About A Stone

Many years ago in college at UNLV, I was first introduced to printmaking processes and fell in love with the stones. I loved printmaking, the feel of the paper, the sound of the ink rolling out on the glass. Stone Lithography was my favorite printmaking process. I loved the feel of the stones, the process of grinding them to a new smooth finish, the ease of drawing and painting the image onto the stone and the history! The history in the stones for me was something magical. How many works of art had been created, printed and ground away and where did these huge stones come from? It was something that the artist experiences in creating the work but not something that is transmitted to the view in the final work. It was like our own little secret.

Art image shown here is a stone lithograph titled "Billiards Player at Good Dog" by Charles Coates.

At a recent art opening that I was participating in at the Tubac Center of the Arts for the exhibit, "Working With Paper", I was impressed by the printmaking of Tucson artist, Charles Coates. I met Charles at the opening reception and had a great conversation about working on Stone Lithography and the history involved in the stones. He shared a story of picking up a crate of stones with a UA professor and finding work from the 1800's still on a stone. They printed the image before cleaning the stone for new works of art. There is something very powerful about the history and letting go of the old and bringing in the new with stone lithography.

To see more of Charles' work, click here to visit his website.

Creative Beings

I work the weekends at the Tubac Center of the Arts. I'm grateful that I get to bring my puppy, Maggie to work with me. Last weekend I was working on the computer with Maggie by my side and a man and his 11 year old daughter came in from Phoenix. The man claimed to know nothing about art but came to Tubac for his daughter as she was very interested in art. He was also a dog lover and sat on the floor next to the desk playing with Maggie while we chatted about art and our current exhibit, Summer Gallery, my work and creative expression. He designs computer systems, and shared that there were times that the joy of creating these systems, the simple magnificence of them, almost brought him to tears. We are all creative beings and whether the expression of our creativity is a painting on canvas or a complexly simple computer system, it is the process of creation that can bring us joy. This man left with a hug and a told me that he learned about art that day. A conversation I will never forget.

The Season Begins

I can't believe its been months since my last post. I thought the summers in AZ were supposed to be slow and quiet because all the snowbirds leave. Apparently those left behind are busy behind the scenes making all the plans and doing the work to prepare for the upcoming season.

I've been fortunate to have a wonderful position working with a fabulous group of people at the Tubac Center of the Arts and have learned so much about what goes on behind the scenes of putting together ongoing art exhibitions.

I've also been working on bringing visiting artists to the Amado Territory Ranch where my studio is located to teach workshops in all sorts of mediums. Here are just a sampling of the upcoming lineup:

Tubac artist, Kim Edwards Keast (http:www.kekart.com) opens the season with her "Mold Making Resin Lighted Assemblage" workshop scheduled for Tues/Wed Sept 21 & 22.
In October, Kim is back with "Rigid Wrapped Up" - details coming soon. October is also the Southwest Fiber Festival at the Ranch and to celebrate the festival, I'll be hosting an exhibit of Kim's fiber creations. These you have GOT to See!!!

Southwest Fiber Festival is Saturday October 30th from 10am - 4pm. The studio will be open with Kim's creations all day with a reception to follow the festival from 4-6pm.
In November, internationally renown jewelry maker/instructor, Hadar Jacobson will be teaching a 2 day intensive for intermediate and advanced jewelry makers in her workshop entitled "Caning and Mokume-gane in Metal Clay".

All of the workshops are on the beautiful grounds of the Amado Territory Ranch, about 35 miles south of Tucson and 8 miles north of the well known art town of Tubac, AZ. The facilities at the ranch include a lodge style bed & breakfast, 2 restaurants, a salon, artists studios, an art gallery and retreat type grounds that make you feel like you are in an oasis in the desert. You basically never have to leave the property, but you'll want to explore the area for shopping in Tubac and perhaps an outing to the Tumacacori Mission, a national historical park.

In December, a twist on monotype printmaking with Mitch Lyons in his workshop, "Clay Monotype". This one has intrigued me for years and I'm so excited to have Mitch visit the studio and share his unique technique for creating monotype prints with clay and clay slip. How cool is that?!

And this is just the beginning. Its going to be a fabulous season! I'm so excited.