April 7,2010

I got my two paintings to the Springville Art Museum in Springville Utah. If you ever get to Utah it is a great gem of a museum. They have Russian impressionists on permanent display, Maynard Dixon, wonderful wall of self portraits from local and Utah artists..a great Spanish mission style building.   Now I hope one or both get into the show. One of the jurors has been juror of 2 local shows I have entered and she consistently puts in very bad art. (not really just my opinion,but even the gallery owners of the shows she juried couldn't hang some of the pieces she chose because they were so bad) Luckily there is the museum director and another juror.  So the hope is that she will be tempered in her avant garde approach,..not all art is good art and just because it is new and different doesn't make it good or even interesting. She comes with great credentials, a super art historian, curator pedigree..but I wonder how her choices will fly at the fairly conservative Springville art museum. I am sure most of the entries will be conservative..ie portraits, landscapes..  This is supposed to be a show that will show the diversity of the Utah art scene..but in years past the majority of the juried pieces have been conservative, traditional styles. Some wonderful stuff but ...typical of the area.

The funny thing is my art will seem very non traditional at this show compared to much of what will be entered.  I seem to float between the two worlds of traditional ,conservative and nontraditional. I think that is why I have not had a lot of show success because I am not so easily pigeon holed into a group or style.  Believe me it makes me rethink time and again what I am doing, why I am doing it and should I do something different.  Artists always tell me to be true to myself and business minded sorts tell me I should do more marketable things. I still struggle with what I want to do and cannot even narrow it down to mediums, much less the style or marketability choices!

It can be really depressing to think about all of this and today all I wanted was a nap. But I did rent the movie "the Girl With the Pearl Earring". If you haven't seen this movie you should try to see it. It is like a painting in its' cinematography. You don't have to be a Vermeer lover to appreciate the story. I did see some Vermeers at the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam and at the British National Museum and they were just tiny jewels..I was so happy to see them.

I am posting the photo of the last minute still life I set up for my drawing class.  I love the Paddle plant which is the succulent I bought. But coming up with ideas I can do in the confines of the craft store studio is tough since I cannot do much more than still life set-ups or drawing from photos which I am not too fond of for beginning students.  I may move everyone to my home for classes eventually if I can make a place that is cat free! I at least want to do some outside drawing with the students where possible.  If it would warm up and quit snowing here..sunny today but still cold.