Author: hgwinn

“THE ENVELOPE SERIES: JOURNEY GIFT” by HELEN GWINN
mixed media assemblage, 16X12 X2 inches

“A fire in the belly”……..that’s what I’ve been looking for in the 678 paintings I have examined over and over in the past week or so. I’m serving as a juror for the  “Standard Fine Arts” 2013 MasterWorks Exhibit. (The exhibit also includes a Miniature Fine Arts section.)  It’s mission is to “create a venue for the excellence in visual art in New Mexico.” Barbara Lohbeck is the visionary director, coordinator, and all-around devoted laborer for presenting this superb show.  I’m working along with other jurors: Woody Gwyn,  and  Ralph Greene. The judge of awards will be Maggie Price.  It has been a delight to look at all the paintings which have been submitted through three very important New Mexico arts organizations:The New Mexico Watercolor Society, The Rio Grande Arts Association, and the Pastel Society of New Mexico. Much of my jurying, initially, was separating the skilled works  from the unskilled, developing works.  The next step for me was determining if the skilled works went beyond skill and reached for creative expression.
In a conversation with noted painter Bob Burridge a couple of years ago, he told me he looks for the “fire in the belly” when he juries a show.  I tried to pin him down and get him to describe what he sees when he encounters a work that comes from that “fire in the belly.” He replied with something like, “you know it, Helen, when you see it.” It’s true, I do, but it’s a concept that I struggle with.  I want it to be definable, I want it to be an idea that  can be communicated to artists who long to be more expressive.

“CIRCLE OF FRIENDS” by ROBERT BURRIDGE
acrylic and combined media, 20×20 inches

          The “fire in the belly” is an esoteric quality that makes an image memorable, that causes it to be more than skillful and creative.
I’m not sure but I think it is possible for a beginning artist to spontaneously paint such an image, but I also think that it would be an extraordinary and rare phenomenon.  “Fire in the belly” paintings come after years of skill building, experimentation, struggle with expressiveness and generally after artists have experienced a variety of life’s challenges. A new richer fire of spontaneous expression rises up on these foundations.
My advice to artists who yearn to make their paintings more expressive is to paint steadily, regularly, and with a focus that may cause you to miss meals or sleep.  Experiment, reach for the exact element, color, “found object,” texture, shape, composition that fits your fancy. Noted international artist, Katherine Chang Liu says if you will paint long hours for three weeks you will have a break-through. She says she wrestles her paintings “to the ground.” Indeed, I think she often literally paints on the floor.
It’s a privilege to look at such an expansive range of paintings and to make selections based on my aesthetic bent.  Lohbeck has made an honorable attempt to be fair and just in all the jurying. Each juror looks at the digital reproductions of the  works alone and ranks them on a scale from one to six in three different aspects.  When we each send in our rankings, they are compiled and tallied. One hundred and forty (plus or minus) paintings will be selected into the show based on the rankings. After the show is hung, the judge Maggie Price will have the task of selecting award winners from the actual works of art.
My applause, is a standing ovation for New Mexico painters. You have worked, you have been inspired and you have been bold to put your work out there for us to see. You make me proud to be a New Mexico painter.
Opening day for the show is Friday April 5, 2013, 5 – 8 pm. Hispanic Arts Building, Expo New Mexico  (State Fairgrounds), in Albuquerque, NM. Awards ceremony at 7 pm. I hope to get to Albuquerque to see the show. I would love to see which paintings were selected into the show and which pieces Maggie chooses for the awards!

A dear friend of mine, Judith, called last week asking to bring an artist to visit my studio. She brought Mike Webber an oil painter from Wales, his wife Sue who is also an artist, and his daughter-in-law, Cali, who has recently moved with her husband to Carlsbad where I live.
In recent years when I have had calls like this I have said “sure” and arranged for a time to visit. In the past I bustled around picking up, straightening up, even cleaning up my studio. But I have lost all false pride about being orderly and allowed the truth of my cluttered, messy ways of creating be known. This new way of welcoming others into my studio is more honest, saves time, and doesn’t seem to make a bad impression. We had a delightful visit. Sue had some of Mike’s images on her iPhone so I was able to see what he creates. Mike and I mainly talked about where we get inspiration for our works. You can see some of his works on his website: http://www.mikewebberart.co.uk/Mike_Webber_Art/home.html
Both of us are inspired by the landscape around us, its changing nature. Much of my work is also inspired by my personal spiritual life and my connections with other people including artists. Mike lives right on the waterfront and his habitat has lots of rain. The beautiful rocks in his environment have a similarity in their solid, dense stability, to the cliffs that so inspire me in my desert. His and mine are  quite different in color and shape.
As my guests departed, Judith let me know they would be visiting the studio of Wren Stroud, another artist in the evening and she invited me to join them, which I was most happy to do. What fun, what a delightful contrast. Wren’s studio is quite close to the waters of the Pecos River which runs through our town. Her studio is spacious and clean and beautiful. When we talked of the contrast between her studio and mine Judith commented on our personalities and working styles. Apparently even when Wren works, her tools and media remain orderly and minimal. I can’t remember discussion of inspirations in her studio although I wasn’t always involved in the communications between Wren and Mike. Much of Wren’s inspiration, no doubt, comes from people and their personalities because she has sculpted several pieces of public art with figures and a bit of their environments. She has also painted figures. Her current involvement has been with a large painting inspired by the river. It has a relief sculptural quality in that a portion of the painting, the representation of the surface of the water, is superimposed and raised several inches above the portion which represents the deeper, or underwater portion of the river containing several rainbow trout.

The composite image is assembled into a grid, a fascinating look at the expectation of success when the risk of powerful chance is is taken.
The full title of this composition is a quote from the ancient Roman poet, Ovid:
“Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.”

An abundance of creative energy and enthusiasm was generated from these encounters with Wren and Mike. Perhaps it could even be called “inspiration” for new works. I’m thinking there’s a source of inspiration I seldom consider: conversations/encounters/exchanges with other artists. I returned to my studio with energized readiness to create. Thank you Judith for these precious connections!
Helen and Judith:

Two of my pieces have been selected into an exhibit at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, NM. The exhibit honors the idea that “in the end is the beginning.” It is entitled
“The OMEGA and the ALPHA.”
“Commencement” is the word that comes to my mind. We call the rituals of ending studies in high school and college “commencements,” a word which doesn’t mean “ending” at all but means “beginning.” Actually the ending of formal studies in institutions of learning does signal the beginning of a new phase of life.
Other areas of our lives which seem like endings are also beginnings. From the ending of childhood emerges adulthood; from the ending of our lives as singles we begin lives of marriage; for many the ending of a significant illness holds the beginning of true wholeness and health. I can think of a variety of endings in my own life which have marked a beginning.  Some of the endings have been joyous and exhilarating and some have been painful.
Both of my pieces selected into “The OMEGA and the ALPHA” are intended to depict the joy of the Alpha, the beginning that emanates following an ending.                                           “REVIVAL”  (mixed media assemblage, 18X18X2 inches)

The Mayan calendar, which has been keeping track of time for ages, runs out in December. According to statements about this art exhibit, it can be looked upon as “an interface between the present and the future.” Many Christians are expecting a great awakening with many people turning to accept God’s great gifts. Indeed many feel that the awakening has already started. These times can be the balance point between the dark and the Light. The exhibition seeks to be “a doorway to expanding our creative consciousness.”

 The Society of Layerists in Multi-Media (SLMM) has selected this exhibit and arranged for its showing in the Millicent Rogers Museum  in Taos, New Mexico from October 6 through November 11, 2012. The opening reception is Saturday, October 6, 2012 from 2:00 – 4:00 pm.

The Masterworks Class I taught for New Mexico Watercolor Society a couple of weeks ago was outstanding. The workshop chairmen, Kathy Arneberg and Fran Krukar were excellent planners, arrangers and helpers. Dave Collis ran the camera set-up which projected what was happening on my work surface onto a screen so the students could see easily. He faithfully sat through the classes and operated the camera. Hooray Dave! what a gift! The class was full and also full of talented students and full of generous students and full of enthusiastic students and full of diligent students. I even saw some of them staying through the lunch break eating sandwiches and painting at the same time. I know it’s an old saw, but the teacher learned as much as the students. I gave and they gave.

“The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.” (Heda Bejar)     The fragrance that remains with me following that class is impacting/informing my new work. I’m thankful for students.

I love to have pictures from the classes I teach but in the excitement of teaching and watching over the class I often forget to use my camera. I finally remembered to take a few pictures during this  class.

Posted here are a few works-in-progress from the class:

I’m reminded of Madeleine L’Engle’s statement, “Inspiration far more often comes during the work than before it.” The students were definitely rising to inspired heights as they experimented, coped, played, tried, delved and generally grappled with their works. I encouraged them to “have the maximum lack of control,” as Robert Rauschenberg puts it and trust their creative spirits to guide them. It was a delight!