Texture and Materials

I was recently in Columbus, Ohio for the installation of some artwork in a hand and micro-surgery center. The developers and physician owners had requested that some of the pieces in the scheme be from artists in the region. I certainly succeeded with Linda Leviton, a sculptor who lives and works just .7 miles from the facility. Linda invited me over and showed me around her studio and home.

First she showed me the multi-dimensional painted wood piece she created for the main reception wall:

As I looked around the studio I saw a very diverse body of sculptural work. In addition to wood, Linda also creates pieces in copper:

The wackiest piece I found was created using dichroic acrylic:

More studio shots to come!

Sleuthing through the snow...

I had an installation in Boulder this week and decided it was a good opportunity to piggy-back a studio visit and pick up a piece that I have secured for a  surgery center in Ohio.
This sleuth expedition was a little unusual. It is February, and so by now even the procrastinators of us have taken down our holiday decorations and lights. Not Elizabeth Black. The artist and her husband, the photographer Christopher Brown, are in the year-round Christmas business. In addition to selling their artwork, they cooperatively run a Christmas tree farm. Here are some shots of her studio:

winter (summer, spring & fall) Hinterland

Over 6" of snow fell in Denver last night, coincidentally hours after the heat in my "trusty" old Volvo went out, so I am opting to spend the day at my laptop with this office view:

Viewing the gorgeous winter wonderland outside, I think it is appropriate to mention a gallery space in Denver's Rino District with a delightful name: Hinterland. http://hinterlandartspace.com/
Hinterland is an exhibition space owned by husband and wife team Sabin Aell and Randy Rushton. It features some of the more innovative, contemporary and experimental art exhibitions in the Denver area. Of note, it also houses the studio of previously featured artist Lisa Kowalski.

Stop in to see the exhibits. Next up, a pop-up show/sale called Vintage Renewal that promises "eclectic Bohemian inspired style through the reuse of existing vintage and recycled materials." It opens Saturday, November 12th and will feature live music by Rob Drabkin.

Sleuthing Scraps

Lisa Kowalski is an abstract expressionist painter known for her vibrant, sometimes almost violent applications of thick impasto paints. Some of her pieces are purely abstract, others reference the movement of cities and figures, notably this one, "Pretty Little Lies 2", that I just sold to a private equity firm in Boulder:

Where does she get her inspiration? Like many expressionists, some of the brushstrokes come from the muse within within, but as I saw when I visited her RINO studio, she pulls color palettes and compositions from many printed sources. Lisa has a collection of messy, paint splattered, nearly falling apart but lovely artist notebooks with torn, shredded and collaged images. As I sit with her she pages through them swiftly, and I imagine she does the same when she is there on her own, priming to paint, waiting for the right glimpse to guide her next piece.

Milwaukee Metal

On my recent trip to Wisconsin, post successful marathon, I was kindly invited into the studio of the sculptor Richard Taylor. He had told me on the phone that he had a lot of works in progress, and he wasn't kidding. The industrial building just north of downtown was chock-a-block full of his metal pieces, wall and free-standing, indoor and outdoor, natural rusted steel to painterly distressed to shocking bright. Here are some of the highlights:

Freestanding totem pieces. I think I can move these!

From a series of public sculptures he executed. This one was built on spec and is primed, ready to be painted a color of choice and placed somewhere magnificent!

A guardian figure watching over the studio and lending some creative juju from time to time

Richard discusses his art and process

Good motto!