Clues

As I struggle to clarify, simplify and rewrite my artist's statement I am struck by the clues I find in my photos:





Looking from the inside out of Cora Jane Glasser's studio


Looking from the inside out of Cora Jane Glasser's studio

Debra Ramsay's art influences

Measuring Parallels 38
wax and eggshell on aluminum panel
24 inches square
2009

I first saw Debra Ramsay 's work at one of the art fairs in NYC, in 2008. I met her this June at her and Cora Jane Glasser's show during the Third Annual Encaustic Conference in MA.That was where the conversation about titling paintings took place. Along with her paintings she also was showing small wonderful graphite works on paper-gems.

I find her work thoughtful, soulful, and meditative. It is also based on mathematics which is so far from my place of artmaking that I find it intriguing.

Deb recently had a solo show called "Balancing Act "at Blank Space in Chelsea in October. She and I also are two of the four artists chosen for the Dana Women's Artists Series:Illusive Balance: Transcendental Pattern and Layered Surface in March of 2010. Her most recent project is the Postcard Race featured below.


The Postcard Race has begun! On Nov 4, at 4:40 pm I mailed 100 postcards, asking the recipients to mail them back to me. As they return I calculate the mph that the card traveled from Nov 4 at 4:40 until the moment I receive it. I will create an installation of the cards using their speed as a distinguishing factor within the installation. So far speeds as great as .168 mph have been achieved!!



Calculated Perception, 8 forms
wax on paper
eight pieces 8 x 5.5 inches each
2009
-->

Statement

The concept of balance interests me. Metaphorically, we search for balance in our lives. In the series “Measuring Parallels” I divide the surface area of each painting into two equal parts by measurement. Using wax or eggshell to distinguish each half, I find different ways to formulate this division. “Calculated Perceptions” is a continuation of the idea, looking at the differences of perceived and calculated (measured) balance. “Equal Weights” is a series involving balance where the different materials used are of the same weight. I reduce my visual language to horizontal and vertical line.

I build abstract paintings by combining two different materials; usually pigmented wax and eggshells. Using mathematics as a tool in this binary approach, I create serially related works. In kinship with artists as diverse as Mel Bochner and Tara Donovan, I make incremental changes within the concept of a series, each painting being part of a visual progression.

My materials include eggshells. The process is based on a centuries old technique. In choosing the shapes and sizes of the fragments of shell and ascribing the areas between them, I engage in deliberate mark making. I also apply pigmented wax in multiple layers, using a variety of tools, creating subtleties of color and texture.

The materials I use leave subtle evidence of a surface worked by hand.

Debra Ramsay

2009

The shelf-life of this list will be pretty short, only because I'll want to add other names. The names I'm listing below are of people who have created work that continues to fulfill my needs for beauty, intelligence, humor, and surprise. I feel fortunate to live in such a rich visual culture with all the forms of image communication we have. It allows me to "know" the work, although never having seen the actual pieces. I recently attended, for the first time, the Biennial in Venice. That brought a slew of additional artists into my awareness. I'm still recovering from the intensity of that trip. Artists work that I'm happy that I know about:
Walter DeMaria
Alfonso Bianchi
Pak Sheung Chuen
Tara Donovan
Byron Kim
Sol LeWitt
Georgio Morandi
Lygia Pape
Robert Ryman
Anne Truitt

This was a great opportunity to think of them yet again!

Measuring Parallels #33 encaustic, eggshell on birch panel, 2008 12 in x 24 in


Yellow and Black Balance
encaustic eggshell inlay on MDF board
four 6 x 6 inch squares
2008

About Eggshell Inlay :

This technique is believed to have originated in China, and was later transferred to Japan via Korea. Many examples from the Meiji era (late 19th century) exist today as small decorative boxes or bowls.

Actual eggshells are used, in their natural colors of white, brown and blue/green.

D Ramsay

Studio News and Works in the Studio

24 x 24 oil and wax on board LPressman@2009


Now Represented by:
Chace Randall Gallery, Andes, NY
Anelle Gandelman Fine Art, Larchmont, NY
The Allyn Gallup Gallery, Sarasota, FL
Jack Meier Gallery, Houston,TX
The Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA



48 x48 oil and wax LPressman@2009


6 24 x24 oil and wax on board in progress


Upcoming Exhibitions/2010

Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
Lisa Pressman, Solo Show
Opening Reception: January 19th, 2010 6pm-8pm
January 15 – March 19, 2010

The Dana Women Artists Series
Illusive Balance: Transcendental Pattern and Layered Surface
March 17-April 28
Lisa Pressman, Debra Ramsay, Nicole Ianuzelli and Marsha Goldberg
Douglass College Library, New Brunswick, NJ

Rosenfeld Gallery
Philadelphia, PA
Solo Show, October 2010


6@ 10 x10 wax and ink on paper LPressman@2009

Serra, Brancusi, and Monet

I was just looking through some photos from my trip to Paris a while back. Here are a few from the inspiring Serra show at the Grand Palais.

the floor at the Grand Palais


And a few from Brancusi's studio:










And of course Monet's garden which was in full bloom!!

Some of Ken Weathersby's art influences

"169 (k & w)"

"169 (k & w)" The Other SideThe two images above show the same piece-One side is shown for the first half of the exhibition and then the other side for the other half.



162 (nfc)
2008
Acrylic & Graphite on Canvas, Wood, with Opening
16" x 16" x 3"

162 (nfc) is a painting with two backs
and no front. It can hang with either
back (above, or next image) visible.

	162 (nfc) 2008 Acrylic & Graphite on Canvas, Wood, with Opening 16" x 16" x 3" 162 (nfc) is a painting with two backs and no front.

A couple weeks ago I stopped in at Kent Place Gallery to see Ken Weathersby 's show The Reverse Side Also Has a Reverse Side. We had quite a nice chat about his work and art world stuff. I found the work intellectually and visually engaging and challenging. It is work that makes the viewer think and ask questions. Go to his website to read about it.

If you have read my post about titles, this is one case where titles are not needed. The work is very present and specific without titles. You can see more of his work on his blog.

"I create optically active paintings on canvas, often modified or interrupted by physical displacements, dissections, insertions or reversals."

"171", two painted panels inset in wall.



Ken says:
"I'll call it a list of ten artists, rather than, "my top ten influences", that helps. The list of ten artists below includes mostly those whose work I have returned to and liked over a long period of time, ten years at least, more in some cases, and definitely leaves out some who've been very important to me. Any selection seems false, but... parlor games like this are impossible and not fun if you take them too seriously, so here, not ranked by preference, are my ten for now:"

james castle
marcel duchamp
roni horn
alfred jensen
ray johnson
yayoi kusama
john o'connor
giovanni di paolo
ad reinhardt
daan van golden

Interesting choices. Thanks for "playing", Ken.

Installation view, Kent Place Gallery. "167 (bgbjrid)" and "170 (floor piece)".
----

Artist of the Month at R & F Handmade Paints and a bit of history

I have always been a materials person. I began fooling around making pottery when I was fifteen and even applied to Alfred ("the" place to go for ceramics) but I ended up at Douglass College in the art department.
Eventually, I became more interested in clay as material.The first few pieces I made were individual objects made of bisqued clay.

"Patterns" 1978 L Pressman

"Random Pilings" 1978 L Pressman

Then I began using the unfired clay itself, combining it with wood that I got from my father's lumber yard. I loved the yard with all the screws, nuts, paint chips and scraps of wood.



The Rack unfired clay and wood 1979

My father and I would go to the lumber yard and "take inventory " on Sundays. Meaning that we would load up the car with wood scraps for
me to use in my work.

Appearances Can Deceive-View one and two, unfired clay and wood 1979 LPressman



In graduate school I made a few pieces with wood and plaster.

Plaster and Wood 1981 L Pressman

Then I discovered color and concentrated on painting.( it's a good thing judging from these last two images)


one of the first paintings-1981 40 x 60 oil

Restraint oil and cold wax 42 x 52 1983 LPressman


Pink Rain oil and cold wax 48 x 70 oil 1989 L Pressman


Charcoal, pastel,oil paint, cold wax, collage -it all shows up in the work over the years.


I think the show Waxing Poetic at the Montclair Art Museum in 1999 was one that introduced me, along with many other artists to the possibilities of wax. Not long after that I took an encaustic workshop and fooled around with it for several years. I did a series of small works that combined encaustic and vintage postcards.


Arrived Allright 5 x7 encaustic L Pressman 2000


Japan encaustic 5 x7 L Pressman 2000

and I continued making paintings in oil.

Lower Depths mixed media 41 x 38 2005 L Pressman

Still 24 x24 oil on board,charcoal 2005 L Pressman

Several years ago the opportunity to teach encaustic came my way. So I traveled up to R&F Handmade Paints in Kingston, NY to hone my skills.
I did a five day "teaching workshop" with ten other artists.That session took my work in a whole other direction. Since then I have been working with encaustic primarily.


Circle encaustic 30x30 2007 L Pressman


#3 Moons encaustic 16 x16 2007 LPressman

It feels as though another shift is coming on in the studio. I just finished a commissioned oil painting and have another piece in the works that combines both encaustic and oil so........we shall see...


Portal 2 oil 48 x 48 at Post 390, Boston



Meanwhile, I am pleased to announce that I am featured as Artist of the Month on the R and F website. They posted some images and an interview. One of the questions Laura, the gallery director asks is: If one could follow one your paintings as if it were a map, where do you imagine it would lead? That is a question to keep on trying to answer.

R & F Handmade Paints makes encaustic paint, sells encaustic supplies and offers workshops. It is a great place. All the people who work there are artists and the energy is a good one. Even if you don't paint in encaustic if you are ever in Kingston, NY make a stop: watch how they make the paint; talk to the artists; look at the gallery; and buy some of those delicious pigment sticks to play with.