OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND

Peace Leaf. 2009

Lots of preparations are happening for my annual Open Studio event this weekend. New work will be exhibited as well as art over many years.

Fall Workshops

Studio during a past Papermaking workshop

There is still room in my fall Durango workshops:
October 3 - Book Arts
October 17 - Collage
for information: wmelart@yahoo.com

ASPEN INSTALLATION

During the past weekend, I participated in the Co-Lab art show at Three Springs in Durango, Colorado. This art exhibit was part of the Open Studios weekend in and around Durango. Three Springs is a new development adjacent to Durango's Mercy Hospital and the raw and empty commercial spaces in the Mercado District where the artists exhibited their work, were an interesting and unusual venue for art. My Aspen graphite drawings, not often exhibited because of their size, are approximately ten feet in height and fit well in the space. The floor installation, titled "Forest Walk" or "Detritus" in past exhibits. is made up of cast paper tree sculptures with a central book sculpture "Detritus I". Leaves and lichens create a path through the installation. "Forest Walk" was recently shown in a larger form called "Detritus" at the Long Beach Museum as documented in a May 10th post this year.

FLASH! This installation has been left in the space for a few more weeks. It can be viewed quite well thru the north window. It is at the opposite end of the building where the popular cafe, "Digs" is located. 125 Mercado St, Suite 119. It is also possible to be viewed in the space by contacting the artist at wmelart@yahoo.com.

Aspen drawings and Forest Walk

OPEN DOORS EXHIBIT

Reliquary

Nara

Shrine Path

In Durango, the Open Doors exhibit at the Durango Arts Center opens Tuesday. September 8. There will be a reception on September 18, Gallery Walk night. As part of this exhibit I have collages that were inspired by my journey to Japan last year and one box sculpture - a shrine to the traditional book form and text.

BOUNDLESS TRANSFORMATIONS: THE BOOK AS ART

Winter Pressing 2005-06

One of my Winter Pressings, works that evolve from my ritual (over 25 years) of placing paper under winter snows, is being shown at the Art Students League of Denver - in the show "Boundless Transformations: The Book as Art" curated by Alicia McKim. The exhibit has a reception on Friday, September 11 (5:30-8) and runs from September 4 to October 28. The League's gallery is at 200 Grant Street in Denver.

SUMMER IN THE EAST

Wave Field by Maya Lin

Wendell at Andy Goldsworthy's Stone Wall

After our visit in Santa Fe, we flew to New York and drove up the Hudson River Valley with friends Leslie and Richard to Storm King Sculpture Park, the site of Maya Lin's newest land work, "Wave Field" and "Stone Wall" by Andy Goldsworthy.

Water Run Farm, West Chesterfield, New Hampshire

Todd-Long Family Picnic

The Long Family East

The trip ended with five days at Water Run Farm, home of the Todd-Long family (Mark and Rebecca and grandchildren Nathaniel and Ellinore). We stayed in the remodeled sugar shack with our own outhouse down large stone steps. Lots of swims in the pond, blueberry picking, a rural theater experience seeing "Art", watching Ellie at her horseback riding lesson, ping pong in the barn, watching the rams butt heads, and daily delicious meals out of the expansive garden.

SUMMER'S END 2009

Gail Rieke, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Zenos and his Grand-ME


Summer has been a full time with hiking and gardening, maintaining my environmental sites at Edgemont Highlands, a visit from Zenos, our grandson who lives in Copenhagen, and a drive to Santa Fe for the Japan Journal Journey tour reunion with a visit to the studio exhibit of Gail Rieke.

20/20 VISION: A Retrospective+

Japan Quartet (mixed media collage)

Exorcism (mixed media) and Sando Sign (willow and handmade paper)

Sands, Signs, Symbols: Western Journeys (handmade paper installation)

The Durango Arts Center is presenting work of 20+ artists with 20+ years of involvement with DAC. Everyone submitted 3 older works and 1 new work. My older works have been shown in the three previous locations of the Arts Center starting in 1983. The Japan Quartet is dated 2009. The exhibit opened August 7 with a reception and continues till September 4, 2009.

PAPER NARRATIVES

Language Bound (artists'book)

The above work is included in this invitational exhibition featuring 2 & 3-dimensional works on or of paper by artists concerned with narrative as both a visual & a conceptual element of their work.

Curated by Alicia Bailey at The Abecedarian Gallery in Denver's Art District on Santa Fe. July 30-September 5...first Friday reception August 7, 6-8 p.m.

MEREDITH NEMIROV WORKSHOP

I enjoyed the workshop "Artist's Sketchbooks: Classic and Contemporary" given by artist Meredith Nemirov this past Saturday. Meredith is exhibiting in the Art Library at the Durango Arts Center this summer. Lots of drawing and inspiration for me as I embark on a new direction in my art. Link to Meredith's website to see her interpretations of nature and the aspen tree in particular.

Barbara and Janet confer with Meredith Nemirov (right)