Art of the State closing on September 11. Thank you for visiting.
Art of the State 2011 Exhibition closing on Sept 11.
Thank you to all those that visited the exhibit.
Now wish me luck at Art Prize 2011!
New Works ( In Progress ??)
The summer was quite interesting beaucase I traveled a fair amount. Traveling is a passion for me. I like to go places and see new, unfamiliar things. I enjoy nature, but I am really drawn to cities - human creations. I still walk with my head up, like a tourist even in my own city. I was able to visit several museums to zoom in a few paintings or sculptures, and several galleries in Europe and the US. It felt like fresh air in my face. I was not able to paint on a regular basis but when I got to do it, it felt like a furious pace. It was like getting out all the ideas brewing in my mind. Here are a few. Some of the works are conceptual since the they were done with a topic in mind: Freedom/ Democracy/ Independence with Venezuela in the background...others.. I will talk about them some other time.
American Dream will show at ArtPrize 2011. The American Idol of Art.
My sculpture American Dream will show at ArtPrize 2011 , at the Monroe Mall next to the Civil War Sculpture and across from the Civic Theater, my venue. American Dream will be in view from September 21 through October 9 and will be viewed by 400,000 people according to local estimates.
ArtPrize is an international art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ArtPrize is unusual both for the large size of the top prize ($250,000, combined with other prizes cumulatively amounting to half a million dollars), as well as for the method of judging entries. Unlike traditionally juried competitions, ArtPrize contestants are juried by the public. Visitors register at different places/kiosks all over the city and are later able to vote for their favorite entry. However in 2010, ArtPrize announced a category for traditional juried work as well. The artists present their work to the different venues (locations) and are selected by them. The works are voted on by the public using modern networking technology.
The Dream is full for some, empty for others. As we hear how our standards of living would be lower than our parents, we wonder if our dreams would be FULL or EMPTY. The flag that supposes to represent all Americans is the catalyst of the "Have and Have Not." The viewer is integrated into the work by asking to become part of the experience. “Tweet your American Dream #americandream” as a means of interacting with the art work and creating a thought, or tweet in this case, as a reaction to the viewing. The viewer may act – tweet – or not, but he/she will think about it. Is his/her dream Full or Empty? All these tweets can be collected and accessed by all,it is a community affair as the ArtPrize is. The arrow can be moved to point to the FULL or EMPTY boxes.
Every one of us have a dream...What is your dream, #americandream? Tweet/me your dream @MariaRSchneider #americandream Up: 55821
American Dream
I worked on American Dream for a while. It all started with an empty box. It is a conceptual work.... The viewer becomes the participant. He/she is asked to Tweet his/her reaction, his/her thought about the the question at hand. Being a Tweet - only 140 characters allowed - constrains the viewer - actor- to reply in a quick thought. Even if the viewer does not physically responds, he/she would still think about it. The tweets can be collected and read by all. Viewers become actors and the process continues even after the viewer is gone. I posted the #americandream last Friday in my tweet account and there has been hundreds of tweets since then. It is quite interesting. ( For those not familiar with Tweeter or tweets a hash tag is simply a way for people to post tweets that have a common topic.)
And yes, I am still painting, but it is fun to create in different mediums. Going outside of the confort zones, one is free to grow in ways that did not know existed.
More Exhibits: 68th Annual Juried Painting Exhibit at Cheltemham Ctr for the Arts
Cheltenham Center for the ArtsOne of my paintings was selected to be included in the 68th Annual Painting Show at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts http://www.cheltenhamarts.org/node/909 It will be exhibiting from May 8 through June 5 Opening Reception, Sunday May 8, 2-4pm
Gratifying News: I will be exhibiting at The State Museum of Pennsylvania
The letter read:
Congratulations! Your art has been accepted to be exhibited in Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2011 at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, June 19 - September 11, 2011. There were 135 works chosen for the exhibition from 1,942 entries. You art was selected by one of the following jurors....
I just had to smile...my art will be at the State Museum.
I will post the details once I have more information for those that would feel inclined to make the trip to the state capital... or just want to check out the website.
The artist as a mother ( or full-time father) or...
It was noon and I knew the lecture was about to start. I got in my car and flew to the city...I did not want to miss Alex Kanevsky's lecture at PAFA. I really like his work and had never heard him speak. It was my chance. I got there 20 minutes into the lecture, but it is all I could do.... After the lecture, I run into a good friend and fellow artist. Our conversation made me go back to a theme which is often in my mind: The artist as a mother, or full-time father, or full-time anything for that matter. To create one needs to think, to concentrate, to create. Every artist has a different way to do it. But the common theme is time to do it. When I sit in front of an empty canvas, I sometimes stare at it for a long time. Other times, I read or look at pictures, but what I need is time. If you are a mother, you are pulled in many directions. It is not easy to find time to get away from it all and concentrate on a regular basis. We want to be there for our children, be in every activity. We demand ourselves to run perfect households. We multi-task easily. We run from one activity to the next all day long. But concentration, that is another matter.
Getting into deeper thoughts, into one's mind and subconscious, getting into the creative self is not easily achieved while running around, as efficient as one can be. Ideas, thoughts flow into my mind all day long, but I need time to develop them. To think about them. I need time to sit and stare at that canvas. It is hard to stop after running full speed, and just sit down and empty oneself from everything to reach that point where creativity flows. That is why I paint very late at night. It is my time, the time I steal from my sleep so that I can reach that point. It is my price. The artist as a mother .....- in our society - is not an easy proposition. But it is worth it!
I will talk about the lecture some other time.
What have I been doing lately?
WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING LATELY ? You can see ... finally, "The Gathering" (Women of Timbuktu) appeared, the city hides in the background. I mentioned in a previous post that the city of Timbuktu was at the height of its importance in the Islamic world during the 13th and 14th centuries as a trading post between West Africa and Europe and as a center of scholarship. Many of the texts used by Islamic diplomats who traveled between Timbuktu and Mecca, teach conflict resolution and tolerance. We do not know a great deal about this city and its time. These paintings reflect a past time deleted by the desert sand, but still alive.
I have also been working on bull images. Oh yes, bulls! I finished the one below 
and now I am experimenting..searching......reading about Crete and the Minoan civilization, labyrinths....
The running of the Bulls
Paint in Progress
And the exploration goes on...100 iterations to get to that specific place that only exist in my mind.
I love the change and the evolution as every new stroke changes the whole picture and the rearrangement starts again.
Marching On
This 24" by 48" painting was challenging because there are not rhinos around and I do not know this animal well. At the Philadelphia zoo, there is only one rhino that shares space with the zebra. The rhino comes out in the afternoon, and the zebra in the morning. One has to time it if really wants to see one or the other. (Commissioned work)
My Installation "THE CONVERSATION" at Philadelphia City Hall
My installation "The Conversation" was selected to be part of an exhibition at Philadelphia City Hall.
DYSFUNCTIONAL FURNITURE
December 16 - February 25, 2011. A group exhibition juried by furniture artist Jack Larimore and Albert LeCoff, Executive Director of the Wood Turning Center. The exhibition reframes and challenges the formal aesthetics of furniture design and features photography and various explorations of mixed media sculpture and installation.
http://www.phillysidearts.com/2010/12/art-in-city-hall-presents-dysfunctional-furniture/
Art Gallery at City Hall, Room 116 and 1st and 2nd Floor display cases.
If you are in Philadelphia around City Hall, stop by to see the exhibition and let me know what you think. Instalation art is not my forte, but I had a lot of fun with it. I may try again.
The Philadelphia Inquirer had a nice article about the exhibit:
Instruments of expression
I was thinking that even though my primary medium of expression is oils on canvas, I have a tendency to keep all kinds of objects that have special appeal to me, in spite of their current pariah state. I feel they tell me something, like a deeper meaning that somehow would be revealed at a future time. I know they would be transformed into something else at some point. What are those? Wooden wine boxes, cardboard pieces, wood pieces, stones, it is hard to explain but the common theme is "things that are different even within their own category." They will eventually help me to express a thought, instruments of expression.
JOIN the National Museum of Women in the Arts VISIT to my Studio
This is an opportunity to visit my studio with the NATIONAL MUSEUM of WOMEN in the ARTS (NMWA)- Pennsylvania State Committee. www.nmwa.org
On Friday, December 10th at 12:30 pm
This is a FREE EVENT for MEMBERS of the NMWA. Guests $10
Group size is limited. RSVP ecwbw@yahoo.com
(You can become a member of the NMWA at http://nmwa.org/support/membership.asp)
Thoughts on brush strokes
While driving, I was thinking of brush strokes. That thought took me to Knox Martin, one of my teachers at the Art Student League in New York. He was one of the most full of life, fun loving people I have ever met. He was not a teacher, but a "maestro." Very frequently, he would walk into class with his cane up into the air swearing very loud about something. It was the Russians, or Tintoretto ( he loved Titian) or something back East somewhere. It always made me smile. This day that came to mind, he was critiquing one of my paintings. He took my hand very gently, opened my palm as it was a canvas, his fingers a brush: One, two , three. Each stroke was gentle but determined. "This is the way you do it," he said. Then he moved on. I would never forget it. When I am 83 like him, I want to have such a thirst for life.
Women of Timbuktu II (In Progress)
Women of Timbuktu II ( In Progress)
The city of Timbuktu was at the height of its importance in the Islamic world during the 13th and 14th centuries as a trading post between West Africa and Europe and as a center of scholarship. Many of the texts used by Islamic diplomats who traveled between Timbuktu and Mecca, teach conflict resolution and tolerance. We do not know a great deal about this city and its time. These paintings reflect a past time deleted by the desert sand, but still alive.
Women of Timbuktu III
Marching in Zamora (In progress)
While in Zamora this summer, I got to see a very cool dance group. They dance "Funky perverso." I met Andrógeno's manager who allowed me to take many pictures. I tried to capture the experience from a different point of view.
El grupo (In Progress)
El grupo
....and I continue with bulls. I have a few paintings in my mind that flash back and forth. I am just letting them mature without thinking about them. I know, eventually, they are going to burst out.
Women of Timbuktu
Women of Timbuktu
(SOLD)
This painting reflects the idea of a lost kingdom. The women seem to disappear in the sand of the desert. The mud building, a great gem of antiquity, gets erased, covered by the sand. We do not know who these women are as their faces have been deleted by time.