US travels

July 8 I just spent about 3 weeks ping-ponging from one part of the US to another, and though it's nice to be home, I loved the chance to observe the expansive, astonishing, often impossibly gorgeous landscape of this country, especially as myopic politics conspires to reduce the variety of America to charts and graphs. After Kansas City, a week in Colorado for a conference and visits to old friends – Boulder, Gunnison, Telluride - then we turned around and made for a wedding on the East Coast north of Boston and a B&B in quaint, foggy Rockport. The Rockport area has a long history as an art colony (my great aunt used to visit an artist friend of hers there in the early 1900's) - though the predictable subject matter of local seascapes, seashells, seagulls, etc., must get to feel pretty confining, I saw some nice work. No museum visits after Kansas City, but plenty of masterworks of the natural sort - my sketchbook is full of pencil drawings that I can plumb for larger work later.

Art in Kansas City
I spent a recent week as one of the readers (graders) for the national AP Art History exam, something I’ve done for the past few years. This year the reading was in Kansas City so I had the wonderful opportunity to get to know the Nelson-Atkins Museum, just down the road from where we were working. According to one of the participants, an art historian who works in the museum field, the Nelson Atkins ranks solidly in the “Masterpiece” category among American museums. Among many true masterpieces the collection includes a lushly painted St. John the Baptist by Caravaggio (a rare name in the U.S.) and parts of a mural by Thomas Hart Benton, a native son of Kansas City. The real wealth of the museum for me, however, despite all the Western treasures, was the Chinese and Asian collection on the second floor, featuring the Guanyin Bodhisattva, a 10thth century figure of indescribable majesty and splendor. This particular Bodhisattva (figures in Buddhism who have attained enlightenment but remain on earth to help others – represents, in Chinese Buddhism, the quality of compassion. Clothed in rich draping layers (painted in the 16th century), I came upon him sitting in the ‘royal ease’ pose under an intricate wooden ceiling in front of an ancient clay wall decorated with watercolor. Despite age and a fragile medium, the details of faces and gestures on that wall were breathtakingly tender and fresh. The resonance of the setting and the purity of the figure were stirring – it felt so soothing, as if simply being in his presence would solve all problems - past, present, and future. It was hard to tear myself away.

The Nelson-Atkins also has an excellent selection of modern art, and the Kemper Museum, a separate museum for contemporary art, is next door. The headliner at the moment is Chakaia Booker, an amazing American sculptor who creates powerful pieces out of old truck tires, using the texture and blackness to connect her African heritage with contemporary attitudes and issues at a deeply visceral level. Look for her work - you won't forget it once you see it.

Irish Drawing

As the heading of this blog I’ve chosen one of my recent drawings, made with pen and colored ink. The landscape is a peninsula in the West of Ireland near Bantry where I spent a week last summer. The wind, the shifting patterns of green, the cottage set like jewels among the hedges and stone walls, the dark water under shape-shifting clouds – it all stays in my mind and, I hope, comes through in the drawing. The landscape was timeless and eternal but never did I see it looking the same. I have quite a few drawings in my sketchbook - I'd have had more if not for the #*&%# horseflies swarming out of the lovely wildflower-covered hedges! The pen line is watersoluble, so when I add the colored ink it does double duty in adding color and pulling the two elements into a wash, which I can control but not too closely. I’ve been doing quite a few drawings recently with this technique, including some from from my sketchbooks on a recent trip to Sea Ranch. I love the way I can set up a drawing with my line and choice of color and then watch it take on a life of its own with the liquid from the brush. I’ve always been an advocate of processes where I can cede some of the control to the materials, and where expertise, wisdom, and skill engage in a dialogue with chance.