HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Fir tree cut at 8500 feet in the San Juan Mountains (on the property we once owned)

Christmas Eve and all is frosty here in Colorado. After 3 days of wet snow and rain, today began with blue skies, turning out to be a good day for a brisk walk and snow on the ground for a beautiful White Christmas. Cheers to all and may the world become more at peace in the new year.

WINTER WONDERS

Winter has arrived in Colorado and the branches of the Curly Willow beautifully hold the snow.

SAN FRANCISCO

Spire (Andy Goldsworthy, sculptor)

Another version of hugging trees!

This fall a trip to California included seeing a new work by Goldsworthy at the Presido in San Francisco. The piece is made of assembled cut cedar trees that had died on the site. It echoes a building in downtown San Francisco. I also took in a great fiber show nearby - "Intersections 5: Colors, Concepts, Contours". Saw a cool show in Japan town, Ken Hamazaki's "Grateful Red" at Superfrog Galley. Had an amazing tour at Industry of Light and Magic. (the George Lucas "industry"!) And saw the film, "Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff" presented by the Mill Valley Film Festival in Marin, north of the city. Our time in Marin included visits with friends and exploring the arts at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts ("Mapworks, the Map as Art"), "Zaragoza" in San Anselmo, and meeting Donna Seager at her Gallery in San Rafael. This gallery has a wonderful collection of artists' books. It was interesting seeing alot of "local" artist's work and smaller venues on this trip instead of the usual museum exhibitions.

LIBRARY FOLIAGE

Sombra

This month I am part of the exhibit "Library Foliage" located at Studio 2 Gallery in Austin, Texas. The theme relates to the altered book and is juried by John Sager. My assemblage features a small facsimile of a book, mounted on an antique book page.

Gold Indigo - collage

A One-day Studio Sale and Open House - Saturday, November 20 from 10-5. Showing paperworks, collage, mixed media, small objects, sculpture, paintings, prints. My home studio at 209 El Diente Drive, Edgemont in Durango, CO.

FALL WORKSHOPS

"Heisel" (collage with paper fragments)


"Arroyo Muds" (books of earth and root)

"Cloud, Root, Paper" (close-up of suspended book sculpture - kozo and abaca fibers)


Coming up the last of my 2010 workshops

COLLAGE, Saturday, October 23
BOOK ARTS, Saturday, October 30
PAPERMAKING, Saturday, November 6

(held in my home studio, includes beginning to experienced students, consultation on individual projects, all materials supplied, small classe) for more information email me - wmelart@yaoo.com

DURANGO OPEN STUDIOS

Sumi Root

Talisman

These mixed-media works are featured among many new works and work through the years in my Open Studio event the coming weekend, September 18-19. This year I am part of Durango Open Studios where forty-one artists open their creative spaces to the public for one weekend. The times are 10-4. I will also stay open on Monday, September 20 and by appointment until the holidays. I will have paintings, prints, paperworks, sculpture, artists' books, collage, etc. displayed and a walk in the woods as part of a visit to my home and studio. Refreshments will be served and work will be for sale at reasonable prices. If you are a Durango, Colorado area resident, come on by. Maps and more information are found on durangoopenstudios.blogspot.com.

OPEN DOORS EXHIBIT

Entry 3 (close-up)

Five Elements

These pieces, and one other are presently being exhibited in the Open Doors Exhibit at the Durango Arts Center, a taster show for the Open Studio Event coming up. A reception was held last Friday night along with the opening of Cities on the Side in the Art Library. The Library show featured Christy Ferrato of Durango, Nance Van Winckel of Spokane, WA, and Renee Rossi of Dallas, TX. These poet/artists created video and audio works, photography, drawings, and pyansky eggs - all quite exceptional. A poety reading was also held after the reception. They offered a workshop "Text Off the Page" which was very inspirational and challenging for all that participated.

ROOTS

The exhibit "Roots" is now residing at The Land Gallery, 419 Granite NW in Albuquerque through September 30, 2010. This body of work has been the main focus of my art making for the past year. I primarily considered the physicality of roots, their function and form...the beauty of the tangle, the spreading, the delicacy. I left it to the viewer to attach the metaphors if so desired.

The Gallery is open Thursday and Saturday by appointment through the month.
Please refer to my link to the Gallery website for more information, commentary, and photos.

Artist (wall: Collection-Roots, sumi-dyed)

Wall drawing of roots with Rootlet books, Source Book (sumi-dyed handmade paper wrapped book, earth), 20 Drawings (charcoal, earth, conte crayon)

Rootlets (closeup: books - handmade paper, earth, solvent-transfered text with wall drawing - charcoal)

ROOTS

Here are more images of the exhibition "Roots" The show took 2 1/2 days to install. Many tiny pins, velcro, and wall drawing. With the help of Edite and Tom Cates, owners of the gallery, the installation went well and I was very pleased with the result. The reception was well-attended and the viewers seemed intrigued and pleased.

Rooted (nature-altered paper, tea bags, sumi-dyed roots, earth)

Entre to Gallery - shown: Anchoring (handmade paper, sumi-dyed roots, earth) and Meristem (sumi-dyed root, ink-jet print)

Roots Arroyo (one-of-a-kind book of handmade paper, ink-jet print on kozo paper)

Cloud/Root/Paper (3 suspended handmade paper sculptures)

20 YEARS AT THE ATHENAEUM

Sumi Root

This collage, part of a series, was part of a Secret Sale at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library this past summer. The Sale was part of "It All Adds Up: Celebrating 20 Years of Exhibitions" at the La Jolla, California site. I was included because I have exhibited there through the years - the Main Gallery (1993), the Rotunda(1997), and the Reading Room (Work in the Collection - 2010).

SOLO SHOW IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

WALKS AT EDGEMONT HIGHLANDS

Sandy Creek

Waters Past

This summer found me leading walks along the trails at Edgemont Highlands, a development just east of Durango. I have been the artist-in-resident there for 5 years and am currently maintaining 30 sites. "Sandy Creek" is one of the sites that needs its raking each spring. "Waters Past", a sculpture made of clay fragments from an old water system, also needs an annual tending. The wild trail encircles the development, passing along stream beds and wetlands and through ponderosa pine forests. The complete hike takes about 2 hours. Residents and community members participated in the 3 artist-led walks on the trail this summer.

SIGNS OF FOREST

There will be a closing reception at the Arena Gallery for "Signs of the Forest" exhibit on August 21 from 3 to 6 p.m.

SIGNS OF THE FOREST

Detritus II

This open book, part of my Detritus series, was originally photographed in a snowy aspen grove in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. The scorched markings echo the worm larvae carvings on the inner bark and cores of aspens. This image comes from an installation at the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California in 2009. Currently this book sculpture is back in Southern California at Arena 1 Gallery in Santa Monica. I am one of 16 artists exhibiting in the show "Signs of the Forest", curated by Jean Clad. The exhibit runs from July 17 to August 21.

AMPERSAND article

Secrets of the Burn, 2004

I am happy to announce my inclusion in the recent article "Book Artists Who Make Their Own Paper: Peter Thomas, Mary Ellen Long, and Lisa Beth Robinson". The article by Deborah Kogan appears in the Winter 2010 issue of Ampersand, a quarterly journal of the Pacific Center for the Book Arts, San Francisco, California. The four page inclusion covers how I discovered book arts, my rituals of paper in the landscape and other projects that use handmade paper, how I learned to make paper, the characteristics of the paper made for my book works, and the influence of handmade paper on the book works produced. The making of "Secrets of the Burn" illustrated above is also included. Issues of Ampersand are available for purchase online at Green Chair Press. (see link)

THE LAND/AN ART SITE

Entrance Sign

Sculpture Example

Arroyo Roots


Last weekend I visited the sculpture reserve The Land near Mountainair, New Mexico, founded by Edite Nuevo and Tom Cates over a decade ago. And ten years ago I was part of a curated show at the site, creating an open book sculpture in the arroyo on the property, a temporary installation that spoke to the native plants and sandy earth of the arroyo. This current visit was made in conjunction with my solo show that opens September 4 in the Land's gallery site in downtown Albuquerque. The theme of the exhibit is roots and during my visit I photographed and collected roots for the upcoming show. I also installed handmade paper-covered roots within the exposed roots of juniper trees in the Land's arroyo as part of my on-going exploration into the physicality of roots. (click to enlarge photos)

SUMMER/FALL WORKSHOPS

Each year I teach workshops in my home studio. This year I will be offering the following:

PAPERMAKING, June 19 and July 10 (basic "kitchen" techniques, western and eastern style methods and emphasis on local fibers)

COLLAGE, June 26 and October 23 (basic techniques and understanding of adhesives/materials/papers)

BOOK ARTS, October 30 (review of all styles, bindings and sculptural forms)

All workshops are for beginners to experienced. There will be consultation on individual projects, and all materials are supplied. Classes are small
Hours 10-4 $65.

Please email to register - wmelart@yahoo.com

TRIP TO CANYON DE CHELLY

Canyon view

Spider Rock

White House ruin

White House paintings

Canyon wall with circle paintings

A few days ago, I traveled to Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona with husband Wendell and friends Genie and Al Shenk. The experience included a drive along the rim - looking down on the immense canyon, and a guided drive down into the canyon along the stream. An incredible experience in Navajo land. The overviews with ruins of structures built by people Archaic to the Navajo people were quite grand but I carry away the detail of the wall paintings and the rock geology as most impressive and inspirational.

WADE IN THE WATER

Last weekend I attended the Colorado Art Ranch Artposium in Salida, Colorado. The theme was Water - "Wade in the Water". The presenters were author, naturalist, and desert adventurer Craig Childs, poet/writer, water law expert, and state supreme court justice Greg Hobbs and Basia Irland, sculptor and installation artist, poet and book artist, and an activist in water issues. All amazing presentations. Part of the weekend was given to workshops. I took one workshop on the chemical properties of water and another on photographing water. The following images were taken during a walk around the Sands Lake State Wildlife Area and another at a nearby lake photographing water. One evening we meet and heard from the Artists-in-Residents who have been working in Salida for the past month and who the Artposia supports through the participants' fees. All quite impressive - visual artists and writers alike. See more by checking out coloradoartranch.org.

Family on the water

Beaver Lodge

Beaver returning

Reflections

A NEW ADDITION

Purr cat

Purrsha

Beautiful Purrsha (Purr for short) is a frequent studio visitor. Her varied grey and white markings blend well with color themes throughout the house and studio. (Currently studio work tends toward black and white!) Was she not designed to belong to us? Purr has a grey "heart" adjacent to her nose and performs a terrific sit-up for her morning treat. Very affectionate and a purr-fect friend!

LAURA WAIT WORKSHOP

The Friends of the Art Library (F.O.A.L.)at the Durango Arts Center recently brought Laura Wait of Steamboat Springs to Durango to teach a two day workshop on a variety of sewn book bindings. I used the opportunity to bind my journal that I began during my trip to Kauai last month. Very old tapa cloth was used for the cover and the binding was sewn on leather straps. The journal includes watercolors, drawings, photographs, and written text.

Kauai Book

Heliconia page

RECENT COLLAGE PLACEMENT -THE ATHENAEUM

Encore 1

While visiting The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla this April, I was very pleased to place the Encore series of collage (3 works) in their collection.

RECENT ART PLACEMENT- UCSD

While in Southern California, I visited the UCSD Special Collections in La Jolla and was very rewarded with 3 placements in their Collection.

Language Found

Gradations of Grey

Leaf 4 (a collage)

CALIFORNIA ART HAPPENINGS

In April I visited the San Diego Book Arts' "Edge to Edge" Exhibit in the
Japanese Friendship Garden, San Diego, CA. My book, "Shrines, Prayers, Offerings" was included in the exhibit.

The Garden Gallery

The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, La Jolla, CA has 7 of my artists' books in their collection and they were displayed during the month of April. It was nice to see my old friends again in their current home.

Collection of Mary Ellen Long in the Reading Room Cabinet (one example)

The Reading Room
The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, La Jolla, CA