Dispersal of Art - Moving to Mt Pleasant

We are moving to Mt Pleasant, SC and we are downsizing. That means, among other things, that I will not have a studio there. Perhaps later, but definitely not right away. Following the logic, the implication is that there is a barn, which is full of art pieces, and there is no place for them to go.

If nothing else, I am a terrible promoter of my art work. I have never really come to terms with whether it is any good or not, or if anyone truly likes it. I ride the wave of temporary outbursts of excitement about a piece and even the occasion sale. But, in the stillness and quiet of the closet, I peek through the keyhole and wonder. However, I am awash in the kindness of my friends. My history is littered with my doubts of measuring up, being good enough, and what if they really knew. That said, I love my work … the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I am drawn to it  … not always in its wholeness or completeness, but in the compilation of and imagination of it. I fully understand that a piece of work can speak to you. It is a conversation held from inception to the time the brush and palatte are laid aside. All too often with my work, these are private conversations.

Nevertheless, my original point was that much of my work would have to be dispersed in some way. A few pieces would make the journey with me … Picnic Dreams, for above the couch and the driftwood sculpture for over the mantel.

Picnic Dreams

River Bounty

Jim Maland contacted me about an art auction to support Windham Child Care. He dropped by one morning for coffee and pastries and selected three pieces from the barn … a driftwood sculpture, Deep Waters, and two of the tongue-in-cheek birdhouses, Toulouse-Lautrec and Peck's Bad Boy at the Circus. It will be interesting to see what these will bring at the auction.

Deep Waters

             

Peck's Bad Boy

At our new house in Mt Pleasant, a huge limb from our neighbor's live oak extends out across the back of our property. I decided it would be the perfect spot for this piece. Thus, it will make the journey.


                   

I offered special prices for work to my Facebook and BAMS friends. Deep down, I have this lingering thought that they are buying pieces just to be nice. But, like I said, I have great friends.

Bill and Lena stopped by and chose a covered bridge painting.  need pic

as did Lorna from taichi, who chose the purple flower.

Purple Flower

My old friend, Nancy Goodhue (now a reinvented person herself) got a driftwood piece as well. We sat and talked about old times and the new Nancy for quite a while and it was great to catch up with her. I hope her arm is feeling better after the twist  gave it to make her to buy something.

Even though she is running out of places to put them, Leeann came by to get two of the driftwood pieces:






and a sculpture, Facades.

Facades

I also decided that I wanted Katherine to have a piece. There is something about how this piece seems to reverse directions that has always made it one of my favorites.

The moving sale resulted in a few pieces being sold. Bruce from South Newfane got one of the abstract paintings.

                    


Bill from Baker Brook Road (a friend of Paul's) chose the flip flop sculpture.

Flip Flop

Jeri and Peggy ran by after school. Jeri chose the barn board flower painting. It was going in her office at BAMS but was too large for the space … besides she decided on a spot at home anyway.




Peggy wanted a driftwood piece, Starry Night.

Starry Night         

A former teacher from CT bought Cycling and a birdhouse.

Poor relatives. They never saw what hit them. They no sooner realized that I had come for a visit … were fat and sassy from a big meal … when I presented them with the gift sculptures. They were trapped and speechless.

I chose Industrial Devotion for Carl and Lily (it had rusty gears embedded it).

Industrial Devoution

Lou and Susan got Pink … just cause Lou is so cute in pink. Susan is also getting a small flower painting.

Pink

                                   


Peyton and James got a driftwood  piece. James tried it out on his head, but I understand he settled on a spot over the mantel. ( I just noticed that Peyton is "framed" in this shot.)

              

Poor Brittain and Lauren. Not only did they have to put us up and feed us for a week, they also got a driftwood piece called Voyager. I think it made it to a wall in the dining room/kitchen. Seeing as they live at the beach, I went with the nautical theme even though my art rivers and streams are about somewhat darker waters.

Voyager

Anne's cousin Kathy asked for  piece for her daughter. I chose a barbed wire piece to replace the old butt bowl I gave her years ago that was broken.



Paul and I are exchanging pieces of work. He chose Rabbit Holes which I had planned to take with me, but am really glad that he chose it. I am not sure what I will get from him … he is being a bit secretive about it. All I know is that it will be inequitable. I will love anything that he decides upon … I love his work. Furthermore, Paul is a real artist … the real deal!

Rabbit Hole                     

Other pieces sold, but I just don't know who got them … kinda in a daze with all the moving stuff going on:

                      

Daylilies

A couple of sculptures, I decided to hang for the new owners.




                         

I am hesitant to say that there is yet other options for dispersal. Time is running short and in the end there will be work that must leave the barn regardless. Perhaps, they will go to the FREE pile to be picked apart by the yard sale scavengers. I hesitate, for this seems brutal even to me. Instead, I think most will join me at the fire pit. In the flames, I will saver them one final time, and that is not a bad way to go.

BURN BABY BURN!

And then, there were three … I just could not bear to leave these old friends behind.

After the Fall

Portuguese Paving Stones

Dissociative Episode

Art for Nuance Gallery

Nancy,

This is pretty comprehensive of what I have right now that might be useable for the show. You may want to keep it just to driftwood or found object things for my part of the show or mix in painting or other stuff. Really depends on what you like for the show and what  you feel will fit with the other work to be shown.   I have tried to number these and provide rough size info.  Let me know which pieces you would like to consider for the show or what kinds of things ... or I can narrow it down for your consideration. Let me know.

bruce

Artist’s Statement:
I never planned to be an artist and never formally trained to be one.  It was the rust that brought me here. There is something about the contrast between rust and wood that I cannot resist. Combine that with the fact that I am a scavenger by nature. Thus, here I am!

Most recently, I have been working on sculptures that incorporate a mixture of both natural and found objects. Typically, my pieces are composed of some combination of local stone, barn board, driftwood, rusted metal objects or other found items. I find that I am emotionally drawn to contrast and contradiction in a piece of artwork.

Contrast and contradiction in a piece is like uncovering a hidden treasure … it’s like an unexpected conversation.

These conversations are the essence of what I do.  



Nancy,


These are driftwood pieces that have not shown at Nuance.




1. Rock River Episode - 37x16  - There are nude swimming beaches along the Rock River, some mixed and some primarily gay. Periodically, there are rumors of certain "indiscretions" happening in the nearby woods along the river. I happened upon a posting on the Internet once that indicated where one should go ... depending on which indiscretion you desired. I was amazed, or maybe naive. I made this piece ... embedded within it are two screwdrivers.




2. Deep Water  - 45x27 - I found a piece of driftwood that looked like the neck of some snakelike, duck-billed creature from the dinosaur period. It made me think about the unknown, fearful creatures that emerge from the depths of our mind, experience and imagination like monsters from darkness of deep water.




3. Circuitous - 24x30 - I love fairs and circuses and found a small toy with a little train that went round and round, like a ride at the fair. I know that deep down what appeals to me about the fair are the circles   and spirals and things continuously looping and returning along ancient paths. I combined the found object with other rusty metal forms that recreated that feeling for me.




4. Marrow - 38x15




5. After the Fall - 17x23





6. Into the Breakers - 60x48 - I was working on several pieces about boats and and bodies of water. I worked on this piece, but as I turned it to look at it from different angles, I finally realized what I was trying to convey. Added a found object piece of metal for a rudder and envisioned a boat battling rising up the side of a huge wave and battling against the breakers during a storm at sea.





7. Starry Nights - Yes, I had been looking at Van Gogh's painting and the swirling of the barbed wire in this piece led me here.





8. Pink - 36x16



9. Voyage on the River Styx - 60x36 - Working on my boat series. The inspiration was a slow, bulky skow edging across the river in the darkness with its cargo of souls ... slow slow slow.




10. Untitled - 21x18




11. Portal - 60x26 - The key to this piece for me was the relationship between the driftwood with the hole ( I seek them out because they represent the mystery and distortion of viewing our world through a  keyhole)  and the patterned stick colored orange. As the object of the view from the keyhole it represents our attempts to make sense of our lives and existence based upon our distorted and limited views of life's patterns through the keyhole.




11a. Hard Nut to Crack - 25x25 - Key pieces ... a small blue ball ( the earth ) positioned in the old frame of the old lemon squeezer.


This next group is wood and metal and found objects.



12. Cycling -   There is a write-up in the blog on this.



13. Saws - 18x33x14





13. Flip Flop Sculpture






14. If Birds Could Fly - 60x42



15. Ragtime - 22x20x14




16. Ancient River - 51x29



17. Into the Woods - 29x11 - Into the woods series is based on the image of peering into the darkness of the forest (unknown) and seeing the red yes of the unknown observers (creatures) ever watching. IE - our mind.



18. Snail - 20x19 - Series of pieces based on idea of fences. We create fences to protect something ... for only two reasons ... to keep something out or to keep something in. As such, what is to be feared ... what is outside the fence ... or inside. I just think it looks like a snail.



19. Fences - 24x14 - Fences series. In this case, I play with the idea of using an unnatural material (barbed wire) juxtaposed with the natural driftwood. The fencing creates and unnatural harnessing of internal energy and heat  ... perhaps restrained passion.



20. Dragon Stone - Example of a more ornate hanging stone influenced by China trip.

The next group is paintings.



21. Sunflowers and Covered Bridge - 72x60




22. Sunflowers and Sap Buckets on Barnboard -52x48




23. Vermont Vista - 50x36



24. Landscape with Barn - 42x48



25. Landscape 2 - 13x9 - Playing with the idea in this painting that the feel of the landscape view is about contrast and contradiction more that natural color.



26. Landscape 3 - 24x16



27. Flowers in Pot - 8x10




28. Palm Trees - 22x23



29. Williamsville Covered Bridge - 23x34



30. Daylillies - 36x30 - Window series. Rethinking old windows. Started doing these for brother-in-laws garden fence. Liked to think of the transparency of the piece ... what do you see beyond what's there.



31. Oranges and Lemons -



32. Gentile Breezes - 24x8



33. Purple Flowers -



34. Setting Sun - 24x36



35. Boy With Balloons - 16x28



36. Next -



37. Ting Chin - 17x22



38. Water Pitcher - 21x24

Other stuff



39. Toulouse Lautrec Birdhouse - 13x18x10    Nancy - Have several of this series.




40. Cheepers - 10x3

Vita:

Basically, I am self-taught, but did take a class once at the River Gallery in Brattleboro and work on whatever amuses me at the time … barbed wire, driftwood, painting, found objects , Barbie doll, old books, etc. .  I work out of a studio in my barn for the most part, but also like to leave artwork when I travel, hike or snowshoe.  Over the years, I have left small, hanging stone sculptures in cities and on trails in about 25 states and 15 countries. I also like to leave stone stacking in remote hiking locations as well as temporary snow sculptures (imprinted in the snow on remote lakes, ponds, fields or trails that I walk in with my snowshoes).  Life is pretty much about the stories we have to tell to others, but mostly to ourselves.  The art pieces are just part of the details of those stories.

Prior Shows:

July 1998 – Rock River Artists – Open Studio

Feb 1998 – Canyon Crossing – “The Nude Attitude”

Dec 1998 – Windham Art Gallery – “Small Works”

Feb 1999 – Windham Art Gallery – “New Member”

Mar 1999 – Windham Art Gallery – “Experiment”

July 1999 – Rock River Artists – Open Studio

Aug 1999 – Windham Art Gallery – “New Work”

Dec 1999 – Windham Art Gallery -  “Small Works”

Jan 2000 – River Gallery School – “Student Show”

Feb 2000 – Collected Works – “Visual Art for Aids”

Mar 2000 – Windham Art Gallery – “New Work”

August 2000 – Windham Art Gallery – “Off the Wall”

July 2000 – Rock River Artists – Open Studio

July 2001 – Rock River Artist – Open Studio

May 2007 – River Garden (BUHS) – “Doors”

Sep 2007 – Cai Silver Gallery – “China Project”

Oct 2008 – Bratt. Middle School – Diversity Day Project – Ecuador

July 2009 – Newfane Art Show – Juried

Aug 2009 – Grace Hospital Fair Day – Call for Artists

July 2010 – Newfane Art Show – Juried

Jul 2011 – Rock River Artists – Open Studio

Aug 2010 – Exhibition at Grafton – Juried

Aug 2010  - Four Columns Inn – Rock River Artists Exhibit

Jan 2011 – Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery – Juried

Jul 2011 – Rock River Artists – Open Studio

Aug 2011 – Cortina Inn -  Call for Artists

Aug 2011 – Newfane Art Show – Juried

Jul 2012 – Artis Tree Gallery – “Unbound”

Jul 2012 – Nuance Gallery – “Artists Experssions

Jan 2013 – Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery – Juried

Nov 2013 – Nuance Gallery - Holliday Exhibit

Feb 2013 – Nuance Gallery – “Resiliency”