BLUES HAIKU by Phil Garrett

  

Hello Art people.

I’ve been working on a project over the last few months that combines printmaking and music making( two of my favorite things) . Specifically a print portfolio about seven Piedmont Blues artists consisting of seven linoleum cut images each  with a letterpress verse that correspond to  songs either by or associated with those Blues Artists. The folio is called BLUES HAIKU.

Letterpress and drying prints

I made the prints in the letterpress studio at The Penland School of Craft  in February, thats a great facility by the way. I rented the studio for a week, which can be done in the downtime between fall and spring sessions, cut the lino blocks, proofed and printed the photopolymer plates and then did the final run with the lino blocks on a sweet running Vandercook press. Each of the seven prints and Colophon  are in an edition of 20 on Hahnemuhle Copperplate paper. 

Sixteen of the sets are going to be in a clothbound custom folio that includes a CD of the seven songs performed by myself, David McCurry, Russ Morin (Blue Studio Band) and Bob Buckingham. The recording was produced by J.Michael King at his home studio in Greenville SC. The Piedmont Blues artists featured range from Blind Blake to Pink Anderson. The publication will correspond to a House Concert in Asheville NC at Working Girls Studio. 30 Battery Park Ave 7:30 pm on May 25 2012 . 

                                                                                               

This has been labor of love in all aspects, love the music, love to play and love to make images. 

                                                                                        
                                                       -Phil Garrett April 23 2012

                                                  
                                                                             Blues Haiku Proofs/Penland

      
                                                                                      Blues Haiku Detail 1

Blues Haiku Detail 2

                                                                                          Blues Haiku Detail 3

B LUES  HAIKU

1. MOSQUITO MOAN   BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON

   A GREAT AND IDIOSYNCRATIC BLUESMAN FROM TEXAS

2. POLICE DOG BLUES  BLIND ARTHUR BLAKE

   REV GARY DAVIS SAID THAT BLAKE HAD A SPORTIN

    RIGHT HAND . ONE OF THE PIEDMONT’S FINEST PLAYERS

    AND SONGWRITERS, AND A HUGE INFLUENCE ON MANY 

    FINGERSTYLE GUITARISTS  WORLDWIDE

3. SOUTH CAROLINA RAG   WILLIE WALKER

    JOSH WHITE SAID THAT  GREENVILLE SOUTH CAROLINA’S

         

     WILLIE WALKER WAS THE BEST GUITARIST HE EVER

     HEARD . UNFORTUNATELY HE ONLY RECORDED A FEW 

     SONGS . 

4. HESITATION BLUES  REV GARY DAVIS

    BORN IN GRAY COURT SC ,REV GARY DAVIS   

     INFLUENCED  NUMEROUS GREAT GUITARISTS 

     AND SINGERS INCLUDING JORMA KAUKENEN , PAUL

     SIMON,JOHN SEBASTION,ERNIE HAWKINS AND ON AND ON

5. RISING RIVER BLUES    GEORGE CARTER

    ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND POIGNIENT SLOW

      BLUES EVER . RECORDED IN THE 1930’S BY THIS

      GEORGIA TWELVE STRING GUITAR PLAYER

6. ONE MEAT BALL        JOSH WHITE

     WRITTEN BY HY ZARET AND LOU SINGER THIS SONG

     WAS RECORDED BY AND BECAME A HIT FOR 

     GREENVILLE SC NATIVE JOSH WHITE

7. GREASY GREENS       PINK ANDERSON

   PINK ANDERSON PLAYED MEDICINE SHOWS THROUGH

    OUT THE SOUTH IN THE TEENS .TWENTIES AND THIRTIES

    AND LIVED AND PERFORMED IN THE UPSTATE OF SOUTH

    CAROLINA UNTIL HIS PASSING IN 1974

THIS FOLIO OF PRINTS AND THE CD ARE A TRIBUTE TO THE

MUSIC AND MUSICIANS THAT HAVE INSPIRED AND INFLUENCED

MY OWN MUSIC MAKING . I HOPE YOU ENJOY MY ART AND THEIR MUSIC

ALL PRINTS ARE LINOCUTS ON HAHNEMUHLE COPPERPLATE PAPER EDITION OF 24

Along the Path by Dale McEntire

Along the Path
by Dale McEntire

Working on location is the most natural way for me to produce paintings at this time in my life. These works always come back to the studio for reworking and sometimes complete new approaches but their beginnings are in the natural world. My process has been one that has developed over the years but in many ways remained grounded in certain principals. I have several favorite locals I like to revisit and explore in depth. These include NC Game Lands , PAC Conservancy Land , National and State Parks.


I try to approach the landscape with a clear and calm mind. As I hike into an area I allow my senses to open up to light , sound, composition and instinctual emotions that may arise. I also keep my awareness on signs that may present themselves such as animals, unusual formations and other natural elements. When the scene begins to present itself I then spend a few moments becoming familiar with the energy present and my place in it. It is my understanding that this time alone in nature is a gift and my responsibility as an artist is to honor it. As with all quite time the mind is prone to wander and rebel but with practice I have learned to be present with my surroundings.


The paintings have gone through several stages over the years and I have continued to work toward finding my own language. Many artist have inspired me over the years and helped me along with my journey. I enjoy working this way and will always have these experiences with me. After a days work I normally walk away with a feeling of gratitude and contentment of having spent several good hours on this blue jewel we call earth. A bow of gratitude is a good way to end the day.

Dale McEntire

Red Earth Studio
http://www.dalemcentireart.com

"Open Studio" by Diana Gurri

To me a studio is an environment to which I retreat for the purpose of getting completely involved in the project at hand. It can be as simple as a clear table , a container with 20 very sharp pencils, and something to draw on, or a place in nature with stones to pile or twigs and vines to weave. It can be a corner in a room with discarded fabric, threads and a pair of scissors, or any surface with enough space to spread out. Anywhere there is a pile
of inviting books also becomes a studio space. A studio can form in my mind to become a retreat for more ideas.

Throughout my life I have been pursuing many different art studies and careers: fashion design/illustration, oil painting, weaving, print making, costuming, abstract expressions, fiber assembling, and teaching. My current mixed media work allows me to use materials from past endeavors to create new forms. I have had many studios in the past and am now fortunate to be in the most peaceful setting with both indoor and outdoor workspaces. Different work stations are set up for painting, sewing, sawing, drilling, drawing, assembling, etc. Keeping order with so many projects going on at once is a problem. Having open studios is the greatest inspiration to reclaim those areas that have been buried in unfinished projects. When the chore of clean up is done there will even be room for Catherine Gurri (who spent over a year working in the studio) and Bob Neely (who created the sculpture garden and made numerous improvements to the studio building), to be working and displaying their own art.
                                                                                             -Diana Gurri © 2012

Leaving Home by Carol Beth Icard

You leave home in your car on a ten minute drive to the supermarket and you arrive at your destination despite having no conscious memory of the drive.  Between home and market your mind has taken off on a circuitous journey all its own, brought on by a simple trigger.  Maybe it was the flash of cardinal red across the evergreens or a memory of last night's conversation, but you have departed the here and now and somehow managed to impel a two ton piece of machinery from point A to point B without seeing the road. 

In my studio I begin a new painting by laying color onto paper, board or canvas.  This is my point A.  Point B is when I'm standing back and thinking "YES!" with a deep sense of satisfaction radiating through my whole being.  But the days, weeks or sometimes even months between those two moments are almost impossible to explain.  My paintings are built from that same kind of car story that occurs when reverie replaces reality.  One thought leads to another and I am caught up in my own narrative.  But just as a writer has to pay attention to details and edit for meaning and flow, I spend a lot of time revising.  I read my painting to see what color needs to be emphasized.  I edit out marks that distract.  I unearth my personal vocabulary of lines and forms that evoke metaphorical color.  I search for authentic gestures that activate the surface and bring the composition together.  I spend at least as much time reflecting on my work in progress as I do painting it.

A friend recently asked me in an email to tell her about my latest painting.  Her question made me wonder, does my work contain meaning?  What I see in it may not be what another person experiences, which is what I find compelling about creating abstract art.  All I can really explain is that I set out from home and after the long and winding road of the unknown, I arrive.

Carol Beth Icard   "Alchemy"   30" x 40"   oil and mixed media on cradled board

This blog was originally published by Carol Beth Icard on http://carolbethicard.blogspot.com/

Conversations with Upstairs artists

The Upstairs Artspace will be inviting artists to write articles for the Arts Talk that may include, but not be limited to, topics such as; art media, art techniques, art history, current trends, inspirations and motivation, etc. Please feel free to join in!

Visitors discuss a photograph by Colby Caldwell © 2012