I’m honored to be invited to participate in the Grand Opening of Tappen Studios along with four other local artists (Shauna Meiri, Dawn Tappen, Pegguin Pfenniger Reed and Alexis Terry Bouchard). Join us on May 27 to celebrate the opening of this new gallery and workshop space in SE Portland!
This collage shows only a tiny fraction of the wonderful art that will be available at Affordable Art for Everyone this Saturday, September 24, at the Washington County Fair Complex.
I’m honored to be working with these artists and to see the amazing reaction to the show–and it hasn’t even happened yet! I’m so excited I’ve been losing sleep, but it’s only two days away now. Hope to see you there!
Sculpture at Kunsthaus Tacheles, an artists’ collective in Berlin, taken during my trip in 2010. Photo by Lisa Griffen.
The photos are from a visit to the Tacheles art center in Berlin. What a place! It was housed in a former department store that was used as a prison by the Nazis, then the building was taken over by artists after the Berlin Wall came down. By the time of my trip, it had been going strong for about 20 years and was packed with cool stuff. I wish I’d had more time to explore and talk with the artists there but I feel lucky to have seen it before it was closed down. Wikipedia says that part of the sculpture area is still open.
Sculptures in the courtyard of the Tacheles artists’ collective in Berlin. Photo by Lisa Griffen.
It feels like I’ve been waiting for ages to open the applications for this year’s Affordable Art show, but today’s the day! All the ducks are in a row and the application info is polished up. I’m thrilled that people had already started to apply by noon today! As artists start submitting images, I can imagine the event taking shape. It’s gonna be a good one!
I became aware of the work of New Zealander Andrew Blythe through the Outsider Art Facebook page. After looking through an album of his art, which uses pattern and a limited palette, I clicked on the Youtube video of him talking about his work.
He said, “I try to beautify my beasts.” That floored me. You know when you read or hear the perfect phrase and think, “I wish I’d thought of that”? With that line, Andrew Blythe nailed something I’ve been trying to say about my art for the past few years.