Tag Archives: chris dahlquist artwork

Future tense?

January 11, 2012 by Chris | 2 Comments

So here I am in Mexico speaking only in the present tense while updating my show schedule for the coming year.

Yesterday I sent in a digital contract for a show in Denver, paid my 2011 sales tax in Illinois after speaking with a tax agent via skype, and paid a booth fee in Michigan by telephone (not to mention the meeting Kyle had, also via skype, with three people in KC about an upcoming project). Something is either so wrong or so right with this picture and I can’t quite decide which.

It is fantastic that my show schedule is coming together so nicely for this season. I do love it and have a lot to look forward to – Cherry Creek here I come! And it’s great that last year’s sales in Chicago warranted a sum transferred to the state of Illinois. But what happens to the present tense, and its reminder to be present, when the business is so easily at the fingertips?

This access is what allows for an extended trip, isn’t it? Or is it the bane of it?

 

Our house

Just look at all the callejons there are to discover!

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Staying present

January 10, 2012 by Chris | 2 Comments

Day one back in spanish classes went better than I expected. I am getting my ears back and one of our friends said she could hear that our speech was improving. Which is great considering the server at lunch on Friday said, “Please just speak in English.” Hurrah!

I also realized that one of the best things about studying a language while on vacation is that it requires you to stay in the present. At least for now – as that is the only verb tense we know! Not a bad way to be while traveling.

Taking a small break from study

 

Do you think I can use that as an excuse for not learning the other tenses?

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Back to regular programming

January 9, 2012 by Chris | 1 Comment

Pick of the week – Jan 9

I started spanish classes today in Escuala Mexicana in Guanajuato and boy do I have a lot of studying to do. So with that I will return you to your regular blog programming and present you the piece of the week.

Mile Marker 29, 16x22

Have questions or want to check the availability of this piece? contact me

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Best of 2011 #7 – My husband is the bomb!

January 7, 2012 by Chris | 6 Comments

My ridiculously talented husband!

A marriage of two artists is an incredible thing! Not that there aren’t some challenges, but there is also an understanding that is hard to find outside the creative world, an encouragement, and the occasional well-intentioned nudge. We often take more pleasure in the accomplishments of the other than of our own. So one of my bests of 2011 was definitely watching Kyle stretch for a huge performance of a very challenging piece, playing on a relatively new instrument.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing ArtsKauffman Center for the Performing Arts

The artistic renaissance that is taking place in Kansas City included the 2011 opening of a new performing arts center, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Living approximately 2 miles away from this architectural masterpiece we watched the skyline of Kansas City change, and for 5 years we eagerly anticipated it’s opening. What we couldn’t anticipate was that within a month of its grand opening Kyle would play a solo accordion piece to a near capacity crowd in the acoustically magnificent Helzberg Hall. And along with that, we would spend a couple of days soaking in the grandeur of the building in both the front and back of house with our friends, some of Kansas City’s most talented musicians. (fun fact – They were building the hall longer than Kyle has been playing accordion!)  His performance was a part of:

The Homecoming of Virgil Thomson

Under the fearless artistic direction of tenor Nathan Granner, 54 area musicians paid tribute to Kansas City’s most lauded composer, presenting an overview of Thomson’s life work.  Homecoming: An Evening with Virgil T, was a 90-minute program dedicated to an array of Virgil Thomson’s instrumental and vocal works, all related in some significant way to the theme of Thomson as, in Aaron Copland’s words, the “father of American classical music.” The musical tribute was filmed with seven cameras with excerpts from the concert incorporated into a biography of Thomson to be broadcast nationally on PBS. (projected for spring 2013) Kyle was honored to play an accordion etude, Lamentations, commissioned in 1959 by the National Accordion Association. I couldn’t be prouder!

Kyle Dahlquist in Helzberg Hall

 

Did you stretch this year? If so how?

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Best of 2011 #6 – Artistic Expedition

January 6, 2012 by Chris | 3 Comments

Terra Nullius = No Man’s Land

Every year I try to schedule at least one gallery exhibition, preferably with my long time partner, the Perlow-Stevens Gallery in Columbia, Missouri. Jennifer Perlow and I have the best type of gallerist/artist relationship, one based on a long-standing mutual trust. We are both able and willing to schedule a show up to 18 months in the future with neither of us knowing what my work will be at that point. This year PS Gallery moved to a beautiful new location and I was able to show with them twice. My second show of the year with them, Terra Nullius, I used the opportunity to showcase new work, to push myself further and to explore new questions.

Thank you Jennifer, this was one of the highlights of my year!


Terra Nullius Tryptich

 

The show Terra Nullius just closed at Perlow-Stevens, but there are still a few pieces remaining. Are you interested in one of these inaugural pieces? We would love to find a home for them all. Please visit the entire series and inquire with Jennifer about pricing and availability. (Although not hanging, they will stay in Columbia until I return from Mexico.)

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Bests of 2011 #5 – The Plaza Art Fair you don’t see.

January 5, 2012 by Chris | 5 Comments

I traveled to my first art festival in May of 2000 and on my return home I exclaimed to Kyle, “I have found my people!”

That is as true today as it was in 2000, and continues to be the one of the major highlights of doing shows. And so it is bittersweet in September when we get to the end of our season of travel and spend the last few days with our crazy talented friends that are scattered across the country. Fortunately for us this last hurrah of the season is the Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City, which gives us the opportunity to host our friends. We fill our house and studios (and now our new trailer) to overflowing with the most talented visual artists we know. Then on Sunday night we host a party for all the artists that can make it – the night is filled with many stories, and much laughter and music. It has definitely become one of the highlights of our year, and one we always look forward to. But there is more…

With the fun that everyone is having and the knowledge that it might be half a year before we see one another again, the party has been extending, so much so that now it continues through the week. As we say good-bye to those that have to hit the road, many of the closest stay and indulge in more laughing, junking, music-making, card playing, and world’s problem solving, all at the languid speed of a summer beach vacation.  It’s reminiscent of when I was a teenager on the phone with my boyfriend, not wanting to say goodbye – “You hang up.”  “No, you hang up.”  “No, you hang up.”  “You hang up.”

I have found my people and I love them!

Jim C BrownPaul Andrews Beth Bojarski and Mark WinterDamian VelasquezChris Bruno and Lynn WhippleJohn WhippleGregory Story (we missed you at the party this year!)Audrey HellerDamian Velasquez and Lisa BurgeLisa Burge and Lynn WhippleJim Brown and Beth BojarskiLynn WhippleGregory Story and Jim BrownSo much laughingSoo tired

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Best of 2011 #4 – Artists helping artists

January 4, 2012 by Chris | 2 Comments

Project Reclamation

The horrific tornado and loss of lives in Joplin was certainly not one of the bests of 2011 but the project started in Kansas City to help the affected artists was.

We lived with the news of the Joplin tornado from the moment that it happened. Only 150 miles from Kansas City, many of our friends grew up in Joplin but left for KC as we are the closest big(ish) city, and many still have family living there. We watched Facebook feeds of friends traveling to collect their children, and others going to help their parents put their lives back together. So I was grateful and humbled to be able to take part in an amazing project put together by a great artist and former studio-mate of mine, Matt Dehaemers, and the talented Holly Swangstu.

Debris pile from Joplin tornado in Leedy-Voulkis Art Center

Description from Dehaemers:

A Debris pile collected from 6 Joplin, Missouri homes devastated by the EF-5 tornado on May 22, 2011.  98 Kansas City artists were asked to create a new work of art incorporating this debris.  The result was over 100 new works of art.  These works of art were auctioned to create a new grant made available to Joplin artists whose homes, studios and art have been destroyed by the tornado.  The Twist and Shout Auction (Part II of Project Reclamation) raised over $20,000…

…Collectively, this will be our way to bring some sense of order and hope to the chaos and darkness. Nature has wielded its own raw power and mystery through the destruction of this storm. As artists, we can work to balance that energy and force with our own expansive and powerful creative process. (more from Dehaemers)

 

Equus Ferus (Wild Horse)

Each participating artist was invited to the debris pile to pick out a few items to be used in their artwork. I selected a plastic toy horse – cracked and caked with dirt.

Toy Pony on Painted Steel

Back in my studio photographing the pony, I thought about the child that lost their toys and with it their innocence and sense of safety. How scary it must have been. I thought about our resilience and our ability to make something beautiful from the scraps. It was a profound afternoon for me- my energy so entirely focused on the people of Joplin.

On a subsequent trip to the debris pile I photographed textures including a wheelbarrow, metal flashing, and a skinned tree branch to layer into the piece. The textures of these items give context to the journey the little horse has been on, representing the power of both destruction and survival.  Each mark the scars that make a thing more beautiful and unique. How uninteresting he would be if he was perfect and new.

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Best of 2011 #3 – Our aluminum home

January 3, 2012 by Chris | 9 Comments

Escape pod to the Oregon Coast

In our continued attempt to avoid the worst of Kansas City’s weather, Kyle and I spent August escaping to the Pacific NorthWest, and what a good long trip like that requires is an escape pod, and preferably a vintage one. During our months of research on older travel trailers, we discovered that Idaho has an unusual abundance of campers. So at the beginning of the month we started our trip by showing in Sun Valley (where I won Best of Photography), and from there we launched our search. After some hunting in Boise we bought this beauty that would be our home for the next month – a 1971 Timberline that was built in Sandy, Oregon by the Kipers family.

 

1971 Timberline Trailer

Oakridge Oregon

After picking it up, we headed to Oakridge Oregon to see our friends Ben Beamer, Laura Robson, and Jill Silvey, and found ourselves right in the middle of Mountain Bike Oregon. We jumped in on mess hall duty, helping our friends feed the 500 hungry bike riders, and prepped our new trailer for its upcoming coastal adventure.

Carl G Washburne State Park

With all of the options we magically choose the most beautiful park in the mid-coast of Oregon where we had a week of exploration. We are both in love with our new portable home,  travel trailer camping, and the Oregon Coast. We are looking forward to next summer’s adventure!

Washburn State Park Trail

Trail from our campsite to the beach.

Oregon Coast near Florence

Just a bit of blue sky.

Oregon coast

I was mesmerized by the sound of the waves against the rocks!

 

We are looking for more camping ideas for next year (both near and far). What is your favorite camping spot?

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7 Bests of 2011 #2 – A love affair

January 2, 2012 by Chris | 3 Comments

I fell in love with a new (to me) technique – polymer photogravure.

I decided that with all of the left-brain work I was doing as a facilitator in Artist Inc. I needed to reward myself with a creative workshop. I was specifically looking for a workshop outside my discipline of photography, but when a short polymer photogravure workshop close to home presented itself I couldn’t resist. I’m not sure how it will present itself in my future work, but I know I am in love with this technique. Gravure employs so many elements that I have been desperately missing since giving up darkroom work – chief of them the tactile involvement and constant decision making that continues until the print is resolved. And another plus is that its historical significance photographically places it squarely within my central area of focus!  (I will write more in a later post about photo gravure itself.)

Thank you Debe Riley for the wonderful instruction and the perfect technique to present images from Guanajuato.

 

 

Photogravure taken of furnishings in Museo de Gene Byron, Marfil, Guanajuato

 

El Fusilado, Valenciana, Guanajuato

 

I’m looking for new workshop opportunities for 2012. Do you have any favorites?

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Sneak Peek of the Week, Dec 26

December 26, 2011 by Chris | 0 Comments

This time next week we will be in our beautiful January town of Guanajuato, Mexico. (Be sure to look for next’s week pick of the week!) To prepare for our trip and our subsequent shows when we return to the states, I have been working away in the studio. I am so pleased with the new large pieces, I couldn’t pick just one to show you!

 

5 Dahlquist artworks

5 large pieces drying

 

Stunner waiting for spring!

 

If you are in the market for a large piece, please let me know, and I will send you better pictures when they are completed. These will find homes very quickly, often the large pieces are spoken for before they are even dry!

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