I am currently showing with 12 wonderfully talented fellow artists in "Smaller Than a Breadbox", a show of small works at the Durango Arts Center library. Artists were invited to create works no larger than 12" in any direction, though Mike Brieger, in typical fashion, stretched those boundaries a little bit. Jules Masterjohn did a beautifully insightful review of the show in the Durango Telegraph.
The piece I created for the show is titled "Retrieving the Hand, Reviving the Heart." I found an old soldering stand earlier this year and purchased it with the intention of using it for the small works show. It wasn't until October that I knew what I would create. For about the last two years, I had undergone what I would call a dry spell in my art. I did create some work during that time, but it consisted mostly of simple, quick sketches or work that I had already started and then completed during this time period. The dry spell I encountered was more an inability to sustain the creative process over any serious length of time. I did not suffer from any lack of ideas. Most likely our search for a larger house over the last couple years, one that would allow both of us ample studio space, and giving up my studio at the Smiley Building, had the biggest impact on my stint in creative limbo. "Retrieving the Hand, Reviving the Heart" represents my slow emergence back into my work.
The show runs through December 2007. The exhibit is curated by Louise Grunewald, Deborah Gorton, Jane Steele, Barb Klema and Mary Ellen Long. The other amazing artists in the show are Karen Pittman, Debra Greenblatt, Ed Bolster, Ed Kruse, Grace Kruse, Cuatro Kruse, Joan Levine Russell, Judy Brey, Sandra Butler, Jules Masterjohn, Amy Wendland and Mike Brieger.
Addendum: A subsequent review of the show was written by Leanne Goebel of the Durango Herald. Though I do not agree with her demeaning assessment of the exhibit space and some of the work, she does have some interesting commentary on several of the pieces.
