retired and moved

this blog site http://shaunaleelange.blogspot.com has been retired and relocated to over to wordpress at http://shaunaleelange.wordpress.com.

or, to keep things simple - just click on www.shaunaleelange.com.  we hope you like our new pages!

a glimpse of our design center

Believe it or not, most of our ideas, work, and inspiration comes from a very small "hub" or "design studio" or "artists studio."  Any artist worth his salt will tell you that NOTHING comes unless first there is a major understanding of color, form, function, and placement.  

The face of the work surface changes often because as one of Washington DC's premier art advisories, first we are on the go OFTEN and second we have to look at a tremendous amount of art.  Believe me, we do.  Both over the Internet, in print, and via submissions sent by mail.  

Once you know art, you know the exercise of viewing others works can be tremendously draining.  One of the ways we keep on top of it is to use our creative outlets as often as possible.  Whether it is lounging on the couch or using a Moleskine journal to mind-map ideas and new ventures, it all happens here.  You know what they say, good things come in small packages.  

The thing I love about this small converted space and that you can't see is a gorgeous triple vertical window overlooking careful landscape.  The thing I'd most like to change about our studio is the chairs and maybe the lighting.  Rolling chairs would just make the world spin and bring all the tools to immediate reach.  Oh, and we recently upgraded to an iMac - so our visual windows to the art world have been greatly enhanced.  

somerset art journaling

Stampington & Company will be launching a new periodical in the new year.  Somerset Art Journaling magazine promises to take you inside the pages of some of your favorite artists for a personal look.  Detailed photos and insightful commentary will help the artist discover a personal journaling style, with tips on creating stand-out pages.  Learn techniques, find inspiration, and take your own art journal to the next level.  

BookEnds: the book as art

Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory is entering a book arts international call for entries in Alexandria, VA with exhibition dates of January 22 - February 22, 2009.  BookEnds:  the book as art is sponsored by the Torpedo Factory Art Center and will show at the Target Gallery.  Jurist Helen Frederick will be selecting top prizes for the exhibition that focuses on the book as art.  This will be Lange's first venture in this art form.  

Images:  (1) Lange, Red/Read, 18" x 12", book arts, 2008; (2) Lange, Flight of Words, 24" x 24", book arts, 2008: and (3) Lange, Gardens of New York, 12" x 26", book arts, 2008.

lange arts advisory joins washington project for the arts

We recently joined the Washington Project for the Arts and will be featuring our arts advisory, artists' agent, and artists' representative services as well as our journal and book arts.  WPA offers a weekly newsletter, an ArtFile Online, Artlist DC featuring current metropolitan DC art events, and several exciting calls and projects. 

Image Credit:  Bookarts - Lynn Sures of Wheaton, Maryland as featured on ArtFile Online.

lange arts advisory participates in national sketchbook project

We are thrilled to be participating in Art House LLC's newest event, The Sketchbook Project.  Moleskine notebooks are being sent to artists who register and will then go on to be shown at a seven city tour of galleries and museums throughout the nation.  The theme of the Sketchbook Project is "Everyone We Know."  Man, that's a LOT of people.  The Sketchbook Project's event is similar to the recent 1,000 Journals Project that received much publicity.  Personally, we're amazed at the inventiveness, revenue generating schemes, and community art projects designed by Atlanta's trendy gallery.  You can also participate in The Timeline Project or The Ten Thousand People Interpret One Word Project.  Here are the upcoming show dates which will be featuring some of DC's based Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory's finest work.

Atlanta - Art House Gallery - Starting Point

DC - Museum of Contemporary Art - March 3, 2009

Philly - Chris' Jazz Cafe - March 4, 2009

Boston - Laconia Gallery - March 6, 2009

Chicago - Antena Gallery - March 8, 2009

Brooklyn - 3rd Ward Gallery - March 13, 2009

Atlanta - Museum of Design - April 2, 2009

  

make art everyday!

paper marbeling, marbled paper, turkish paper = EBRU

We came across a fantastic article from World Bulletin explaining the origins and the method of creating EBRU or Turkish Paper (we know it as marbled paper or paper marbeling). The link is here.

university of washington allen library

The Allen Library has an amazing collection of book arts which includes over 14,000 examples of historical and modern aspects of the physical book. We just love this one for inspiration.

Image Shown: Sande Wascher-James, How Long? Renton, WA, 1994. Silkscreen and color photocopy printed

the soundry's grand opening

Vienna's The Soundry is moving its Grand(er) Opening Party to Saturday December 13th. It will be a jolly time and artists will have items at the show that will make unique and wonderful holiday gifts. They will also have plenty of good food, drinks, and even a few surprises.

December 13, 2008

JEN & THOR

THE SOUNDRY

318 Dominion Road

Vienna, VA 22180

www.soundry.net

703-698-0088

capitol hill art league - wraps it up!

The Capitol Hill Art League (CHAL), a program of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW), features small, original works at its popular, annual show, “Wrap It Up” which opens with a reception for the public. The unjuried show features works by CHAL members who submit five pieces of ready-to-hang small works. Three pieces are hung for the opening and as the pieces sell, the two pieces in reserve replace sold works. Artists receive a 90% commission on the sales. “Wrap It Up” exudes a shiny, fun spirit as shoppers eagerly purchase bargain, quality art and announce “wrap it up.”

Saturday, December 13, 2008, 5-7 PM

Capitol Hill Arts Workshop

Capitol Hill Art League - A program of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW)

545 7th Street, SE Washington, DC 20003

202 547-6839 Fax: 202 543-1723

CONTACT: Geoff Ault, gcault@yahoo.com

sidney lawrence ink cities @ district fine arts

We could not have been more excited to receive Todd Savitch's press release about Sidney Lawrence's Ink Cities Book Signing where Lawrence will provide personalized inscriptions and sketches for his new 200-edition artist's book.

Inspired by pocket-sized sketchbooks artists often carry while traveling, the 32-page, spiral-bound publication ($26) presents Lawrence's highly detailed, often fantasy-laden drawings of 24 cities from around the world-DC, Shanghai, Fez, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen and Sydney, to name a few---with a handwritten fact, anecdote or impression to accompany each image. Ink drawings, Lawrence says, are "my Ouija Board for capturing a city's buzz and sense of adventure."

Ink Cities is meant to appeal to all ages, Lawrence stresses. "At the end, readers may use their own words and images to portray their favorite cities on five blank pages," he says. The reproduced drawings date from 1987 to 2008; several are in local and national collections. Ink Cities appears as part of Lawrence's current show at DFA of paintings, reliefs and works on paper (Nov. 15, 2008 to Jan. 17, 2009), and is much appreciated after all the photography we will have seen during DC Fotoweek. Lawrence has exhibited in the DC area since the early 1980s and also in California and Massachusetts.

Saturday, December 13, 4-6 pm. , from 4 to 6 pm

District Fine Arts

1639 Wisconsin Wisconsin Ave. N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20007
202-328-9100

dfa1726@earthlink.net

www.dfaonline.com

Hours: 11 am - 6:30 pm, Tuesday - Saturday (after hours by appointment)

french painter seeks us gallery representation

French painter Christophe Villedary is currently showing in Languedoc-Roussillon in France and is looking for a US gallery to diffuse his work. www.villedary-c.com.

lynn boggess at principle gallery

If it weren't my 45th on November 21st, I'd be headed over to Old Town Alexandria's Principle Gallery where Lynn Boggess is showing some of his finest "realism landscapes."  Borgess recently taught as a Professor of Art at Fairmont State University and he holds a MFA from the esteemed Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI.  In addition to his landscape paintings, Borgess wishes to draw attention to the diverse nature of West Virginia and its flora through the use of vertical painting formats where the viewer is drawn into the deeply receding spaces.  Free from human influence, the scenes invite contemplation of time, the cycle of the senses, and the alternating character of river rocks.  

Images Shown:  Lynn Boggess, Image 1 - Rapids on the New River, 30 x 26, oil on Canvas (Gallery #11516); Image 2 - Gallery #10807, 46 x 40, oil on canvas, 2007; Image 3 - Tea Creek, 46 x 40, oil on canvas, 2008

william greenfield photographs - fauxto

William Greenfield sent us a nicely organized notice of his upcoming 3-volume boxed set of photography published by Axios LLC under the title FAUXTO.  Designed by Tessa van der Waals and printed by Mart.Spruijt bv in the Netherlands, the accomplished work contains approximately 30 photographs.  Greenfield, of Pennsylvania, also received a MFA from Pratt Institute and his work can be seen in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the Musee de l'Elysee in Lausanne, the Munchner Stadtmuseum, Stiftung Moritzburg in Halle, Germany and the Brooklyn Museum.  

max rodriquez art - natural impressions

max rodriquez sent us a note on his natural impressions series.  A one-of-a-kind work, actual impressions are created in plaster on canvas, then painted, stained and colored to resemble fossils, artifacts, and aged botanicals.  The art is textural and colorful and can be mixed and combined to create individual and unique art pieces.  Two sizes are available, 10 x 10 or 10 x 20.  Max will also custom design, color, and size pieces on commission.  Rodriquez is a Cuban born artist with television and movie credits to his arts resume.  

Images Shown:  Max Rodriquez Natural Impressions Numbers 164, 185, and 176.   

three new supply trials

A few days ago, we were sharing about our first experience with gouache and thought better to try with savoir faire's yellow ochre opaque gouache.  While not as smelly as the winsor newton, the product was also not as luxurious.  We thought it had rather a flat feel and appearance and was more difficult to spread over the paper.  

Another adventure led us to Tyson's Corner's The Container Store where we were looking for clear storage drawers for small artists' tools.  We found an 11-drawer stacking unit (very similar to the one shown) and so far it's working for us except for the fact that the drawers pull all the way out of the unit and the drawer edges appear to be able to chip easily.  

Lastly over at DC's Utrecht, we picked up a bottle of Tombo Mono Aqua Liquid Glue with two applicators in nontoxic acid free.  The two applicators are great and the glue is good for paper crafts, even with very glossy weights. 

thena smith's poetic license

Thena Smith's written a great little piece she calls "Scrapbooking" - maybe it applies to artists everywhere.  We've reposted it in her honor.  

francisca sutil transcending with nohra haime

Nohra Haime's Gallery is showing at PINTA next week and she's bring a cadre of artists with her - notably Francisca Sutil.  Born in Santiago Chile, Sutil's had four major exhibitions in the U.S.  She's been taught by the Southern Methodists in Dallas, The Universidad Catolica de Santiago, Parsons School of Design in New York, Whitney Museum Seminars, and she holds a MFA from Pratt Institute.  In 2000, Sutil completed a series of 12 paintings commissioned for the private Cruz Chapel in Santiago de Chili.  

PINTA

The Metropolitan Pavilion

125 West 18th Street - Booth 313

Between 6th and 7th Ave.

New York, NY 10011

Nohra Haime Gallery

41 East 57th Street

New York, New York 10022

212.888.3550

gallery@nohrahaimegallery.com

Image Shown:  Francisca Sutil:  Transcending, 2002, pigmented gesso and oil on linen mounted on wood, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in.

sohan qadri: the colors of india

Sohan Qadri is an artist, poet, and Buddhist yogi from India. He's lived in Copenhagen for the last 30 years. His paintings result from states of deep meditation, and are informed by the colors of India: luminous, dye-infused works on meticulously serrated paper. Over his long career, Qadri has interacted with a wide array of cultural figures including Surrealist painter Rene Magritte, Nobel laureate Heinrich Boll, and architect Le Corbusier. Qadri has had more than 70 exhibitions in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The Sundaram Tagore Gallery (New York, Beverly Hills, Hong Kong) is exhibiting Qadri's work under the title "Seer: The Art of Sohan Qadri" in their Hong Kong location. All works are ink and dye on paper and 55 x 39 in. You can get a sneak peak at www.sundaramtagore.com.

susan calloway's excellence in complementary works

A complement is something that completes, makes up a whole, or brings to perfection. It is also either of two parts that complete the whole or mutually complete each other. Susan Calloway has demonstrated excellence in selecting Robert Rea and Linda Press as demonstrable works in complementary vision.

Linda Press’ architectural paintings make use of the play of light and shadow across buildings in dense city centers including Paris, New York, and Washington, DC. Robert Rea’s works, influenced by memories of his Alabama childhood, embody that same light in its purest form, in their subtle studies of color. See more at:

http://www.callowayart.com/gallery.php?E=ID_exhibit&T=current&ID=3

Robert Rea and Linda Press, Recent Works, November 7 through December 6.
Opening Reception Friday, November 7, 6-8:30 pm.
Susan Calloway Fine Arts

1643 Wisconsin Ave NW

Washington, DC 20007

V 202.965.4601 F 202.338.1660

gallery@callowayart.com

jill banks: jordan award painter is on the rise

Congratulations to Jill Banks and her "Orange Peeled" which won the Jordan Award for "Best of Show" in the "Small Works" Exhibit at the Art League (Alexandria, VA). That's number 1 out of 532 entries. The awards ceremony will be held at the Art League on Thursday, November 13 around 7pm. The reception runs from 6:30 to 9:30pm. We've been absorbing Banks' choices in color tonality since her recent well-received solo exhibition.

Banks also appears in the December issue of Artist's Magazine -- as she was a finalist in their Annual Art Competition. Just a note: in 2005, Banks won her first Best of Show at the Art League and was a finalist in Artist's Magazine's Annual Art Competition for the first time. This year is her second time winning both of those honors. The Art League is located at 105 North Union Street, Alexandria, VA.

jonathan b. french: working, growing, showing and shooting

I have long been an admirer of Jonathan B. French's photographic works, going back to when I first saw him at Honfleur. Now he's being shown over at the new Hamiltonian Gallery and here's what he has to say:

Being an African American I find it of the utmost importance that this story be shared. Africans in the Americas have been marginalized from participation in the economics and mainstream of their countries. Many subsist in conditions of chronic poverty, and institutionalized and individual discrimination. This body of works draws on their heritage giving them visibility and opportunity to enable them to better their conditions.

“Family Pictures” is a photographic series that will bring visibility to the plight of the Afro-Latino populations in Latin America. For too long wide watery oceans and barren information deserts have kept apart Descendants of Africa in the Americas… For too long history has made them invisible and unknown to their extended family in the United States. Though there was no interaction between these African Descendants in the past this project will help establish a relationship.

And Hamiltonian writes, the Hamiltonian Gallery and Hamiltonian Artists proudly present the works of photographers Jonathan B. French, Michael Dax Iacovone, and Anne Chan through DC FotoWeek. Through process and subject matter, each artist uniquely investigates relationships between themselves and their environment via the thread of dislocation and reconnection.

Hamiltonian Gallery

1353 U Street, NW,

Washington DC

202.332.1116 fax: 202.332.0569

info@hamiltoniangallery.com

http://hamiltoniangallery.com/

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday noon - 6:00 pm and by appointment.

Map: See our location on Google Map (We are located near the intersection of 14th Street and U street NW).

Metro: Hamiltonian Gallery is easily accessible by metro. We are located one block west of the green/yellow line U St/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo metro station, 13th Street exit.

foto week dc @ multiple exposures gallery

The Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria will be presenting several free events in celebration of Fotoweek DC. Kicking off the festivities is an informal opportunity for artists to get feedback at Coffee + Critique + Conversation, Sunday November 16, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. To secure a spot at the table, contact the gallery at 703-683-2205 after November 1.

The Mind’s Eye is a member show juried by Steve Uzzell. Be sure to hit the reception on Saturday, November 22 at 5:30 p.m. and stay until 8 p.m., when Uzzell will present Open Roads; Open Minds: An Exploration of Creative Problem Solving, an inspiring challenge to make any venture an adventure.

“All of us are enthusiastic about Fotoweek and are pleased to be part of it. We are totally supportive of the first celebration of the art of photography in the Washington area and appreciate all the work that has gone into making it happen, ” -Grace Taylor, member & Treasurer, Multiple Exposures Gallery

Multiple Exposures Gallery
Torpedo Factory Art Center 105 N. Union Street #312 Alexandria, VA 22314
T: 703.683.2205 http://www.multipleexposuresgallery.com/

alex gallery mythology exhibition 11/7

I have had the honor of seeing Vander Zee's new series "Sacred Earth/Mythic Body" and cannot tell you how elegantly Rob has re-interpreted the Gods - whether Pan, Narcissus, Demeter or other, if your eyes need a color treat and an exhibition in technique, don't miss Friday's opening reception.

The series is based on Greek and Roman Mythology set in juxtaposition to the Contemporary Landscape. Most of the paintings are life-size human figurative pieces.

The Alex Gallery - Gallery A

2106 R Street, NW Washington DC 20008

A few blocks away from the Dupont Metro

November 7th, Friday6 to 8:30 pm (early crowd)

DC's Foto Week - Fixation

DC's Foto Week is proving to be stuffed to the brim with interesting photographic related activities. Here's one I thought you might like. Nine photographers each create a narrative with a short series of images, building the viewer a bridge between the image of our Nation's Capital and the people actually living inside it. Their photographs inspect our city's subculture and the people who thrive in it, whether it is the pure ecstasy of a public baptism or the discovery of an elusive quiet moment as 18th Street rages nearby. Some create their own scenes, driven by the absurdity or crucial absences in our cityscapes. Others sneak in the backdoor of highly defined alternative lifestyles, finding characters dolled up for prime time, squeezed in the underbelly of the D.C. club scene. What they all have in common is a fixation on the individual in the hands of a much bigger picture.

Fixation: A Photography Exhibit during FotoWeek DC November 14-23
Brought to you by:Ten Miles Square The Pink Line Project Scion Duplex Diner
Music:The JonesDJ Anish
Suggested donation: $10
Friday, November 14 8:30 pm - 2 am

Fight Club1250 9th Street, NW

(enter through the rear in Blagden Alley, from N St., between 9th and 10th)
Food by On the Fly will be available for purchase.

letter from hugeaux

Here's a letter I received from Hugeaux on the President-Elect and the Arts.

Dear Humanitarians; Our New president Barack Obama is truly CHANGE. I predict that in the up coming seasons there shall be a HUGE increase on the importance of artists of African and American descent. We shall see a changing of the guards in many major and minor art institution / galleries and dealers. A new breed of collectors are coming into the arena. It has been a long wait for such a movement. For artists, it is now more important for you to create your on HISTORIES. The Internet is the key source. You have seen it work to it fullest with president Obama campaign. Old ideas are truly respected HOWEVER a CHANGE is HERE. GO AND GET IT!!!!!!! Hugeaux

Image Credit: The Bullfighting Cowboy, oil pastel, Hugeaux.

celebrate election day

schmincke aquarelle watercolors lunchtime lesson

I have a confession. I had a small green plastic container from Herbalife that Lord only knows where it came from and I had been hanging on to it for ages. Years maybe. Anyway, this plastic container is divided into six neat little compartments, too small for anything significant, and too big for really small things. So when I started thinking about incorporating watercolor washes in artists journals, I knew I was on to the perfect container for pans of watercolor.

I knew nothing about what I was doing, and I have since learned that you can purchase nifty little watercolor containers made perfectly for watercolor pans for cents on the dollar - AND they come in packs of 12, 24, and more. Lesson learned. So I went over to Pearl and stood in the watercolor aisle for like 45 minutes, bearing in mind all I had read about how you really only need 2 or 3 or maybe 4 colors to get started. And this made perfect sense to me, so I decided on the Schmincke Horadam line Aquarelle Watercolors and bought a 102 (permanent Chinese white), a red and a blue (I lost the labels and now could kick myself), a Payne gray, a lemon yellow, and a magenta because I needed one more to finish out my six and wanted to stay in the primaries.

Oh joy when I brought the watercolor pans home and they fit perfectly in my little case. These are the things that make artists happy - when tools work, when systems do not collide, when organization frees up brain space so one can think about really important things. Here's what I learned. The white is a bit light for me, the red is beautiful, the blue looks like two completely different pans of color whether applied light or dark, the Payne gray is gorgeous in light application, the yellow is a bit cheery (neon) for me, and the magenta is lovely. I made an attempt at mixing an orange with my yellow and red - this was successful. My attempt at mixing a green with blue and yellow was less so and my next trip to the store will involve buying a green.

I used my very favorite plastic watercolor paint brushes with barrels that hold water so you don't have to mess with it, and learned two important things in watercolor application. One - keep aside one specific brush for darker tints - the tints stain the brush bristles and you may want to only use your dark bristled brush for dark tints. Two - the watercolor water-holding paintbrush has two strange features: a) it holds the paint in the middle of the bristles when it appears to the eye that the bristles are clean. You have to give the brush another squeeze and out will drop an eyelet of color. b) the watercolor seeps into the brush's plastic chamber - this happened particularly with the lighter colors of white and yellow (which I know makes no sense at all, but you try it and you'll see).

All in all, the Schmincke watercolors are absolutely beautiful when dry. The little pans are perfect for traveling and I am very excited about their potential uses. Only one problem - my artists journal's pages aren't made to hold watercolor ... time to look for a journal with coarser paper. Also, if you're going to buy these watercolors, invest in the sets - it'll save you money and time. If you want to purchase some Schmincke for your very own use, here's what DickBlick has to say:

Schmincke has been developing and manufacturing its Horadam line of watercolors since 1881, and the company is now owned by the fourth generation of the original family. Schmincke has a reputation for using only the highest-quality natural gums, water-soluble resins, and pigments.
Schmincke is the only watercolor manufacturer in the world that uses the exact same formula for their tube and pan colors. Other manufacturers extrude their pan colors. Schmincke hand pours the same watercolor paint that is in their tubes into convenient pans. Then the pans are left to air dry. This process is repeated three more times. The pan colors are consistent all the way to the bottom, and they last and last!

designer gouache's lunchtime lesson

I tried England's Winsor & Newton's Designers Gouache in Permanent White (Series 1 in 14 ml tubes) today as a mask for my artist's journal. The Gouache is part of Winsor's opaque watercolor series renown for color brilliance and matt finish, produced since 1935.

I had been reading that you could apply the gouache direct to paper to act as a background tint or direct on collage pieces to act as a mask which would allow subsequent layering effects. This was my first time with Winsor Newton and I found the Permanent White was maybe a bit too white for the type of vintage-y collage I like to do, and definitely too white for the graph paper I was using as my test sample (which has a greenish/blueish hue). The gouache also carried a strong odor for this non-painter (although is AP certified).

When tried over red pen ink (Uniball Signo 207 Red), the ink gel ran a bit however I wasn't completely sure it was dry to begin with - I can be impatient in these areas. Come to find out, Winsor & Newton offer a bleed-proof white - who would have thought. When tried under ink, the application of ink on top of the gouache was a bit splotchy (kind of like trying to write over white-out, but not as thick). The gouache definitely acted better when applied in straight, flat, thin layers with a German Loew-Cornell 6F fabric dye flat brush and was not at all chalky at application or at drying.

Visual art journalists would want to use the opaque gouache when trying the watercolor as a mask, but transparent colors might be nifty with words and layers and color application in artists journals. However, when tried over other collaged pieces already adhered to our journal, the gouache made the collage paper buckle slightly which gave a textural feel, but not a smooth and flat surface.

I was happy with the gouache - it dries relatively quickly. I'm thinking my next trip to the store might result in purchasing a Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna or Raw Umber as tints. I was surprised to find there was no availability in a nice Eggshell or Antique White - it looks like you might have to mix your own. I'd also like to try the higher level formulas to see how they compare.

wishing i could meet elena del rivero

Art is a funny thing. It has a way of seeping into your unconsciousness and when you least expect it, has you waking up at 2am with obsessive thoughts. A month or so ago, I attended a Business Women's event at the Corcoran. There on display, but roped off with yellow-do-not-cross-ticker-tape, was Elena Del Rivero's work (it was being filmed).

When you're an artist and art enthusiast and everyone is looking to "see" something, yellow ticker tape doesn't necessarily keep you from doing everything humanly possible to drink in an interesting subject, and the first image above is what greeted my eyes as I twisted and turned around the door jam under the watchful eyes of the very bored and mean security guards. Out of paper. The whole thing. Translucent and impermanent and free-floating and light-capturing. Gorgeous. Is it textile, is it paper, is it composition, is it really there? Called A Chant, 2001–2006, it is an installation of found papers mended, burnt, embroidered, and stitched to five rolls of muslin.

What I didn't get to see that day, but later saw via the Internet, and the image that's stuck with me over the past several weeks, and has now become "my purpose in life," "my cause," or "my addiction." It is the second image above called Home (Reference Library) (detail), 2000–2001, mixed media and paper. It is the detail of paper art, art journals, and visual diaries the artist used to chronicle items found immediately after September 11th - which is not only an admirable project (to have the state of mind to systematically collect and chronicle items during a world crisis) but is also so powerful because I'm not sure any of us are over THAT big one (even seven years later), especially reflecting on the state of the country on this historic, dramatic, and imperative Election Eve. Let not any of us ever forget that Tuesday for any reason.

del Rivero's bio from the Corcoran's exhibition reads: Elena del Rivero’s art inhabits the boundary between domestic space and public activity, between experience and memory, and between the desire for control and the surrender to chance. Both [exhibitions] explore the passage of time and the ways that daily routine and large-scale events intersect to shape our ideas about place and home. Fundamentally concerned with how materials gain and transmit meaning, Del Rivero works primarily with paper. For the two projects presented at the Corcoran, the artist drew and walked on, ripped, stained, bound, embroidered, wove, spun, cleaned, mended, and archived the paper that ultimately became her finished works of art. In this way, paper became a medium through which to both register and present the effects of activity and time.

On view through September 21, Home is, according to Del Rivero, “the story of a year.” She began the project in July of 2000, conceiving of it as an ongoing performance which would attempt to capture the entirety of her life during that period. Placing twenty large sheets of handmade paper throughout her home and studio in lower Manhattan, Del Rivero marked them with the traces of her daily existence—walking, eating, washing, and working. At the end of six months, she gathered the trampled sheets and transformed them over the second half of the year. They became the basis of [Swi:t] Home, where they hang amongst drawings, maps, books, and sculpture. Using the phonetic spelling in the first word of the title, Del Rivero’s piece evokes both “suite,” as in a series of works, but also “sweet,” with all its attendant associations of the memories and comforts of home.

In one sense, [Swi:t] Home: A Chant grew organically from the concerns of the earlier work; in another, it is the product of pure chance and outside intervention. When the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001, Del Rivero’s living and working space—located just across the street from the towers—was also a casualty. Returning home to find her windows blown out and every surface covered with ash and debris, the artist began the process of making sense of an event that had, in an instant, supplanted the memories made and recorded there during the previous year.

Over the next five years, Del Rivero painstakingly collected, catalogued, and, ultimately stitched together the bits of paper and debris that she found in her apartment. The result is a majestic curtain of sewn paper, more than 500 feet long. Installed in the Corcoran’s rotunda through November 16, the work cascades from the ceiling onto the floor—at once dramatic and humble, mournful and reparative. Like [Swi:t] Home, it speaks to the complex intermingling of daily routine and chance events, and the ways in which life intersects with art.

Elena del Rivero was born in Valencia, Spain, and has lived in New York since 1991, gaining U.S. citizenship in 2003. She earned her BA from the University of Valencia in 1974 and a diploma in English Literature from Cambridge University in 1977. Del Rivero has had one-artist exhibitions at the Drawing Center and Art in General in New York, and at the University of Salamanca, the Museo Nacional Centro Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and the Caixa Foundation, Barcelona, in Spain. She has also been included in group exhibitions in museums in the United States and abroad.

In 1995, Del Rivero represented Spain at the Johannesburg Biennale. In 2006, the Institute of Modern Art in Valencia (IVAM), along with Patio Herreriano in Spain, organized At Hand, 15 Years of Works on Paper. Del Rivero has been the recipient of two grants from Creative Capital (2003, 2001), two NYFA grants (2002, 2001), and two grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2002, 1991). In 1988, she won the Prix de Rome. In 2005 the Rockefeller Foundation awarded Del Rivero a residential fellowship at the Bellagio Center in Italy.

She has been a visiting artist at the University of Barcelona; the College of New Rochelle; Wellesley College; the Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, Stamford, CT; and Brooklyn College. From 1993 to 1997, she was on the artistic staff of the Studio in a School, New York. Del Rivero’s work is in the collections of IVAM in Valencia, Spain; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Yale University; the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard; and the Museo Nacional Centro Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, among other institutions.

Where is elena del rivero today? If anyone knows, please contact me. I'd love to meet her to thank her for my awakening and ask her what she thinks of our new President-to-be.

Images Credit: Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the artist. Home image is (Courtesy of Patio Herreriano, Valladolid, Spain, 2007, and the artist. (c) Elena del Rivero

shifty shifts

This is why November's always such a strange month for me. Shifting sands, shifting thoughts, shifting tides and shifting ideas. I have been unable to control my growing excitement about artists journals, art journaling, visual diaries, collage, mixed media, art on paper, book art ... and I'm giving serious thought to putting aside the arts business end of Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory to instead focus on a research, teaching, writing, creativity workshops, and arts working ends oriented around journaling. As I study artists' pages in various books and as I study methods of paper manipulation, I find that art journaling and visual chronicling seem to be all I can think about. And I already shared with you that I have this arts journal idea tied into the holy prayer cards. I keep thinking about how to present the idea and I seem to be on a rabid hunt for anything and everything paper related. To that end, Art Whino's offering an upcoming show on the art of stenciling which I thought I'd share here. Who in the DC area specializes in the art of the book? If anyone knows, please contact me.