An inspired art weekend, part two

The second part of our weekend trip (now already some weeks ago) consisted of delivering some more small paintings to The Commercial in Alma. The first batch was already there but the ones I delivered now had been waiting for their frames.
The paintings, of which you see three here are part of a series of small abstracts in oil/cold wax. It's only over the past few years that I developed a taste for exploring small size paintings, and I like the idea of combining a couple of small paintings to create a collage like art work of its own. As in exhibitions, by arranging art work in different ways, you get a new result every time, which I think is interesting.

The (museum quality)floater frames are from Metropolitan Frames from Minneapolis. I order them unfinished and finish them myself in either a whitewash or tinted wash, depending on what the painting asks for, then they are finished with wax.

The Commercial is one of the most interesting gallery/stores that I know here in Wisconsin. Owner and friend Kristine Kjos is a multi talented artist herself and her space breathes her very unique and individual style throughout, both in the layout of the store as in the choice of artists she represents. Her way of displaying and arranging objects and art invites you on a journey through the whole store,where moods are created from playful to dreamy and from tactile to serene.
This weekend (November 24/25)is Holiday Open House at The Commercial, but all through the remainder of this month and December you will be able to find artful and one of a kind gifts there. Some of Kristine's creations will be part of the Polderland = Wonderland show in my gallery on December 7,8 and 9.

A very inspiring art weekend

Last weekend we made a very inspiring trip. My husband had to pick up something in the Minneapolis area for our bulb business and I had to deliver some more small paintings to my gallery in Alma, The Commercial. My friend Rebecca Crowell happens to live in that neck of the woods too, so we made her the first stop on our trip. This was the perfect opportunity to catch up on art talk and studio visits. We do email each other regularly and exchange photo's of works in progress asking for comments and critique, but nothing compares to the real studio visit!
Now, maybe I should explain that I have something with artist studio's, maybe all artists have, maybe not. I just love to be in art studio's.
Rebecca's studio is one I love in particular - you have to go down the steps from her house to the big barn that is her studio. Rebecca always puts smaller works in progress on the right hand wall and it was full of jewels. A series of small squares and rectangles, mostly in warm colors, a medium sized painting consisting of three panels in a wonderful combination of blues and rusty reds, the top panel being an esoteric pale blue with a vague imprint in foggy red. I just wanted to take them all for the Polderland = Wonderland event on December 7,8&9!
Then it was on to the larger works, now all beautifully lit by new daylight lamps, installed by her husband Don. What a difference that makes. No folks, we do not all have that perfect northern light exposure studio you always read about, most of us have to make do with what we can find.
As you may have read from Rebecca's blog, the demand for her work is growing, which places her in a position that is both wonderful and demanding. We've talked a lot lately about how to keep the integrity in your work while at the same time producing more of the same. Rest assured, she can do it! I've seen some wonderful new paintings, the one that is behind her in the picture is my (now) favorite, a panel of pale blue and white embedded in panels of deep earthy colors and golden yellow and coppery tones. Wonderful textures, lots of depth. Much more was in progress and looking very interesting, some new colors that I have not seen from her before. And then we had to talk paint of course...
The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny and mild day that lured us for a walk in the fields and over the hills, taking in many beautiful fall vista's, one of those I include.

What an opening!

Looking back at Friday night's opening of Rebecca Crowell's show I can only be pleased, what a terrific turnout we had! People kept coming in till far after closing time - lively art conversations were going on all around and we had a lot of fun also.

Of course we could not have hoped for better weather, it was great to be on the go from gallery to gallery without mittens, hats and umbrella's. It looked like a lot of new people found their way to our building. Let's hope they'll spread the word.

For all of those who could not make it this weekend, the show runs through May 19 in Polderland Gallery, open Thursdays-Saturdays from 12 pm - 5 pm.

Almost Opening Time!

It's almost done, all the paintings are hanging, clutter has been removed, floor sweeped, wine chilled, a couple more hours and we are ready to open the doors on Rebecca's show.

Of course there are a few more things we need to take care of, put the inlay on the sandwich board that goes outside, glue the letters of the new name on the door but I trust we'll get it done in time.

Here are a few installation views that will give you an idea of how things are looking. I love how the off-black floors work, especially when the sun comes in and paints a graphic design of light and shadow.

A shady deal?

It has been a while since my last blog entry, mainly because I was extremely busy preparing the upcoming show of Rebecca Crowell's work in my gallery (Polderland Gallery).

The show will open next Friday, April 20, and runs through May 19.

First there were the press kits to get ready, then the invitations and posters - and getting them out of course and then the famous one thing leads to another projects. After running a gallery in part of my studio for about two years I felt I could use some help in marketing the gallery, and asked help from the talented Linsey Sieger. As an 'artist run' gallery I have to do without an advertising budget and I asked her for some ideas on how to get the name out. One of her suggestions was to change the name from MB Gallery into something that would resound my being Dutch and that is how I came up with Polderland Gallery. There is probably nothing more uniquely Dutch as a polder, a piece of land won on the water by putting up a dike and then milling the land dry. The new land is consequently below the water level. This is how the former Zuiderzee (South Sea) became the location for towns such as Emmeloord and Almere and what was left of the former Zuiderzee now is Ijsselmeer (Ijssellake). When thinking of polderland I see a (very) flat landscape with a big sky in my minds eye.

Having decided on the new name I needed to remove the slightly oriental looking red logo from my black door - painted the door gray (we have a lot of overcast in Holland) and ordered new signs. Now... a gray door would definetely look better against a shiny black floor I felt. Although I've always loved the look of the old wood floors in my studio, the gallery part of the floor had a strange broad strip of some tar like filler on it and made that part look narrower as it was. For a long time I had been toying with the idea of a black floor and one of the first things that triggered it was my visit many years ago, to the studio's in the 'Wilhelmina Gasthuis' in Amsterdam, an old hospital turned studio/living spaces for artists, where one of the studio's I visited had this beautiful black floor, actually everything in this studio was white, black or gray, and it made such an impression on me that I promised myself that if I'd ever have an old wood floor in my studio I would paint it black. So here you have it, many hours on hands and knees later my wish became reality!

Then Rebecca's work had to get here too of course, so that was the next project to tackle. As she lives on the other side of the state we agreed to meet halfway in Madison and trade loads. It was a bit like on of those shady parking lot deals, you know: the kind that cannot bear the light of day, but fortunately the sun was out brightly so we did not attract any suspicion at all.

By now the paintings are all unpacked, unveiling their superior beauty, the first five already on the wall, many more to go - I've got my work cut out for me till Friday 9.30 pm!

PS Professional packing is an art in itself, see photograph on top on the creative use of spacers!