Still in tact: The view of the Pacific from UCSC’s Porter College (AKA to some of us as College Five)
“Material Ephemera” at UC Santa Cruz
Another view
Long time friend Alicia Falsetto at the artist reception on Saturday
Things, people, ideas—they operate with a certain kind of circularity. That coming round again has becomes even more apparent as I get older.
Last week I was at University of California at Santa Cruz for a show of my paintings at the college where I was an art student in the 70’s. The school has now grown to 17,000 students—there were just 4,000 when I was there—but the view from my favorite spot overlooking the Pacific is still unchanged, amazingly. And the decentralized campus of “clustered cloisters” still gives off a sense that this is a place that makes room for the introverts and the nomads in the population, those of us who can’t do groups and demand a peculiarly untethered approach to life and learning.
But most of all I was reminded of how things/people/ideas show up, disappear, come back again. In the words of Walter Hood, the brilliant UC Berkeley landscape architect and designer (and keynote speaker at a day long seminar about interdisciplinary exhibitions, architecture and community), it is not about erasing the past but about pushing at “palimpsesting.” He used another relevant phrase: “embrace the ephemeral.”
Talking with Walter Hood (right) at the “Making the Institute” reception at UCSC (Photo: Gene Felice)
My show, “Material Ephemera,” plays with both ideas. Painting has a materiality that compels many of us to lean into that physical reality even more passionately as trends have moved the art experience away from that focus. From an earlier post, Resolute Materiality, this defense of painting from Eric Crosby still rings true:
There’s also something about the resolute materiality of painting that continues to attract artists. These are objects that follow deeply subjective and individual ways of thinking, as expressed through specific materials…Painting offers a frame for contact with this very physical presence. It’s a vivid contrast with our daily routine, where we experience so many images by using a cursor, linking to them, altering them, navigating away from them. Painting resists this kind of experience. A lot of artists today embrace that notion to an extreme. They go where the materials take them, not where the history of painting tells them to go.
Two other experiences spoke to that material ephemerality. One was visiting Kenjilo Nanao, the extraordinary printmaker and painter who is now in his 80s. While frail of body, he was at work in his studio, a brush in hand between frequent lay downs on the mattress in the corner. Material and ephemeral. We are both.
Kenjilo Nanao in his studio
The second was being introduced to the Snail Painters. While a full moon illuminated the Pacific Ocean at 3AM, it also revealed the night time markings of a small gaggle of snails on the window glass where we were staying. Part Joan Mitchell, part Brice Marden and part Terry Winters, these moondanced masterpieces evaporate when the sun comes up. Luckily I awoke in time to catch the invertebrates in their own celebration of circularity before any trace of their magic was gone.
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Portrait of the Artist
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And again
Deb, a beautiful masterpiece. Thank you!
Thanks so much Sloan. I thought about you many times over the course of the Alumni Weekend. xxoo
Fantastic! I really appreciate your keen awareness of being in the moment and seeing the art of nature. Thank you for noticing and sharing not only these great photos but your wonderful writing as well.
Suzanne, Thank you so much for your words. I am still in an altered state from encountering this magic.
So delighted to read your Blog post Deborah. You have such a lovely way of expressing many of my own feelings, so Thank You! I just loved the photographs of the snails and the nocturnal work they did. What a wonder that you were able to capture their images.. Just beautiful!! Thanks so much for writing and sharing with all of us!
Jamie, so appreciate your words. Thanks so much for your comments.
Oh, my; how extraordinary that last series of shots is. Who but another artist would have captured that? Love how you see.
Seriously, I can’t stop looking at these. Thanks so much Maureen.
Glad to see what a snail can do. However, I still prefer your paintings.
Andrew, I appreciate that distinction! Intentionality does play into this…Thanks!
Another wonderful post, Deborah. Your work is so lovely and your thoughts even more beautiful. I love the snail painters. Next thing you know, some know-it-all at an opening will be saying, “My snail can paint better than that.” Thank you, as always!
Thanks for connecting with these images too Nancy. Moonlight and snails. Who would have guessed?
A wonderful post on many levels. It is good to reread the “resolute materiality” paragraph from Eric Crosby, and a delight to see the snail trails on a foggy window. They reminded me of the book “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating” by Elizabeth Tova Bailey.
Altoon, I took a look at that book, one I have never heard of. Beautiful and beguiling, her writing has sucked (ha!) me even deeper into a fascination with snails. And then there is that amazing poem where Elizabeth Bishop becomes a giant snail…We are connected. Thanks so much for this.
as always Deb, your post stimulates and delivers peace. It took a minute for the photos to come up, so the caption “portrait of the artist’ wasn’t what I expected! Surprise! Ha!
I find that artist portrait exquisite. Thanks.
Each participant performs on cue…..Snails, Sun, Sleepy eyes perceiving………..but the true artist holds the camera!.
Oops! not sun, but moon? Well…….that one will take a little longer…….
Ann, it was a moon cue for sure! Thanks for your comments.
Confession: it was me, sending you a wee snail-mail message xxx
Louisa, Aha! Now it all makes sense…Sending you my best, and thanks for keeping in touch with me in all forms and manifestations.
A diptych series as the result of a nightly magic ritual? A snail honeymoon trip, wandering about on a pane after the celebration. And the portrait of the artist in a crescent moon fancy dress!
What would be art, without poetry?
What a great riff on these images. Thank you! Crescent moon fancy dress indeed…
I love that you have given us a portrait of the artist. Looking at the snail art reminds me why I am a Deist. How wonderful to go back to your roots and share your journey and amazing talents. Inspiring post.
Lovely, the snail trail “painting.” I, too, thought of E. Tova Bailey’s book.
These photographs also took me back to my childhood, when I was fascinated by the designs my own breath made on cold windows (days before thermal-pane glass) and by the art created by raindrops on glass. Introverted child…I spent hours watching rain on windows and daydreaming. These snail photos connect with your own work on several levels.