Month: September 2019

Last Friday we traveled to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA to see the Renoir and Ida O’Keeffe exhibits on view. It was Basil’s first visit to the Clark and he couldn’t wait to check it all out!

First stop at the Clark was “Renoir: The Body, The Senses” – this exhibit will be on view until September 22nd, so if you are in the area and would love to view the show you still have couple of more days. I loved seeing the evolution of Renoir’s exploration of the human body over the course of his career and the opportunity to view some of his pictures that I had only seen reproductions of was amazing. Being able to get up close and actually see the brushstrokes and how the picture was constructed aided my understanding of Renoir’s work.

Please check out some of the image highlights at https://www.clarkart.edu/Mini-Sites/Renoir/Image-Gallery. The Clark’s website also has a lot of great information to check out in addition to the images, so if you have some time, please check out the additional links.

Of course I couldn’t resist walking past the reduced book table at the gift shop, so it really wasn’t any surprise that I walked out with a couple of new books:

And, of course, the “Renoir’s Dancer” book proved too “shiny” to resist… so much so, that I put the Isamu Noguchi biography I had been reading aside to start it, and now I can’t put it down!

Next stop was “Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow”… I only wish that there were more of Ida’s work on view as I completely feel in love with her Highland Lighthouse Series: https://www.clarkart.edu/Mini-Sites/Ida-O-Keeffe/Image-Gallery

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information online about Ida, just a short Wikipedia entry, no written biography, just a tiny catalog of the exhibition (see left):

I certainly hope that Ida will receive more recognition soon and that someone writes a biography so we learn more about her and her work.

Before leaving the Clark, we sat in the sun and enjoyed the view at the water installation:

We then headed into North Adams in search of sandwiches so we could enjoy our lunch at the Natural Bridge State Park:

After touring the state park, we headed back east along Route 2 and stopped at an overlook so Basil can check out the valley:

We’ll be keeping a eye out for upcoming exhibits at the Clark and are looking forward to our next adventure!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

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The fourth artist that will be highlighted is: SARI DIENES:

I will admit, when I began this project, I had no idea who Sari Dienes was… but anyone who looks this happy and confident is someone I want to learn more about!

 Honestly, it is a complete shame that more people aren’t aware of her and her work.

According to her Wikipedia page: “Sari Dienes (8 October 1898 – 25 May 1992) was a Hungarian-born American artist. During a career spanning six decades she worked in a wide range of media, creating paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, textile designs, sets and costumes for theatre and dance, sound-art installations, mixed-media environments, music and performance art. Her large-scale ‘Sidewalk Rubbings’ of 1953–55 – bold, graphic, geometrical compositions, combining rubbings of manhole covers, subway gratings and other elements of the urban streetscape – signaled a move away from the gestural mark making of Abstract Expressionism towards the indexical appropriation of the environment that would be further developed in Pop art, and exerted a significant influence on Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.”

To read more about Sari, please check out her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari_Dienes

You can also learn more about Sari at the Sari Dienes Foundation: http://saridienes.org and at The Drawing Center: http://www.drawingcenter.org/en/drawingcenter/5/exhibitions/9/upcoming/811/sari-dienes

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate a biography for Sari, but I did locate this video of Sari creating one of her snow paintings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6CEU2WASWc

Here are some images of Sari at work:

I won’t pretend that I am not disappointed about the lack of information about Sari… but this only makes me more determined than ever to make sure these artists are not forgotten and that their work is still being shown.

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of September for more photos of Sari and images of her work.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

Yesterday we took Basil to Willard Brook State Forest for the afternoon. We had been there before with Basil and we were all looking forward to a sunny afternoon by the brook to work on projects… unfortunately, when we arrived at the park, we realized that somewhere along the way, Basil had had an accident:

Yep, somewhere between home and the park, Basil lost his foot 😦

Happily, we were able to locate his foot and we were still able to enjoy the afternoon.

I was able to get Pismo 12 (L) to a point where I believe that I can officially call it completed:

I do think that there is something “missing” from Pismo 20 (T), but I am sure that I will be able to figure it out this week:

Basil was still able to offer assistance despite his injury:

This morning, we were able to perform minor surgery on Basil and he is now – awkwardly – recovering: 

©Jenn White, Basil Recovery 1 & 2. Photograph.

Basil isn’t a young mannequin anymore, I realized on the way home yesterday that he must be about 17 years old by now. Not sure how what that translates to mannequin years, but I am going to keep a watch out for him from now on.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.