Wandering Artist's Journal

A few days ago, a friend and I were driving around Verdi, just to see what was there and we stumbled upon a couple of wonderful artist studios. I plan to follow the artists’ work and hope to see them again. Here's why: Edward (Ned) Peterson, www.espartcreations.com Ned has a drool-worthy studio full of painted metal lamps, ink and airbrush works on paper, neon wall art, and framing stuff (he does professional framing on for himself and others. Check out that repurposed  missile - tree house lamp! It's a collaboration with Kai Presher - see below.) Ned has a flat file full of ink drawings, with watercolor, giclee, or airbrush coloring. Ned's neon paintings are meticulously painted (even the edges) on canvas, then mounted in hand-crafted cabinets, holding neon lights. The pieces look different in day-time or nighttime, but great all the time.   Ned shares his studio space with his friend Kai: Kai Prescher, kaiprescher.org Kai makes shadow casters...

Sierra Arts Foundation gallery Executive Director, Annie Zucker,  in front of a collage wall at the Joe C Rocks show. A small group of local artists and collectors toured South of the river in Reno this past Friday ( Lincoln's 207th Birthday ,) checking out the new "Basement" at 50 South Virginia Street (the old Post Office) and ending at the 1864 Tavern. In between we saw two great art exhibits. Across from the old post office, at the Sierra Arts Foundation Gallery, is a new installation by Joe C Rocks , who incidentally painted a fantastic Lincoln Highway  mural about a mile away at E 4th Street & Spokane Street: Lincoln Highway  mural at E 4th Street & Spokane Streetin Reno, NV The exhibit at the Sierra Arts Foundation Gallery,  Joe C Rocks,  "The Streets iz Watching,"  is the coolest installation by a painter that I have ever seen. It's a total mash-up of white-walls gallery and immersive stree...

(Above: Matt Rockwell, at the Reno  Generator, using the laser cutter to make a wooden prayer wheel for his show at the Hub Cafe, 727 Riverside, Reno) Friday February 5th at 6pm Nevada Fine Arts ( 1301 S. Virginia, Reno, NV) will be hosting a slideshow by Matt Rockwell on his time in Nepal and his experience during and after the huge earthquake. David and I plan to attend - join us there! From the Nevada Fine Arts FaceBook page:  His amazing images and story about his experience of surviving the earthquake and his inspiring call to action will make for and evening not to be missed.  The slideshow is free of charge although we will be encouraging people to help Matt as they can in his effort.  He is looking for donations of several types to help.  We also are asking you to pass this on to anyone you think might be interested.     About Matt: "Matt Rockwell is the Founder of the Global Art Collective, a non-profit organizatio...

"Peace" by Beniamino Bufano  The arte italia is located in a beautiful building designed by Frederic DeLongchamps in 1914 and located at 442 Flint Street, Reno, NV. The art galleries are located on the second floor. The main level is used for culinary arts. Food + visual art = my kind of place (love the Italians.) I’ve been wanting to visit  arte italia  since I moved here, but the final push came when I heard they were hosting a show of work by Benny Bufano . His sculptures are familiar to everyone in San Francisco . Most of us in the arts community have heard stories about Bufano’s years in San Francisco and some of the people who knew him still live there.  This small exhibit contains preparatory drawings, pastels, small sculptures, mosaics, and photo documentation of his larger sculptures. It’s a fine introduction to Beniamino Bufano, the man and the artist. His pacifist politics and his devotion to Saint Francis of Assisi are apparent in the work ...

Four recent paintings in my "Unreliable Memory" series. Reno has been good to me. It's only been a couple of months since we got here and I'm working at a great pace (six paintings so far - here are four of them.) Finally, a healthy place to live and a nice studio to work in. As I mentioned last year , I'm shifting to a new kind of work. These images are based on archival family photos (8mm film stills and 120 photo film) by my grandparents, possibly the world's worst photographers. Instead of the meticulous gridded transfer of a staged narrative, I'm doing an expressionistic, straight-to-canvas, visual description of childhood emotional memories. It's been fun and its been cathartic. Who knows how long it'll last, but I have a mountain of source material. Simultaneously, I'm working on digital (iPhone) drawings, paintings and hard-to-describe pieces: one or two per day, uploaded to Instagram and/or Facebook with tangible output to met...

Yep, I live in Reno. Who’da thunk it? I still get wistful about Los Angeles (especially the art museums) but I don’t miss San Francisco. People, yeah - I have friends scattered all over the planet and I miss them and I always have. I can’t be everywhere at once so  I’m always missing somebody. The solution, to paraphrase the old Stephen Stills song, is to friend the one you’re with. And boy, did I luck out with my gamble on Reno. Not only does one of my oldest best friends live here, but my new friends in the neighborhood are the best kind: warm, generous, sociable, and artistic! A real bonus here is my new studio. It’s large, private, has lots of natural light, plenty of storage, and a potential gallery space on site. I’ve already got a running start on a new painting series I’m calling “Unreliable Memories,” mostly based on vintage (personal) film stills.  Reno has a vibrant art scene and I plan to jump into it this year. Besides the studio painting, I’ve al...

Today I had one of those electrifying experiences that happens when you encounter great art. All the better - it was completely unexpected. Dave & I were walking back to our hotel after a day out wandering around downtown when we walked past the Pico House. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pico_House The gallery was open, so we dropped in. I walked straight over to the walls and started looking at the black & white photography, not knowing anything about the who/what/when/where. I was immediately sucked into another time & place and began feeling very emotional. Almost nostalgic, with a crazy kind of longing for people & places I've never been. Sixty photos later, I popped back to the present and read about the photographer, William "Red Dog" Tynan, who shot these images on an epic 2,500 mile hike from Los Angeles to Mexico City with his friend Bill Bates. http://tolucantimes.info/inside-this-issue/why-would-you-walk-from-los-angeles-to-mexico-c...