Artist of the Day: Purple Iris - Robin Mercer-Snead

purple iris

Winter has me in its snap-jaws this week. This painting leads my thoughts toward spring. In particular, I am thinking about the country lane near my home, and the multi-colored iris bulbs my father planted years ago, that bloom every year.

After reading Chesapeake, Virginia based artist Robin Mercer-Snead's fourteen word memoir I want to know much more. And also, see more of her vibrant paintings.
---
artist bio: A soul on a journey to discovery herself after years in the waste land.

Poem Therapy: Back - Beckian Friz Goldberg

back to earth   micah ofstedahl

Back

The god of the back
must be a lonely god,
god in the shape of man-headed hawk.

Long ago
a man had been sailing the river
and the hawk had been flying beside him 
for days. Mornings,

the man would wake and look,
yes, there it was, dark tip-to-tip, the hawk.
His hawk, he began to think of it.
And after a time

he forgot the point of the journey, 
he only woke each morning to see
if the hawk was there, to move if the hawk
moved with him, to not rest

if the hawk did not rest.  And all of this love
was done in silence, between animal
and animal.  There

beside him in the air and there
beside him in the water, the yoke
of the hawk.  Once he had a family.  Once
he had a city to go to and something

to bring back.  More and more 
he began to see his life
as a story the hawk was telling

holding the rat of the field in its claw, meaning
There is another world
and I will take you in it. 
This

is when he became the god,
god of the back, the beautiful
brow of leaving.

---
I have read this poem before, and may have even posted it here. I am rereading as someone else, as in, rereading as another incarnation of my current self and all my former selves. 

Have you ever revisite yourself as a child, or a teenager, or a new parent, or who you were just last year? Can you remember the thoughts of your former self?

I recognized my current self in "more and more/he began to see his life/as a story the hawk was telling".

There is another world. It is just before us. The world in which we become ourselves, again and again.

 

Artist of the Day: A Smack of Jellyfish - Jill Leonard

jill leonard






The gorgeous photographs by Ennis, Ireland based artist Jill Leonard have the ability to transport one out of the dregs of never ending winter into the strange underworld of these stunning creatures.

They resemble flowers, don't you think?
---
artist bio: Mom to Jack & a new babe on the way; spazzy photographer, heart on my sleeve, lover of life, travel & all things bizarre. LOVE: tattoos, mexican food, twizzlers & A1 sauce. Running! Veggies! I just love taking pictures. I am a film girl & miss the darkroom but giving it a go in this digital world. LOVE YOU!

Artist of the Day: Dandelion - bomobob

dandelion  bomobob

When I was a young girl I would make a wish and then blow on a dandelion puff and watch the seeds catch a breeze and take my desires into the future.

The snow keeps falling, and all day I've stood before my office window, and then the picture window of my home, sending wishes out into the icy air.

May they all come true. May every one circle back for me.

And may all your mid-winter wishes come true.
---
artist bio: An exhibited, award-winning photographer, I've been passionate about photography for just about as long as I can remember, right from that very first 1960s Kodak Brownie around my wrist at Upper Canada Village. A great deal of my adult life has been spent travelling the world for extended periods, always with cameras in tow. My photographic interests run the gamut from the joy of carnivals to nature to ephemera to street life. Although somewhat reluctantly entrenched in the digital age, I still shoot mostly film, and principally with old cameras that I salvage and repair. My present collection of old clunkers numbers about 60!

Artist of the Day: Paris - Rebecca Plotnick

paris cafe in marias

blue door

la petite zinc

rooftop

The warmth of calming blue, mint, and turquoise of Paris is exactly what this ice-filled storm day needs.

Parking lots and freeways look like sheet cakes of ice.
---
artist bio: Rebecca Plotnick took an unconventional route into the world of photography. She grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and studied Apparel Merchandising at Indiana University, but couldn't stay away from photography. Over the last 10 years, she has explored the two poles of the medium - the dark room and the digital world. Rebecca wants her photographs to encourage people to "linger over the beauty of life a little longer." While much of her work has been based on scenes from her local farmer's market in Chicago, she has been expanding her portfolio of travel photography with recent trips to Italy, England, Israel and most recently Paris.

Artist of the Day: The Magic Door - Tubi Du

tubi du

I'm going to Paris for the first time this spring. I am nervous. Freaking out, to be honest.

Did I mention I speak hardly any French? As in three sentences, (not counting expletives). I keep thinking I just need to put off going.  Again.

What is my problem? My friend who has been to Paris way too many times to bother listing an exact tally, and who is going again this summer, does not speak hardly any French. He informed me that what is wrong with me is that I'm a French virgin.

Okay.

His assessment many be accurate, but I think it's more about mundane things like figuring Euro rates, maneuvering the metro, ordering food. I am revealing myself as a total travel neurotic, I know. I will admit I feel much better about my petty anxieties watching my new friend from China stress over nickels and cents and pay with dollar bills only, and how a simple explanation of US currency has her using her spare change.

I know I'll calm down and get excited to go when the trip gets closer.  But, in the interim, I just may have a meltdown.

I listened to David Sedaris's essay Accidental Deception about riding the metro in France and two obnoxious American tourists mistaking him for a thief, and thought it was hilarious, and then thought, my god, there are thiefs on the metro? and, my god, I am going to be an obnoxious American! In France!

You see the ridiculous hamster wheel I am running? Well, at the very least,  I will have the decency to curse in French. Mon dieu!

The turquoise door of this illustration is a visual Valium. Ahhh.

Oui, the museums, cafes, historic sites, bookstores, food, flea markets will be c'est vraiment fantastique!

Paris illustrator and graphic designer Tubi Du does not have a bio, so I'll create one.
---
artist bio: I live in Paris. That fact alone, is all you need to know.

The Day in Cartoons: Lincoln and M.L. King watch over Barack Obama's inauguration - David Horsey

david horsey


commemorative inaugural invitation

I like inaugurations, regardless of who, or which party is taking the oath of office.

Obama's speech, in its allusion to Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall, put the ALL in the inferred all of the original "all men are created equal."

I watched PBS's Freedom Riders last night and marveled at their courage and at the depravity of their opponents. I haven't experienced struggle or bigotry because of my skin color or sexuality, but I do know what it is to experience sexism. It's infuriating and humiliating and sometimes hilarious and sometimes demeaning, but, it makes me work harder and read more and do more and be more, and, let me tell you, it makes me strive to make the road easier for my daughter.

Men like Obama, and many of my colleagues, neighbors, friends and family, clear the road of rocks for the next generation of women, and by doing so, make the road that much easier to traverse, for all.

This was especially moving and important to hear, ...our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.

Interesting Reading:
Los Angeles Times - Lincoln and M.L. King watch over Barack Obama's inauguration
--- Obama's speech: one for the "herstory" books
The Telegraph - Barack Obama inauguration: the highlights
U.S. News - For Obama's Inauguration, Echoes of Lincoln and Martin Luther King

 

Weekend Watch & Listen Playlist: January 18-20

macklemore & ryan lewis + feat. wanz

Thrift Shop is the only song I need this weekend, ( and maybe this Tiny Desk concert for when I get back from thrifting).

The Day in Cartoons: Mante Te'o Excuse - Randy Bish

 randy bish - pittsburgh tribune-review

 

I had not even heard of this story until yesterday. 

 

A Gertrude Stein riff on her a rose is a rose is appropriate: a lie is a lie is a lie is a lie....

 

Bish's cartoon reminds me of Danny Shanahan's New Yorker cartoon from way back in 2002. Both are funny cartoons, even if Manti Te'o's story isn't

 

Artist of the Day: Heart of the Bean - Kelly Vee

heart of the bean kelly vee

This is such a rich and lovely photograph.
---
artist bio: Hello! My name is Kelly and I can found taking photographs in a small South Carolina town with my wonderful husband, beautiful toddler twin daughters, and fluffy golden retriever, Layla.   I fell in love with photography while traveling and feel in love with graphic design/editing while working on photography. Even more so when my children were born and I wanted to capture every second. I enjoy each moment of the creation process and I put my heart into each photograph.  
 

January Inspiration 2013

from etsy: diamonds, do more, robot, crazy ones, fluff, do it, heart, calendar

Artist of the Day: Orange - Jenni Penni

orange  jenni penni

Tampere, Finland artist Jenni Penni's Orange, expresses this day perfectly.

Jenni Penni's photographs are lol funny, provocative, revealing, disturbing, lovely. For me, The Chair alludes to Frida Kahlo's shorn hair self-portrait of her post Diego/Cristina affair.

A wall of Penni's prints would be absolutely perfect.

---
artist bio: I'm a 24-year old girl from Finland with a love for photography and arts.

Poem Therapy 16 January 2013: Who Is God? So Asked Our Dog - Dara Weir

Who Is God? So Asked Our Dog

How many seasons are there?
Where was God born?
How many stars?
Who discovered every single one of the Americas and all of the other places?
Do some dwarves live in caves?
Is your mother singing in church tonight?
Is your father setting his hat on his head?
Do those goldfish belong to you?
Why did their God rise from the dead?
Could it be because of a forgotten pencil?
Do you like to study history?
Is this your book?
Where does cotton grow?
Why did the Holy Family go to Egypt. What is the Holy Family?
Do you see frightened ghosts on the streets sometimes?
I see the dog in your eye.
How would you like this to end?
Gone was a dog off to where a dog wants to go.
Who needed some help from old friends?
Do you see the question mark at the end of this sentence?
Somewhat maligned Pandora remains a curious person.
---
It's been two weeks since my old dog Ellie died.

We humans like to believe we are mighty. But it is the beasts who see the dog in our eyes, who sees us as we truly are.

And loves us anyway.

Artist of the Day: Turquoise Door - Vita Nostra

turquoise door vitanostra

Raleigh, North Carolina based photographer Emily's Turquoise Door reminded me of a dream I had a few years back of walking through a forest in Georgia and coming upon a little shop with a turquoise door. The beautiful  proprietress of the shop was from Iran. The dream  had something to do with my father, and with magic, or magical realism. When I woke up, I knew I wanted a turquoise door in my life.

I have no idea what the dream means, but I do think it's time for that turquoise door. Perhaps I should  paint the door to my studio, or just a vintage door and hang it on the wall.

Instead of the Stones' song, I want to paint it turquoise."
---
artist bio: My dream is to travel the world with my camera. Capturing unique and gorgeous images that bring home the true essence of time and place. There is nothing I love more than connecting with a moment, a scene, a person in a unique and special way that seals the image in time.

I have been photographing images around the world since my first trip overseas in 1996. My passion for travel and photography has blossomed through time in Paris, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Canada, London, Brazil, the islands and many return trips to my first love, Italy. My images are often vibrant and full of life and color. Unique details, textures, contrasts.    
 

Land of Deseret: Pique-nique Dreaming

crows at dusk
On the way home today I passed a murder of crows perched in trees, on fences, buildings, phone wires, and glutting parking lots and big box store side lawns. The corvids were pecking at the snow, foraging a winter picnic.

The schools were closed last Friday due to snow, the first ever snow day in memory, so my morning greasy spoon coffee shop was filled to capacity with tweens in zip up footy pajamas and grade school age children crowded into booths with their parents.

It's five degrees here in Deseret.  It is hurry up and shovel the walks, snowblow the driveway, and get back inside, wrap up in a down comforter, sit by the fire, bone cold. Even the small dog doesn't like going outside.

snow-packed
This is what it looks like outside. Even though it seems unimaginable, spring really is just around the corner.

Which brings me to the point of this post: I watched this charming Pique-nique video from Olive Us, of picnicing in Utah's wilderness, and it has me yearning for the warmth of lush and lazy days, when the desert is in full leaf. Instead of California Dreaming, I'm pique-nique dreaming.

Both photos below are stills I took watching Pique-nique.


mountain meadow


picnic basket

Artist of the Day: Black Adams - Ontology & Kibosh

o is for ontology

k is for kibosh

I originally wanted to spell LOVE with Corvallis, Oregon-based artist Black Adam's hand pulled screen prints, but he doesn't have a V, so I posted O & K, as in I love this artist, OK!

Let's hope Black completes all the letters of the alphabet very soon! I foresee a children's book for adults.
---
artist bio: Black Adams is an illustrator, graphic designer, print maker and builder of things in the wonderful Pacific Northwest. He lives with his wife, dog and chickens and spends the bulk of his time in his screen printing dungeon or his backyard garden.


 

Poem Therapy 10 January 2013: Somewhere Else - Matthew Shenoda

somewhere else coll hamilton

Somewhere Else

It is here on this ridge 
exposed to the orange dusk 
of mountain autumn 
that the story begins. 

Buck wood for the stove 
feel the heat of shoulder to tendon 
greet the mule deer 
and water the garden again. 

In rhythm, with song 
when the ax begins to blend with wind
carry on to warmer days 
on the river’s open banks 
where the fervor of healing is found in water. 
Flow from one origin to another--
there is never a place where we cannot begin 
where the current is ancient, the wind is young 
teaching each other like the ax and the wood. 

Carve a place for dignity 
plant a seed and pray for rain 
for sun 
for understanding outside your self. 

There will come a day when they say: 
who do you think you are 
and another day will come 
for you to tell. 

On that day the story will appear 
but do not tell of yourself 

tell the story of the staff that blossomed in the desert
or the one about your enemy’s greatest victory

tell the story of somewhere else
---

the story of somewhere else
Danna

when they asked
who do you think you are
it was not for me to tell

it is for you to tell
the story of somewhere else
that other time

is is for you to tell
in secret code
disguised as language
that your enemy died
an old man
in his own soft bed 

Artist of the Day: Crochet Lace Stone - Monica

crochet lace stone 1


crochet lace stone 2


crochet lace stone 3


crochet lace stone 4

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had an intense need to gather field stones from the field behind my house and bring them inside. I lined my living room with stones. Filled the transoms and window ledges of my home with stones.

To this day, I still have no idea why.

I have no idea what inspired Altus, Oklahoma artist Monica to crochet coverings for stones, but by doing so, she has elevated them and made them precious.

Don't you feel the urge to hold one of these treasures in your hands?
---
artist bio: I am always searching for something original, unusual and a bit quirky. Most of my work comes to life in my dining room. I love designing my own patterns. I love starting with a blank canvas, scarf, dress, apron etc…so I can add all the personality to a piece and create something truly original. Most of the time I have something envisioned and I work on it until my creation matches my vision. I love sketching out new ideas, in hopes of one day getting to all of them. I love collecting beautiful vintage pieces in hopes of incorporating them into something new.

Write 2013: The Land of Deseret Narratives

evan robertson

The thing about writing, drunk or sober, one must write in order to edit.

Here are two pieces from a longer collection of narratives from each county of Utah, (and former Utah Territory counties), that span from the early pioneers to the present. I wrote them a few years back. It's time to edit.

The Land of Deseret Narratives

Danna

1.

Washington County Narrative - St. George , Utah:
Levi Snow’s Viet Nam Tour Ends April 14 , 1968 Khe Sanh

John Lee Snow remembers the sudden flash of lightning stuttering in the distance, the strange cloud rising plume-like above the mountains, and the hot, dirty wind howling across his land, so harsh he and his son Levi locked the animals, even the goat, in the barn overnight to wait it out. The next morning, a scurf of gray ash littered the landscape like old snow. John spent the day shoveling ash into the back of his truck and dumping it in the sink hole at the edge of his property. Levi tried to fashion a miniature snowman, failed, and settled for a snow angel until his mother admonished him to leave off and help her clear the porch and shake her roses clean.

Harris Young drove over to survey the damage and to report over a third of his herd had taken sick. John's cows, sheep, three horses and goat were grazing in the ash-covered pasture. By nightfall the goat was dead, and the sheep were down, most likely to die.

It would be a decade before the cancer bloomed in his wife’s throat, another five before his thyroid turned traitor, but this is out on the horizon still.

Today, six months to the day his boy shipped out, just as the sun began to sink, two men in military dress pulled into his driveway, got out of their car and knocked on his front door. In that moment his son Levi dissolved into shadow.
---

9.
Millard County Narrative – Topaz, Utah: Cindy Cho Yamamoto Dreams of Butterflies While Lying on Her Cot September 23, 1942

The desert wind batters the barrack’s thin metal walls.  Cindy thinks the wind sounds like Bingo’s howls when he caught his paw in a mouse trap. Red sand gathers in small pyramids inside their new home’s door and on the window sills.  A fine silt rains steadily from the ceiling.  Her mother is sitting on the edge of her cot, as she has been for the last three hours since their arrival, in her fur-trimmed coat buttoned to the throat, clutching her purse which rests on her lap, along with both gloved hands.  Her white day gloves are tinged a smeared pink from smoothing dust from her navy wool skirt.  Her father is stretched out on top of his government-issued mattress, his suit jacket unbuttoned.  Red dust limns his body.  His slender hands are clasped behind his head, and his hat nearly covers his face, a defense against her mother’s whispered assault, How could you let this happen? To us? Cindy closes her eyes and is quickly asleep. She slides backwards to her tree-lined neighborhood on the slick river of dreams.  The door and windows  or her family home are locked securely as her family left them three days earlier, but she hears Bingo barking from inside. She hopes he will keep the home safe until they return.  Cindy smells a fragrant breeze and walks down her front steps to the vegetable garden at the side of her home and is surprised to see the cherry tree is no longer burdened with fruit, but ablaze with bright pink blossoms, its branches swaying in the cool San Franciscan breeze. Suddenly, the blossoms open and close their vibrant wings and lift from the tree and flutter away as one body upwards until they are so high in the sky they become a bird-shaped cloud.
---

Music & Poetry Mash Up: Alphabet of Mother Language - Anne Waldman + Say Goodbye to the Night - Kail Baxley

seeking kali ray johnson

kali michael sims holiday

Say Goodbye to the Night

+

Alphabet of Mother Language

If Kali were a car, what kind of car would she be? A Batmobile? She, as

primordial vehicle. She with emanations to wiles of any mother. She with hair

on fire. Mouth a flame with wrathful breath. This is the feminine speaking, this

is the mouth and body and curse of the female. See her on the street, in the

subway, at the endless-wait terminal. She waiting. Many storms of waiting.

Just below the surface. Red eyes, gaping mouth, lolling tongue. Definition in a

defining way the deafening roar of Kali which is the roar of Time. She is Time.

And She devours Time. Naked Time. Naked Kali. She is an open system. She

eats energy and manifests energy. No concept need apply. She is the flickering

tongue of Agni, fire. She is the mother of language and mantra. She is all 51

letters of the Devanagari alphabet, each letter a form of energy, a twinge of

energy, a torque of energy. Each letter a star, each letter a sign, each letter an

empyrean gesture, each letter a captured sound, each letter a resolve, each

letter a rune, each letter a whiplash, each letter a scorching brand, each letter  

a flame, each letter a twitch, each letter a bundle of firewood, each letter a

thirsty pioneer, each letter a charnel ground, each letter a rice harvest, each

letter a cooking pot, each, each letter a treasure, each letter a tide now rising,

each letter an eolithic moon, each letter a sun in shadow, each letter a love

affair, each letter a possible mistake, each letter a symbol of change, each

letter a wheel, each letter a wheel of change, each letter a triumph, each letter

a solar wind, each letter a storm, each letter a cameo appearance, each one a

treaty, each one a place where plutonium safely resides, each one an

hedrumite resolution, each one an epitrope, each one an orchestra of many

gongs, each one an evening, a morning with snow, a morning with scorching

heat, each one a necessary tribulation, each one a massacre that will be

revealed, each one a torture that will be revealed, each letter a bamboo

thicket, each one a candle lit to all the deities in all ten directions of space,

each one a pillow, a mat, a blanket, each one a water buffalo, each one a

bride, each one a hag, each letter a palpable hit...

 

Artist of the Day: Be Alive - Bonny Gorsuch

be alive





















pink dress & lucky dog



Has it been difficult for you to get started on a good foot in 2013? Me too.
When it is this cold, I can't kick start my joie de vivre, and my motivation and ambition run and hide under a pile of warm covers.

What to do?

Be alive. How about instead of waiting for the sun's return, each of us find something that brings us back to life. I am casting about for a project that will brighten these dark winter days.

I believe it is time for another voodoo collage.

I chose Cannon Beach, Oregon artist Bonny Gorsuch's fiber collage Be Alive because it made me smile today, and Lucky Dog because I am missing my black dog, Ellie. It's been a week.
---
artist bio: Who would have guessed that making tiny Troll clothes back in the 60's would be the beginning of where I am today? Thank you Mrs. Felix at Live Oak Park in Manhattan Beach, California for teaching me some tricks of the trade! Today, I create green-inspired and altered wearable art clothing (my line is called Random Scraps of Fabric), collages, banners and assemblages from found objects, vintage fabrics and textiles. My materials are always 100% recycled and pre-loved. I love anything old and unusual. See my website www.mybonny.com.

Artist of the Day: Daily Drawing Practice - Patti Roberts-Pizzuto

january 7, 2013                      patti roberts-pizzuto


may 30, 2012

october 16, 2012

 

march 21, 2012

 

Daily challenge projects like this by Vermillion, South Dakota artist Patti Roberts-Pizzuto inspire me to make my work a practice, something that I work at every single day, rather than waiting for inspiration or time or the stars to align. Speaking of inspiration, how could you not be inspired to make art your daily practice when you live in a town called Vermillion?

---

artist bio: I am an artist, still somewhat new to South Dakota, having moved here from Sarasota, Florida in 2005. My husband and I are both artists (he's a printmaking professor at USD) and our home/studio is located just outside Vermillion, South Dakota on the banks of the Missouri River. I enjoy the magic of the creative process....a kind of alchemy that allows something to come from almost nothing. I am interested in time, memory and our personal and collective histories....it's all we have and every bit of it precious. A drawing a day....a way to mark time.

 

Artist of the Day: Dewey Decimal Vintage Card Catalog Necklace - Written Nerd

 
dewey decimal vintage card catalog necklace writtennerd

Book hoarder/lover that I am, I love this entire site.

This artist did not have a bio, so I created one.
---
artist bio: Alameda, California based artist/jeweler/rebel Written Nerd is a former librarian who refused to recycle the beloved card catalogs when libraries the world over transitioned from book catalogs to computer catalogs. Instead, Written Nerd lovingly and obsessively collected card catalogs, which are now stored in thousands of packing boxes, and placed according to the Dewey Decimal Classification,  in Written Nerd's residence: closets (100), under the bed (300), bathroom (500), home office (700), bookshelves (800), on top & under kitchen table (900), and stored in far too many storage units to begin to count.

from the site's description: Get nerdy the cute way! This necklace is made with a 3/4" glass dome, under which is featured Dewey Decimal numbers from vintage library catalog cards.