Time to Say Goodbye to the WInter Studio

No more dinners and wine on the deck till
spring now.  Lots of good memories though.

 Actually this year, my mountain studio was summer, fall, and almost winter.  I think this week is officially winter, but we have already had our first snow and the squirrels have started to fatten themselves on the corn I throw out ever morning to get them through a sparse winter spoils. I thought I would share a few pictures of this time and memories before the trek down to Florida today by way of South Carolina and family. 

Whitey Bolger Senior

This trip I discovered our squirrels had white ears and some have white paws.  So we decided to name them Whitey Bulger and family after the infamous international thief that dogged capture for almost a lifetime.  I don't think our squirrels ever intend to be captured either! 

On this trip I discovered some wonderful little art towns.  Marshall, Spruce Pine and Burnsville, North Carolina.  I also visited an art studio built on a trash dump that uses the gases generated from the trash for kilns and torches for blowing glass.  I went to Akira Satake's art opening, a wonderful potter who uses older Japanese glazing and firing techniques. I met many new craftsmen in the area.  And we bought a new tea bowl for our collection from Akira.  We have a large collection( well a beginning collection) of tea bowls. 

I learned to adapt to winter, by staying into the colder time of year and did much better than last year.  Vinci, the studio dog, did not shake nearly as much and was able to stay out longer without becoming a popsicle.  

We tried new restaurants and I will share those with you and our other new finds in case you plan to travel to Asheville, North Carolina and this area.

Snowy day vista with found object mobile

Enveloped in the clouds one day

Zafer, the studio cat, hard at work 

Enveloped in the clouds the second day

early morning on the mountain, pastel mountains poke through

The snows have melted for now, it is a week and a half before Christmas and more snow
is due next week.  The mosses on the mountain have thrived this year.   And now it is
time to say good bye for awhile, until the next time and more adventure and more creation.

Until the next time…….

GHOST OF THE VISUAL IMAGE

OUR MINDS HOLD MEMORIES IN VERY COMPLEX WAYS

A COLOR

A SUBTLE VARIATION OF A SHADE OR TINT

SHADOWS AND THE GLINT OF THE SUN

SOUNDS AND THE SOFT TREAD OF SHOES ON WOODEN FLOORS

THE FEELING OF OUR BODIES IN SPACE AS WE RELATE

TO THE NARROWNESS OF A HALLWAY THAT MAGNIFIES EVERY SOUND

SMELLS LIKE OLD LEATHER, BOOKS, AND SWEATY GYMN CLOTHES

EVEN THE SLIGHTEST CHANGE IN HUMIDITY CAN TRIGGER A MEMORY

photo by Elizabeth Gordon        Marshall North Carolina 

photo by Elizabeth Gordon               Marshall North Carolina 

This could be Anytown High School USA.  It happens to be on an Island in the middle of the French Broad River in North Carolina in a little town I have grown to love, Marshall.  This is no longer a high school, it flooded too often so a new high school was built and this wonderful old building sold.  But the good news is the building was sold and bought by an artist who turned it into art studio's for working career artists.  

NEW ARTIST SERIES

FRANCESCO LOMBARDO

Frank is a delightful young man, full of generosity of spirit and a welcoming smile.  He is passionate and energetic about his art.  There is a bit of a shyness, but charmingly so.

 He draws you in when he talks about his art, into his vision and into his world.  When I walked into his studio and looked up at the work on his easel, it was stunning, not only in size, but in skill.  The canvas was amazingly smooth, almost slick and I asked him how he accomplished that.  Without hesitation he went to the back and brought out a flat tool that he skimmed the surface with and also shared he was painting on polyester.

Francesco Lombardo/Figurative Painter 

 Polyester absorbs the acrylic differently and the weave is tight and smooth, it gives the painting a very different effect.  Frank is an emerging talent who is at the beginning of his career. He began his studies and career in Baltimore, Maryland.  He has received a Fulbright Scholarship in art where he studied in Iceland for a year. His work has also been accepted for the Outwin Boochever Competition in the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery.

Smithsonian Outwin Boochever Portrait Show

He has also studied in Europe under a master painter.  Frank has much ahead of him and who ever represents him now will be investing in a burgeoning major talent.  He will need the right venue and the right agent to guide him to the correct markets.  Asheville is heavily craft oriented, a larger market or expo will be his best venue and then he will be heavily collected.

Francesco Lombardo/Figurative Painter                                              from google image for education only

 This is an artist to invest in if you are a collector and an artist with to represent if you are an agent, he is a young man with a brilliant career ahead of him.  

Great photo of Frank, shows so much about his warmth
and humility

Frank's studio in Marshall at the Island

Frank pretending not to pose

Francesco 
Lambardo, Frank, we here at Rabbit's Moon Studio wish you the best and much success!

NEW ARTIST SERIES

THE ART OF PAM WINKLER

                                                                           with permission of the artist

from google image for education only

The most exciting thing about living in a new area is the constant sense of discovery.  Though I have had my Asheville studio for a number of years, I have not alway been able to be there as much as I would like.  Now I am getting to spend larger amounts of time here and see more of the art scene in Ashville and the surrounding areas.  This past week I met three very interesting artist.  You have already met Barbara Fisher in our last post. Now we will look at the art of Pam Winkler.  

from google with Pam's permission

Pam has a wonderful story about how she became a full time artist.  A few short years ago in 2008 there was a terrible crash in our economy which hit many people financially very hard.  Pam Winkler had been a successful architect until then. The crash hit and people stopped building homes, so people stopped needing architects to design homes.  So began a new hunt for an occupation for Winkler.  She tried many avenues in art, but found working in pastels to be her area.  Her work is rich and interesting and one can easily see the influence of the architect peaking through.  When I looked at her work I thought over and over that is the same angle I would have chosen, that is the same view I would have seen myself. 

Wonderful rich depth of color

 Pam and I met when I attended an art fair and open studio in Marshall, North Carolina this past week.  Pam has a studio in the wonderful venue, an old high school that has been turned into working studio's for artists. I had been by another day and peaked through a locked door at her work and thought I want to meet that artist! So the day of the open studio we went back with friends and Pam welcomed me into her studio warmly and we had a wonderful visit talking about her art, area art, and the community. She lives in Asheville, but keeps her studio in Marshall which is about a half hour or so away. 

The Pastel Art of Pam Winkler                            art posted from google with permission of artist

NOT ALL ART IS VISUAL ART

TO APPRECIATE ALL ART FORMS IS TO APPRECIATE LIFE!

photo by Elizabeth Gordon

I have to remind myself as a visual artist not to be too prejudiced or ego centric about my own art form.  I was trained and worked in the visual arts all my career.  It is my focus and center, but I do love all arts!  I love drama, dance, theater, music, writing, story telling and so much more.  But there is more than the traditional arts to enjoy as well...when people take anything to a high level of craft, innovation and enjoyment it becomes an art.  The art of food, wine, craft beer, wood carving, a great Cuban sandwich, a great story...so many things.  Just recently while being in my Asheville studio I have learned to appreciate so many things this area has to offer.  The mountain culture in so rich in craft and music. 

photo by Elizabeth Gordon

Generation after generation of mountain families have handed down art in one form or another. The music and dance of this barrier has  stayed much the same as it was when the 17th century families who first migrated here from Scotland and England.  The mountains acted a natural barrier that isolated people from other areas. It is not unusual to hear music that might have been played in 18th century England that is little changed.  A wonderful movie to illustrate that   is The Songcatcher which was filmed in the Asheville area near Cataloochee. This past evening I went to the little town of Marshall, North Carolina to hear Blue Grass and mountain music.  

What I found was not only the music, but a wonderful sense of the community.  People had come out of the surrounding mountain homes and farms for dancing and listening to music on a Friday night. 



 There were all ages participating, from very young to old...all dancing, all two stepping or clogging or tapping.  There was a cake walk, musical chairs to win a prize, drawings, but mostly really friendly people who were very accepting and tolerant of each other. 

 No one fussed at the giggling teenage girls from a church group or mocked the local special education group that had brought severely mentally handicapped young adults, or the Florida tourist who were snapping pictures like me.   

There was even a giant puppet workshop ending in a surprise parade.  Everyone ran out from the dance hall to watch and take pictures.  It was so great to see a community so involved in and brought together by the arts.

The Puppet Parade