0828: Random Notes

A beautiful summer afternoon took us out for a drive that eventually led to Gilboa. It had been two years since I had been there. I knew that the Gilboa Museum would be closed (it was a Monday afternoon). But with country as beautiful as it is up through Greene and Schoharie Counties, we knew the ride would be fun no matter what.

I also knew we could check out the fossils laying outside the museum. The opening image is a large tree base, Eospermatopteris, from the famous Gilboa Forest. Picture two, above, which I just posted recently, is part of a smaller base that I had found previously.

These two samples of Devonian plant life got me thinking about how the recent “abstract/concrete” work I did can well relate to these type of fossil images.

The markings, the linear compositions…they all really fit that previous project. I think I am beginning to see the greater pattern!

Last from our Gilboa stop is this gnarly fossil, a rather incredible fossil – part of the tree – found by Ms Kristen Wychoff. An interesting story accompanies it (click here).

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Ms Wychoff’s discovery occurred alongside a nearby creek – “stream mitigation” is what it’s known as – where streams needed to be shored up following Hurricane Irene (which, by the way, occurred exactly three years ago) and large rocks were used as fill. These three images resulted from us making a similar stop on our way back.

More markings – some from heavy equipment…

…and some from the rocks themselves.

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Here are a few odds and ends, the first of which comes from my recent sandstone find – a healthy variety of fossils create this vignette.

And here are two more from a quick run to the local quarry – both as visually primordial as they are in fact!

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While color has been playing an important role in many of my most recent images, I still have a thing for black and white. This latest version of a favorite fossil was, I am sure, motivated by my fascination with the artist Renee Magritte and his painting “The Castle of the Pyrenees.”

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My good friend and fellow photographer, Michael Nelson, dropped by bau Gallery last weekend and left this portrait in his wake. Thanks, Mike!

Two more weekends left before the show comes down. Beacon should be a fine destination over this upcoming Labor Day weekend. Drop by if you can.

 

 

 

 

 

0821: One Thing Leads to Another

Word from a friend got me back down to the creek again, just a couple of hundred yards upstream from the area described in last week’s post. This time it was about large exposed slabs filled with solid layers of small brachiopods. They are all over the place down there, with clusters stretching many feet at a time over wide areas. Needless to say, there are several more trips to come. But for now I have these two images to give you a sense of what’s there.

Despite this find, as often happens, I was distracted by something else – a medium sized sandstone app. 14″x10″x8″. I had been hoping to find one lately. The creek is where they usually appear but I’ve been spending all my “exploring” time at the quarry (where no such thing can be found).

The sandstones can be great finds, thanks to the density and diversity of fossils contained. Oftentimes, the surface gives a hint of what might lie within. In fact, the “header” that has opened this blog for the past three years is a cutaway of a coarse sandstone I had once found further downstream. The oversized image above is the result of my first slice of this rock.

The remaining images all result from that first slice. Here we have a long, delicate piece of rugose coral. The following image is the reverse impression of that piece of coral.

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Many brachiopods and fragments everywhere.

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Even part of a trilobite eye.

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Two different views of a particularly well defined brachiopod.

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And this rostroconch – as large and well-delineated as anyone I’ve found. And all this from one hit on the chisel! Much more to come.

         

 

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One last note – My solo exhibit will remain up through September 7. I’ll be sitting the gallery this weekend (Aug. 23-24, noon ’til 6pm). Drop by and say hello if you plan to be in the area.

As always, thanks for the visit.

0807: Abstract/Concrete

So let me take this opportunity today to tell you about the show of mine that opens on Saturday night – how it came about and share the full set of images for those unable to attend. A favorite piece of advice to artists that I read long ago, that had great impact on me, should help set the stage.

The passage is from Leonardo da Vinci, who felt that artists could find creativity by staring at a crumbling wall and letting the mind wander:

When you look at a wall spotted with stains, or with a mixture of stones, if you have to devise some scene you may discover a resemblance to various landscapes… or, again, you may see battles and figures in action, or strange faces and costumes, or an endless variety of objects, which you could reduce to complete and well-drawn forms. These appear on such walls promiscuously, like the sound of bells in whose jangle you may find any name or word you choose to imagine.

My “crumbling wall” in this case was the floor of a construction site. While on a trip this past Spring I happened across this site that had a large, recently poured concrete floor. Apparently, the drying and curing process of concrete can sometimes create strange designs on the surface.

Quite different from the “deep time” fossils I tend to often focus on, these designs, residual effects of man’s handiwork, are very short lived and ephemeral. What a perfect counterpoint for me to explore, I thought.

Aside from a few cracks and one lone partial footprint these randomly generated patterns have no points of reference.

They exist (or, rather, existed) pure unto themselves.

The gritty nature of the subject matter was a quality that I initially fought with thanks to older notions of what constituted a “perfect print.”

My solution was to embrace the grit as being a necessary part of the character of these designs.

And the results are a series of lush, somewhat enigmatic prints that invite the personal interpretations of the viewer.

To those who have already seen some of the pieces, some see nothing but color and shape (and that’s plenty, as far as I’m concerned). Others seem to have more personal reactions and see hints that conjure up a wide range of emotions, representations, and hidden meanings.

The images are printed in an edition of 10, sized to 22.5″x30″ on a heavy watercolor paper.

I am very proud of this work and happy that it steps further out of the realm of traditional photography – a personal evolution that I embrace.

Please stop by the gallery if you are in the vicinity. And, as always, thank you for this visit.

0731: Save the Date

The date I’m referring to is Saturday, August 9. I will be presenting a new body of work at the Beacon Artist Union that evening at the opening (6-9pm) and will remain until September 7. This new work, entitled “Abstract/Concrete,” has been a thoughtful exploration and a fine adventure for me. I look forward to sharing it. The image above is one the fourteen that will compose the show.

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Try as I might it just seems impossible for me to keep my shooting area clear and clean. And so the fossils pile up everywhere. While there is a downside (like when you want to show a friend that perfect fossil you found last week!), there is an unexpected and delightful upside. The randomness of all these interesting items generate fresh new images.

And as I browse over the piles I find fossils that I forgot I had.

Left in piles to be dealt with later, I suppose.

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Last in this group is a piece I found in the Gilboa area a couple of years ago. It measures twelve inches across. It appears to be the base of a tree trunk showing the roots splaying outward!

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I couldn’t resist taking this close-up of a mixed media sculpture. The sculptor is friend and fellow bau member, Tom Holmes. And the sculpture and numerous other terrific pieces remain on display through this weekend (Aug.2-3) in Tom’s solo exhibition at the Beacon Artist Union, 506 Main Street in Beacon, NY. Come by and check out the gallery.

And then you can come back the following weekend for my opening on August 9. I’ll leave you with one more piece from next week’s opening.

Thanks for the visit.

0724: More Color From the Quarry

The other day, needing to take a break from printing, I visited the neighborhood quarry and once again climbed through the section I was least familiar with. I’ve always avoided that area because so much of the rock was too crumbly, I thought, to find anything of substance there. But then I’m not looking for great scientific discovery. I’m happy to settle for the “visually stimulating.”

In that sense it doesn’t disappoint. The fragility has its own appeal. And the colors are amazing! Picture 1 at the top of this post shows a brachiopod in rock, all of which has been affected by iron oxidization. Picture 2 (above) shows the result of the slightest disturbance in the rock as it quite literally falls apart. Needless to say, with such fragility, all these images were taken on site.

Thin layers filled with various small brachiopods cut through this section of the quarry. According to my friend, Dr. Chuck Ver Straeten from the New York State Museum’s Geology Division, these layers appear every six feet or so, suggesting a regularity of geologic activity over a certain period of time. (I hope that is an accurate interpretation of what I was told – most of this stuff is still a mystery to me, I must confess!).

Whatever the cause I’m delighted to have the open-ended opportunity to explore this area.

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Even when drained of color the fossils here seem to have a unique character.

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And then, of course, there is abundant color – no fossils – just a riot of color. The picture above shows the current quarry floor. Scale top to bottom is approximately six feet.

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This final quarry image – looking like a lightening bolt from a dark and oppressive sky – seems to echo some of the new work I will be showing at my upcoming show in Beacon on August 9. For all my friends in NYC, get out of the city for a day, visit the many galleries in Beacon (including DIA), and join me for the opening that evening from 6-9 pm.

Beacon Artist Union, 506 Main Street, Beacon, NY

And with that I’ll end today’s post with another image from that upcoming show.

 Thanks for the visit.

0717: Getting Close

I’ve been working feverishly on my upcoming solo show “Abstract/Concrete” set to open in three weeks –  August 9th at the Beacon Artist Union. Today’s opening image is the latest in that effort. I have found a little time, though, to turn my attention elsewhere.

My good friend and fellow photographer, Moshe Katvan, called the other day. He needed to find a few locations to shoot for an ad campaign he’s currently working on. Specifically, he needed “…lots of rocks in a wilderness setting.” He certainly knew the right person to call!

So I took him to some of my favorite fossil locations. It worked out great for him. And for me too – it allowed me to poke around, while he worked, and find fresh subject matter for me to shoot. Here are two from that site – along Kaaterskill Creek.

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We also took a bit of time to drop by my favorite neighborhood quarry.

We weren’t there more than a half hour.

This selection, this remainder of images, is the result of that quick stop.

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Thanks for the visit.

0710: Coral Then and Now

Whenever I hear or see the word “coral” I stop to take notice. Here in this small area of the Hudson Valley I find various types of fossil coral – all from the Devonian Period, roughly 385 million years ago. In fact, one of my finds, a rather large piece of honeycomb coral, now resides in the collection of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. So I am always on the alert for anything coral.

Yesterday I ran across an article online that led to a wonderful break in the day’s routine (one that I highly recommend). The article told of Google Street taking viewers underwater to visit existing coral reefs (see article here). The article is loaded with great links, including Oceans, where the coral images reside.

These are compelling, 360 degree views, technically brilliant and breathtaking in their scope and diversity. They are the product of the Catlin Seaview Survey, a group dedicated to recording and preserving the world’s coral reefs. While I dig up remnants of deep time coral I can only imagine the world in which they lived. These Survey images seem to confirm the amazing diversity that probably existed as much then as it does now.

So today I’ve decided to resurrect some of my Devonian coral images and intersperse them with screen grabs I took from the Oceans site. More Catlin images and videos can be found here.

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I’ll finish today with a piece from my upcoming show at the Beacon Artist Union, set to open on August 9. More on that over the next few weeks as I continue printing.

 As always, thanks for the visit.

0612: Not Enough Time

Last week I wrote about a “wealth of subjects” but this week the operative phrase is “not enough time.” I’m a little light on images so today I have strung together a recent assortment of pics from here and there.

This “not enough time” thing has to do with my upcoming solo show in August at the bau Gallery in Beacon. While it is still two months away – it’s only two months away!!

Normally for me that’s a pretty manageable time frame. But this time there are other factors at work. This time I’m working on an entirely new body of work – one that is something of a departure for me. And there’s a lot to do.

All my time is being devoted to this new series – prepping and eventually printing the images. And it’s all great fun. One minute I’m delighted and exhilarated with the work. The next minute I’m questioning its value on all sorts of levels. This roller coaster ride is very often part of the creative process – at least for me. And I’ve had a laugh about it with a number of artist friends with similar experiences.

I’m sure I’ll be rambling on about this topic for a while since it does seem to be in my head constantly. And hopefully the end result will be work that I will enjoy making and work that I will enjoy sharing with you.

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So, with all that as a preface, here are two pieces that will make it into the show.

They will most likely combine with four other images I posted previously on May 15 in a post entitled 0515: New Projects. Please feel free to comment.

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I’d like to wrap up with two pics from Facebook that I wanted to share. The first is one from my old friend, Donna Quante. We worked together years ago on The Cosby Show where Donna was a member of the one of the finest camera crews ever to work a tv studio set! That’s Donna in the white skirt, with fellow camera person Helene Haviland next to her. And that’s me (off to the left with the beard). We worked together for years and it was one of the best experiences of my career!

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And one final sad note.

The other day, this country experienced its 74th school shooting since Sandy Hook.

 

WTF?

0410: Springing

What a lovely sight – the Catskills and a snow-free field. Signs of Spring abound. The peepers are peeping. The crocuses are crocussing…

…the honkers are honking (during a brief stopover on their journey north)…

…and the gobblers are strutting for the hens!

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Once again, with the snow gone, I’ve been taking a fresh look at the newly uncovered fossil-laden rocks that surround my studio. What caught my eye this time were the large pieces of coarse sandstone. Often they are, layer upon layer, filled with wide varieties of marine invertebrates.

These images result from a few pieces that I cracked open with my hammer and chisel. A good rock can yield seemingly endless compositional possibilities. It takes persistence – but the results are worth the effort.

Here, two cephalopods crisscross, with a piece of coral breaking through one of them. Imagine this sea floor 385 million years ago – with this density of life forms.

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A few days ago, I arrived early for the monthly meeting of the Beacon Artist Union. And, as I sat in the car in a steady rain, I realized I had a fine unexpected shooting opportunity…

This was exactly what it all looked like through the windshield.

No tricks. No filters. Just a steady rain.

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During that meeting we dismantled the last show (Thanks to all my friends who visited). And we prepared for the upcoming show set to open this Saturday, April 12, 6-9 PM. The group show, entitled “Tasteless,” should be interesting! Who knows just where it will lead, but rest assured, this is a terrific group of artists and they are full of surprises. I’m glad to be a part of the group.

Here is one of my contributions, entitled “All American Dessert.”

Saturday will be busy starting with openings (upstairs and down) at WAAM in Woodstock. 4-6 PM. This work, from last week’s blog, was accepted into the juried Small Works show.

Then we go across the street to Oriole 9 for the opening of my Devonian Drawer show, 5-7 PM. If you are in the area please join us.

And from there we head down to Beacon for the Tasteless show, 6-9 PM, 506 Main Street. Also at bau, in Gallery 2, we will have a selection of works from our represented artists.

I hope to see you there.

0403: Finally Spring!

Seems as if Winter lasted forever. It really didn’t, of course. But, here in the Catskill area, the last few years of mild winters had left many of us a bit spoiled. That’s the past. Right now sun and mild temperatures have changed attitudes dramatically!

Like seeing friendly faces after a long separation, my fossil garden has resurfaced after a winter of snow cover, much to my own delight. And the cephalopods are beginning to look more like exclamation points greeting the good weather.

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For me, the good weather has meant my first trip of the season to the neighboring quarry. That’s the eastern escarpment of the Catskills in the distance – always a great view from up here. Directly behind me (from where I took the picture) sits a thirty foot tall pile of rocks – most of which come from a bulldozed layer thick with fossils. Nothing earth-shattering about these fossils from any scientific standpoint – but shooting possibilities abound.

Plenty of brachiopods…

…of all shapes …

…and sizes.

You never know what will appear in the next overturned rock…

…and that’s the fun of it all. That and the joy of being out and about on a beautiful day in beautiful surroundings!

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I also made a quick trip to a nearby road cut full of crinoid stems and ossicles (the little round things). I have shown crinoids many times in the past – they look like flowers on long stems. When the stems break down, what are left, essentially, are circular crosscuts of the stem. It’s a bit more involved than that but, for me, the random circles present endless creative opportunities.

That same trip led to this discovery:

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A couple of final notes – I’ll be gallery sitting at the bau Gallery this Sunday from noon until 6 PM. It’s the last day of my show (and our group show). So, if you are in the Beacon area please drop by.

Also, I just got back from hanging a show of my Devonian Drawer series at Oriole 9 in Woodstock. The opening is set for Saturday, April 12 at 5 PM. It will be up this weekend (hours are 8:30 ’til 4:30) for any of you who might be traveling to Woodstock for the Photo Now opening at the Center for Photography

I’ll leave you with Tuesday’s sunset from down the road. It was a special one.

Thanks for the visit.