We are heading into our third year together!

Or I could say, we have just completed our second year together.
But, I am looking forward.
It was wonderful and soul-nourishing to be together on Sunday at Zelda's. Thank you for always saying Yes to us, Zelda. John and Cherie are on the mend and have used up their allotment of sick days for the Salon. The rest of you folks were missed. Truly.
We used the time to reconnect after being apart for the whole summer. We spent the first hour and a half catching up, each person getting a turn to share with the group.

The second "half" was devoted to envisioning our future. Now that almost everyone has had a chance to be visited, viewed and worshipped, we're ready for a deeper dig. The universal consensus was that we'd like to take our studio visits to another level. We seem to have established a level of trust and respect with each other. We had our retrospectives. Now, we can use these visits for more focused conversation. We can designate the direction of the visits and seek whatever we feel we need in our respective journeys.
Some people wanted to steer away from technique, unless it was pertinent. Others are looking for thematic connections. This will continue to evolve. Sandy says enough already with the painters! Someone suggested we get another man in the group.

And yes, we want to set a tangible goal of showing together. Here's what we discussed:

• Group show, including all of us
• Idea of creating a piece specifically for this show
• We will have a meeting that will address the show goals
• In the near future, I will send out an "assignment" to come up with three possible show themes, or words. Then we'll chat.
• We'll create a realistic deadline for the creation of the piece.
• It has been established that we will have no problem finding a venue for the show (I declared it, so it will be).

Our next studio visit: Sunday, October 17, 2:00 at Cherie's Studio. No, really, at Cherie's!

Salon member's upcoming and ongoing shows:

Sandy Abrams "Eire: Romancing the Soul"
September 28 - November 28, 2010
Reception: Saturday October 2
4:00 - 6:0 PM
Utopia Restaurant
445 E. First Street
Long beach, CA 90802
562-432-6888
P.S. Here is the website that Sandy mentioned: Joe Hogan Basketmaker

Kate Savage
TarFest Art Exhibition
Friday, September 24 - October 8, 2010
Reception: Friday, September 24, 6-9 PM
Please see website for details
www.launchla.org

Zelda Zinn
Crossroads Faculty Show
Sam Francis Gallery
Santa Monica
Details on website

Please let me know if I have missed anything important.
I look forward to an another year of connection, conversation and calories.
Abrazos y besos,
Phoebe

Call for Artists GATE

Glendale Area Temporary Exhibitions 2010-2011
Please check out this site for info on submissions.
Thanks Zelda for the heads up!

Looking forward to the new season

It seems like an eternity since we've all been together. I am so looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday, September 19, at Cherie's studio visit.
Forever connected the the school calendar (despite no longer being connected to a school), this always feel the like the beginning of a new year. I hope we will continue our momentum and see what we can bring to the Salon and what the Salon can create for us.

Here's an interesting article from the LA Times last week:
LA Art Biennial on tap for 2012
It's about time. Let's be in it.

Craig and I saw some great exhibits yesterday and I thought I'd share them:

Larry Pittman at Regen Projects
He just takes my breath away. Check out both Regen Projects galleries. His new paintings are at the new space and a survey of works on paper (presented in a very trippy way) are at the older space.
Alberto Burri at the Santa Monica Museum of Art
Amazing Italian artist who spent some time in Los Angeles. Under the radar and ahead of his time. Some of the uses of his materials reminded me a little of the way Lee Bontecou used burlap and charred-looking materials. As Shelley Duvall said in Annie Hall, it was "Trans-splendid".
Nancy Jackson at Rosamund Felson
We are both such big fans of Nancy Jackson. We own one her pieces from her debut show at Rosamund Felson. Her work is honest, beautiful, idiosyncratic and let's you in on her unique sense of journey. This work is both very dark (nightmarish, detailed, cross-hatched drawings and paintings) and literally very light (spiraling mobiles cut from delicate sheets of paper). And at times humorous.
She moved to the east coast last year. That'll mess with your head...

So, sorry I've been out of touch. Our dog is recovering from knee surgery. We've been home with him for weeks and I've generally had my head in the foggy regions of the never ending quest for trans-splended-ness.
Love to you all...