Physical Trace

The yellow lab coat came down last Saturday but the results were disappointing. Very little fading occurred which made me re-evaluate the act of sewing in the gallery space I had envisioned.

The coat only got about 40 minutes of late afternoon light on a good sunny day and I doubt there have Ben even ten of those during the run of in vivo. Not the best way to create a physical trace of the exhibition.

It is still disassembled and my inclination is to give the pieces more exposure in the backyard.

the (pink) lab coat is the experiment

The other component of In Vivo which was documented last Thursday, Pink Pokeberry Lab Coat. The pattern was created from a scan of a couple of pokeweed leaves.

The coat has several panels made from various dilutions of pokeberry juice. The left rear has completely faded because of the 1:2 dilution used but retains brown images where pink used to be. The right rear has faded the least and, in fact, achieved the least record of an image from exposure to sun. The right rear and right front pocket both got full strength pokeberry juice. The front panels were made using a 1:1 dilution of pokeberry juice.

The hanger is made from a fallen sycamore branch recovered in South Park (Dayton).

Thank you Charmaine Renee for your excellant sewing skills and problem solving abilities. Charmaine and I will be at DVAC tomorrow at 4 pm to sew together he saffron coat which has been at the front of the gallery receiving a bit of sunlight everyday since the exhibition opened.

waiting with map pins

One month, maybe longer, I return to the blog.

Sorry.

Someday soon excuses will surface but for now I will get right down to business. In Vivo, the three person show at DVAC, has two days remaining. Today, I returned to the gallery to document two of the pieces and now I am regretting not photographing the rest of the installation.

Above is an image of Forty-six, photographed at a raking angle so that you, the viewer, may see how each 12" x 9" piece is anchored to the wall. Just two map pins at the top, which leaves the bottom flapping in the circulating air. 

Gang of Four

Here's a preview of the grid of four framed cyanotypes of fungi at DVAC.

four of forty-six

It's been a while. These last few weeks have been full of printing, framing, printing, getting class materials together for a new semester, more printing, and more framing. Oh...and there was a short beautiful trip to New Mexico.

There is lots to blog about. To start off the new month on its fourth day, I am presenting a preview of the seed installation at DVAC. Here our four of the forty-six Van Dyke Brown prints of maple seeds I will have on the wall at the gallery. The exhibition opens on September 14th.

the usual suspects and their comfort zones

I do have an image of the newest piece for in vivo. I'll post it tomorrow. Or just visit my website, www. frangst.com.

In the meantime, just a heads up regarding the usual suspects, summer juried shows.

Three pieces, Pluot, Japanese Pear and Honey Crisp, are part of the annual Fine Arts Exhibition at the Ohio State Fair. This is a great exhibition that runs concurrent with the state fair, from July 25th through August 4th, bringing in a diverse group of visitors (fair go-ers) to see work made by professional and amateur Ohio artists. An opening reception is planned for Tuesday, July 24th from 6-8 pm.

Earlier this summer, I broke out of my comfort zone to work with an iPhone photograph which I printed for the 21st annual members juried show at Dayton Visual Arts Center. The exhibition is titled and themed "No Borders". Look for my print just below a photograph by Janelle Young. This exhibition runs from July 13th through August 18th. DVAC has gallery hours of 11 am through 6pm Tuesday through Saturday.

the gardner in all of us

Wednesday night I attended the Dayton Visual Arts Center annual meeting (for 2010 - 2011). The initial pull was a phone call from Patrick Mauk requesting my attendance to receive the Lombard award for apple which was the first place winner in the annual members show. These sorts of things don't happen very often for any artist and it really is due to the hard work of Bridgette Bogle that I had any work in this exhibition.

It was a chance to catch up with Tess Cortés (Netta Bits), Bruce Campbell, and Christina Pereyma who's works were also honored on Wednesday. But it was also a chance to see Jane Black one last time in her capacity of Director of Dayton Visual Arts Center. In a few months she will be co-directing the Dayton Art Institute. It was also a chance meeting with retiring Board of Trustees Secretary Anne Johnson who has an unexpected connection to an artist that I strongly admire.

During the reception following the meeting, Anne spoke admiringly of apple and then proceeded to offer me a copy of Plant Kingdoms: the Photographs of Charles Jones. It turns out her nephew in San Francisco has some of the glass plate negatives produced by this turn of the century English gardner who never exhibited his photographs in his lifetime. Her nephew is also a co-author of this book. I can't remember how I originally found this book but I believe I may have bought it in Half Price Books in Columbus. I was able to tell her that I did have a copy and that I did think that Charles Jones was an inspiration for my own approach to photography.

Now I have two tasks: Locate this book amongst my disorganized shelves and look up her nephew the next time I am in the bay area (perhaps a two week visit to the Headlands Center for the Arts).

Partially in Print

Since this blog is also an archive of my career in the arts (think scrap book) I occasionally will list articles and books in which I appear or exhibitions of which I am part (but maybe not mentioned). From last month is an article on the DVAC members exhibition titled Light reviewed by Pam Dillon (apple was mentioned) and Christopher Yates' review of the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition 2011 (apple not mentioned but Amanda Tirey Graham, a grad school colleague, was).

http://www.daytondailynews.com/entertainment/ohio-theater-arts/imaginations-take-flight-exploring-light-theme-1219193.html

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2011/07/31/2-yates31-art-gt1dh2so-1.html

Look for a book on anthotypes by Malin Fabbri to be published soon. I may be in it if my publication permission forms make it safely to Sweden.

Wall Power (while I’m away)

Besides clearing out my old office, I managed to make some new Vandyke Brown prints before the long drive out to Boston. One of which is now in two group exhibitions. Apple is part of the Dayton Visual Arts Center’s Annual Members Exhition which has the theme Light. The exhibition opened last night and I was informed by phone that it won first place (the Lombard award) and was purchased. Perhaps this one has real “Wall Power”. Thanks to my partner in life, Bridgette Bogle, who convinced me to submit a piece (remotely) and ran the photograph over to David Crowell’s Custom Frame Services. Apple is also on display at the Fine Arts Exhibition in the 2011 Ohio State Fair.

I am sure Dayton Visual Art Center will have documentation in the near future of last nights opening.  In the meantime you can see a simulacrum of Apple here.