art exhibit

LRT windows

After the rush

I am officially finished working at the Art College for the summer. I am exhausted. Happy, but exhausted. Our program finished on Sunday. We cleaned the spaces we had used and hauled out all our belongings. Now I am faced with huge piles of stuff that need to be sorted and put away, either at home or at my studio. There are also piles of printed fabrics that I need to start working with. Decisions, decisions, where to start?

For the last couple of days our group worked together to hang shows in several locations at ACAD (Alberta College of Art and Design). If anyone is able to visit, there is some wonderful work on display. We are having a reception on Thursday Sept. 4 from 5pm to 7pm and would love to see you. One exhibit space is cleared out the next day, so even if you can’t make the reception, please try to get by before then. Here are a couple of shots of work during installation.part of room 371LRT windowspart of MNG spaceshop windows

As an aside I wanted to share something I figured out while packing for the show. I had pressed my 10′ long panel of printed fabric and did not want to crease it on the way to the college. Since hangers aren’t big enough to hold the fabric, I created one using a mailing tube and a fabric strip for hanging. I’m sure people have been doing this sort of thing for years, but I was excited because I thought it up my self. I am easily amused.fabric hanger

More Fabulous Vienna Museums

Here’s a smattering of some of the extraordinary museums I saw in Vienna. All of these deserved more time and there are lots more museums to visit. They will have to wait for another visit to Austria.

The Vienna Secession building was small but absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately the limited exhibit space was closed because they were setting up an exhibition. I missed seeing the Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt. Most disappointing, but this can happen when you have limited time to visit a city. I love the large mosaic planter bowls next to the stairs.Secession building, Vienna, Austriamosaic planter, Secession building, Vienna, Austria detail of Secession building, Vienna, AustriaNext up was the Leopold Museum – in the museums quartier. There were too many galleries to see, but we enjoyed work by Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt (what self-respecting Austrian museum doesn’t have a Klimt?), Andy Warhol and many others. The exterior was somewhat industrial looking, but the interior was elegant and modern. Here’s a taste of the museum:

photo courtesy of Leopold Museum website

photo courtesy of Leopold Museum website

Leopold entry hall Egon SchieleOne of my favorite exhibits was Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds. The dark-colored room had 4 huge fans mounted near the ceiling, and large silver mylar pillows bounced and floated around the room. I sat and enjoyed the kinetic energy for some time. Andy WarholAustralian artist Dietrich Wegner created this mushroom cloud-like tree house. It was quite amazing and slighty unsettling. On the wall behind is part of a series of 1,000 landscape cloud photos taken around the world by Olivier Masmonteil. I was attracted to the mosaic-like quality.

used plastic bags close up view of framed art display, Leopold Museum, ViennaAlmost next door to the Leopold is MUMOK, the Museum of Modern Art. This museum wasn’t on our list for the day, but we were right next door and the building looked intriguing. I was not disappointed with the building or the art.MUMOK, Vienna, Austria gift shop and restaurant, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria art exhibit, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria interior, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria interior view, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria Scarecrow by Paul Klee, MUMOK, Vienna, Austriaart at MUMOK, Vienna, Austria art at MUMOK, Vienna, Austria

That is all for this post. My last museum is so big and so fantastic that I need another post. I’m actually exhausted from going through photos and reliving the museum visits. At least this time my feet aren’t sore!

PS See more of Paul Klee’s work at this site.

Vienna museums – oh my!

Vienna – a city of culture with museums galore. Fabulous museums. Too many to see in just a week. But I think we did a good job with the days we spent, and I have the photos to prove it.  The first museum we visited was the Belvedere. The Belvedere Museum is located in the Belvedere Palaces which – renowned Baroque landmarks, with exhibitions in the orangery and stables as well.  I enjoyed seeing work by Gustav Klimt, including his famous painting “The Kiss”. This photo from Wikipedia, since you really couldn’t take photos in the galleries.

The Kiss by Gustav KlimtThe art was amazing, and the buildings were breath-taking. My favorite exhibit was a temporary one which featured the work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an artist I have admired for many years. The palace grounds were beautiful and they enhanced the excellent museum experience. Unfortunately there was a “no photos” policy inside, so my photos were VERY limited. Belvedere - upper palace sculpture entry hall Belvedere interior - Belvedereview from Belvedere PalaceHunterwasser Belvedere - lower palace

The next day we set out to see more museums – an easy task in Vienna. First up was the Albertina, partially situated in a Hapsburg Residential Palace. As usual in Europe, the building is stunning. The artwork is incredible. The Albertina houses the largest and most valuable graphical collections in the world, as well as significant collections of Impressionist and early 20th century art . You can read all about it online, I can show you a few photos but you really should see it for yourself if possible.Albertina sign Albertina exterior Albertina entry palace room 2 palace room 3 palace room palace room palace room detail palace roomThere was an exceptional show of large prints by Gunter Damisch. I took a few photos before I realized there were no photos allowed in this particular exhibit. I hope it’s alright to share a peak. Each print was about 4′ x 6′. Very impressive. I purchased a book on Gunter’s work, with photos of the actual printing process. Since I prefer working in something smaller, like 4″ x 6″, it is interesting to see how very large prints are done.Gunter Damisch exhibit work by Gunter DamischHere are a few other gems from the museum – two by Claude Monet and two by Paul Signac.

Claude Monet - House Among the Roses Claude Monet - The Water Lily Pond Paul Signat - Venice the Pink Cloiud Paul Signat - detail of Venice, the Pink Cloud Paul Signat - Antibes the TowersI must save the rest of the museums for another post. This blogging is very time-consuming, and I need to get some sleep. Hope you enjoyed what you’ve seen so far.

SDA Conference

I’ve tried to get it together to write about the fantastic presentations at the recent conference, but then I came across this post by Cameron Ann Mason. Seriously, I can’t really add to what she had to say, so I’d suggest you read her post. I’d also suggest you read her post about the SDA Members’ Show. I showed a few pieces in my last post, but Cameron has more photos and some great detail. Interestingly enough we did both choose some of the same pieces to highlight. Now, while you’re at it, you should certainly read Cameron’s post about the gallery tour day.

Now, here’s and assortment of photos from my time at the conference:

at Gallery Nord downtown architecture columns of the Majestic architectural detail San Antonio library library interior mosaic bench quilt by Michael James fiber exhibition river walk Texas stars serpentine tile bench Texas style "Canadian" regional meetingview from universityfashion show entrynew friends

cermics at SSA Coates Chapel at SSAcactus flower

The next photo is from the presentation to promote the next SDA conference in 2015 in Tulsa. Can’t wait to visit Oklahoma!

Tulsa conference promo

The last photo shows what I think is the greatest example of “recycle/reuse”. Our taxi driver had altered his name tag. He recently changed cab companies and this seemed to work for him!

taxi driver's badgeI thoroughly enjoyed my first Surface Design Association Conference. I met great people, saw fantastic art exhibitions, heard incredible lectures, ate excellent food and loved getting to know San Antonio. The whole experience was inspiring, and if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to work!