Making great progress!

Working on new the Thin Places artwork has been a very deep and meaningful process.  It has offered me a way to reenter the experience again, allowing the sense of discovery to continue.  As I am creating new work from my imagery, I am perceiving beauty and meaning again, from a different perspective.

I am very pleased with the progress I am making.  I will have most of the Thin Places work completed by the end of this month!   I just recently sent the first two finished pieces, developed on aluminum, to Assisi, Italy for the International Contemporary Art Exhibition at the Art Gallery Le Logge.  This exhibit, opening December 2, will feature artwork by the 2012 resident artists of the Arte Studio Ginestrelle.

In addition, I will also have Thin Places work exhibited at the Timken World Headquarters in Canton, OH from October 2012- January 2013. There are also a couple of other exhibition possibilities that I am waiting to hear back about.

I am so eager to share this work and so very thankful for all of the people who helped to make my residency and this project possible! THANK YOU!

Manifestation

An image of the tracery from the rose window in the Basilica of St. Clare, in Assisi, Italy was merged with an iconic view of the Umbrian countryside with its cyprus trees.  Together they seemed to create a thoughtful space that visualized growth.

Size (h x w):

Media: digital photography on aluminum

SOLD

Dreaming Again...

I invite you to please take a moment to check out my NEW PORTFOLIO with some new pieces not yet printed!  And while you are there, please click "collect me" to vote for my artwork.  There are cash prizes, exhibition and publication opportunities, and a trip around the world for the winning artists!

Yes, I AM dreaming, but hey, it's worth a try!  My sincerest thanks for your time and support.

Please feel free to forward this on to those who may be interested.

Thanks again,
Michele

Opportunity Knocks

I am thoroughly enjoying the long awaited process of sifting through my photos from my artist residency in Assisi, Italy!  As I am getting started (finally!) on my new Thin Places body of work I am feeling refreshed in the beauty and inspiration that I experienced in Assisi.  It was such a privilege to go and I am so very thankful for the opportunity.

While in Italy I was consistently drawn to ornate door knockers on charming wooden doors.  They seemed to capture the passage of time with such weathered beauty while also igniting my curiosity as to what was on the other side.

I am looking forward to making some smaller works for sale in my studio featuring some of these door knockers.  Stop by soon!

Unexpected Surprise!

So many have asked about my time in Assisi.  It has been difficult to articulate and share about the large and small elements of the experience that made it so inspiring, rewarding, thought provoking, moving,...but I am working on it!  I am still thinking about and processing so many aspects of it, which I am sure I will be doing for quite a while!  Creating the new body of work will undoubtedly be an integral part of processing the experience. 

Interestingly, since returning from Italy I have noticed that I am still scanning my surroundings with a heightened sense of observation, looking for beauty and meaning around me.  In Assisi, I knew I had limited time and was seeking to capture imagery and experience the surroundings to create my Thin Places body of work.  Yet, here I am, back in Ohio, looking closely and appreciating the beauty around me.  What an unexpected surprise!

Assisi

I spent a full day in Assisi, walking up hills and down hills. There was a wonderful sense of adventure as the streets have small alleys branching off and interconnecting with other streets. There was a continuous feeling of discovery as I wandered around bends, hiked up steps and wound through narrow streets. Assisi is on the side of a large hill, so it obviously slopes downhill, but it also goes downhill on the opposite plane, making for a lot of inclines and steps! It is really amazing to see the various Roman arches that indicate where the city walls were and where expansion took place. One road shows three expansions, a very early arch, one from an expansion in 1265 and another from 1316.

It wasn't very crowded today, so I really got a great feel for the place in a quiet atmosphere. I saw the Rocca Minore and the Rocca Maggiore, both medieval fortresses. I toured the inside of the large fortress, which was historically and architecturally intriguing. It also provided an excellent view, since it is on the top of the hill that Assisi is situated on. I spent a good amount of time at the cemetery just outside the city walls. It was a contemplative place with abundant artwork and a beautiful view. It didn't have the forsaken feel of so many other cemeteries, the dead were not forgotten with the scent of fresh flowers by numerous graves, old and new.

I visited many churches today, but the church I enjoyed most was St. Stephano. It is one of the oldest churches in Assisi and was built very plainly by stonemasons. It was the most unadorned basic church I had been in so far, but there was something about the beauty of the sparse space, with only a few faded frescos and low lighting, which provided dramatic shadows.

Eremo delle Carceri

Perhaps my favorite place yet is the area around St. Francis' hermitage, the Eremo Della Carceri. On Mt. Subascio there is a cave or grotto where St. Francis would withdraw to pray and contemplate. (Carceri means "to withdraw"). To get there, you go through a tiny 15th century oratory connected to a small chapel area, the Cappella Della Madonna. There is one fresco in each area, which you can stand very near to and focus on. These intimate spaces provided a deeply thin place for me. I am still pondering the oratory and chapel, as to why it felt so different. Perhaps because of its close proximity with nature, intimate spaces, fewer crowds, the history surrounding it, or a mixture of them all. I know there is no formula for thin places, but I am still left with a sense of wonder.

Arte Studio Ginestrellle

I arrived at Arte Studio Ginestrelle yesterday. It is a 19th century farmhouse that originally

housed animals in the lower level. Today, the lower level is made up of three different kitchens and a large communal space for the artists in residence. The house is very charming and has a real sense of history that seems to invite discovery in and around it.

Last night I had dinner with Marina, the director, Jo, a visual artist from Alaska, and Tommie, a writer from Finland. We had a lot of fun chatting about cultural differences, from food to how to call a cat or other animals, to traditions that accompany different holidays. We laughed a lot at some of the random things we discovered.

Today was my first full day in the town of Assisi. Apart from the masses of the Italian version of girl scouts, wearing monks clothes and lady bug beenie hats, that swarmed around in the earlier part of the day, it was easy to maneuver. Though no photography is allowed in most churches, I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences within.

Some of the pigments in the frescos in the Basilica of Saint Francis have oxidized, actually giving it an inverted look that plays with your perspective. I sat in a side chapel in the lower church during mass and was deeply moved by it. (The lower church is the older part over which a grander basilica was built and frescoed by Giotto, Cimabue...it was awesome to see both levels of frescoes!!) When the priest sang, it was so beautiful, perhaps because I have not experienced mass before or perhaps because I did not focus on the words, since I don't understand Italian very well...regardless, this was a thin place for me filled with pure beauty, both audible and visual with the frescoes all around. I think Lent is a perfect time to explore art in Italy, there is a heightened sensitivity to the imagery.

In the Basilica of St. Clare, there was a misty haze from the incense that glowed in the late afternoon sun coming through the rose window. Again, a thin place for me.