Saturday, November 23, 2013

New Solo Show Coming to the O'Hanlon Center For the Arts in December 2014

In preparation for my next solo show, currently titled "Equus:Self Portrait", in the Loft Gallery at the O'Hanlon Center For the Arts, in Mill Valley, December 2, 2014,  I am working on my new body of work including paintings, drawings and sculptures of horses.  For inspiration, I've been using the photographs of my favorite Camargue ponies, by my favorite equine photographer, Robert Vavra. However, when it comes to equine art-making, I prefer working LIVE.

I am documenting my process with photos, videos and writing.  As a story teller, I love to experience the "ahas" in my life, and recently I got a good one.  It started with my research on the internet on how to improve my writing skills.  I discovered Glen Strathy's post on his blog, http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/plot-outline.html, "How to create a plot outline in 8 easy steps".   I listed as one of the "Requirements" to achieve my story goal, "You will meet people who will teach you about horses."  That afternoon, Providence and Fortune were upon me, after I stepped out of the Woodlands Market in Kentfield, and glanced at the bulletin board that I never look at and spied a flyer by Equine Insight, an operation owned by Judy Weston-Thompson.  Her fully certified operation called Equine Insight,  www.equineinsight.com, at Willow Tree Stables, in Wild Horse Valley, is just 20 minutes from my studio, in Novato, CA!  With her permission, I have taken some pictures of her beautiful creatures, a 19 year old French Percheron -gentle giant- gelding, named Star; a 21 year old gelding -beauty- named Cesar and a 23 year old mare -sweetheart- named Calysta, and posted them here.

Now, as journeys go, they start out as one thing and continue to morph into something else.  As an artist and Feldenkrais teacher, I am interested in the mind, consciousness and how we make sense of our world.  I enjoy seeing images emerge from the "random" "leftovers" of paint, oil sticks and markers, on paper, like a Rorschach blot, which I use as "backgrounds" for my art journals.  Last Monday, when I returned to my studio after my first encounter with Judy's horses, electric shocks of recognition raced through me, as I noticed on the corner of my art bench, the "painting", created months before, that was waiting to be dredged up from the depths of my unconscious.

A "painting" created with random leftovers of paint

Star, Cesar and Calysta, 2013

Star, Cesar and Calysta

Cesar and friend

Calysta

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