My new mentor is Terrell James! She is so awesome. I am so lucky to have her. Her website is http://www.terrelljames.com/

She is exhibiting lots of places among the many:
http://www.cameronartmuseum.com/exhibitions.php

Terrell James: Field Study

May 8 – October 2, 2011

Organized by the Cameron Art Museum Terrell James: Field Study compliments Clyde Connell: Swamp Songs by showing two women artists of different generations, one influenced by the other, exploring themselves and their lives through abstract expressionism - painting, sculpture, teaching and writing.
The title references a body of work called Field Studies, which have evolved from color studies done on the palette in preparation for formal paintings - the palettes became "automatic" paintings/drawings in themselves. This exhibition will feature work influenced by the Cape Fear region and will include paintings, sketchbooks, writing and historic artifacts. James’ work is in the permanent collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, Menil Collection, Houston, TX, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, Portland Art Museum, OR, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

She is repesented by
Hiram Butler Gallery
http://dbhbg.com/info.html
http://glasstire.com/events/2011/06/15/terrell-james-four-paintings/

http://www.dbhbg.com/terrelljames.html

She gave me all sorts of great information in our meeting!
a) Looking at Art - Looking At Art is a personal project of Marshal and Victoria Lightman. The Lightmans moved (involuntarily, at first) to Houstonfrom Boston in 1985. By 1987, they had started collecting the work of local artists…now, they cannot stop themselves from educating and encouraging Houstonians to support their local art community. Established in 1989, Looking At Art visits artist's studios, galleries, alternative spaces, museums, and collectors homes. Looking At Art is completely independent and is funded solely by class fees. It is never involved with commissions or sales of artwork—although collecting is always applauded. Please take a minute to read about all of our programs.

Terrell will be speaking and I will give you an update of what she talks about tomorrow!

b) she gave me ideas on approaches of hanging my art so that you can see both sides
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_TcbxtSQZ2TuBYUBh58sDtMMQPeC5BDlIrENtA-_NejnV8-w8aXUNb-_fNFK2R5yTPhQ-adWmNLkIZ1Qs7Q5VBGLVXQ3qR_CRhFkaGI4Hb05RSr4mteuW6-xJkFeMCxJz0m_2Opl5ALk/s1600/drum-back.jpg

http://www.journeydrum.blogspot.com/
Throughout the three days it took us to prepare the skins to be stretched across the frames we were each careful to keep taking turns with every task on each skin. When it was time to cut out the drum heads we let the hides choose the drums they would become, because of course each drum pattern fit best in one area of the skin but not in others. In this way we never imposed our desires on the process of making the drum, but let the process reveal each drum's best fit to us. I feel this is why this shamanic drum has such a generosity of clarity. It has only ever had to be itself, and therefore we can each see ourselves in its face.

c) She also talked about her husband http://www.cameronarmstrong.com/He is an unbelievable architect - check out his stuff.
Here is an example of something he built:

d) She introduced me to Clyde Connell

Clyde Connell, who became a full-time artist only in her 60's and who was known for totemic sculptures, imposing wall reliefs and runelike drawings, died on May 2 in a hospital in Shreveport, La. She was 97 and lived in Lake Bastineau in northwestern Louisiana.
Except for some traveling, Mrs. Connell spent her entire life within a 50-mile radius of Shreveport. She was striking even in old age, with white hair and a self-contained presence that sometimes drew comparisons with Georgia O'Keeffe.
Like O'Keeffe, she drew inspiration from the region in which she lived. She used brown earth and red clay to color her drawings and sculptures, as well as bits of iron scrap that her son, Brian, a cotton farmer, found in his fields. She had a mystical view of nature and described her drawings as transcriptions of its music, heard on the bayou.
Mrs. Connell, whose name had been Minnie Clyde Dixon, was born in 1901 and grew up on a large plantation, an experience that left her with a lifelong sympathy for black people in the South and an affinity for their culture.

e) She introduced me to John Luther Adams
Like many composers of his generation, John Luther Adams did not grow up immersed in scored music. Adams began playing music as a teenager, as a drummer in rock bands. Through his experience in rock bands, friends introduced him to the music of Frank Zappa, through which he discovered Edgard Varèse and Morton Feldman(Kosman 2001). Similarly, Varèse's liner notes brought him to John Cage.[citation needed] But it was not until Adams discovered Morton Feldman that he found his calling.
Adams attended Cal Arts as an undergraduate in the early 1970s, where he studied with James Tenney andLeonard Stein, graduating in 1973 (Kosman 2001). His group of classmates includes the composers Lois V Vierkand Peter Garland.[citation needed]
After graduating from Cal Arts, Adams began work in environmental protection. This work first brought him to Alaska in 1975. His deep love for the location led to his permanent migration there in 1978. It continues to be the driving force in his music to this day.[1] From 1982 to 1989, he performed as timpanist and principal percussionist with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and the Arctic Chamber Orchestra (Kosman 2001).
In 2006 Adams was named one of the first United States Artists Fellows. Previously he has received awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rasmuson Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.[1]
Adams's musical work spans many genres and media. He has composed for television, film, children's theater, voice, acoustic instruments, orchestra, and electronics.
His frequent use of static textures and subtle changes show his obvious affinities with minimalism, and his tendencies toward extended, meditative, and intuitive structures convey his true love of the music of Morton Feldman.[citation needed]
Lou Harrison said he is "one of the few important young American composers,"[2] while Adams himself says: "My music has always been profoundly influenced by the natural world and a strong sense of place. Through sustained listening to the subtle resonances of the northern soundscape, I hope to explore the territory of 'sonic geography' - that region between place and culture...between environment and imagination."[3]

The Immeasurable Space of Tones - John Luther Adams - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vvwOmZBtaM

CHECK HIM OUT!

f) I am considering other resist techniques - I think I m going to Mastic ... lets see what experience I can have

g) She gave me books to read! I will write about them once I am finished reading.

h) Book Terrell's paintings are on the cover of - Lastly, I thought I would share a book that Terrell James’s art painting is on the cover. I ordered this so once I get it I will share some of the poetry. Awesome stuff: http://www.fourwaybooks.com/books/nogues/index.php

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Classes I will take this semester are:

FROM REGIONALISM TO ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

American Art from Thomas Hart Benton to Jackson Pollock

David E. Brauer

American art between the end of World War I and the end of World War II remains understudied. Although some individual figures such as Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keefe are well known, the larger context is largely unfamiliar. In this course we will examine this fascinating period in which several movements developed, perhaps the most significant being Regionalism in both its urban and rural aspects. From the time of the 1913 Armory Show, Regionalism was fueled by a general feeling that American art had become too influenced by European “isms.” Artists such as Thomas Hart Benton felt that there should be an authentic “American” art and, thus, the movement produced such iconic works as Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.” During the Great Depression, many artists worked for government programs designed to assist the arts and it brought many city-based artists to new subject matter throughout the country. Mexican muralists, such as Riviera and Orozco, created an interest in large-scale public art. Future abstract-expressionists such as Gottlieb and Rothko all emerged from these influences, and Thomas Hart Benton would become the most influential of Jackson Pollock’s teachers. This series will be illustrated by many unfamiliar images which illuminate the works of the more familiar artists.

THE CREATIVE WORK OF ART

From the Paleolithic to the 14th Century

Fernando R. Casas

This course starts, once again, the ongoing series of lectures “Astonishing Art Through the Ages” in a revised, refined and expanded version. These lectures examine works of art that are unprecedented and highly original, attempting to understand how each work came about and what the artist was “thinking” in the process of creation. Furthermore, these lectures as a whole constitute a philosophical attempt at articulating the nature of originality in the arts. In this course we will cover material from Paleolithic times, from Classical Greece and Rome and from the Middle Ages. Some of the works that will be considered are the Woman from Willendorf, the Lascaux Cave paintings, the bust of Akhenaton, the Kritios Boy, the Apollo from the Temple of Olympia, the Pantheon, The Hagia Sophia, the Alhambra, St-Denis Basilica, and Masaccio’s Arena Chapel.

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Another thing - WHAT AN AWESOME WEEKEND OF ART.
This is the weekend of ArtHouston, a weekend where pretty much every gallery in town has an opening. Seeing it all it going to be a serious trek. TheArtHouston website shows thirty five participating galleries.

1) Started at Meredith Long & Company
I met a wonderful new friend Kellie there who I fell absolutely in love with. What a gallery. I also enjoyed Bas’s my neighbors paintings Meredith Long is long time denizen of Houston and is considerable venerable in the art world. Founded in 1957, which as Houstonians' know is pretty much the beginning of time in this city.

He has known the great ones who have passed through Houston and to the other side, Dominque de Menil, Phillip Johnson, in addition to hosting important exhibitions of paintings by Childe Hassam, Frederic E. Church, Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland to name a few of them.

He also funds an award in his and wife's name to CORE fellows in addition to being a trustee at the MFAH.

2) Vaughan Christopher http://www.vaughanchristopher.com/
Where I saw a beautiful Haring and a Picasso print I loved.

3) Nau-Hau http://www.nau-haus.com/
I found one of my favorite Houston Artist here. Sandra York - check her out!

4) Anya Tish http://www.anyatishgallery.com/
ArdAn Ozmenoglu, Jen Rose, Karin Bos, Orna Feinstein, Sang-Mi Yoo, Steve Wiseman.

5) Barbara Davis www.barbaradavisgallery.com
Joe Davidson
Paul Fleming
Joe Mancuso
Daniel McFarlane
Mie Olise
Gavin Perry
Danny Rolph
Anthony Thompson Shumate
Peter Wilson
Jason Yates

Hiram Butler Gallery

Colton & Farb Gallery

DARKE gallery

Barbara Davis Gallery