House Keeper

I hope to write a proper post soon, as it's been a while. I've been pretty busy, ironic since there's actually plenty to talk about. But to keep things fresh, here's a link to what I've been working on in the studio.

I like the house images, but obviously did not want get away from the interiors, either, and the best way I can explain that is, the most wide open spaces are always inside one's head. I'll try to explain more thoroughly soon.

For now, that'll have to do. But at least you know that the Squish is staying out of trouble!

Blue Fox

Just to wrap up on my previous post on a series of sketches I'd been doing in the print studio. Here is the final version, at least for now, as I'm not sure how or whether to pursue the idea.

I'm already working on a different thread, and you can get a preview of small work-ups for that over on my Facebook page.

It's nice to be busy in the studio in mid April (and I have been), because I find the rush of logistical and publicity details somewhat distracting as May winds down, with the first show approaching in June. That will be the Art Students League Summer Art Market, a fun but exhausting show in south Capitol Hill.

After that comes The Boulder Open Fest in July on the Mall, a gallery show at Zip 37 Gallery in North Denver in early August, and possibly, the Modernism show at the Stock Show Arena near Labor Day.

I guess I should also put in a plug for my 8-week workshop at the ASLD starting in late June. You can search my name for current workshops at any time. A Fall workshop will be announced soon, and you'll notice a one-day Summer Sampler in August if you just can't commit the time for the longer classes. I've grown quite attached to bright sunny mornings in the Art Students League print room, and I've made some great friends there!

In Which I Offer An Explanation of Sorts, Though I May Have Lied About The "Pina Colada Song"

Where did June/July go to? I meant to post, I really did. It would have been a good time to post the anxiously awaited Squishtoid Manifesto, but my infinitely staffed simian writing pool with their infinitely equipped Remington Selectrics dropped the ball, it must be said. Instead of witty, trenchant, action-inspiring words for artists, we got Shakespeare. Dissappointing to say the least! Especially as the monks' effort, entitled "Titus Andronicus (The Musical)"  has already been written.

Okay, that's actually a cumbersome plug for my favorite theatre group here in Denver, Buntport Theatre. Their version of Shakespeare's bloodiest play featured 10-foot, Monty Python-esque spurts of stage blood; a chalkboard to tot up the body count, and a stage design centered mostly around a 1963 Ford Econoline van, which they rolled into position for various scenes while delivering wacky little expository asides. And song, lots of song. That was a fondly remembered weekend for me, not least becase it is the only one in memory in which I saw not one, but two musical entertainments featuring people being baked into pies and eaten (Sweeney Todd opened that week, how could one PLAN that)! Whether all of this makes it into the Squishtoid Manifesto, as metaphor or otherwise, is up to the monkeys. But it begs the question: do we really need this blog revived?

But I digress- of course we need a Squishtoid blog! And where have I been? Well, I did breakdown and take on a temporary day job in a college bookstore to help pay down my credit cards. Other than that, it has been a productive spring /summer, with one very successful show, and two reasonably successful. So I've got a pretty good excuse for not updating, even if the monkeys don't. Other than the statistically long odds of them actually randomly generating anything as hilarious as Titus Andronicus (The Musical)  of course. You'd think the Manifesto would be much easier, but my patience is wearing thin. 

As for the shows, some seemed surprised when sales at the Summer Art Market were unaffected by the relentless rain and chilly temps, but not this little wet duck. After all, if the reaction to a funnel-cloud sighting in '09 was to brandish credit cards and go on a buying spree, then a little English football type weather in honor of USA v England was unlikely to slow them down. 

A couple of buyers took the opportunity to also hop over to Open Press for the final week of my gallery show there, and that led to a small flurry of sales there, too. Then, last weekend saw my first visit to Boulder for their Art Fair on the Pearl Street mall, and sales there were solid, if not as spectacular as ASL, which turned out to be my best show ever. This year is certainly off to an encouraging start. And I've been making lots of friends, though I'm cheating and doing it the old fashioned way, and not on Facebook. 

The most interesting thing to happen in Boulder (well besides the unicyclist in head-to-toe pink spandex; the 9 foot tall hottie on stilts; and the world's worst bag-piper in full tartan regalia setting up shop 5 feet from my booth to practice his medley of "God Bless America", "The Marine Hymn", and "The Pina Colada Song") was the Festival Director walking up to me in 100 degree heat with an old school, county fair-type fluffy blue ribbon and announcing that I'd been named "Best in your category". I wasn't foolish enough to ask what my category was, or how many people were in it. The prize came with a small honorarium which I invested in a fortified grain beverage that has become an integral part of my health regimen. 

So I apologize for not posting sooner, in case anyone may have pictured me holed up in a dive bar, cursing the day I ever left the grocery biz. No, far from it! I spent most of June holed up in a dive bar, cursing the ref! Actually a bit of an exaggeration- I spent most of the World Cup on my couch, listening to the excellent Pablo Ramirez, and puzzling out his calls with my creaky high school Spanish, in order to spend more time shrink wrapping and framing. I did manage to hit the British Bulldog for a few games, including the dramatic USA v. Algeria, from which my ears are still ringing. 

Next up, a return to the studio for some editions and larger works, and then the Denver modernism show in August.  Hopefully, a more regular blogging schedule, too. I raised enough cash for an upgrade to the old iMac and a new iPhone, so I'm thinking that updates will be easier to do, like say, from the British Bulldog. 

Millions of Monkeys are banging away in the back room on surplus Remington Selectrics, hard at work on the long-awaited Squishtoid Manifesto...well, wait.

It appears they're actually working on the long promised World Cup brackets, actually.

Anyway, it appears the monkeys and I have gotten a bit behind. I've been getting ready for the Art Students League Summer Art Market, the best little street fair in the Rocky Mountains. Making art, then framing and shrink wrapping it, all while preparing to teach a workshop, and doing a small gallery show at Open Press. Though now the Spring workshop has finished, freeing up a little time.

Teaching a workshop has been good. Good for paying bills, good for focusing my thoughts on what I try to do with monotypes, good for making new friends. I’m very happy when I walk into school Tuesday mornings. Do something you love, and never work a day in your life, as the saying goes. I thanked the artists by bringing them donuts. Show people you like them by feeding them gluten, corn syrup and fat, I say! 

 The social qualities of art don’t get talked about. Art is supposed to be good for you, and those who go see it or collect it are generally seen as sophisticated. But the people you meet when you go to art shows, and art fairs and the conversations you have are just more satisfying. Much daily conversation in America seems to center around sports. I have plenty of sporting friends so I am one who joins in. 

 Though sports has a metaphoric value, let’s remember that art IS metaphor. Sports is like weather- it makes for good small talk, but deeper conversations are relatively rare. Art takes friendship into the realm of the spiritual without getting into the tricky, and sometimes contentious area of religious spirituality. 

 I’m including music and theatre in the general term art, but no place is more informal and cheaper to meet people than an art show, especially an opening or fair. And art is Colorado’s 5th largest employer! ( I’m sure other states can boast of similarly surprising numbers). By going to an art show, or taking a class, you not only enrich your own life, you help the economy. 

 One more point. With the extremists mobilizing often from right-wing mega-churches, and using these cultural centers to organize and exchange best practices, the Centrists and Liberals have no equivalent meeting ground ( unless you count PTA's and Universities, themselves often under attack from extremists and tea-bagger types.) Urban neighborhood bar culture and Union Halls used to perform this function, but have been nearly legislated out of existence due to concerns about drunk driving and the prevailing anti-worker sentiment in government. So cultural institutions, from big civic mega-museums to art galleries, music clubs or street fairs will do just fine for starting a conversation. And change begins with EXchange! Sometimes, we have to talk 'n' walk, before we walk the talk. 

The Cruelest Month?

I remember being bored at times back in January/February, when it too cold to go out, and I would prowl through the shelves looking for something new to read, or re-read. Now, in wet, gray April/May, with the workshop, and the show at Open Press (opening tonight!), boredom is not a problem. It's been a bit frantic. Tonight, starting at 6 pm,  it starts getting fun again. Crocus-pocus !

People who find yakking about art entertaining should try yakking about their own art. People are not afraid to be blunt, as in: "What were you thinking?" In many cases, I WASN'T THINKING AT ALL, which to me, is part of the point of art. In this picture, "Interior with Absence", above, with its minimal structure and distressed imagery, I intended to evoke the fleeting feel of time past. Once highly anticipated events that are now dim in the memory. Do those people with the funny haircuts and our social security numbers even exist? And what of those who are gone? What creates their strange hold on the emotions?

Which brings us back to boredom, itself a form of absence-in-waiting. With two upcoming First Fridays and a Saturday demo, as well as the workshop and ASLD Summer Art Market, boredom isn't likely to have much of a hold on me.