I recently attended a small artists salon at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, which is ten minutes from my art studio. The foundation has a new director, and this was a "get to know you" for the artists in the immediate area. Two artists and one writer talked briefly about our work to a small audience of friends and neighbors.
John Lyon Paul talked about his paintings and sculpted pieces, which are huge and sometimes take him several years to complete. I have been to his studio and it is an amazing experience. He will be having a solo exhibit in Ithaca at the Community Arts Partnership Gallery in March with a reception on March 2nd.
Rhian Ellis, a writer, read some of her work to us and we talked about the writing process, relating it to the process of visual artists. Her novel, After Life, is being reisued this June. Listening to her read, I found the voices of her characters totally compelling and have put in my pre-order for her book.
When it was my turn, I talked about my painting process and the importance of line in my work. I brought in an older painting from the early 1990s called I Love Ice Cream because I wrote actual words in this one. Lines in my art not only define shapes and clarify composition, but provide a textual element as well as a textural one.