Artnotes: Rekindled

 

Butterflies on the Wind   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/gauze  38 x 70”  1 x 1.75 m   250.00   If you click here , you can see the butterflies move in the breeze Andy Warhol was really part of my father’s generation.  He was just a year younger than Foxie (1927).   It’s funny, because I had always thought of him as my own age.  And when we went to see Andy Warhol. Ladies and Gentlemen in Ferrara this week, he seemed like he was still in the picture.  I guess that is what great art is:  timeless. Pioneer Square Seattle  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  24 x 12”  60 x 30cm  490.00 I think Warhol’s heyday in the 1970s was an extraordinary time.  Everything was changing in America, and in the world in general.  With his portrait, Andy Warhol made Mao a pop icon.  The same for Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and Liza Minelli, Elvis – all these images were in the exhibit.   Warhol transformed transvestites into cover girls and lots of these were part of Andy Warhol.  Ladies and Gentlemen.  There were hundreds of pieces in the show.  Warhol made us think of models differently.   His Art Factory launched a thousand careers.   Don’t forget the Campbell’s Soup Can.  All of these images were great equalizers, I believe.  Everything he depicted became part of our reality, from the most mundane to the most elevated (no Henry VIII here).  The show in Ferrara underscored this. Trippa  (my Campbell’s Soup can)    Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/paper  9 x 9"  23 x 23cm  175.00 It took longer to get to Ferrara than usual on Friday – there had been a big storm the day before.  The highway was closed, and we were relegated to a back road, with many speed cameras.    This road was littered with trees and assorted detritus which appeared to be blown down in a tornado. Trees were snapped, mid trunk or ripped out of the ground, roots and all.   This was also a very interesting way to go, because it passed by many beautiful houses on the outskirts of the city, made of brick or stucco, in the art nouveau/liberty style.  The land is completely flat as one leaves Bologna and approaches the coast (Ferrara is about 30 miles from the sea), and there are fields of vegetables all around.  We passed through the asparagus capital, Altedo.    Green asparagus has been grown here as long ago as the Roman era, when it was a great delicacy, shipped there individually wrapped to preserve its freshness.  It is depicted at Pompeii.  Year of the Horse, Year of the Tiger  Blair Pessemier  Acryllic on canvas  12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   250 each I really appreciated this route to Ferrara, because normally is it a tedious trip along a grim concrete highway.  This day, we parked close to the museum and walked along beautiful streets to the show.   We photographed hand-hammered metal work; oohed and aahed over brick designs.  The streets themselves were of the original round stones found at the seaside.   Ferrara is a place I used to resist, but now it is rekindled.   What a universe! Crab   Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/gauze fabric   38 x 38”  1 x 1meter  250.00 HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our paintings at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed. Write to me at lfpessemier@gmail.com   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented.  No politics, no sales pitches, please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8 PM   NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM

Artnotes: What Comes Next?

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The Figs are Ripe  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/Paper  12.5 x 17"  30 x 42cm  190.00   I made tons of fig jam this week!! We’re hanging out in Roccamalatina – swimming almost daily (it’s too crowded on the weekend).   We met a man from Modena there on Thursday – he was incredulous that two Americans who lived in Paris for 20 years would be swimming in the Panaro river in Guiglia.  Mahjong Butterfly  Mahjong Fruit   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  8 x 11"  20 x 27cm  100 each Actually, there is nothing more I’d rather do in the summer than go swimming.  I foolishly thought we’d always spend our summers at Hemlock Lodge, on Highland Lake, but life changes.   Right now, I am looking for that right swimming-near-a-city rental house, and actually Roccamalatina may be as close as I get. Year of the Rat; Year of the Goat, Year of the Pig  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas (panel) 9.5 x 12"  24 x 30cm  190 each  We drove to Bologna this week  – for a visit to the Lercaro Museum.   It’s an easy visit- you can park right out front, and the museum is free.  Lots of Bologna is in the “ZTL – zone of traffic limited”  -- you must park outside the city walls,  often a good kilometer from your destination.  It’s not so bad in spring, fall and winter, but right now, walking a distance in 90+ heat is challenging.  I think my personal thermostat might be broken – or at least worn out.    The Lercaro museum itself has a really wonderful permanent collection.  Cardinal Lercaro had and eye for art, and the sculpture particularly stirs me.  Blair spends time with the small image collection – sort of postcard-y group of Futurist pieces.   We saw two special exhibits there this week – a mosaic show that emphasized the nature and unintended effects of the tiles; and a show of “shattered landscapes” – an interpretion of landscapes inspired by Bologna and the Pianura Padana.  Of course, I am always thinking about showing my Eight Immortals and might contact the museum about my work. I’ve been adding to the Eight Immortals show with some new gauze works, in process, incorporating 3D elements.   Blair is painting Chinese zodiac figures, and I am also painting small Mah-Jong works on paper.  We are like a crazy little art workshop up here in the hills – we both love making art.   This mahjong theme has encouraged our tendency to visit “junk” stores in quest of single tiles that might inspire my painting.   We stopped in Crespellano at the market – there were no mahjong tiles, but we ended up with 8 euros of trinkets.  They are worth far more than 8 euros for kindling of our imagination – who knows what comes next?

Our new "little" collection from the Mercantino -- there are actually many more matchboxes HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our paintings at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed. Write to me at lfpessemier@gmail.com   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented.  No politics, no sales pitches, please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8 PM   NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM

Artnotes: Chi-talia

 

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Mahjong 1 + 2    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/Paper  12.5 x 17"  30 x 42cm  190.00   Berlino and I entered the hotel room.  Already he was impressed with the mirrors in the hotel elevator – where did they find such handsome dogs?  We were staying at Hotel Planet International. near Castiglion Fiorentino/Arezzo:  69.50 a night, including the dog supplement and two big breakfasts; free parking and WIFI.   We would leave an extra 5 euros for the maid to offset any irregularities created by Berlino sleeping on the bed and depositing wood chips from chewing his sticks on the carpet (imagine traveling with an old uncle who smokes smelly cigars and drops ashes on the rug).  The air conditioner cooled the room to a perfect 74.  As the temperature dropped, Berlino looked at me, rolled on his back, jumped in the air, rubbed his nose on the bed:  heavenly.  Can we watch Animal Channel? 2 of Coins; 1 of Fish   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  8 x 11"  20 x 27cm  150 the pair We visited friends in Castiglion Fiorentino this week.  They’d stopped by our house a week earlier.  Today, he and his two grown up daughters painted with me at their kitchen table.   We’ve been painting “dishes” to apply to their wall, like hanging plates.   These are ever so much more personal – and now, we have four different hands.   I love to see all of the family, all younger than Blair and I and ever so artistic and fun.  Berlino likes all of them, as well, especially because he associates them with the fabulous Tuscan meat-platter restaurant, La Piccina, where we ate on Thursday. Year of the Dragon; Year of the Rooster   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  9.5 x 12"  24 x 30cm  190 each  350 pair We paint and catch up on all that’s happened:  where we’ve been, where we’d like to go, laughing all the way.   We talk about where we’d like to live – the girls’ grandfather lived 4 months in Cairo, 4 months in Seattle, and 4 months in Montreal every year.  The oldest daughter is thinking about Taiwan.  Blair and I are always talking about where we would like to be – we have never lived in any one place very long (Paris being the longest) and crave new adventure.  It feeds our imagination, our art, and our love and appreciation of one another.   We’re looking for someplace cool in the summer. The next day, they would take a boat to Elba.  Even though I’ve always wanted to go, I need more than a day visit.  We opt for Prato, on our drive back to Roccamalatina.  Prato is a town outside of Florence -- in fact, it looks like Florence used to, with porches in the buildings, and surrounded by tall stone walls.  It is where silk was made from the 1400s onward, thousands of years after it was developed in China.   We went to the Fabric Museum to see if it might show my Eight Immortals there.   I pored through the silk show.  Much preserved silk items are ecclesiastical, simply because they stored things well.  In fact, less than 10% of the silk made in the Renaissance went to the church -- mostly it was fancy clothing.  The Owl   The Egret  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  8 x 11"  20 x 27cm  150 the pair The thing about Prato is that it has the largest Chinatown in Europe. I had hoped to see Mahjong players in the park while I was there, but it was 95 degrees out.   There are nearly 30,000 Chinese people in Prato – they operate the sewing machines which make the Italian clothing industry such a success (since 1994).     It is rather ironic, when one thinks of cheap clothes and China.  The clothes sewn by Chinese in Prato are of the highest end.  The museum, in an old fabric manufacturing building had a show/competition of new designers.  The winner was Chinese.

HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our paintings at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed. Write to me at lfpessemier@gmail.com   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented.  No politics, no sales pitches, please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8 PM   NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM