Native American Ruins in Road Canyon on Cedar Mesa, Utah

The Citadel is out this finger in Road Cyn

Matt and I spent another weekend exploring Cedar Mesa before winter sets in. We spent the night on the rim of Road Canyon, and then hiked out to The Citadel under a royal blue sky and perfect temps. The Citadel is perfectly situated at the end of this skinny ridge in a defensive position. Residents could see 360° from their location, and would have known if any visitors were approaching.

The Citadel, exterior view

According to scholars Jonathan Till and Winston Hurst, the Anasazi (ancestral Pueblo) lived in the canyons around Cedar Mesa in southeast Utah for over 2,000 years. They finally left for good around 1200 A.D. Today, visitors can still find cliff dwellings, artifacts, rock drawings, and granaries left by the people of the past. We left everything exactly as we found it (and kept our dog away from the ruins) to protect these amazing resources for future visitors.

The Citadel, interior view 

(I didn’t go inside, just stuck my arm inside the door with my camera.)

Mojo taking a drink from a slick rock puddle.

Students Draw “Art on the Corner”

 

Recently, I was invited to join the Downtown Grand Junction Art on the Corner Committee. Art on the Corner is a local public art program that supports the work of sculptors with exhibits along Main Street and at other public landmarks (like the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens). As a committee member, I will be helping to develop and promote public art exhibits and cultural events in the city.

 

After being asked to be on the committee, my first thought was to introduce my beginning drawing class to the Art on the Corner program. I asked the students to visit downtown Grand Junction and practice their skills by drawing the sculptures on display. Here are a few examples of the their work... Not bad, if I do say so myself!

Colorful Installations by Megan Geckler

Spread the ashes of the colors, Wexner Center for the Arts, 2010

I came across Megan Geckler’s work the other day on Facebook (we must have mutual friends)... and was stunned by its simplicity and graphic beauty.

 Spread the ashes of the colors, Wexner Center for the Arts, 2010

She creates site-specific installations using translucent surveyor’s tape in various colors. The repetition of linear form within room(s) creates smaller spaces of many shapes within larger architectural spaces. The translucency of the tape and the empty spaces between strands of the tape control our ability to see from one space into the next — sometimes spaces are more open, other times they're more closed off. I love this play between openness and secrecy, and the super-saturated color is both enticing and sickening (like eating too much candy).

 Spread the ashes of the colors, Wexner Center for the Arts, 2010

Her work is on view now through February 2011 at Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. She also has a piece on display at the Pasadena Museum of California Art through October 31, 2010. I wish I could be there to see these pieces in person!

New Work: Little Ink Paintings

 

Untitled. 6x4 inches. Ink on paper. 2010.

I’ve been sketching with some new inks that arrived this week. Check out these quick little paintings. I’ve got some bigger paintings in progress so check back often to see my newest work.

 

Untitled. 6x4 inches. Ink on paper. 2010.

 

Untitled. 6x4 inches. Ink on paper. 2010.

Alphabet Design (In Progress)

 

Alphabet (unfinished)

Last year I designed a custom logotype for FIDM’s acronym (see below) on a poster project. Now, I’m about to start a new FIDM college viewbook design. So, I’ve been thinking about using the forms I created last year as a starting point for a whole new display typeface that I can use throughout the new student viewbook.

 

Last summer’s FIDM Poster

This alphabet is still in progress, but I think you can get a sense of where I’m going with it. One of the perameters I set for myself is that this typeface will be a monoline, which presents some special challenges in the design. I’m trying to come up with solutions for the quirky counter spaces and bowls in the “e” and “s”. I’m not too excited about raising the x-height, and the only other option I can see offhand is to decrease the weight overall.

 

lower-case word test

And then I suppose eventually there should be numerals and punctuation. Check back soon to see how it turns out...

Watching Paint Dry

Wet Ink (detail)

I’ve been working on a new painting today... I love the the process of this technique (although it is a test in patience!). Watching the ink dry is actually an amazing metamorphosis. Someday I would like to videotape the process, and play it back in ultra slow motion HD (a la Bill Viola). When I apply the ink, the colors bleed into each other. It shifts and moves as it dries over time. 

This piece took about an hour to dry completely... Both images are details from the same painting. The first photo was taken when the ink was initially applied, the second was taken about 40 minutes later.

 

Dry Ink (detail)

By the time the ink dries, it looks totally different than when I first applied it. I can’t precisely control the way the colors combine. I can influence how the ink runs across the page, but the end product is largely determined by chance. I have a few additional layers to add to this piece before it’s finished. Stay tuned...!

Cy Twombly: Favorite Famous Artists / Part 2

Untitled VII from Bacchus Series

I found out about Cy Twombly when I was a high school student at University of North Carolina School of the Arts. My drawing teacher, Clyde Fowler, liked Abstract Expressionism as a way to teach us about a variety of mark-making techniques.

 

Lepanto

It was Cy Twombly’s work that first showed me that drawing and painting doesn’t always have to be a perfect, representational rendering of a person or object. Drawing could be abstract, emotional, and alive!

Wilder Show of Love

And, of course, as an artist and graphic designer, I’ve always been fascinated by the use of language (or hints at language and writing) in visual creative expression. I have never understood those people who argue that fine art (painting, sculpture, etc.) shouldn’t need words. . . I don’t think they are always necessary, but sometimes a few choice words can push a piece quite to the edge of meaning, other times can make a work more concise and pointed (see my post on Barbara Kruger).

Untitled

Autumn in the San Juan Mountains

West Fork, Delores River, San Juan National Forest
Photo by Matt McGrath

Matt and I decided to make one last trip to the San Juan Mountains south of Telluride, Colorado before the cold weather sets in for winter. We had a great weekend camping camping and hiking in the San Juan National Forest.

Colorado Hwy 145 from the Calico National Recreation Trail

On Saturday, we day-hiked Priest Gulch cutoff of the Calico National Recreation Trail. The weather was perfect, and we were lucky enough to catch the tail end of the fall color. After the hike, we drove along the West Fork of the Delores River towards Dunton, Colorado.

Aspen Trees Changing Color on the Road to Dunton, Colorado
Photo by Matt McGrath

On Sunday, we hiked up to Lake Hope in the Uncompahgre National Forest. The views of Trout Lake from above were incredible. 

The View Down-valley to Trout Lake from the Lake Hope Trail.

View from the Lake Hope Trail.