2019: The year of… I don’t know.
Following my wonderful show at Gallery 224 in Port Washington in the fall of 2018, the always amazing Creeping Museum asked me to participate in their amazing Shirley Jackson tribute to celebrate the Haunting of Hill House. Shortly thereafter, the the fantastic Golden Horse Ranch Band contacted me to design their annual Barn Dance Apocalypse show poster. I was honored to do both.
Then, on Christmas day, I had a mini-stroke.
Two weeks later, the loving cat I had for 18 years died.
One week after that my cousin died.
Then 2019 happened.
I had ideas…
They did not happen.
I made several things…
They are in a drawer.
Last month, Gallery 224 reached out again. My only finished piece of 2019 will be available at their fundraiser on Dec. 5th.
I will post it this weekend.
Thank you to many friends and especially Frank Juarez for a year of kind words.
This is probably my favorite thing that I have made this year.
Solanine is the poison found in all members of the nightshade family. Beware the little bunny harbinger offering you some fresh nightshade (aka heirloom tomatoes).
This is an 8″ x 11″ piece set in 4 art-glass pane layers.
I made this in February after a much needed winter break.
I really liked the layered glass pieces I began last summer and they are really all I am interested in making now. This continues with that process. The down side of creating them this way is that it takes two to three times as long to make one, but I feel the resulting depth they have when seen in person is worth the extra time and expense it requires. Basically there is one papercut between each layer of glass. In this one, for instance, there are three panes of glass for the three individual cut pieces. When placed together, it creates a false 3-D effect.
They are also quite heavy.
I made this in January after taking a winter break to spend time with my new daughter. Over the holidays, I had been speaking with someone about commissioning a papercut featuring mermaids. After weeks of mermaid doodles, I somehow came up with this idea. To make it seem more luminous, I cut colored vellum and used a floating frame. It looks great in a window, but unfortunately at night it came out way too dark. I may end up re-framing it with standard paper.
Here are a few new things that I will be showing at Eight Art & Design in Sheboygan next month.
More details to follow…