Jean lived in a studio on 9th Street in the Village, before moving out to the Hamptons along with many of the other abstract expressionists. For the last twenty-ish years, she has lived in a historic one-room schoolhouse, adjoining the community hall she owns, in the mountains not far from my home.
My afternoon with Willard Bond and Jean Steubing Maggrett, at the home of Willard's daughter, my friend Gretchen, was a warm and wonderful one. As two creative people, who had not met before, they shared not only their work as visual artists, but also a love of alternative spaces. Jean lived in a studio on 9th Street in the Village, before moving out to the Hamptons along with many of the other abstract expressionists. For the last twenty-ish years, she has lived in a historic one-room schoolhouse, adjoining the community hall she owns, in the mountains not far from my home. Willard made his home and studio in an old synagogue on the lower East Side in the early 60s, but later became fascinated with geodesic domes. He knew Buckminster Fuller, and spent six years in Jamaica, building geodesic dome homes. His current studio in upstate New York is a geodesic dome he built. Both also became martial artists, as well as visual artists. Willard became a devotee of Tai Chi, to which he credits his keeping strong and flexible as he gets older. Jean moved out to California to study Aikido with her Aikido master, and credits the awareness and presence of mind she learned from it with saving her from drowning. Jean brought her copy of Club Without Walls, memories of the Art Club, of which she and the abstract artists I knew from my art history studies were a part – Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Elaine de Kooning, and more.... (I have my own copy now, and am just beginning to read it.) And Gretchen brought out a scrapbook, and more, with photos of Willard, including the one above, and books and a poster showing his large watercolor marine paintings, as well as the abstract nude paintings and ceramic murals he created during his days in the Lower East Side. I hope we can all gather together again, the next time Willard comes out to California!
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Last week, I spent a wonderful afternoon with Jean Steubing Maggrett, whom I've known for something over nine years, and Willard Bond, the father of my friend Gretchen. They met for the first time last week, but both of them lived and painted in the heady creative days of Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side in the late 1940s, 50s, and early 60s, and Gretchen and I got to listen to them share memories. Jean lived in the Village, in a loft studio on East 9th Street, opposite the building that became the site of the 9th Street Show, which introduced the work of the New York School to the world. Jean, a member of the Art Club, and a student of Hans Hofmann's, suggested the space, and collected the money to rent it, and on opening night a floodlight from her studio lit up an enormous canvas sign Franz Kline had painted to announce the exhibit, which hung from an upper floor above the show. Willard Bond lived and worked in an old synagogue in the Lower East Side, where he painted large contemporary nudes and created painted ceramic murals, including the one at the entrance of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. He played the drums too, often with other jazz musicians, and Gretchen shared with us a photo of him playing onstage in the production of a Bertolt Brecht play. Today, Willard is known for his marine paintings, which you can see at http://www.annapolismarineart.com/WillardBond.html, and which you see in the book on the table in front of them.
What wonderful stories I got to hear, from two people who lived hearty creative lives, and who still live life heartily and creatively! I'll post more later.... It's not up in time for Christmas, Hannukah, Midwinter, or Lucia Day (for us Swedes), but it's still heartfelt. May 2012 bring you joy, delight, love, friendship, and good health – and may it bring (finally, please?) us all peace on earth. (Hey, I can hope, can't I?)
A note on how I created this image: although it has some of the qualities of block prints, I actually drew it digitally, in Photoshop (with a mouse, not a stylus). December already! I'm busy preparing for Black Stallion Winery's Holiday Open House & Art Show on December 10th. I'll be bringing my greeting cards and matted reproductions of my paintings, as well as some original paintings. I may include a few of the relief print-and-stencil (and block print) paintings I've been working on this last month, depending on how much I can squeeze into my space, too.
Black Stallion Winery is at 4089 Silverado Trail, just north of Napa, and the event will be held from noon until 4 p.m. I'll be in good company, with some of my favorite Napa Valley Open Studios colleagues. You can learn more at http://blackstallionwinery.ewinerysolutions.com/events. Currently without a working computer (which will change soon!), I only just realized that I missed posting all about the Calistoga Art Center's first Paint Out in October. And it was a wonderful event that they're looking forward to repeating next year.... On the first day, I painted Jade Lake at Chateau Montelena. I wasn't quite ready to call it a day once I'd packed up, and I set up at this second spot no more than a mile away, with a view I love of Mt. St. Helena – for which Chateau Montelena was named. One of things that make working outside challenging is the changing light – and at sunset it changes so rapidly that it's hard to keep up with it. What you see on the easel is my painting of Mt. St. Helena on Friday evening – the painting was rapidly changing as the light went down (and got more dramatic!). I went back on Saturday evening, just before I had to turn my paintings in, and was able to catch more of the subtle touches of light and shadow before dusk settled. The painting at the top shows what it looked like when I turned it in on Saturday. I may come back and make a few more subtle changes later, but I enjoyed my race against the last rays of light....
It was hard to believe we could have had even more visitors on the second Sunday of Open Studios, especially given rain that ended ten minutes before we were to open, but soon after 11:00 over a dozen people had already traipsed down Ed's driveway to join us. Several kindly offered to help Ann and me hang the paintings I couldn't put up until the rain ended! (Special thanks to Bob and Susan for their help!) By afternoon, the clouds had parted, and we had a lovely day. My thanks to everyone who came to visit – and my special thanks to those who took some of my artwork home with them! I'm looking forward to next year.
If you'd like to see a few more photos of Open Studios, please take a look at my Line, Color, Paint, Joy blog, at my Napa Valley Open Studios 2011 - II post. What a wonderful weekend! Thank you to everyone who came by to see what I've been up to, art-wise. Ed Breed and his wife Sandi, whose guest I am for Open Studios, are such congenial hosts! Ed brought his trailer over to my studio last week and helped me pack and cart, and then set up my display equipment outside the entrance to his glass studio.
Calistoga painter Ann Renard is helping me during each weekend, too, which has been a huge help. We've had a lot of visitors, and I'd be completely overwhelmed if she wasn't there with me, welcoming our visitors. At last! I've finally finished my second painting of this view – although it looks quite different from the first one (I would never do anything the same way twice). Sometimes paintings can give you a struggle – that was true with this one. I began it months ago – I think in November of last year – and went back to it periodically, coaxing it into its best self. It's been a long time and a lot of work, but I think it's finally grown up and is ready to go out into the world.
I'll be bringing sketches to Open Studios, too, including a series of sketches of pears and peppers I particularly like. I love the shapes of pears and peppers (and apples, too – you only have to ask any of my students who've seen me demonstrate still life painting). They have great character; they're very figurative. These pears came from my friend Heidi. I just got some more from the trees of my friend Ellie – perhaps I'll have enough time to sketch a few of them, too – I hope! The peppers, however, came from Trader Joe's.
Since I'll have a selection of block prints to share for Open Studios, I thought I'd pull out a series of songbird prints I printed last summer. These were my first prints on special, patterned papers. These papers also had a slight texture that became enhanced with the block printing – an interesting effect. As I did with the dragonfly prints, I mixed the ink colors as I printed, to work with the papers I chose. Some of the prints had two print runs, with the second an impartial inking (two of the seven I'll have for Open Studios have two print layers), while others had only one. It's certainly not standard to have a series of block prints like this – with each one differing so much from the others. In a standard print edition, each print is as identical to the others as possible. The prints are numbered, and there is a total for the run. These are one–of–a–kind, however. My painting roots are showing!
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Karen Lynn IngallsI am an artist in Napa and Sonoma Counties, in California. I paint colorist landscapes of rural California, teach art classes and lessons, and live in Calistoga, California. I also teach private, group, and corporate art workshops in Napa Valley, Sonoma County, and other parts of Northern California. Archives
April 2014
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