Art Notes: Coal Mine

Canary Iris  Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 8"  30 x 20cm  390.00  Imagine the Eiffel Tower being disassembled and reassembled as so many “winding towers” – metal structures with enormous open wheels and wires  to haul rocks from below the ground.  Blast furnaces, water towers, coal plants, machine rooms abound – not one or two, but over 350 photos of these dinosaurs.   We visited the show of Bernd and Hilla Becher’s photographs at MAST on Saturday:  History of a Method. One and Two Tulips  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on Paper 17 x 12"  43 x 30cm   190 each MAST is a contemporary museum in Bologna, Italy dedicated to the manufacture of Art, Experimentation and Technology.   This show embodied all three.   History of a Method described the mechanical manufacturing that dominated  the Western World until after WWII.   The Bechers, born in 1931, had the foresight to realize these structures were disappearing and did what they could to honor and preserve them.   The name of the show represents the Method the Bechers employed for 40 years:  photograph the front, the corner, the side, the back of each building.  They chose to photograph in black and white, because the blue sky was different colors depending on direction.   They liked to photograph in the sun because if gave depth to some of the brutalist concrete building they liked.   It wasn’t beyond them to cut down a tree to get a better view.  They rode around in a Volkswagen bus, with their son Max (who helped curate this show) for a lifetime. History of a Method at MAST   It wasn’t entirely just commercial buildings.  They photographed houses and towns where these workers labored.   There were no people in any of the pictures (except the Becher’s house), and rarely a tree.    It was a remarkable body of work, which spoke to Blair and I. Beyond Wild    Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 17 x 25"  43 x 63cm  290.00 Blair and I have dedicated our lives to painting, but not to the extent of these people.  I kind of abandoned plein air landscapes after a disparaging remark by a collector.   What was I thinking?   Imagine the remarks the Bechers must have gotten.  You’re photographing WHAT?  Riding around Germany, France and Belgium with your child in a hippie car? (they also went to Pennsylvania and Ohio) I am reassured and thoroughly inspired. The Iris Return Eveny Spring Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 20 x 11"  50 x 27cm  490.00 The Bechers used a large format camera they would carry up to the place they were photographing (another reason we aren’t painting outdoors as much – equipment is heavy).  They had to work fast because access to some of these sites, which were at the brink of falling down, was limited.   We left the exhibit after more than an hour, exhausted by the volume and complexity of the work. Wild Lady Orchids  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas12 x 12"  30 x 30cm  290.00 We drove on to Chinese lunch, which always makes me think of how people choose to make a living. The current owner clearly loves cooking, but it is so apparent the children hate working there.  But it beats mining coal. Why flower paintings?  Before these industrial landscapes, Hilla Becher’s earliest photography was of the natural world:  leaves, flowers…

Artnotes: Liberation

 

Cherry Blossoms on the Walk   Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 20 x 24"  50 x 60  490.00  I got a Whatsapp message on Sunday morning.  “George is going to be in Bologna,” it read.  “Maybe you guys could get together.”  George is the painting guru of one of our friends from America we paint with.  She often stops in Italy on her way to Greece, to George’s workshop. I wrote him and instantly we decided to meet for coffee at the airport.    He is an ambassador for a Daniel Smith Art event in Bologna and would be busy other days.  It was a great idea.  We met, and ended up giving him a lift to his hotel.  Sometimes, the Universe works out just right.   White Wildflower  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  17 x 12"  41 x 30cm  290.00 George has worked as a physicist all of his life, besides doing art.  I tell him Richard Feynman (famous physicist) is my hero.  We talk about Feynman’s lectures at Cornell, available online.  I love how Feynman could explain anything, simply, understandably:  that is the most important thing about physics, George tells me.   Feynman felt the key to understanding was to not have preconceived notions Our meeting was brief but ever so fun, and it encourages me to make more effort to get out and DO SOMETHING.  It’s easy to stay home these days – fuel is now $10.00 (US dollars) per gallon.  On the other hand, I am living now and need to do my best with current conditions.  Our only real extravagance is Chinese food. Apple Blossoms Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  11 x 16"  27 x 41cm  290.00 We did find a Moroccan store near where I get plain white notebooks in Vignola.  Plain white paper in notebooks, not to draw on, which is really expensive, but to write on, is rare, it seems.  I have been reading a lot about the benefits of actually writing  rather than typing into a processor.   I can testify that my written poems are better than my typed ones.  And I love unlined, ungridded paper in notebooks. We bought a Moroccan dish, lamb chops, a preserved lemon and that fabulous flat Moroccan bread (msemen).  I will use all today for lunch.  It’s a holiday in Italy.  25 April is Liberation day, commemorating the liberation of Italy from Nazi German occupation and Fascist collaborationism.   Our friend Mino is giving a speech in the center of Roccamalatina, condemning the facismo of Trump and Netanyahu.  I suggest Russia might earn a place in that group, but many Italians, particularly around Modena, remember the Russians liberating them.  It all goes to show how sides can change.  We could bring anti-Trump signs today, but I remind myself we are guests in this country and rabble-rousing doesn’t become us. Begonias  Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/paper  17 x 25"  41 x 63cm  290.00 I just try to do my best to get along, be kind, be generous.  Governments and ideologies are all so changeable and unrelieable.   Who we hate now, we might not in 80 years, and vice-versa.   In the meantime, we’ll eat our Moroccan lunch beneath the pine tree and play Billie Holiday  for the birds (she’s their favorite).

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: Collection

 

Unlocking   Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas x 9 x 18"  23 x 46cm  390.00  The Maramotti Museum is one of my favorite museums.  This year has been particularly good, with guest exhibitions by women artists, who are, frankly, over the top.   It is a year of honoring women for the museum, and they have also formed a liaison with a similar contemporary art museum featuring women, in Indonesia. I wrote some weeks ago  about Malgorzato MirgaTas’s work there, about the Rom People.  This new exhibit was as good.  Coincidentally perhaps, both of these works suggested fabric, a crucial element in the continuing Max Mara clothing business. Clover and Small Pink Flower     Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on Paper 17 x 12"  43 x 30cm   190 each This exhibit, entitled Cannon Fodder, was inspired by the artist Guiditta Branconi painting on her grandmother’s linen wedding dress.  The fabric was light, and it allowed the paint to appear on both sides of the surface.  This idea was further illustrated by a part of the exhibition where one could walk through a “tunnel of paintings”, illuminated by the natural lighting in the room.   It was fascinating. From the Exhibit:  Guiditta Brondconi at Maramotti Cannon Fodder seemed an odd name for the exhibit, but it was meant to represent the barrage of information we are inundated with on a daily basis.  There were many words in a variety of languages; stencils, social media posts, and images of vulnerable creatures.  All presented on this thin linen support, which had meaning for the artist.   It was a flood of information that one could spend a very long time with.   We loved it. Zocchetta View Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 17 x 12"  43 x 30cm  190.00 I liked it because it was a little like my work, too.  In fact, when I showed pictures of it at the art salon, people thought it was mine.  I paint often on newspaper, so words and pictures bleed through ever so slightly from behind flowers and soft images. Obscure as it may seem, my art is connected to world events. Zocchetta View  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 21.5 x 18"  55 x 46cm  490.00 We try to see an exhibit a week while we are up in Roccamalatina.  There are a plethora of museums up here, in Parma, Reggio Emilia (like this one), Bologna…   I can’t resist an interesting museum – not necessarily art, either.  I equally enjoy historical bits, or plants, or whatever someone collected.  I think of the button museum in Waterbury, Connecticut where I have whiled away many an afternoon.  Blair is more of a collector than I am – I can never narrow it down. Ajuga Flowere   Laurie  Pessemier  Acrylic/paper17 x 12"  43 x 30cm  190.00 I find things at the side of the road for example.  This week, in an old telephone booth turned library, I found the most beautiful cookbook I ever saw.  It was issued by an Italian cookware company, whose focus was the design of pans.  Italians are the best industrial designers.   The cookbook contains great recipes, including sauces and preserves.  The photography is truly magnificent.  I’ll add it to my collection. Terra Cotta Friends    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper   15 x 11"   38 x 28 cm  190 each 2 for 300

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: Immortalize a Tree

 

My Apple Tree   Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/paper  17 x 25"  41 x 63cm  290.00  (tree photo at end) I can do what AI can’t .   I can sit in my backyard and paint the apple tree, almost indistinguishable from its surroundings.  I make it yellow and red, green and blue.  In real life, it looks very little like what I painted, but it is clearly my apple tree.  Blair paints nearby cherries – it’s going to be a banner fruit year. Cherry Tree on the Walk    Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 12 x 12"  30 x 30 cm  390.00 Our yard is completely out of control.  We just got a truckload of marginal quality dirt to fill the enormous holes Berlino has dug.  Bernie wants to join the badger in his den, but won’t enter through the entry hall – he digs from the top.   The fruit trees really need trimming, but then they wouldn’t have that wild natural look we so love. We are eating our meals outdoors.   At least the whole family is in agreement. Lilacs  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  17 x 12"   41 x 30cm  290.00 It’s been a lovely week here in Roccamalatina:  we drove back on Monday, and by Tuesday afternoon were settled in.  Berlino went on his walk with Stefania, his trainer, of sorts.  What is really happening is that he gets the big wonderful walk he needs, bonds with another dog, and comes home and treats us like the hired help.  He digs a hole, eats, and waits for a delivery person that might rescue him or at least bring him a treat.  So far no luck. Small Lilacs   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  8.5 x 12"  20 x 30cm  150.00 I was out painting the apple tree to get back into the plein air painting groove.  I am proposing Plein Air Painting Italy as a group on Facebook.  People can come and join us wherever we are painting.  They can just paint alongside, or we provide materials and instruction (for a small fee).   We aren’t up to the day long event it used to be, but a couple of hours is do-able.   We are bracing ourselves for when the fuel runs out – several gas stations are closed up here near Roccamalatina.   I think I probably ought to be doing something to prepare, but not sure just what.   See everything possible before we are stranded, I guess. Wild Flowers:  Detailed and Loose   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper   15 x 11"   38 x 28 cm  190 each I interviewed for an AI job involving art.  AI itself interviewed me (Zara was “her” name).  She responded faster than I did and reiterated all my responses immediately, in proper terminology.  I “flunked” when she asked what I would do if the focal point turned out to be in the wrong place.  I suggested adding lines which led the eye in that direction, or adding a secondary point.  In fact, the correct answer was to just pick it up and move it – such an alien suggestion to a real painter, I knew the job was not for me. I am trying to get my painting practice back to a daily task (more fun than exercise).  I won’t be painting the Sistine chapel, but can get out there and immortalize a tree.

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: Opportunity

 

Falling Color  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  16 x 8"  40x 20 cm  390.00 We drove from Stimigliano to Magliano Sabina on Wednesday, this week. I had read that the mayor of Magliano was working with the American University in Rome to “put Magliano on the tourist map”. We thought we’d go see what was cooking.  Falls near Maglione (Cascate delle Marmore)  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 18 x 18"  45 x 45 cm  390.00 It’s just about a half hour from here, but Berlino decided to stay home, the day being windy and cold. Almost this whole week down here has been dicey weather. Finally, Saturday is giving the sun a chance. We parked the car and walked around the top of the hill.  Magliono Madonna  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  26 x 17"  63  x 41cm  290.00 Magliano is a hill town, not far from the A1 highway. We had been there once before, with our friend Mario, in quest of Madonnas. They have a particularly lovely one, icon-ish, set in silver. Since I saw it that first time, in about 2018, the church has never been open again. That Madonna, with the community hiding beneath her skirts, used to be featured in a poster outside. That is gone, too.     Cyclamen   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  17 x 25"  41 x 63cm  290.00 There is a lot of room for Magliano to grow – like many towns, empty retail space is in abundance. These are quite nice storefronts, that always put me in the mind of a gallery. There were lots of apartments above the street space, a theater offering a play starting 18 April, and many churches. We opted for a rather traditional coffee shop/restaurant and tucked into a thick, delicious hot chocolate. The proprietress placed a plate of Easter bread on the table – we bought a loaf when we left. I was impressed with her marketing – how could we refuse after such a tasty gift? She’ll do well if this town takes off.     Palm Sunday in a Wooden Vase   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper   17 x 13"   41 x 32 cm  190 each When we belonged to the American Business Group, which met once a month in Rome, one of the Americans used to say he couldn’t understand why people said there was no opportunity in Italy. “There are so many things to do that the locals never see”. He, and many of the group members, found their niche. Go, Magliano Sabina!  Happy Easter!!!!  Peace on Earth

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