La Maison Verte Travels Part 2

On Day 2, Patricia very kindly took me on a tour of the Jardin Botanique de Marnay in the morning.  For such a small town (Marnay has 247 residents), the garden is surprisingly large - 2 hectares - and contains a wider variety of plants than I would've guessed, as well as a small greenhouse.  It really is quite beautiful.  She also took me on a tour of the village, which is so tiny that it has no shops at all.  A woman drives a van through every day except Wednesday to sell bread - a mobile bakery - but otherwise all shops are to be found in neighboring towns.  The local attractions are the Jardin and CAMAC, which is another artist residency.  It's an older, much more expensive, fancier (i.e. residents have private bathrooms and are provided food) residency; from both a fiscal as well as a focal matter point of view, I'm pleased with La Maison Verte.

That evening was Paula's residency exhibition, despite it being Wednesday and not the final Friday of the month.  (I inquired as to why, and was told the garden's director had another obligation on Friday so it was moved.)  Paula is a Professor Emeritus from the University of Mississippi and does a wide range of work in a variety of media, with figurative gestural work being the main focus though other subjects are also explored.  The event was nicely populated, and I met many of the other people who make up the main group of friends and neighbors involved in La Maison Verte.  Unlike many rural towns, a large portion of the residents here are actually international transplants, which I found really interesting.

On Day 3, I took another trip to the Jardin Botanique and also make a trip down the road to see a stork nest that Paula and Adrian had told me about.  Then it started raining, so I broke for lunch and then started some work.  I'm using 3P Quick Cure Clay on this residency, so I put a a little down and went to cure it... and I killed my heat gun.  Every other electronic I've ever used internationally has worked just fine with a standard adapter, but apparently my heat gun required a voltage converter as well.  Since I didn't use one, I fried it.  I panicked a bit, as I really need a heat gun ASAP in order to progress artistically with what I'd like to do on this residency and am not even sure where to acquire one around here, but after talking with some of the locals, it appears that one of the other people who helps run the residency, Kinga, has two heat guns herself and will lend me one.  And this new one will natively function with the outlets, so I shouldn't have any problems.  Fingers crossed!

La Maison Verte Travels Part 1

The flights over were the smoothest international trip I think I've ever had.  Both left approximately on time and landed approximately on time, my one layover was short but not stressfully so, none of my luggage was lost - it was as enjoyable as long, overnight travel can be.  Figuring out how to get to Marnay via train in Charles de Gaulle airport was a little harder, but I had scheduled myself a couple hours of leeway time to arrange it so I had time to sort it out.  I ended up needing to buy a train ticket into Paris, and switch lines once before taking a separate train out into the provinces.  There were a lot of stairs involved, and with my two fully stuffed bags (the biggest one weighed 49 pounds, and the smaller went unweighed but I'd guess approximately 35-40) I was a bit of a sight.  Luckily that meant that for most of the stairs (though sadly not all) I was helped by very nice strangers because on the few staircases I had to manage on my own I had to take the bags one at a time, one stair at a time!

Waiting for my last train involved sitting in an open-air atrium, and I couldn't help but notice it was quite cold.  Surprisingly cold, given that I've been in the region before - earlier in the year, even - and also had looked up the weather as an added precaution when packing.  I'd decided to only bring two long-sleeved shirts, a light jacket, a light cap, and four pairs of socks to go with a pair of sneakers; the rest of my wardrobe is filled with tank tops, shorts, skirts, and sandals.  Locals have confirmed that it decided to be unseasonably cold, but that that may continue so I might be buying some more cold-weather clothing while here.

One of the people who created and runs the residency, Patricia, was waiting at Nogent-sur-Seine to pick me up.  Nogent is a nearby town (about an hour's walk but a 7 minute drive, apparently) big enough to have a couple grocery stores and the train station.  We stopped to get groceries, and then after getting locked out of the car and having a nice stranger help us get back in, we headed to La Maison Verte in Marnay-sur-Seine.

La Maison Verte lives up to its name, literally - it is painted dark green - and the ground floor has a large studio work space, a living room, the kitchen, and the bathroom.  The second floor contains three bedrooms, one with a desk inside and one with a separate small desk/studio space as an attached-but-separate room.  I was given the bedroom with the attached-but-separate small studio space, which is quite nice.  I am a little saddened that the bathroom is on a separate floor, though!

Typically residencies here run exactly one month, so there are two artists here for the rest of May - a married, retired couple named Adrian and Paula who are actually in the process of moving permanently to Marnay from Oxford, Mississippi.  Their daughter is one of the artists coming in for the June residency period and she's a pescetarian.  

I'm a little odd in that I requested to stay a little longer (five and a half weeks); I did that because the closing exhibition for the residents is on the last friday of each month but since that's June 24th for June 2016 residents, that would only give three weeks to prepare!

I was supposed to go with Patricia to check out Le Jardin Botanique later in the afternoon, but after sitting down I was pretty sure I was done with learning new things until after I slept so I pushed it off until the following morning.  My next request would probably have rendered that visit unaccomplishable anyway - I wanted to turn my heater on since it was very cold in the house.  This request seemed simple, but the radiator didn't want to work.  Patricia called on some colleagues to help figure out how to get it on again, but after turning on the main heat in the house (no luck), learning there was a gas tank responsible, turning that on (no luck), checking on it, learning it was out of fuel, and then telling me that getting fuel was not possible due to strikes, they found a portable electric heater somewhere in the town for me!  That all took around two hours, and after that excitement I fell asleep for the night.

"Travel far enough, you meet yourself." - David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

I'm departing for my artist residency in France tomorrow - wish me luck!

Bison Are the First National Mammal!

How cool is this - President Obama has signed the National Bison Legacy Act making bison the first national mammal (though bald eagles are still secure in their national animal status).

To celebrate, here's a gallery of all of my bison paintings completed thus far!

Spring 2016 Student Art Exhibition Reception Photos

Here are the Spring 2016 Student Art Exhibition photos!  We invited local artist Beth Snider to be our guest judge in handing out Miller Awards, so you can see her presenting those in a couple photos.  44 students exhibited in the show (which ran from April 29 through May 5).  Classes I taught that were represented include Typography, Printmaking, Painting I & III, and Advanced Studios in Mixed Media and Tattoo Design.

Graduation for the Class of 2016

Yesterday we had the baccalaureate and commencement ceremonies for the University of Saint Mary's 2016 graduating class.  It's always a little tough, in that I am proud of the seniors' accomplishments and hopeful for their futures, and yet also a bit selfishly sad to see them leave.

Upcoming: Residency at La Maison Verte

As you might have noticed in USM's recent press release about my upcoming exhibitions, toward the end of this month I'll begin a five-and-a-half week residency in the Pays'art program at La Maison Verte in Marnay-sur-Seine, France.  I'm very excited, as this residency takes place at the Jardin Botanique de Marnay-sur-Seine; I love working with plants both professionally as well as having a houseplant addiction, so this is a great fit.  La Maison Verte has a "Final Friday" opening each month, and so I will have an exhibition on June 24th.  In addition, they have arranged for the program's artists in residence to participate in Art & Jardins 2016 on June 25th and 26th.

If I have any readers who have experience with the region and can share any travel advice, I'd be grateful to hear it!

Animal Autonomy Is Becoming More Academically Accepted

I feel like there's a new groundswell of acknowledgement regarding animal sentience and intelligence happening lately in the academic arena, and I'm digging it.  Here's Dr. Frans B.M. de Waal discussing his perspective in "What I Learned From Tickling Apes," published in The New York Times.

Reception Photos from All Souls Gallery Solo Exhibition

Here are some photos from the opening reception for my exhibition - I am so appreciative of everyone that came out to support me!

University of Saint Mary Press Release on My Early Summer Shows

The University of Saint Mary just published a new press release on my early summer exhibition schedule (though I have another application out, so I may have more to share coming up!).

Art Program Director Honored for Her Masterpieces

(Leavenworth, Kan.)—The University of Saint Mary Art Program Director Shelby Prindaville was recently selected for a solo exhibition in the All Souls Gallery at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church at 4501 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Mo. The public is invited to an opening reception for the exhibit on Friday, April 22, from 6-7 p.m. Her work can be viewed in the gallery April 14-May 20, Monday through Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
 
Prindaville was also juried into the 47th Annual Smoky Hills Art Exhibition at Hays Art Center at 112 E. 11th Street, Hays, Kan. The annual exhibition is a statewide fine art competition open to any artist currently living in Kansas. Juror Mark Hartman selected Prindaville’s “Perspective” to be included in the show. The public is invited to view the piece, along with the other selections, from April 29-June 8. An opening reception and awards ceremony is scheduled for Friday, April 29, from 6:30-9:30 p.m.
 
“I am very pleased that my work is being recognized by each of these organizations,” said Prindaville. “I hope my art inspires viewers to reflect and deepen their connections with the natural world through my pieces' thematic exploration of environmental conservation and sustainability.”
 
In addition to both of these achievements, Prindaville was accepted to a summer artist residency program at Pays'art in La Maison Verte (The Green House) at the Botanical Garden of Marnay-sur-Seine in France. The residency will culminate in her onsite "Garden Lore" exhibition opening June 24.

To see her work, visit shelbyprindaville.com.

Solo Exhibition at All Souls Gallery in Kansas City

Here I am, beginning to install the show.

This Monday, the All Souls Gallery coordinator reached out to me asking me if I would do a solo exhibition in their space, preferably to be installed immediately though later in the year was also an option.  I accepted their invitation and said that immediately was actually a great time for my show schedule.  So yesterday afternoon, I stopped by and installed the show; the elapsed time from invitation to installation was two days!

Below, please find the pertinent information regarding the reception and overall exhibition details, and if you're free and in the area I'd appreciate it if you'd consider stopping by the opening (wine and cheese will be served)!

Opening reception: next Friday, April 22nd from 6-7pm
Location: All Souls Gallery is located in the All Souls Unitarian-Universalist Church at 4501 Walnut Street, Kansas City, MO, 64111
Exhibition dates: April 14 - May 20
Gallery hours: Monday through Friday from 10am-4pm and Sunday from 9am-2pm

And here's a sneak peak of one section of the exhibition!

Sierra Club Annual Fundraiser

If you're not attending the University of Saint Mary's SpireFest this Saturday, you should consider visiting the Sierra Club's 2016 Annual Fundraiser!  For the second year in a row, I've donated artwork - this year I donated an aluminum print, a matted paper print, and three packaged greeting cards - for their silent auction.  I raised $300 last year through my donation of an original drawing on panel, so I'm interested to see what the reproductions bundle will go for! 

2016 SpireFest

Every year, the University of Saint Mary holds an event called SpireFest which is aimed at raising money for student scholarships.  There's a silent auction, student performances and entertainment, food and drink, and even dancing.  This year, I've donated a signed, matted print and five greeting cards as an artwork bundle, so keep your fingers crossed it gets some good bids!  I'll be there for the third year in a row, so if you're interested in keeping me company, check out this flyer - but hurry, as SpireFest is this Saturday...

Mimosa Pudica Remembers You

Here's a neat article from The New York Times on one of the plants I work with in my interactive installations, the Mimosa pudica or "sensitive plant."  I do have to qualify their results, however, because none of the plants I've grown has ever stopped recoiling from human touch/interaction.  I wonder just how repeated their "repeated exposure" was.

Puffin Painting #3 - Little Brother of the North

I finished the third puffin painting!  It's acrylic and watercolor on a 12x12" birch panel.  The title, Little Brother of the North, is a direct translation of the Latin name of the Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica.  

Abraham Lincoln's Life in Images Lecture at USM on C-SPAN

A couple months ago, the University of Saint Mary hosted Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery senior historian David Ward at our annual Lincoln Event.  He gave a fantastic art-history-focused lecture that I got to experience live, but which is also being broadcast by C-SPAN 3 this Sunday at both 7pm and 11pm.  A preview clip is available here.

Upcoming: 47th Annual Smoky Hill Exhibition

I've been juried into the 2016 Hays Arts Council's 47th Annual Smoky Hill Exhibition!  Juror Mark Hartman selected Perspective to be included in this show held in the Hays Arts Center in Hays, Kansas.  If you'd like to see the exhibition in person, the exact address is 112 E 11th St, Hays, Kansas 67601, and you can contact the Arts Center with any questions at 785-625-7522.

Opening reception: Friday, April 29 from 6:30-9:30pm
Exhibition dates: April 29 - June 8

Linguistic Relativism and Color

I was discussing with my colleague Susan this afternoon how I've read that men are more likely to have color identification and distinction issues in part because they are culturally raised with a more limited color vocabulary - girls are encouraged to learn names for (and wear) a wider variety of colors, and so women become better able to distinguish color differences in part because of their vocabulary.  I've also read that young Western children kept away from cultural discussion of the sky as blue often label the sky as "nothing," "white," or "grey" before being taught the appropriate answer. These types of studies demonstrate that how we perceive the world is not only down to our biology but also to cultural and linguistic cues.

I decided to try to relocate another study I'd previously read about, so as to refresh my memory on the exact details and perhaps learn more.  The research focused on an indigenous people who had in their language a different color category for what in English we would call a variant of yellow-green but at the same time did not linguistically differentiate blue from green.  I remembered that I had looked at two circular grids, one having all green squares with one being very slightly different in hue and value and one having one cyan square and all the rest green squares.  The all green grid was as easily scanned and the odd one out identified by these people, while the blue and green grid was a stumper.  For Western people, the difficulties were reversed.  After a decent amount of googling, I learned the tribe was the Himba of Namibia, the two grids can be seen here, a clip from a BBC documentary explaining it is here, and, if you're so interested, you can read an academic study on the topic entitled "Knowing color terms enhances recognition: Further evidence from English and Himba."  As you'll find out if you watch the BBC clip, the Himba also label the sky as black and rivers as white, and have a more limited color vocabulary than English speakers use. 

I also, in my research trail, learned a few other facts from various sites:

• This overall topic is called linguistic relativism and as it applies to color, there is still some debate as to how relativistic (versus universal) color differentiation actually is. 
   
• Very young sighted children are no more reliable than blind children at correctly identifying color (sometimes up until the age of four).
   
• [In] languages with fewer than the maximum eleven color categories, the colors followed a specific evolutionary pattern. This pattern is as follows:

1.  All languages contain terms for black and white.
2.  If a language contains three terms, then it contains a term for red.
3.  If a language contains four terms, then it contains a term for either green or yellow (but not both).
4.  If a language contains five terms, then it contains terms for both green and yellow.
5.  If a language contains six terms, then it contains a term for blue.
6.  If a language contains seven terms, then it contains a term for brown.
7.  If a language contains eight or more terms, then it contains terms for purple, pink, orange, and/or gray.

• Despite blue appearing sixth in the color evolution hierarchy, English has the most descriptors for blue, followed by green and then pink.  Despite that, we do not (unlike Russians, for instance) separate out light blue as a distinct category from blue (like pink is distinct from red... as opposed to light red).  Koreans have two separate categories for green, but the Japanese only relatively recently split blue from green and as a result they often refer to green items colloquially as blue, like traffic lights.
   
• Homer described the oceans as wine-dark and green as the color of honey.

I am fascinated and somewhat alarmed by the thought that English is holding me back from the world of green that the Himba and Koreans get to experience.  I've wished for the mantis shrimp's color spectrum vision and ultraviolet perception in the past, but perhaps I don't even need more rods and cones - perhaps all I need is new words.  Though since the brain stops developing around age 26, it sadly might already be too late for me.

Someday I'd Really Like to Meet a Woodcock

I'd like to meet a woodcock primarily because they are ridiculously proportioned animals that I'd enjoy drawing and painting, but also because they have a really cute bobbing walk and their mating call is called "peenting," which you cannot deny is an adorable name.

Here's a short clip of a woodcock dancing:

And here's one of peenting mixed into a snippet of Collective Soul's famous "Shine" song:

Puffin Painting #1 - Byssal Bird

And here's the finished first painting!  It's a conceptual, experimental piece - those are real Atlantic blue mussel shells (Mytilus edulis) adhered to the panel; I beachcombed some while I was in Iceland and was quite interested in their coloration and form and how I might use them to break the picture plane.  I wanted to explore ideas of illusionism, perspective, shaped or irregular canvases, cast shadows, organic versus architectural form language, and intertidal zone ecosystems.

I'm titling this painting Byssal Bird, and it's a mixed media piece with acrylic, watercolor, Atlantic blue mussel shells, and epoxy on a 16x12" basswood panel.