Gushy on Chincoteague Island

This week Bridgette and I escaped Dayton for a few days. Jill and Tim invited us to stay at their beach house on Chincoteague Island. I managed to get to the water on two days. It was a mini vacation even though I brought some art documentation work with me which ate up most of Wednesday which was the day the salt cowboys ran the swimming of the ponies.

I'll be uploading more images to Flickr this week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frangst/

In the meantime here is an image from the carousel in the Chincoteague carnival grounds. This image was taken with a 55mm Diana lens on a Canon digital rebel. Gushy!

ohio state fair fine arts exhibition 2010

The Ohio State Fair opened up today. Besides the butter sculptures that Bridgette and I love so much, one should mention the Fine Arts Exhibition. This year the Schanbogles are represented (both Bridgette and I have work in the professional divsion) and while we were not able to attend last night's reception we will eventually make it over there to see everyone's work.

In the meantime some record keeping. My accepted entries that I will never again be able to submit to the state fair are...

Hairy Cemetery Nut, left

Decaying Leaf (Apron), middle

Split Pod (Chaps), right

a piece of sky

one of the things I do on the side is document art work. For the last eight years I have had the opportunity to photograph objects and installations by Suzanne Silver.

Today was one such day with the session spanning three rooms, lots of loose work on paper, warm (hot) humid temperatures and about seven hours including the jaunt over to west campus.

There was a parking ticket...grrrrrrrr...but I did park in a loading zone for four hours....grrrrr...but it was a hot, humid, sunny Sunday.

it's what hot, humid days are for

lumen prints, it's what the hot, humid days of summer are for.

continuing the found on a walk theme. These seeds are from about 3 houses south of our house. Might even be in front of the house David Esrati's parents are living in.

working title

Now I am a point where the title of the vandyke brown prints, Forces of Nature, seems to be a disservice.

In October I will be showing a different version of this work at Sinclair Community College's Works on Paper gallery. Three quarters will be new.

I was pondering this a couple of days ago. I was experimenting with:

from my walks; walking, wanting walking, walk

...mainly as a way to bring the viewer into the process of making these images, their selection, even their inception.

so the (working and hopefully final) title will be:


from walking

and medium:

Vandyke Brown Prints (Photography)

visiting with old friends

Talk about things that don't get talked about when one is talking with someone about art. On the list of many things about being an artist that isn't "fun". Imagine cleaning out your basement and visiting a therapist. Now mix the two and you have "revisiting old work" or in the case of the self-portraits, "visiting with old friends".

I was pulling stuff up from the basement to show Kay Koeninger for a future exhibit on portraits. Don't get me wrong. I love the work from my thesis exhibition. How could Narcissus not love his own reflection? I don't love how I've stored the work (it's big for how I work). There's old artist tape and velcro sticking to the velcro not meant to be in contact. I was an installation artist in 2002. Now, I think I'm a mat and frame artist.

So I will be spending some time this week with old friends, trying to figure out who will be going to the Riffe gallery in late January and how exactly an installation in 2002 will translate, in part, to a new space in 2010.

beardos five

Why did I pull the Fisher Price Fun Photo Maker off the shelf and start playing with it (again)? I have a love hate relationship with this camera and dread having to reload the pink cassettes with thermal fax (point of purchase receipt) paper once they run out. It only focuses well at arms length or closer so it is a natural for self-portraits.

What's changed since the mis-taken exhibition in 2002? I have a wisp of goatee that looks like it has been inspired by Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas.

So with that said, I present to you my fifth attempt to capture my beard with the Fun Photo Maker. Here is Beardos #5.