MOMENTS FROM LOST AND FOUND

On our way traveling to the Lost and Found exhibit at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery on Bainbridge Island with my sister, Wendy and Shane Miller, artist friend and participant in this show, we stopped for a meal of soup and salad. When we arrived at the gallery we found it all a-buzz, filled with a sea of art enthusiasts from front to back. As we swam our way through the crowd some congratulations went to Shane for the sale of her large piece, If Found...Return to Icarus, pictured below. Next to the wing is a listing in the lost and found section of a Roman publication. This fun and clever lost listing is part of the charm of this If Found...Return to Icarus piece. There is a wonderful story from Greek Mythology about Icarus and his dad, Daedalus that this piece was inspired from.

Above is a quiet conversation between Karen Hackenberg, right, and Barbara Berger, friend/artist/author who has spent much of her career as a children's book writer and illustrator. The image that is visible at the left is a portion of one of Karen's large pieces. It is worth driving a distance to Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery in Winslow to see her skillfully rendered body of work and the rest of this Lost and Found exhibit.

WHERE THE MOON GOES TO RECHARGE

This is another of my pieces, Where the Moon Goes To Recharge...Our moon has always fascinated me. She does her waxing thing coming around full circle every month shining so brightly and full then wanes to do the cycle all over again. It made me visualize her need for a recharge thus this fanciful piece came about.
I hope to achieve and post a more detailed photo to show a closer look at what the components are.

ANCIENT FUTURE SPECIES

This piece above pretty much created itself as I wandered around my studio picking up various found objects...being that it did not really have a seed to start from other than it's own sense of birthing the title was slow to reveal itself, but once it did, after a little brainstorming session with Shane Miller, I came up with Ancient Future Species. The old electrical wiring I used in this piece has a wonderful copper mesh on the outside of it. By pulling the wire from inside the mesh it becomes easy to manipulate and in this case formed into plant like shapes...they look a bit other worldly and the rectangular shape pipe from which is sprouts gives a somewhat futuristic look to it... 

This piece below was fun to actualize utilizing an old thread spool, springs and other found objects...yes...had to do it...had to call it Spring Roll.

 SPRING ROLL 

Shane Miller, me, Linda Jarvis and Ron Ho

The most highlighted moment from the opening for me was meeting and engaging in conversation with Ron Ho, Seattle's own. I have tagged him, The Legendary Master of Found Objects Art Jeweler. He is a delight and very willing to engage and talk story and laugh. The magnificent piece he is wearing is one he launched into the world years ago and sometime recently learned from the Bellevue Arts Museum that the person who originally bought it had been thinking of selling it. From that knowledge the opportunity came to him to purchase the piece back as he did not possess one of his own pieces. In this photo he proudly wears this piece, now his again....

 

In the above photo he explains about the elements as he points to his Lost and Found show piece, Tibtan Reliquary, pictured and described in my previous post. His work is so carefully and skillfully crafted and shows hours of thought-out design as he works with his treasured found elements and worldly artifacts.

If you have not had the opportunity to see Ron Ho's work in person be sure to get by Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery. This entire show is wonderful, full of many pieces created by 10 artists (listed in previous post) with various creative approaches using lost and found objects we have collected during our artistic journeys. 

Mr. Ho has a wonderful book/catalog, still available which was released in 2006, the second in a series of monographs published by Bellevue Arts Museum, shown above. Dim Sum at the On-On Tea Room: The Jewelry of Ron Ho. This book traces the remarkable richness and diversity of the achievements of this talented Seattle-based artist.

The energy of the opening quieted down by the closing of the evening. This is me next to one of my pieces, The Allure of Reflected Light, a mirror with a raven being pulled by the reflected light on the wonderful collectables he would love to grab and gather, such as ravens and crows do. By the end of all the evening's inter-actions I was talked out and ready to head home...I look a bit weary in this shot, but all in all it was a very memorable gathering.

Thank you Susan, David, Victoria, Anne, Lynette, Wendy, Sara and the rest of the wonderful crew at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery. You all work so diligently to accomadate and represent us. It is much appreciated.

Well I guess I can't close without mentioning A Brush With Fate even though it was mentioned in my previous post which you can read about there.

 A BRUSH WITH FATE

Remember you can enlarge the images by clicking on the photos.

LOST AND FOUND: ASSEMBLAGE

Yesterday, my fellow artist friend, Shane Miller, and I delivered our work to Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery in Winslow for the upcoming show LOST AND FOUND: ASSEMBLAGE. It will open Friday, Nov. 2nd with an artist reception, 6pm-8pm. It runs through Dec 3rd. Stop by if you are in the area. 

We caught up with another fellow artist friend from our neck of the woods, Karen Hackenberg, who is also part of the show while she was delivering her work to the gallery. Her incredibly executed paintings focus on discarded mass produced items that are found littering the edges, cracks and seams of our natural world. Many items were found along the edge of beaches here in the Pacific Northwest. As well as her paintings she has a few assemblages using found objects.

A BRUSH WITH FATE

Linda Jarvis

One of the pieces I submitted to the show, pictured above, to my delight became the poster child for promoting this LOST AND FOUND exhibit having been used in several forms of advertising, for instance CURRENTS, a Bainbridge Island seasonal cultural quarterly & events calendar, which is a publication of Bainbridge Island Arts & Humanities Council. Thank you Victoria! (Victoria Josslin is the Director of Public Information at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts. She is an art historian and the founder of Artdish, an online discussion of Northwest art. Victoria's articles have been published in the Seattle P-I, Aorta, Art Access, and currently in Glass Quarterly - available at the Bainbridge Public Library.) If you want to view this CURRENT issue click on the link above then on the FALL 2012 issue and view as a PDF.

The show artists participating besides myself are Linda Castello, Bil Fleming, Chris Giffin, Karen Hackenberg, Nancy Hewitt, Shane Miller, Mark Osborn, Deborah Peek and the legendary master of found objects art jeweler, Ron Ho. We got a sneak peek at his beautiful new piece that he created with some old Tibetan keys, an earplug from Mexico or Central America, beads and his handcrafted silver elements. He is quite a well known jeweler here in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. He was a student of Ramona Solberg and it is easy to see her influence in his work even though his style is his own. It is a  privilege to be showing with him. We are hoping he will be present at the opening Friday night (tomorrow)...he is in his mid 70's. 

TIBETAN RELIQUARY

Ron Ho 

More later...