Our first even in Inter.Sections: Word, Art, & Song, was a delightful and funny event with poetry by Nathan Brown, Music by Dirje Childs, Art by 50+ Artists.
Nathan told stories and read poems that explored the world of teenage daughters, Oh My!, and the perspectives from the different stages of life. He sang with his guitar and Dirje Child played both solo and accompaniment on her cello. Parts were laugh-out-loud and others were songs of serious prayers.
– Submission Thursday, Aug 1, 10 am to 5 pm, on a first-come-first-served basis. Although, you may fill out the form and mail it along with a check to the address above to hold a space.
*** Make check payable to: Art on 12.
– Reception: Saturday, August 10th, 2019, 4 pm to 7 pm.
– Additional forms are available on the website: arton12.com or at Art on 12 Gallery.
– Pick up unsold artwork: Wednesday, Sept 25th, 2019
– Gallery Fee $40 (up to 3 pieces).
– Art on 12 retains 30% commissions on sales.
– Artists with sales will be paid on the 10th of the following month.
Download the Form HERE: Your Art on 12 Registration & Guidelines May-Jun 2019
InterSections: Poetry by Nathan Brown, Music by Dirje Childs, Art by 50+ Artists
Sunday July 7th from 3pm – 5pm at Art on 12
The first in our series will feature performances by Nathan Brown and Dirje Childs.
Nathan is a nationally-touring singer/songwriter and former Oklahoma Poet Laureate. Nathan will be reading selections from works he has authored, including some special poems he has written about art in the gallery! He has a new album titled “The Streets of San Miguel” recorded At Blue Rock Studios and he will be singing songs from that album.
Joining Nathan will be Dirje Childs, a beloved and classically-trained cellist. Dirje has accompanied some of the best musicians in Texas and the nation. The sounds coming from Dirje’s cello are sure to warm your heart!
Please join us for this wonderful performance from two of the best in Texas!
How long have you been an artist? Tell us about your art career.
I was raised a carpenter. I guess you could say I’ve been a carpenter my whole life. I’ve always worked with wood. Actually, I go back a long way with various types of craft. I would define most of my craft work as functional works. I’ve made wooden boxes, hair combs, hair sticks and mirrors since the mid-eighties, so I guess I’ve been working with wood about 35 years.
I enjoy choosing various types of wood to work with. The first batch of wood I ever bought was from a friend in Arkansas who had a wood shop. I bought walnut, cherry, and ash from him. Those are the woods I first chose to work with. Later I began to work with mesquite. I had a friend in Arizona who got mesquite in Mexico and I was fortunate to get mesquite left over from his art projects. I made a lot of boxes and other things from that mesquite, which was really a beautiful wood.
Then, about 10 or 12 years ago I decided I needed to learn to do something besides woodcraft, so I started painting. My wife is a painter and my mentor. She’s taught me a lot. Over time, I’ve become more familiar with various types of paints and brushes. I prefer acrylic paint. I like that acrylic paint dries quickly and it’s easy to cover errors and start over. I love bright colors, and I have a lot of colors to choose from. At one time,while working as an athletic coach, I would notice the way kids stood, their posture and stances. Their various poses were the basis of some of my first paintings, whether it’s a ballerina pose or a gymnastic pose or whatever I observed. I would use those poses as a start and then abstract them. I still use poses and forms to start some of my paintings.
I also really enjoy welding. Some of my favorite pieces of art are my metal sculptures. Personally, I believe they’re my most creative work. I’ve always had an interest in the solar system, which inspired me to produce several sculptures that have an earth and solar system theme. I’ve also produced several sculptures of ballerina poses and various yoga poses. Those poses have always been an inspiration and sparks my creativity. I’m also inspired by nature. I’m surrounded by nature, animals, and plants. The flowers that come from my wife’s garden inspire some of my work.
So, working with wood, painting, and producing metal sculpture is what I enjoy. And that pretty much summarizes my long career in art.
With your long career in art, what three artists, living or dead, would you pick to have at a dinner party?
It’s pretty easy for me to decide which artists I would choose to invite to dinner. They’re all local artists. One of the first artists I ever met in Wimberley was Ronnie Weeks. We had a lot in common. He was an all-star athlete, so we became friends and have always had a lot to talk about. I’ve watched him and admired his assemblage work over the years and I’ve been fascinated by his talent and his creativity. I love the variety in his work. Another artist I would pick is Roger McBee. He’s a photographer and digital artist. I’ve always been interested in his technique. I don’t really understand what he does or how he does it, but I like how clear and interesting his art is. And the third artist I would have to dinner would, of course, be my wife. I’ve always appreciated her work. I’ve always been interested in her abstract work and just how she comes up with all those ideas.
When did you first think of yourself as an artist?
When I got out of college I’d been interested in photography, but I hadn’t actually done it. In the last semester of college I took a very interesting course called ‘Media Culture.’ It was in the Marshall McLuhan era (1960’s, 70’s). When I got out of college I wanted to get into film-making and I bought a Canon 8mm camera and started to do a little work with that. But then I realized that it was going to be very expensive, so I transitioned to still photography. I got an Olympus camera and started shooting a lot. I’ve been into photography ever since.
That said, I have worked most of my life as a cameraman, mostly in video. I’m a cameraman, not a director or producer. So, I’m working for filmmakers. What I’ve done more than anything in the last few years is operate a ‘jib arm’: a piece of equipment with a camera on one end of a long arm, and a weight on the other end. So, you can ‘fly” the camera around. It’s used a lot for concerts and music videos.
I’ve also been transitioning back into still photography over the last 10 years. I guess the moment I thought of it being something I could make money at was just a few years later. I was in my 20’s, living in Austin, doing all kinds of odd jobs to make a living. I was barely making a living, but it was not very expensive to live there then, so that was alright. On ‘The Drag’ right across from the University of Texas (UT) there was a little cordoned-off space they called a market. You could get a license from the city, set up a place, and sell there. I did that off and on for a couple of years. I had to print work, frame it, and try to sell it. That’s probably when I first started thinking about making art out of photography.
Michael Penn Smith – Artist at Arton12
Who have been your mentors or people that inspired you?
There were lots and lots of photographers, but Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson are a couple that really impressed me. I got a chance to do an Ansel Adams workshop during that time – in the late 60’s early 70’s. Ansel Adams was leading the workshop. What was amazing was that most all the west coast photography establishment came annually to his workshops just to hang out. So, there were all these world-renowned photographers who were just hanging out there. There were maybe seven or eight who were instructors in the workshop, but all the others were just hanging out together. We went to Brett Weston’s studio and visited him. He was selling his prints for $75. I wish that I had bought a bunch! Cartier-Bresson’s influence on my work was about the spontaneity of capturing the ‘decisive moment’. Some of my work is that: capturing the decisive moment. Cartier-Bresson was ‘the’ original street photographer, in my estimation.
With those diverse influences, how do you pick subject matter? What do you think about when you go out to photograph? Are you looking for any particular thing?
My philosophy of photography is that you should be able to get a good, interesting photograph anywhere, anytime. The richer the environment for photography, of course, the better. But I feel that you can get a good photograph anywhere, and that’s a very, very useful skill. In order to get a good photograph, you have to be very open to seeing everything in front of you. Many people don’t really see what’s right in front of them. They look and think, “Well, this is a table and that’s a chair over there”, and they decide they don’t need to look at it anymore because they have already identified it. Getting past that routine way of seeing things is an important skill, I think. One way to cultivate that skill is, regardless of the situation you’re in, practice finding something interesting about a particular thing that you can then photograph.
What three artists, living or dead would you like to have at a dinner party?
Well, Leonardo da Vinci because he wasn’t just an artist, he was also ‘the’ original Renaissance man. I would include Ansel Adams and Edward Weston (Brett Weston’s father).
What’s the weirdest or funniest thing anybody ever said to you about your work?
When you set up a booth or tent and sell to the public, people approach, and I get this an awful lot, “Are these paintings?” They ask that because the photographs are printed on canvas. The question that really used to get me was: ‘“Did you copy these from National Geographic?” It’s funny because it’s both an insult and kind of a compliment.
“We at Art on 12, for the fourth year in a row, offer our sincere thanks to all that have voted for us and supported our fine art business.” We have become an art destination in Wimberley, and we couldn’t have done it without you.”
When did you first begin to think of yourself as an artist?
I began like many people, as sort of a hobby. I painted on wood because my husband did a lot of woodworking. We lived in Pennsylvania at that time, and I did a lot of folk art. It was then that I thought, ‘Oh, I really love color!’
After moving to Texas, I started art school with a local artist in San Marcos (Betty Ritchie). She paints in a very classic style, and I really didn’t fit in with the other students because I loved using a palette knife and pure color, unlike most classic-style painters. I don’t like to blend a lot.
I fell in love with this wonderful teacher and stayed under her tutelage. I learned about light, where the light goes in my paintings. I learned more about mixing colors. Through her eyes, I learned to appreciate different genres. She’s definitely a classically western painter. I’m definitely not. But, I do love the western palette and what I learned from her: the use of rust color and the different browns with a little of the blues and greens. And of course, my shadows have to be purple.
I became so different from everybody in my class, including the teacher, that I finally learned my own techniques. I would call myself more of a ‘colorist’, because that’s what I love. I still meet with Betty once a week and paint with her in her studio because we just have so much fun.
Who have been the people that you draw inspiration from?
One lady that really set me on my journey was Lois Griffel. I bought every one of her books and every one of her videos. I couldn’t afford to go to her workshops. But this summer, for the first time, I’m going to her workshop in Wisconsin. She is the leading lady, the Director of the New England School of Art, which is more of a school for impressionist painters. From her books and videos I learned a lot about technique with the palette knife. So, she was really the one that helped launch me into my own style.
You have really diverse subject matter. How do you decide what you want to paint at any given time?
Well, I belong to several art leagues and they have people who come to present different techniques. So, of course I think, ‘Let’s try it!’ And when I try the different techniques, it results in my putting a mix of art styles in the gallery. I’m still true to myself because I still use the palette knife most of the time. I do love different designs and different media.
My favorite subject matter, by far, are landscapes. The large paintings I do are all landscapes. I think, ‘OK let’s have fun with this painting!’ So, I guess in a way, I paint for my audience. I think about that. I go to events like pop-up art experiences, and I start ‘reading’ my audience. They’ll say, “I wish I had something for my little boy’s room or my den”. I don’t take commissions, but I listen to what they want and keep those ideas in mind. I’m a retired teacher so I try to figure out how people think and what they may want.
What did you think was important to have around you to help spark your creativity when you created your studio space?
My studio space is huge. It’s an air-conditioned barn, thanks to my son, who installed the air conditioning unit. So, I can do very large pieces in there. I can do cement in there if I want to. I can do mosaics. I can do cold wax, oil, or whatever. What makes it fun is I have different stations, tables all over the place, for different things I want to try. So, if I get tired doing one thing, I just go to a different area and do something else.
What three artists, living or dead would you like to have at a dinner party?
Van Gogh, Monet, and Alfred Sisley
What’s the weirdest or funniest thing anybody ever said to you about your work?
One time I had a painting at a show, and it was more minimalistic and the person said, “You know what, I saw that in a paint-by-number”.
