w e b l o g | s u z a n n e . w . a l l y | Suzanne W Ally

This Glossary SHINES!

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:14:41 -0400

Not sure what this is about. I am noticing the occurrence of repeating words that are situationally & seemingly unrelated. This week the word is "gloss."

1. I have been searching everywhere to buy Philosophy brand hair gloss. To no avail apparently they no longer make it - if you know where I can buy it, pls email me.

2. Been encountering conversations where topics get glossed over. Maybe I just want to go deeper than others in some places & need to dive solo if I find no participants to dive deep. hmm.

3. Just came across this art glossary - concise yet helpful and interesting, no I mean REALLY interesting [check out their definition for "interesting" - haha!]

Artspeak Glossary - http://artrelish.com/wpmu/artspeak/

Can’t figure out what you’re reading? Use our handy Artspeak glossary to get a handle on all those three-dollar terms used in the art world!

Abstract Expressionism: Americans turned to it’s own form of domestic emerging abstract art devoid of representational imagery. Socialist and Nazi re-institution of Realism confirmed modern abstraction as the preferred style of the democratic free world.

Atavism: the tendency to revert to an ancestral type. An evolutionary throwback, such as traits reappearing which had disappeared generations ago.

Automatism: junking of all traditional rules of art in favor of chance as the direct creative access to the unconscious.

Chiaroscuro (Italian for clear-dark) is a term for a contrast between light and dark. The term is usually applied to bold contrasts of light and dark affecting a whole composition and creating great volume. See the work of (Michelangelo Merisi da) Carravagio. See also “Tenebrism”.

Constructivism (1914-1920): abandonment of easel painting in favor of kinetic art and technical design.

Content: the component of the artwork not based on formal elements such as the idea or ideas, the narrative, meta-narrative, subtext, political agenda, etc.

Deconstruction: Our understanding of language is comprised or “constructed” of a complex interrelationship of spoken sounds, written marks, and a cultural system of signs where these signs obtain meaning through its relationship to other signs. For example, notice how the meaning shifts as new words are added:

Lost
Lost Love
Lost Love Found
Lost Love Found Dead
Lost Love Found Dead Serious

Now look at the definitions:
Deconstruction is a term in contemporary philosophy, literary criticism, and the social sciences, denoting a process by which the texts and languages of Western philosophy (in particular) appear to shift and complicate in meaning when read in light of the assumptions and absences they reveal within themselves.

Deconstruction refers to an approach which rigorously pursues the meaning of a text to the point of undoing the oppositions on which it is apparently founded, and to the point of showing that those foundations are irreducibly complex, unstable or, indeed, impossible.

If one breaks down or “Deconstructs” a word (sign) into it’s constituents then meaning also disintegrates. On the simplest level deconstructing the word “Cat” into it’s Phonemes or it’s smallest units “C”, “a” and “t” also disintegrates the meaning since there is nothing inherently feline in a c, an a or a t. This is a simplified deconstruction of one word. When applying deconstruction to sociology, human behavior and thought, the process is similar but the underlying unspoken assumptions that form the basis for thought and belief are much more complex.

Diachronic: Concerns with the changes of language over a period of time.

Dialectic: Debate, discourse.

Discourse: extended speech, the code of language used to express personal thought.

Formal Qualities: design elements such as: line, shape, texture, size, color etc.

Hegemony: leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.

Hermeneutics: a method or theory of interpretation and understanding of texts.

Hyper-reality: exaggerated in comparison to reality; when the reproduced takes the place of reality.

Grisaille: A style of monochromatic painting in shades of gray, used especially for the representation of relief sculpture or initial layer of paint applied to a ground, which serves as a base for subsequent layers of paint.

Indeterminacy: Uncertainty and its implication deriving from the nature of how definitions or meaning is constructed. (See deconstruction)

Interesting: You have nothing else to say because it’s anything but interesting.

International Style: Universally applicable “modern” style, reproducible anywhere, transcending all national cultures.

Intertextuality: is the shaping of a texts’ meaning by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another.

Kinetic Art: relating to or involving motion.

Machine Aesthetic: an optimistic belief in the role of abstraction in human life, and an emphasis on machine-like, undecorated flat surfaces.

Metonymy: naming an attribute or adjunct of the thing instead of the thing itself. “Crown” for Royalty.

Metalanguage: a technical language, such as structuralism, devised to describe the properties of ordinary language.

Metanarrative: or “Grand” narrative is characterized by a comprehensive explanation that is transcendent or contains universal truth. An example: The Enlightenment theorists believed that rational thought, allied to scientific reasoning, would lead inevitably toward moral, social and ethical progress.

Modern: Latin Modo “Just now.” Distinguished by a singular drive through novel technological advances to achieve a utopian state. Ideas of individualism, the sublime, formal purity, aesthetics, perfection and hegemony were prevalent.

Moneme: word.

Naked: without clothes. (see Nude)

Nihilism: Total rejection of value statements or moral statements, absolute destructiveness toward the world at large and oneself.

Nude: idealized version of the naked human form.

Paradigmatic series: (also called selection or substitution) the relationship between elements in a sentence and other elements that are syntactically interchangeable.

Phoneme: is the smallest unit in the sound system that can indicate contrasts in meaning. “Cat” has three phonemes.

Positivism: is the philosophy that the only authentic knowledge is knowledge that is based on actual sense experience and can only come from affirmation of theories through strict scientific method.

Postmodern: Literally “after just now”. First an architectural term used to distinguish the eclectic use of many architectural styles within one structure from the Bauhaus style. Later, the term was used to describe work antithetical to Modernism. In the end, the term became weighted with a vitriolic disdain of modernism, especially characteristics associated with hegemony. Eclecticism, multiculturalism, disdain for aesthetics, deconstruction, simulacra were prevalent components.

Primitivist: A person who acquires and uses the expressive and generally non-naturalistic objects produced by tribal cultures. When Picasso appropriated African tribal masks as a source of imagery for his Les Demoiselles d’Avignon he was acting as a primitivist.

Relational Art. Relational Art is an emerging movement identified by Nicolas Bourriaud, a French philosopher, who recognized a growing number of contemporary artists used performative and interactive techniques that rely on the responses of others: pedestrians, shoppers, browsers—the casual observer-turned-participant. Over the course of writing editorials for the French magazine Documents sur l’Art, Bourriaud came to terms what he was seeing — or more accurately, experiencing — as a movement in Relational Art.

Semiology: (from the Greek Semeion) a mark, sign, trace or omen.

Semiotics: is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems and it’s signification i.e. study of how meaning is constructed and understood.

Signification: the process which binds together signifier and signified to produce the sign.

Situationalism: recontextualizing the mundane in order to value the real. Events based upon experience rather than the object, but unlike postmodernism, the simulacra and meta-narrative are devalued.

Simulacrum: a vague representation; semblance; image; likeness.

Socialist Realism: 1930’s Stalinist propaganda style of heroic realism.

Sublime: of such excellence, beauty, perfection as to inspire awe. Often accompanied with a sense of mortality.

Suprematism: the Russian abstract art movement developed by Kazimir Malevich c. 1915, characterized by simple geometric shapes and associated with the idea of spiritual purity.

Synchronic: concerned with language at a given time without reference to historical antecedents.

Synecdoche: naming the part for the whole.

Syntagmatic series: (also called contiguity or combination) the linear relationships between linguistic elements in a sentence.

Tenebrism: from the Italian tenebroso (“murky”), is a style of painting using violent contrasts of light and dark. A heightened form of chiaroscuro, it creates the look of figures emerging from the dark. It is most often applied to Spanish painters of the 17th Century. Look at the work of Jusepe de Ribera (See “Chiaroscuro”)

Thin: possessing insufficient content.

A Dark Chat

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:29:18 -0400

Is it time for a dark chat?

Mister Black is haunting me. He says he is sad because I don't paint him anymore. I am sure the feeling of him is somewhere in the current paintings but that does not sufficiently console him.

I have been reading several books and they are all still swimming around in my head so instead of faking some brilliant insight I will just tell you what they are:

The Positive Enneagram by Susan Rhodes

The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn

The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee

I will let you know when I find something worthwhile to say about these. In the meantime I am going to converse wordlessly with my dark chat.

Bon Voyage!

PS. This afternoon was:

Andrew Painting

Sat, 15 May 2010 11:52:14 -0400

Picasso said a lot of insightful things about children's art. You go Google the exact quotes if you want but I am going to sit here and watch my friend Andrew Knostman paint. I was beginning to feel stress over my upcoming show and I was thinking how nice if I could get into the frame of mind of a child. You know, fully alive in the present moment, carefree, curious, energetic, soaking up life like a sponge. The closest I could come was to invite Andrew over and watch him paint. There, I feel so much better now. Thank you Andrew for reminding me how to do it!

suzy

a Plethora of Peeps!

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 11:35:26 -0400

We have had an overwhelming response to Harry's Workshops! I am now officially unable to answer all the mail in my inbox! I am not sure what to do but say YEAH! and quickly figure out some organization. They say that sometimes it takes a long time to get web recognition but then once you hit a certain point, the response grows exponentially and you have to develop new methods of communicating with your peeps. Yeah and YIKES!

You know what, the one thing that bums me out the most is the idea that I may never get to know all our peeps personally.

But anyway if you are interested in the workshops, please continue to email me for now and I will try to answer each email individually & ASAP. In the meantime I may have found a great place to hold the workshops, thanks to my dear friend of Troy Community Works Org, who finds uses for some of these charming & spacious olde downtown buildings we have in our little hobbit city of Troy.

So far I can tell you the workshops will not occur until at least summer 2011, maybe later. In the meantime the last shipment of books are sold out and we have begun the next Harry Book. More & larger pages, hardback. Some rare writing from Harry, answers to questions about materials and methods, studio shots, and insightful interviews.

I will keep you all posted.

Suzy [with sounds of Harry's paintbrush in the background]

How to Draw a Dog

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:41:24 -0400

3rd Portal to Up

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:42:56 -0400

Connecting Olde Dots

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:34:56 -0400

Several people have inquired about one of the paintings in Harry's current show in Dallas,

Figure with Flowers #2. [click link for larger image within Harry's site]

It was mostly painted in 2008 but never made it into any of Harry's galleries until last month! Here is a blog post I made in 2008 about the painting; note the link within it to another post about the linen nightgown. It is interesting and healing even, to connect the dots from our past: Texas, Dallas, Highland Park, Knox St., antique linens, & titian colored paint. I am also writing a book about our lives together but here is a bit of a teaser for now...

[from Suzy's olde blog] - Friday, October 3, 2008

Knox St. in Highland Park, Dallas

My brother and I went trooping around our old stomping grounds while in Dallas. We had lunch at the Highland Park Pharmacy on Knox St. Grilled cheese sandwiches and cherry coke. The Pharmacy is about the only thing I can recognize on Knox St. anymore.

My grandmother founded, owned & operated the Highland Park Weave Shoppe on Knox Street and when I was a little redheaded girl she would take my hand and we would walk down the street to have lunch at the Pharmacy or at the Highland Park Cafeteria.

Funny how things come full circle. I was just on the phone to Helen of the Craighead-Green Gallery in Dallas. We are in mid-arrangements for Harry's paintings to be exhibited there. I was talking to her about one of Harry's paintings, Figure with Flowers #2. I told her the story about the nightgown in that painting - remember the blog post about the raggy nightgown that I had given Harry when he went back to GA in August?

Well a bit more to that story is that my grandmother also sold antique linens from her Weave Shoppe and she kept me supplied with linen nightgowns from her stash. Helen remembered the Highland Park Weave Shoppe. It was quite a landmark for years & probably larger now as a part of the old Knox St. Memories. Anyway if all works out well, how cool that the nightgown may travel via Harry's painting back to its Dallas roots.

As if this is not excitement enough, the Craighead-Green Gallery is also interested in Mikhail's paintings. I agreed to be Mik's liaison, too, so I need to get to work. Don't worry, I am painting, too, well... maybe tomorrow. It has to happen or I'll burst - I accumulated much emotional material in Dallas that MUST get into the paint!

xo til later
suzy

And here is the blog post about the raggy nightgown from ...

Saturday, August 16

Presence of Absence

I have a question for my dear Bloggees, "Without looking it up, what does the word 'avatar' mean to you?" I hope you will post a comment because I am really curious the different words and references that may pop into your mind at first. Don't worry, this isn't a test. You won't be demoted to sub-par-bloggee status, or anything! Haha. Just wanting to throw some words and ideas onto the table from different perspectives.

All summer I have been working on semi-disappearing Mr Black, as you are probably aware. He hides, or he slips almost totally off the page, barely leaving the edge of his huge black bottom or tail to remind you he is present. Maybe there is a dark shadow and it is possible that is just a shadow from a leaf, or maybe it is Mr. B. Sometimes there is only evidence that he or Doodle were just there. You can tell by the spilt salt shaker, or the scattered peas.

This summer when Harry was here for three whole months, you could definitely say he was present. But now that he is gone the power of his presence remains. In this way Harry is very much like Mr. Black to me. Whether he is here or not, his presence is always alongside whatever I am doing.

Whenever I give Harry a pile of old cotton tshirts and nightgowns he acts the way I would if he gave me flowers, or chocolate. Usually he uses them for painting rags, which he just devours. Seems the raggier they are the happier he is. So right before he left I gave him the oldest raggiest nightgown I could find. We were both really sad our summer together was over and I couldn't think of a good farewell present. I felt so sad that I had to make some sort of joke so I decided a nice raggy rag would be funny, but I should not have been surprised when he got REALLY excited and said, "I can't wait to get back to GA!"

"What?!" I was not expecting that. Then he added, "...so I can glue this to the canvas. It will be perfect for this idea I am working on."

So OK I feel all special. I guess the wives of artists have to get used to this kind of thing. Haha.

This summer Harry and Annette and I talked several times about gestalt and about stopping short of spelling everything out for the viewer. I wish I could remember Harry's definition of "iconoclastic" - you look it up if you want. Apparently the religious guys were opposed to some artists guys painting images of Christ and Mother Mary, so the artist guys gave in and just painted a figure covered in cloth, but it backfired on the religious guys cause the cloth just gave the figures more power of presence than ever. [OK so I never claimed to have a degree in teaching]

So are you seeing yet how all this relates?

And have you also noticed the absence of my paintings here? Haha don't worry, they are shrouded for the moment, to be revealed in full glory soon.....

Dallas: Family & Art

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:30:49 -0500

Carolyn & Andy have been our dear friends for a very very long time.

They fly in from all parts of the world to be with us for Harry's Openings.

Here's to the next one in Atlanta!

Thanks to Harry Geffert for the Hand Up!

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:20:10 -0500

Pondering the revised stair steps to my in-progress attic studio. Will I sound too much like Steve Jobs if I tell you that you have to experience the feel to appreciate my new iSteps? Will you believe me if I tell you the steepness is actually an advantage? Oh well, bottom line... er top line... I don't bump my head anymore when I reach the top.

So it is time to create handrails & posts. Thoughts of Harry Geffert come to mind. Harry was my sculpture teacher and friend at TCU in the 70's. He taught me to cast bronze, and how to approach the many mediums this natural world has to offer. He taught me to mix media and if the bureaucracy at TCU would have allowed it I would have been a mixed media or painting/sculpture/architecture major. Instead I just took lots of classes from Harry. And visited his home.

Harry Geffert built his two houses on several acres in Crowley, Texas. With his two bare hands. Mostly from stuff he found in the junkyard. He made furniture from old wood, curtains from old quilts, and then threw everyone a curve by juxtapositioning in a new couch from Sears. It was on sale for 50 bux and matched the wood. Both houses were round. The summer house was made of cool stone with high ceilings and a swimming pool made of an old water tower. The winter house was tight and cozy with a domed roof. You reached the second floor sleeping loft via a steep ship-ladder which made the loft quite private and not to be easily trespassed.

Whenever I buy new materials from Lowe's I feel a pang of guilt for not being more creative & resourceful like Harry. I want to get the studio finished in a hurry but I know that if I squelch too many of these ideas I will be one regretful artist in her bland finished studio.

I am realizing my creativity cannot be bound by saying I am a painter, or a writer, or a home redecorator. My art is about materials, color, & design. Oh and light. Sorry if that is too broad for you.

Anyway back to Harry. Here is a link: http://www.texassculpturegarden.org/content-artists.asp?artwork=1020 Harry got a lot of flak because he didn't do things the way others said he was supposed to. He did them better. And much more interesting & enjoyable. He took what he found and played with it.

Thank you to Harry Geffert for instilling in me a love of light, a love of materials & a love of questioning everything stale & stodgy. If I pull off some nice handrails and posts I will dedicate them to you, Harry, wherever you are.

suzy

Winter Morning Windows w/snow & dog

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:21:24 -0500

ATTIC!

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:35:22 -0500

A Good Painter

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:26:32 -0500

My painting journal entry for the day:

A good painter is like a good gold digger. A painter goes to work and digs for truth. A gold digger goes to work and he digs for gold. Some days he may strike gold, however his job description is to dig. If he does not dig, he certainly won't strike the gold. But digging day after day, even so, the gold is not guaranteed to surface. After a hard day's work he goes home to eat his dinner and go to sleep. He does this on good days and bad days. And he is a good painter because he digs, not because he strikes.

Maybe this is simplistic to the point of not being quite true. Because to be a good painter you also have to have an eye to see when you strike gold.

Reading Yourself across Mediums

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:14:52 -0500

I am a multi-tasker. I used to suspect I was ADD, but perhaps I have just learned how to organize my scattered thinking habits into good use. There are so many things in this big old world that draw my interest.

I love books. I love how they are containers on the outside, treasure boxes with a hinge and then when you flip them open a whole different world is hidden inside. As you open, the medium changes from a physical object to the medium of writing.

So yesterday I began reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I read half the book before I forced myself to close its hinge in the wee hours last night. I woke this morning, er afternoon, with thoughts of Georgia. Black Georgia, my long lost nanny.

Just as the characters of that book connected with each other to solve a larger puzzle, so I added Georgia's & my puzzle pieces to theirs and the puzzle story image grew larger, deeper, and clearer. While Skeeter mourned the loss of her black nanny Constantine, I traveled the road of revelation alongside her as she realized she always thought of Constantine in connection with her own loss and never from the point of view of Constantine's pain. She grew from being the needy child seeking her loss to the adult who doubles back to care for others.

Reading the book, out it comes, I miss my sweet black mama. When my grandmother let Georgia go, it left an insatiable black hole in my heart. My grandmother knew it & told me she always regretted it. She never said that she knew she could not love me like Georgia could but I suspect she knew that, too.

I have one photo of Georgia holding me. I have never seen myself so happy and carefree. It was a time when I used my whole being to communicate, before I used words. Maybe that is why it is so hard to find the words to express my feelings about it now.

So I multi-task. Were you wondering how I would get back to my original topic? I realize I multi-task in medium only. Everything I do seems to be a search for Georgia. Writing, painting, singing, cooking, mothering, crying. Different mediums, same search, same topic.

Yesterday I read a comment on one of my paintings on my website. The comment was made by Jeffrey Holly, one of Harry's ex students, now an artist living in Atlanta. Jeffrey is one of the most insightful artists I have ever met. Jeffrey and that book made me realize my multi-mediums are the same single search.

Here is the painting:

And here is Jeffrey's comment:

" This is a very peaceful piece, ms ally. There lies this beautiful separation between these opposing blue forces. I wonder what it is you think upon?"

I looked at the painting again. It had been a very long time since I sat still enough to listen to what my paintings had to tell me. The last time I listened well was when I did a series of paintings with some quilts of my grandmother's, patterning, stars, and thick edges. Those paintings taught me about my inherited codependent behavior patterns, my search for specialness, and my boundary issues. Jeffrey's comment made me realize I have been very disappointed in my paintings thinking they are shallow and saying nothing, however I suspect the problem is not the paintings, but that I haven't been listening.

I know, I know, I am supposed to dialogue with my paintings. Thought I was. I wasn't. "Dialogue" comes from dia = two & logue = speak. Two speak. So when one is speaking the other should be listening, right?

I initially replied to Jeffrey that the painting was about my marriage. As I listened to the painting further, it echoed something the Help book was telling me, that Black Georgia will always be with me. She is the peacefulness, the certainty. But missing her will also always be with me. The loss of her is the vast seemingly unfathomable space between me and those I love. So the vast space is peaceful and certain, but also a distancing.

Going out to the studio to listen some more...

Kitchen Update Nov 28 2009

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:51:54 -0500

Back to the Kitchen

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:18:36 -0500

Taking Care of My Own Self's Artist Statement

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:19:01 -0500

So like, DUH to me!

This week I read a simple but very powerful enneagram meditation. I am still letting it soak thru my being like butter into hot belgian waffles. I want it to permeate every chunky crater. That is, quit trying to take care of everyone else and take care of myself. By taking care of myself I will bless others as needed.

So it seems time to write my own artists statement. I was very inspired and encouraged by watching Mikhail go through the process. I am reassured it is ok to be vulnerable. It is ok to not know all the answers. It is ok to rewrite it tomorrow. So quit procrastinating and let's do it.

OK. Why do I want to paint? I like the feel of paint going onto surface. I like mixing colors. Putting colors next to each other. I like it when the paint does stuff on its own after I walk away.

I like foreground and background like when the viewer is standing inside looking at an object with a window beyond that. Sunlight filtering in around the edges of the object & the window panes. I am curious why I continue to be drawn to this image/scene/view. It is usually ferns or other feathery green growth. And the green is very dark because of the backlighting. But here & there the light makes the leaves translucent. I like the anchoring grids of the window panes. Squeak said the grids gave her work a seriousness. I like grids because they offer something to tie your boat to so everything doesn't just float away into silliness.

I also like lighting coming through windows at only certain parts of the day. Dawn & pre-dusk. Incandescent light on the inside & violet sunset light on the outside.

I like shapes and edges, scraffitoed surfaces, layers, things almost hidden and hinted at. I love Cy Twombly's way of whitewashing everything, just everything. The way the form/structure becomes more important when washed over. By covering with white, something previously hidden is revealed. Significance is shifted.

Words, I love words. I love penciled words and painted brush strokes bantering or peacefully conversing on a surface. For me, Jasper Johns opened up the idea of using letters as objects. I love stories with hidden meaning that you have to dig for. Stories that cannot be written with words, but require the volume of paint. Stories that sound like children telling them. Sometimes a grunt or a hand gesture stands in for a word. The child is searching for the right word but he can only come up with a grunt or a hand gesture to try to explain himself. I like it when people paint like that. When it seems they are really digging hard to get at the deep truth. People like Squeak Carnwath or Mikhail Ally. They both make me want to paint back a reply to them.

That's it for today. Are you writing your artist's statement? Wanna share?

Squeaking by painting

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:32:26 -0500

Hare just bought a book about the artist Squeak Carnwath. I loved the book and her work so much I almost snuck it home in my suitcase. Perhaps Harry was so thankful I didn't steal it from him that he found this video on youtube about Squeak and just emailed it to me.

I love her paintings. I love what she says about them. I love what she says about how she paints. She makes me want to go paint. She writes me a message with her paintings. I want to answer her letter right now!

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSPWbgdkqj8

The Importance of Being Earnest Writing an Artists Statement

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:22:52 -0500

The importance of writing an artist's statement has been the topic of discussion several times recently. The last night I was in Valdosta, the four of us, Harry, Zane, Mikhail, & I sat around after dinner and helped Mikhail write his artist's statement.

We each gave him a bit of advice as he was scribbling intensely on a yellow lined pad. Zane suggested he use the word "portal" as a clue to the function of his paintings. He seemed glad that Zane saw it as a portal but decided it was not his own meaning. Harry & I suggested he be sincere and earnest, as in "the importance of being earnest". Mik was hesitant at first to write a statement because he viewed it as something like a publicity tool and pretty much just artsy bs. But when Harry explained that he assigns his students to repeatedly write & rewrite their artist's statements throughout their painting careers, as a way to clarify their painting intentions, Mik took the prod & went for it.

So there he is scribbling on this pad looking quite vulnerable & stressed. Then he shyly reads what he has written to us:

Mikhail Ally - ARTISTS STATEMENT

"why do you paint?

maybe its just seeing other paintings that's the catalyst. i'm most inspired through music and other paintings. i'm compelled to speak a similar language with artists, and speak it BETTER. it's inspiring to see that someone else is speaking the language so intensely and beautifully. i eat good artists for breakfast.

painting is a reaction to my life, it is escapism, it is the creation of a state of mind. i am obsessed with painting. once i start it's hard to stop, i lose track of time and i'm stuck in my studio, smiling at a piece of wood or canvas. my interaction with the canvas is the creation of an experience. it becomes a documentation of the experience. i love the process of reflecting my mind through a conversation with physical material. im blowing my brain up and allowing it to play.

my art is never political, its more about being a kid."

I just don't think I have anything more to say about that except I am looking forward to reading his statements as he rewrites them thru the years, oh yeah, and seeing the paintings that come from it.

Oh yeah and here is a photo of Harry and me at Alabama Art Colony:

TCU Gang @ Savannah

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:07:00 -0400

Here we are in Savannah, Georgia with our old friends from TCU college days. We are staying at the Landing at Doug's gorgeous awesome amazing home. I brought a pear cobbler and a few of us broke into it tonight. I promised them the recipe so here it is, complete with photo.

PEAR COBBLER

Use one & half box rolled pie crust dough [3 rolled crusts] from the refrigerated section, not frozen. Leave out @ room temp for 24 hours before making.

Use two doughs to line a 9 x 13 deep dish pan & use knife to cut remaining dough into strips which will be used for lattice top.

Fill with three 28 oz cans canned pears, cut up

CRUMBLE TOPPING:

1 stick butter

1/2 c flour

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

1 t salt

2 t cinnamon

1 t mace [this is the secret ingredient that brings out the pear flavor]

mix ingredients & cut together until crumbled & scatter over top of pears

Cover with lattice pie crust.

Bake about 40 min at 350 degrees, until nicely browned.

PS Here is a pic of Harry smoking a cigar:

Alabama Art Colony - Harry Painting Video #2

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:56:09 -0400

If you are unable to view the video here you may try this alternate link to YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4TffZRdT84

James Downs posted this poem in response to this video:

To dream

An ekfrastic to Harry painting video #2

Windmills hover off the edge

Of the painting as if

This vibrant shadow

Prepares

To engage

With them

The sum of emotions hangs

From thin brim of a hat

And that includes

The addition

And the taking

Away

Leading edge of crack yellow

And followed by warm white

Swatches melting off

The painting

Goes on

As do we

James Downs

10-16-09

Alabama Art Colony Snapshotz!

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:08:19 -0400

This is the beginning of the painting Harry began at Colony.

He worked on it periodically throughout each day & we filmed each session.

We will continue to film as he works on it, creating an hour long video which will be available for purchase.

As a fond tribute to the hardworking artists of ACC we donated the painting to the Alabama Art Colony

where it will be shipped upon completion.

Alabama Art Colony Log #2

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:54:34 -0400

Today Harry & I leave from Alabama Art Colony to go back to the real world. Harry is driving back to Georgia & Annette & I are driving back to Ohio.

It has been a delightfully exhausting five days of gleaning from other artists, filming Harry, painting and trying to paint, and buzzing around like a bee gathering prime pollen. I will take all this pollen back to my studio and maybe some honeyed paintings will develop. If nothing else, once again Harry and I have discovered a second hive of artiststars here in this quietly hidden countryside around Lake Martin, Alabama.

As we pack our paints and prepare to bid adieu this morning, I think back over the past five days hoping everyone has received what they came for. I know that as a student in art I used to think that my profs held possession of a master book that contained all the instruction I needed to become a great painter. I had to figure out how to charm them to get them to divulge that information, I had to beg & barter to get them to give me the maps & directions to where I was supposed to go. I admit I was over fifty before I realized only One holds the maps & instructions to my purpose & destination as an artist and that One is no other man, woman, or artist in this world.

In fact I think I hold my own maps buried within myself and that One just helps me remove the muck & misunderstandings that cover over my map. No other person holds possession of my instruction. I do. I do.

I hope that this week will be the last week I ever think in terms of artists working at different levels. I hope I never use the concept of levels to think of other artists or human beings again. I'd rather think in terms of stars.

First of all I am not talking about Hollywood Stars, I am talking about the ones in the sky.

If I think of everyone around me in terms of what level artist are they in relation to me, I can only become a judge and cease to be a star. If I ever find myself saying that person's artwork is crap, I am talking levels. If I think in terms of everyone is a star, I don't have to concern myself with comparing or judging. And there is enough room for everyone to be who they are supposed to be.

Levels imply that everyone progresses up thru the same narrow ranks. "Levels" seems two dimensional while "Stars" seems 3 or 4 dimensional. There is more than enough room for everyone to shine in Star. In Levels, everyone struggles to beat out each other for a higher level. Every star in the universe has its unique place. If one star tries to emulate the shine of another, it fails to transmit the unique message it was meant to express to a world beyond itself, or to another star or stars.

How can one star judge another in relation to its own level? If every artist is a star, can't we only hint at what we see of other stars? Can we see them fully? Does one star hold the maps to the destiny of other stars? Stars don't judge each other. They shine on each other, reflect each other's light perhaps, but each has its own journey, lifespan, intensity, size, and each is necessary to its intended recipient in the world below.

I may not be blessed by or even be interested in the light of some stars, but heavens forbid I should judge them of no value to the rest of the universe. I even consider that there may be stars who fall or get off track. I have a new healthy fear of thinking I know where they SHOULD be. Most of my falls have given me more information about my personal maps than any of my best shinings.

There is a time for star gazers I suppose. I will allow them to describe the light they perceive from my place in the sky using the language of the Elements and Principles, I will allow them the right to state what they personally like & don't like. I will allow star gazers and fellow artists alike to say they find my painting boring or of no value to them, however no one has the right to state that another star is of no value to anyone at all. You never know if there is a world somewhere out out of your own line of vision that requires the light from that particular star. You never know at what stage is a particular star. They may be hatching. They may be incubating. They may be dying in preparation to explode into supernova light.

So I hope you are still reading so that you can know that I bid farewell to my new artists friends at Alabama Art Colony hoping our orbits cross paths soon. May you always press on to uncover your own maps, and be gentle with yourself & rest quietly when it is unclear. Shine on!

With much admiration & fondness,

Suzy Ally

s@suzanneally.com

http://suzanneally.com

PS. Due to some tech diffs, I will post photos of Colony & videos of Harry's painting demo when I return. Harry will be working on the painting in Georgia and when it is finished it will be shipped to the Alabama Art Colony permanent collection. xo -s

Alabama Art Colony - Harry Ally - 1st Painting Session

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:39:34 -0400

On Saturday morning Harry began a painting here in the painting studio alongside 25 other artists at Alabama Art Colony on Lake Martin. He paints intermittently between walking around and talking to the artists at the workshop. Here is a short video clip from the first day of colony.

Last night Harry gave a slide presentation & question & answer. Patt Odom made a comment that had us all pondering. I will try to get her to talk to me more today and share here as the understanding progresses. It traversed the edges of some thoughts that have been progressing in my recent head. I will share with you the tumble of keywords & thoughts thus far:

KEY/CLUE WORDS:

gestalt via foreground/background

interior/exterior

participation/dictation

dialogue/monologue

control/empower

stars/levels

developing true north/doing as you are told

hatching yourself/being pecked out of your shell

Jerry's Saltz

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:41:31 -0400

I will begin with a quote by Arthur Dove:

"I would like to make something that is real in itself," [Arthur Dove] once wrote, "that does not remind anyone of any other thing, and that does not have to be explained like the letter A, for instance."

I looked up Arthur Dove after reading this article about Georgia O'Keeffe by Jerry Saltz: http://nymag.com/arts/art/reviews/59249/

Jerry seems to favor G.O. over Dove and you may read why yourself. I prefer G.O.'s work but still like Dove's quote. Harry is not so crazy about G.O. Will be curious to see what he thinks of what our new friend Jerry had so say.

Next topic, our new friend Jerry.

One hot sunny day in August I was reading one of my favorite art critic's Facebook pages when I noticed he put up a message saying he would pay someone $25 to set up "time-suck.com" for him. I thot, "oh great I can make $25!" so I emailed him. He emailed back & said do it, then called me to discuss details.

A conceptual idea. We had a bit of fun talking artsy talk about this concept of wasting time on the net. Getting sucked into everything.

All of a sudden I realized I was talking to Jerry Saltz the Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine and he was asking me how much I would charge for real.

I told him what I really wanted from him was for him to review Harry's paintings. He said OK the next time he is in NY have him bring his paintings by. I said well his paintings are already in NYC not far from you. Stricoff in Chelsea. REALLY? he says. "OK its a deal," he said. "I'll tell everyone Harry's paintings are great."

"I said no I want you to go look at his paintings and if they are good then tell people, if not give him a critique & tell him what he needs to work on & tell me what I need to do to help him get his paintings where they need to be."

Even better deal.

So I have completed my part of the deal. View the artists' concept here:
http://time-suck.com

And I will let you know what comes of the critique or review....

things are not always what they seem...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:25:12 -0400

2009 Summer Family

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:42:20 -0400

my family at my hobbit house, note ever-present kitty tail

The White Garage Band

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:24:12 -0400

The White Garage Band

a D O O R ... W I P

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:06:21 -0400

a d o o r a d o o r a d o o r

I have wished for a door from my office to the back yard since I moved to my wee hobbit house. I have drawn designs over and over... to the left of the window? instead of the window? sliding door? glass screen/storm door? deck outside or patio outside? flowers, bushes & garden around patio?

Well finally the door is being installed thanks once again to the diligence & long suffering of our dear neighbor Casey. Here are photos of the progress. I know, I know it is just a door. But it seems just another example of openings and spaces being more significant than adding yet another THING to my life. I am talking about the idea that you cannot go to Walmart and buy SPACE. You can buy crap that robs you of your space.

Are you lost? Open a door. Or come visit thru mine. I will make you a nice dreamy batch of green tea with home grown mint and local honey.

Here's my door so far:outside with landing. steps forthcoming

can you see cats curiously watching?

view from inside, Casey at work on landing deck. note walls beside door - they are being built up, patched & textured. eventually whole office will be textured.

this is what Casey looks like when he does not want his photo taken. haha.

Harry News

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:41:09 -0400

I am in discussion with the Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas making plans for a possible exhibition of Harry's work there in September. I am very eggsalad about this for two reasons. One, this will be Harry's first large show at the Craighead and September is the beginning of the art season there. Two, I have been in touch with a lot of old high school friends who still live in Dallas and I am looking forward to getting together with them. I just hope they don't say "who is this old orange-haired lady and where is Suzy?"

Also today I heard from the Alabama Art Colony that Harry's workshop there for October has filled up and has a waiting list! They are offering an independent study group for the first time this year for those who want to paint on their own yet, enjoy the retreat and camaraderie. Here is the link for the Colony: http://alartcolony.org/SCT%20on%20Lake%20Martin.htm You will need to contact them to apply.

If you have any other Q's pls email me s@suzanneally.com

Lastly I will tell you about a wish that just came true. It is a door! Yeah aren't you eggsalad? Haha I am! I have wished for a way to enter the house straight from the back yard rather than having to loop around the side & through the gate. You try escorting a big hairy dog back & forth thru rain sleet & snow every time she needs to poop-or-pee for three years and you'll be shouting hallerloyer for a door just like me! It will let more light, lovely morning sunlight into the office, too. Photos forthcoming.

suzy

TweetFace

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:22:48 -0400

I am a TweetFace. I have been busy linking all my memberships and sites to each other. Kinda dizzy but hopefully you will appreciate how easy it is to find me EVERYWHERE! haha

So I have to post this code here so that my newest link can "find" me. jr4a6mizxw

Exploring Columbus

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:13:03 -0400

Yesterday Harry & I went to Columbus looking for galleries. Short North was a pleasant surprise. Lots of energy there in spite of the economy. "Because of the economy" has become such a dour phrase, it gives me delight to be able to exchange "because of" with "in spite of". How refreshing!

I enjoyed talking to the gallery owners about the different artists and events going on in Columbus. Saturday night June 6 is the monthly Gallery Hop in Short North from 6 to 10 pm. One of the beefs I have is with North Market because they do not open for the Gallery Hop. North Market ROX! It is like a mini super cool Jungle Jims. The food was so amazing, Italian, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, a locally-raised-meat market, a bison market, etc etc etc, It was hard to decide but after walking around the place twice, we ended up feasting on the best reuben we ever had at Barry's New York Deli in North Market. Then we picked up some soft puffy pita bread and baklava at the Mediterranean food market for later feasting.

As for eye candy, at the Sherrie Gallerie we discovered a porcelain sculptor whose work I just adore, Curtis Benzle. Thin luminous translucent porcelain vessels and sconces! OHMY! Terra Gallery had an amazing collection of various yummy paintings, lots of texture and color. I must say I will keep my eye on them!

Kathryn Gallery had a new artist in that had some gorgeous large coke bottle paintings, delightful blue greens of the familiar old coke bottle, tactile relief "coca-cola", all super sized & upclose. Something about that artist caught my eye, Sally Tharp.

Maybe it was the gorgeous sunshine, maybe it was the balmy refuge of the shady side of the street as the day grew hotter, maybe it was the Starbuck's matcha mango smoothie coursing thru my veins or maybe it was the row of arches over High Street as one gallery owner suggested. Don't know, but I plan to go back soon.

In fact I plan to go for the
Gallery Hop Saturday night June 6
6 to 10 pm.
Hope to see you there!

MS Art Colony

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:47:30 -0400

Just returned from Mississippi Art Colony. It was a two day drive home. Sharing the adventure with Annette was the artist version of Thelma & Louise.

I have posted the photos on Harry's website here: http://harryally.com/ms_art_colony/

I was so inspired by all those devoted high energy artists that even though I was stumbling in exhaustion when I got back, I had to paint in the studio before I went to bed. @Colony, I was busy doing my Diego* stuff for Harry & didn't get to paint much. I promise I will post here when some work is completed.

What many of the artists told me was that they sometimes use Colony to experiment with different mediums etc. Because I somehow forgot how much texture paint Harry & I consume, thus didn't bring enough, so when we ran out of it, I was forced to use the opportunity to explore different methods of building up layers of history. The beneficial result was that I learned that I don't have to add so much texture. One of the downsides to the texture paint is the weight it adds.

Now I am making a few additions to Harry's book before sending the order for the first edition. Thanks to everyone who has made reservations for your copy of the book! Also thanks to the input from the artists at Colony who gave some great suggestions for the book, such as some studio shots & words from Harry. [ever notice he doesn't like to talk?]

Many things to share about Colony, but will close this post by telling you that we were given a special farewell gift at the last night's banquet, a box containing a small painting card from each artist. I just sat there and dripped tears and snot as I saw what each person wrote & painted to us. Hope I didn't ruin them because I want to somehow frame them & find a special place in our wee cottage so I can always remember each one of you.

xo
suzy
PS. I have no pix of banquet night or mySELF so if anyone has those please email to me. Also a few people from colony left before I could get their pictures - please send photos!

*Diego stuff - Google "Alberto Giacometti & his brother Diego"

MAC on my Mind

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:47:30 -0400

Mary Hardy just sent me a few photos from MS Colony Banquet Night & I posted them here: http://harryally.com/ms_art_colony/patt_odom_banquet_night.html

We were all supposed to wear creative hats and Annette thought of wearing "Stick on Head" - how apropos for Harry's "students" to put sticks on their heads - brilliant! The idea took off & suddenly stick head hats were all the rage. Haha. So you gotta see me with the stick on heads.

MS Colony aka "MAC" is still brewing on my mind. There are many artists we met there who lost their homes in Katrina and they are still working at recovering financially & emotionally. I feel like I can see the depths of that experience in their paintings. Such tender bittersweet beauty seems to only emerge out of suffering. I can't find words here, just a deep vibration remains and I hold them dear in that cache inside me.

Annette & I talk about how can we get a Colony experience for Troy? Maybe we can just invite our MS artist friends to come up for a visit & paint in the park? We can cook stone soup for dinner. Harry & I have room for two to sleep in our basement room. hmmm.

Since I began this blog to write about painting a year ago - OH, wait! It is the anniversary of my first blog post! WOOT! - Yahoo! Hippo Birdie to My Blog!

Anyway I will tell about my painting since Colony.

As I mentioned in previous blog post, I discovered a different way of applying the texture paint. After several days of painting, some other benefits have emerged. I have become un-wedged from the practice of using heavy applications of texture. It is hard to tell if it is the act of un-wedging or the technique that has caused a change in energy flow. Both? I don't seem to get stuck at points here & there causing energy to stagnate in the studio. This sounds so BS-y but is very real. Because the energy flow has less snag-ups, my idea-feelings remain more connected with the materials & the flow of energy is almost a dance.

Because I am painting about a feeling, it is imperative to maintain that feeling. But feelings are like water. How do you contain them? And I learned one very important thing from making garden ponds with waterfalls - they stagnate if you don't keep them moving. So I created a sort of feeling pond/waterfall in my studio.

As you know I also write stuff & right now I have several songs underway. So I have the music to the songs recorded on a CD that loops while I paint. I flow from painting to writing a bit of words then back to the paint again. As I build paint, I build words, the music continues to move & recirculate, containing the feelings, but pumping air thru them and keeping them moving & fresh.

There is also a confidence I brought home with me from Colony. Again a very subtle thing. It was not anything any one person said. It is something that comes from standing in a place painting with other artists. You are all there for one purpose - to paint. It is what you do. You wake up, eat your breakfast and paint. You don't worry about if a gallery will like your stuff. You just paint. You don't worry if your shirt matches your hair ribbon, you just paint. You would feel really dumb standing in the middle of the pavilion @ Colony and wondering if you should go weed your garden or paint. No, you just paint. So the thought weeds got hacked for me. The should weeds. The doubt me weeds. Just paint!

I wanted to post photos of all the paintings I've been working on, but alas it is raining today.

Naptime then I'm going to paint!

Some of my Favorite Artists!

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:47:30 -0400

Today some of my favorite artists came over to my studio to paint. Will, Charlie, George, Andrew, & Benjamin. I wish I could paint like them. Talk about free moving energy! Whew!

Will said the paint is juicy. Yeah!

Time for Mark Making Activities

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:47:30 -0400

Last night Annette came over & we had a nice talk. The topic is mark-making. As in I think it might be time to do it. In my paintings.

Some things Harry said made me realize that might be the very thing that I have felt is missing in my paintings.

I confess I am afraid of my own marks. Thus far the texture process has involved disallowing intentional handmade marks to remain. Any handwriting or marking has been washed over or textured over or buffed over. The thought was to be organic & biomorphic, but I am also realizing there has been an element of not being confident in my own marks.

Harry was saying mark making can be about edges. As in marks can be used to define edges. Since I am also working on my own personal boundaries and my art has been about boundaries and edges for years, hmm & duh! Maybe it is about Suzy finally making a mark in the middle. Suzy finally quits worrying about boundary violations, quits fearfully guarding her fences, and dances in the middle? says what she means to say without fear of disapproval?

And so a question I would like to hear answered by other artists: What is mark making? How, why what, etc?

Am studying Mark Perlman's marks. Sure would love to hear what he has to say about mark making.

PS. Here are some updated WIPS:

30 x 30" Cave Wall

Triptych each square 12 x 12"

& here shows the real color of the bottom square:

Triptych each square 12 x 12" & 3"deep - how to display?!!

Boxing Comments

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:50:16 -0400

I thought I had my comments box fixed, but no. So now I am trying out Disqus. That's http://disqus.com You don't have to join to leave a comment, but if you do join Disqus you can have your own cute little avatar. Also you can join via your Google account & few other programs, you don't have to create ANOTHER separate Login Account with Disqus.

Hopefully Disqus will work. I'm tired of changing horses! Nay nay nay!

suzy

Saturday Messing Around

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:09:31 -0400

There is something very enlightening about messing with your own painting images on the computer. It forces you to take a different view than up close with paintbrush in hand. It shows you your progress over time. Sometimes if I paint without taking a break the paintings sort of run together and I forget my initial mission. Also trying the images with different website design templates makes me rethink my paintings. I still am not decided on which website design template I like. I'd really appreciate your feedback on this.

Having said all this.... I MISS PAINTING!

suzy

Wow that was easy!

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:47:52 -0400

Man sandvox ROX! I just set up comments using JS-Kit with Sandvox. OK somebody leave a comment! Now I have to go connect the old blog to this new one. Woohoo@ hey, welcome to the new blogsite!

Me & David Lynch

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:47:52 -0400

I suppose if David Lynch does this, I can too. I am having a special private opening of my new website. All of my friends on Google Groups, Facebook & Twitter are invited to click around & see if you can find any typos, errors, or bad links. Please email me, or post in comments section below if you do. As thanks, I have hidden a little coupon on the site. If you like my paintings, find it & use it well!

And thanks for helping me get my site ready!

xo - suzy