Tag: Daily Art Moment

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Daily Art Moment: Anne Appleby

[Image description: Requiem for a Ponderosa Pine, Anne Appleby, each panel 44 x 44 inches; overall: 90 x 90 inches, oil and wax on canvas. Four square panels, each a different color, grouped to form one larger square. The panels are arranged two over two. At top left, the first panel is a deep green and at top right the panel is reddish-purple. Bottom left contains the blackish-brown panel next to the faded orange or cantaloupe colored one at bottom right. The squares are hung so they are separated by narrow strips of the wall behind them. The panels appear to be solid blocks of color but closer inspection reveals subtle variations of shades and depth of color.]

Living in the Elkhorn Mountains in Montana, Anne Appleby has spent years closely studying the ecology, and more specifically, the trees that surround her land. Known for her “grid” paintings, Appleby paints the changing colors of trees that define their characteristics through seasons. Requiem for a Ponderosa Pine examines the variations of colors of a…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Cheyenne Blanket

[Image description: Cheyenne artist, Blanket, 73 ¾ x 55 ½ inches, wool, glass beads. A rectangular, leaf green blanket with a narrow strip of beading running lengthwise along the middle. The blanket shows some discoloration where the fabric has faded and its edges are frayed where the stitched binding has come away. Stretching across the work, a narrow strip of white beading is punctuated by five blue beaded squares that are flanked on either side by slim yellow and red stripes and rows of blue beaded triangle shapes. Four round white beaded circles with blue crosses are interspersed between the squares. Pairs of long beige cords emanate from the circle centers, some lay stretched across the beading, some are coiled.]

Green is a color infrequently seen in most collections of Plains material, which makes this beaded trade blanket all the more striking. The wool blanket, probably received from a trader in exchange for other goods, was embellished in the same manner as a tanned animal hide: a long, beaded strip was attached along the middle,…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Derrick Adams

Boy on Swan Float, Derrick Adams, 31 x 45 inches, woodblock and screen print with fabric collage on Rives BFK paper. A young boy with brown skin and black hair sits in a large inflatable swan against a blue background, seen from the side. The large swan is shown in whites and gray, each tone a separate shape placed to depict the inflatable’s contours. The swan has a black mask around the eyes and the bright, orange beak. The boy sits between the swan’s wings facing left. He is depicted in the same manner as the swan with brown, tan, and grey shapes making up his figure. A triangle of bright green and white polka dots suggests the boy’s swimsuit. His toes peep out from the end of the float at left. The background is a flat sky blue.

As warmer weather approaches, we are all dreaming of lazy summer days. This recent acquisition by Derrick Adams captures the pleasures and poignancy of timeless summer afternoons. Using 68 puzzle-cut woodblocks, seven runs of screenprint, and fabric collage, Adams depicts a young boy resting on a gigantic inflatable swan in an expanse of blue water.…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Arnold Kemp

Day Dream Nation, Arnold Kemp, 9 3/8 x 9 ½ inches, graphite and Flashe on Chinese paper. An almost square work showing two upright rectangles, one black and one white, side by side. They are depicted on creamy, off-white ground that both separates and surrounds the two shapes. The black rectangle at left has slightly uneven, rough edges. Specks of white paper show through the graphite throughout the body. At right, the white rectangle is the same height as the black but is narrower and has sharper edges. The shapes are outlined faintly in a thin gray pencil line. The lines connect the two rectangles across the off-white background strip between the two.

Years previously to making this work, I met Lee Ranaldo and Kim Gordon of the band Sonic Youth. Ranaldo introduced his music to me by inviting me to a concert the band was giving in Boston. The band’s 1988 album “Daydream Nation” became a beautiful, resolute, and illuminating source of inspiration. I sought to sustain…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: David Emitt Adams

From the Conversations with History series, David Emmitt Adams. A sculpture composed of three main rusted metal objects, one containing a photo of a desert scene. A weathered, rusted tin can rests on its side on top of a crushed, dented metal container with a handle and a smaller piece of rusty trapezoid shaped metal. The end of the can has a black and white photo of two large cactus plants amid other vegetation in a desert setting. Below it sits the trapezoid shaped metal piece, rusted, the top of it crushed. Its original purpose is not identifiable. To the left is a larger metal piece, bigger than the other two pieces put together. It appears folded in half on itself, a sharp fold jutting towards the left with jagged edges. It has a handle with a grip bar and a small valve attached to its side with rivets. The metal pieces are rusty reddish brown and have a rough looking surface. Spots of orange rust speckle the body. The printed end of the can appears smoother and shows a bit of reflected light off its ridged surface.

“As long as people have been in the American West, they have found its barren desert landscapes to be ideal for dumping detritus. Today, the notion of land untouched by humans is so foreign it might as well be make-believe. For pieces in the series Conversations With History, I collect discarded metal objects from massive…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Joe Goode and Dorothea Rockburne

Torn Cloud Painting, Joe Goode, 60 x 60 inches, oil on canvas. A square work showing a white canvas torn to reveal a deep sky blue canvas beneath it. The tears begin in the upper right corner with a small roughly crescent shaped tear and a larger irregular jagged tear that connects via a narrow, crooked fissure to a triangular tear near the center of the work. Three more tears are located below and another two slightly above and to the left. Smaller diamond-shaped tears appear at upper center left and lower left. The edges of the tears are ragged with the canvas fraying in spots. Shallow folds of loose canvas are visible as the material sags in spots. These create shadows in addition to the ones made on the blue canvas by the gaping holes.

After spending so much of the quarantine year interfacing with the flattened spaces of computer screens, I am anxious to rebuild the “muscles” used for close, sustained looking. Two works that I find compelling—and quietly subversive—can be found on the second floor of the modern and contemporary wing. Hanging right across from each other, Joe…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Bobby Abrahamson

Kat, from the series North Portland Polaroids, Bobby Abrahamson, gelatin silver print, image: 13 5/16 x 10 1/16 inches; sheet: 14 x 10 15/16 inches. A portrait oriented, black and white photograph of an individual seen through a storefront window arranging produce and smiling directly at the viewer. Their dark hair is pulled back, and they have dark arched eyebrows, a dimple on their right cheek and a beauty spot on their left above their mouth. Their smile is warm and welcoming. They wear a short-sleeved t-shirt under a dark apron. Their hands reach down in front of them to arrange a large bowl of olives amid bunches of grapes, small boxes of cherries and other kinds of produce. The figure is flanked by small store signs. One elaborately framed one to the left reads “Bakery Harvest Festival”, to their right is an out of focus sign in the background and one is directly in front of the figure and advertises “Rolls” and “Thanksgiving Dinner”. At top left a neon sign is partially seen. It reads “…El Food” and “…O-Nuts”. Across the lower section of the photo, a horizontal streak of white is visible, possibly a light reflection on the store window. Behind the figure are elements of the shop: a paned glass window and doorway. A narrow uneven white line along the outer edge of the photo frames the scene.

Earlier this week, public-facing workers throughout Oregon became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. These are the folks who have kept shelves stocked, food prepared, systems running, buses moving, and packages delivered (among so many other visible and hidden jobs) during a dangerous and anxious time. This additional, positive step toward a healthier future makes me…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Barbara Earl Thomas

A Fire in the Landscape. Barbara Earl Thomas. 2003. Egg tempera on paper. 15 in x 30 in. Long painting framed in a simple, thin, dark wood frame with a cream mat. Subtle, but contrasting colors of yellow and purple wave like shapes layer on top of each other completely filling the paper. Multiple organic shapes are woven together to form an ocean or sky like scene. The shapes resemble clouds, flames, waves, birds, fish, etc. At the top left, a purple human figure appears to lay on the layers of the waves of color, left leg tucked under the right, right hand resting on left knee, and right hand near head as if gently holding a pillow. The figure is bald and has delicate, but well-defined facial features, revealing closed eyes. At the bottom right of the paper are more human figures. Like the first, these figures are naked, bald, and have their eyes closed. A larger figure embraces a smaller figure, laying behind, arms wrapped around the smaller body. To the right, a single figure is tucked into a fetal position, with hands facing out by the face. White lines layer over the feet, outlining another pair of legs and feet which were not painted. A gray colored hand and dark brown hand also stretch out past the feet without bodies connected to them.

“I think about salvation and redemption, where in the world it might come from. Who and what in the end will save us from ourselves. One can only imagine what shape any God might take.” —Barbara Earl Thomas With this work and related pieces, Barbara Earl Thomas explored humanity’s relationship with nature. Depictions of the…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera, Los Frutos del Trabajo (The Fruits of Labor), 1932, lithograph on cream wove paper, 16 7/16 in x 11 13/16 inches. Vertical rectangular print rendered in soft gradations of grays of 8 figures seated in a circle turned to a figure in the upper right corner and receiving apples from a central figure. The scene is intimate, tightly cropped, and facial expressions are serene. The central figure is youthful with short hair, head at three-quarter view looking to their right, hand outstretched having given an apple to a seated figure in profile at left. The left hand holds a cloth taut holding a bounty of apples. Three young figures seated behind peek out, obscured by the taller figures. An older mustachioed figure with collared shirt in top right has eyes cast down at a book spread open by his thumb. Four figures in the foreground with backs turned to the viewer face the apple giver and reader. The diminutive small figure at bottom center has long dark hair center-parted and braided, the ends of the braids are joined in a knot. At bottom right, an older figure wearing a jacket with epaulettes has left hand rested on another youth’s shoulder. In the foreground, a bound book’s cover bears a cursive D and 32.

Today we celebrate Mexican-American civil rights leader, Cesar Estrada Chavez, a former migrant worker who co-founded the UFW (United Farm Workers) with fellow activist, Dolores Huerta, which fought for unionization for laborers. Chavez, influenced by the non-violent tactics of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., used strikes, boycotts, and picketing to achieve equity for these…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: M.C. Escher

Day & Night. M.C. Escher. 1938. Woodcut in black and gray, printed from two blocks. 15 7/16 in x 26 5/8 in. 1. Aerial view of farm land between two cities and rivers with a flock of birds flying above. The left side of the print is light colored with dark outlines while the right is dark with light outlines. The middle of the print uses an optical illusion where, from one perspective, white birds are flying to the right with a view of dark fields between them and, from another perspective, black birds are flying to the left with a view of light fields between them. The fields below the birds make a checkerboard pattern, but the lines are more organic, forming a variety of shapes. In the bottom left corner is a town with a church in the middle and connected buildings around it in the shape of a trapezoid. Waterways with boats line the edges of the city and a windmill sits across from it. A few farm houses sit at the edges of fields. On the opposite side of the city, a flat narrow draw bridge stretches across the curving river. A line of five ships sail just to the right of the bridge. Across the river a few farmhouses stand in fields and trees line the water passageways between the fields. The right side has the same city, but with dark tones, and is a mirror of the left side. A simple black border surrounds the print.

As we move into spring from winter, I am reminded of M.C. Escher’s woodcut Day & Night, which captures another transition. In this engaging yet perplexing image, white and black birds appear above the checkered fields below, marking the switch from the nocturnal to the diurnal. Escher plays with negative and positive space, light and…  Read more