Adria Arch

I'll be doing an installation at Lesley University , in their Porter Square, Cambridge MA location, starting in January - a collaboration with students for several permanent wall pieces. In a similar vein to my work incorporating my son's high school doodles, I'll be collecting doodles from Lesley students and integrating some of these new images, done in an unselfconscious state of mind, with rich background surfaces. The walls are in the range of 10 to 20 feet high and 20 to 30 feet long. I am very grateful for this opportunity to have my work in a more public setting. In February, I will participating in a group show at the Bromfield Gallery focusing on collage. This will be a chance for me to show some of my recent smaller pieces that blend collage and acrylic work, similar to this piece.

Not the best shots, but just a glimpse of studio efforts. Acrylic on cradled panel. Most of these are 30" x 22".

I will be participating in the New Art Center 's annual Icons and Altars exhibition, opening Friday, November 12, 6-8 pm. This piece, "Defying Gravity", will be my offering. It is acrylic on paper mounted on wood, and approx. 15" x 10". All work in this fundraiser for the New Art Center is $250, and you can purchase a ticket for a drawing held on the last day of the exhibition. I will also be exhibiting 9 pieces in the Brighton-Allston Historical Museum's exhibition, "Exuberance" , opening Friday, November 12, 6-8 pm.

A little music on ancient instruments, and a lovely reception for my students in "Intuitive Painting" at the Arlington Center for the Arts. The exhibit is up through Nov. 20, but only open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 11 -3 pm. Check The Old Schwamb Mill for directions.

Two new pieces - I feel very good about these - my experiments with the GOLDEN acrylics, lots of layering, and different surfaces have finally come together. Both of these pieces are 30" x 30".

I am showing my work this weekend at Boston's South End Open Studios in a group space reserved for artists who don't actually have a studio in the area. Its a good opportunity to network and see old friends. Not much happening in the way of sales, but I consider it a positive thing to just my work out there. Here's a photo of my area taken by my friend Jeanne Williamson whose spot is right next to mine at the Benjamin Franklin Institute - really an interesting old building with WPA era murals extolling the virtues of hard work and education, a la Old Ben.

8 of my students from my Intuitive Painting class at the Arlington Center for the Arts are exhibiting their work at the Old Schwamb Mill in Arlington, MA. The opening reception is October 1 from 6-8 pm, and the public is invited. I am very proud of my students. Click here to see a selection of their work. This piece is by Gerry Menz, approx. 8" x 6", acrylic on canvas paper.

I found 2 sheets of 40" x 60" heavy foam core board in my garage, wrapped in plastic. There was no mailing label or other ID. I left them there for 2 weeks thinking that perhaps they belonged to our tenant or someone else. Nope. So I figured that they were a gift from the Art Fairy. Why else would they have landed in "my" garage? Who but an artist would think they were an awesome find? Thank you, Art Fairy! Talking with my friend Anne Krinsky , we both agreed that the Art Fairy does indeed exist. The Art Fairy makes residencies available to you just when you really need them, turns up the perfect studio table or potential assemblage materials in the trash, or avails you of a parking spot right in front of the gallery where you need to drop off your work. Have you had a recent visit from the Art Fairy?

Acrylic gels, pours, and skins on acrylic on paper mounted on wood panel. 20" x 15"

Acrylic gels on top of latex and acrylic. Masonite substrate. 20" x 16"

Acrylic gels and pours on masonite substrate. 24" x 24"

This is another piece reworked with layers of gel mediums and pours of acrylic. 24" x 24" on masonite substrate.

I have been playing with my new acrylic mediums, re-working older pieces and I feel they are much improved. This one is 30" x 30" and uses a combination of gel medium on top of latex and acrylic paints. Untitled thus far.

It was a great international group - I am fifth from the left. Patti Brady, our instructor, and author of Rethinking Acrylic . Aggie Lee is in Patti's lap.

I spent last week in Greenville, South Carolina, for Phase I of the Golden Working Artist training. Golden acrylic paints invests in teaching artists to give lectures and workshops on how to use their products. Patti Brady, author of a wonderful book on using acrylics, is a fabulous artist and teacher. She spent the whole week with 6 of us in her studio, showing us the ins and outs of using Golden's many mediums and pigments. I feel very honored to be part of this program, and I am quite excited about using some of what I learned in my own work! This is pure pigment. Here are some boards we created to use in our lectures that show examples of different kinds of paints and mediums.

Am kind of liking this way of having a variety of colors and imagery colliding. Each side is different.

Thanks to Josh Abelow , a young artist I met at Vermont Studio Center, this is from his blog - part of a letter to Eva Hesse from Sol Lewitt - does this resonate or what? "Try and tickle something inside you, your 'weird humor.' You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you – draw & paint your fear and anxiety. And stop worrying about big, deep things such as “to decide on a purpose and way of life, a consistant [sic] approach to even some impossible end or even an imagined end. You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO!"

An in-process piece inspired by the Chelsea wall (see earlier post.) Butcher paper, ink blots in found frames, collage, on homosote studio wall. Approx. 5' x 8'.

For many women artists, Louise Bourgeois has been a role model and an inspiration. She died this May at the age of 98. The obit in the NYT is worth reading. Long live Bourgeois!

I am working on combining smaller pieces to work as installations. Here are a few recent works in progress.

In Chelsea this weekend, although the galleries were closed on Sunday, I just loved the crazy postings all over the buildings. I was as much in love with what I saw ON the buildings as I was with what I saw through the gallery windows. Lots of food for thought and creation.