Tag Archives: photography

Hallelujah

I have to admit I have been having a hard time this spring.

I knew this would be a year of growth. My word for the year was “Bold” and when some of my plans for the year began to falter, I added the word “Nimble”.  I knew there would be growing pains, as phrases like that become cliché for a reason. You see, I am developing a new series of artwork that involves a new printing process, and now, well past the initial steep and exciting part of the learning curve, my progress with this new technique has become so slow I think I might actually be moving backwards.

Combine that feeling with a week of completely over-intellectualizing photographs and photography at Fotofest (where the word beautiful was used as a pejorative), followed by three long days of discussing the business side of art as I helped train a new group of Artist Inc facilitators, and then finally a run of presenting my work for a wide variety of feedback from the 500,000 people that attend the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival, and photography and I were about to part ways. At the very least my camera and I were “on a break.” Essentially, these weeks have been confusing and left me trying to understand the meaning in what I do, but too tired to find it. Continue reading »

Collective Memories

Some things never change:

Yesterday I was digging through some archived writings and found an artist statement that I wrote in 2007 for the Collective Memories series of photographs. What really stood out to me is that regardless of the imagery or technique I am using, the memories and the feeling I am hoping to evoke have remained the same. The artist statement written 7 years ago could be written about any artwork I have ever made. It is a nice reminder of what is at the core of my work. Continue reading »

Laurie Anderson – The Beginning of Memory

Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed

With the recent passing of Lou Reed and the eloquent farewell that Laurie Anderson wrote to her husband, I have been thinking a lot about the last time I saw Laurie perform and how much she has to teach us. (As I must admit, Laurie has had a much bigger impact on me than Lou Reed ever did.) Continue reading »

Going against traffic

Being an artist and entertainer means we are usually going against traffic.

 

And today was no exception, as we turned Ferdinand (the van) towards Portland and passed all the RVs and cars laden with kayaks and bicycles heading out on their holiday adventures, the vacation portion of our trip was officially over and what passes for work begins. Which is to say, we’ve headed into Portland and are getting ready to set up a different kind of tent in a beautiful park where we’ll be over the holiday weekend.

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Shifted

For me, sitting around a campfire is a fantastic place to spend hours reading. In anticipation of this luxurious time, throughout the year I set aside a few books that will be ideal for travel. After our time together in Mexico my writer friend Steph Kilen gifted me just such a book – perfect for reading at the fire and contemplating on the next day’s hike through the woods. Continue reading »

The Western Expansion

2,200 miles of travel! (so far)

 

Continue reading »

My New Photogravures of Guanajuato Open this Weekend!

“Reliquaries” Opens this weekend

I’ve been so busy on the road that I have been pretty quiet about a series of artwork I have opening this weekend. Continue reading »

Peace of the week, Jan 28

Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it – memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey. –  Tad Williams

El Fusilado, Valenciana, Guanajuato

 

Watch for more photogravure images from Guanajuato throughout the spring as I prepare for my upcoming show.

Colorful Guanajuato

Kyle and I are back in Guanajuato, Mexico for our little winter warm up.

 

And I have to admit, our entry has been a little tougher this year. Not only because we are missing our friends Cheri and Allen desperately, but also because we both arrived with expectations this year. Both of us have pretty serious amounts of work that we would like to accomplish while we are here. I am shooting a new series for photo-gravure to be displayed at the Perlow-Stevens Gallery this summer, and Kyle has a lot of work to do on his pedal-steel guitar.

And isn’t it precisely these moments when life has a way of throwing a wrench in the system? Continue reading »