put a bird on it.

This tiny body of work was inspired by two things: firstly- the show Portlandia making fun of Portland artists and artisans for using bird imagery as an added value cliche (Kinda like when Dan Cameron, curator at the time of the New Museum of Contemporary Art told me I didn't want to be a "horse painter."  I guess you could say I have a chip on my shoulder.  Anyway, eat your heart out Carrie Brownstein {just kidding, I love your work for NPR}).  Secondly, I found an old sketch that showed a campfire, with figures around it and the words "boys as birds."   Through these collages, I created portraits of certain boys I know as they would appear in the avian realm.  The rooster, vulture, and blue heron have specific mythology and medicine attached to them; and as the collages developed, the research helped me develop an understanding of the archetypes of those certain boys.  The understanding was fleshed out more entirely as I realized that the last bird, the crow, was in actuality my own self portrait.



In Order:
despite all his finery (and the breaking of the dawn).  the view above bleached white bones.  the fox and the crow want to crown you.  portrait of the artist as an old crow.

More of an Art Skip

Miss Cyr and I drove up to Portland yesterday through a record high heat wave.  We met up with Miss Jo, who had been traveling around Oregon and at last alighted at her parents house. The afternoon was free for checking out art galleries before the girls dropped me off at the airport for my red eye to Minneapolis.  (I'm still awake and at the airport, delirium has arrived.)

We unfortunately only made it to a couple galleries before they closed- Compound, the Goldsmith Blocks, and the New Space for Photography (Cyr was making connections, and scoping out the dark room).  Not quite an Art Hop, but that typically happens on first Thursdays or last Fridays anyhow.  

My favorite piece had to be an installation by sculptor Kevin Christman.   Bone white figures floated elegantly, each one tucked with peaceful expressions into a fetal position.    I don't recall how many there were,  but each one was different and there was a ballet-esque quality that contrasted with the stillness of them hanging over metallic sorta pillers/stakes .    

The evening continued with Old Friend Terah Beth- one half of the band Hey Lover, joining the girls and me for drinks at a hip little southeast bar called Night Light.  Despite the 101 degrees (I could have done bikram yoga outside!) Portland is a very welcoming town...