May 04, 

Celebrating CINCO DE MAYO under a beautiful MOONLIT NIGHT tonight.

For my latest encaustic works I needed a new Butane pencil torch, wax pencils and substrates. This  took me to the Blick Art Supplies store in the Delmar LOOP of University City, MO.  Mission accomplished enabled by Blick's good employees I walked back to studio and set to work. 

Above photographs of Red Ohio Buckeye outside my studio will provide  textures, palette and range of tone for my next encaustic works. Years ago outside my studio the white blooming Ohio Buckeye was my  favorite of the many trees. Its yearlong beauty included spring, summer and autumn colors, an orderly branching of grace and airflow and toys, the Buckeyes for dogs and children to fetch. Today revisiting spring's Red Buckeye above, it blooms against springs' various green leaves with touches of soft blue sky. 

Another still life, so delicious, is this setting of my cobalt blue painted iron chair, a cobalt glass vase with gobs of the antique pink Peonies original to this old house's garden. Are you enjoying the delicious scent of Peony while taking in cool blues and many greens of chairs and table legs, the rich Marigold painted door  and duller stained deck? Yes, another palette.  Hmmm  merging the two palettes feels lovely. What do you think?

I plan to start work with acrylic on watercolor paper today ...after:

 THE HORROR OPERA, SWEENEY TODD, served with  breakfast this morning by Phyllis Hyken.

I'm looking forward to a breakfast talk by my long time friend, Phyllis Hyken,  pianist and duetist, tomorrow on the opera, Sweeney Todd. A perfect subject to enjoy over a  meal don't you think?

Cat chats proudly about her cousins: Photos and facts on Cheetah of South Africa

 

YOU, my friends, patrons and new friends

likely know 

I LOVE, DRAW & PAINT FELINES.

Today I feature the important Africa Outreach providing   medical and hygiene improving life in Africa who show us FELINE stars of their country. Enjoy. :))



Lifted From Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project sponsoring medical and hygiene projects to improve life in Africa.

• 
  Introducing Moya and Juba, two-year old cheetah brothers, who stole the show at Emdoneni’s Cat Rehabilitation Center.
  From CTAOP
  
  From CTAOP
  
  We were able to cuddle with Juba and Moya (carefully) after a terse safety briefing that included a bit about not running away.  Cheetahs are the only cat with non retractable claws, which you can see on the hind legs of the Moya.  These claws, and large nostrils and vascular systems are what makes it possible to accelerate from 0 to 96 mph in 3 seconds.  The cheetah’s tail is what keeps it in control at high speeds, acting like a rudder. Just to put this into perspective, the Bugatti Veyron (world’s fastest road legal car) goes from 0 to 60mph in 2.4 seconds.  Add to this bit of knowledge that if something turns to run, these playful kitties will chase it.  End of story.
  
  Jason, Claire, and I got to pose with the graceful cats…I was fortunate enough to get a nice spa treatment from Juba, who apparently liked my salty skin.  You, too, can get an arm exfoliation that will definitely be cheaper than your local spa.
  From CTAOP
  
  From CTAOP
  
  From CTAOP
  
  Also at the rehabilitation center are caracals, serval, and African wild cats.  Servals can jump up to 12 ft in the air to catch birds, and like to play with their food by tossing their prey into the air, plucking feathers at the same time. 
  From CTAOP
  
  
  Meanwhile, Caracals eat anything from birds to antelope, can kill up to 10 goats in a night “and only eat one”. Wasteful is a word to describe them, and they are considered by farmers as vermin.
  From CTAOP
  
  We left there buzzing with the excitement of our cool experience with the world’s fastest land animal.
  Until next time!
• Text 1 Notes

SMALL ENCAUSTIC WORKS

NEW WORKS in ENCAUSTIC  My passions for drawing and painting fits the challenges of Encaustic an ancient media. Incorporating collage and batik dyed paper  I controlled for color while allowing for lovely accidents to occur with a pencil butane torch and various carving tools like nails, Exacto knives and natural bubbles for effect.  Consciously designing compositions while cutting back to previous layers creates more depth.

 "AGUA", above,  9"x9" on wood substrate. Currently NOT FOR SALE. 

In April 2012, I learned more techniques at Mary Beth Shaw and Julie Snidle's Encaustic Workshop. Opening her well equipped studio in the historic Soulard area of St. Louis MO Julie Snidle was an efficient instructor.

Another Encaustic 9" x 9" above is in process.

Shadowed by leaves on a lovely afternoon it wasn't the  recommended photography, as you likely know dear friends. But  quite lovely still,  giving you an image of work in process.  Batik paper initially laid in is visible as a pattern of circles and a grid. Next area of work, the dark lines that engaged with ultramarine blue.   



In April:

Women's Caucus for Art celebrated its 40th Anniversary. My page in St. Louis, MO's  RED BOOK  of the many country wide:

Rebel as usual, my work larger than the page size folded in or expanded exemplifying growth with hands leaving branches planted by mothers and fathers of Women's caucus for Art.  

CLAIRE HYMAN's Midwest Artist and Midwest Museum of the week: Heather Henson

A favorite Midwest Museum: 

Do you watch or rememer Jim Henson's Sesame Street? Let me know how you enjoy this interview.

 

 Heather Henson (Progeny of the One-and-Only Jim) brought back wonderful memories. 

Department: Public Programs  |  By Anne Laker  |  1 Comment »

Mar 16 2012

Heather Henson

The IMA welcomes Heather Henson, President and Artistic Director of IBEX Puppetry and a crew of kite makers for aperformance in 100 Acres this weekend to mark the Spring Equinox. Heather and her comrades perform a puppet show in the sky – the story of a young crane.
IMA’s Facebook friends had a few questions for Heather.  Here is the interview, conducted yesterday while the kite makers practiced in the unseasonably hot sun.
Is there a theme or story behind your kite performance? And if so, how do you decide on the concepts?
This show [called Celebration of Flight] is about a young whooping crane learning to fly with a flock.  The whopping crane’s life cycle makes a good archetypal story. The show is about how birds fly with the season. Our concept was to find the dance in nature and represent that flow. You know, we’re at that point in time halfway between winter and summer, with a perfect balance between day and night. We’re in the middle of the country and the birds are flying back north. It’s a moment of crossing over.
Cranes mean a lot to me — I’m a board member for the International Crane Foundation.  Cranes are still endangered, but the numbers are back on the rise.  Humans have really stepped in to help the cranes.

Rehearsing for this weekend's performance.

What is your favorite performance that you have ever done?
We once did a show in a cathedral.  It’s great to work in scared spaces.  Though landscapes are also sacred for me.
Do you have a favorite puppet?
Whichever one I’m working on at the moment – unless I’m mad at it.  Right now it’s the adolescent crane puppet.
Do you prefer stage, cinema or gallery puppetry?  Why?
I prefer stage because that’s where the most magic can happen.  The perfection required for cinema is a challenge, and in a gallery you can see the craftsmanship of the puppetry up close.
Is it common for puppeteers to also do character voices?
Yes…but I don’t!  My dad loved to sing and I’m not a singer.  But most puppeteers certainly use their voices.
What is your favorite memory of your father, Jim Henson?
I remember that he’d be working so hard, and one of the first things he’d do when he got home was take me for a walk in the woods. We lived in Bedford, New York, which was near a wildlife refuge.  His love of nature was often reflected on The Muppet Show.  I remember the show where Linda Rondstadt guest-starred and sang Blue Bayou with a chorus of frog puppets.  My dad was born in Mississippi and he loved that style of music and the countryside.
What was it like growing up and watching your father’s creations at the height of their popularity?
It was busy!  I have four siblings and I’m the youngest.  I was born in 1970, a year after Sesame Street was created, so I am a Sesame Street kid – like many people, I grew up watching it!
At what age did you decide that puppetry was your calling?
It wasn’t until after college [Heather attended the Rhode Island School of Design].  I studied animation but I realized that the tangibility and immediacy of puppetry was key for me.  Puppetry is a great combination of design and performance.
Why do you love it?
I love the collaboration, and the people I am working with for our show here in Indianapolis!  I love the teamwork that makes a show happen.  I’m the one puppeteer among these expert kitemakers of Guildworks.  This show includes live music, kites, puppets, and a great story – I love combining all of that together.
Were you involved in the creation of the latest Muppet movie?
I was not, but I am supportive of the film that Disney has done.  I did visit the set of the film, and I think it’s great that the film won Best Song at this year’s Academy Awards.
What’s the most complicated Henson puppet? How many puppeteers does it take to perform with it?
My brother Brian does a lot of complicated puppetry using the HDPS (Henson Digital Performance System).  The use of digital resources eliminates the need for multiple puppeteers for the same puppet.  On The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, it would have taken eight people to operate one complex creature.  It used to require one person alone just to operate the eyelids of one Dark Crystal character!  A French studio called Royal de Luxe creates huge creatures requiring 20 or more operators.
 Last question: Why do you think Kermit and Miss Piggy’s relationship has outlasted so many failed Hollywood relationships? 
Well, I don’t that it’s really a requited relationship. Has Kermit ever really committed?  In the new movie, Kermit and Piggy have very serious conversations about their imperfect relationship. It may be that we project ourselves onto puppets – they are such a great mirror for us.
Meet Heather, make your own kite, and be part of the performance this weekend at the IMA.

STAR CLIPPER upcoming zine show

Good morning friends. A gorgeous St. Louis day.

FORM #12  oil, canvas on board.  18"x 24", 2012.  Price available by request.

 Hi Friends, This oil painting is #5 of my challenge one painting a week starting March 1.  Works on paper and on canvas.   

The next of my cartoon series, BETWEEN BOOKS AND BALLS, will be available mid April. Stay tuned. Meantime, ten minutes walk from my studio Star Clipper in the LOOP of University City, MO keeps me fresh and up to date on current comics.

 In STAR CLIPPER COMIC's  GALLERY :

Samizdat Zine Library 

New Gallery Installation This April

Via STL Magazine: Do you remember 'zines? 'Zine is short for magazine, and 'zines were magazines about any number of subjects, cheaply made, self-published, usually black-and-white, and often traded between their creators.

Enter Masha Serdyukova, a student at Washington University's George Warren Brown School of Social Work. Masha has created the Samizdat Zine Library, a collection of more than 2,500 'zines dating from the early '90s through today. Serdyukova and collaborator Sean Arnold have painstakingly separated the massive collection of 'zines into about two dozen categories, including political, historical, personal, DIY, poetry and literature, art, sex and gender, feminism, environment and animals, food, travel, media, activism, race, prison, comics, foreign language, religion, and more! 

Beginning April 21, 2012, the Samizdat Zine Library will make the Star Clipper Gallery its home for the forseeable future. This is a painstakingly curated and dynamic collection, friends. 

I hope to see you there.

CLAIRE

 I spent today day working on two new paintings as I enjoyed unseasonable sunlight that streamed into my studio. Cardinals have returned to the Hood, first her, then sure enough a flash of Cardinal red announced him. After a sip in the pond they both hit the feeder and took off.

Haven't seen the Red Tail Hawks today, but Clarke Kent kitty was confined to quarters while I was in the studio. In my study, she is entertaining me with her gymnastic routine romping full speed up the steps she leaps onto the stair railing screaming "look at me" in Felinese. My heart is in my throat still when she casually tiptoes across the stair rail parallel to an opening into my study. That rail overlooking the staircase doesn't hinder her lithe leap into my study. She slides across the work table and dashes for the door to repeat that routine. She meows with delight her celebration of an evening with me in audience. Soon she will remind me to shower. We will soon be cuddling for the night.


 

Tonight a fine dinner then  Gaetano Donizetti's -The Elixir of Love . So true. Love! The source of man's greatest pleasure, as well as his greatest pain at University of Missouri 's beautiful Touhill Theatre. Presented by the  UMSL music department and St. Louis Opera Theatre . This is over forty years seeing opera with my good friend,  pianist Phyllis Hyken.

Tonight's cast of well trained voices presented with youthful exuberance the sweetly humorous opera. The intimate Lee Theater, a relief from today's huge theater venue, enabled some voices not yet fully developed.  The program FREE to the public with FREE parking is one of many exquisite arts opportunities available to St. Louis.  Another tidbit... Touhill Concert Hall is accessible to Metrolink  public transportation.









I was not surprised to see John Lesser, one of St. Louis most charming Fine Opera afficionado. John   attends every opera performance offered in St. Louis. He holds and shares with our community his excellent art poster collection. One of many St. Louis supporters of the arts.

Hawks hunting, Empty University City home a fine housing for selected works in "TRANSITIONAL", SCULPTURES & INSTALLATIONS

Where is a preschool for felines? Hawks a many hunt in University City now, they threaten my lovely  adorable feline babe. Without outside life I am her everything. My shoulders are her trees, my papers and food dishes her prey, my face her responsibility to groom. My clothes blue silver fur, I am feline. 

 ``?  ~~ (^^)-

The silver blue of Clarke Kent's  fur appears regularly in my work, as gray, as field tone, with or  blended  into the many greens, Greens   Greens  seen in nature.


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A GREAT WEEKEND OF WORK AND PLAY in St. Louis:

Enjoyed   SIXTY-SIX TWELVE ART SPACE :

 DOMESTIC SPACE SCULPTURES & INSTALLATIONS 

selected works by 5 artists curated by Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt

Sat Feb 18 2012

Concept, concept, concept was evident to me in the five works related to domestic living each installed in a room, a hall and basement of this small home. No boundaries, white gallery or aspiring architecture to distract from works, intimacy ruled. The home's history and neighborhood in University City as 'likely constructed' from post 1907 World's Fair materials' encapsulated while expanding the experience of the work and broke  21C mass made life. 

Immediately entering SIXTY-SIX TWELVE ART SPACE one saw a heavily shrink wrapped amorphous 5'x3.5'x2.5'  package with unidentifiable objects within. Lit by the ubiquitous household shop lamps instead of gallery spots, the work took on absence and loss for me. Contrasting textures of slick shrink wrap, soft and transparent masking the contents evocatively begged my mischievous mind to wonder. Dead bodys?  Drawings? No. Close inspection revealed household items packed between  matching vintage chairs. I felt reassured of continuity. 

 I am looking forward to my bi monthly tour of downtown St. Louis tomorrow that includes 
 City Museum, City Garden,  Des Lee Gallery and Phillip Slein Gallery. I will be taking down   SUKKAH, WEAVING SHELTER my work from  ART ST. LOUIS GALLERY after the month of SUKKAH ANNEX and MEMORY show.