Lewis Elementary, A Blank Canvas
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New Installation
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Kate laying out tile. Stay tuned for more updates!
-Posted from my iPhone
A clean "dirty studio"
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Friday afternoon clean up. Kiln firing a load of glass.
Garden Delights
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The first Daylily of the season.
Water
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Check out our new sample: a fused glass labyrinth. We worked with Gene Hester at his studio to make this beautiful piece of 14" x 14" x 1.5" thick glass. Thanks Gene!
Valentine's Altar
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2011 Valentine's Altar. Always my favorite.
New Samples!
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My assistant Kate and I have been busy making mosaic samples using microscopic pollen and wetlands life for inspiration. Can you find the butterfly wing magnified 425 times?
Metro Designs
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Last week I completed designs for two metro stations to be built on the light rail Northline expansion. Construction is still a long ways off, but it feels good to get the design done.
All the butterflies represented on the screens are native to Houston. We caught and photographed many of the them in my garden.
The vine images also originated from my garden.
Spider Women: A Tribute to Louise Bourgeois
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Although I missed posting this for the opening, Darke Gallery is showing a selection of the work from Spider Women: a Tribute to Louise Bourgeois in the upstairs gallery until November 6th. See the press release below and thank you to everyone who came to the opening. It was a great night!
Distillation I, II Mixed Media, 2010
DARKE | gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Spider Women: a Tribute to Louise Bourgeois, a group exhibition of Houston artists Dixie Friend Gay, Tara Conley, Rebea Ballin, Kia Neill, Debra Barrera and Anne J. Regan. An opening reception for the artists will be held on Friday, September 10, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. The exhibition continues through October 6, 2010.
French-American artist Louise Bourgeois passed away last May at the age of 98. Listed as one of the 25 Most Influential Artists of the 20th century by Art News, Bourgeois was perhaps best known for her spider structures, titled Maman, which resulted in her being nicknamed the Spiderwoman. Although wholly autobiographical, for decades her work has ignited the imaginations of younger artists. The six women featured in this exhibition all feel a strong personal connection to Bourgeois’ work.
French-American artist Louise Bourgeois passed away last May at the age of 98. Listed as one of the 25 Most Influential Artists of the 20th century by Art News, Bourgeois was perhaps best known for her spider structures, titled Maman, which resulted in her being nicknamed the Spiderwoman. Although wholly autobiographical, for decades her work has ignited the imaginations of younger artists. The six women featured in this exhibition all feel a strong personal connection to Bourgeois’ work.
Artist Rabea Ballin says, “I am most connected to Louise Bourgeois’ ongoing exploration of personal memories, the female body, and identity. I am an avid collector, I prompt questions about female experience through my exploration of specific hairstyles, and I think of them as sculptures. Her early drawings and pioneering of organic form, discovery of self, and personal memorabilia is what I hope to capture”.
Also exhibiting for the first time, Kia Neill is interested in how domestic craftwork can evoke escape through preoccupation and how the crafted object functions as an artifact for sentiment and gesture. The repetitive procedure of activities such as knitting, quilting, embroidery, etc, paired with a partial level of concentration such monotonous processes require, can induce a form of meditation. Drawing from craft processes, home décor and the ritual of collecting natural relics and kitsch items, Neill aims to give surreal form to cultural desires and anxieties, while signifying an evolving mutated interpretation of nature.
Tara Conley states, “I’ve had an affinity and connection with both the forms and significant emotion that make her work what it is. Nothing seemed to stop her from expression, she allowed materials to expand her work, not hold her back. I was honored to have my “Bronze Bunny” placed in the Lafayette Square by the Sculpture for New Orleans project. And I am always pleased to have people remark on the connection they see in our work.”
Dixie Friend Gay has focused on public-art projects and museum exhibitions since 1998. Her work explores the mystery and power of nature. Her art has been featured in galleries and museums including the Bronx Museum, Allan Stone Gallery, and COFA Gallery in New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis. Her focus on public art projects includes a 25 foot tall metal spider entitled “Arachnophilia”, which straddles a hike and bike trail in Austin, Texas. Spider Women will feature Gay’s paintings, drawings and sculpture, including works never before seen.
Gallery favorites and new Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Houston, Debra Barrera and Anne Regan, return to exhibit new bodies of work.
Now in its fourth year, the newly enlarged DARKE | gallery exhibits contemporary art of the finest quality, with a focus on emerging and established artists with Texas ties. Located at 320 B Detering @ Feagan, the gallery is open noon to 5:00 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday and by appointment. For more information call 713-542-3802 or visit www.darkegallery.com.
Also exhibiting for the first time, Kia Neill is interested in how domestic craftwork can evoke escape through preoccupation and how the crafted object functions as an artifact for sentiment and gesture. The repetitive procedure of activities such as knitting, quilting, embroidery, etc, paired with a partial level of concentration such monotonous processes require, can induce a form of meditation. Drawing from craft processes, home décor and the ritual of collecting natural relics and kitsch items, Neill aims to give surreal form to cultural desires and anxieties, while signifying an evolving mutated interpretation of nature.
Tara Conley states, “I’ve had an affinity and connection with both the forms and significant emotion that make her work what it is. Nothing seemed to stop her from expression, she allowed materials to expand her work, not hold her back. I was honored to have my “Bronze Bunny” placed in the Lafayette Square by the Sculpture for New Orleans project. And I am always pleased to have people remark on the connection they see in our work.”
Dixie Friend Gay has focused on public-art projects and museum exhibitions since 1998. Her work explores the mystery and power of nature. Her art has been featured in galleries and museums including the Bronx Museum, Allan Stone Gallery, and COFA Gallery in New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis. Her focus on public art projects includes a 25 foot tall metal spider entitled “Arachnophilia”, which straddles a hike and bike trail in Austin, Texas. Spider Women will feature Gay’s paintings, drawings and sculpture, including works never before seen.
Gallery favorites and new Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Houston, Debra Barrera and Anne Regan, return to exhibit new bodies of work.
Now in its fourth year, the newly enlarged DARKE | gallery exhibits contemporary art of the finest quality, with a focus on emerging and established artists with Texas ties. Located at 320 B Detering @ Feagan, the gallery is open noon to 5:00 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday and by appointment. For more information call 713-542-3802 or visit www.darkegallery.com.
Syncopation Sea Installation
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In May the team from Mosaika came back down to Houston to help install 3 mosaic murals in the newly built Ocean and Coastal Studies building at Texas A&M Galveston. The two mosaics were fabricated out of tumbled smalti at the Mosaika studio in Montreal. The tumbled smalti produced the prefect soften underwater effect for the mosaics. The relief sculpture, Benthic Zone, was fabricated here in my studio. My assistant Kate and I worked from February to May, hand forming clay and fusing and flame working glass to represent microscopic ocean life. The building is now open! Come check out the finished product and for more images of the installation visit the Mosaika Galveston installation blog.
The Wonderful Team! My, what 5 women can do...
Beginning conception of "The Benthic Zone"
"The Benthic Zone"- 43 feet installed panel by panel.
Strata Installation
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I've been very busy this past year with multiple installations in Texas. In October/Novemeber 2009 we installed Strata, a 3 story mixed media mosaic and glass stairway mural. Thanks to the Mosaika team from Montreal, it went up like a dream...with a hint of a nightmare... See more pictures of the install on the Mosaika blog.
Houston condensation is dreadful!
Houston condensation is dreadful!Ike, One year later
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September 13, 2008, a massive 55" diameter oak went through my rental property next door. It was one of the largest trees in the neighborhood and completely covered the house, draping over all sides of it.
The limbs from the tree were stacked 5 feet x 5 feet x 200 feet long. Here is Garland and Lily a couple weeks after the storm.
I saved the base of the tree and carved a throne with a chainsaw, fine tuned it with a grinder and smoothed with a sander. It is finished with a gallon of watco and hand-rubbed tung oil.
Ike's Throne, a meditation on the power of the storm and the energy captured within the tree.
A Walk in the Garden (Part 3)
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Plumeria Frangipani
Desert Rose
Miklkweed
Bleeding Heart Vine, Clerodendrum Thomsoniae
Pride of India, glorious peonies
Dragonfruit blossom, Hylocereus undatus
Dragonfruit blossom, Hylocereus undatus
Dragonfruit blossom, Hylocereus undatus
Dragonfruit blossom, Hylocereus undatus
Strata Tiles: Waterway Project in The Woodlands
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This project, Strata, is to be installed in fall 2009. These are handmade tiles that will be incorporated into a larger mosaic of mixed stone, clay and glass.
Cast glass to represent a lizard trapped in amber
Detail of amber
Fake fossils created in clay, fired and glazed
IKE
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Yesterday, we filled the cars with gas and purchased groceries. There were no lines and everything went smoothly.
This afternoon, Ron, Hagen, Garland and I cleared the yard of anything that could be picked up and tossed through our rolling glass doors. All our flashlights have new batteries, we have piles of plastic tarps, rope, ducktape.
If the track of the storm remains as it is tonight, we will remove most of my studio to the main house tomorrow. Our fears are that with the high winds I may lose my roof, since it is only tin and insulation on the studio.
Our plan is tomorrow to move two of the cars to a concrete parking garage on a higher level. Hopefully we will be able to find a place to park them. Everyone may have the same idea.
A month or so ago, Ron purchased a generator, we have gas to keep it running. With Rita, we were without power for almost a week. At least this way we can keep our food cold.
The kids do not have school tomorrow. Ron's work is canceled. I feel too antsy to work.
Tonight at supper, we played a selection of storm songs, about high winds and flooding. Garland failed to find the humor in it, but she still recovering from her accident with the tree limb.
We are watching the approach of the storm on the net. Our TV is limited to what we can get with the rabbit ears, so it is only local coverage.
I am charging my camera batteries so tomorrow morning, I will go out, take some photos to post.
This afternoon, Ron, Hagen, Garland and I cleared the yard of anything that could be picked up and tossed through our rolling glass doors. All our flashlights have new batteries, we have piles of plastic tarps, rope, ducktape.
If the track of the storm remains as it is tonight, we will remove most of my studio to the main house tomorrow. Our fears are that with the high winds I may lose my roof, since it is only tin and insulation on the studio.
Our plan is tomorrow to move two of the cars to a concrete parking garage on a higher level. Hopefully we will be able to find a place to park them. Everyone may have the same idea.
A month or so ago, Ron purchased a generator, we have gas to keep it running. With Rita, we were without power for almost a week. At least this way we can keep our food cold.
The kids do not have school tomorrow. Ron's work is canceled. I feel too antsy to work.
Tonight at supper, we played a selection of storm songs, about high winds and flooding. Garland failed to find the humor in it, but she still recovering from her accident with the tree limb.
We are watching the approach of the storm on the net. Our TV is limited to what we can get with the rabbit ears, so it is only local coverage.
I am charging my camera batteries so tomorrow morning, I will go out, take some photos to post.
New Indianapolis Airport Mosaic Installation overview
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CLICK ON AN IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION
I was not able to be in Indianapolis on Monday, June 9 when the installation started because my daughter was in the hospital. Butch arrived on Sunday night and Abraham and Casimero from Kolorines arrived early Monday morning.
Monday, June 9, the 1st day
Julia Moore,Public Art Administrator, Blackburn Architects, met the guys and showed them around. The team took the safety class, did the drug test, and received security badges. Butch rented the truck and picked up supplies. Julia was there making everything go as smoothly as possible. We are so lucky to have her on the project acting as a liaison between the airport and the artists.
Tuesday, June 10, the second day.
The guys protected the surrounding surfaces with plastic and paper. The mural arrived, some of the boxes were wet and had been stacked on end so there were some damaged areas. The guys laid the complete mural upside down in an adjacent room so we could see the image.
Friday, June 13, the 5th day. I do not know how I missed getting photos of the mural at the end of the 5th day. I was spending a lot of my day on my hands and knees replacing missing sections of mural It was fortunate that there was a room to leave the mural laid out so I could work on it.
http://www2.indystar.com/autofocus/galleries/slides/2574/1 The mosaic images are #15, 16 and 17.
What a great construction site to do an installation. The building is beautifully designed by HOK and AeroDesign Group. Blackburn Architects supervised some of the design of public spaces. Hunt/Smoot Construction managers create a safe, clean and enjoyable working environment.
The artisans at Kolorines, the fabrication studio, in Curenavaca Mexico did beautiful work.
I am pleased with Autumn Prairie Morning. I am honored that my work is part of the really cool airport.
Butch and I flew home on Saturday, June 21
Click here for details of the mural under public commisions on my web site.
I was not able to be in Indianapolis on Monday, June 9 when the installation started because my daughter was in the hospital. Butch arrived on Sunday night and Abraham and Casimero from Kolorines arrived early Monday morning.
Monday, June 9, the 1st day
Julia Moore,Public Art Administrator, Blackburn Architects, met the guys and showed them around. The team took the safety class, did the drug test, and received security badges. Butch rented the truck and picked up supplies. Julia was there making everything go as smoothly as possible. We are so lucky to have her on the project acting as a liaison between the airport and the artists.
Tuesday, June 10, the second day.
The guys protected the surrounding surfaces with plastic and paper. The mural arrived, some of the boxes were wet and had been stacked on end so there were some damaged areas. The guys laid the complete mural upside down in an adjacent room so we could see the image.
Wednesday, June 11, the 3rd day. First section was installed on the wall.
I arrived late Wednesday night.
Thursday, June 12, the 4th day
Friday, June 13, the 5th day. I do not know how I missed getting photos of the mural at the end of the 5th day. I was spending a lot of my day on my hands and knees replacing missing sections of mural It was fortunate that there was a room to leave the mural laid out so I could work on it.
Saturday, June 14th, the 6th day
Sunday, June 15, the 7th day
Monday, June 16, the 8th day
Tuesday, June 17, the 9th day
The airport gives tours of the construction site. One group was from the press and photos of the installation were in the local Indianapolis paper. http://www2.indystar.com/autofocus/galleries/slides/2574/1 The mosaic images are #15, 16 and 17.
What a great construction site to do an installation. The building is beautifully designed by HOK and AeroDesign Group. Blackburn Architects supervised some of the design of public spaces. Hunt/Smoot Construction managers create a safe, clean and enjoyable working environment.
Wednesday, June 18, the 10th day.
The other hard hat trades working on the new airport stopped by with encouragement and comments. The hobby gardeners among them could name all the native plants. Some mentioned that it looked like early fall. Santarossa’s men who were installing a terrazzo floor helped us with disposal of waste water. Everyone was a pleasure to work with. 
Thursday, June 19, the 11th day
The stack of the last section to go on the wall
The last section is installed, and total mural was acid washed
The installation team: Casimero, Abraham, DFG, Butch
Friday, June 20, the 12th day
Space clean, equipment returned, bags packed. TV crew from Channel 8 (?) came by for an interview. 
Installation is completed. Ready to turn in our security pass badges.
The artisans at Kolorines, the fabrication studio, in Curenavaca Mexico did beautiful work.
I am pleased with Autumn Prairie Morning. I am honored that my work is part of the really cool airport.
Butch and I flew home on Saturday, June 21
Click here for details of the mural under public commisions on my web site.