In October, only a few short months ago, I was invited to Ketchum/Hailey/Sun Valley, Idaho to do a project about tourism (specifically as it relates to Sun Valley) and the American road trip with the Sun Valley Center for the Arts. I was there for nine days, visiting local cultural institutions and sites, hiking, camping, wandering the grounds of the tiny Sun Valley resort, and getting swallowed up by the Trailing of the Sheep Festival, all of which was really enjoyable and charming and strange. My hosts were fun and gracious and felt like old friends right away.

When I got home I spent the next couple of months (around my day job) making twelve paintings to send back for the exhibition. Here are a few (they're all 3x5 inches or so, the size of vintage postcards):

Now the show, Wish You Were Here, is up. I wish I could see it, but I love the sense of it I get from this excellent video they produced (embedded below), and I couldn't be prouder of the company I'm in. Check it!

A drawing that will begin its flight tomorrow toward the poet who commissioned it. 10 x 11 inches, ink on paper.

 

I really hope its new owner likes it; it always feels a very serious thing to create for someone who has entrusted me with creative license...

I had a second opening this week. (It's been a busy time leading up to it all!)  This is a solo show in Albuquerque, currently up and running at Small Engine Gallery, through September 28th. Small Engine is a sweet space run by very cool people.

The Show, Among the Final Thunders of These Ices, features the larger Arctic paintings and drawings I've been working on this summer, plus a few small studies.

My friends Juan and Sharon played a couple of sets for the opening. I would have come just to hear them! I'm hypnotized by their music and grateful that they so willingly gave the reception a beating heart. Thanks, guys.



Reception Clip from wood on Vimeo.

This week I traveled to West Virginia University, where I'm lucky enough to be in a two-person exhibition with my pal and fellow painter Beau Carey.

Fathom Out postcard

The show looked great.

The talk was well-attended.

And we were generally treated like rock stars. It was a perfect experience all around. Big thanks to everyone at WVU for their exceptional graciousness and generosity.

 

They made this phenomenal poster to advertise our lecture! (Thanks Michael Sherwin for the photo)

For an upcoming show, I decided to try some large pieces in graphite.

Part of the Ship, 26.5 x 40 inches

The above drawing is based on documentation of a performance that took place on board our ship, Antigua, during the Arctic Circle residency. My friend and collaborator Christy Georg is a master of knotwork, and she helped me tie myself into this configuration.

  

Gullybreen, 40 x 26.5 inches

Below is a detail from Gullybreen, seen above.

Three larger Arctic paintings, finished this summer. All acrylic on panel.

Eclipse, 20 x 30 inches

Circling the Ice, 25 x 50 inches

Stowaways, 20 x 30 inches

I documented my Arctic journal before it went to join its predecessors at the Center for Art + Environment. My camera apparently only records for ten minutes at a time--which I only found out later when I reviewed the footage--but that was enough to have gotten most of the good stuff in, anyway. :)

Arctic Journal. 2012 from wood on Vimeo.