Dori DeCamillis

Lisa Himic Painting

2012-01-25T08:12:00.000-08:00

My student, Lisa Himic, has been taking painting class at Red Dot for almost a year and has become quite a realist painter. Her strong points are her attention to detail and choice of composition, but she excels at the whole process, as you can see. My photo is a little washed out on the right, so blame me, not the artist.

Jeanne Alexander's Latest Painting

2012-01-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Galapagos Cactus 16" x 20" Oil on Canvas

In no particular order or preference, I'm going to start posting images of

my students paintings and drawings. All students take classes at Red Dot Gallery, Birmingham, AL.

Above is Jeanne Alexander's latest piece, taken from a photo of her trip to the

Galapagos Islands. Jeanne has been studying at Red Dot for 5 or 6 years, and loves to challenge herself with a wide range of subject matter. She experiments with different colored under-paintings, as well.

Killer Student

2012-01-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

One of my Tuesday night painting students, Charlotte, missed class recently to attend Girl's Night at the local shooting range. She was very successful at filling her man full of bullets and brought proof to class.

Go Charlotte!

Au Revoir!

2012-01-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

This is the final post of my spring trip to France.

Our invitation was scheduled for 8:00, a crazy-late time toeat in my old-fashioned book. Annabelle and I walked through the ridiculouslycharming village by the light of the full moon, and arrived to a warm welcomeof two-cheeked kisses. Thierry and Helene, introduced us to their two kids,their sister Monique, and their friend Jean Pierre. We received a tour of theirquite lovely and live-in home, and Thierry apologized for its size, comparingit to the McMansions that all of us Americans supposedly live in. I insistedthat our house was smaller than his, but he definitely didn’t believe me.

Helene had laid out a spread of hors d’oeuvres in the livingroom, and we all gathered round for several types of charcuterie, pates, andolives, all paired with wine. The main meal hadn’t even started, and we’dalready eaten the best food we’d had since arriving in France. I’d had a weekto practice my French, and I managed to communicate with broken sentences, improvisedwords, and probably a funny accent, but I was delighted that I did OK. Thierryis a traveling businessman, and spoke English well, but I tried to keep most ofthe evening in French to include the rest of the family.

We moved to the dining room where we were served roast lambwith vegetables, mashed potatoes, and a salad, all with wine pairings. The foodwas just fantastic, and the mealtime discussions just as good. I mostly steeredthe talk to what I wanted to hear most, comparisons between France and UnitedStates. I knew we’d get no better chance to hear an insider view than in thehome of a real French family.

I wasn’t surprised to hear that the French have a little morefaith in the judgment of Americans after the last Presidential election. Americawasn’t very popular around the world when W. was in office. (I claim noopinions of my own here, just relaying the story.) When I asked if the Frenchin general thought Americans were loud and uncultured, they replied with a fairand reasonable assertion that, just as in France, some are and some aren’t.They did express concern with our diet and our weight. They believe we eat toomuch, and it’s all junk. I heartily agreed and shrugged my shoulders. I wish itweren’t true. The French take such pride in their food, and I could tell it wasimmensely distasteful to them (pun intended) that such an important part oflife could be so bastardized and neglected.

I told them we thought Paris was very chic, and they agreed,but put forth that New York and Italy were more chic than Paris. I’ve not beento either recently, so I couldn’t argue. They asked about the American Redneck,and had a thorough knowledge of its attributes, including the hound dog, thepick-up, the guns, and the spitting. I acknowledged that the Redneck was indeeda common species in the United States, and none of the stereotypes werefabricated. A hysterical round of laughter erupted when I introduced the term “whitetrash,” or Blanc Garb-aahhge, loosely translated.

I made a mystery faux-pas when I asked why Mac computers arerarely seen in France. As far as we could tell on our travels, PC waseverywhere. The whole dinner table fell silent, and everyone looked at eachother as if I’d told them about my bowel movements. I asked again with achuckle, why don’t people use Macs around here? They nervously glanced at eachother, and Thierry leaned over and whispered, “I’ll tell you when we’re betterfriends.” So, for some reason, the French don’t lean toward Macs and they don’twant to talk about it. Travel tip for you.

For dessert we enjoyed some of Thierry’s homemade crème brulee,made from some of his homegrown honey from the backyard and a small cup of thatwicked strong French coffee. I know the meal will be remembered as one of thebest in my life (seriously).

The next day we ventured back to Pierrefond because weneeded some ATM cash for our trip home the following day. We hadn’t anticipatedthe town would be jam-packed on Sunday for a village flea market that stretchedfor blocks, all around the main square area. After driving a mile out of townfor a parking spot we spent the bright, sunny day perusing tables of Frenchjunk, and bought some antique trinkets for souvenirs. We ran into Thierry andHelene in the town center, a stone square packed with café tables andoverflowing with people. We joined them and their chic friends for pastries andcoffee. For once I felt a little less like a foreigner. We had French buddiesto run into!

Our last night in Saint Jean was a happy one. We were plumtuckered out from all of our adventures, knowing we’d crammed as much Frenchnessinto 10 days as a sane person could. The trip was decidedly the perfect lengthfor our constitutions, and we looked forward to being home in our American bedsthe following night. I looked out the window of my bedroom to see the Cathedraland the chicken coop under an almost full moon. I knew it might be another 30years before I returned, so I took in a breath with an intention for the memoryof that moment to last 30 years. And now that I wrote it down, it doesn’t haveto.

Pierrefond Castle

2012-01-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

The following morning we slept in, got ready slowly, andheaded for the nearby town of Pierrefond. We drove in our tiny car through thebig forest, and arrived after 10 minutes in a storybook village on a lake witha medieval castle towering up from the center. I hope those French peopleappreciate everyday the awesomeness of where they live! After a breakfast ofdelicious pastries from an adorable patisserie (with our usual dietaryadjustments) we marched excitedly up to the gorgeous castle for a tour.

Pierrefond Castle was build in the middle ages, was hardlyever used because of political reasons, was all but destroyed a few centurieslater for military reasons, and was rebuilt in the 19^th century formore political reasons. The wonderful Violet le Duc, who designed Notre Dame inParis, was responsible for most of the reconstruction and design of PierrefondCastle, much to my delight. The gargoyles and rainspouts were weird stoneanimal hybrids, and my favorite was a pelican with bat wings and eight hangingboobs. We’d arrived early enough to see not another soul during our tour, andso got to appreciate the unusual, fanciful place with no distractions. Therooms were painted with designs on almost everything in bright colors withmedieval/arts and crafts/pre-Raphaelite pageantry. I can’t say for sure, butI’ll bet if I compared it with most other European castles, it would be my favorite.That design period just thrills the pants off me, and I have stacks of books athome of its patterns and details. To see room after room in a huge castle, andhave it all to ourselves…magnifique! Also, parts of the Harry Potter movieswere filmed there, so it has that going for it.

One of the weirder features of the tour came unexpectedly atthe bottom of some winding stairs that led to a dungeon-like lower level of thecastle. A long room was filled with hundreds of tombs, all topped withlife-size stone sculptures of the noble person or king who was buried within.The sparsely lit room echoed with the sound of people’s voices, all talking at once.Many of the tombs were accompanied by a nearby speaker, each quoting thatdeceased person’s most famous words. The intention may not have been to scarethe daylights out of visitors, but that’s what happened with me. Eerielighting, an army of monotone voices, graves with real-looking people lying ontop with their hands folded over their chests, all in the bottom of acenturies-old home…how crypt-keeper can you get? Its uniqueness did give meenough bravery to take my time and notice the artfulness of it all, and we tooksome photos of the silly sculptural objects that were carved next to the tombowner’s likeness. Some people had cute little pets with them, and others toolsof their favorite hobby. Some of the couples had to lay for eternity with theirspouse’s feet in their face. The fanciest folks got to sit up and pose as ifthey were having a picnic in the celestial grass.

Signs explained that at some point Versailles had a wholelot of tombs to get rid of, so their collection was split up and installed invarious castles around the country. Artists put together the voices and lightsdisplay. I was enamored with the whole idea, except that I am easily spookedand was eager to leave as soon as we found the place.

By afternoon we voted on naptime back in Saint Jean. We’dbeen invited to dinner by our friends’ relatives, who lived a block away, andneeded our rest before embarking on an all-French language evening.

Medieval French Village

2011-12-29T06:54:00.000-08:00

This post continues my travelogue of our spring trip to France.

We took the train north to Compiegne where I’d signed up torent a car and drive to Saint Jean. I was not confident about driving a cartinier than a Mini Cooper, with a stick shift, on skinny cobblestone roads,directed by signs in a foreign language. I was right to be nervous because itwas hard. Again looking very sitcom-like, I white-knuckled the wheel and talkedtoo fast, begging Annabelle to try and help me read the signs and not miss ourturns. I arrived in Saint Jean most pleased to get out the car, and would, overthe next the next few days find as many reasons and ways to stay out of the caras possible.

Saint Jean aux Boix is a very small medieval village withmostly gray stone houses with shutters, a very old and beautiful cathedral, anda couple restaurants. There were no new buildings to mar its preciousness. Thetown is one stop on a driving tour around that area of France, so during ourstay there we witnessed many tourists walking around. It seemed the favoriteattractions were the medieval cathedral (next door to our home) and theneighbor’s chicken coop (across the street from our home.) Our friends’ homewas elegant and simple, and we applauded ourselves and our friends for the ideaof resting there after Paris before returning to America. We had a couple days to play peasant folk.

We walked leisurely around the village, ate a Salade Nicoiseat the local café, and slept the rest of the day away. The days in Saint Jeanwere the only part of our trip in which we were incommunicado. No Scott Skypesto end our days.

RIP Helen Frankenthaler

2011-12-28T07:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to some images and info about Helen Frankenthaler, who died today. Probably my favorite abstract expressionist painter, she is one of the icons of 20th century art.

Poul Webb Blog

Annual Cookie Party

2011-12-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

I interrupt my regularly scheduled Paris trip installment to show some images of yesterday's annual cookie decorating party at my friend, Anne LaPlante's house.

Last Day in Paris

2011-12-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

Continued from previous blog posts. For photos, I included some highlights from our Paris stay. When I find my misplaced images of Notre Dame gargoyles and such, I'll post them.

Our last day in Paris was wrought with indecision aboutwhich of the very many attractions we were going to miss. We’d known wecouldn’t see it all, and today was the day of reckoning. Annabelle insisted wego back to Notre Dame to sketch, and to climb the tower. So we did, and got tosit in a front pew of the Cathedral, sketching for hours. The mobs of touristsdidn’t get in the way because we were drawing architectural details way up inthe arches. I’m not sure our drawings were first rate, but they are definitelysome of the most sentimental work in our sketchbooks because of the memoriesattached. Afterwards we got in line (very short, thanks to Rick Steves timingsuggestions) and climbed a windy, steep stone staircase to the top of NotreDame. We looked out over the city, inches from the famous gargoyles, a coldwind much more biting than down below. We climbed the tower and took photos nextto Quasimodo’s big bell. I took a fanatical amount of photos of thearchitectural details, marveling at the intricacy, imagination, and weirdnessof Violet le-Duc’s vision. I love that guy! The freezing wind sent us back downthe 400 stairs to the bottom, where Annabelle spent some of her favoritemoments of the trip feeding and petting a huge flock of ravenous pigeons.

Rick Steves recommends many restaurants in Paris, and so farwe had not eaten at one of them. We’d surely wanted to, but we’d not been inthe right place at the right time to pull it off. On our last day in town wewere determined to try at least one Ricknik restaurant. (This is a real termfor Rick Steves’ fans, I swear.) Isle Saint Louis is just across the river fromNotre Dame, and is reported to be one of the more exclusive neighborhoods inthe city. We threw a few coins to a violin player dutifully playing La Vie en Rose as we crossed the bridgeinto elegant Saint Louis, getting close to hoping we’d never hear that songagain.

The restaurant was warm, cozy, and quaint, with a collectionof tiny antique doll chairs covering the walls. I don’t think there is such athing as quick service in Paris, but the owner/cook/waitress was amicable.Annabelle had her first foie gras, and I had escargot, and both were out ofthis world. Rick had led us to probably our best meal in Paris, although wehadn’t tried very hard to seek out the finest eats around. Getting to and fromthe attractions was focus enough; figuring the best restaurants into our planwould have been too much for me (and my budget, perhaps.) We’d managed to eattraditional French meals almost the whole trip, usually at a not-outrageouscost. And even with Crème Brulee, Steak Tartar, and various charcuterie on themenu we didn’t gain weight because of the excessive amount of walking. (When Isay “not-outrageous” I mean that we probably averaged $15 per person per meal.I don’t call that cheap, but it’s not the $800 for lunch that one can spend inParis.)

After lunch we pronounced ourselves plum full of Parisattractions. We longed for an off-the-beaten path place to relax on our lastday, so we went to the Jardin de Plantes, or Botanical Gardens. It was notrecommended by any of the tour guides, so we figured it must not be full of tourists.It wasn’t. Since it was March, most of the plants were underground. The placejust wasn’t as spectacular as Paris’s historical sites, but we did get ourbreak from tourists for the afternoon. As we left the park we sneakily slippedinto a McDonalds to see how it differed from the ones back home. Most itemsseemed the same, but the dessert menu was full of French stuff like ChocolateMousse and Tartes. I tried the mousse and it wasn’t bad! We liked how the trashcanssaid, “Merci” and how the customers were just as chic-looking as the ones atfashionable cafes.

After our taste of America (however Frenchified) Annabelledeclared her need to do something else non-French. Our hotel’s neighborhood hasa multi-plex theater, and we’d been walking by it daily seeing the posters for allthe American movies with French titles. So after a freshen-up at the hotel welined up to see “The Fighter.” When I got to the ticket lady and stated themovie name in proper English she corrected me and said something like “Le Feetay.”The theatre was not stadium seating or surround sound or digital screen or clean.Just a regular movie experience like, say, in 1975. “The Fighter” was reallygood, but depicted a demographic of America that could be termed as trashy. Ihoped the foreign movie-goers didn’t think we all were like that. The Frenchsubtitles didn’t use nearly as many curse words as the English script wasputting out, which was fun to take note of.

And so ended our last night in Paris. We packed as much aswe could, in preparation for three days in a little village north of the citycalled Saint Jean aux Bois. Some friends of ours own a home there, and hadgenerously invited us to stay there even though they are at home in America.

Day at Versailles

2011-12-15T07:26:00.000-08:00

Continued from previous Paris blog posts.

We had no intention of being tired for our next day, anexcursion to Versailles, the palace of the 18^th century Frenchkings, described by most as the most spectacular in Europe. We rose early,followed Rick Steve’s detailed train and entrance instructions to the letter,and as he promised, were the first tourists in the palace, and waited in nolines. My trip to the palace 30 years before was quite an abbreviated versionof what was in store for us this time. Most of the palace was closed then, soall I remember was the gardens.

Anyway, Annabelle and I scurried through room after opulentroom, snapping photos, oohing and aahing, pointing out one overwhelminglybreathtaking detail after another. That crazy Louis! We kept pondering whatwould impel someone to make something so outrageous. He apparently spent onehalf of the gross national product of France to build it. How could we keepfrom saying anything but OMG?! In these sorts of places I always imagine thepainters and artisans who got to work on the project and wonder how they weretreated, whether they got some artistic leeway, if they were paid well, whatthey thought of the results. And I try to get Louis or whatever super-richbastard funded the deal out of my mind so I can appreciate the vision ofloveliness (or power, or might) that the artists worked to create.

We refused to walk more than necessary that day, even if ourenergy was up from the day before. We took trains through the gardens to seethe smaller outlying attractions, mostly built for Marie Antionette when shegot BORED (hello!) with Versailles. Her Petite Trianon and little hamlet wereinteresting, and mostly brought to the imagination how darn rich those outrageouspeople were. We had lunch and dinner in quaint restaurants in the village ofVersailles, and were glad to experience the very friendly people of small-townFrance. All told, we ended up walking way more than our legs wanted to, and byevening we were snoozing soundly on the train back to Paris. Again, right at10:00 we arrived for our nightly Skype, with tales of the glories of Louis andMarie.

Slow Day in Paris

2011-12-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

My story continues from previous blog posts. All photos came out bad from this day in Paris, so enjoy this image from Versailles, a preview of the blog to come.

We were duds the next day. We drug ourselves out of bed at9:00, knowing we’d missed our golden opportunity to miss long lines at theMusee d”Orsay. We didn’t care. We’d known all along that there might be a daywhere we’d be too tuckered out to race around, so we decided to take this oneslow. Most days we navigated the Metro with expert skill, but this day we gotlost twice. Had to get off and find new circuitous routes to get us back ontrack. In our meanderings we passed one musician after another playing La Vie en Rose, hoping for a coin ortwo. Sitting and staring doesn’t take much energy, so our longer rides didn’tupset us much.

Because we didn’t arrive at opening, the lines at the Museed’Orsay were the longest we’d encountered on the trip, but they still weren’tbad. We had our special Paris Pass which helped. The bad news was that thismuseum of 19^th century art (a heaping helping of the most famouspaintings of all time) was under renovation, and all the artwork of four fourswas crammed onto the bottom two floors. So we saw magnificent masterpiecespacked edge to edge in little hallways with a mob of people mashed togethertrying to squeeze by and see. The good news is that a couple months earlier,Annabelle and I had traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, USA to see a goodsampling of the Musee d’Orsay collection. The exhibit traveled to only twoplaces in the United States, specifically because the Paris museum was being refurbished.I’m happy to say we’d already seen a good bit of some of the best work in muchbetter conditions. And it’s a good thing because we were just overloaded!

Most of the time we crowded ourselves onto the populatedbenches in the galleries and closed our eyes, trying to rest between paintings.But, in spite of all the crowds and tiredness, I did have a spiritualinteraction with a painting that I’ll never forget.

There are a few times in my life when seeing a paintingchanged everything for me. At several of the world’s greatest museums I’ve hadmonumental moments at the sight of a painting that brought me to tears. Notjust misty eyes, but continuous, uncontrollable sobbing. The Van Goghs at theNational did it. A Daumier in Los Angeles, a Raphael in Pasadena, an Ingre atthe High in Atlanta; all moved me so deeply I lost myself and my surroundings.Well, this happened in Nashville when I saw the Musee d’Orsay collection andwalked into the room to see “Whistler’s Mother.” For an hour and half I staredat the piece, one of the most famous paintings of all time, memorizing itsevery detail and rejoicing in its every nuance. A painting’s fame rarelyaffects my opinion of it, and usually if it’s terrifically famous, I’moverloaded on the image and can’t appreciate it as much. But this superstarcaptured me from first glance, a great surprise, since I’d never been muchtaken by its reproductions. Every choice made by the artist was unpredictable.Delicate, lacelike details contrasted with strong, blocky, abstract forms.Japanese influenced patterns and design against Puritan American stoicism. Just enough color to suggest a humanform with a luscious palette of grays to make the color stand out. One of themost deliberately abstract pieces of its time with unapologetic and veryobvious human realism. It was brilliant.

I watched the American visitors in Nashville scratch theirheads, wondering why this painting was so famous. Very few people stopped toadmire it more than a few seconds. So, at the d’Orsay in Paris, I was delightedto get to observe the reaction of foreigners. What a unique opportunity! I’d noidea when I saw the piece in Nashville that I’d get to be a fly on the wall intwo countries across the world from each other, and get to see what peoplethought about a single famous painting. The reaction in France was the same.Basically, no matter where in the world the viewer came from, they werebewildered as to why the painting was so famous. A quick glance was all mostpeople gave it. I was secretly delighted that the general public was soignorant (or just different from me) because it gave me easier access to thepiece for longer periods of time.

We finally decided we’d just better go back to the hotel andtake a nap. I could barely believe that I was surrounded by some of my favoritepaintings on planet Earth and I just couldn’t see them. At that moment, a napsounded a million times better.

Back at the hotel, we snoozed for a few hours, then watchedTV for another hour. The biggest curiosity about French TV was the mandatory disclaimeron every junk food commercials that said you should be eating your fruits andvegetables. Good for France! We noticed many American movies and TV showsdubbed in French, which was fun to watch for a little while. After all thatresting, we knew we were still in no shape to be active, so we opted for thelazy tourist adventure, the Bateau Mouche, a boat tour on the Seine Riverthrough the city. Our tour company started at the base of the Eiffel Tower (towhich we were delighted to return) and floated its way down the Seine with anearphone tour guide option. We nodded off most of the way, and a large group ofAsians in front of us did the same. We weren’t the only worn-out tourists inParis. We caught snippets about Parisian history as the guide pointed to thebacksides of old buildings or to the undersides of old bridges. We could hearfaint accordions here and there on the banks playing La Vie en Rose. The sun set as we arrived back at the Eiffel tower,and we were perfectly pleased with our languid day. We ate some high-pricedmediocre food at a floating restaurant just under the Eiffel, satisfied enoughwith the world’s best view not to complain about the meal. Our right-on-time10:00 Skype call with Scott back at the hotel rounded it all out nicely.

....Paris

2011-12-09T11:41:00.001-08:00

Anselm Kiefer

...continued from previous blog posts

Feeling sufficiently rested (or so we thought) we decided totake a walk from Place de la Bastille to the Pompidou Center through theMarais. Rick Steves’ guidebook had a nice little walking tour suggested, and weeagerly followed it to the letter. We started at a bench outside the new OperaHouse where a delicious looking Frenchman pointed us on our way. We’d heardthat the Marais is quite hip, and it is. All Parisians are very chic, but this areais a bit trendier, rowdier, and gayer than we’d seen elsewhere. Theneighborhood had skinny, cobblestone streets with a variety of architecturalstyles, like the postcard of France one might expect. Stores sold gourmet teas,Japanese stuff of all varieties, scarves, modern furniture. Pedestrians woremore leather, scarily high heels, and wild scarves than in other neighborhoods.I felt like a frumpy white-bread American.

We ended up at the Centre Pompidou at 5:00, hungry andtired, but insistent on seeing the whole darn thing whether we like it or not. That’sthe thing about coming half way around the world to go to places you’ve wantedto see your whole life. Exhausted, thirsty or starved, freezing or roasting,with sore feet or numb hands…you will make yourself take it in, if just to sayOK, I saw it! We ate a radically expensive snack at the little café, drank somecolorful sodas, and massaged our poor feet as much as time would allow. Then wesoldiered on up the big plastic escalator.

Juan Miro

The Pomidou has changed since I saw it 30 years ago. Itstill looks modern, but it’s getting a little tired. The transparent bubblethat surrounds the outdoor escalator is scratched and worn, so the overviews ofthe city are a little hazy. It’s good for watching the wild and disorderlygroups of performers, spectators, and possible ne’er do wells that congregateon the grounds below. We made our way to the top level and planned on workingour way down.

I gave my brief summation of modern art to Annabelle as wepassed the simple, usually colorful, abstract work throughout the galleries. Nomatter how hard I try to get her to appreciate modern art, she still scratchesher head. I don’t care if she likes it, I just want her to accept its validityand understand where the artists are coming from. She still resists, so I atleast make sure she’s exposed to it; she can now say she’s seen it. We ratherhurried through the rooms because of our tiredness and because Annabelle seemedpretty bored. Unless I’m imagining it, the museum seems poorly watched over andin need of a little sprucing-up. There were scuffs on the walls, and to myabsolute horror, a tourist family was rubbing their hands all over a Picasso.No guard was in sight, and I would have yelled at them if I’d known whatlanguage they spoke.

Phillippe Guston

By the time we left the Pompidou we were dead-dog tired. Allwe wanted was some dinner, pronto! We wandered a little ways back into theMarais and found an adorable little café open. It was 7:00, which is an earlyhour for the French. The interior had rough stone walls, candlelit small tables,soft accordion music, and a wall of wine behind the bar. Our waiter wastypically slow but very friendly, even by our standards. We had four courses ofyummalicious food, but could barely keep our eyes open. The jet-lag, marathondistance walking, and jaw-dropping sightseeing had finally taken its toll. Weshuffled out at 9:00, complaining about being stuffed and brain-dead.

Sigmar Polke

Somehow, like every evening of our trip, we walked in thedoor of our hotel room at a couple minutes before 10:00, just in time for ournightly Skype call with my husband, Scott. We never meant to time it soperfectly, but we always managed to get there just in time. Our calls werehilarious because the visuals were always jumbled or ill-timed with our voices.Scott frequently looked like a computerized monster, and Scott said we lookedfrozen and jerky, but we did get some quality trans-Atlantic communication forfree.

More Paris

2011-12-07T08:48:00.001-08:00

Our second day in Paris was reserved for the Louvre.Annabelle’s and my life are largely devoted to art, so we shuddered with gleeas we ate our patisserie breakfast in a little park near our hotel. (A noteabout breakfast. I am allergic to wheat and Annabelle to dairy, so we had amiserable time with the continental offerings everywhere in Paris. Annabellehad to eat plain bread to avoid the butter that is in every single tart,croissant and pastry there, and I had to order the one thing that had anon-wheat ingredient: flan pie. But I had to throw away the crust. We probablymissed out on a zillion calories and should be thankful, but it was not easy inthe least.)

Our first goal at the Louvre was to avoid the lines, and didwe ever! Rick Steves told us secrets that got us in before anyone. Our nextgoal was to get to the Mona Lisa first. We didn’t want to have to stand in acrush of humanity while looking at the world’s most beloved painting. So, whenthe doors opened and we got through security, we sprinted like the dickens toget to her. Down corridors, through atriums, past the towering Winged Victory,up and down massive staircases, we followed the hundred signs that pointed to Mona.In that huge place with miles upon miles of art, there is no corner thatdoesn’t have a sign that points to her. We slowed down when we passed guards,panting and laughing, knowing full well they knew what we were up to. As weskidded into the room where she hung we exulted in our victory; we were therefirst! We ended up having a full four minutes with her alone. A stern guardwhose job it was to watch solely over her looked not the least bit impressed byour triumph. I’m sure there are clowns (probably Americans) who sprint to seeher first everyday. We got dozens of pictures of us standing in front of her,and as you can see, we were really missing the point that this lovely work ofart was actually waiting to be LOOKED AT.

But her glory was lost on us. Like everyone, we’ve seen herface reproduced a thousand times in our life. Seeing her 15 feet away andbehind glass was no better a view than if it were in a newspaper. We knew itwas the real thing, and that was something, but there was no way to connectwith the “handprint” of Leonardo from that distance. Still, we had quite athrill just knowing we were looking at probably the most famous object onEarth.

Our next goal was to get at least a glance at art history’sgreatest hits. We knew this would mean racing by famous and glorious art to seethe most famous and gloriousart. I was an art history major incollege and had given Annabelle a crash course in French art history from 1700to 1900 before we traveled. We knew our task was monumental, but our must-seelist seemed do-able.

When we found the painting we’d set out for, we’d standdumbfounded for a few minutes, trying to soak up every brushstroke. We’ddiscuss its merit and point out new insights about composition, color, or justplain aura that we’d not seen in reproductions. Some pieces were slightlydisappointing in that the real thing didn’t speak much louder than its phonycounterparts. Either way, it was fascinating. Then, after a couple allotted shortmoments we were racing off to find the next wing of the museum which held moreof our short-listed masterpieces.

What we didn’t know about he Louvre is that the whole darnbuilding is a work of art that rivals any painting or sculpture that itcontains. The moulding, the viewsout the windows, the ceilings and stairs and alcoves….just breathtaking in itsbaroque grandeur. With all my art history background I could categorize itsornamental and stately style, but I tried not to intellectualize it like that.I just basked in the feel of it: a massive and regal salute to my favoritething, art.

There were a few times we collapsed on benches or even inthe stairwell from exhaustion. We’d walked nearly 10 miles the day before andcouldn’t even begin to clock the many miles we were getting in this day. Buteach time we’d snuggle up close to Ingre or Vermeer or Durer or David we’drenew our devotion to making sure we saw as much as possible. Eventually wedecided we’d seen our very top favorites and would have to rest or die. We atein the cafeteria, then sat against the wall in a huge atrium filled with classicalmarble sculptures of naked Greeks, and we sketched all afternoon. Sunshinefiltered through the overhead skylight and made splendid shadows on oursubjects. A lovelier place to take an artist break will not be found anywhere.

Paris, continued...

2011-12-05T07:44:00.001-08:00

My second installment of my Paris trip story from spring break of this year.

After seeing tourist lines out the door and down the street,we declined a visit to Saint Chapelle Cathedral, which is right across fromNotre Dame and claiming some of the most spectacular stained glass windows inChristendom. We heard on the Rick Steves website that there was scaffoldingcovering much of the inside view anyway, so we instead hopped next door andtook a gander through the Conciergerie, the famous prison where Marie Antoinettewas held captive before her Reign of Terror beheading. The main room of theinterior was quite lovely and mysterious with its dramatically-lit rows ofarches. Throughout the rest of the building were mostly small hallways, smallcells, and very thick walls. The grand highlight was Ms. Antoinette’s small anddingy cell, complete with dusty furniture and a dusty mannequin representingthe fallen dauphine herself.

On our way to the Arch de Triumph we stopped at the old OperaHouse to find it closed. We took photos of the naked and lovely statues thatadorn the exterior, which, along with some cuddling pigeons, made for some ofmy best pics of the trip.

As we arrived at the The Arch de Triumph our afternoonsleepiness was setting in. We wereseriously tired! We remembered Rick’s admonitions and soldiered on, trying totrust that this agony would pay off in more energy at the right times. Climbingthe million winding stairs to the top of the Arch certainly woke us up, and thestaggering views and fresh air at the top couldn’t help but revive us. Somesweet tourists from South America exchanged photo-takes with us, all of ustrying to get a famous monument in the background vista.

Looking over the city, I found the sameness of thearchitecture interesting. I didn’t realize that the gray stone buildings coverthe city all the way out to the outer arrondisements. Seeing it from abovebrought to life all the stuff I’d read about Baron von Haussman’s 19^thcentury plan to make the city militarily easier to defend, etc. (For more aboutall that juicy stuff read Rick Steves’ guidebooks.) I love, love, love historyand seeing it come alive by being where it all happened? Priceless.

After buying some excellent postcards at the A de Tbookstore, we Strolled down the Champs Elysee. (Isn’t that what one must do?Stroll, with a capital S?) There were well-dressed tourists from the worldover, and no one smiled. We live in the American South, where fanaticalfriendliness is, well, required. It was hard to feel like we were having funwhen everyone seemed so grouchy. I realize Paris is a big city, and culturallydifferent, and if had dinner with them, most people wouldn’t be so cold. But wejust weren’t used to it, and got tired of looking at sour faces and fancystores that really looked a lot like the ones in America anyway.

We had bought advance tickets online to go to the top of theEiffel Tower at a certain time and we didn’t want to be late, so we hopped theMetro again. (The only thing Rick Steves got wrong about our trip was thenumber of Metro tickets we would use. His estimate was much lower than theamount we used, probably because we stayed in a hotel on the outskirts.)Anyway, we arrived there an hour earlier than our tickets were scheduled for,so we sat down and sketched. There is no better way to really connect with aperson, place, or thing than to draw it. I have a lot more respect for MonsieurEiffel after drawing every little cross beam from the first level to the groundbelow. Sheesh! I also read the story of the monument to Annabelle, which madeus respect that amazing fella even more. (Read Rick’s guidebook!)

March is not the busiest tourist time in Paris, but theEiffel Tower attracts a heck of a lot of people no matter what. This is wherewe saw the most Americans on our trip. They were easy to spot. They are prettymuch the most un-cool people there, but I don’t mean in a bad way. They justdon’t have the cosmopolitan look of the rest of the world. Even when they tryto dress in black and wear scarves and sassy boots they still have thiscorn-fed, Maybelline-wearing, football-watching look about them. I probably do,too.

We took elevators up at our allotted time, rejoicing that westill had not waited in lines, as I had so perfectly planned. We heard a few fellowAmericans say “Rick Steves says…” and Annabelle and I nudged each other andsmiled. Just as the sun was setting we wandered the top level, watching thelights of Paris come on. I said Happy Birthday to Annabelle about 50 times andshe said Thanks about 50 times back. It was just spectacular. It’s one of thosetimes where you can’t believe it’s really happening. The Eiffel Tower has aunique mystique about it, being the most popular monument in the world in themost visited tourist city in the world. We were there, and we just kept saying“We’re here.”

Hunger sent us down again, and as we walked away from theTower across the great lawn we looked back every few seconds, taking it in,trying to make it last forever. It will.

Spring in Paris

2011-12-03T07:45:00.001-08:00

My daughter, Annabelle, and I went to Paris for spring breakthis year. I’ve had a whirlwind schedule since then, and never got to post aproper blog about our fantastic trip. So here it is, broken down into several posts over the following week.

The last time I went to Paris I was 17. My mom sent me witha school tour, and in the spirit of mothers-giving-daughters-trips-to-Paris, Ipromised Annabelle when she was 5 that I would take her there someday. Now thatshe’s 16 I decided I better honor my words before she’s off on her own. She’dbeen taking French for two years, and a few serendipitous things fell intoplace to make it possible to get there.

I planned zealously for months before we left: researchingart history and French politics, finding out what people were wearing there (inMarch), planning how we’d avoid lines at the attractions, and boning up on myFrench. The magical, miraculous, wonderful genius Rick Steves from PublicTelevision was my European Guru before and during the trip. I packed preciselywhat and how he suggested, and planned all of our doings around his ideas.

We flew from Atlanta to Heathrow on British Air, and feltquite continental before we even left the ground on hearing the accents of theairline staff. By the time we got to Paris we were ridiculously tired, andnervously figured out how to maneuver our way to our hotel from Charles deGaulle airport. The train signs were in French, for God’s sake! We sleepilyheld our heads up on the train to the city, while a gorgeous young man in ascarf played La Vie in Rose on hisaccordion for tips.

Our hotel was in the 13^th arrondisement, off thebeaten path enough to be inexpensive and in a tourist-free area. Rick Steveshad warned us that the imperative rule for adjusting to a time zone overseas isto make yourself stay awake until the proper bedtime by going outside in thefresh air and doing something. It was only 5:00 pm and we were on the bed readyto pass out. We drowsily nudged each other to get up, but after ten minutes ofnudging each other we both fell sound asleep.

We woke at 2:00 am, wide-awake and rearing to go. Darn it!We stayed in bed and talked until the sun came up, and then began the busiestday of our trip. It was Annabelle’s 16^th birthday, and the day hadbeen planned around her request to go to Mass at Notre Dame in the morning andwatch the sunset from the top of the Eiffel Tower that evening. After breakfastat a local patisserie we hurried off and became instantly at ease with theMetro system. We learned quickly that an integral part of the Metro experienceis the enjoyment of all kinds of musicians who play La Vie en Rose at Metro stations and stops.

We headed first for the Left Bank. We strolled by the oldhaunts of artsy bohemes from days-gone-by, peeked into Saint Michel, the oldestCathedral in Paris, and ended up at Saint Sulpice Cathedral (home of one of themost famous church organs in Europe) for early Mass. The average age of the congregationwas 105 (and no tourists to be seen) so we looked quite out of place. But itgave us time to acclimate ourselves to the smells and atmosphere we’d encounterfor days to come; the musty, dimly-lit, highly ornamental world of ancientbuildings. It was glorious, culturally shocking, and made us feel far fromhome.

We landed next at Notre Dame just as its Sunday Mass wasbeginning. Hordes of tourists from everywhere on the planet (except USA, itseemed) were mashing into the place, and this wasn’t even the high season. I’dnot remembered it to be so crowded that last time I was there, exactly 30 yearsago. Annabelle fell in love with every inch of it, declaring it her favoriteplace already. She’d watched Disney’s Hunchbackof Notre Dame 10 times in preparation for the trip, and the real thingdidn’t disappoint. We were especially enamored with the acres of ornamentalstone carvings and vowed to come back another day to sketch.

Lorna Meaden, 2012 ALCC Featured Artist

2011-12-02T10:36:00.001-08:00

Colorado potter, Lorna Meaden is one of the featured artists at the 2012 Alabama Clay Conference.

Here is a quick description about her career and work:

With her elegant and sensuous vessels, Lorna Meaden puts herown spin on historical ornamentation and celebrates the practical use ofeveryday, utilitarian objects. “Handmade pots are potent in their power toreveal the extraordinary, within the ordinary,” she says. She contrastselements of extravagant embellishment with a rough-hewn, home-spun,sensibility. One of America’s most popular potters, Meaden exhibits ingalleries and museums nationwide. She has been a resident at the mostprestigious art instruction centers in the country, and currently resides inDurango, Colorado where she calls herself a studio potter.

Inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement of the nineteenthcentury, Meaden honors the handmade useful object as a valuable entity and asacred tradition. She spurns the modern proclivity to assign worth based on conveniencerather than authenticity and uniqueness, revering instead the intimate connectionfostered in handmade items—between the user of the piece and the artisan whomade it. If handmade work is aluxury in today’s world, Meaden’s use of adornment on her work extends the ideaof extravagance. Yet while her forms are playfully suggestive of Baroque andRococo grandeur, her use of material remains in the dominion of old-fashionedfolk pottery. Rather than using delicate white porcelain with shiny lusterembellishments, her materials retain the bulky, neutral-glazed solidity thatgive her work the delightful balance between the fancy and the uncomplicated.

ALCC Featured Artist: Sergei Isupov

2011-12-01T13:38:00.001-08:00

Sergei Isupov is one of the featured artists to demonstrate and exhibit at the

2012 Alabama Clay Conference in February.

A short description of his work and career:

Sergei Isupov, one of the world’s most famous and lovedceramic artists, has been thrilling viewers for decades with this meticulous,surreal, figurative sculpture. Born in the Ukraine, Isupov studied art at universities in Kiev andEstonia before emigrating to the United States in the early 1980s. His work isin museum collections around the globe, and he lectures and gives workshopsworld-wide. Isupov now resides in Massachusets, and is represented by FerrinGallery.

Isupov’s sculptures display an uninhibited celebration ofimagination, human relationship, personal mythology, and freeform narrative.Painted images of the human form drape over, wrap around, meld with, and becomea part of the surface of the sculpture, which is itself in the shape of a humanform. The layered imagery is ripe with layers of meaning, conveying humanpathos, tenderness, ambiguity, and humor. With jaw-dropping attention todetail, his work plays with themes of raw sexuality and the playful and delicateconnections in all kinds of human relationships. His methods are meticulous buthave nothing to do with realism. His forms and style are relegated to the oddand colorful world of dreams and memory. His means of communication arenon-apologetic and arresting, and convey an intimate, personal and dramaticdisplay of what could best be described as enthusiasm.

Featured Artist at the ALCC: Chris Gryder

2011-11-29T08:34:00.001-08:00

The Alabama Clay Conference, to be held in February, 2012 in Birmingham (and hosted by my husband, ceramic artist Scott Bennett) will feature three well-known ceramic artists who will give all-day demonstrations and exhibit their work.

Here is the work of Chris Gryder, one of the featured artists. I've included an article below about his work, a piece I wrote for Ceramics Monthly magazine, November 2006. I'll blog about the other two artists in the next couple days.

Negative Impact

The Work of Chris Gryder

Chris Gryder began his explorationof art by studying architecture. A sincere and dedicated commitment to thesubject led to his acquaintance with artists, methods, and concepts that laterbecame the inspiration for his work in sculpture and clay. From the visionarydesigns of Antonio Gaudi and the philosophy of Louis Sullivan to experimentalwork in mold-making for architectural pieces, Gryder pieced together a singularaesthetic and an uncommon process of sculpture-making.

During his undergrad work at TulaneUniversity in the 80s his interest in the straight, clean lines of modern andpostmodern architecture was tentative. His disillusionment with Bauhaus puritybecame quite apparent when he discovered the work of Gaudi. His eyes wereopened to a new world of architectural form. Gaudi incorporated ceramics in hisarchitectural surfaces. Ornament was not only used, it encompassed entirebuildings. It was the building. While Gaudi’s work gets categorized as Art Nouveau,it fully transcended the movement by taking the typical flowing, plant-likeforms so popular at the time and using them not only as motif but asarchitectural framework. He was a sculptor on a very grand scale. Gryderresponded to everything about the work: the diversity of form, the hands-onquality of execution, the acceptance of ornament, the abundance of referencesto the natural world.

For three years Gryder worked in the field of architectureuntil a 5 year stint in the desert of Arizona turned his head to the world ofsculpture. He lived and worked on Paolo Soleri’s project Arcosanti which hadbeen developing prototypes for urban ideas since the 1970s in a clay studio andbronze foundry 65 miles north of Phoenix. While Gryder worked there buildingarchitectural pieces he overwhelmingly responded to building with his hands, apastime used less and less in the field of architecture. Working in the ceramicstudio he gained rudimentary technical knowledge and started playing with theidea of making molds in the negative. With memories of Gaudi emerging, he beganan interest in making organic sculptural forms.

Gryder began graduate work at Rhode Island School of Design with ideas and inspiration fueled by his recentexplorations at Acrosanti. The most striking aspect of his art-making duringhis graduate years was the atypical process he used to create vessels. Allpieces are fashioned in the negative. Explained in basic terms, he first buildsa box and fills it with packed silt. With his hands and simple tools he carvesa negative into the silt which will become the exterior of the vessel. Fromthere he pours commercial slip (with roughly the density of a thick milk shake)into the carved cavity. The slip dries slightly over several hours until Gryderscoops out all the slip that is still liquid. When the clay has driedcompletely he breaks the mold and has a completed greenware piece. The surfaceis covered with neutral colors of terra sigillata.

The process is involved and time-consuming, but appealing toGryder. He explains that in a one-off single casting the artist doesn’t have toconcentrate time and energy on preparing the mold for repetitive use, a processof accommodation which often informs the piece visually. More freedom of designis allowed with a mold that dissolves after each piece. The procedure alsooffers the opportunity for more spontaneous and unexpected results.

Covering the outside of Gryder’s vessels are odd protrudingforms that travel in patterns. When aware of the artist’s process, one canimagine the act of scooping that produces the curious structure and contour.Whether seeming to be strange botanical elements or grotesque geologicalformations, one is reminded somewhat of Gaudi. The surface is rough, like sand,with peculiar gatherings of hardened sediment tucked into the tight spacesbetween forms. Without knowing the process a seasoned clay enthusiast would behard-pressed to understand how the extraordinary surface was achieved.

In contrast to the swelling forms, coarse texture and mattepatina of the exterior, the inside finish is smooth and satiny, and a differentcolor. The fervent dissimilarity of surface is entirely arresting, remindingone of a broken coconut or a sea creature with an open shell. Art historicallyvessels have represented, among other things, the human soul. Gryder’s piecesallude to this symbolism with their harsh, seemingly protective outer layerwhich opens to reveal a velvety interior.

Vessels were Gryder’s primary focus in grad school, but healso dabbled in tiles using the same process. After graduating and finding afollowing for his work, tiles became more of a focus, and eventually theirpopularity and his interest in them pushed them into the forefront of hisproduction.

Like the exterior of the vessels Gryder’s tile surfaces havea sandstone-like quality. The aesthetic of Gryder’s tiles unite his formertraining and influences in modern design with his passion for the sensual andprimordial. Furthermore, the two dimensional aspect of tiles leaves room formore pictorial and narrative exploration. The tiles as a group manifestthemselves in large wall relief constructions, often 8 to 10 feet in length.Gryder starts by developing the piece linearly, focusing on overall form. Thedivisions of space could represent primitive ceremonial diagrams, molecularmodels, or planetary trajectories, conjuring associations with the metaphysicaland the scientific. Possible horizons divide night and day, sea and land, earthand sky, above and underground. These divisions seem proportional and balancedenough to give the impression that the artist has used the Golden Mean forcalculation. Indeed, a sense of the mathematical pervades the work, and is allthe more emphasized by the grid formation of the tiles themselves. Like cropcircles in a field of perfectly straight rows of corn, one wonders if anindecipherable map has been laid out, its function hidden behind its mysteriousbeauty.

Within the individual tiles are a myriad of various abstractforms which reference for the most part the natural world. At first one isconfident in deciphering leaf forms, but on closer examination leaves could befeathers, wings, or crystalline growth. A suggestion of insects, fruit, seeds,and pods seem feasible. The eye can follow forms that insinuate ocean waves,branches on a tree, animal trails, veins on a leaf, or water ripples. The risesin the relief hint at a possible model of a landscape. And while features ofthe natural world are hinted at, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to see the spinningcogs and mechanisms of a moving contraption. The whole impression is one ofliveliness and action.

Many of Gryder’s influences reach far back into history,probably due to the proliferation of ornamental carved relief in primitivecultures. The artist’s design arrangements and motifs recall Pre-Columbianarchitectural facades, especially Incan patterns and Mayan imagery. As inprehistoric cultures he frequently uses circular forms with layers radiatingfrom a center like icons or mandalas. Added to these influences of design isthe fact that the art of early cultures now exhibits the damage of time.Gryder’s technique lends a quality of aged or decayed stone, reminiscent ofancient ruins.

The success of Chris Gryder’s work lies in his ability tocombine and integrate so many opposing approaches to expression. With aseamless style he manages to mix the purity of modernism with a joyouscelebration of profuse ornament, an ostensibly impossible task. His imageryinvokes disparate ideas, from the analytical approach of science to thespiritual demonstrations of primitive culture. The work captures a feeling ofthe ancient and the new, the naïve and the sophisticated, spontaneity andorder. Gryder’s skill in encompassing and uniting divergent themes offers theviewer an exceptionally rich experience.

My Illustrations in Video

2011-11-20T09:11:00.001-08:00

I did the illustrations for an informational video about my friend's company, Dialogue Resources. It was great fun to work on the project, and I love the added graphics that make it so effective.

If you have use for Dialogue Resources' services, you'll be in good hands.

The video says so.

My Illustrations in Video

My Talented Art Kids

2011-11-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

My kids' art class worked on these oil pastel vase drawings a couple weeks ago. We learned about contrast, composition, warm vs. cool colors, and cast shadows. This is always one of the kids' favorite projects.

No More Roads in the Wilderness

2011-10-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Sipsey Wilderness, Alabama

This is reprinted from an email from WildSouth, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting wild areas in the Southeast.

Today is a day every friend of the wild can rejoice. After more than a decade, 50 million acres of our most pristine wild lands are secured as the "Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001" has been reinstated.

These so-called "roadless" areas represent the core of our nation's public lands and have survived untrammeled by man.

Let this be a reminder to all who work to defend the wild and for every person who supports conservation that:

“We need wilderness preserved -- as much of it as is still left, and as many kinds --because it was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed. The reminder and the reassurance that it is still there is good for our spiritual health even if we never once in ten years set foot in it. It is good for us when we are young, because of the incomparable sanity it can bring briefly, as vacation and rest, into our insane lives.It is important to us when we are old simply because it is there -- important, that is, simply as an idea.”

- Wallace Stegner

Federal Court Reinstates Roadless Rule

Landmark ruling on wild National Forest protections

October 21, 2011

Denver, CO — The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a long-awaited, landmark decision today, securing critical legal protections for nearly 50 million acres of pristine National Forest lands. These forests offer outstanding opportunities for hunting, fishing, and hiking, produce clean water for thousands of communities nationwide, and provide irreplaceable habitat for imperiled wildlife species including grizzly bears, lynx, and Pacific salmon. The appellate court reversed a lower court decision and affirmed the validity of the Roadless Rule—a 2001 federal rule that protects wild national forests and grasslands from new road building, logging, and development.

The appellate court ruled against the State of Wyoming and industry intervenors and in favor of conservation groups, the Forest Service, and the States of California, Oregon, and Washington. This decision formally ends an injunction against the Rule’s enforcement imposed by a Wyoming federal district court in 2008.

“The public forests we’ve fought so hard to protect are now safe,” said Tim Preso, an Earthjusticeattorney representing the conservation groups. “All Americans can now know that a key part of our nation’s natural heritage won’t be destroyed.”

The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule was the product of the most comprehensive rulemaking process in the nation’s history, including more than 2 million comments from members of the public, hundreds of public hearings and open houses, and a detailed environmental review. The rule came under relentless attack by logging and resource extraction interests, certain states, and the Bush administration

“This is a great victory for the American people who have spoken out, time and again and in record numbers, for protection of these wild public lands,” said Mike Francis with The Wilderness Society.

“Roadless areas protect our rivers and streams—protect our salmon, trout, drinking water,” said Mary Scurlock of Pacific Rivers Council. “The Roadless Rule is common-sense, and finally the question of its legality is settled.”

“Roadless areas are valuable and irreplaceable places for hikers, campers, hunters, anglers, and families; they protect our water supplies; they provide room for wildlife to live and raise their young; and they will be increasingly important as safe havens for plants and animals in the face of rising temperatures and other impacts of climate change,” said Frances Hunt, Director of the Sierra Club's Resilient Habitats Campaign.

“Roadless Areas represent the last of our wild and natural National Forest lands, providing multiple benefits including outstanding wildlife habitat, important supplies of clean water, and some of the best recreation lands in the country," said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance of Laramie, Wyoming.

Lisa McGee of Wyoming Outdoor Council stressed the importance of this decision to her state. “The people of Wyoming love the outdoors—we’re hunters, fishermen, hikers, and campers—and roadless areas give us the best recreation anywhere. This decision ensures that our outdoor heritage will be safeguarded.”

Earthjustice has led the legal defense of the Roadless Rule since the first attacks under the Bush/Cheney administration. Against all odds, this critical legal work has kept the Roadless Rule alive and prevented destruction of our national forests’ last great wild places.

Now, conservation, faith, and recreation groups trust that the Obama administration will support and enforce the 2001 Roadless Rule as the law of the land, including defending its protections for all 58.5 million acres of roadless lands in the country. That includes national forests in Alaska, currently subject to a separate legal challenge and national forests in Idaho, whose roadless area protections were weakened in 2008.

As a candidate, President Obama said:

“Road construction in national forests can harm fish and wildlife habitats while polluting local lakes, rivers, and streams. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule—which was made on the basis of extensive citizen input—protects 58.5 million acres of national forest from such harmful building. I will be proud to support and defend it.”

- Sen. Barack Obama, LCV questionnaire

Background On Today’s Decision

In 2008, the State of Wyoming sued the Forest Service for a second time to invalidate the Roadless Rule (the rule had been reinstated by a federal court in California in 2006). A Wyoming federal district court enjoined the Rule; Earthjustice and the Forest Service appealed that injunction to the 10th Circuit. The 10th Circuit today joins the 9th Circuit in finding the Roadless Rule legal.

In this appeal to the 10th Circuit, Earthjustice represented Wyoming Outdoor Council, The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Pacific Rivers Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Audubon Society, and Defenders of Wildlife. The States of California, Oregon, and Washington submitted legal papers in support of the Roadless Rule and the conservation groups’ appeal.

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals protects 49 million acres of national forests

Conservationists hail end to decade-long legal battle over Roadless Area Conservation Rule

October 21, 2011

America’s national forests are breathing a collective sigh of relief today after the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that permanently protects some 49 million acres of forests covered by the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The ruling should put an end to a decade-long legal battle waged by the timber industry, Bush administration and the states of Alaska, Idaho and Wyoming.

“The win in the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals is a great victory that validates the massive support of millions of Americans for protecting roadless forests and removes the clouds of legal uncertainty from this issue,” said William H. Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. “This is a day for celebration for everyone who cherishes our roadless forests for their scenic beauty, clean water supplies, recreational opportunities and wildlife habitat.”

A study by the Forest Service shows that recreation activities on national forests and grasslands have helped to sustain an estimated 223,000 jobs in rural areas and contributed approximately $14.5 billion annually to the U.S. economy. National forests also play a vital role in protecting supplies of clean drinking water -- holding the headwaters that provide drinking water to millions of people across the country. In addition, roadless forests preserve high-quality habitat for many kinds of fish and wildlife.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was adopted by the U.S. Forest Service on Jan. 12, 2001, after the most extensive public involvement in the history of federal rulemaking. The Roadless Rule generally prohibited road construction and timber cutting in 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas, covering about 30 percent of the National Forest System. Since then, the rule has been the subject of numerous legal challenges and administrative attacks seeking to reverse it and open the lands up to unneeded timber production and other destructive activities.

Currently, the 2001 Roadless Rule is in effect nationwide except in Idaho, where different regulations apply. Thus, the Forest Service may not undertake activities that violate the Roadless Rule on 49 million out of the 58.5 million total acres of inventoried roadless areas. A lawsuit by The Wilderness Society and other conservation groups challenging the Idaho exemption is pending in a federal appeals court. The State of Alaska recently challenged the Roadless Rule in a lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia.

"The Tenth Circuit’s decision greatly helps to clarify and solidify the nationwide protections provided by the Roadless Rule,” said Mike Anderson, a senior resource analyst in The Wilderness Society’s Seattle office. “We still have a ways to go to restore protection for roadless areas in Idaho, which the Bush administration exempted from the rule. We will continue our efforts to ensure full protection of all roadless areas.”

Learn More:

Visit The Wilderness Society’s Web site to learn more about the history of the roadless rule. For a detailed chronology of the issue: http://wilderness.org/content/roadless-area-chronology. For a legal primer, visit: http://wilderness.org/content/legal-status-roadless-rule.

Love this Building

2011-10-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

I love this new addition to an old building.

Dresden, Eastern Germany, Museum of Military History

To be reopened after a dramatic redesign by American architect Daniel Libeskind. Libeskind added a massive five-story wedge of glass, concrete and steel that rips through the former armory built for the armies of Kaiser Wilhelm I. The new addition interrupts the symmetry of the neo-Classical building as a symbol of how German democracy has pushed aside the authoritarian past. AP Photo/dapd, Matthias Rietschel.

Taken from artdaily.org

Exhibit A and Compact Hybrids

2011-10-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

Opening this Friday, October 14th

Artist Reception 6 to 8 pm

Red Dot Gallery

Exhibit A

by Dori DeCamillis

A five year project funded by the Alabama Council on the Arts,

returning to Birmingham after a summer exhibition at the Mobile Museum of Art

and

Compact Hybrids

by Scott Bennett

A collection of sensuous ceramic sculpture by this year's winner of the Alabama Council on the Arts fellowship winner.

Red Dot Gallery, 1001 Stuart Street, Birmingham, AL 35226, (205) 870-7608

www.reddotgallery.com

Lemon Paintings

2011-10-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Lee

Here are various painters' take on lemons. For my students: note the lighting, composition, use of brushstroke, variation of color, atmosphere, and attention to detail or lack of it. It doesn't hurt to try to paint like all of these people and see which style and qualities resonates with you.

Carol Marine

Noah Layne

Jeffrey Hayes

Ralf Heyner

Jo Bradney

Paul Coventry

Raymond Logan

Vangabot (a robot)

Linda O'Neill

Ron Mueck Sculpture

2011-10-06T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ron Mueck is an Australian hyper-realist sculptor working in the UK.

A good description of his career can be found at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Mueck

I saw the above sculpture at the Hirshhorn in Washington D.C., and have been a fan ever since. One of the most arresting aspects of his work is his distortion of scale. This one attribute completely changes how the figure is percieved.

Anime Weekend Atlanta

2011-10-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend I chaperoned my daughter and her friend during the Anime Weekend Atlanta, a gathering of Anime fans from all over. (From the dictionary, Anime is: Japanese movie and television animation, often having a science fiction theme and sometimes including violent or explicitly sexual material.) The atmosphere was friendly and polite, extremely nerdy, and very funny. I've poked fun at Annabelle for years for her geeky interests, but I admit I had a great time, especially taking pictures.

Lucien Freud Paintings

2011-09-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

Freud, Lucian (1922-2011). This German-born British painter was a grandson of Sigmund Freud. He was one of England's pre-eminent contemporary figurative painters. Aside from showing my students one of the best painters ever, I use his work as an example of excellence in treatment of skin tones. His non-apologetic style encourages my students to stretch the boundaries of contrast, use of color, and accuracy of rendering.

Biggest Red Dot News Yet

2011-09-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Our humble press release about our upcoming Red Dot exhibit:

FiveYears in the Making: New Work by

DeCamillis and Bennett at Red Dot Gallery

Two highly personal visions—one, paintings of Alabama’s rare places, and theother, voluptuous ceramic sculptures inspired by cars—meet in a two-person showat Birmingham’s Red Dot Gallery. For the first time in over five years, ownersDori DeCamillis and Scott Bennett exhibit their recent bodies of work at thegallery, approximately 25 pieces in all, in “Exhibit A” and “Compact Hybrids.”

The double show opens with areception featuring the artists from 6-8 p.m., on Friday, October 14.

"Exhibit A," acritically acclaimed series by artist and teacher Dori DeCamillis, comes hometo the gallery after a successful summer showing at the Mobile Museum of Art. DeCamillis first moved to Alabama from hernative Colorado 17 years ago, and was taken by the physical and cultural beautyof her new home. "The more I learned, the more I wanted to know," shesays. "I began visiting places that even my friends who are natives don'tknow about."

Thehikes, canoe rides, photo sessions, and sketching trips DeCamillis tookinspired the ambitious series, which she developed when she was awarded an Alabama Council on the Arts fellowship in2006. Her diverse subjects include the Cahaba River, the AlabamaTheatre, Horseshoe Bend, the Sipsey Wilderness, and Jones Valley UrbanFarm. Comprised of intricately oil-painted multi-media panels in wood andcopper inlaid with handmade ceramic tiles, the works are large and lush.

"Iwanted to say to people, 'This place is remarkable.' So, my goal was to createa project that would be a collaboration--of art, nature, history, socialchange, and a state-wide people who cherish Alabama like I do,” DeCamillissays. To that end, she worked closely with biologists, historians, naturalists,and other experts to gather images and background information for the series.The works have been endorsed by organizations such as the Cahaba RiverSociety, the Freshwater Land Trust, Friends of Bon Secour National WildlifeRefuge, and WildSouth.

Scott Bennett was a recipient of the Alabama Council on the Arts fellowship this year. As with the work of DeCamillis, research—done over the course of years—was also key to Bennett’s “Compact Hybrid” series. “I’ve been exploring the forms of cars,” he says, and has frequently incorporated grilles, door handles, and flame imagery in his nationally recognized work. “The small and intimate pieces in this show were inspired by my memories of building model cars and old hood ornaments.”

The pieces also bear subtle references to elements as diverse as fishing lures, human appendages, and plant hybridizing—Bennett is a well-respected daylily hybridizer. “These influences have been coupled with my experience and interest in ceramics to create this series,” he says.

The resulting sculptures are elegant yet awkward, sleek yet quirky, provocative and light-hearted, the scale, forms and details are all an attempt to allure the viewer towards closer examination. “They are meant to be fun if not a bit naughty, seductive visual treats begging to be fondled,” Bennett says.

"Exhibit A" and “Compact Hybrids” will be on display at the gallery, which is free to the public, through November 19.

Red Dot Gallery, a working studio and teaching space, is at 1001 Stuart Street in the Edgewood section of Homewood. DeCamillis and Scott Bennett teach painting, drawing, and clay classes for children and adults at the studio. For hours and directions, call 205-870-7608, or visit www.RedDotGallery.com.

Annabelle's First Big Art Sale

2011-09-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Annabelle DeCamillis, age 16, just sold this painting

for a very grown-up price.

It's her first large piece, a self-portrait. She plans on doing a series of

portraits of everyday people in period costumes, doing everyday things in everyday places.

Her work is inspired by her love for costume-making, and for sitting down

wherever she is and drawing the scene right in front of her.

Today we are celebrating her first day at a new high school. My hat is off to my strong, brilliant, talented, funny, sassy, and sincere kid. She's made her mom proud, and inspired so many people around her.

"My Steamboat" Now on Kindle

2011-09-20T15:36:00.001-07:00

My latest book, My Steamboat, is now available on Kindle!

http://www.amazon.com/My-Steamboat-Town-Childhood-ebook/dp/B005I5LJWU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316558292&sr=8-2

Hints About My Next Painting

2011-09-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

The painting I'm working on includes a few things I was told not to paint in college. Unicorns, rainbows, clowns, baby kitties, and red barns.

Tony Cragg Sculptures

2011-09-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

I saw a fabulous show of Tony's work at the Louvre this spring, and my sculptor husband
has long admired his work. They are large scale, made from various materials, and

always nearly impossible to resist touching.

www.tony-cragg.com

Michael Lucero Yarn Sculpture

2011-09-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Below is an article I wrote a few years ago for the Birmingham Weekly about Michael Lucero's

exhibit at Faye Gold Gallery in Atlanta. These sculptures are still

some of my favorite work by Lucero.

Worth the Trip

Michael Lucero at Fay Gold in Atlanta

The ceramic sculptures of Michael Lucero have beenchallenging the customs of the medium for almost 30 years. His imagery andforms have been inspired by everything from pre-Columbian and African art tocontemporary popular objects, and most of the time he has combined suggestionsof many cultures and traditions in the same piece. His work has always beensomewhat outrageous.

Until May 31^st at Fay Gold Gallery in AtlantaMichael Lucero exhibits a new body of work that demonstrates his predilectionfor uniting the primitive and the well-executed, the crafty and the modern, thehumorous and the frightening. “The Cast”, as the show is named, is a group ofcute, cuddly creatures—kitties, puppies, babies, elves—all covered in yarn. Atthe sound of it one would certainly be reminded of an elementary schoolproject, but Lucero has managed to transform regular old stuff into irreverent,yet strangely elegant fine art.

The unpretentious use of kitsch in his materials and visuallanguage is not new for Lucero; he has been exploring and embracing thedominion of no-so-fine craft since he began making art. Once again he managesto combine a hodgepodge of influences (this time he references silly crafts,patterns from various cultures, and modern popular figurines and toys) into asingular vision. Over each goofy ceramic character (two to four feet tall)Lucero meticulously glues brightly colored yarn in swirling patterns withselected areas of interwoven designs that seem to reference Chinese, MedievalCeltic and Italian archetypes. The historical allusions are evident, but notobvious. What stands out is color and a sort of controlled ferocity —a nutty profusionof seemingly random, but articulately placed configurations.

The visual impact of the objects’ yarn surface isundoubtedly sensational, but underneath are hand-built ceramic formations thatwould be worth a look regardless of their façade. Those well-versed in ceramicconstruction would applaud the technical feat of most of the pieces, with theirhuge heads atop spindly bodies. The bulbous and exaggerated forms play up thealready sappy subject matter, amplifying cutesy kitties and doggies into slightlydeformed and ridiculous beings. While they still retain their humor andlightness, their outlandish distortions intensify these qualities to be seen asfreakish and scary. Lucero is careful not to deform his creatures too much,though, and viewers may (perhaps guiltily) find them still endearing anddelightful.

In previous work Lucero often used a bar code as a callingcard. Sometimes placed prominently, but often on the rear-end of a seatedceramic figure Lucero always made his signature clear with this self-consciousallusion to consumerism. On the fannies of “The Cast” is the word “Lucero” laidout in big cursive yarn letters that span the backside of each piece. Oncompanion pieces (two innocent-looking beasts seated side by side) “Michael” iswritten on one butt, and “Lucero” is on the next. This is a magnificent exampleof Lucero’s fearlessness. As if it weren’t enough to make kitties out of yarn,he signs his work in big flowing letters like a child or amateur painter,letting us know how far he can and will take his rebellion against superciliouscustoms of the high art world.

Michael Lucero’s vision is extraordinarily his own and verymuch distinguished in the ceramic medium for its bravura and freedom. Evencompared to his previous work his exhibit at Fay Gold is fresh, wacky anddazzling.

New Movie about Sustainable Farming

2011-09-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

Farmageddon Movie

As a supporter of sustainable farming and a participant in several local organic food co-ops, I am looking forward to the release of this new movie.

Movie Description from the Website:

Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent ac-tion, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why.

Filmmaker Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four children turned into an educational journey to discover why access to these foods was being threatened. What she found were policies that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family-operated farms selling fresh foods to their communities. Instead of focusing on the source of food safety problems — most often the industrial food chain — policymakers and regulators implement and enforce solutions that target and often drive out of business small farms that have proven themselves more than capable of producing safe, healthy food, but buckle under the crushing weight of government regulations and excessive enforcement actions.

Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasona-bly burdensome regulations. The film serves to put policymakers and regulators on notice that there is a growing movement of people aware that their freedom to choose the foods they want is in danger, a movement that is taking action with its dollars and its voting power to protect and preserve the dwindling number of family farms that are struggling to survive.

Marion Peck's Paintings

2011-09-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

I've admired Marion's paintings for years. I first saw her creepy-cute work at Olga Dollar Gallery in San Francisco.

Marion Peck Website

Will Cotton's Paintings

2011-09-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

It's hard not like the work of Will Cotton. There is something for everybody; it's naughty, pretty, well-crafted, dramatic, new and old at the same time.

Will Cotton's Website

Article About My Artwork

2011-09-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

Dori DeCamillis

Labor of Love

by Brett Levine

Reprinted from BMetro magazine, September 2011

Creatively, Dori DeCamillis can only be described as multifaceted. As an author, she has published two books. The most recent, “My Steamboat”, recounts her childhood in Colorado, while her earlier “The Freeway” is the story of living, creating and working on the road as a painter making and selling works at outdoor art fairs.

DeCamillis’ peripatetic past is behind her now. She has settled in Birmingham, working and teaching at Red Dot Gallery which she owns with her husband Scott Bennett. “For so many years I had been a slave to my work,” she remarks, “that when I decided I wouldn’t do any more outdoor festivals it gave me the freedom to explore larger projects over longer periods of time.”

“I started considering the intersections between painting and ceramics several years ago,” she notes. “At first I simply wanted to blur the distinctions between the work and the frame, but then I realized that I was remarkably interested in the ideas of pattern, repetition, and ornamentation. I just had to be certain,” she laughs, “to use the ideas in a way that was representative of my own voice.”

This exploration resulted in “exhibit a”, a series she began that had significant, unexpected consequences. “Since I am not from Alabama,” DeCamillis explains, “I often saw places in the state like an explorer, a biologist, or a historian. What I realized,” she continues, “was that Alabama was full of so many remarkable, unexpected, amazing places.”

She embarked on a five-year journey, during which she researched, considered and created twelve large-scale, identically sized works that meshed her loves for both ceramics and painting. The subjects were drawn from the state, but many, such as Splinter Hill Bog, or the Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuary, were largely unknown even to longtime residents. “I saw the sites I was depicting as being important, but my approach could be described as depicting significant fragments of each.” Using her experience in literature and journalism, she coupled each work with an explanatory text. “I’ve been an educator for many years,” DeCamillis remarks, “and I became really excited about the opportunity to not only make these works, but to collect and convey information about each of these exceptional places. I even taught a seminar with Alabama schoolteachers,” she enthuses, “so the project ended up being both personally significant and really educational.”

DeCamillis notes that as a result of the classes she teaches at Red Dot Gallery, the practice of teaching remains integral to what she does. “Professionally,” she laughs, “I’m only really engaged with academia in relation to how it positions me in the market. My creativity is driven by a personal need to creatively express ideas rather than by a notion of timeliness or fashion within the art world.” This emphasis on accessibility is crucial to DeCamillis’ approach to creating work. “Many years ago, I was actually an installation artist,” she remarks, “and I thought about what it would mean to actively engage in the contemporary art world. What I realized,” she continues, “was that I simply couldn’t make works that were so esoteric that they left most people scratching their heads!”

Instead, DeCamillis blends an extraordinary attention to intimacy and detail with subject matter that is recognizable, but not necessarily simple. “I’m not necessarily an allegorical realist painter,” she smiles. “Not every work is trying to illuminate a fable. Sometimes I’m happy to understandably tell a story.”

Viewers will have the opportunity to see for themselves in October, when ‘Exhibit A’ opens at Red Dot Gallery. DeCamillis will be speaking about the works, and viewers will have the chance to explore parts of Alabama with which they may be completely unfamiliar. This does not mean that DeCamillis is content to depict the same subjects again and again. “I’ve begun working on a series that is deeply personal,” she says softly, “because I am always interested in exploring new ideas.” For now, however, Exhibit A remains her focus. “You know,” DeCamillis observes, “I remain inspired by those works because the people who care for these places actually work like artists. They do what they do because it is a labor of love.”

China Excavation

2011-09-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

I love this image of a chariot and horses being excavated in Luoyang City, China. The remains are from the Zhou Dynasty, 770 BC to 221 BC.

My Mom's an Artist, Too (And Good!)

2011-09-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

My mom, Karen Leslee, is an artist, too, and I photographed some of her new work when I was home last month. She reassembles ripped-up magazine images and dried flowers. Very proud daughter here.

Georgia Pottery Excursion

2011-08-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we attended this exhibit in the adorable town of Watkinsville, GA. My husband, Scott, was getting ideas for a similar clay market to be held in conjunction with next year's Alabama Clay Conference, which he is hosting in Birmingham in February, 2012.

9^th Annual

Perspectives: Georgia Pottery Invitational

Aug. 27- Sept.14, 2011

OCAF Art Center & Rocket Hall

Perspectives is a pottery collector’s paradise with an extensive selection of hand-made functional pottery with over 5,000 pots to choose from. Each of the 50 Georgia potters had on display and sale an average of 100 pots in the Rocket Hall Sales Gallery.

Two significant pottery exhibitions in the OCAF Art Center building were also open. The Main Gallery had on display an exhibit of 150 pots; two pots by each of the fifty potters and one pot from each of their private collections. In the Members Gallery there was a display of pottery by Jose Luis Yamunaque and Kate Tremel.

The Work of Lynn Whipple

2011-08-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

These are Lynn Whipple's Ninnies. Lynn is a dear friend from my outdoor art festival days.

Her work is playful, precious, slightly irreverent. I am lucky enough to have a small collection of them.

Check out Lynn's website.

Check out Lynn's blog.

Another Artist I Like

2011-08-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

Mark Ryden. Read his bio below.

Blending themes of pop culture with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Mark Ryden has created a singular style that blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art. His work first garnered attention in the 1990s when he ushered in a new genre of painting, "Pop Surrealism", dragging a host of followers in his wake. Ryden has trumped the initial surrealist strategies by choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation.

Ryden’s vocabulary ranges from cryptic to cute, treading a fine line between nostalgic cliché and disturbing archetype. Seduced by his infinitely detailed and meticulously glazed surfaces, the viewer is confronted with the juxtaposition of the childhood innocence and the mysterious recesses of the soul. A subtle disquiet inhabits his paintings; the work is achingly beautiful as it hints at darker psychic stuff beneath the surface of cultural kitsch. In Ryden's world cherubic girls rub elbows with strange and mysterious figures. Ornately carved frames lend the paintings a baroque exuberance that adds gravity to their enigmatic themes.
Mark Ryden received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a retrospective “Wondertoonel” at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art, and in the exhibition "The Artist's Museum" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

You Are Beautiful

2011-08-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

Birmingham, Alabama is home to a small graffiti controversy involving a lovely statement on an overpass. "You are Beautiful" was scrawled above the freeway, and a local newsperson wrote a commentary commending the vandals for their positive outlook. The news guy, John Archibald, sort of suggested we all started painting You are Beautiful on everything to start a new Birmingham motto.

My afternoon kids' class took the long sidewalk by Red Dot Gallery in Homewood and wrote and decorated our version of You are Beautiful.

We obviously had great fun, and passersby were amazingly enthusiastic.

The message stayed there for almost a week, and definitely beautified the neighborhood,

if only for a while.

I'm on TV Tonight

2011-08-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't rob a convenience store. I'll be on Birmingham's Fox 6 News at 6 tonight. Fred Hunter has done a feature about my art, focusing on my exhibit at the Mobile Museum of Art.

The piece will air tonight, a couple more times this weekend, and then will be available on the Fox 6 website after that.

30 Year High School Reunion, Steamboat, Colorado

2011-08-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

What an interesting social experiment...seeing people we knew as children after decades. I think everyone looked remarkable well-preserved.

I had an amazingly good time. Our class numbered 90 when we graduated...27 came to the reunion.

Making Faces at Marykay's Opening

2011-07-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

The effervescent Mary Kay Culpepper dazzling her public at the Making Faces opening

Scott Bennett and Adam Snyder's work on pedestals

Janese Evans (in black top) came all the way from Minnesota to surprise MK

at the opening.

Cupcakes and champagne made everyone even happier.

Dr. Cullen Clark, on left, a frequent Red Dot go-to guy and husband of the artist,

dazzles more of the public.

MK did a self-portrait drawing or tile work per week for a year, and we honed the show down to under 15 pieces for the exhibit. Her charming and poignant pieces remind us

how different we can all be from week to week, and how many ways

our hands and faces can express themselves.

Making Faces Opening Tonight

2011-07-15T04:48:00.000-07:00

Cupcakes, champagne, and art tonight at Red Dot, 6-8 pm

MAKING FACES

Selections from a year of weekly self-portraits

by Marykay Culpepper

Exhibit runs July 15 - August 19, 2011

Basket Show at The Kiln Studio and Gallery

2011-07-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

Our dear friend, Susie Bowman, owns The Kiln Studio and Gallery in the charming and somewhat luxurious town of Fairhope, Alabama. She is now hosting an exhibit of ceramic work inspired by baskets. Scott Bennett, my illustrious husband and ceramic artist, has a few pieces in the show (see below). The photo above is the shadow cast on the floor by her window sign.

Susie Bowman

Scott Bennett (ceramic basket inspired by car door handle)

John Rezner

Another Scott Bennett original masterpiece,

also car door handle inspired. The bottom reminds me of a bottle cap.

Ron Meyers

Janice Kluge

Lynnette Hesser

Ronan Peterson

Kids Leaf Their Mark

2011-07-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

I am spending a week in Mobile, AL giving workshops and lectures to kids, teachers, and the general public on my current exhibition, Prominence of Place at the Mobile Museum of Art. Here are some photos from an outreach program I did with kids at the public library.

Using one of my paintings as inspiration, the kids traced or drew leaves, colored them, and cut and pasted them on colored paper.

You know they're having fun when you don't hear a peep out of them.

Jones Valley Urban Farm

2011-07-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

I took these photos for my lecture at Mobile Museum of Art, Sunday, July 10, 1:30 pm.

One of my paintings of Alabama favorite places is inspired

by Jones Valley Urban Farm.

My daughter, Annabelle, is peeling onions in the greenhouse: below.

JVUF, located in downtown Birmingham, has small garden plots for locals, sells produce at local Farmer's Markets, and educates about sustainable, organic farming.

My Gallery Lecture at Mobile Museum of Art

2011-06-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

Save the Date:

Gallery Lecture

in conjunction with

Prominence of Place

an exhibit of my paintings at

Mobile Museum of Art

Sunday, July 10, 1:30 pm

For more information visit Mobile Museum of Art

Art for Kids with Cancer

2011-06-25T13:44:00.001-07:00

Today at Red Dot Gallery, we had a art fun day for kids with cancer and their siblings. Sponsored by aTeam Ministries, an Alabama non-profit.

aTeam Ministries is a non-profit organization focused on providing emotional, spiritual, and financial support to families going through the journey of dealing with oncology or hematology related diseases in children.

aTeam Link

Summer Art Trip

2011-06-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here's some stuff we plan on doing when we go to Philly and Baltimore this week.

Mostly art, some history, a little gardens, lots of good food.

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

Maryland Institute College of Arts

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Barnes Collection

Brandywine River Museum

Longwood Gardens

Fabric Workshop and Museum

Liberty Bell Center

Independence Hall

Pinhoti Hike 2011

2011-06-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Hike on the Pinhoti Trail, through the Chattahoochee National Forest

in the North Georgia Mountains.

The guys in the group were all veterans of the Appalachian Trail, and they get together for

reunion hikes once or twice a year. (They all completed the A.T. in the same year.) We girls were thankful to have their hiking expertise, and tried not complain too much about being stinky.

The hike was (arguably) 17 miles total, over two days.

This is the Gennett Poplar. It's big, and we camped by it.

Gennett Poplar

There were many stream crossings, which I liked for my tired feet.

Using our trail names, Dahlia, Last Minute, Anne, No Pepsi, Thoreau, and Stink Bug (me.)

It was pretty.

Real pretty.

My Husband the Flower Guy

2011-05-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

Scott Bennett, my husband, is a daylily hybridizer of micro-celebrity status. His garden is in bloom, and I will post images of his amazing new hybrids and seedlings as he gives me pictures. A hybridizer makes new flowers by running around at 5:30 in the morning with a Q-tip. He beats the bees to the pollen and spreads it around to other plants with obsessive, systematic design. His program is nearly 20 years in the making, and our backyard looks spectacular for a few weeks out of the year. Photo Above: new seedling.

Artist I Like

2011-05-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

Tony Oursler projects moving video onto objects.

His impressive resume

His studio

His website

Spring in the South

2011-05-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

Blooms from my garden this week. Poppy above

Hydrangea

Penstemon

Sedum

Purple Cone Flower

Sedum

Spirea

Japanese Iris

Sedum

Salvia

Onethera

Winner at Sidewalk Chalk Festival

2011-05-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Annabelle, was the winner of the

Most Creative Award at the

I Love Homewood Day Sidewalk Chalk Festival

last weekend.

This Week's Blooms

2011-05-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

Rose Campion

Valerian

Iris

Salvia

Rose

Chives

Peony

Helping Elane

2011-05-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

Collage is a consignment store in my Birmingham neighborhood, and I wanted to pass along this message about one the managers there whose life was turned upside down by the recent tornadoes that came through Alabama. Elane was inside her home in Pleasant Grove with her husband, Doug, as it was ripped to pieces on top of them. Their home and cars were obliterated and her husband, Doug, shielded Elane with his body as the house crushed him. She is okay but he is paralyzed (let's hope that it's only temporary) and he has a fractured sternum, broken ribs, and no movement on one side.

Elane came away with bruises; the picture above was taken today of Elane's house/rubble. Elane is in the gray shirt in the center of the picture as they began the clean up phase.

and pictured above, Elane is on the far right.

The needs are great all around us, but if you feel led to help Elane, Collage is accepting monetary donations for her at the store. Or email them (link above) to send a check. Her name is Elane Youngblood.

Today in Free-Spirited Art Class

2011-04-30T11:06:00.001-07:00

Today we experimented with oil pastels in Free-Spirited art making.

Join us every last Saturday of each month, Red Dot Gallery, 9 to 11 am.

Creating the New Century

2011-04-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Marilyn Minter, Bloodshot, 2007

An image of one of my paintings is included in the exhibition catalogue for

Creating the New Century, a special exhibition organized by The Dayton Art Institute, featuring 70 paintings, drawings, and sculptures - all created since the year 2000 - from the Dicke collection. Sixty-nine artists are represented by works that document the range of styles and technical concerns, as well as social and political issues, that engage artists in the 21st century.

While many works are by well-known painters and sculptors who have participated in museum and gallery exhibitions and received reviews in arts periodicals, others are less well known in a selection characterized by the curiosity and tastes of the collector.

Dayton Institute of Art

Easter on the Bay

2011-04-24T07:46:00.001-07:00

After the museum opening Scott and I are having a peaceful

Easter weekend on the water.

The Prominence of Place

2011-04-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

The Prominence of Place, my exhibit at the Mobile Museum of Art,

opened last night, and will run through August 28, 2011.

Lectures, gallery tours, and other events are scheduled for July.

After five years of making this body of work, it's good to see them

all together with good lighting.

If interested, there are several posts on this blog

describing these works as a group and individually.

My Art Museum Exhibit

2011-04-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

Five Years in the Making

Prominence of Place

an exhibit of the work of

Dori DeCamillis

at the Mobile Museum of Art

April 21, 2011 through August 28, 2011

Member Opening Thursday April 21, 2011

The Grand Lakefront Lobby 7:00 to 9:00 pm

Events, Gallery Tours and Artist Talk scheduled in July

Link to Mobile Museum of Art

For more info see reddotgallery.com or call (205) 870-7608

A Pattern of Obsession

2011-02-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

New Work by Shannon Brooks-Hamilton

Opening at Red Dot Gallery

February 4, 2011

5-9 pm

Showing through March 19, 2011

Drawings, Jewelry, and Mixed Media Objects

Holiday in Steamboat

2010-12-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

Elk River Sleigh Ride

Skiing with Bro, Sis, Daughter and Sis-in-Law

Santa in the Cabin

Holiday Show Guests

2010-12-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

Shots of Holiday Show 2010, December 6. Show is open until Dec. 18.

Kids in Thursday afternoon class preparing the decorations

Adam, Sara, and friends

Liz and Ryan

Scott before

Scott after

Beverley with Shannon's jewelry

Mary Kay with her work

Dori's Fish Boxes

Red Dot 2010 Holiday Show

2010-12-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

Artworks from students and friends of Red Dot Gallery. Show is open until Dec. 18.

Adam Sterrett Pottery

Gidge Black Ceramic Necklaces

Liz Rhoades Pottery

Scott Bennett Ceramic Wall Installation

Jane Marshall Ceramic Tile

Erin Hardin Oil Painting

Laura Kimes Oil Paintings

Beverley Phillips (and friends) Oil Paintings

Shannon Brooks-Hamilton Mixed Media Jewelry

Mary Kay Culpepper Block Prints

Saman Khaled Pottery

Details of Bible Belt: St. Paul's Cathedral

2010-12-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

Bible Belt: Saint Pauls Cathedral

2010-12-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

When I first moved to the South, I was astounded by the abundance of Christian churches. I learned that Alabama has a church for every 360 people, more than double the national average. Anyone living in Alabama is well aware of the prominence of religion in everyday life, and representing it in my series seemed a must. I explored many churches in Birmingham in my first years in the state, and found them all lovely. I labored over the choice of which church to feature in my piece, wondering whether to make my decision based on political, religious, or historical reasons. Ultimately, I chose to be as non-confrontational as I could. I chose Saint Paul’s because it is my church.

Founded in 1871, the same year as Birmingham, Saint Paul’s was the city’s first Roman Catholic Church. Its face has changed over the past century and a quarter, but renovations in the past 20 years have rendered it one of the most beautiful and revered buildings in the city.

Saint Paul’s interior splendor is known not just for its plentiful arches, carved reliefs, and ornamental moulding, but for its exuberant color. The centerpiece of my painting is the Easter Lily, a universal Christian symbol of resurrection. The representations of statues come from all over the church, and I chose to paint the parts that generally remind of me of Christian symbols. The tiles were inspired by motifs found in the fantastic stained glass windows. The outside border of the piece is a simplification of the walls and dome of the cathedral, with parts of the Stations of the Cross at the bottom. Complicated pictorial narratives fill the Cathedral and are what make it magnificent. However, in the interest of keeping the imagery from getting out of hand, I chose to depict only details of most of it.

Saint Paul’s Cathedral is supported by its parishioners and by the Catholic Diocese of Alabama. For more information on religion in Alabama, go to Encyclopedia Alabama online.

2010-12-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

Holiday Show at Red Dot Gallery

Art at a good price, food, wine, really nice people, and some pretty Christmas lights.

Please join us.

Detail images of Working for Peanuts

2010-11-15T09:46:00.000-08:00

These tiles gave me more trouble than any others in my Exhibit A series. I had to re-fire them three times, and then my trusty husband, Scott, sand-blasted them for hours. Ultimately, they came out with an authentic brick look I was happy with. Booker T. would shake my hand if he were here.

I like the confusion of which part is 2D and which is 3D.

More here about the painting "Working for Peanuts"

Working for Peanuts: Tuskegee Institute

2010-11-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

I learned about Tuskegee Institute in elementary school, but did not grasp the inspiring story behind the place until my first visit there: Two men spent their lives dedicated to the betterment of their people and their region.

The most striking thing about Tuskegee Institute, at first glance, is the buildings that make up the campus. I was overwhelmed by all the gorgeous, rich, red brick and white trim buildings in different architectural styles. I learned that the students and faculty made the brick from Alabama clay and built many of the buildings themselves.

Booker T. Washington, a former slave, came to Tuskegee in 1881 as its first principal. He was only 25 and, in the face of the unbelievable dangers of the racist South, spent the rest of his life dedicated to the school. He believed self-sufficiency should be learned along with a scholarly education, and students had to learn practical skills that they could take back to their communities, such as farming, carpentry, bricklaying, and other trades.

In 1896 George Washington Carver was hired as an instructor in the agriculture department. I was so inspired by a film about him (shown at the George Washington Carver Museum on campus) I nick-named him the Mother Teresa of the South. Much more than a school teacher, he was a passionate and eccentric scientist, artist, and humanitarian. He taught progressive farming methods and even made “house calls” to farmers around the South with his Movable School—a horse-pulled wagon equipped for training. Even into old age he refused money and accolades in order to stay connected to his people.

The peanut in the center of the painting is the symbol that everyone associates with Carver. Among his many other accomplishments, he revolutionized farming and economics in the South by spreading the word about this easy, profitable, nutritious crop.

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site is maintained by the National Park Service, a division of the Department of the Interior.

STEEP

2010-07-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

If you can't read this, click here: Steep: The Teapot Show

My Kid Volunteers at Veggie Farm

2010-07-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Annabelle, is volunteering at a local non-profit farm this summer. She picks vegetables all day long (a couple days a week) to help Jones Valley Urban Farm (JVUF) get ready for the following days' farmer's markets. My two preceding blog posts tell all about JVUF and their fine work.

I thought that when I picked up Annabelle each day I would find her spent and bedraggled from the 98 degree/98 humidity we've had in Alabama for the last few weeks, but, on the contrary, she ends her days looking like a little Buddha--serene, gentle and happy. For years I've filled her head with the benefits of getting outdoors, helping in the community, supporting local food growers in any way possible. I extolled these virtues with a "do your duty" attitude, and didn't dare hope that when she actually did these things she would find it uplifting, fun, and desirable.

I am a happy, proud, surprised, and really excited mom.

Here is an article from the Birmingham News a few days ago about JVUF.

Birmingham News Article about Jones Valley Urban Farm

Detail Images of Bounty

2010-06-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

Bounty: Jones Valley Urban Farm

2010-06-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

This painting is a tribute to all Alabama small, sustainable farms. I buy fresh food from local farmers whenever possible, and believe this practice to be important for the future of me and my family, our community, and our planet. Sustainability refers to farms that are healthy for the environment, can support themselves financially, and are socially conscientious.

I chose Jones Valley as the representative farm for this painting because it thrives in busy downtown Birmingham, setting a good example of healthy farm practices to many who normally don’t get out in the country or aren’t exposed to the benefits of fresh, organic food. Jones Valley is a non-profit organization that provides outreach programs for students and the local neighborhoods, teaching people first-hand where their food comes from, how to grow it, how it is prepared, and how it tastes. Small garden plots are offered to nearby residents, and money is raised through donations and by selling produce and flowers at local farmer’s markets.

My painting, Bounty, unfolded in an unexpected way. The title came first; I’m originally from Colorado, and after living in Alabama for 15 years, I am still amazed at how many and how well plants grow in Alabama. The several different patterns throughout the piece came about as I attempted to find abstractions of the idea of plenty. I began with botanicals and emerged with a rather kitchen-like appearance, appropriate because my connection with farms and food is most often celebrated in the kitchen.

The background of the center piece uses imagery that reminds me of an opulent palace—a version of abundance—where tiny fruit, veggies, and flowers are displayed on pedestals. Sunflowers are the most eye-popping element of Jones Valley, and I chose to reveal the back side of the flower because I found it visually interesting and a fitting symbol of the unusual urban nature of Jones Valley. The tiles are made from molds of vegetables from my own garden, Jones Valley Urban Farm, and other small local farms. The little farm landscapes are taken from small farms throughout Alabama, and are framed in the aforementioned fancy patterns. The outside of the piece continues and expands the general idea of bounty.

More information on Jones Valley Urban Farm can be found at www.jvuf.org. The Sierra Club, Slow Food, U.S.A, Grow Alabama, and the Alabama Sustainable Farmer’s Network are organizations that educate the public and support sustainable farming.

Italwas: Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

2010-05-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

41” x 48”

In 2006 I was commissioned to paint a historically accurate painting of a Creek Indian village. In researching the subject I found that much of Creek cultural artifacts have been lost, due to the shameful Trail of Tears. With a lot of help from Miriam Fowler (who put together the life-size Creek village at the Birmingham Museum of Art) I gathered the information I needed and found images of Creek patterns in rather obscure places. I delivered the painting nine months after the piece was commissioned, and felt like I lived in the little village I’d painted.

Because of my familiarity with the Creek culture, it was a natural choice of subject for one of my depictions of Alabama places. I knew immediately that my portrayal would include the Creeks’ wonderful patterns, which I only got to use on a small scale in the village painting. I chose Horseshoe Bend as the place to represent the Creek culture because it is the most accessible site designated to observance of Creek culture in the state.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park commemorates the end of the Creek Indian War, when, in 1814, General Andrew Jackson defeated 1,000 Upper Creeks led by Chief Menawa. The battle took place on the lands around and between a sharp bend in the Tallapoosa River in central Alabama. After the war, Creek lands that covered three-fifths of Alabama were added to the United States and opened to white settlers, and the Indians were sent on the Trail of Tears to reservations in Oklahoma. My painting is meant to commemorate the Creeks and their culture.

I chose Creek patterns taken from their beadwork, pipes, clay vessels, and blankets. My intention was not to translate Creek symbolism inherent in the patterns. I took actual patterns from artifacts found in the Southeast, and put them together in my signature style, with more concern for depicting a kaleidoscope of visual harmony than for conceptual symbolic accuracy. I fear I may have stated something goofy in Creek language, but hopefully nothing too offensive.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park is maintained by the National Park Service, a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior. For more information, go to www.nps.gov.

The Flower Show at Red Dot Gallery

2010-05-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

Join Red Dot Gallery Friday, June 4 for the opening of The Flower Show, 5-9 pm.

Amazing works of art and nature celebrating the radiance of bloom.

Flower bedecked cupcakes from our favorite bakery, Dreamcakes.

Explosive flower arrangements by Rene Sears.

Real daylilies from national hybridizer Scott Bennett.

Flower inspired art by:

Frank Fleming, Annie Kammerer Butrus, Cam Langley, Janice Kluge, Jon Martinez, Bethanne Hill, Beth Maynor Young, John Wathen, Mary Kay Culpepper, Dori DeCamillis, Scott Bennett, Vincent Serbin, Laura Brookhart, Guadelupe Robinson, Lynette Hesser

Here are some images of work by exhibiting artists.

Laura Brookhart (above)

Digital Photographs

Annie Kammerer Butrus

Paintings

Vincent Serbin

Photography

Details of The Carnivores

2010-05-13T13:07:00.000-07:00