Saturday, November 30, 2013

ARE THINGS TOO COMMON FOR US TO REALIZE IT IS ART!?

IN THE ORDINARY LIES THE EXTRAORDINARY!

As we move through our world the myriad of images we see on the way to work, or the way to get groceries or run all our mundane but necessary errands, or to get the kids from school, or one of those miserable rainy slick days when we get stuck behind a slow moving school bus can be really astonishing.  It is part of our everyday world, and just in the repetition it becomes ordinary and not exceptional in our minds.   I think as  artists we are trained to have heightened observation skills and be highly sensitive individuals.  Most people think think art must be pretty, refined, in  focus, and elevated beyond our everyday world.  But is in the everyday artists often find their muse.  If you look at these photo's below with me I will take you through my thinking as an artist.  

Photo's by Elizabeth Gordon   Asheville North Carolina  Newfound Rd 
 It is a typical fall day, a front is moving through and it is rainy, slick, overcast and raw, damp, cold.  I am on my way to do several errands and need to be out on a day I would rather be home reading by the fire.  As I am driving along something captures my attention and I reach for my camera.  I am not even sure what catches my attention at this point, but my senses are overwhelmed with stimuli.  Though just a typical rainy, fall day, the light reflects more on the road, the swish sound of tires hitting puddles at a high speed, the thump, the thump of the window shield wipers.  The greens are darker, and all the whites, reds and yellows brighter.  The air feels heavy, but not the same heavy of a Florida thundershower, it has a different quality with the smell of dampened fall leaves.  The rain on the car window distorts and mutes images, visually my world is different. 

Photo's by Elizabeth Gordon   Out of focus road and farm fences
I love to take out of focus pictures.  I always think of Monet at the end of his painting life, with cataracts and barely able to see, painted larger and enjoyed his ability to see differently.  
Monet Garden's
I have near sightedness that is very severe.  If I take off my glasses I see much like the photo above.  I actually love that, that I can see in focus and out of focus.  I think there is a strength in not focusing…a straining to make sense of what one is seeing.  The shapes are simpler not complicated by detail, and the blurring softens the image and colors.  I have often thought of doing a whole series of work out of focus and call it "Seeing Clearly Now".  



Looking through the window shield wipers at the farm at the bottom of my mountain road.
He is not the neatest farmer in the world and I get to observe his farm daily.  Look at how the yellow
trailer jumps out at you.


Photo's by Elzabeth Gordon


  School buses fascinate me for a variety of reasons.  As an art teacher of 37 years, they were a part of my daily life.  I love the colors, the bright yellows, the red and contract of black.  Did you know the yellow and black are decided by government and enforced by law…there is a specific color, called school bus yellow, that made specially for the nations school buses..that was decided in the early to mid 1900's.  
*School buses become icons for us, for our common experiences of attending school; traveling from youth to adulthood, from bullies and teasing, to the shear conceptual concept of transportation from one sense of place to another. 
  And for me as a teacher and thousands of school children in the summers, it was a sight we didn't want to see, because it inhibited our freedom.  Or the opposite every turn is bringing you closer to home,  a hot pot of soup waiting and Grandmother's hugs waiting at the door.  Her purple umbrella  she holds so lovingly in the damp rain, the smell of her old fashioned soap envelops you in warmth and love as she hugs gathers you in her arms when you come home from the city school whose culture is so different from your rural mountain upbringing.  


*Imagine a Tryptic of three school buses, from larger to smaller, closer to further away accompanied by three images of driving through the rain with distorted images…imagine I provide audio of the swish of tires on wet road, and the clapping of the window wipers clearing the rain away.  What if I added a muted radio, echoing and the sound of small children in the car…can I create an installation of an American experience?




School buses in our experience are part of our ordinary mundane world.  They are not sexy in the Madison Avenue sense of the world , they are not exciting, or beautiful in a everyday sense.  But for an artists they can be all of those things and more! 

*Imagine if you are a film maker the story you could weave around the photo's, they could become stills in your movie.  You can add characters, plot, and imagination…it can be a horror film, a drama, a thriller, or sad reality program.  
Imagine if you are a writer the plot you could enter twine with these images.  A lonely shy child returning home to an abusive father and the road home looks foreboding and horrifying, each turn takes you closer to your worst fears.

* Imagine if you are a musician, and you hear the clap, clap, clap of the window wipers, and you take the beat and write a score from it.  Or you add the sense of moving in sound or score, the feel of transformation.  And then you add mood to the music. What would it sound like, would it be happy, sad, moving, dramatic, quite, foot tapping..what would you create?



 \
*Imagine you are a painter and you want to capture the motion and the light…you want the blur…you want it to feel impressionistic-just a sense of what you are seeking and feeling-then what would you paint.  If you were Van Gogh would you tie yourself to a tree as the wind moved the tree in the brisk fall winds, would you paint day after day repeating the same painting in different light and different times of day and seasons?  If you were Picasso would you focus on the movement by making all sides being seen at the same time to make it as real as possible, that is becomes abstract?  





* Imagine you are a dancer or choreographer, how would you interpret the movement of a school bus in wind and rain, how would you move you body or a group of dances to recreate the mood of this school bus moving through time…what would Martha Graham Dancers do?  




Imagine You are a nature sculptor or environmental sculptor, like Andy Goldsworthy,
Andy Goldsworthy
how would you use this road to recreate the gravel and leaves, and brown grasses and twigs and logs to become a work of art that amazes but that is not permanent.  What would you do?


photo's by Elizabeth Gordon Hayes Cove
I wanted to take you through a bit of how an artists might take something that is mundane to most of us and turn it into a world of art, how they see the world differently.  I hope I have helped you do that and perhaps come up with some ideas of your own.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Norman Rockwell's Iconic American Thanksgiving

Norman Rockwell was adept at capturing iconic American scenes in a highly realistic, almost illustrative way.  He had the ability to capture moments in the American culture that distilled our way of lives at specific times in our culture.  He certainly had his critics, but he remains a favorite artist among many and his works are still loved and appreciated by a majority of Americans.

Thanksgiving by Norman Rockwell                  from google for education only

So I thought we would have a little fun and look at a "fake" Norman Rockwell that is a parody of his paintings of American life.  Rockwell went for the ideal and as we know American life is not always that!


I looked for who to give credit for this and could not find it….google image for education only
AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Monet's Turkeys
Tomorrow, November 28th will be Thanksgiving here in the United States.  It is a day that we celebrate Thankfulness because of our history of Native Americans sharing food with the first Pilgrims that settled in America.  The pilgrims were starving, not prepared for an American winter, with few supplies and inadequate shelter.  There is great discourse on where the first Thanksgiving took place, but the act of giving and sharing is paramount in the holiday. It is a day now American families travel and come together to share a meal and visit.  Traditionally Turkey is roasted, mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole cooked and pumpkin pie is baked.  College football is on tv and everyone falls asleep after a big meal. I guess we can call it the art of an American Cultural event.  Oh yes, and everyone is expected to say what they are thankful for.  I am thankful for you, all Rabbit's Moon Studio readers and supports.  Happy Thanksgiving to you All!

Monday, November 25, 2013

TWO FINISH PHOTOGRAPHERS WOW US WITH THEIR UNIQUE APPROACH


 "EYES AS BIG AS PLATES" 

KAROLINE HJORTH                      RIITTA IKONEN

                                                       from google for education only

 The art show opened in Oslo before going to Helsinki and most presently, Brooklyn New York. 
The pictures by these two remarkable photographers are fresh, creative and quite amazing. They show old Finnish People wearing weird things in their hair in a very serious way.  All the things they wear are from nature which seems to integrated into the soul of these hearty stalwart people.  
I am not sure which photo I like best, each one appeals to me in a different way. I think of my almost 101 year old Mother and know she would have had a good time being a part of this.  She too was wed to nature as an inherent part of herself.  I hope you find these photos as interesting and unique as I did.  In a way they are humorous and in another way they are living sculptures to take seriously. I think the subjects seriousness carries this off so well…an almost elegance, as if wearing ermine royal robes sitting on a throne!


                                                                                          From Google image, only for educational purposes and art advocacy

"Inspired by the romantics’ belief that folklore is the clearest reflection of the soul of a people, Eyes as Big as Plates started out as a play on characters and protagonists from Norwegian folklore. During a one month residency at the KINOKINO Centre for Art and Film in the South West of Norway, the Norwegian photographer Karoline Hjorth and I collaborated with sailors, farmers, professors, artisans, psychologists, teachers, parachuters and senior citizens." From an article written BY Riitta Ikonen

                                                                                                 from google image 
                                                                               from google image only for the purpose of education and art advocacy

Sunday, November 24, 2013

MOOD IN ART, MOVES US INSIDE AND TOUCHES OUR SOUL

When I am taking photos or creating a work of art, what moves me emotionally can be paramount to the piece.  I must feel an attachment to the place, time, and a thousand other things that I experience.

  These photo's from my friends condo in Washington D.C. place me in another time, as if I were crossing over into a past era.   The street lights glow and if gas lanterns, and the yellow, almost sepia tone of the light makes the piece seem if one were walking down the avenue in an 1800's Washington D.C, if not for the modern cars in the foreground. There is a sense of nostalgia, somberness, and winsomeness in these photos. Carl Sandburg or Robert Frost could write a moving poem about these scenes.  Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald could sing a song that would break our hearts.   A movie could be made that would wrench our hearts and make us feel as if we were waiting for our lover to come home. 
 Mood can be so many things in art, as in Picasso's Blue period when he mourned the death of his close friend in Paris or  Munch's  Scream that personifies fright and horror in the human  experience. 

We are moved by our feelings and emotional attachment to  sights, sounds,  smells, and touch.  
One whiff of diesel fuel and I am back standing on the harbor in Subic Bay Naval Base getting ready to board a boat to go snorkeling in the Crystal clear waters of the Philippines for the day.  One whiff of  Cafe Con Leche and I am in the Columbia restaurant  in Ybor City listening to the staccato of Cuban Spanish punctuate the air.  A soft glint of afternoon light on palm leaves and I am home again on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  I know you also have experiences, sounds, smells, and other things that draw you to a moment in time.  Art helps us reconnect with those feelings with a  sense of mood.






SOMETIMES THERE IS NO NEED FOR WORDS WHEN THE BEAUTY OF NATURE SURROUNDS US.

Southern Virginia           Photo's taken from car on the way South

Somewhere in Southern Virginia on I81 heading South      Photo's by Elizabeth Gordon

The last gasp of Sunlight and the day comes to a close              Elizabeth Gordon

Saturday, November 23, 2013

CREATIVITY IS FOUND IN ALL PLACES,

IF ONE LOOKS,


Georgetown, D.C.   All Saints Clothing Store   all photos by Elizabeth Gordon


IT IS THE THING THAT CATCHES YOUR ATTENTION,

 THAT SHIFTS YOUR FOCUS,



IT IS THE THING THAT MAKES YOU THINK,

"HOW DID THEY GET THAT IDEA, HOW DID THEY THINK OF THAT?"

Vintage Singer and other  Sewing Machines 


WITHOUT ART, WITHOUT CREATIVE THINKING NOT ONLY

WOULD THIS BE A PLAIN BUILDING NOT WORTH OUR NOTICE,

Repetition is one of the strongest elements in art


THERE WOULD BE NO BUILDING AT ALL!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

VAN GOGH IN WASHINGTON D.C.

June Langford Berkley and Elizabeth Gordon
June Berkley and Ann Suggs



PHILLIPS COLLECTION(click)      VAN GOGH REPETITIONS
OCTOBER 12-JANUARY 26

The Postman by Van Gogh       google image for education only


The Postman       by Van Gogh              Google image for education only














Here we are outside the Phillips  Collection for the special exhibition Van Gogh's Repetition. It is a wonderful exhibition with several renditions of the same subject in which Van Gogh is studying light, color or composition. It is a wonderful show with supportive note books, letters and drawings.  The Phillips is always a joy, but this makes it even more special.  You can also enjoy a very inclusive gift shop and great coffee.  The book store is carrying the companion book on the exhibit.  I always think these are great values, as they are a limited printing and rarely accessible later.
  
PLEASE TREAT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY TO A UNIQUE ART COLLECTION AND EXHIBITION.

Monday, November 18, 2013

VAN GOGH IN D.C.

Repetitions/Van Gogh at the Phillips

VAN GOGH

REPETITIONS

OCTOBER 12, 2013 - JANUARY 26, 2014

                                                                                                                                    from google image for educational purposes only
This is a wonderful show!  If you are in the area or planning to travel to Washington D.C. don't miss the Phillips Collection special showing of Repetitions!  More to come….

Saturday, November 16, 2013

ART SPEAKS THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE!


LOVE IN ART

LOVE IN LIFE

LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND!

TODAY IS A SPECIAL DAY HERE AT RABBIT'S MOON STUDIO! AFTER 23 YEARS ANN AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED IN WASHINGTON D.C.  AMERICA HAS MOVED INTO THE 21ST CENTURY!


ROBERT INDIANA   LOVE SCULPTURE THEATER DISTRICT  NEW YORK                                                 from google

Friday, November 15, 2013

In Times of Disaster and Unimaginable Devastation The Arts Can Help

MUSIC CAN HELP US FEEL COMPASSION

IT CAN HELP US SHARE OUR DEEP SENSE OF HUMANITY WITH OTHERS IN PAIN

MUSIC CAN SPEAK A LANGUAGE OF THE HEART THAT WORDS CANNOT


FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE PHILIPPINES OUR HEARTS REACH OUT 

TO YOU IN THIS TIME OF UNBELIEVABLE PAIN AND LOSS AND DEVASTATION

WE FEELYOUR PAIN, WE CARE, KNOW YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Please share this post widely and give from your heart to any organization of your choosing to help the Philippine people in one of the worst natural disaster of our times.  Rabbit's Moon Studio

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

EINSTEIN ON CRETIVITY

"I never made one of my discoveries throughout the process of rational thinking"
Albert Einstein

from google image for educational purposes only




Saturday, November 9, 2013

Transitioning

TRANSITION IS A FACT OF LIFE AND ART

Mixed Media by Elizabeth Gordon   sold at Dali Museum auction Liquid Desires
now in the private collection of an Orlando Physician
                     

IT IS AN ART ELEMENT


Mixed Media by Elizabeth Gordon

IT IS A WAY WE MOVE FROM ONE DIRECTION IN ART TO ANOTHER

IT MAY BE THE WAY WE SEE OUR ART AND THE WORLD AROUND US

TRAVELING ALWAYS BRINGS ABOUT THE THOUGHT OF TRANSITION TO ME:
LEAVING ONE ENVIRONMENT FOR ANOTHER, ONE LANDSCAPE FOR ANOTHER, ONE SOCIAL WORLD FOR ANOTHER

COUNTRY FOR CITY
QUIET FOR SIRENS AND CAR HORNS
FALL FOR WINTER

TRANSITIONS MOVE US FORWARD, WE CAN NOT STAY WHERE WE ARE, WE MOVE ONWARDS AND EXPERIENCE NEW AND MORE 

LIFE CHANGES FORM AND WE CHANGE WITH IT



AND AS A RESULT OUR ART CHANGES ALSO
IT CANNOT HELP BUT BE SO, FOR WE ARE NOT STAGNANT BEINGS NOR IS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.  


Mixed media by Elizabeth Gordon

AND AS WE CHANGE, AS WE TRANSITION, WHAT WE EXPRESS AND SHARE CHANGES AND WHAT WE REFLECT TO OTHERS  

Mixed media by Elizabeth Gordon


I OFTEN THINK OF TRAVEL AS TIME TRANSITIONING
IF WE STEPPED INTO A PORTHOLE AND TRAVELED THOUGH A WORMHOLE IN THE UNIVERSE AND APPEARED IN A DIFFERENT PLACE AND ERA. 
 ART ALSO DOES THAT FOR US. 

 


 IT IS A VESSAL THAT INHABITS TIME AND CULTURE, IT TRANSITIONS US FROM ONE TIME TO ANOTHER, TO ONE MIND SET TO ANOTHER.
*all photo's are the property of Elizabeth Gordon



















Thursday, November 7, 2013

PAINTING WITH LIGHT A NEW DIGITAL AGE DAWNS

HAVE YOU HEARD OF PIXELSTICK? 
THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK!

Pixelstick is the awesome and stunning new light painting from Duncan Frazier and Steve McGuigan of Bitbanger Labs.  They have designed a cool new technology that is going to turn the art world upside down…Wait until you see what they have done..Move over Darth Vader and Jedi Masters here come the duo of McGuigan and Frazier! source Huffington Post 10/31/13







 all photo's are from google image for education only

WITH LED TECHNOLOGY ART GOES IN MOTION
from google image



   



Pixelart by Bitbanger Labs   Frazier and McGuigan                 from goole image for education only





LIGHT BENDING AWESOME


NEW ART TECHNOLOGY


GENIUS DUO

Duncan Frazier  

       Steve McGuigan


from google image

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