Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Visit with Mentor and the Cameron Museum of Art


Painting by Terrell James


I haven't been very good at keeping up with my log and blogging on other things outside of my work completed this semester thus far. Something about these summer months has me a little disconnected. I have been sleeping in the room where I paint, as it makes me feel more like a college student.

Before too much time lapses I want to blog about my 2nd visit with my mentor and my weekend in Wilmington which mixed a little business with pleasure, heading to the beach for a few hours each day.

My visit with my mentor, Pam Toll went well. I absolutely love her studio and the Acme Art Studios in Wilmington at-large. There is a sense of energy as soon as you walk in. I brought with me all the vitreous paintings on glass I had completed through the end of last week. I also brought my charcoal drawing of Frida, that is a study for the window I am starting of her. In addition, I brought the two large oil paintings from last semester with me, so she could see the technique I am exploring.

All in all I feel the visit went well, she could tell I have been working hard. My glass works appealed more to her than my oil paintings, however the area where I showed my works wasn't very well lit, where it was hard to see the intricacies and details of the painting. What I learned out of that critique, is that I need to learn how to support and defend the oil paintings as I have my vitreous paintings on glass. I have not really investigated the amount of time in building a foundation for these pieces, as I have my glass works. Pam invited me to the artist colony she co-founded called, No Boundaries, in November. So I am hoping I can take a long weekend during that time to participate.

In addition to sharing my new works with Pam, she also chatted with me about all her current work and endeavors. This is a busy time for her. She is preparing to do a large drawing installation in the gallery at UNCW, where she teaches. She is also delivering a paper this Fall which she is currently completing her final draft of. She is working on a large oil landscape painting inspired by Bald Head Island where No Boundaries takes place. The painting is really rich and evocative of the environment. It is not even complete and a visiting viewer took interest in collecting the piece.

I hope next month to be able to visit Pam where her drawing installation in shown. I am interested in seeing the handling of the space, and her decisions on the integration of subject which she is tossing around.

Sunday before heading out to a local dog friendly beach (we had my daughter's new pup with us to Wilmington); we rushed to the Cameron Museum of Art before our hotel check-out deadline. I wanted to go there primarily to view the Terrell James exhibition. James is a mentor artist to Tanya L., an AIB peep. James work is abstract expressionist and I enjoyed the work on display. I also enjoyed the exhibition Fritzi Huber's: A Circus Life. Not necessarily the actual artwork on display within the exhibit, but more the documentation of the circus culture of mid-twentieth century. There was a fun reel playing of Roy Roger's Circus. I never realized he even had a circus to his name. There was a wonderful circus dog depicted in the film clip, a Jack Russell which reminded my daughter and I of her little dog, who could well be a little clown dog given the right training.

You can view more information on the four exhibitions I visited at: http://www.cameronartmuseum.com/exhibitions.php

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