Notes from the Artist Salons

Notes from the Artist Salon at Hunters Point Shipyard on October 29 is 2015

Artists showing: Diana Krevsky, Stanley Goldstein, Carrie Ann Plank

These artists salons can be really intense for whoever else is lucky enough to attend. There's often something so intimate about the evenings. The artists seem to be open to sharing their ideas and process. Perhaps these artists are always like that. Or possibly, having an audience of other artists brings up other questions than one would normally get at an event like Open Studio. Whatever it is, these Salon evenings are always thought-provoking. Some of the artists carefully arrange the studio for the night and some let it all hang out.

Also, it is remarkable that the evenings change drastically depending on who shows up and which artists participate. It always amazes me how each artist has a very different process of how or why they make art.

This salon was unusual in that we got into talking about artists and children, artists and painting what we love, artists and aging, artists and cancer, and it became a fairly heavy night. Heavy, in a good way.

We started at the studio of Diana Krevsky. While we waited for folks to show up we talked about a painting of hers that Krevsky found at a Goodwill, got it back, and then worked on it.

Krevsky then read us a funny piece she had written about her work. I wish we had taped her! Krevsky’s work is funny and topical and also beautiful to look at. Newer pieces included Waterbird made out of bottles and cloth, some wood assemblages, a gun made out of soft pastel baby items and cloth, a binder full of cartoons, and many other paintings some with collage or assemblage. She showed us a work in progress as well. [We saw some of these works featured here: https://www.artspan.org/artist/dianakrevsky. While I was web-researching I found her 911 works which are powerful: https://www.911memorial.org/registry/dkrevsky

Then we went to the studio of Stanley Goldstein. Goldstein had hung some large paintings for us to see. He also had three, new, large, charcoal drawings on the back wall. We could compare them to a painting. After we were done fawning over these, Goldstein walked us through the history of his art process; showing sketches, color studies and final works, and works in progress (although some of us were interrupting him a lot with inane questions). He showed us his son’s early work in comparison to his own. He talked about his relationship with his gallery and how that impacts the artwork. Then ensued a conversation about various gallerists. We saw this playground painting (among others): http://www.stanleygoldstein.com/portfolio/figures-outdoors/

  Lastly we went to the studio of Carrie Ann Plank who is a printmaker in the studio with other printmakers and two giant presses and other machines. Plank likes to travel, and she attends many artist residencies. Plank talked about how she was able to sometimes go to residency without a firm plan of what she would do, but instead, come up with ideas reacting to the situation there and create wonderful art, sort of on the fly. Plank showed three bodies of work from three different residencies: some large etchings of natural objects, interesting prints featuring textures of her own skin, enlarged and manipulated on the computer and then printed, and some delicious little paintings that involve prints, painting(?), gilding, and with a shiny coating. [You can see examples of the three series here: http://carrieannplank.com/home.html] Something about Plank’s work, or perhaps the cumulative effect of the evening, brought up the topic of cancer, which we discussed for awhile.

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Notes from the Artist Salon, May 5, 2015

Artists showing: Kim Smith, Dolores R. Grey, Leslie Lowinger

I recall Kim Smith saying she doesn’t consider herself an artist but she makes quite a few lovely collages out of book scraps. Some of the collages are fine art, some are called Signs of Wisdom and contain text or sayings which she sells at a lower price point. Smith also has a thriving business called Smith & Co. where she sells book prints or art created from books. Smith generously gave us all a signed copy of her book, an art memoir, Where Quirky meets Menacing! [We saw collages such as these: http://www.studiokimsmith.com/photos_list_live.asp?ID=112]

Dolores R. Grey

Adding to what Dolores is already known for, assemblage often in little boxes, colorful monoprints, collage, gift cards and jewelry (of which I am personally quite fond and own several pieces), Dolores had several life-size, ornate, dress sculptures made out of recycled paper on dress forms. One piece I liked very much was made out of pattern paper that is used for sewing clothes. Dolores talked about how she has made many of her and her family’s clothes. [http://www.drgrayfineart.com/DRGRAY/HOME.html]

Leslie Lowinger

Leslie had a lot of work up in her studio from our last Open Studio event, as well as etchings in one or two colors, some with irregular shaped borders, some with text. We were thrilled with her large flipper bin, which contained large prints that we were pawing through and really loved. Leslie also gave many of us a nice silk-screened bag that she made.

[I believe we saw some of these: http://www.leslielowinger.com and some of these: http://www.leslielowinger.com/GGPark.html]

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I neglected to write about a few artists salons that we had, so perhaps I’ll mention them now.

Artists Salon, January 23, 2015

Artists showing: Dominique Caron, Stacey Carter, Alberto Ybarra, Stephen Namara

We met at the studio of Dominica Caron. Caron’s studio was full of very large, very colorful, mostly abstract paintings, as well as some more representational works and landscapes. We were intrigued by the way she hung the art and how clean and white everything else was. Caron talked about her childhood growing up in France and how it influenced her color sense. She talked about her inspirations to a group of people who were trying to hear her and ask questions. There where also a roaring cocktail party going on in the back the studio (possibly due to the spread of goodies Caron had served or the fact that there were a lot of people there who hadn’t seen each other in awhile). It made it very difficult to hear what Caron was saying. Caron generously in shared her knowledge of acrylics and process tips. She mentioned her tip for adding a drop or two of dish liquid to the brush water. Caron also answered questions about various works. [We saw works like this: http://www.dominiquecaron.com/artwork.vm?category=1&artwork=55190&artwork=55190]

Then we went upstairs to Stacey Carter's studio. Her studio was fairly crowded with stuff so we couldn’t all actually fit in the studio at one time. It looked like a working studio. We were sort of taking turns going in and out. Carter creates large, photographic-like prints of ships and other large vessels and then she paints on them. Carter showed us some of her older work such as sports figures and talked about a large commission she was working on. Unfortunately I missed much of her talk because I was doing crowd control out in the hallway and trying to make space for others. [We saw some of these: http://www.staceycarter.net/recentwork.html]

Lastly we went to Alberto Ybarra’s large studio. He recently sold the large painting, Drone, that I really wanted to get a close look at. But he had lots of other really interesting work on view, and talked about some of his inspirations: very dark but successful. It generated a lot of conversation and interest in his work. We gravitated towards certain works in little clumps discussing the paintings. Some people remained out in the hall having a cocktail party.

[Some paintings here. I was really struck by the huge, Single Family Duelen: http://albertoybarra.com/gallery/paintings/]

And lastly we went to Steven Namara’s studio. Steve is always been a great favorite of everybody at the Shipyard. He talked about some of his old drawings and how he got his start because of those. He showed us some new paintings and talked about the symbolism in them. (I was so impressed by the rendering that I had not thought about the content). He also answered questions about a lot of his work for some artists and others continued the traveling cocktail party. [We saw this piece, among others: http://www.stephennamara.com/oiloncanvas/flightpatterns.html]

Cocktail party ensued for quite some time after that we finally broke up.

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So each artist is different. Who comes to the salon is different. All this makes each event very memorable and poignant. Each salon has filled me with questions about what is art, and why do I make it? It really gets my head spinning the way each artist’s process is so different from mine. It never ceases to amaze me how the shipyard artists are all processing our lives through our art but in also very different ways.

Art made out of books

I went to the fine art fair at Fort Mason and was struck by the lack of pure painting that Galleries were showing. There was a lot of great wall art, a lot of layered stuff, but not a lot of painting. The newer paintings I saw seemed under-thought and under-worked. The art fair exhibit with the biggest buzz was David Eggers' silkscreens; drawings with funny or interesting sayings on them. Drawing seems to be still cool. Painting just seems to be out.

Some of the best stuff at the art fair was art made out of books and cut paper. And it's fantastic. But it's making me crazy. I saw some lovely clocks made of books and a bookshelf made out of encyclopeodias at the Studio Gallery.  At our recent Hunters Point salon, paper became a theme. Kim Smith sells old prints from books and makes pretty collages out of leftover scraps (especially the lovely old end papers). I collect the kind of books she is cutting up! Dolores Grey showed us her fantasy dresses and corsets partly made from used sewing pattern paper. Finally, Leslie Lowinger showed haunting traditional prints on paper but she gave us book bags.

I love books. When I see book art, I love it! But I still wish I could pry off the glue and read the book. I can't walk into a library or bookstore without wanting to read a bunch of books. Books used to be precious. Abraham Lincoln walked miles for books.

I noticed many of my college students don't read or can't read well. (California public schools?)

Books, now, may as well be bricks to build a house with. A cool art material. It's like the barbarians are taking over civilization. It's shocking.

I just painted a book, trying to get that delicate feel of pages in the breeze that Singer Sargent accompished. I want to paint more books now.  But to paint a picture of them, not actually paint them.
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I visited the Scottish exhibit at the DeYoung and there were some real highlights. There is a Singer Sargent, a show-stopping Dégas and I was quite taken with the Van Dyck's. I saw them in Edinburgh but it was good to see them again, so many years later. I was struck by how dark so many of the older paintings were. I think I will try lowering the values of my shadows.

Hunters Point Shipyard Artist Salon

November 15
Mark Paron
Erika Mériaux
Linda MacDonald
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During open studio events, I don’t get out of my studio to see any other artists. That's one reason I love the doing the artists salons. It’s hard to explain how exciting it can be to have artists show you their work in a more intimate, less sales-oriented event. I am giving my impressions of the evening but have added the artists bios at the end. Visit the artists' websites for more info. 
[Everyone is welcome to attend these salons. It’s part social and part art viewing. We hope to have another in January. Thanks to Paul Gibson and Richard Bollingbroke and the STAR board for getting this started again. If you are interested in opening your studio sometime, please let me know, as I am trying to keep them going!]

Mark Paron

http://www.markparon.com/

To start this salon, we went to the sculpture studio of Mark Paron in building 125 down by the water. This is in the area where the Navy used to make submarines and Building 125 was the cafeteria.

At first view, Paron’s studio is like a cool design show room. Very nice old furniture, retro toys and sculptures everywhere. There is a urinal stuck on the wall (a shipyard original).

Paron makes sculptures of fabrics from leather to shiny mylar, PVC, velvet, nylon, window screens, and other material, by wrinkling them and shaping them in his hands to see what they will do. One was a six-foot tall mylar figure, others are more abstract. The finished sculptures are begging to be touched. Paron showed us scraps of the materials so that we could feel them. (Shown: photo of one of the leather crinkle sculptures.)
I was fascinated by a little star-like sculpture over my head that included petals from plastic flowers and golf ball -- and by others made with a gun used to shoot price tags onto clothing. Other sculptures were mounted on wood or sewn into shape.

Another highlight was a series of sculptures inspired by wigs (his mother wore wigs) in all sorts of materials -- wire, rope, metal, and one in rope (to die for).

Paron had a series of installation views in homes and in his galleries, which help to show people how to live with the sculptures. We were looked at some pieces recently returned from a show and were able to see how he packs mobiles for transit so they don't get tangled or damaged.

Paron’s tip for working with fishing wire: do it on a black background with a bright light on it.

Erika Mériaux

http://www.erikameriauxart.com

Next we went to the studio of Erika Mériaux, also in building 125. By this time there was a healthy number of people at the salon: some shipyard artists and some guests.

Mériaux is a French oil painter using subject matter from Greek mythology. As a lover of classical art history, I am familiar with many of the characters that Mériaux works with – Narcissist, Medusa, Apollo, Leda – but the stories behind them. Mériaux patiently told us the meaning behind each painting. Despite the antique subject matter, the paintings seem very modern. The colors are bright, there is a liberal use of white paint, and there are passages where the paintings are flat. We talked about our favorite artists of the past. I was reminded of Fra Angelico, da Vinci, Fragonard, Vermeer, and Magritte, yet with a still more modern look. [Shown: Penelope]

Mériaux finds beautiful antique frames that she refurbishes.

I was also in awe of the way Mériaux has designed her studio.

Mériaux starts with a sketch and projects it onto the canvas. At other times, she starts directly with the brush on oil on canvas. Usually the figure is rendered first and then she invents a background for it. We liked all of the pieces but a Penelope with waves around her head was a big favorite.

I will be surprised if Mériaux isn’t soon picked up by some gallery and won’t have to do a lot of sales and marketing on her own. Perhaps she has already been – we didn’t talk much about CAREER at any of the studios.

Linda MacDonald

http://www.lindamacdonald.com

MacDonald shares a studio in 101 with Marc Ellen Hamel. MacDonald lives near Mendocino. MacDonald showed two oil paintings and many large watercolors on arches paper.

Her recent work features nature photos recombined into new scenes. She likes to photograph the ground "because it's all in focus" and then combine several photos into one composition. Photos may include a nail, a cigarette butt, or a strange piece of trash as well as leaves, pebbles and natural material. Sometimes the new compositions look like landscapes. Or she may start from a real thing like some logs and invent other parts of the composition. I was impressed at how she's able to handle the chaos of nature. [Shown: watercolor, Amaranth]

MacDonald’s early work was fiber art, sewing a quilt and then painting on fabric. We felt we could see some of the influence of stitches in her new work.

MacDonald also showed older work such as linocuts, drawings, and prints of her fiber work.

 I fell absolutely in love with a glicée of an older painting showing crazy things people have done to Sequoia trees. Ditto, a linocut of a self-portrait.

We talked about Open Studio. MacDonald said that two curators from the Oakland Museum came by and chose a linocut featuring a whimsical map of California to sell at the Museum. Quite exciting! McDonald and other artists mentioned a Joan Baez sighting at Open Studio.

Dominique gave us all some acrylic tips (which I am not sure I followed correctly): keep some dishwashing liquid in your acrylic jar. If you use matt varnish, make sure to have several layers of Gel underneath to get the depth or it will kill your colors. Also to use GAC 100 medium instead of water glazes.

here are bios of the artists:

Mark Paron bio:

Though I have no formal training, I have been doing artwork ever since I was a child Growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  In November of 1984, I moved to San Francisco and started showing my work. I have exhibited my work, in many San Francisco premier galleries, stores, bars, schools, City Hall and the De Young Museum. [Shown: Snow White]

In 1995, I was selected for membership into the San Francisco Art Institute Artists' Committee. There I worked on the Salon Series, Day Without Art, the annual exhibition "Bio-Hazard," and helped select the 1997 Adeline Kent Award Exhibition. My art has been seen in Art Week , New York 's Paper Magazine, SF Focus, San Francisco / New York , Fad, Outlook, The Bay Area Reporter, Odyssey magazine, San Francisco Chronicle , and San Francisco Frontiers. My art can also be seen on the web at www.markparon.com and in the Virtual Collection at www.artistswithaids.org . In addition, my work is available at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artist Gallery, the Reaves Gallery, San Francisco, CA, the Toomey Turell Gallery of San Francisco, CA and the Robert Fontaine Gallery Mime FL.

My sculpture is abstract and conceptual--inspired by micro biotic, organic, and synthetic things we come in contact with each day. I work in a varied range of materials including fabric, metal, plastics, leather, and found objects.

My sculpture is abstract and conceptual--inspired by micro biotic, organic, and synthetic things we come in contact with each day. I work in a varied range of materials including fabric, metal, rubber, plastic, wood, paper, and more.

Erika Mériaux bio:

I was born in Paris (1967). I spent my childhood moving from place to place (because my fathers job): South of France, North Africa, North of France, Kuwait, etc.

I spent six months in a fine art school in North of France but I was not a serious student (too young probably), but after the birth of my daughter, (I was 22) I became mature enough to start painting. The initial purpose was to fill the emptiness of the white walls of my small apartment (in Lille), and when a friend told me that he wanted to buy one of my paintings (The Sleeping Beauty), I considered that it might have been a good idea to be exhibited in a gallery. Soon I was showing in a gallery in downtown Lille and participated in shows; group and solo shows. In 2000, my family and I moved to the Bay area where I started to participate in various shows. In 2006, I started to work on a tarot series, but I felt the inspiration was insufficient. In 2008, I started my series inspired by Greek Mythology, and I'm not tired of it yet. Greek Mythology is so vast that I depict anything I want! If I want to talk about war, violence, love, sex, jealousy, crime, craziness, family, travels, dreams, etc. Anything I want can be found in Greek Myths.

Greek Mythology is to me a new kind of artistic freedom! "

[Shown: Penelope and Pan]

Linda MacDonald bio:

Linda MacDonald, a native Californian, has lived in the town of Willits in Mendocino County for the past thirty-five years. She grew up in the Bay Area and attended San Francisco State University earning her B.A. and M.F.A. degrees. A love of the country led her and her artist husband north to remote areas of wilderness lands. [Shown: Madrone and alligator]

The continuing saga of life in this rural, mountainous area has become the source of ideas for her artwork.  She uses an array of fantasy images based on real events and characters to present her ideas.  Sometimes humor is used to ease the encounter with her charged imagery and create a friendly atmosphere between the viewer and the artwork.
MacDonald began as a painter, switched to textiles and the quilt form in the 1980s, and as her work evolved and became more imagery and narrative-based, she returned to canvas and paper.
She currently maintains a studio and teaches in universities and art centers.  She has shown her work in many venues worldwide and has artwork in the collection of the White House, the city of San Francisco, the Museum of Art and Design (MAD) in NYC, the University of Nebraska Quilt collection and in many private collections. She taught high school for many years after receiving a credential from Dominican University. She lives with her husband, artist Robert Comings and has two grown children, both artists.