January 12, 2016 Library Show Beginning

January 12, 2016  Library Show Beginning

Today I started working on the Library show.  One of the pieces that I hope to create is going to be a large 3D tree. I plan on putting faces and items in the bark which will be made with book pages.  The leaves will be book leaves with the titles and authors of books on them.  I want to make it about 4 feet tall.  I hope that it will be a very special and magical piece.  I had an urge to go into Salvation Army and found two round wooden cutting boards which will be the base and the top.  I believe that making this piece will take several months.  I will work on it slowly in between doing other art.      

January 8, 2016 The Pigs are Flying

January 8, 2016

This morning I had the honor of presenting two $500 checks to two art teachers in Springfield.  I am a member of the Springfield Ceramics and Crafts Club.  My job is as Youth Art Outreach chairperson.  The club members feel that encouraging the love of art and crafts among the youth of Springfield is important.  So the club offers two Youth Art Outreach grants each year.  Our first two recipients were Maggie Perkins, art teacher at Ball Charter School, and Kristin Sowinski Langer, art teacher at Washington Middle School.  Maggie will be creating a ceramics unit across multiple grade levels and Kristin will be creating a batik unit for the 7th grade students.  Both teachers were thrilled to have the funds to give their students extra creative opportunities. I was thrilled to have a small part in helping with their vision. 

Last night I learned that my rusty hat, The State of the Union, has been accepted as a piece to be shown at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.  That is wonderful news and I am looking forward to seeing that special art show. 

I used to say that I would be an artist when pigs flew.  My friend, Cathy Hendrickson Hathaway, gave me a flying pig (which flaps his wings and flies in circles) for my studio.  Whenever something wonderful happens, artistically speaking, she says, "The pigs are flying."  Well, the last two weeks have been amazing (Cloth, Paper, Scissors blog, two entries accepted into Incite 4, a one-woman show for two months at the Chatham Library, and an entry accepted into the APLM), so I have to agree--The pigs are flying!!

January 5, 2016 Chatham Library Show

January 5, 2016

Today I picked up the professional photos of the two mixed media pieces that will be published in Incite 4.  She only took two shots of the wall art (The Season of the Witch), but about 30 shots of the rusty hat (The State of the Union).  So I had to select 2 good shots to put on the disc to send to the publisher. 

This afternoon I met with Linda Borst at the Chatham Library and got some exciting news.  I will have a solo show for all of June and July this summer.  I will also conduct an art workshop for the library during this time.  I plan on creating a lot of pieces utilizing books.  Some will be collage in which books are used as collage materials and some will be pieces which are about a particular book.  I think that several of them will be 3 dimensional.  There is plenty of space for both wall art and 3D. 

I am so happy to have this show.  It gives me a goal--a reason to create.  I really do need a reason because, otherwise, I will just sit and read books.  I do love working on art, but I have to have a place for other people to see it.  Just creating work and letting it sit in the basement is not quite enough for me.  I already have a lot of art just sitting in the basement. 

January 2, 2016 Werewolves of London

January 2, 2016

Today I have to finish the mixed media piece that I am taking to the gallery on Monday.  I stopped working on it at the beginning of December when I started getting ready for Christmas.  I thought that I would get back to it, but that did not happen with visitors and extra preparations.  So here I am, trying to complete the piece in two days.  Luckily it was about 2/3 done.  What is it?  I am illustrating the song that I wanted to include in my 60s show, Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London."  But it came out in 1978 so that excluded it from the 60s.  I am illustrating the first verse about going to Lee Ho Fook's Chinese restaurant.  Meise Fahsl told me that the name means Good Fortune.  It was probably great fortune to be mentioned in the song.  I imagine that fans want to go there.  I found a menu online from the restaurant which I printed and am collaging part of it in the werewolf's paw. 

I am also completing framing of The Springfield Alphabet which consists of 26 6-inch x 6-inch canvases.  I am entering it in the competition to be shown at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.  Entries are due on Monday.  I decided that there was no way that they would accept 26 separate canvases, so I am connecting them so that they can be hung from a single wire.  It is a job because the canvases have information on the sides and cannot be connected tightly.  I am leaving two inches between them.  It is an interesting problem.  I hope that it works.  I am also going to enter "The State of the Union" (rusty hat) which is also a problem.  I have to get it professionally photographed for the Incite book before taking it to the gallery.  Monday is going to be a busy day. 

January 1, 2016 Incite 4 and Cloth, Paper, Scissors blog

January 1, 2016

My artistic journey continues.  I had a wonderful surprise Christmas gift on December 25 when I opened my e-mail and discovered that the Cloth, Paper, Scissors blog/daily e-mail posting was about my piece, The Journey, which was published in Incite 3, The Art of Storytelling.  The online editor, Cherie Haas, called the posting " An Entire World of Possibilities" which is how I ended my story about the piece.  I was so excited that I smiled the rest of the night, even while asleep. 

Then, on December 30, I learned that two of my pieces will be included in Incite 4 which will be published in September 2016.  They accepted "The State of the Union" which is a 3D piece made up of rust.  It is a Lincolnesque top hat which I constructed from odd bits of rust.  I have collected rust for about 25 years, picking up interesting bits whenever I see them on the ground.  I knew that someday I would make something of them long before I became an artist.  I created this piece for the Backyard Sculpture Show at the Prairie Art Alliance in September 2014.  The premise was to create art from items found in the backyard (I used the wider sense of backyard to include all over the community).  It won Best in Show.  Then last January I entered it in the Chatham Library Art Show and it won Best in Show again.  So having it accepted into the Incite book for 2016 is like winning the Triple Crown.  I did have this piece for sale, but now think that it is definitely a keeper. 

The second piece accepted for Incite 4 is "Season of the Witch" which is the first piece that I made for my 60s show in October/November.  This piece was difficult to create because when I heard the Donovan song, a vision came into my head.  It was of a beautiful, strong woman wearing a grey hooded cape standing in a birch (or aspen) forest.  There were two white birches to her right.  She was a younger woman (about 40) and she had a definite presence.  I tried to create that vision on canvas.  NOPE.  It did not happen.  I tried, painted it out, tried again, painted it out again, and gave up on the vision.  So I let the art direct the scene.  Whenever I am lucky enough to turn the creation process over to the work itself, the piece is wonderful.  Instead of painting the face, I collaged a face from book pages.  She was old and not beautiful.  But she had a presence.  The forest became a thicket of twisted trunks and vines.  The old woman is carrying a basket (woven out of strips of book pages) which has a toad peering out.  The toad is also a collage from book pages.  The other animals in the scene are 7 ravens which are scattered throughout the scene.

My third wonderful bit of news is that the Chatham Library wants me to have a one-woman show there in June/July.  That is very exciting and a little daunting.  I have a lot of work to do in the next six months. 

October 25, 2015

October 25, 2015

My show has been up for a week with no additional sales.  I worked at the gallery last night and most of the people who came in prior to going to the play did not understand that I had illustrated 60s music and that the records would actually play a few seconds of the songs.  After I talked to them and demonstrated, they thought it was really fun.  I did sell a piece of art last night, but not from the featured artist show.  I sold an embellished print that I made of my church, Blessed Sacrament, to a parishioner. 

I have had 3 people tell me that they did not understand the angel with the upset woman in Bridge Over Troubled Water.  They thought the bridge was a physical iron bridge.  I see it as faith being the bridge that secures peace.  They said that after I explained, it made sense.  Most people really like Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show.  I am surprised that it has not sold.  But I like it too and would not mind keeping it. 

Even though the rush of getting the show ready is over, I am still creating.  I finished two frog canvases (collage) for the silent auction for Dancing with the Stars.  One is the wife who is cooking a skillet of flies and the other is her husband who is reading the paper.  I also painted a young Lincoln painting for a local cover contest.  And I am currently working on painting a scene from the Alaska trip that I made 14 months ago.  I took a lot of good pictures on that trip and many would make good paintings.

I am going to concentrate on entering art contests and finding new ways to get my art out since it seems likely that the Prairie Art Alliance will not continue for long.  I may start selling art instead of just cards in my Etsy shop.  But that is a long shot.  It would be nice to have another gallery.  I was in Jacksonville at the Eclectic and in Peoria at the Main Statement, but both are closed.  Art galleries are not faring well in the current economic climate—at least in central Illinois where we don’t know if the state will stay open much longer.

October 19, 2015

Thanks to everyone who came to the opening on Saturday.

Kathy and Hurdy Gurdy Man     

Kathy and Season of the Witch plus 3D pieces.

 

  I certainly appreciate your participation and kind words. The show is up until December 3. Six pieces are sold, but there are still lots of nice ones available.  I hope that you get to come in if you have not already done so.  The gallery is open on Tuesday through Saturday from noon until 7 p.m.

October 17, 2015

October 17, 2015

OPENING NIGHT!!  Yes, I have been using Facebook (and my Blog) to try to build interest in this show.  Many of you have been kind enough to say that I have accomplished this.  I hope to see many of you tonight.  I hope that others can come to the gallery between now and December 3.  For those of you who live far away, I have posted my 60s series on my web site.  You can see it at katherinepippinpauley.com   Click on the 60s series.  There are 6 pages which you can view as a slideshow, although that goes too fast to be able to read and view.  You can also click for a larger image.  Thank you all for bearing with my artistic ramblings over the past month.  I appreciate your support. 

October 16, 2015

October 16, 2015

The opening is tomorrow.  Openings are exciting events.  Friends and family come to see your body of work and, hopefully, appreciate it.  Creating art is a very private thing.  Yet we put it out on view for anyone to criticize or ridicule.  At my very first show in 2007 I felt as though I had put my soul out for everyone to see.  It was so emotional that I could not help tearing up when I was asked to speak.  Now I have more experience and have had many more shows.  But it is still a time that causes a little bit of fear.  Will people like it?  Will they understand my vision?  Will they appreciate my sense of humor? Will anything sell?  Buying art is the best validation that you can give to an artist.  I have come to realize that after several years of trying to be an artist.  I try to buy as much art as I can because I like it, but also because I want to help them continue to create.  We all need to create and we all need to feel accepted.   

October 15, 2015

October 15, 2015

Psychedelic imagery is a big part of 60s art.  It was on posters and record album covers; it covered the walls of many bedrooms and dorm rooms.  I had put small touches of the psychedelic in some of my work (the large collaged flowers in ‘White Rabbit’, the line of bright symbols under the kaleidoscope eyes in ‘Lucy in the Sky’).  But I decided at the last minute that I should have a really unmistakable psychedelic image in the show.  The perfect song for this piece was ‘The Magic Bus’ by the Who.  Most of my work for this show uses bright colors, but this piece is so bright that you may need your sunglasses! 

Today the State Journal-Register ran the interview about the show in the Arts and Entertainment Section.  I want to thank Carla Jimenez for taking the time to interview us and writing about our show. Her article is on page 3A in today’s entertainment section.  It is called “Retrospective art show starts at Hoogland” and shows a photo of my Hurdy Gurdy Man and one of Linda’s lovely boxes (a picture of her heron is on 7A).  If you are in town, save me a copy, if you are out of town, here is the URL to see the article:   http://www.sj-r.com/article/20151014/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/151019878

October 14, 2015

October 14, 2015

The violin was not the only musical instrument that I had on hand.  I also have quite a tambourine collection.  So what could be more perfect than Mr. Tambourine Man?  I do like the version by the Byrds, but the song was written by Bob Dylan and I thought that I should include a piece by him.  So this Mr. Tambourine Man is the Dylan version—if you are in the gallery to hear the song.  I collaged circles for the background reminiscent of the 65 poster of Mr. Tambourine Man by Martin Sharp.  Then I added a tambourine player over them.  He is a 60s child with a peace symbol on his shirt. 

Linda Post-Lucas and I hope to see you all at our opening this Saturday night (October 17) at the Hoogland Center for the Arts.  Artist talks begin at 5:30, the reception runs until 7:30.  But the show will be up through December 3.  Come anytime!

October 13, 2015

October 13, 2015

The Sirius radio in our car was playing ‘The Fool on the Hill’ and my husband said that I should do that song.  I have always been fascinated by medieval fools.  [If you want an amazing mystery about a modern fool, read To Play the Fool by Laurie King, 1995, loved that book!]  So I decided to make an image of a fool.  His hill is very tall and steep and looks rather foolish.  While the work was in progress my husband remarked that I needed to change it to a realistic looking hill because it looked as though he were standing on “a big green gumdrop.”  Showing other people work in progress is a two-edged sword; sometimes they have good suggestions but often the comments just make you wish you had never shown them anything.  I knew that I had to add a sense of magic and mystery to the fool on the hill so I added stars.  There are lots of stars, in different sizes, all over the hill.  And there are stars in the air—are they coming into the fool’s hand or is he dispersing them into the sky? 

October 12, 1015

October 12, 2015

About 8 years ago, when I stopped making my Character Creations, I tried to start a new art business creating memory boxes for other people.  I wanted to take people’s vacations, special events, family or pet memorabilia and create a shadow box or standing box with collage and drawers for them.  I called this “Forget-Me-Not” and I had brochures and samples made.  One sample was for my daughter with items from her trip to Russia.  The business never took off.  But when I heard the Classics IV song, ‘Traces of Love’, I knew that it was perfect for the creation of a shadow box.  So I made a box with some of the items mentioned in the song—faded photograph, old love letter, ticket stubs, and a ribbon from her hair.  This is the type of box that I had in mind with Forget-Me-Not. 

October 11, 2015

October 11, 2015

Nine days ago my inventory list had to be turned in.  I typed up my pieces, both finished and not started, and I was upset that I only had 20.  How did that happen?  I’ve been working for a year.  And my other shows (2007, 2009) had 40 to 60 items (many small things).  Well, I have 8 days before I have to have the work at the gallery and I have ideas for two pieces that should be easy and fast to do.  So I added them to the list.  I could have taken it easy and stuck to what I had but where is the fun in playing it safe?  I really do produce well under pressure. So when I said that I was down to 3 items, it became 5.  I did really well and got four pieces done by Thursday.  BUT, I had sent an inquiry to the SJ-R (local newspaper) about doing an article about the show.  And the reporter wanted to come on Thursday afternoon.  Great news, but now I had to clean the studio instead of working on my last assemblage.  So I spent about 10 hours clearing the clutter which went back about 4 months.  I was still working up to 10 minutes before the reporter came.  But she was delightful and easy to talk to; and Linda Post-Lucas showed up about 15 minutes after the reporter.  We had a very nice interview session and I had a clean studio.  But I still had one piece to do and in order to assemble an assemblage you have to have LOTS of stuff to choose from.  So that very night I started pulling boxes and bags of potential items out of storage.  I started playing with the pieces, trying various combinations to create a face, a torso, legs, feet and arms.  It truly is play and is fun but it is messy.  I worked on it all day on Friday, part of Saturday morning, then I had to take the work to the gallery with my long-suffering friend Mary Ann’s help.  Everything went except for the assemblage which was not completely assembled.  This piece is ‘Come Together’ (Beatles).  I kept saying that Come Together was not coming together very well.  However after coming home from the gallery, I kept working on it and it came!  I really like this assemblage which uses (among other things) wood, a feather duster, cholla cactus, a raccoon bone, wire, rusty pieces of metal, sausage casings, a funnel, a woodblock letter, a cobbler’s shoe mold, driftwood, and seashells.  I had all of these items so it may help you to understand how much storage space a mixed media artist needs.  ‘Come Together’ is one of my favorite Beatles’ songs and I did not like it at all in the 60s.  Back then I was way too literal.  Over the years I have become more open to a variety of things and after becoming an artist, I started appreciating this song.  It came to me that the song was like an abstract painting; it did not have to make sense, it just had to BE.  And to me this song is like a beautiful abstract, enjoy the rhythm, enjoy the beat, don’t try to make sense of the words.  I hope that you enjoy my assemblage, Come Together.

October 10, 2015

October 10, 2015

We are only one week from opening night!  Today I am taking my pieces to the gallery. (Except for one 3D piece that is not quite complete.) That is a relief.  However I still need to complete the record tags with the recorders.  That has to be done by Monday when I will go in to help with hanging my work.  Yesterday I took my finished 3 dimensional works over to Linda Post-Lucas’s house and she took pictures of them for me.  She has a nice set up with a lovely backdrop which is has the color gradated.  It gives a professional look to the photo.  So I want to thank her for taking time from her preparations to do me a favor.  I saw some of her lovely work while I was there and you are in for a treat with her beautiful glass boxes and amazing kaleidoscopes, as well as some wonderful wall art.  I love her heron painting.  I have five more pieces of my own to write about which will just about cover the coming week with a couple of extras.  Our opening is Saturday, October 17, and we will begin with artist’s talks at 5:30 until about 6:00.  The gallery will be open until about 7:30 and wine and snacks will be served.  But if you cannot come on that night, the show will be up until December 3 during regular gallery hours (Tuesday through Saturday, noon until 7:00 p.m.). 

October 9, 2015

October 9, 2015

I am going to admit that I like Bubble Gum Music.  If you aren’t a 60s child, you may not know what that is.  It was light, catchy, upbeat music with simple harmonies and it was aimed for the younger audience.  I was not exactly in that category being 20 the year that the bubble gum sound started, but I guess that I looked it.  The next year, at 21 I went to Marion Jr. High to do my student teaching.  I told the secretary in the office that I was to be with Mr. Stobel.  She got the forms and started enrolling me in the 8^th grade to my great embarrassment. Bubble gum music is happy and cheerful, the words were simple, the refrain was catchy.  Most of the bubble gum sound was created by studio groups hired by a producer and given a name just for that song.  The Archies may be the most famous of these studio groups; they were named for the comic book characters.  If you check out their hit, ‘Sugar, Sugar’, on u-tube you will see a cartoon with Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica performing.  I loved Tommy Roe who had bubble gum hits as well as the Monkees who were a studio group hired to have a television show about an imaginary rock group.  They actually became a performing band because they had such great songwriters. Boyce & Hart and Neil Diamond wrote hits for the Monkees and they eventually became a real rock band.  Anyway I wanted to include a bubble gum song and I decided to make it a 3D piece with a small manikin.  I decided to go with ‘Sugar, Sugar’ and she is full of it!  Her dress is collaged with candy wrappers, sugar packets, cupcake papers and candy images.  There are some adult visual puns which are not hard to find.  I wanted her hair to look like icing or cotton candy.  Come to the show to check out the puns and see how I made permanent icing for her hair.

October 8, 2015

October 8, 2015

I already mentioned that three dimensional work was not a consideration when I first started preparing for this show one year ago.  So I had not been going to garage sales and looking for possibilities.  However, as a mixed media artist, I have a gigantic space full of potential treasures.  (This is the reason that this new house is perfect for me.)  I started looking among the stash and found a violin.  Violin = music, a nice match.  But what 60s song do you think of when you think violin?  I asked my daughter, Lisa, and she said “Eleanor Rigby.”  Of course.  What a depressing song.  Who wants to buy depressing images?  Well, I hope that someone does, because that is the only song that I could come up with for the violin.  First I painted the violin with purple and grey shades, then I studied the song lyrics for images.  The front of the violin has the church and a cemetery scene with only Father McKenzie present at Eleanor’s burial.  The back of the violin has Eleanor (faceless) with her face in a jar—no, make that 7 faces in jars by the door to choose from.  I decided that she could choose her mood and expression for the day by picking a face.  I have already been told how warped my sense of humor is.  Actually I really think that my humor leans toward stating the obvious which is what I do for the Family Album cards.  If you look at them closely I am only picking up on what the picture shows and verbalizing it.  With the violin I took the words at face value and created an image to go with them.  Come to the Prairie Art Alliance to see this and other unusual 3D pieces which I will tell about in the week to come.  Again, the show runs from October 17 until December 3. 

October 7, 2015

October 7, 2015

I lived in southern California in the early 60s.  It was my favorite place of all the places we lived.  The early 60s were great years to be there.  The weather was perfect, the communities and roads were not yet overbuilt and overcrowded.  We lived in Camarillo which is north of L. A. and near Ventura.  In those days it was a quiet little place.  My mother once sat next to Hermione Gingold in the beauty shop (bet most of you have to look her up.)  And Mom was a census taker for the 60 census.  In those days the census takers went house to house recording the information.  She took the census at James Arness’s and Eve Arden’s homes and Eve told her to bring the kids over to swim.  (We did not do so.)  A classmate of mine lived next door to Steve McQueen.  We would jump on his diving board trying to peek into Steve’s backyard.  And I was a Beach Boy’s fan and had to include one of their songs.  I decided on Surfin’ U.S.A.  I have depicted a beach with surfers, as it might have been in the early 60s. This painting brings back a lot of memories for me.  And even if you did not visit the California beaches in the 60s, the Beach Boys and surfing songs were popular all over the country.

October 6, 2015

October 6, 2015

I decided that I should have an instrumental record in my collection.  I loved a lot of instrumentals during the 60s.  Remember Telstar, Classical Gas, Grazing in the Grass, Pipeline, Walk, Don’t Run, Green Onions, The Stripper, Taste of Honey, Yellow Bird, Hawaii Five-O and so many others.  I decided to do Green Onions.  I had a vision of a row of green onions in a chorus line doing a can-can.  I could not find fake green onions locally, but I saw a set of five on eBay and bought them.  When they came I was very disappointed.  They were papier-mâché—even the green stems which were bent and cracked.  They also had unattractive little strings hanging down like a strange beard.  So there will be no green onion chorus line—at least not for this show.  Then Sirius 60s played Baby Elephant Walk—a song that I had forgotten, by Henry Mancini.  So I made a 12” x 12” baby elephant scene.  I bet you have to play this recording when you come to the gallery, it is not one that we remember.

October 5, 2015

October 5, 2015

My work has to be in at the end of the week.  I am in crunch mode!  It is not just the art, but figuring out how to make the tags from records with the recorders attached with the button in place for activation.  I finished two pieces this weekend and am still working on 3.  The art can be turned in on Friday or Saturday.  I am sure that I will be a Saturday person. 

One piece that I wanted to do from the beginning was ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.  I pictured a couple of teens from late 50s/early 60s era.  The boy is in a black leather jacket; the girl is wearing a short red headscarf (remember those?) and has a red sweater tied over her shoulders.  The boy is in a gang called “The Black Sheep” with the logo on the back of his jacket.  (“I’m going to keep my sheep suit on until I’m sure that you’ve been shown that I can be trusted walking with you alone. Owoooooooo!).  It was a fun song, not as big as their hit ‘Wooly Booly’ but easier to illustrate. 

Anyhow I actually saw Sam the Sham in a dance club in Quincy.  It was a small venue and they played and everyone danced.  Years later when my husband and I were talking we discovered that we were both at that concert.  I was there with my friend, Cindy, and he was there with her brother, Marty.  We didn’t meet until a couple of years later when he transferred to SIU-Carbondale.  It was also a dance—a mixer held at Woody Hall where I was an R.A.  If nothing else, this show will bring back memories for those of us who remember the 60s.