2012 MARCH Carole's "Constructs"

2012 MARCH BLOG

I'm experimenting with color studies again which began as small collages. They always inform my landscape and nature paintings and are great fun to do.  I began doing these after reading the book JOSEF ALBERS: TO OPEN EYES. In an older post I produced images of my workbook and wrote about Albers (1888-1976). For more information, please go to www.carolesikes.blogspot.com and scroll to the bottom to click "older posts". Then scroll down to the paragraph entitled "Question and Answer" where I have written more about this important teacher and painter.

A Russian painter KAZIMER MALEVICH (1878-1935) had a period, apart from his figurative paintings, creating what he called SUPREMATIST compositions which I found to be different yet similar to my "Constructs." Malevich's life and work was produced in a very turbulent period in Russia. There were many difficult influences in his life that gratefullly are missing in mine. But I share his interest in produceing a variety of work reflecting current and changing interests.
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Guess what I found? An extra day and I'm using it to write my monthly blog. Happy Birthday to all those who have only one of these every 4 years. As a child when I learned about leap year, I wondered what folks do each year when they have no birthDAY. I still do. If you are a leap year baby, let me know. I hope its really a big celebration today.

February was a fun month. Husband Charles has a Feb. 1st birthday followed with 2 grandchildren's birthdays and a third one coming March 3rd. Our 19 year old, Caroline Sikes is spending her spring break in New Orleans. No, she and her Rhodes College friends are not going for the bars but with Habitat for Humanity. I found a smashingly feminine carpenter's apron, black canvas trimmed in red with gloves to match. When she read her list of things to take, I'm told she said, "I've got it". Michael Barrow (9) liked his books, especially the one about historic hotels. Looks like his profession might be hotel managemant. He loves air-conditioners, balconies and atriums, and dinner place settings. But then maybe it will be architecture or art, we'll see. Finally our 12-going-on-16 year old, Angela Barrow is getting a gift card for shopping. She tells me that next year the middle school dress code at St. Andrews will be relaxed. Oh dear!

I've been in touch with Lee Chesney, Shannon Stagner and Jade Walker at U.T.'s art department lobbying to have the Loren Mozley exhibition on our campus. In the fall of 2013 the Department of Art at University of Texas will celebrate 75 years since its founding. Loren Mozley, Ward Lockwood and Connie Forsyth were among the first faculty to "hold forth" in the temporary barracks that served as the first art building before the current one on San Jacinto Street. Some of you who read this have fond memories of afternoon art labs in that barracks. Charles Sikes, Betty Osborn, Barbara Whitehead and I have attempted unsuccessfully to find a photo of the barracks for Roger Winter's catalog essay. At Margaret Berry's suggestion I even combed the Brisco History Archives at U.T.

If Austin is left out, you devotees of Mozley can catch the show in Abilene in June, then Dallas and Santa Fe. I'll post the dates when I have them.

2012 FEBRUARY BLOG

I'm hanging out in my Lake Travis studio, finding something else to say with drawings, color studies and abstract designs rather than making paintings on location. Last spring and summer it was the Texas heat and drought, then allergy season followed by intermittent cold, then windy, then muggy winter days. All of the above, not to mention that my portable easel and paints seem to be increasingly heavy in my advancing years, has confirmed my decision to give up painting en plein aire. Of course I reserve the right to change my mind.
If you are a reader of www.carolesikes.blogspot.com and thinking of moving to Austin...DON'T. Not only are summers unbearable, but the traffic is impossible, stress provoking and can't be resolved because of the economy and the terrain of hills and lakes. However if you are here in Austin already, there are a many good things to do.
AMOA-ARTHOUSE lists its events and exhibitions in the downtown location at Congress and 8th Street as "The Jones Center", and at the Lake Austin location at the end of West 35th Street as "Laguna Gloria". I think we are still in the honeymoon stage of the marriage of these two Austin art museums busy searching for a director to pull everything together.
The BLANTON ART MUSEUM's big spring exhibition is the Hudson River School of painters -- February 26 through May 13. It's located on the University of Texas campus on MLK Blvd. Check out their website www.blantonmuseum.org for their many other activities and events.
If you are a BLANTON member, use your membership card for a discount when you go to the critically acclaimed documentary by Sophie Fiennes about the artist ANSEIM KIEFER. Its currently at the VIOLET CROWN CINEMA on West 2nd Street and that is a destination you really must check out if you haven't yet done so.
WOMEN AND THEIR WORK on Lavaca Street is exhibiting my artist friend LAURIE FRICK through March 10. Laurie is a Renaissance woman, engineer, scientist, mathematician and artist all rolled into one. Only Laurie can describe her work, but I'm picturing hanging chads, magnified and filling the room. She rocks as does GINGER GEYER who is just returning from three weeks in Dallas. While creating her solo show for the neighboring gallery there, she was living at the Fairmont Hotel, which now owns one of her incredible tabletop porcelain works, What a Gig!
Also learn about the springs plans at U.T.'s VISUAL ARTS CENTER (VAC) located in the art building on San Jacinto Street.Their website is www.utvac.org and the spring artist-in-residence is Syrian American sculptor DIANA AL-HADID.
At www.artallianceaustin.org see news of their special event, a collaboration with DAVIS GALLERY on West 12th Street and with some Austin chefs. Fun with foodies, late night party goers and art!

Posted below are two drawings on canvas. Next month I'll post some of my designs and color studies. Also will  tell about an upcoming Loren Mozley exhibition about which I'm very excited. Loren was founder of our U.T. art department and a favorite professor of mine. I'm helping a classmate, painter Roger Winter, locate a photo of the old art barracks to use in his catalog essay. Can anyone help? I have not been successful.

2012 JANUARY Happy New Year!

STORY CORPS
Never heard of it ?  Neither had I until my diughter Laura Barrow called to proposition me to be interviewed by her for this national non profit oral history project.  Since 2003 more than 30,000 interviews have been collected form all over the U.S. to be preserved at the American Folk Life Center in the Library of Congress.
Story Corps' mobile taping booth is in Austin, TX for this month. So Laura and I made an appointment and went to the Bob Bullock State Museum where the Story Corps sound proof, state of the art recording booth is located in a tiny air stream trailer. For 40 minutes I answered her questions about growing up in Austin during World War II and about advice I might pass on to my grandchildren that included marriage, family, God and country. She directed and I rambled.
Our photograph was taken by one of the two Story Corps staff persons and we were given a C.D. like the one to be archived in the Library of Congress. It was fun, painless and a really good experience to share with Laura and to preserve for our future off springs.
Go to their website www.storycorps.org to learn more and hear interviews by other twosomes. Be sure to use the plural "storycorps.org".  There is a website for Story Corp (singular) which is something else. Also stories are broadcast every Friday on NPR's "Morning Edition". KUT  FM may air it in the afternoon...not sure.

ART EVENTS
BLANTON MUSEUM's ehibition, EL ANATSUI: WHEN I LAST WROTE TO YOU FROM AFRICA is not to be missed and it closes on the 22nd of THIS month. Charles went a second time with two of our grandchildren, ages 7 and 11 and thely loved it.

Austin artist GINGER GEYER has been living at the Fairmont Hotel and working for the last 3 months on her show that opened January 7th at the Ross Akard Gallery.  Her ceramic pieces are executed with exceptional skill and they always make me laugh.

Check out the programs and exhibitions planned at info@AMOA-arthouse.org. The website is for the two recently merged Austin art museums, AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART-ARTHOUSE downtown at 700 Congress Ave. and AMOA-LAGUNA GLORIA on the lake at the end of West 35th Street.

2011 DECEMBER BLOG

MERRY CHRISTMAS...Austin is buzzing with Christmas activities too numerous to mention, so I wont.

 I have been writing instead of painting. The book is GROWING UP IN AUSTIN, the on-line publisher Lulu.com has copies if you are so curious you'd like to buy one. Publishing is free so Lulu makes money on the copies that are purchased. I bought 8 for grandchildren and the Austin History Center and SMU's Archives of Women of the Southwest. So I'm sure Lulu has made her costs. I have no way to compare Lulu with any other on-line publishers so I'm not recommending them. But I do recommend that all of you who are older than dirt make haste to do this. It is very satisfying and even though your grandchildren won't give it a nod until you are dead, they will be glad then. Not that you're dead but that you left them some idea of the strange life before iPads, smart phones, video games and for heavens sake even without TV and  air conditioning.

So here is an excerp...and YES on the cover with my mother, a number of decades ago, it is I.

..................."In front of our house there was a big loquat shrub providing a shady place to hide. One day my playmate, Bobby, and I were playing beneath the dense foliage. Mother discovered us playing doctor and nurse, discoveriing our anatomical differences. My mother and Bobby's mother levied a purnishment of 6 weeks without playing together. Later when we both were in Austin High School with only one grade between us, I wondered if he remembered our early childhood experiments in physiology." ..........................................................................................................................................

 

2011 NOVEMBER POST

CONGRATULATIONS TO AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART AND ARTHOUSE!
These two arts organizations have done what our U.S.Congress seems unable to do. They have reached an agreement! After much discussion the two boards of AMOA and ARTHOUSE have agreed to merge.
ARTHOUSE reinvented the Texas Fine Arts Association that had shared the Laguna Gloria campus and moved downtown. LAGUNA GLORIA ART MUSEUM became Austin Museum of Art and made plans to create a downtown location on the block it purchased in the heart of the city, although that was not to be.
ARTHOUSE was successful in establishing a great Congress Avenue location in a beautifully renovated building along with a tremendous debt. After several unsuccessful attempts to raise funds for a downtown building, AMOA sold its strategically located block and banked its impressive revenue.
Each had what the other needed. In my opinion the two boards of directors acted wisely by recognizing this. I'm sure there will be many details to reconcile, not the least of which will be to articulate its mission. I hope and I believe those of us interested in a healthy, visable and vibrant downtown art museum for our city will applaude and support this decision.

2011 OCT. / NOV

The image is a RICHARD DIEBENKORN painting from his Ocean Park series on view in Ft. Worth.
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Every year the fall and especially October seems to give every organization and most people a shot in the arm. There are projects galore and urgent meetings that often are not. There are things to do that you forgot that you promised to do when fall was so far in the distance. But here we are with a few of the many events for you to consider.

      BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART...........an exhibition of works by African artist EL ANATSUI
The examples of work in this exhibition are remarkably diverse and impressive when one realizes they are done by a single artist. The works most publicized are the metal wall hangings of small pieces cut and linked by wire into a blanket of color and texture. There are drawings, paintings, prints, and beautiful two dimensional incised wood wall pieces as well as large free standing wood sculpture, all by El Anatsui. One wonders if he has a atelier with apprentices as did the artists of the Renaissance. It is a don't-miss-exhibition.

           The KIMBELL and the MODERN ART MUSEUMS in Fort Worth are worth the trip.
      Italian painter CARAVAGGIO at the KIMBELL MUSEUM rarely used assistants and it is believed this may explain the high quality of his work. He was probably born in Milan in 1571 and died shortly before he was 40 years old, but he produced some of the most moving religious paintings in the history of western art. His family had lived in the town of Caravaggio and it is believed that he adobted that name when he went to Rome to apprentice as was the established tradition for young artists. It's interesting to note that Michelangelo grew up in the town of Caravaggio.
Biographers allege that Caravaggio may have engaged in some criminal difficulty when a teenager. Although ill behaved, he was exceptionally intelligent and he enjoyed the protection of exalted patrons who paid him generously. After his death his work was scorned, but today it is universally admired.
    
       RICHARD DIEBENKORN American artist after World War II lived most of his life in California and has a worldwide reputation. His Ocean Park series of paintings is on view at the MODERN MUSEUM OF ART in Ft. Worth. Diebenkorn was born in Portland Oregon in 1922, grew up in San Francisco and began painting with a distinctive abstract vocabulary while teaching at the California School of Fine Arts.  In 1955 he switched to a representational mode, and became associated with the Bay Area figurative school of art.
In 1967 he wanted to work in a slightly larger scale. "The height was what I could get out of the place (his studio) without any alteration of my door." It is the Ocean Park series of paintings that represents his return to big geometric abstractions.
When studying reproductions of this series, what I have personally enjoyed are the richly textured surfaces and the aquatic blues and greens. Diebenkorn says, "What I enjoyed almost exclusively was altering--changing what was before me--by way of subtraction or juxtaposition or superimposition of different ideas.
     Next Tuesday, Oct. 18th, I will be in Fort Worth standing before Diebenkorn's 75 paintings described in a review as "refreshing as iced lemonade". This past August I had been disappointed when we were in San Francisco's Modern Museum to find only two early abstract paintings by Diebenkorn and one painting by a later Bay Area figurative painter, Nathan Oliveria. So I guess patience IS a virtue and sometimes it pays big dividends.

RICHARD DIEBENKORN

2011 SEPTEMBER BLOG

 "Quiet Chroma"  20 x 20 inches,  Oil on Canvas,
Prepared for the "Red Dot Invitational Show" at WOMEN AND THEIR WORK, 1710 LAVACA in Austin, TX. Those who want a first chance to consider the 200 works of art, priced to sell at $500. or under, can purchase tickets for $80. or $250. depending on how eager you are to get there on Thursday evening September 15th . In addition to the art, the annual gala fundraiser offers trips and gifts for the bidding and the usual libations, party food and exitement.                   For tickets call WATW or go on-line www.womenandtheirwork.org
For the rest of you not so eager or who would rather have a sober look, the exhibition continues September 15 through 25.  Enjoy.

MUSEUM NEWS:
      ARTHOUSE director since 1999, Sue Graze is resigniing effective October 14th. This leaves both ARTHOUSE AND AMOA (Austin Museum of Art) without directors and open for a new hand at the helm should the two decide to unite once again. Both organizations emerged from the Texas Fine Arts Associations founded in 1911. Many are hoping a practical union will be the outcome of the ongoing talks between the two boards of directors.

       SIMONE J. WICHA, the new director at the BLANTON MUSEUM on the University of Texas campus at MLK Street has announced a very full year of exhibitions. Among them are these fine and diverse exhibitions. Check the publicity to see other events and lectures associated with the shows.
    1. Sept 18 through Dec. 31, the museum's traveling exhibition "Storied Past" will include French drawings and sketches primarily from the Blanton's Suida-Manning Collection.
    2. Sept 25 - Jan. 22, a retrospective exhibition of African artist El Anatsui, organized by the Museum for African Art in NYC, will demonstrate 40 years of the artist's reflection on West Africa using a vareiety of materials.
    3. Jan 14 - September 23, 2012, "Go West" with selections from the museum's C. R. Smith Collection of Art of the American west. This collection was donated by the chairman of American Airlines to the Blanton Museum for their permanent collection.
    4. Feb. 26 - May 13, the very American Hudson River painters of the 19th centuy come to the Blanton from Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Pennsylvania.
    5. June 10 - Aug. 19, we get a glimpse of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection. This couple had a passion for art and compulsively collected over 4000 works of contemporary American art by investing their modest means over 40 years. The Blanton was the Texas museum selected by the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. to be given 50 works from the Vogel's collection that was recently donated to them. One museum from each of the 50 states was chosen to receive 50 works. The story here is more a story of this couple and their collecting. I hope the Blanton will show the very interesting documentary about the Vogels.

     The Visual Arts Center (VAC) located in the U.T. Art Department's building on San Jacinto Street has announced their newly scheduled events. I plan to highlight those next month.

2011 August 2

Today my husband and I had a delightful lunch with the Blanton's Sarah Young. She got us up to speed on some wonderful future exhibitions at the BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART planned for the remainder of 2011 and next spring. More about that later, but if you haven't seen their "About Face" hurry to the University of Texas campus, park in the garage just east of of the museum for only a short walk in the heat to see the current exhibition. Its cool inside and so is the show.
So we are off to the cool ( in lots of ways ) city of San Francisco and wonderful Carmel. The high point will be the Gertrude Stein collection of paintings by the artists of Paris who made history, big time! Catch my Sept. post for details.
Before going I have posted the latest of my 30" x 30" series of paintings. This one is called "Ready for Casting". Can you guess why? See below.

2011

August posting will be delayed because we are leaving for San Francisco and a study tour of the museums of that city. We are looking forward to the cooler weather

AUSTIN ART NEWS for July

Former AMOA director DANA FRIIS-HANSEN left Austin a few days ago for a July 4th celebration with family and on to Michigan where he will be director of the GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM (GRAM). It is an impressive art museum with a new building, a permanent collection, and ambitious programming. A farewell party at "the plant" that he and Mark Holzbach own was attended by many friends and well wishers. We had always wanted to see this unique building near Kyle on the Kuykendall Ranch. It was designed by LAKE-FLATO and built with materials acquired from a cement plant that was dismembered.
The property can be rented for parties and retreats. There is a fine kitchen and a cozy room with a fireplace plus a two story screened porch, 3 bedrooms and baths and an outdoor, covered swimming pool.
Other art news is that ANNETTE CARLOZZI has survived the shake up at the BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART on the University of Texas campus. She remains Deputy Director of Art and Programs under the new director SIMONE J. WICHA.

    I HOPE YOU ARE A SUBSCRIBER TO MY MONTHLY BLOG. In August we will be visiting art museums in San Francisco. Gertrude Stein's collection is there and I'll have some things to say about the trip when we return.

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COLORS CHANGING oil on canvas 30" x 30"

BLOG FOR JULY 2011

     My husband Charles and I had our dual website updated, www.sikesart.com . Please check it out. This July blog image (below) is on my side of our website's home page along with one of the series of abstractions that Charles has been creating. To view more of our paintings click on either of our images to get into the other sections.
     Charles is a modern man and does not attempt to make me invisible as was the plight for most professional women in the early 20th century and before. Currently in Paris through September 18th there is an exhibition of photographs and furniture designed by Charlotte Perriand. For 10 years during the 1930s, she was a co-creator with the famous architect Le Corbusier but stood in his shadow.  In 1900 in Scotland Charles Rennie Mackintosh married a gifted designer named Margaret Mcdonald. She suffered the same anonymity. As the saying goes, "Behind every great man stands a woman, rolling her eyes."
   I was personally affected by reading that Charlotte Perriand used photography as a way of taking notes of the things that interested her. I find that I am doing this much more than sketching and painting on location (en plein aire). The iPhone makes this very easy. For years I used an SLR Canon camera to photograph but I painted primarily on location. Lately I'm using a digital Canon especially for photographing images of paintings to sync to my computer to be cropped and refined but also as a reference for painting in the studio rather than outdoors in the Texas heat. Perhaps someday I will do an exhibition of photographs and the paintings that resulted from my "camera note taking".

2011 JUNE BLOG

I'll be brief because I am having technical trouble with blogging. It is either the Google Blog's problem or my computer's recent bout with a Trojan virus. Hope that never happens to you!
     The big news continues to be AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART (AMOA) and ARTHOUSE. Front page news on the Austin American Statesman's Friday, May 27th issue was entitled "ARTHOUSE, AMOA TO BEGIN MERGER TALKS". I recommend you go the the Statesman's website for details. Look either on the Friday front page or in the Thursday 360 section. It appeared in both places.
     Although I have been contacted by "insiders" from both organizations, there is very little to know at this time except what appeared in the article by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin. Because each group has what the other needs and does not have, I am hopeful the merger will work. One has money but soon will give up their Congress Ave. location. The other has a fine, remodeled building on Congress Ave. and the debt that goes along with that.
     I think it is fair to say that  ARTHOUSE generally focuses on "edgey" art by yet to be established artists and AMOA's exhibitions usually represent work by more recognized contemporary artists.
     There is the question of what it would be called. To give up a name as defining as Austin Museum of Art would be a shame, yet Arthouse is a great destination name, descriptive as well. Because we have AMOA-Laguna Gloria, maybe we can have AMOA-Arthouse. The two boards are full of creative and practical members (yes, both can appear in the same persons) who are capable of tackling this and a mulitude of other issues. We all can follow this with great interest.

2011 BLOG FOR JUNE

It seems appropriate to display "Into the Pond" oil on canvas, 30" x 30" painting because summer is here in Austin, Texas.

2011 MAY BLOG

CHARLESTON PALMS, oil on canvas, 30" x 30 "
This painting was produced after traveling with friends two months ago to Charleston, SC. If you like to learn and share ideas with interesting poeople while on vacation, I recommend the trips and programs of ROAD SCHOLAR. We experienced Charleston's gardens and homes with lectures about the city's history from before the American Revolution until after the Civil War, including commerce, black history and plantation life, southern cooking, and much more. We stayed in a beautifully restored hotel in the historical district, toured the city, the Battery, Fort Sumter and the Citidel. All the while looking and learning.

BOOKS AND EVENTS
At the University of Texas' VISUAL ARTS CENTER (VAC) until May 14th there are art and design works by students pursuing bachelors' degrees and the master's degree. The opening was a big draw. Several days later the alumni of the fine arts department were privileged to gather in the art building to enjoy the show. I was among the lucky four to have my name drawn and to be presented with two beautiful books.
ROMAN LIFE by the celebrated professor of Art History JOHN R. CLARK gives the reader insight to what life was like in the Roman Empire from the perspectives of various citizens, including their slaves. Years 100 B.C. through 200 A.D. are the focus.
The second book, entitled simply MELISSA MILLER, is a retrospective of her vibrant and imaginative printings of animals. Melissa, an associate professor of painting and drawing at U.T. and a friend, paints animals in a strong and uniquely independent way. For her allegorical depictions, she has gained national and international acclaim.

The AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART-LAGUNA GLORIA is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary.Watch for announcements of events and activities.
The BLANTON MUSEUM and ARTHOUSE join AMOA with internal changes. Ned Rifkin, director of the BLANTON at the University of Texas for the past two years is leaving that post. The new director is Siomone Wicha. As reported in my March blog Jonathan Bobar, the Blanton's premier scholar (my opinion as well as that of many others), has taken a position at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. He will be sorely missed. Results of this shake-up seem to be continuing.
At ARTHOUSE a prominent artist quit the board of directors. The contemporary art center eliminated its only curatorial position and faces accusations of mishandling an artist's work. A Facebook protest asked artists who were invited to participate in the annual "5 x 7" fundraising show to pull their work out of the event. However the popular event is on for Friday May 13, 8-11 p.m. Tickets are $30. For more information go to their website.

THEATER in Austin is alive and well. As a new member of the AUSTIN CREATIVE ALLIANCE, I receive weekly emails about the many productions and an opportunity to purchase discounted tickets. I can guarantee many chuckles at the ZACK SCOTT THEATER's production of OSAGE COUNTRY. However it may deter you from ever planning another family gathering.

2011 APRIL BLOG

On the right is the image of the finished Golden Grasses, oil on canvas, 30"x30". More about this below. But first, I want to clarify my reporting of the Austin Statesman article last month about AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART- LAGUNA GLORA. JUDITH SIMS at LAGUNA GLORIA and interim AMOA administrator JACK NOKES both sent emails, some of which I want to pass on. According to Judith, the Board of AMOA is still wide open and exploring multiple ideas with enthusiasm and excitement. They are financially responsible and addressing the planning by prioritizing the needs. Examples of the priorities are: closing 823 Congress and selecting a new central location, finding a new director, completing and perhaps improving the master plan for Laguna Gloria. Jack summarized the AMOA plan as follows: "1) to stabilize our budget and operations, 2) to hire the best possible Executive Director, 3) to find an affordable space in which to continue exhibitions and programs in Central Austin, 4) to make the highest and best use of Laguna Gloria while taking good care of it, and 5) to use the $21 million from the sale of the downtown lot as a future fund to ensure that AMOA will be a sustainable organization for years to come." Thanks to you both and to the Board of Directors at AMOA-LG. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ The finished painting I call GOLDEN GRASSES is much the same as last month's image. I added a few additonal brush strokes and eliminated some of the brighter yellows in the bottom half. I chose to be very cautions about NOT overworking the piece so the difference is very subtle. The image on my computer screen of Golden Grasses is very true to the actual painting. But what I want to discuss are the "pit falls" of buying and selling a work on line. If at all possible, arrange to actually see the work of art. I have sold and shipped paintings to places as far as Chicago, but with the agreement that it can be returned within a reasonable time. A number of weeks ago I had an inquiry about the painting that was featured in the February blog. (For those of you who are subscribers and are emailed only the current month's blog, please go to www.carolesikes.blogspot.com to see past monthly posts and the February painting under discussion). Because this prospective buyer lives in Austin, I delivered the painting to him to hang on his wall for a few days and to return it if it was not what he and his wife had hoped. It was not and he returned it. All computer screens display differences in color and in value (lights and darks). On my screen, the photographic image was not a match for my painting. Even with color adjustments, I was not able to replicate the richer and darker blue in my painting. When I made adjustments for the blue, the gold grasses became too bright. For this and other reasons a painting needs to be viewed and studied in the light in which it will hang. For example some houses are dark, others flooded with light. When a work of art is purchased it should provide a sustaining interest. All the better if you don't know for sure what draws you to it. You may be compelled to keep studying it and discovering things about it as well as things about yourself in regard to collecting art. As you collect, your tastes may change. But after a considerable amount of time this is not a reason to expect the artist to exchange it. If you bought well you can sell the piece through a gallery. Preferably the gallery representing the artist. Or you can make it a gift to someone who would enjoy it. Happy collecting, and HAPPY EASTER.

WORK IN PROGRESS oil painting on canvas

I'm producing a new 30" x 30" painting of some beautiful grasses like those that have turned golden after our frosty February. I thought it might be interesting to capture at least a couple of stages of the work in progress. Unfortunately I didn't photograph the initial marks on the canvas which to me always are exciting, but here is stage #2. Perhaps next month I will have the final results.

MARCH 2011 BLOG

MUSEUM NEWS
The rumor is true. Front page news on the Feb. 25 issue of the Austin American Statesman was that AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART is regrouping, restructuring and moving from its downtown location. The board is considering a focus of their resources on the AMOA-Laguna Gloria Campus. JUDITH SIMS, has been artfully directing activities and improvements at the school, the villa and the gatehouse gallery for many years. She has worked at LAGUNA GLORIA with former directors Laurence Miller and Dana Fris-Hansen. Dana recently resigned as director of AMOA and is currently traveling abroad but hopefully will return to Austin and its arts scene. He will be missed by so many of us who considered him the friendly, gentlemanly face of Austin's first important art museum.

AMOA's former administrator JACK NOKES is interim director. He and the downtown staff and some of the "FIFTEEN ARTISTS TO WATCH" were at the Director's Circle gathering on the 23rd of February for a preview of the current exhibition. The crowd was small and the installation incomplete, but food, drink and conversation were not lacking.

ARTHOUSE, located two blocks down on Congress Avenue, was hosting members and the French filmmakers of KOOLHAAS HOUSELIFE. In contrast to the modest gathering at AMOA there were approximately 250 people gathered on the roof deck watching a housekeeper, a lawn service and window washers maintain a celebrated residence designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. Yes, that is how the film was conceived and presented. Unfortunately we left early and missed the Q and A and the art spin. To see a video of Koolhaas Houselife, sans the housekeeper and yard man, go to www.arthousetexas.org and find the Arthouse Blog then scroll down.

At the BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART on the University of Texas campus is "RECOVERING BEAUTY" until May 22nd. In Argentina after the Perons there was a particularly repressive regime followed by a period of great freedom and exuberance. Artists celebrated by producing a variety of diverse works not necessarily political or even serious in nature. The "beauty" recovered was the freedom to produce fun, whimsical art or whatever one wanted to produce. Thanks to Martha Bradshaw, Director of Volunteers who toured us through the exhibition.

Best wishes to JONATHAN BOBER, who is leaving the BLANTON to become Curator and Head of Old Master Prints at the NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART in Washington, D.C. Since 1988 Jonathan has made numerous and important contributions to projects at the Blanton including the procurement of the Suida Manning and Leo Steinberg collections.

A note about the d'BERMAN GALLERY: It will be closing its Austin location and relocating in Wimberly, Texas, "just a conversation away".

2010 FEBRUARY BLOG

I don't like cold weather but I love what winter does to nature. The tracery of bare branches against a cloudless winter sky is stunning to me.This recently completed painting, that I'm calling NIGHT LIGHT, is a 30" x 30" oil painting on canvas.
There are many beautiful native grasses that change color during the fall and winter. Where we live on Lake Travis there are varieties of Muhly and Little Bluestem in abundance. Also there are patches of Yellow Indiangrass, Love grass, Switchgrass and many others that I can't identify. This is the case with these yellow ochre grasses and bare stalks in this month's painting. Looking through the dark stems and heads in the foreground gives a sense of depth and breaks up the large blue background. The blue is an evening sky blue, and the grasses are spot lighted by a setting sun that accentuates the color. This painting is more freely painted than the series of Chautauqua Porches on which I'm still working. I had a need to take a break from the smaller, more tedious paintings of architectural detail and cut loose on this larger nature painting. But I'll be getting back to the final (I think) three in the series of porches at Chatauqua, N.Y.
By the way, I will be watching tonight, Monday Feb. 1st, when KLRU is showing a television film entitled CHAUTAUQUA: AMERICAN. I hope you caught it.

VISUAL ARTS
In downtown Austin we have a recently opened W HOTEL that is partnering with the relatively new VISUAL ARTS CENTER (VAC) located in the Art Building at the University of Texas. The hotel plans to display works by art faculty and alumni as well as selected work from the VAC's contemporary art exhibitions. This collaboration is another example of the awakening of the visual arts scene in Austin.
Video artists are also being featured at the Art School Building, located on San Jacinto Street at East 23rd. Each month a new, highly regarded video artist will be presented with the caveat "some videos may not be appropriate for all ages". But then, for those of us who have viewed art produced through the ages, that is nothing new.
If you like video art, know that the recently remodeled Arthouse on Congress Ave. has a film and video gallery.

DOCUMENTARY
If you are interested in either the history of great art or some lesser known facts of World War II, you will want to see THE RAPE OF EUROPA, a 2006 documentary that recently aired on KLRU-Q in Austin on January 29th. It is extraordinary in scope and in detail. Based on a 1944 book by Lynn H. Nicholas, the film uses clips of monumental European buildings before and after their destruction, of priceless paintings and sculpture being evacuated from cities to avoid looting by Hitler's army, of transporting stolen art treasureers to Nazi Germany, of U.S. Army officers given the task of locating treasures hidden in caves and remote villas, and of ongoing efforts to return these stolen works to rightful owners and heirs and much, much more. Joan Allen is the narrator and Robert Edsel the producer. For more information and to see a trailer, check out www.rapeofeuropa.com or it can be ordered from Netflix.

HAPPY NEW YEAR January 2011

No images of my paintings this month. In fact, not much evidence of may painting except three works in progress not yet ready to display. We'll see if they pass muster.

BOOKS AND A MOVIE

Here's an idea: A novel by STEVE MARTIN (for heaven's sake!) entitiled AN OBJECT OF BEAUTY. I haven't read it yet so you are on your own. However the review maikes me want to check it out and I'm not a Martin fan.
"An attractive, ambitious young woman rises through artist and writer boyfriends, curators, FBI agents, international dealers and art collectors. The talk is contemporary art and ...money." The reveiwer (also a painter) goes on, "Steve gets the art world, human nature, body language, as well as the dark and funny twists of fate. He know his stuff and he nails it."
This is my guess about what we can expect to take away. Much of the stuff that calls itself art IS, but much of it IS NOT. So enjoy what you like and ignore the rest. Collectiing contemporary art in order to make money is a little like buying and selling Wall Street stocks. You've got to depend on someone promoting the artist and making a market for his/her work. You may get lucky and pick some winners for your grandchildren to sell and make money, but don't count on it.
Now thanks to my friend Mary Langford who is an author, a retired librarian and a supervisor of librarians, I have two really good books to recommend that I have read. Mary receives new books sent to her by a publisher to read and rank. Both are good reads but only one is marginally about art.
The first one has some small relationship to Michelangelo and the Italian art world, but the grander story is about the court and specifically the queen of King Phillip II of Spain. In THE CREATION OF EVE by LYNN CULLEN the protagonist, a female painter of some renown, was allegedly included in Giorgio Vasari's famous chronicle of Italian Renaissance artists. I scoured the list in the two volumes of THE LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS by VASARI that I own and did not find evidence of her anywhere in my books. But this maybe-not-so-historical novel is a really good one. I believe it gives true insight into the lives of two women, an artist and a queen, who lived in the sixteenth century. Try it you'll like it.
If kings and queens intrigue, be sure to see THE KING'S SPEECH with Colin Firth. This is a movie sure to earn some academy awards.
Moving forward in time, THE SCENT OF RAIN AND LIGHTENING by NANCY PICKARD is a wonderful "page turner". It's a novel about a successful ranching family revered in a nearby small town. It has twists and turns, suspense and chills, and an abundance of wonderfully drawn characters both good and evil. I have pictured it above on the coffee table in our study. It is a great read especially for us Texans and westerners in the U.S.

AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART
Finally, as a former printmaker, I recommend that you visit AMOA downtown to see ADVANCING TRADITION: TWENTY YEARS OF PRINTMAKING AT FLATBED PRESS. Mark Smith and Katherine Brimberry have fostered printmaking in Austin and introduced it to many U.T. and Austin artists and patrons. For more information about Flatbed, please follow this link to read an interview with Mark and Katherine. http://www.printeresting.org/.

DECEMBER BLOG 2010

Almost one year ago I posted an image of a painting that I call MOTION on my January blog. I was never completely satisfied with it but liked it enough to continiue to look for solutions. I spent an inordinate amount of time sitting and staring at the painting. I hauled it ( it is 30" x 30") to a meeting of some Austin painting friends where we share criticism of one another's work. Then finally months later, I placed it on my easel, took brush in hand and modified it enough to call it done. I would love some feedback from you readers who would go to the http://www.carolesikes.blogspot.com/, scroll down to the painting below the HAPPY NEW YEAR on last January's blog and tell me which version you like best.
A common dilemma of many if not most painters is knowing when to stop. Often when one is having fun moving paint around, the painting can become overworked. This one was a great challenge and I like nothing better. Other paintings seem to slide right onto the canvas. In either case, it's a great ride.
Did you see the article written by NED RIFKIN, director of the BLANTON MUSEUM, in the recent TRIBEZA? He writes about Austin's art scene in general but the Blanton and it's current show in particular. I hope you pick up the free issues when you see them. Their Arts Calendar is always good to check out and there are interesting articles by contributors Kristin Armstrong, GSD&N's Tim McClure and others. It's a good read and lots of eyewash or should I say eye candy?
So have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday. There is always more to do than one is able or would want to do in December. You don't need any nudges from me. However, I want to encourage you to seek some peace amidst all the craziness so you can share some joy with those you love.

NOVEMBER 2010 BLOG

Here are three images from my new series of paintings CHAUTAUQUA PORCHES. If you are new to my blog and are not a subscriber, you may wonder, "What is Chautauqua?" For an answer please go to www.carolesikes.blogspot.com to read my September blog and to see several photos taken while I was there. One is the bicycle on a porch.
Our Austin weather is finally porch sitting weather. However if sitting is not in your physical vocabulary, here are a few art events for you to consider.
The first recommendation on my list is a very handsome exhibition of paintings by LAURA SIKES BARROW at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd until the end of the year. Location: Windsor and Exposition in west Austin. Parking: Available on the inner campus driveway. Exhibition: in the administration building that faces the church. Hours: 9-5 Monday through Friday. Yes, I am her mother but as an artist and a former art teacher I can unabashedly declare, "she is good!"
Austin Museum of Art (AMOA) downtown Austin on Congress Ave. at 8th has a comprehensive and important collection of ROMARE BEARDEN graphics. It is a stunning show and I'm sure you will like it. But hurry because the exhibition closes on the 14th of this month. If you are not familiar with him or his work don't miss the video that accompanies the show and the talk at the museum this Thursday.
The BLANTON ART MUSEUM, University of Texas campus on MLK Blvd. is featuring TURNER TO MONET. It continues until January 2nd. Check their website for the programs that accompany the exhibition.
The big news is that ARTHOUSE and its reworked space is now open with 4 cutting edge exhibitions plus a video. The space, designed by New York architects Lewis -Tsurumaki -Lewis, is exciting and the exhibitions, provocative.
PLEIN AIR AUSTIN has a group show of paintings on the 5th floor of the Univ. of Texas Performing Arts Center (also called Bass Concert Hall) The exhibition closes Sunday Nov. 14th.
I understand that the McMAY MUSEUM in San Antonio, Texas has a exhibition of plein air paintings which I hope to see. Charles and I did get to the HOUSTON MUSEUM OF ART to see the German Impressionist Exhibition which I can recommend. Check their website because I do not know the closing date.
More in December. Let me hear from you.

2010 OCTOBER BLOG

It has been a year since I started my blog and 35 years since I sat on the "steering committee" of the Huntington Museum on the University of Texas campus. This past weekend my husband Charles, our friend McDonald Smith and I returned to the art building to see what has replaced the Huntington, later renamed the Blanton Museum. Pictured from left to right are CHARLES SIKES; JUDITH SIMS, Austin Museum of Art School and Laguna Gloria Site Director; JADE WALKER, director of the new U.T. Visual Arts Center and McDONALD SMITH, professor emeritus of Art History at U.T.

The museum space in the art building, formerly occupied by the Huntington/Blanton, was vacated when the Blanton Museum moved into its new building on M.L.K. Street. The Art Building is located on the corner of San Jacinto Steet across from Royal Memorial Stadium and west across Trinity Street from the Performing Arts Center (Bass Hall). Its museum space was recently converted into the Visual Arts Center (VAC). Jade Walker directs the new experimental laboratory and gallery for art students and faculty and visiting artists at U.T. It opened the last weekend in September with a crowd of 700 supporters at a special event and to the public on Sunday September 26.

When the Blanton Museum moved, a loading dock on the east side of the art building was replaced by an attractive and convenient street level entry and the receiving and storing spaces were free to become part of the exhibition space. Celebrated San Antonio, Texas, architects Lake-Flato created open, alive spaces by moving walls, relocating stairs and by removing the drop ceiling to reveal concrete vaulting. Natural light enters the formerly cocooned museum space through a huge protruding window in the south wall.

It was great fun to experience the changes in the museum we once knew so well. The new space is less sophisticated, less gentrified, and more available for experimentation of all kinds of creative works that defy the older categories of art.

With retired Art Education professor, Al Nichol, we were wondering why Max Brooks, the building's original architect, chose to put a drop ceiling under the more interesting vaulting. I was remembering the pretentious circular staircase that took up a huge corner of the exhibition space. Al told us that when the art building was completed in the early 1960s, he was commissioned by Mrs. Brooks to create a painting on the silk gown she wore to the celebration of the opening.

Watch for another impressive renovation. The new arthouse on Congress Avenue will soon be completed. These are two examples of how the visual arts are making marks on the cultural life of our city. Austin, Texas is renowned for its live music, but dance and theater and the visual arts are not far behind. It is past, but I must mention the thrilling performance of Carmina Burana combining the talents of Ballet Austin, the Austin Symphony Orchestra and the Conspirare singers. WOW this has been a wonderful start to fall, U.T. Football excepted!

2010 SEPTEMBER BLOG

Here are only a few photos from our week at Chautauqua, N.Y. Most vacations are over or shortly coming to an end. School, Football and a myriad of other activities have started but I couldn't let my blog move on without mentioning what has become one of my favorite get-aways. If you have not been to Chautauqua, please put it on your calendar for a future year. It is a great escape from the Texas heat.

There are 9 theme weeks each summer. This year we chose Week 7, " Sacred Spaces". There were many speakers including Ken Burns who spoke to a capacity crowd in the 600 seat amphitheater on two occasions. Each morning there was a sermon and worship service led by Calvin O. Butts, pastor of a New York Harlem church. There were afternoon discussions about possible solutions to the Israel/Palestine problems in the "Hall of Philosophy", a Greek temple "look-alike building". In the evening in the "amp" there were concerts by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and by the tribute band playing Abba songs of the sixties. On the porch of one of the many Victorian houses on the campus there were readings by the author and poet in residence sponsored by the oldest continuously meeting book club in America. The big old Victorian hotel was orginally lighted with gas lights until Thomas Edison electrified it. The Edisons, as well as the Fords, Goodyears, Pennybackers and other familiar names number among those early Chautauqua fans. And while I'm dropping names, one of the practice studios has a sign indicating that George Gershwin wrote one of his piano concertos in that little building near the music school.

There is indeed something for everyone. Last summer we rented a house at Chautauqua and took our whole family. There were 11 of us. Our two smallest grandchildren went to a day camp and rode bicycles all over the automobile-free campus in the afternoons. Our teenage girls learned to sail on Lake Chautauqua while their brother played golf on the course acress the highway. Our daughter sketched and painted, our son and his wife played tennis, our son-in-law photographed and went to lectures with my husband and I took sculpture in the art school.

Check out the Chautauqua Institute website: www.ciweb.org for more information about next summer. And make plans early, especially if you hope to find a house to rent. We usually stay in the St. Elmo condominiumns which all have small kitchens and are located in a 5 story building on Bestor Plaza in the center of the campus. It is truly a unique experience satisfying such a variety of interests. Don't forget to be still long enough to enjoy such pleasures as rocking on a front porch or visiting on a balcony with friends and family.

2010 AUGUST BLOG

A CLOSER LOOK
Here are three images randomly selected from my current exhibition at Austin Museum of Art-Laguna Gloria's Gatehouse Gallery.
My exhibition closes August 23rd. If you have not been by 3809 West 35th Street in Austin, I hope you will go. Gallery Hours are limited to Monday through Friday from 11:00 to 3:00. You can view the show while enjoying a sandwich and a salad available in the cafe. It has been so satisfying for me to see the entire series of paintings together on the gallery walls. Thanks to all who have made it by Laguna Gloria to see the show.

Take time to enjoy the grounds at Laguna Gloria. When I taught there in the late 1960s there was very little activity in the Museum and the Museum School classes were taught upstairs in the Villa or on the grounds. Now we have Austin Museum of Art Downtown with many programs and changing exhibitions. The Clara Driscoll Villa has been restored to its original splendor. A very active AMOA School is located on the grounds and the Gatehouse has been restored and converted into a gallery for teachers and students. As a former teacher, AMOA director Dana Friis-Hansen and Judith Sims, who directs all activities at Laguna Gloria, invited me to exhibit there.

Because I believe that learning to see can enrich all our lives, observation has been a constant theme when teaching adults in workshops or children in the public schools. We may not all be painters and poets, but we all can take time to become aware of the wonders around us. And who knows how we might choose to express our delight.

In this current show I have attempted to find ordinary subjects which can be viewed from a different perspective, hopefully making them extraordinary. The heart of the Agave plant and the shadows cast on an ordinary garden vase at Laguna Gloria and on a table and chair in the patio of the hotel in Marfa, Texas caught me eye. Go forth and see what you can see in your surroundings.

My husband and I are leaving at the end of next week for Chautauqua, New York. It is a truly exceptional place with a very long history. George Gershwin composed a piece of his music in one of the practice rooms there. There is more to do there than one can possible do. I recommend you google it to learn about it. My "art eyes" and my camera will be turned on, recording images to which I can respond. Perhaps there will be another series of paintings forthcoming.

JULY 2010 BLOG

AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART-LAGUNA GLORIA

We hope you will visit the Gatehouse Gallery on the grounds of Laguna Gloria at 3809 West 35th Street. Please plan to see my paintings in the gallery and have a sandwich and a salad in the cafe.

My exhibition . CAROLE McINTOSH SIKES . RECENT PAINTINGS-A CLOSER LOOK . opens July 14th and continues through August 23rd. at AMOA-Laguna Gloria's Gatehouse Gallery. The Gallery hours are 11:00 -3:00 Monday through Friday.

I hope you enjoy the show. If you have been receiving my blog, you will recognize the paintings, mostly of nature at close range. It has been a fun series to paint. I appreciate Dana Friis-Hansen, the Director of Austin Museum of Art and Judith Sims, Senior Director of Education for the opportunity to exhibit my paintings in AMOA's Gatehouse Gallery.

The Gatehouse at Laguna Gloria

The gatehouse is the most recently restored historic building on the grounds. Unbelievably, it originally housed the Galvan family of ten. Nazio, his wife Benita and their eight children lived here from 1929 - 1945. Clara Driscoll relied on Mr. Galvan to implement her vision for the grounds around her villa on Lake Austin.

Earlier Stephen F. Austin saw this property and admired the site and wrote in 1832, "I want the best land that can be had. I shall fix a place on the Colorado at the foot of the mountains to live." Death prevented him from spending the rest of his life here.

In 1906 Henry Servier said to his well traveled bride Clara Driscoll, "I know a place in Texas that has everything Lake Como has...the mountains, the water, the quiet beauty, peaceful and romantic atmosphere and the advantage of being at home."

The Serviers purchased the land and completed construction of the villa in 1916. In 1943 she donated Laguna Gloria to the Texas Fine Arts Association.

Clara Driscoll's achievements were numerous, but she is most known for saving the Alamo in San Antonio from commercial exploitation.

2010 June BLOG

Early one fall morning I looked out to see the sun seeping through the fog and around the dark shapes. Almost everything was obscured except a hint of our casita that serves as our studio. Although not my usual mode of working, this image stayed in my mind begging for release. Here it is, altered by my memory and abstracted to present what remains memorable for me. It is 24" x 24" Oil on Canvas "FRACTURED SUNLIGHT".

SUMMER AT AUSTIN, TEXAS ART MUSEUMS:

At the BLANTON MUSEUM on the University of Texas campus "Matisse as Printmaker" continues until August 22nd. The 63 prints from the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation demonstrate a variety of technique and subject matter. They range from etching to woodcut and linoleum cut to the one-of-a-kind monotype. Matisse's editions were often 25 or 50 prints enabling numerous collectors, who could not afford his paintings or sculptures, to own and enjoy works in which he was deeply engaged throughout his career.

And while you are there, be sure to see the NEW WORKS acquired since the new Blanton opened four years ago. This exhibition runs with the Matisse show until August 22nd. It is an "extraordinarily diverse array of art objects spanning over 500 years". Probably many you will love and others you will love to hate.

For more information, check out the Blanton's website as well as the Austin Museum of Art's. AMOA downtown and AMOA at Laguna Gloria both offer "cool" and worthwhile exhibitions for summer viewing.

May 2010 BLOG

ALICE NEEL 12" x 12" oil on canvas

Whoever heard of Alice Neel (1900-1984)?
I did about 10 years ago when the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York gave a retrospective exhibition of her work. Her reputation was at its height at the time of her death. Because I had just started painting again after a 20+ year sabbatical, I was intrigued and hopeful that my art career still had some years to go. In fact I was so interested and amused that I painted this portrait of Alice Neel from published photographs of her in later years.

The HOUSTON MUSEUM OF ART has put together "ALICE NEEL: PAINTED TRUTHS" so you can learn about her by visiting the Museum's Caroline Wiess Law building where their retrospective continues until June 13th. Check out the Museum of Fine Art Houston's web sight (MFAH.org) to order the catalog (same name as the show) for $65.00. Her life and works are featured in a documentary directed by her grandson; "Alice Neel" premiered in 2007.

"One of the great American painters of the 20th century" (MFAH) and "an icon for feminists" (Wikipedia), she is best known for her psychologically acute portraits of the famous and infamous. She painted a portrait of Kate Millett for the cover of Time magazine in 1970 and in 1979 President Jimmy Carter awarded her the National Women's Caucus for Art award.

For information about a bus tour from Austin to Houston on May 22, sponsored by the Art Divas, email divas@womenandtheirwork.org. For those living in London, the exhibition is traveling there to the Whitechapel Gallery and then on to Moderna Museet Malmo, Malmo.

Of interest to you calling Austin, Texas your home:
The Austin art scene seems to be awakening in a big way. It has much catching up to do, especially with the Austin music scene, but it is rolling. For example there is the redesigned Art House on Congress Avenue, the on going improvements at Laguna Gloria and the AMOA art school on Lake Austin at the end of West 35th Street as well as great programs and exhibitions at AMOA downtown. If you haven't already, I recommend you check out "B Scene" at the Blanton Museum of art on the U.T. campus. Visit the many Austin art galleries and contact Cook and Rudd for their Curator's Tours of exhibitions in the Second Street District. The meeting place is 210 Guadalupe St. every Wed. at 12:30 and on Sat. 12:30 and 2:00 p.m. and by appointment through May 26.

Until next month.....
I do hope you have gone to my blog at www.carolesikes.blogspot.com and subscribed so that you are receiving notices when I post my monthly comments. Let me hear from you.