Berlin

I recently traveled from Prague to Berlin by train. I love trains! Wish the USA had public transportation that compared with Europe. Sadly it does not. I met Anna Henson, a former art student and graduate of Cornell College, at the Berlin Hauptbahhof, the new train station. We spent nearly six days discovering and enjoying Berlin! Anna and I also went to "Set it Up and Go", her MFA group show opening in a Berlin art gallery. Wow! Anna's work is something else...powerful, beautiful and full of pathos - a video piece she created while at The Glasgow School of Art. Anna and I took many photos and went to some amazing photo shows while there - what a wonderful trip to Berlin... I want to go back.

A Million Little Pictures

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Originally uploaded by arthousecoop

I am part of the Million Little Pictures project!

A Million Little Pictures is currently up in Atlanta at the ART HOUSE. You can tune into and see it live tonight -- or view it in San Francisco on January 8th, 2010 at the Minna Gallery. What a cool idea to be involved in....! Click HERE to see photos!

BEST of SHOW!

You can download a video program from this website and see all of the artwork in this tremendous show - From Our Perspective, National Women's Exhibition. Kathleen McShane was the 2009 Juror. Best of Show was "Katie in Her Wedding Dress, Iowa City, Iowa".

Coolest Small Town--Mount Vernon, Iowa

This summer Thisbe Nissen and I worked for the Budget Travel magazine. Thisbe wrote an excellent guide to the coolest places to visit and things to do in Mount Vernon, Iowa and I shot the photographs. My American Gothic photograph was just one photograph of the bunch but it was chosen to reside in an article published online. Mark Benesh painted Grant Wood's well-known American Gothic on the side of barn on Highway 30, right between Mount Vernon and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The 50 States Project

Tell me please...what do people in Iowa do for entertainment? This is our new assignment for The 50 States Project. Email me especially if you would like to be photographed.

Easy Ed, No Depression and Down to the River

A few weeks ago I got an e from Ed; he is a writer/blogger near San Diego. Ed is a music fan of Pieta Brown, Bo Ramsey, Greg Brown and many others in that circle. He also said he really liked my work and noted Down to the River in his blog. This blog appears on Ed's blog and also on the No Depression site:

"Pieta Brown, Bo Ramsey and this thing about a four-letter state of mind called Iowa thats been on my mind lately"

Top Secret Rosies

My good friend LeAnn Erickson sent me a link to her TOP SECRET ROSIES site. You can view her trailer of Top Secret ‘Rosies’: The Female ‘Computers’ of WWII, a one hour HD documentary. This trailer is utterly wonderful! It is about an untold story of the women and technology that helped win a war and usher in the modern computer age. I LOVE it! When it is completed...LeAnn is thinking of touring --- Cornell College? U of I ? YES!

BEST of SHOW!

It is hard to believe but I just received an e from the National Women's Art Exhibition ...From Our Perspective show in Farmington, MI (near Detroit) - and... My photo of Katie Roche entitled "Katie in Her Wedding Dress, Iowa City, Iowa" was chosen by the juror as BEST in SHOW! Not only is this a fabulous honor, it also means a bit of money! I want to make more portraits of people I know.... (The photo of Katie is below and also on my website).

Cornell College Art Faculty Exhibition

MOUNT VERNON – The Cornell College department of art and art history will celebrate Homecoming 2009 with an exhibition featuring works by current studio art faculty in the Peter Paul Luce Gallery, McWethy Hall. Cornell Studio Art Faculty 2009 runs Sept. 13 – Oct. 18. A Homecoming reception will be held Saturday, Oct. 10, 3-5 p.m.

Featured artists include Doug Hanson, Sandy Dyas, Tony Plaut, Susan Coleman and Maria Schutt, with works in a variety of media, including: ceramics, assemblage, drawing, painting, photography and installation art.

Doug Hanson’s functional clay pieces meld Western and Eastern influences to create objects both beautiful and useful. Among his most stunning works are his large-scale platters, which incorporate form and color reminiscent of water, earth and sky.

Sandy Dyas uses collage and juxtaposition to form hybrid thematic relationships, incorporating both traditional and digital photographic techniques in a monumental two- dimensional installation spanning two walls.

Tony Plaut’s assemblages and drawings employ diverse materials and fabrication processes, with thematic strands that point to the very act of perception, prompting the viewer to “look and listen.”

Sue Coleman’s intimate landscapes are based on her immediate environment, and draw from an awareness of nature as a living presence. Her works for this exhibition are primarily in pastel, but featured are a select group of new oils on canvas.

Maria Schutt’s current work is inspired by puppetry and informed by the observation of a young child, RJ, as he plays without interruption. Using drawing and assemblage, the figures are crafted in a posture of doing, implying the potential for action, but the nature of the action is not revealed.Gallery hours are Monday – Friday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sundays: 2 – 4 p.m.