Lucky Me!

Posted on December 2, 2024 by cecelia

Recently, I had the VERY good fortune to receive a gift from my son Brad. Now, this is not the first time Brad has given me something special. The best present was his arrival on December 1, 1965. But, aside from that, his recent surprise gift can’t be topped. It is a two-volume set of all the ArtEveryday blogs that appeared on my website from 2012 to 2023. They are still online at www.studio7310.com/ArtEveryday.

The books were designed and published by PixxBook. They are stunning! The blogs are there in their entirety with superb layouts of text, art, and photographs. Brad did all the technical heavy lifting to ensure the final product would be exceptional.

Here are the book covers and some of the pages.

If you’ve followed my blog through the years (time really does fly) some of these pictures may look familiar. Throughout my years of blogging, I have tried to provide insight into the “how” and “why” of my art practice. It’s been a long and ongoing journey of self-discovery. Having you along for the ride has been a pleasure.

2012 to 2023 may seem like many years but it’s only a moment in time. It’s wonderful to revisit what the blogs captured during those years. “Thank you” can hardly express my deep appreciation for these amazing books but Brad knows the depth of feeling those two words convey. I am savoring these books now; I know I will return to them often. Surprises await with each turn of a page.

At the end of the blog on March 7, 2012 I wrote “Do what you love or you won’t love what you do.” I hope you all find your happy place. I found mine.

Artfully yours,

Cecelia

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD!

Another Opening of Another Show

Posted on April 11, 2022 by cecelia

The cultural jewel of Evanston, IL, close to Chicago, is the Evanston Art Center. A selection of my collages from the past few years is included in the exhibit Expressive Exuberance. My work and that of several other talented artists will be exhibited from April 16 – May 22, 2022. If you are in the area I hope you’ll come to the opening reception on Saturday April 16 from 5 to 8PM. It will be an exuberant experience!

If you can’t make it here are my collages that will be in the show. They include recycled prints and found paper assembled on monotype printed or painted paper as well as collage on suminagashi marbled paper. One is “Brad’s Haiku.” Yes, that Brad!

#1290 Have Map Will Travel 8, collage, 24×20, 2015

#1326 Time and Time Again, monotype w. collage, 30×22 2017

#1326 Detail

#1327 Time After Time, monotype w. collage, 30×22 2017

#1327 Detail

#1331 Kaleidoscope 4, collage on acrylic painted paper, pastels 18×24 2017

#1331 Detail

#1338 Suminagashi Suite 5 marbled paper, collage 25×19.5 2017

#1348 Brad’s Haiku, suminagashi marbled paper, collage 30×22 2018

Additional exhibit details are on my website’s Home Page (Announcements) at www.studio7310.com

Bauhaus at 100

Posted on May 13, 2019 by cecelia

A trip to Germany with the Davis Museum of Art at Wellesley College included a tour of the Bauhaus in Dessau. It was an opportunity to see, in person, this important icon of 20^th century architecture and design.

A (very) brief history. In 1919, one hundred years ago, Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany. The design aesthetic was lean and spare. It would influence modern design for years to come, 100 for sure. The Bauhaus was a school where designers, architects, painters, sculptors and craftsmen taught and built items. Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky worked there.

Nazi interference in 1924 made Gropius move the school to Dessau, a city southwest of Berlin. There, he built a campus consisting of the main building, a director’s house and three masters’ houses.

I’ve tried to capture some of the Bauhaus aesthetic like the exterior glass curtain-wall of the main building.

Bauhaus – Main Building

Bauhaus-Main Building

Bauhaus – Main Building

Construction details and color are all strikingly modern.

Bauhaus – Main Building

Furniture was constructed with tubular arms and legs. Door pulls were simple and unadorned.

Bauhaus – Main Building Auditorium Seats

Bauhaus – Main Building Door Detail

Rain-washed cement sidewalks seemed compatible with the tiny balconies.

Bauhaus – Main Building Balconies

The director’s house is a freestanding building. There are also three identical semi-detached houses for the masters. They are white stucco cubic structures designed by Gropius. They are modular with mirrored and rotated floor plans for variety. In the unadorned rooms light from windows, high and low, plays along the walls giving them an almost abstract quality as they intersect one another.

Master’s House

We take for granted much of what Gropius and his followers did to change the nature of design and architecture. What will the next hundred years look like?

In Case You Missed It

Posted on November 15, 2017 by cecelia

The exhibit “Contemporary Collage” opened at the Lincoln Center Art Gallery in Fort Collins, CO on November 10th and included six of my collages.

For this exhibit I selected a group of collages from the series “Have Map Will Travel.” They deal with the kinds of relationships all my work addresses, color, shape, line and texture. I construct the collages on paper using my recycled prints (monotypes, collagraphs, etchings), photos (mine) and found paper.

In this ongoing series I add sections of maps, which I have photographed (I can’t bear to cut up old maps) and printed. The map shapes may or may not denote places where I have traveled. They help lead the eye in and around the collage.

Here are my collages and the gallery information.

Have Map Will Travel 2, collage, 22×30″

Have Map Will Travel 3, collage 22×30″

Have Map Will Travel 4, collage 30×22″

Have Map Will Travel 5, collage 30×22″

Have Map Will Travel 8, collage 24×20″

Have Map Will Travel 9, collage 24×20″

Contemporary Collage

November 10, 2017 – January 9, 2018

Reception: November 10 from 6-8 PM

Gallery hours: Tues – Sat, 12 – 6 PM

Lctix.com/exhibitions

Giustina Renzoni, (970) 416-2737

If you live near Fort Collins I hope you stop by to see the show which ends on January 9, 2018. Viewing art is always in season!

Come To The Bath House

Posted on August 11, 2017 by cecelia

I will have several collages in an exhibit called “The Essential Nature” at the Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas. It opens with a reception on Saturday, September 2, 2017 from 7-9PM. The Bath House Cultural Center is at White Rock Lake, a delightful place to be on a balmy late summer evening.

The collages are from the “Have Map Will Travel” series. They combine pieces of my etchings, monotype and collagraph prints (recycled) and all kinds of found paper. Maps are there, too. The emphasis is on spatial, shape and color relationships. The story is your story.

Here is a sneak preview of the collages. Come see the real thing. I hope you can join me and a terrific group of artists showing a variety of work at the end of summer, almost fall.

Have Map Will Travel 8, collage, 24×20, 2015

Have Map Will Travel 9, collage, 24×20, 2015

Exhibit Information

The Essential Nature
The Bath House Cultural Center
521 E. Lawther Dr.
Dallas, TX 75218

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 2, 2017 7-9PM
Exhibit runs through September 30

Art-Fashion-Technology

Posted on June 28, 2017 by cecelia

I recently saw a fabulous exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. “Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion” is magical. This young Dutch designer marries art and science to exquisite effect. Her work made me look long and hard and think a lot about what fashion is all about, what the possibilities are.

Ms. Van Heren is inspired by art, architecture, science and technology. She describes each collection in terms of its influences. Is this “wearable art?” Maybe. The creations cover or encase the body and in fact, are presented in runway fashion shows, although I can’t imagine anyone walking in the shoes shown in the exhibit. A video shows they can! She utilizes traditional handwork (still) but also incorporates materials made with a 3-D printer, materials not associated with garment construction. The results are “other-worldly” and mesmerizing. There is a notable absence of color, which places greater emphasis on structure.

Sometimes she collaborates with other artists such as the architect Daniel Widrig and Jolan van der Wiel (shoes).

The Refinery Smoke collection (2008) utilized thin gauge woven metal to create a giant pouf.

Refinery Smoke collection

The Crystallization collection (2010) incorporated 3-D materials for the first time.

Crystallization collection

The Escapism collection (2011) combined handwork and 3-D printing, creating a lace-like garment without needle and thread.

Escapism collection

The Capriole collection (2011) has acrylic sheets wrapping around the body or prominent spikes.

Capriole collection

The Chemical Crows collection (2008) was made entirely by hand, including fan-like shapes from umbrella ribs.

Chemical Crows collection

The Radiation Invasion collection (2009) looked to science and its relation to the body for inspiration.

Radiation Invasion collection

The Synethesia collection (2010) took science as its starting point.

Synethesia collection

The Magnetic Motion collection (2014) was made in collaboration with Philip Beesley and combined 3-D printing with handwork.

Here are the shoes!

The exhibit will continue on to Cincinnati, Phoenix and Toronto. Run, do not walk, to this exhibit!

What’s Underfoot or Looking Down Can Be Rewarding

Posted on June 6, 2016 by cecelia

I will be exhibiting photographs from my “Underfoot” series at Ilume Gallerie in Dallas from June 17 – July 16, 2016. The show features a variety of subject matter from a diverse group of photographers.

Here are several from that series which focus attention on what lies beneath our feet. The streets and sidewalks everywhere show human presence in their markings and signage. Many have an abstract quality to them. Some are explicit some are not. They are always colorful.

I’ve selected a few for this pre-show peek.

Underfoot Edwards, CO

Underfoot Dallas, TX

Underfoot NYC

Underfoot Boulder, CO

Underfoot Greenville, SC

Underfoot NYC

The Opening Reception is Friday June 17, 6-9pm

Ilume Gallerie

4123 Cedar Springs, Suite 107

Dallas, TX 75219

www.ilumegallerie.com

Hope to see you there!

Mills & More

Posted on July 30, 2015 by cecelia

I recently spent a long weekend in Greenville, SC with good friends Bruce and Alice Schlein. I was there to attend the opening of “Surfaces and Spaces: Photography of Cecelia Feld & Bruce Schlein”, our exhibit at the Pickens County Museum, about thirty miles from Greenville.

Bruce gave us a tour of the area between Greenville and Spartenburg which was once home to a large number of thriving textile mills, now mostly in various stages of decrepitude. The remains of these large buildings make interesting photographic subjects. Some of them are experiencing new life as condominium buildings.

Bradford Mills, for example, is undergoing renovation. The finished part is now the Greenville Center for Creative Arts (GCCA) with classrooms and exhibition spaces. It is a welcome addition to the Greenville Arts scene. The rest of the mill will be condos.

Beautiful old glass and window fittings in the GCCA make the space special.

Brandon Mills-Inside GCCA

GCCA

Another mill, Glendale Mills in Spartenburg, occupied a large area on the water at Glendale Shoals. The remains of one of the buildings and foundations of others give one a sense of how large this complex was.

Glendale Mills

Glendale Shoals

Glendale Mills

So much for the Mills. Now, for the “More.”

Here are a few more of Bruce’s graffiti laden walls. As I notice and photograph markings and notations on streets and sidewalks near and far, Bruce’s discerning eye lights on walls and spaces filled with all kinds of drawings and symbols. In his photos the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but look closely at the details.

Bruce Schlein

Here are a few more of my “Underfoot” photos from the exhibit. They are a bit more minimal than Bruce’s.

Cecelia Feld

I hope those of you who live in the area will see the show which is up until August 20. Spend some time with cool art on a hot summer day.

Pickens County Museum

307 Johnson St.

Pickens, SC 29671

(864) 898-5963

www.pickenscountymuseum.org

In Plain Sight

Posted on June 15, 2015 by cecelia

I am thrilled to be sharing the walls of the Pickens County Museum with my good friend of many years (notice I didn’t say “old friend”) Bruce Schlein. How a guy from New Jersey and a gal from New York came to spend most of their adult life in the south is a story for another day.

We are joining forces to present an exhibit called Surfaces and Spaces: Photography of Cecelia Feld and Bruce Schlein, which shows the interest we share in documenting particular aspects of our environment. Both of us like surfaces. I like city streets (horizontal planes). Bruce goes more for walls and fences (verticals). He also has an uncanny knack and a well-honed eye for finding hidden and often forgotten spaces.

Bruce’s photos of graffiti on walls explode with color and drama. His interiors are transformed by the quality of light hitting them.

Here are a few from Bruce that will be in the show.

People and places, near and far, are my subjects. My “Underfoot” series of photos came about when I started to notice how much of our environment had signage or other markings on streets and sidewalks. Every city in every country I’ve traveled to shows this kind of human presence.

Like these.

Many of the marks have an abstract quality to them. Colorful lines, shapes and squiggles are drawn or painted on neutral backgrounds. They make me stop. What do they say about who was here?

The Opening Reception is Saturday, June 27, 1-4pm

Pickens Museum of Art & History

307 Johnson St.

Pickens, SC 29671

(864) 898-5963

The exhibit runs through August 20

Y’all come!

Sneak A Peek

Posted on April 20, 2015 by cecelia

I will be exhibiting collages and mixed media paintings as part of an exhibit featuring me, Alsison Jardine and Carol Ordemann at modartists gallery in Dallas.

modartists gallery (Dallas Design District), 2514 Converse, tel:214-728-9000

The exhibit opens on Saturday April 25 with a reception from 5-8pm.

My collages, assembled from collagraphs, monotypes, etchings and found paper, and mixed media acrylic paintings all deal with the nature of abstraction.

My work, whether in printmaking, painting or collage is about exploring relationships. Bits and pieces from my visual experiences bump against each other. There are references in my work to the textures, colors, lines and shapes of things in the real world. The layering or unfolding of shapes, punctuations or expanses of color or character of a line order the picture plane. The resulting abstract images often allude to natural forms.

#1269 Untitled, mixed media acrylic painting on panel, 30x30", 2013

#1269 Untitled, mixed media acrylic painting on panel, 30×30″, 2013

#1270 Untitled mixed media acrylic painting on panel, 30x30", 2013

#1270 Untitled mixed media acrylic painting on panel, 30×30″, 2013

#1271 Untitled mixed media acrylic painting on panel, 30x30", 2013

#1271 Untitled mixed media acrylic painting on panel, 30×30″, 2013

The relationship of visual components in my paintings and collages is similar to what happens in jazz. There are themes and variations, repetitive devices, tensions and releases, riffs, harmony and dissonance. Like a jazz piece, there is a lot of improvisation. At each step in painting or making a print I may ask myself, “what if…?”, or “why not…?”, or “how about…?”

#1280 Rational Exuberance 1, acrylic painting on paper with collage 22x30" 2013

#1280 Rational Exuberance 1, acrylic painting on paper with collage 22×30″ 2013

What if I limit my color palette, what if I work in a more minimal way or, on the other hand, what about excessive exuberance? Large or small? Paint or paper? Or both. Anything can spark an idea – something seen, heard, imagined. The results are often unexpected, and even though I may have some idea of the general direction, like jazz, there can be many twists and turns along the way.

#1282 Rational Exuberance 3, acrylic painting on paper with collage 22x30" 2014

#1282 Rational Exuberance 3, acrylic painting on paper with collage 22×30″ 2014

#1283 Rational Exuberance 4, acrylic painting on paper with collage, 30x22", 2014

#1283 Rational Exuberance 4, acrylic painting on paper with collage, 30×22″, 2014

Sometimes I assemble the collage on painted paper. The acrylic painting weaves its way in, out, and around the collage. Negative space and positive space play games with one another. There are all kinds of things to discover in this group of collages called “Rational Exuberance.” This is a case of “more is more.”

#1284 Rational Exuberance 5, acrylic painting on paper with collage, 30x22", 2014

#1284 Rational Exuberance 5, acrylic painting on paper with collage, 30×22″, 2014

Each step, expected, or unexpected, is the impetus to continue the exploration or the journey in this painting or print or the next one. Serendipity is the hallmark of my work. I love the unpredictability of working with paint, paper, ink and plate.