2009-10-08T15:15:50Z

Liza, Ernest Pittman

It was so lovely to have a visit with Ernest Pittman, who was driving up to Vermont for a workshop in Waterbury. We met at my show in Castleton, at his request and had a fine dinner at the Blue Cat Bistro. Good conversation, catching up on the last 20 years of our lives: what we're doing, where the kids are and what they're doing. So interesting!.
It's remarkable how circles of influence and connection intersect and separate over time. To reconnect is such a nice validation.

The show is about to come down. Walking into the gallery for the last six weeks had been so pleasant. I was just handed a copy of the movie that film students shot of my gallery talk. Haven't had a chance to look at it yet. If there's anything worth posting, I'll try to figure out how.

A disappointment was that there was no review of the show. Two articles, but no review. You'd think I'd know at this point in my career that the artist needs to do follow up on press releases. Dogged perseverance. It is by no means enough to just make the art, even though it seems it should be. Reading In Full Bloom, it's obvious that O'Keefe and Stieglitz were persistant and broad reaching in their PR outreach.

Seven Days 9-09small

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Art, art I want you.

2009-10-02T11:04:45Z

Kidz Aartz Summer Studio program in my studio in BRandon Vermont

Working joyfully with clay in Kidz Aartz

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

- Marcel Proust

I just received a great Youtube connection: inspiration and innocence, set to music, a poem about how important the arts are to all of us. A sweet, original, validating musical video about art: Tanya Davis' song Art by Andrea Dorfman.

Afterschool aartz program

To watch it click here: Enjoy!

A great way to start the day.
It was sent to me by Brian Treece in Portland, Oregon via his Twitter account @PDXCulture.

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Cyber connectivity and Inspiration in the Art World

2009-10-01T00:33:07Z

Self-expression must pass

Eternal Return by Joseph Raffael

into communication for its fulfillment.

Pearl Buck

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email, texting, cell phones, Skype, hoaxes, cyber art... new technology surrounds us with tools, options, decisions and distractions.
The barrage is constant.
The only control available is in your head.
Choosing inspiration is a good start.
I have always found serenity, energy and clarity in the works of Joseph Raffael.
Enjoy a visual feast and respite and then:
Go to the studio and MAKE ART!

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Moonlight is Sculpture

2009-09-25T22:46:02Z

Nathanial Hawthorne

A sculpture is just a painting cut out and stood up somewhere -Frank Stella

Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture.- Michelangelo

Moonlight is sculpture. -Nathanial Hawthorne.

What a thrilling series of quotations!
I've been working on a series of small, clay wall sculptures that I'm sure Hawthorne would disapprove of! It was interesting to read of his prolific creativity beginning in early adolescence. His life was one of privilege and opportunity, but he used it well, despite his judgmental, puritanical tones. Interesting that he added the W to Hawthorne to change his name so as to not be associated with a grandfather who was a judge at the Salem Witch trials, but then later expressed such puritanical condemnation in the Scarlet Letter. He later wrote: "I have not lived, but only dreamed about living."

Moon Dancer IV Clay wall sculpture

Small Moonscape Golden Sky

Meanwhile, back in the studio, I've mostly not been in the studio. The past two weeks have been spent teaching, organizing to teach this semester, next semester, summer and fall 2010. I'm pretty booked! But now that is mostly organized and I can get back to work with color, clay and canvas.
I particularly like Hawthorne's quote. It speaks to my most recent clay wall pieces, currently hanging in the show.
The moon is ever present.

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O'Keeffe, Dove, the Clark

2009-09-11T20:12:53Z

Joseph Mallord William Turner

It's already been several weeks since our wild ride down the back bone of the Taconic Mountains to Williamstown MA, and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute to see: Circles of Influence, O'Keeffe and Dove.

It was wonderful to see old friends by O'Keeffe such as
The Lawrence Tree painted in 1929.

O'Keeffe tree DH Lawrence ranch

When the Wadsworth Atheneum acquired the painting in 1981, O’Keeffe commented that, “The painting was done so it could be hung with any end up.” The painting is presently hung in keeping with the artist’s strong early preference, which she stated on numerous occasions, instructing that the tree should “stand on its head.”
The painting is in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum

At the Clark they had hung it with the trunk on top. Very fun.
The show addressed the interaction between the two artists. Very interesting to see how their work was correlated and how they respectfully fed off of each other's imagery. Initially O'Keeffe, the younger of the two, responded to Dove's development of abstraction, but as her work rapidly matured Dove's imagery obviously begins to respond to hers.
All very interesting.

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Dreams of nakedness

2009-08-30T14:33:15Z

Canyon Flower

Last night I dreamed I was sitting on the lawn of the college where I'm teaching, reading a book, with no shirt on. I was completely comfortable half naked on the lawn, quietly reading an artist's bio-probably De Kooning. Upon awakening, the simplicity of the metaphor became obvious- having my show on the walls of the gallery is much like exposing my vulnerable body to the world.

Diva of the Gesture 30" x 31" ceramic

For better or worse, it's on the wall: my beliefs, goals, aesthetics, choices, abilities, values: my reality.

Fragile Dawn

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