Sunday, September 9, 2012

Playing Favorites: Chapter 4


Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...


Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
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Angela Cartwright
"I picked this piece called Soul Searching because I was deep into exploring the use of different materials, I was writing my first book about art In This House, and I was completely immersed in who I was, why I was, what I wanted and where I was going. This art was in my exhibit Soul Dwellings and it was a turning point in the discovery of myself. I look at these pieces now and smile while I contemplate how much I have grown."

Amy Duncan
"Keep Going was one of the first multi-media collage pieces I created and it remains one of my most popular images. Everything about its composition just fell into place. The phrase of Keep Going can mean different things to different people so its interpretation is open...which keeps the dialogue going...which is what I strive for."

Bleubeard and Elizabeth
"I'm not sure if Her Colorful Ways is a favorite but it exemplifies how far I have come from a composition standpoint. It also shows how much I enjoy adding sewing to my mixed media pieces."

William J. Charlebois
"I created this multi-media painting while taking an online class from Mystele Kirkeeng called Gut Art. I was finally able to totally let go and create physical art and enjoy the process while doing it."

JoAnnA Pierotti
"This is a painting I did back in 2004. I painted this for a friend's birthday because he owned this truck. I think it was around the year 2001 that a friend asked me to paint something on a trunk for her baby son. I didn't know what to paint for a boy, since most of my work was on the feminine side. Her husband challenged me and I painted an old truck. This was the second truck I painted using acrylic."

Lani Gerity
"Here's an image that I concocted with an old photo, coloring it and then adding it to this background, adding the house and the sheep as well. Then I added a 'Through the Viewfinder' layer for texture and depth. I also used some 'Flypaper Textures' (really super). When I look at this picture, for some reason I feel quite happy and hopeful, like we are encouraging each other to do more, create more, be more, take more risks... We are encouraging each other to be awake and alive. I love that!"

Diana Trout
Dreaming (1999), a triptych, is a deeply personal piece that my daughter inspired and it will go to her someday. For me, it is about everything that is possible if you dream. It's about the earth as well, how we feel about it - almost as if we humans are sneaking up on our unsuspecting planet and doing harm."

Marsha Jorgensen
"Small Me is a favorite because it is a deeply personal acknowledgement of something that happened long ago and the acceptance of how it will always be with me. It takes guts to acknowledge some things in our lives and facing it is a victory of sorts."

Sarah Fishburn
"These are art journal pages finished in the fall of 2001for the original True Colors project. 'I count myself among the blessed for evening squandered drunk with sunset' is my personal prayer for gratitude for life, with all of its curses and blessings. I used a combo of techniques - image transfers, metallic paint, rubber stamps, transparencies, and attached a stitched booklet of a few stanzas by other poets, including the following lines of Emma Lazarus from her poem The New Colossus:

Here at our sea-washed,
sunset gates shall stand
A mighty women with a torch,
whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightening,
and her name
Mother of Exiles"

Stephanie Hilvitz
"Sanctuary, this was quite a departure from what I had been doing, but also came directly from journal explorations. It is a photograph of my daughter's beautiful hands and was done for a show that I ended up being rejected from but took such inspiration from the prospectus which had to do with creating sanctuary that it sparked many other works.
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Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, September 16th.

22 comments:

sf said...

Oh yeah! Now I remember! Gosh I loved that when I was finished! Total fave.
In this episode of PF, I also especially REALLY like with enthusiasm Joanna's truck painting and Amy Duncan's Keep Going; they sure do speak to my road trippin' soul!

sf said...

Oh gosh, I also like Lani Gerety's with all her alterations, and Stephanie Hilvitz's serenely beautiful piece...I might just keep coming back to the post and find reasons I am drawn to them all...

donna joy said...

so many great pieces again-enjoy reading the stories to go with them-

Patti Sandham said...

Love seeing artists own choices and the reasons behind them. These are great posts!

Cheers

Bill said...

After being in the country for a week without any internet, it is such a surprise to come back and see my crazy piece posted here today. Thanks so much for including it. But it's especially fun to be included with Lani Gerity, as I am a great fan of her collages. It goes without saying how great "all" of the works are!

MrCachet said...

As has been the situation for several months now, I'm not going to be able to hit everyone with at least a look. Thank you for continuing to be the "Good Guy" that you are in the network blog arena. This project was huge (at least for you), and I've enjoyed the peeks I've been able to take.

Unknown said...

I've been gallery hopping all weekend and this is like a virtual gallery.

I had completely forgotten that I had sent this piece...thanks for including me!!

ART*ticulation said...

The creations here are inspiring me, I will go down to my studio now. Thank you to Seth and each artist!!!!

Jill Zaheer said...

Gorgeous works as always- and so love the addition of all the artists' comments - it makes your post a real treasure!

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

There is a circle of beauty here with such creative generous hands. I am still hand quilting my large Australian quilt. Have a great weekend and peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

There is a circle of beauty here with such creative generous hands. I am still hand quilting my large Australian quilt. Have a great weekend and peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Brian Kasstle said...

Hi Seth! So amazing to see these artist's favorite works and their thoughts! Thank you for sharing as always!

amy of studio four corners said...

this has been my favorite part of the Pulse so far...so interesting to see people's favorites and read the comments...have several more artists I need to check out!

Lani Gerity said...

What fun! I had totally forgotten what I had submitted. Thanks so much for doing this Seth. Lovely work, everyone! (Hi Bill, so good to "see" you here!)

audrey said...

Thank you for doing this, Seth. I am enjoying the art and the artist stories so much.
"Blackbird" arrived. ♥ Please visit my Blog.
audrey

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I also had forgotten I sent this piece, although I remember the others I sent. I will post it on my blog as soon as I leave here.

I was truly intrigued by some of the artists' work you showed this week. I feel very fortunate to have been included in this group of very, very gifted artists.

Rebeca Trevino said...

Seth -this is such a great segment to SOTA. I've enjoyed every single edition of this project. Reading the artist's own words about their work adds a deeper level of insight.

Elizabeth's (& Bluebeard) piece is so full of color.
JoAnnA Pierotti's piece is quietly beautiful.
Marsha Jorgenson's piece is very powerful.

The Creative Beast said...

So much wonderful artwork showcased here! I love the "Small Me/Petit Journal" work; love the vintage image of the little girl and the colors used in it =-) Thank you for this series and for the new topics to vote on Seth!

layers said...

What a wonderful idea, to ask artists to submit their favorite art piece and comment on their reasons why.
I have been taking some summer time off from everything it seems and am quite behind in the blog world.
so it is quite inspiring to find some wonderful art and read the artists' comments.

~*~Patty S said...

Enjoyed this very much Seth!
oxo

Robert said...

There is such incredible visual richness to be found in all of these pieces! The works, here, by Angela Cartwright, Amy Duncan, JoAnnA Pierotti, Lani Gerity, Marsha Jorgensen, and Sarah Fishburn, are, for me, particularly striking, but every one of this week's "Favorites" speak to me, and all have interesting things to say!

jonreneewebb@msn.com said...

I really enjoy this Playing Favorites series. Thanks again!