In October I went to a conference at the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. It was worthwhile for lots of reasons: exposure to exciting, strange work being made in the field; talks by artists I've long respected; spending time with new and old friends who are far-flung across the country (and in some cases across the globe); and last, but not least--solo road trip.

I camped out during the conference's duration, then took an errant, rambling route home. On the drive, I had an idea for a new body of work...not worth explaining yet, but it has to do with sublime landscape and multiple compounded horizon lines. I rambled about it to my camera (set on video mode while I drove)--impassioned, excited snippets of thought that make much less sense now than they did in context. I don't know how those pieces will work, so don't hold me to it, but the point is, I went out of my way to look for sublime scopes/scapes, cutting through Yosemite, Death Valley, and bits of the Mojave, and skirting the Grand Canyon. This resulted in tons of photographs and a couple of nice landscape studies.

6"x12", acrylic on hardboard

6"x12", acrylic on hardboard

The other thing that's happened recently is I fully documented my travel journal from Australia (hence the video in my last post). Here are a couple of pages from that:

Having all these things together, I reorganized my website gallery to reflect a category that's becoming more and more prominent in my practice: travelogues and field studies. Check it out if you'd like to see some extra sketches from recent travels!

The (mostly) completed AU field studies journal.

This summer when I was raising money for my trip to New South Wales, I was supported by a number of generous donors via Kickstarter, who pledged specific amounts of cash in exchange for studies made in the field. Here are some of those--for the $100 donation tier--which will get mailed out next week. I really hope their recipients enjoy them, and that they feel their pledge was worth the investment.

If any of you folks are reading, thank you again for your help!

The reception on Saturday for Wish You Were Here was a lovely thing. It was Homecoming here at the college, so plenty of alumni stopped by, and I met students past and present, and saw lots of old friends.

One alum, Diane Smith (whose photos of the Ghost Town Arts Collective show I posted recently), documented the swirl of attendees (and some details of the work) and graciously passed the following images on to me. Thanks, Diane!

 

You've probably heard me mention before my affection for and attachment to the Ghost Town Arts Collective. I'm lucky enough to have a couple of pieces in their current show at the Mokah Gallery in the LIFE Cultural Center in Deep Ellum (that's in Dallas, for those of you not familiar with North Texas): You Will Know When You Are There: A Journey in Art and Modern Dance.

postcard design by Liz Elsberg

What's that, dear reader? You'd like to read excerpts from the press release? Okay!

Deep Ellum’s Muscle Memory Dance Theatre and the Ghost Town Arts Collective Collaborate on Unique Multi-Media Event

Dallas, Texas.  October 10, 2011 –

You Will Know When You Are There is an art and dance collaboration between the Ghost Town Arts Collective and Muscle Memory Dance Theatre taking place at LIFE in Deep Ellum. While taking direction and drawing inspiration from each other, these two groups have worked together to merge visual arts and dance.  The collaboration is a large scale art and dance event: part gallery show, part dance performance, part art installation.

The subject of this event is transformation and myth: processes that twist and turn, taking us somewhere … a place that is unknown until arrival.  You will know when you are there.

The event kicks off with a art exhibition in the gallery at LIFE in Deep Ellum to open on October 10th. The journey continues through the fall as the Ghost Town artists build an installation that is companion to the dance performance choreographed by Muscle Memory Dance Theatre.  Taking cues from one another, the installation will shape the movement, and the movement will shape the installation. The project will culminate in an evening length dance performance on November 4th and 5th at LIFE in Deep Ellum.

(You can click here if you'd like to see the press release in its full, unabbreviated glory.)

The static elements of the show have been in place since the beginning of the month, and look great.

 two pieces by Heidi Rushing; photo courtesy Dianne Smith

 ceramic work by Katherine Taylor; photo courtesy Dianne Smith

 sculpture by Pati Dye; photo courtesy of Dianne Smith

The interactive installation mentioned in the press release (taking place on November 4th and 5th) overlaps my visit to the Dallas area to pick up the work from WYWH, so I'll be there for the install and performance! I'm excited to participate, and see what will come of it.

I shipped work to Canberra, NSW, recently, for a couple of group shows taking place there.

One of these shows was Far Enough, at the Bega Regional Gallery; and the other, Mallee ['mæli:], mounted at the ANU School of Art's main gallery.

I made two bodies of work--the first was the series of egg tempera portraits that I've mentioned several times over the last several weeks. Here they are, all framed up together:

The other was a set of small, ambiguous pieces based on experiential physical actions I made and documented in the field. I'll show the source material for the first of these, Invasive.

Invasive, 6"x9"

Hide, 6"x9"

Stalk, 6"x9"

I was really pleased and proud that Invasive was used for some of the publicity for the show...

...but equally pleased and proud to be involved in the exhibitions, period. I wish I could be there to see them in person, but I can gather from images that the complexity of the Field Studies program was successfully represented by a wide variety of interesting, well-executed works. Thanks to everyone there who helped organize the exhibitions, and the events surrounding them!

I got so absorbed in painting my most recent large piece, Game, that I did an uneven job in documenting its progress. But I did get it finished! And here it is:

Game, 19"x94"

A few details:

I managed to finish it just in time for Wish You Were Here, the Austin College show I mentioned in my last post. Here are the other pieces that are in said show, for those interested parties. Two of them are repeat pieces from my last solo show, at the Harwood; the rest have been finished in the past year (and documented here on the blog, so they may look just as familiar).

Snowfall, 24"x30"

 

 Range, 12"x42"

 Point, 15"x42"

 Landed, 18"x24"

 Bedroll, 13"x15"

 The Glass Fields, 20"x25"

At the moment I've got a solo show up at Austin College, in Sherman, Texas: Wish You Were Here.

I drove to AC with the paintings all bundled up in the station wagon a couple of weeks ago. It was a delight and a relief to put the work into the capable hands of Joseph Allison and Heidi Rushing, who are the heart and soul and muscles and eyes and etc. of the gallery operation there, and also awesome friends.

I did the lettering for the wall text while Joseph did the hanging and adjusted the lights.

The Forster Gallery is a nice, big, airy space, and it was great to see the work have enough room to breathe!

Those of you in the North Texas area, feel free to come by for the reception on October 29, 6 - 8, and say hello! I'll be in the area for about a week to catch up with old friends, give a talk at the college, and pick up the work when the show comes down on November 4th.

I finished the egg tempera works for the show Far Enough at the Bega Regional Gallery in NSW (one of two shows for which work has had to be sent to Australia).

Here they are! They're all 8"x10" and on panel.