Returning to My Hometown- Dividing Creek

It is great because I have an aunt and cousins who live in my hometown.  During this visit I was keen to go down and visit them, but also walk around the little town of Dividing Creek, NJ.  This is really something that I never did.  I went on bike rides but never just walked through town.  I really didn´t have much to do with town except for going to church and driving through to get out of town.  It was always a 20 to 30 minute ride to get anywhere worth getting to.  Now after being away for over 20 years, I had a real urge to go home, not just to my parents house which they moved to 10 years ago, but to my hometown.

I parked the car at my aunt's house and my cousin armed me with bug spray because she was sure I would be eaten alive.  I set off with my camera, sketchbook, and a bottle of water.  Those nasty green eyed stinging flies known as green-heads to South Jersey locals, were bouncing off of me like crazy... I thought I ought to invest money in this bug spray company because they weren't biting.  I wandered around the town trying to remember who lived where and was in awe of the condition of some of the buildings and more so of the fact that they were still standing.  Some places were abandoned when I was a kid.

I took lots of photos of natural scenes and some of groupings of houses and buildings.  I had painted the Dividing Creek bridge as a child.  Later I took photos of signs on the bridge and made a painting while living in Leipzig, Germany.  That was also a time when I was feeling quite like reestablishing a connection to home.  I found the spot where I must have made those photos from before.  The signs have since changed but the message was still the same- condemning anyone for stopping or standing, swimming or fishing, and now you couldn't even use bad language!  I remember when these signs eliminated any signs of life on every bridge in town.  I am sure the mayor at the time, who owned one of the boat renting crabbing businesses, saw the weekend crabbers on the bridges more as a business loss than a traffic hindrance.

I crossed the Dividing Creek bridge and headed down to Dragston Road where the house that I grew up in is now the home of the neighbor's daughter.  Most things looked the same but some things seemed completely different.  I left her and her parents postcards in their mailboxes.  Mainly to say hi, but also to let them know that I was the weirdo that was taking pictures of their houses.  A few cars suspiciously slowed down as they passed me standing along the road with my camera.  Snapping photos while walking along small town roads seemed to make many people uneasy.  I was lucky to be carrying postcards for recently past exhibitions in order to explain that I was a painter looking for inspiration for sketches and paintings.

Up until now, I have not looked through the photos I took on that walk through my hometown.  Shame it was just about impossible to even think about standing still let alone sit and sketch with all those bugs.  Another cousin I met on this walk spoke wisely when he said that the folks who live there can't wish away the bugs or they would be chased out by tourists and fancy resorts.  The bugs are the sole reason for people not to come in and turn the place into a sort of popular fishing and crabbing resort, if there is such a thing.  I hope to use some of the locations in paintings that visually introduce the beginnings of an odd narrative or romantically depict the ordinary.  I thought a lot about the local artists who visit these small towns regularly to paint or make photographs.  I thought it would be interesting to try and meet a few.  So that is just what I did.

Preparing for the "Optimaler Schnitt" Exhibition

Soon after completing my masters and moving back to Leipzig, Germany , I was fortunate to stumble across an amazing event one evening in the summer of 2001.  It was a GallerieRieRiemann 24-Hour-Exhibition titled "Sieben" (Seven) due to it being the seventh event.  Artists were invited to exhibit artwork that explored the topic "Sieben."  There were so many people and different types of art.  A collection of video projections, paintings, installations, films, and performances were on display in and around an empty building, that was formally a printing company, from 0:00 to 23:59.  I was so excited that I could not wait to find out if there would be another one and how I could take part.

Last Sunday I attended the introductory meeting of the  16th edition of the 24-Hour-Exhibition.  I was so excited to hear there was another one planned because the last one was 4 years ago and I was not able to take part.  While at the meeting, which was actually sort of a pot luck breakfast that went from noon to evening, I was asked by one of the organizers how many times I participated in the exhibitions.  I was surprised to recall that I was actually in 6 of the 8 that I could have possibly signed up for.

The title of the next exhibition is "Optimaler Schnitt" (Optimal Cut).  I must propose my idea for work to exhibit.  It should be new work that goes along with the titling theme.  I have had several discussions with my students in gr.11, my family, and friends about how I could interpret this theme.  It is amazing how some things just come together.  I immediately felt that the current transition of art teacher to artist-teacher and establishing myself as an artist was metaphor that truly expressed the theme.  This blog and the series of posts since October seemed to be screaming "Optimaler Schnitt!"  Therefore this 24 hour exhibition should become the first exhibition of new work produced under this new mindset.  It will be the first exhibition since attending the Artist-Teacher Workshop in Pisa.  It has given me a deadline.  April 12th at 0:00 a collection of work needs to be completed and on display!

The  "Optimaler Schnitt" seems to be a break or a change in the flow of a normal event; where a surprise or something unexpected takes place.  The paintings that I am planning are of frozen moments where the viewer is visually invited to become part of the scene or situation.

I am trying to set the elements in the paintings' compositions in a series of three.  The paintings should have one main narrative but three possible separate parts.  Each part represents a different perspective in the events taking place.  Some paintings will allow the viewer to experience the third point of perspective, encouraging the viewer to then become an integral part of the narrative and forced to not only view a set of optimal cuts, but be forced to contemplate their own.

All five canvases have a maximum length of 160 cm.

All five are stretched with canvas and primed with gesso.

Here two of the five with similar colours have been completed with the first coat of oil paint.

Steve Lewis WOOLOO Exhibition

Being Active Now

While searching sites on hyper- and meta-modernism, I came across a quote from Marina Abramovic, who recently had a retrospective in the MOMA.  She was urging artists to work in the present, to just do something, take part in any event, to be active.  I had just heard about a small 3 hour Christmas market at a local cultural centre near where I live.  So I signed up to have a table for €5.00.  I thought I would sit and draw holiday cards at customers' requests.

This led to ordering card blanks and thinking about ideas to illustrate.  When a person from the centre contacted me to inform me about being allowed to take part on the event, I was informed that the card idea may compete with the production of cards as a children's activity at the event.  I had the idea of creating cards with snowmen on them and actually had a few practice versions completed.  The blank cards were set aside for a future event and the snowman idea had to be developed off of the card and onto something different.

I wanted to have something that children could create as well, but at the same time being able to sell a product.  One that had something to do with snowmen.  I came up with the snowman kit.  The children could create the face of a snowman with chestnuts and pieces of sticks on a blank drawing of a snowman head and then store them in bag for use when it snows!

It was a great creative kick!  I didn't make a lot of sales but it was fun painting the 19 Snowman Bags and participating at the market.  With a bit of thought and early planning, I think it may be worth trying again next year at a weekend long arts and crafts Christmas market in an art's centre in Leipzig.

Making Art Alongside Students

Finding the time to produce art while being a teacher is tricky.  Working alongside students during the lesson once they are working on their own art has been an interesting solution to the issue.  I try to sit and join in with students at their table.  Sometimes sitting with students who may be having difficulties with the task or with those who are not able to stay focused on their work.  The students get a kick out of seeing the work and value the fact that their teacher enjoys making art and may perhaps even be good at it.  It gives opportunities for conversations with students that would not otherwise happen and gives them a bit of insight into the teacher's own artistic interests.  Teachers are actually people too!  

This year I have also scheduled studio evenings with grades 9-12.  Once a month on a Friday, we meet after school in the art room and work on our art until nine at night.  It gives students a chance to catch up on their coursework or try something new.  It gives me a chance to complete some work too.  It is nice when students give me advice or share ideas of what I could do next.  The students who attend these evenings have greater respect for the lessons and me as their teacher.  I could also try to occasionally bring this atmosphere into the actual lesson by announcing to the class that the next lesson will be run as a studio where students may continue their class work or come prepared to try something new.  This would be good at the end of a unit when most students are finished but some need extra time.  It may help get some of those who are less engaged motivated by seeing me and their peers working as artists.  This could help them realize that the joy of focusing and making art is better than fooling around during the lesson.  I will have to give it a try.

 

 This is a watercolour I did with a grade nine class out in our school garden.

 This is a lino cut I did to trade with the grade nine students after they completed their own lino cuts.

 This is the lino print portrait I did of our former director who moved on to another school.

This is a drawing of  a dream that may be developed into a painting.

Being a Visitor at Home

Allowing myself to enjoy being a visitor was one of the tasks I set myself after the artist teacher workshop.  I am proud to say that I took the time to sit and do some sketches and watercolours even while I was visiting my parents in New Jersey, USA over the summer.  This is something that I had never done before.  It was quite fun.

The first trip I made was down to Fortescue.  I sat on the edge of the road and sketched a house up on stilts while my son explored the beach with my old metal detector.  It was not easy.  I can not get over how difficult it is to get the placement of the house fixtures correct.  I gave up trying to fit in everything correctly after a while.  I knew my son would get bored sooner or later and I wanted to try to get some colour in the drawing.

On the 4th of July I was able to get away and drove, with my old Chevy pick-up, to Landis Ave. in Vineland.  I parked and sat across the street from a set of three buildings that were fixed up quite nicely.  The colours and moulding were attractive.  I struggled with the same issues as in Fortescue but it seemed to work out a bit better.  If only I did not have to get back in time for the fireworks, I could have finished the piece.  I think I will work on it again from the photos I took.

It was a great summer to ride around in my 1965 Chevy Pick-up Truck.  A highlight of the trip was putting it into an antique car show.  There were amazing cars and a bit of time to start a sketch!  I tried some conte crayons and pastels.  I was quite pleased with the result of this drawing of the back corner of my truck.

There were some hot days in August and my son loves to swim.  Looking into Parvin State Park was a pleasant surprise.  We had a really good time biking and swimming in the lake.  This building near the lake had recently been renovated and housed the snack shop.  As my son was swimming I was busy with pastels trying to capture the likeness of this building.

 

 The drawings are not great but the experience was wonderful.  Taking time to just sit and draw was so rewarding.  It didn't matter how accomplished they were because I was just happy to be doing them.  I need to get out and do sketches of Leipzig now.  The weather will soon be getting cold so I better hurry up!

Being a Visitor in Pisa

I will never forget how excited I was when I went out for the first walk down into the town.  The smell of jasmine was so strong.  It was a clear cool day but warm in the sun.  I found a gelato store and sat on a bench in the town square of Calci Provincia di Pisa to eat it.

Across from me was a sort of typical Italian looking apartment building which I started to draw after only dripping chocolate on me once.  I started just with the black fountain pen.  The proportions are all wrong and the forms are not accurate but it was the first time in about 20 years that I sat and drew.  I was there for quite some time and when people walked by it felt like I may have been the only person to have ever sat on a bench in that little town square.

It was a breezy day and the pages of my sketchbook often blew up.  I was also getting eager to walk around more.  I finished the sketch, took a few photos and then went to explore.  I knew I needed to be back by 7 for dinner.

Seeing this drawing along with the photo is depressing but I remember that once I began drawing the first window too large, I could not turn back without starting over.  So it was a nice exercise.

Perhaps I should try again from the photo.  It is nice that the bench I mentioned above is mirrored in a second that was placed opposite the one I sat on.