MORE ART ON THE NAVAJO REZ

Coming east from a Del Mar, California visit through the Navajo Reservation between Cameron, Arizona and Kayenta, Arizona more enlarged photographs by Chip Thomas reveal themselves. Some are fading away, some have inspired other art. Always thought-provoking and enhancing. See my May, 2011 post for other Thomas photographs.

2011 OPEN STUDIO EVENT

I am opening my studio and home to the public this coming Saturday and Sunday, December 3 and 4. Small art objects, collage, drawings, prints, book art, and sculpture will be shown. Lots of gift ideas. 209 El Diente Drive, Durango, Colorado, (10-5 each day). Refreshments and Art. Below are examples of the mixed-media/collage pieces that will be available for viewing.

Talisman 5

Homage: Japan

Errata

SEUSS ON THE LOOSE EVENT

Here are a few shots of 4th graders from Park Elementary School in Durango visiting the Seuss exhibit.
Just made Seuss hats

Docent giving tour of exhibit

The reading corner

SEUSS ON THE LOOSE follow-up

Here are some shots of the installation at the Durango Arts Center. An exciting exhibit that I curated along with Shan Wells which focuses on Ted Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss' process of preparing art for the children's books, political cartoons from the 1940's, and a selection of drawings for the Grinch. The children's book drawings were coupled with the finished books. A reading area has been well used throughout the month. Many school groups have visited, and been guided by our Docents through the exhibit, and then participated in art activities, Seussical The Musical has been playing to sold-out crowds and is a terrific production created by Durango Performing Arts Co. Thanks go out to all of Durango businesses and individuals that helped to support this exhibit generously loaned by the Mandeville Special Collections, located in the Geisel Library, at the University of California, San Diego. The community-wide event will close with a Farewell party November 11, 5-7 featuring a dance performance "Which,Way" at 6:30.

SEUSS ON THE LOOSE

For the past year I have been working on a curatorial project - bringing a selection of original drawings and political cartoons
of Dr. Seuss to the Durango Arts Center, Colorado. The art of Ted Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) is being loaned by the Seuss Collection, Special Collections Library at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). For a complete schedule, see durangoarts.org.

INTERVIEW ON THE WEB -

Detritus San Rafael - Book sculpture on site

Concentric Circle, 2nd phase

Just posted on New Voices is an my interview with Dottie Moore. I speak about my environmental art work at length. The site also shows some images. See my links for the ladybug address and then scroll "programs", click "The Gallery".

MEMORIAL - LOIS CRAWFORD BUB 1927-2011

ME and first cousin Lois, July, 2003

SUMMER IN COLORADO

Another beautiful, blue sky day, hiking the high country trails.

Above Little Molas Lake, San Juan Mountains, north of Durango, CO

Old growth ghosts

COLORADO HIGH

Family hike

Wildflowers on the mountain

Each summer the high country of the San Juan Mountains calls. This year my New Hampshire family, Mark, Rebecca, Nathaniel, and Ellinore visited and climbing Engineer Mountain was a high point of their stay.

KUMI KORF EXHIBIT CLOSES

After a two month stay, the exhibit of prints and sculptural books is over. The Art Library in the Durango Arts Center has been a beautiful space with soft colors hung unframed on the walls.

Mary Ellen and Kumi at the opening reception in July

KUMI KORF'S SCULPTURAL BOOK WORKSHOP

Walks in the Wild Box

Another view

Box top

Box bottom

The two-day workshop recently taught by Kumi Korf of Ithaca, NY at the Durango Arts Center was quite fascinating. Kumi has invented an architectural structure that is inventive and open to numerous interpretations. Participants came up with lots of interesting uses for the structure.

I used topo maps and journal text from my forest hike book "Walks in the Wild", created in the nineties. It was interesting to revisit text selections and bring another perspective to the theme by using Kumi's box form with its unfolded stages and spaces."Stage" objects included lichen ball, wasp nest fragment, sumi-dyed roots and animal skull, and small books of photographed root forms.

EDGEMONT HIGHLANDS HIKES

Big Oak Bird Rest at Edgemont Highlands


Tomorrow is the first of a series of hikes through my environmental art sites

CREATED ALONG THE WILD TRAILS OF EDGEMONT HIGHLANDS IN DURANGO, COLORADO

GUIDED HIKES BY THE ARTIST
MARY ELLEN LONG
Saturday, July 16, 9:30-11:30
(the first half of the trail system)
Sunday, July 17, 9:30-11:30
(the second half of the trail system)
----------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, August 6, 9:30-11:30
(the first half of the trail system)
Sunday, August 7, 9:30-11:30
(the second half of the trail system)

PLEASE CONTACT MARY ELLEN LONG
FOR RESERVATIONS

WMELART@YAHOO.COM

WINTER PRESSING 2010-11

Winter Pressing series 1

Winter Pressing series 2

Winter Pressing series 3

Each year I lay paper on the earth and bury it with snow. In December 2010 I laid 3 paper pieces wrapped in wire (8"x10" each) and through the winter, about 40" of snow fell. When the papers were harvested in April, I found that the rust marks I had hoped for were not left on the paper. The papers, nicely sculpted however, were perfect for sumi-dyed roots with accompanying ink drawings.

ASPEN GUARD STATION VISIT

Aspen forest in Montezuma County, Colorado

Recently, W. and I took a drive west and above Mancos, Colorado to revisit the site where in the mid-90's I had an artist residency. Friend Jane Pedersen was having her residency for the week, making books in the quiet atmosphere of the aspen forest. Just as beautiful as we remember it, the visit brought back fond memories of my time there. I had made site installations through the land adjacent to the old cabin...stone circles, carved logs, sculpture out of natural elements, all connected with a path through the aspen meadow.

NEW WORK

Ancient Embroidery Revisit 4

Ancient Embroidery Revisit 3

A transformation of the variable print edition of the past into ANCIENT EMBROIDERY REVISIT SERIES. The addition of handmade paper and other elements layers my intaglio embossed prints. I am continuing to enjoy recycling older work into new visions

KUMI KORF COMES TO DURANGO

A wonderful occassion for the Four Corners:
Kumi is an amazing artist and teacher and I encourage signing up for her workshop and/or seeing her exhibit and attending the opening reception after which a film about Kumi will be introduced by the artist herself.

SUMMER WORKSHOPS

BELOW IS MY WORKSHOP SCHEDULE FOR MY HOME STUDIO. JUST FINISHED THE PAPERMAKING CLASS WHERE BEAUTIFUL PAPERS WERE CREATED BY WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS.


2011 ARTIST STUDIO WORKSHOPS

MARY ELLEN LONG
209 EL DIENTE DRIVE, DURANGO


PAPERMAKING
JUNE 11& AUGUST 20
basic “kitchen” techniques
western and eastern style methods
emphasis on local fibers

COLLAGE
JUNE 18 & AUGUST 13
basic techniques
understanding of adhesives

BOOK ARTS
AUGUST 27
review of all styles
bindings and sculptural forms


ALL WORKSHOPS
beginning to experienced
consultation on individual projects
all materials supplied
small classes

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER: wmelart@yahoo.com

MEMORIAL

Celebration of the life of Red Bird

I was honored to be part of the dance and poetry performance at the memorial celebration of the life of Leonard "Red" Bird, a professor, peace activist, author/poet who was a friend, living many years in Durango, CO. The site was the campus of Fort Lewis College in Durango.
Flight performance

I contributed by unfurling Japanese-style handmade paper tendrils and giving them to the dancers. The paper was used as a symbol for the connection that Red Bird had with the people of Japan. The dancers were Anne Bartlett, Desiree Henderson, and Kathryn Moller. The music was performed by Jonathan Latta and the words were spoken by Charles Eagan. Simone Kelly, 2 years old, performed by placing a red folded paper crane on an aspen branch to end the performance.

PHOTOGRAPHY ON THE REZ

Navajo Code-Talkers

Traveling home from the west these photographs plus others were spied from the car. Chip Thomas, an ER doc/photographer on the Navajo reservation, has been wheatpasting large photographs of Native American people on sides of barns and abandoned buildings in the Four Corners for a number of years. These photographs are examples seen between Tuba City and Kayenta on Highway 160. I hope to see and photograph more as I travel south and west of where I live.

Native American women

DR. SEUSS

Dr. Seuss and The Cat in the Hat sculpture

At the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, I visited the Geisel Library (Special Collections Library) and viewed selections of the Seuss Collection (original drawings of Ted Geisel aka Dr. Seuss).

SAN DIEGO BOOK FAIRE

While in California I participated in the San Diego Book Faire, held in the Seuss Room, Special Collections at the Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego. Well attended, the visitors viewed artists' book exhibits and demonstrations, and participated in a silent auction and a raffle.
Book Sculpture by Sally Hagy-Boyer

Geisel Library, UCSD, La Jolla, CA

The Book Faire scene

WASHI WORKSHOP

Papermaking

The April workshop at the Durango Arts Center was quite successful with students exploring the special qualities of fibers such as kozo and mitsumata and the techiques that are used in Japan and Asia. The 2 day session was prefaced with the showing of the film on sheetforming of paper throughout the world by Elaine Koretsky.

APRIL TRAVEL

A week on the island of Molokai was a relaxing interlude. An island without much tourist presence, beautiful in its simplicity and magnificent terrain yet haunting with its history of the once leper colony and Father Damien, caregiver to these abandoned people.

Offering: Molokai, Hawaii

Offering: Molokai, Hawaii

Another site - Sandy Beach on the island of Molokai, Hawaii - for my continuing series of floating handmade paper circles on bodies of water as symbols for peace and healing

Flotsam on the Beach

The beauty of washed up neting and ropes on the beach is bittersweet - floating debris in the ocean being one of our environmental problems

Croton Plant

One of my favorite plants in Hawaii

Raft Floating

Another piece of flotsam found on the beach, pictured as it floats with the tidal current along the shore.