Dronninglund Kunstcenter

This year for the first time, I applied to participate in the Censured December Exhibition at Dronninglund Kunstcenter, North Jutland, DK. I brought back some new work this summer, and thought it would be interesting to give it a try. I submitted five pieces and I was lucky - two of those got accepted! The official opening of the show is this Sunday, Nov. 2nd at 11 am.

# 8 Art Class - Self Portrait

This week it was time for self portraits. We started out looking at Frida Kahlo, She was the perfect artist to study for this weeks’ class. We talked about what a self portrait is, or can be. I wanted them to tell about themselves in the picture, not only focus on glasses, long hair and eye color, but also what they like to do, where they are from and who they are. That’s another reason Frida Kahlo was such an obvious choice; all the stories she tells about herself through her work.

The medium was basically the same as last week: a mix of collage and paint, this time on a canvas board. The results were very interesting (and I believe I learned a lot about my students this week!) and what always strike me is how differently they all started and completed the assignment.

Some painted the figure, cutting out nose and eyes from magazines - others painted the whole figure, and only used collage in the background. Looking back at their work, they are all really very consistent in their styles, even across mediums.

My First Studio

Recently I was looking through some old pictures. I came across these couple of images from Tacoma, WA. They sent me back in time, made me think about this space again... It was in fact my first real studio. It was in an old apartment building in the Stadium district, we lived there for two years and loved it. We had talked to the manager when we moved in, asking if it was possible to pay a little extra for this room, on top of the rent. It wasn’t really a room, rather a small naked space in between two apartments, but it was perfect as a place to paint. It was full of old appliances and various old junk, collected for (probably) centuries. Kevin and I emptied the space ourselves, it took a long weekend and some sore backs and muscles.

(Turned out) the room had a small window, looking over the bay (Pudget Sound) as well as the Stadium High School which look a bit like a german castle. Not bad for a view! It had a high ceiling and an improvised wood floor; I could be as messy as I wanted to, it was made for this purpose. We put up some boards on the walls for both pictures and insulation.

Looking at these photos, I know exactly which paintings I did in this room, which shows I had in mind and was preparing for. I remember the pictures I hung on the wall for inspiration, how cold the winters were in there, and the little broken glass in one of the small window panes...

This studio was its’ own chapter, and it holds a lot of nostalgia. While still living in Tacoma we moved to a house in the north end, and I got my own little room there too. A very different place; a small cozy “log cabin” of a room with a window overlooking our cute flower garden. A different place, and some different work. At this moment I have a tiny room with french doors, green walls and bamboo flooring. Looking over a parking lot. I have loved all my studios - not sure you can work in them if you don’t?

To me whey become separate chapters, and I am excited having to move once in a while and change space. Good for moving and changing the direction of the mind!

# 7 Art Class - Abstract Collage

On Tuesday it was time for abstract art! I wanted to combine the abstract with the collage, and it worked out well. I started out by talking about Paula Rego, a portuguese artist living in London. She is an interesting (and very skilled) painter with many different styles. In the 1960s she made some beautiful big abstract pieces in mixed media. We looked at some of her work and talked about form and color, as well as the different materials used. They all had very different ideas about what it was supposed to be. I thought it was interesting that it had to be something; a monster behind a tree, an old woman with flowers - it could not, not be something!

As oppose to our weeks of various still life, this time our conversation was all about shapes and colors - the students had to focus on the overall look and feel of the piece, rather than the right proportions. I sensed that they enjoyed this change of pace, and they created some interesting pieces. I think they did really well in cutting out odd (and what seemed random) magazine pictures, gluing them around the cardboard, and then connecting the images with paint as the last step. They clearly worked very spontaneously and that gave some good results. I was truly impressed! Next week we will continue the collage, but in the shape of self portraits...

Playdoh on Go-Cards

The Danish postcard company Go-Card is currently publishing a series of my images, entitled Playdoh Greetings and they all feature my Boston terrier Playdoh.

Three of them are already out; Get well Soon, Happy Valentines Day and Bon Voyage. And I have just received a message that the forth one (Happy Halloween) now is out as well.

That means it can be picked up for free (between Oct. 9-16) in 400 cafes around Denmark, as well as in all McDonalds throughout the country (except for Herning).

This is the second Playdoh series published by Go-card, the first one Playdoh the Muse, came out last year. Back in 2002 I had my very first series published on Go-card, it was five images and text pieces, taken from Life of Young Ursula Winther.

For more information, or to send an e-card, please visit there their website www.Go-Card.dk

# 6 Art Class - Surrealism

Time is flying... This week was the 6th class, which means we are halfway through the semester already! I was very excited about this week’s project. Earlier in the course, we had worked with still life and this time around, I thought it would be interesting to paint from something visual, in front of us on the table, but then play with size and comparison. So I took out my fake (but quite lifelike) raven and bought a bag of jellybeans, and wanted then to play with the story and the format.

We started out talking about surrealism - about dreams and how they don’t make sense, I felt it was a great art movement to bring into this class. We looked at Renè Magritte’s work in particular, a personal favorite of mine! I wanted them to combine the two elements in their own way, tell a (dreamlike) story - perhaps the bird would be the size of the candy... or it may be flying with a huge jellybean in it’s beak... or it cold just have landed on a mountain of the colorful candy.

It was up to them to use their imagination on these elements, but still looking at them while painting, to study the beak compared to the feet and the length of the wings.

I sensed that they had a fun time - they produced some great work, and they all did a great job mixing the right colors from the few prime colors that were available to them. Their interpretations were very different - that is always so interesting! And we ended the session - yes, exactly; - by eating Jellybeans...

# 5 Art Class

This week, we were going to explore illustration. We talked about various kinds of illustration as well as what purpose they serve. H. C Andersen is my favorite fairy tale writer, I simply love his complex and poetic tales (and then he is a great Dane!). I had decided that we were going go illustrate Princess And The Pea - because it is a pretty short story and because it is full of visual scenes. We made a good long list of parts that would be great to draw and got started. This week we worked with paper and color pencil, I like to work with as many different mediums as possible in this 12 week course.

Tuesday was actually a school holiday, and I sensed a lot of extra condensed energy in the room, a need for chatting, giggling and dancing, and we had to re-focus a few times!

But, the work turned out great, a few students picked the scene when the princess knocked on the door in the dreadful weather, but naturally they were very different, and from different angles.

We also got a picture of the princess entering the door (with a beautiful long shadow!) the queen making the bed with all the mattresses, as well as a close up of the hand with the pea in it.

The prince traveling around the world looking for a ‘real’ princess also got his illustration, and so did the pea in a display case in a museum.

By the end of the day we put them in order, and they managed to (almost) tell the entire story.

Kunstforeningen Limfjorden

Kunstforeningen Limfjorden (The Art Fund Limfjorden) hosts a juried art exhibition every fall in Struer, a short drive from my hometown of Lemvig. I had paintings admitted back in 1998 and again in 2001, but since then I haven’t applied. But, I decided to try again this year; it has been a while, and I brought back some new work this summer for the show in Holstebro, so I wanted to give it a try. I was just informed this weekend that they have accepted four pieces in the show, which is great and quite exciting! The private view is this Saturday, Oct. 4th, 14:00.
Address: Gimsinghoved Kunst & Kulturcenter, Gimsinghoved 1, 7600 Struer.