Considering Klee

Self Portrait by Paul Klee, 1911 (Source Image) 

  I'm preparing to teach a second session of my class Experimenting with Watercolor and Pastel  and my study of Paul Klee (1879-1940) this summer has been surprisingly instructive. Unlike many of my peers, I was not smitten with Klee in my younger life. My husband, however, treasured his poster of Sinbad the Sailor by Klee. Mary-Louise just happened to have a charming out-of-print book with lovely reproductions of Klee's work throughout his life. My friend, Meg, an art librarian and expert, is a big fan of Klee.  She made a special trip to see the major exhibit of his work in Cleveland back in the 90s.  Meg supplied me with the catalog of that exhibit and two more books filled with Klee imagery (I am working on a project, which I will write about later). A new book came into the University of Kentucky Little Fine Arts Library, and Meg brought it to me to investigate.  Paul Klee: Life and Work by Boris Friedewald reads like 1001 Arabian Nights (which Klee is actually influenced by). It was hard to stop reading and go to sleep.  From the beginning Klee is a determined person. As a teenager, he paints the bricks outside his house with colorful and varied images.  When Klee goes off to the Academy in Munich, his father takes out a second mortgage to pay for the schooling. This would put a lot of pressure on someone like myself to succeed and get on with my studies, but Klee is not particularly taken with his instructors and heeds his own direction. He considers himself a "self-apprentice."

      In 1906, after a long engagement, Klee marries Lily Stumpf, a noted Munich pianist. The next year, their only child, Felix is born. This is where it gets interesting for me.  Klee becomes a Stay-at-Home Dad and tends to the rearing of Felix and all the cooking (this, in the first decade of the twentieth century!) while Lily teaches piano students for ten hours a day.  Klee does not stop his artistic education, he continues it through the daily activities of parenting and domesticity. Klee would take Felix on walks through the city in search of motifs; and the views outside his windows were a rich influence. This "hermitage" allows Klee to establish his own path, and yet, living in Munich, he has access to the work of all the great artists of the time (and this was a revolutionary time in art).  For example, as Klee struggles with color, he finds the work of Robert Delaunay provides a way to step into color in his art. All through his life, Klee finds inspiration in other artists' work, while keeping true to his own vision. 

      From his self-apprenticeship through his hermitage, Klee develops to such a degree that he is invited to be a Bauhaus Master.  The Bauhaus was pioneered by Walter Gropius and there was much discussion on the approach that the institution should take. Gropius wanted to link artistic pursuit with the artisinal more so than the academic. Klee had long wanted to teach and now had his opportunity to develop his own ideas of pedagogy.

      It is this confidence in his own vision and that draws me to Klee. He held fast to his ideas in obscurity and in fame and even in infamy. After he had achieved much acclaim internationally, he was faced with a society under the influence of the National Socialists. His work was considered degenerate. Still, Klee stood firmly, speaking his truth and continuing to create work following his vision.  In fact, in his last, very stressful years, Klee was more prolific than ever. 

      This is just a pinky-nail sketch of Klee, but he gives me a great illustration for expressing my goals in teaching students at the Lexington Art Academy.  To me, it is a given that my students will bring decades of seeing the world with them to class.  They know what they want to see, what their preferences are. It is good to think for one's self!  My goal is to help students train their eyes and their hands to create what they want to create.  Klee was able to do this in his tiny Munich apartment and we can, too.

     A new session of Experimenting with Watercolor and Pastel will start on Thursday, September 1, 2011, 7-9 pm at the Lexington Art Academy (despite what the website might currently list for the dates).  I hope you can join us.  We will work together on training our eyes and hands!

Introducing Four Leaf Studio

This has been a summer of facing realities.  There seems to be a collective understanding of limits. This is mostly positive. In my case, it involves the handing over of the expansion torch to the next generation. I'm ready for consolidation and letting go of the superfluous. The confluence of realizing that I would not ever be spending more than a couple of days a week at Clover Slope and Jacob becoming engaged created the opportunity for me to re purpose Jacob's room into a studio.  So after an editing job on Jacob's remaining possessions and painting the walls a neutral gray, David and I moved studio furniture and materials.  Amazingly, we were able to do this without a truck and with just the two of us!
     I will still have a small studio space at Clover Slope and more importantly, I will keep a place that is my major source of inspiration.   And, I'll be able to work every day of the week and at all hours! 

An New View along the Artist Trace



Professor Dongfeng Li paints Ken Macht

 Several days this week, I've headed over to Banana Tree Studios in Flemingsburg, KY to learn something new. En route, I had the benefit of the marvelous scenery, driving through the beautiful Licking River valley and into Flemingsburg with the Appalachian foothills in the distance.  I was accompanied by the excellent Morehead State Public Radio, and the timing was such that I heard The Front Page program coming and going. So, if I don't know how to Turbo Charge my metabolism, it is my fault alone!

But these were all side benefits.  The main purpose of the commute was to learn something new about watercolors and portrait painting from Dongfeng Li.  Kathy Macht, who along with husband Ken, created Banana Tree Studios, took a drawing class with professor Li at Morehead State University. When I saw Kathy in the spring, she was glowing with enthusiasm for what she is learning. I was anxious to take on a little glow for myself and I always enjoy seeing how others approach their art. We were not a large group of students, but a very lucky one. There were more than a few gasps as Li would hurl paint on the paper with abandon, and often a great deal of green! Ken's ear was formed with a single quick swipe of paint. It always seemed as though the paint was way too dark and that this time Li had gone too far. But amazingly, the paint would dry and the image would come together as if by magic.  There were several points that were particularly helpful for me.  One was the concept of Lost and Found areas, sharp edges and soft edges. Another was to remember the roundness of the head.  I have a tendency to paint under the influence of my fashion illustration training; which seems rather flat in comparison. And, it was clear from Li's approach, that he had the whole picture in mind all the time.  He knew that there would be many layers and how the paint would dry, and that a dark color would be joined by many intermediary colors ("Keep changing your color!") Another thing that struck me about Li's work was that he seemed to be brutally honest while painting.  You almost worried that his subject would be offended.  And yet, when the piece was completed, you were astounded by the beauty; grateful, that someone could see such beauty in other people.

     


My French model

So, once again, I have enjoyed the riches along the Artist Trace.  Thanks to Kathy Macht for coming up with the idea and sharing her inspiring space with us. Professor Li has a contagious enthusiasm, which makes you want to celebrate everyone.  I was painting from a photograph I had taken in France, of a tour guide and I praised the beautiful French women who have a certain, je ne sais quoi. Li, said that he prefers the American women, because they are full of variety, from many places; not so pure. What a breath of fresh air! And that is what we find along the Artist Trace.

Ode d'Eau



Spiral Sky, Lake Carnico at Sunset



Brad was elaborating on lake themed props for the Art of Carnico show--lures, nets, a kayak or two, and perhaps a merhorse--causing me to think back on waters I have known and why I love being close to water. When I was a child, my grandparents had a resort by Big Star Lake in Michigan. Every summer for a couple of weeks, we enjoyed a water-immersed vacation, skiing, pedaling on the aqua bike and swimming across the lake to the Odd Fellows camp (a mile swim!) The boys did a lot of fishing and naturally, we were brown as bears by the end of our stay. We stayed in rustic cottages. Showers were located in the resort's garage and I learned to love the smell of petrol (there was a gas-pump, supplying fuel for all the motor boats.)  When I was in high school, my grandmother could no longer take the winters in Michigan so my grandparents moved to Florida.  My parents divorce also brought family vacations to an end.



Mary in Maine



      As it happened, my mother married a man who grew up in Maine on a bay one over from Frenchman's Bay and Bar Harbor. After my step-father's retirement, they moved up to Maine. Thus began summer vacations (much abbreviated) by the ocean in Down East Maine. The water was icy-cold, so most of the enjoyment was found on or by the water. At the end of Roger's Point, there was a little high tide island with a house on it, which was a favorite low tide destination. The best  time of day in Maine was early in the morning, sitting on the porch sipping coffee and listening to and watching the lobster men pull their traps. It was not unlike slow-motion bees making the rounds. It was a comforting and delightful coincidence when I discovered early one morning on the deck at Carnico with a cup of java, that tractors and farm trucks have a similar sound and cadence. Lake Carnico provides all the joys of water that I care to carry into my senior years. The water is of mild temperature compared to coastal Maine and tamer for trips out in the Poke boat. The vista is more compact to be sure, but there is an unexpected diversity of birds and mammals. I particularly liked when the lost juvenile brown pelican visited for about a month. 

    Brad is right. Lake Carnico is a treasure, a surprising treasure found right along US 68. The Art of Carnico show will be held Saturday, August 20, 2011, from 10 am to 5 pm at The Corner Studio, 240 East Main Street, in beautiful downtown Carlisle.  Come for a visit and enjoy a little summer vacation while you're at it!



Seeing Four Leaf Clover

If last year was my juste milieu year, and it was; then this must be my clover year. I'll be writing more about this another time, but even I am a little surprised at the number of four leaf (and sometimes, five and a six leaf) clover I have spotted this year.  The truth is that everyone can be spotting such clover.  It is a banner year for clover--and the honeybees seem to be everywhere--a happy sign.  How curious though, that sometimes I will spot multiple extra-leafed clover and then go for days or weeks without seeing them.  Once, I seem to spot them, there they are, so obvious. 

The first time I spotted a four leaf clover, I spotted two. I remember the day, it was April 9th, but I can't remember the year.  It was several years before I spotted another one.  That one was April 22, 2010.  David was in the hospital.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with worrying about him, keeping the kids updated and walking the dog.  I was briefly home from the hospital, walking the dog and talking to my sister on my cell phone when I looked down and saw a very obvious four leaf clover.  True, I took this as a sign, even though as Father Paul pointed out recently, this is a magical view of things. But I was in need of a good sign and there is was, plain as can be. This tided me along for a good while. I did not see another four leaf clover until this April 20th.  We had just learned that Mary would be going to Brittany to be a teacher's assistant.  It was wonderful news, and a year from the day that David went to the hospital.  I took Carly for a walk and voila! another four leaf clover.  Then I just kept finding them. 

       Father Paul is right, it is not magic.  It is probably just being willing to see (and spend a lot of time staring at the ground--also bending over. Meg noted recently, as we searched for the elusive four leaf, that we probably appeared to have lost a contact lens.)  Being willing to see  is also good for one's self.  The more clearly I see myself, the better my life seems to work.  Instead of constantly trying to fit into a mold, I am starting to just be who I am, no more, no less.  My little green totems appear to be affirmation, magic or no.

Vantage Points

The backdrop for my week was grid-locked Washington, D.C., so my experiences in the last few days have been liberating.  Wednesday evening was the last of four Experimenting with Watercolor & Pastel classes (a new session starts August 10th.) I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching these classes and seeing vicariously through other peoples' lenses on life.  One student approached me early on and said that she is visually impaired; she would need to be close to me, so she could see what I was demonstrating. As it turned out, she painted the most elegant renderings of birds.  Her watercolor work was exquisite!  Clearly, 20/20 vision is not nearly so important as an inner comprehension. Love trumps perfection.

The next evening found David and me at Mary-Louise and Woody's for a vestry meeting (David) and 10th wedding anniversary for Mother Chris and Father Paul.  Mary-Louise had her studio open and the non-vestry hangers-on were free to range, just like the chickens. Oil paintings filled the narrow platforms, custom-crafted by Woody.  Tucked among the oil paintings were lovely watercolor and Sharpie sketches. Their economy was striking. With just a few washes and lines, you could go along the path and have an overview of the whole village. These beautiful visions come naturally to Mary-Louise--I have to admit to a certain jealousy!



        On Friday, we enjoyed a fete-champetre in Estill's garden.  There was a thrilling discussion of art (Estill is an art historian, as is Mother Chris.) I learned about Magic Realism and George Tooker.  Mother Chris and Father Paul knew George Tooker. There was also a spirited discussion about life. Estill told us that he has resolved to speak out against binary thinking. Now there is some balm for the world! The lovely banter continued as the sun began its descent. I remarked on the setting sun and Estill proclaimed, "That is the nineteenth century!" How appropriate that he is able to witness this every evening he is home.

         On Saturday, David and I went to the Evensong at St. Michael's in Lexington. Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire was speaking after the evensong.  St. Michael's has an airy and open sanctuary.  The windows are clear, and I was able to see tree tops and clouds. The sun shined on our gathering; some people even had to put on sunglasses.  It was bright! This sense of light and openness reflected my feeling. I was part of a living faith, here and now. Perhaps everyone is different.  We can not help but have different vantage points. But we can come together and enjoy view.









The nineteenth century



Good Woods

If I had my wits about me, I would have called this show Good Woods, but it came to me too late.  Showing my paintings at Good Foods Market & Cafe does bring several of my loves together.  Of course, there is good food.  What's not to love about that?  I've been a member of the Co-op for over 30 years. Back in the day, I lived in downtown Lexington and the co-op was on Short Street, a short walk from my apartment.  Everything was in bulk bins. My typical purchase was beans, brown rice and nutritional yeast.  So, some things have changed. Twenty years ago, I posted recipes in the co-op newsletter.  My family did not have a computer then, so I would go to the co-op and type up the recipes on the co-op computer.  What a joy it is to have a computer of one's own! I have evolved and so has the co-op.

         Still, a love for walking in the woods is a constant.  This is something I have enjoyed since childhood, back even longer than thirty years.  As David helped me hang the show (on the wall in the Cafe side of Good Foods) people would come up to talk about the images in the paintings.  Most are set in Kentucky; at Floracliff, Blue Licks and Carnico.  I was surprised how many people have connections to these places.  Dr. Wayne Davis and his wife and daughter were at Good Foods. Dr. Davis worked with Dr. Mary Wharton who established Floracliff in southern Fayette County.  The Davis's have also placed bluebird houses at Blue Licks. They planned on heading out that way soon to check on them (and enjoy the beauty.) Karen spoke of hiking at Blue Licks when her sons' ages were single digits.  Blue Licks is one of my favorite places and it was good to know that it is loved by others.

         I am celebrating these loves in my paintings. Six of the paintings are tall and narrow, 48x16". The center painting (of  Floracliff) is 48x36".  The seven paintings fill the wall; the exhibiting space is approximately four by eighteen feet.  The tall, narrow paintings present a slice of a vision I have come upon in the woods.  Good Foods Market & Cafe is located at 455 Southland Drive in Lexington, KY.  The hours are 8 am to 10 pm everyday.  I hope you get a chance to step into the cool woods this summer. Into the Woods (as it is called) is up through August. Good Foods is simply the best place to shop for healthy, delicious and local food!