Friday, May 31, 2013

Bonnie Stahlecker Longings

Mary Lou Sherman, Jen Grove and I drove to Indianapolis recently for a talk by artist friend, Bonnie Stahlecker about her wall sculptures exhibit, Longings. The exhibit is great and will be up through today if you are in the area. It is at Gallery 924 at the Arts Council of Indiana on Pennsylvania Street.

In the photo above, I am with Sharon Turrini and Mary Lou Sherman. (Jen took the photo.)
I am so glad we went to hear Bonnie speak about her works and her transition from books to these sculptures. In addition to the talk, in the vestibule we were able to view a very nice video showing some of her process. The pieces on display were all a part of her Protection series. She researched words and actions and feelings people have across the world and across time about protection. The result is a very symbolic and very thoughtful body of work that filled the gallery walls beautifully.
Jen took this photo of Bonnie at the start of her talk. She is holding a small book she made and telling that usually in book exhibits we can only see front and back covers and spine or one opened pair of pages. This led to her wanting to create more sculptural works. She now translates her love of the book and its leather, fibers, printing and papers in a whole new way.

Please click on the link near the top of this post to see more of Bonnie's fascinating works. Bonnie also makes and teaches (often in her Blue Lizard Studio) how to make wonderful book forms, both traditional and non-traditional. She may be teaching how to make leather bound books at Jen's Lettersong Studio/Gallery in September.



By Jan Hurst

Saturday, May 18, 2013

On a Good Day

I just found this photo of my computer desk on a good day.



Since then I have made the wall behind the computer a gallery wall, adding Glen Epstein's gift to me just today. I talked about it in a previous post. (Sorry for the glare in the glass.)

I wish it always looked this neat. This was a good day. Most days are not good desk days.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Studying the Work of Adolf Bernd

The Calligraphy Guild of Indiana recently hosted Peter Thornton for a workshop studying the work of Adolf Bernd. Peter Thornton has been a professional calligrapher for over 40 years, and has taught throughout the world. I have enjoyed taking many workshops from the inimitable English penman.

This workshop was one I had wanted to take for years. All of the items in the photo above were used during the busy one day session on Bernd. The paint, the brush, the rock - getting a color palette from something from nature. The flyer depicts the decorative letters we've seen for years, not the Adolf Bernd letters as shown in the out of print book on Bernd's work. Silly me! I had expected to get the Bernd letters rather than the Thornton/Kiesel letters I've done before. Instead, Peter focused on the color palettes from nature. Subtle color palettes such as seen in rocks.
This is the now out of print book by Peter on the work of Adolf Bernd.
Jo Miller posted about her Bernd workshop with Peter here. She concentrates on the color studies we also did. Artist Elizabeth Tipton shared her more brightly colored take on the lettering in this blogpost after she and our friend Donna had this workshop. Here are two samples of Peter's.


My great friend and travel-mate Diana did these:

Here is my G, done as a gift for a friend.
It was a fun getaway day with friends, and always fun to see Peter again. When I have time, though, I want to try some of the Bernd style letters that I was hoping to try.