A Birthday, Some Art, and a Few New Exhibitions
It’s been a busy few weeks, both in and out of the studio, so I thought I’d share a little update.
I’m especially happy to announce that Linkage: Crossing Currents received an Honorable Mention in the Acrylic International Biennial at the Kenosha Public Museum. I was thrilled when I found out. It’s always exciting to have your work recognized, but there’s something especially satisfying about seeing a painting you’ve spent so much time with connect with someone else.
Crossing Currents will remain on display at the Kenosha Public Museum through November 8.
Meanwhile, Linkage: The Guardian is still on display as part of the CAVA Later Impressions exhibition at the Art Center Highland Park. That show runs through September 26. I really enjoyed the opening reception there and was pleased by the amount of attention The Guardian received.
There’s another show coming up as well. Origin Story, from my Field Studies series, will be part of Constellations at Art City Chicago. The exhibition opens September 11 and runs through October 3. I’m looking forward to seeing the piece in that setting and to seeing what the other artists in the show have been doing.
There’s been plenty happening in the studio, too. Since my last blog post, I’ve completed two more paintings in the Linkage series: Linkage: Proof of Life and Linkage: Resonance. I’m also close to finishing another piece, tentatively titled Linkage: Ring of Truth. It’s been exciting to see the series continue to develop. When I started Linkage, I had a pretty specific set of ideas about how the paintings would work, but the series has gradually taken me in some unexpected directions. I’m enjoying seeing where it goes.
Outside of painting, I had a pretty great birthday last weekend. My brother and my niece were both in town, and we spent the day at the retro arcade in my town playing pinball and video games. A nostalgic afternoon doing nothing more complicated than trying to beat our high scores. We had a lot of fun.
Later we went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner, where the wait staff made sure my birthday didn’t go unnoticed. They brought out a special birthday dessert, made a big production of it, and even made me wear an oversized sombrero. I’m not sure the sombrero was necessary, but I suppose it’s part of the experience!
My niece is also very arts-oriented, so it was especially nice having them around. They make pottery with their own artistic designs and show their work at craft fairs in Massachusetts. It’s always interesting to spend time with someone who is making things themselves and seeing how another artist approaches the creative process.
On Tuesday, the two of us drove into Chicago with the intention of spending the day at the Art Institute. Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten that the Art Institute is closed on Tuesdays. Not exactly my finest piece of advance planning.
We decided to make the best of it and walked over to the Museum of Contemporary Art instead. It was a fairly long walk in 90-degree heat, but it turned out to be well worth it.
We both really enjoyed the exhibitions there, especially Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón and the work of Kenzi Shiokava. It was also a good opportunity for my niece to experience downtown Chicago on foot. There’s more to see on foot versus simply driving through it, or getting from one destination to another on public transportation.
I always enjoy seeing art with someone else, but I particularly enjoyed this trip because my niece is an artist too. We could talk about what we were seeing from the perspective of people who actually make things, and I found myself thinking about my own work as we went along.
So, between exhibitions, new paintings, birthdays, pinball, pottery, Mexican food, and an unexpectedly hot walk through downtown Chicago, it’s been a pretty good couple of weeks.
And now it’s back to the studio.
