A Visit to RISD

We had the opportunity to meet Cade Tompkins of Cade Tompkins Editions at the Editions/Artists' Book Fair in New York in November. We were quite taken with works by Enrique Chagoya and Serena Perrone. Cade has worked with many of the visiting artists at RISD. We were lucky enough to meet up with Cade for a long overdue visit to the RISD Art Museum. In the newly opened Chace Center addition to the museum, we checked out the Dale Chihuly exhibition which featured not only works by the artist, but in a separate exhibition, 9 of his students. The most spectacular portions of the Chihuly exhibition were the oversized installations featuring blown glass images "growing" out of the floor -- in on case looking like giant kelp in an ocean setting.

Cade made sure that we didn't miss the Beth Lipman installation: After You're Gone. Beth also works in glass. The centerpiece of the installation is a large dining table, jammed with clear glass objects which evoke the scene of a baroque still life painting with a variety of food and serving pieces. The installation is at the same time whimsical (which snails crawling up the side of the table) and morose (with dead animals and broken goblets). The walls of the room included glass "wallpaper" -- inspired by wallpaper in one of the historic rooms elsewhere in the museum. Cade explained that Beth also photographs her work and we are looking forward to seeing some of the limited edition photographs.

Overall, the RISD Museum was quite impressive and we know we'll be back to further explore the strong permanent collections (and hopefully make our way into the print room)!

Collect(ive/ions)

As we are gearing up for Art Basel Miami, I started to think about our collective buying patterns and how much overlap there is in our collections. Although none of us have the same image of an editioned print or photograph (except for benefit prints), we often buy work by the same artists, sometimes even part of the same series. It actually gives some depth to our personal collections, and the collective collection would probably make an interesting show- as much about the art as the social connections. Here is a list of artists that are in the collections of more than one of us (again, benefit prints aren't represented here). (If I left any out, please add them in the comments.)
Christiane Baumgartner
Erik Desmazieres
Lalla Essaydi
Claes Oldenburg
Julian Opie
Judy Pfaff
Stephen Sheffield
Doug and Mike Starn
Kate Sullivan
Kara Walker

InsideOut at the SMFA

Today is the official opening of the annual art sale at the SMFA, now called "InsideOut." The sale includes works by current students, faculty, alumni, and "affiliated artists" (like Kiki Smith, who was given the Medal Award by the SMFA). Some of us were able to preview the sale a couple times over the past week. Highlights in the sale include photographs by Esteban Pastorino Diaz (priced around $3800). The scenes in these large photographs look like they were made out of toy models, but they are of actual places taken by a camera flying on a kite. At least one of these photos sold during previews and there is a rumor that the MFA might have acquired one. Other things that I noticed missing (i.e., sold) at my second preview were a punched paper piece by Rachel Perry Welty and a painting of elephants by Meryl Blinder, both Boston-based artists. Lalla Essaydi photographs, a fixture at the sale, were $18,000 this year- and selling. In terms of prints, there were some interesting works by Mary Heilmann (who we were advised to buy last year, when her prices were cheaper and before her current show at the New Museum in NYC) and Chagoya, who some of us "discovered" at the Editions Fair in NYC this year. The image shown here is from SMFA advertisements for the sale and is done by recent SMFA grad, Nicole Kita (represented by Rotenberg Gallery in Boston).

You Know You Love Me

Several of us are serious Gossip Girl fans. On tonight's episode of Gossip Girl (11/17), I noticed a Marilyn Minter painting (a close up of an eye with glittery make up) hanging on Serena's bedroom wall. At first I thought it might have been the painting that sold at Sotheby's Day Sale on 11/12 for $122,500- but that painting was of a closed eye. After doing some research, I think it is the same image as the Marilyn Minter limited edition beach towel by Works on Whatever from 2006- which sold out. It also turns out that the Art Production Fund, which is responsible for the towels, has been curating the art on the Gossip Girl set this season! Some of the towels from 2007 are still available, but the new 2008 towels have been released. This year, there are limited editions by Ruscha, Kilimnik, Pettibon, and Schnabel for $50 each at Target (http://www.target.com/gp/search/187-3817741-8900650?field-keywords=artist+beach+towels&url=index%3Dtarget&ref=sr_bx_1_1). Compared to works on paper by these artists, the towels are not only much, much cheaper- they are also much, much bigger and are machine washable. XOXO.

Suara Welitoff

One of the great advantages to collecting the works of living artists is that sometimes, if you're lucky, you can spend some one-on-one personal time with them. It's a terrific opporunity and way to watch the growth of the artists, firsthand. This past weekend, the Boston Print Collectors and friends, were able to enjoy a Friday night cocktail reception with Suara Welitoff in attendance. Suara creates stills from video for prints as well as digital videos, this last form of art was unveiled at the home of private collectors. Suara was gracious is talking about her work and seemed to enjoy spending time with young collectors. She is currently represented by the Barbara Krakow Gallery on Newbury Street.

Platemark Design in the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine

Our own Platemark Design was featured in the Sunday Globe Magazine here. Good tips for designing around your art collection.

Printmaking techniques

For anyone interested in collecting prints, as I am, taking an introductory class to printmaking materials and methods, as offered by Liz Shepherd, artist and teacher at the SMFA and Mass College of Art, is a fun and interesting way to enhance your passion for them.

For a ½ day, a small group of people were able to participate in making prints from woodcuts, linoleum blocks, copper plates, silkscreen and lithography. We learned that most prints fall into one of five categories: relief, intaglio, planographic, stencil and digital. Attempting on one’s own to be the next Rembrandt gives a lot of meaning to how hard it really is to do his work….it’s a lengthy process to prepare the metal plate and a challenge to sufficiently and artistically engrave the plate. I have much greater appreciation for his work now as a result.

The class is offered in the Cambridge studio of Liz Shepherd, and small, private classes may be scheduled among friends. Definately recommend it!

www.lizshepherd.com