CatRutgers4Art

Guest Spot: Carolyn Rutgers Clark

Posted on November 13, 2011 by CatRutgers4Art

Carolyn Rutgers Clark brings nature to art in watercolor, drawing, and fabric collage. We don’t often get to see such birds and butterflies, such mammals prickly and smooth, in the course of a typical day.

This artist, however, knows the critters who share our planet from experience – as a teacher and environmental educator, in her work with nature centers and museums, as a preschool director who can walk through the forest at night and navigate a kayak through the shoals of a barrier island.

Once a year, she sends out a very special holiday card, each one reflecting love, awareness, and hope for a more joyous and peaceful world. Here’s the good word from Ms. Clark:

“These pictures are from a series of Christmas cards that I have been making for the past twenty-five years. They have become a special part of my celebration, and I wait each year for inspiration to get them completed in time.

“I usually make about eighty of them, and while the main drawing is photocopied, each card is embellished … a touch of watercolor, fabric, a ribbon or feather. The inside message always reflects the sentiment of the picture in some way, and sometimes I have dedicated a card to special people in my life.

“It’s amazing how personal they have become and how many friends and family have kept every one they have received! Now, I really need to get started on this year’s card.”

In the meanwhile, I am very happy to introduce Ms. Clark’s whimsical, elegant, astonishing creatures to Guest Spot. In order of their appearance: Hairstreak Butterfly, European Hedgehog, American Avocet, Saw-Whet Owl, Dragonfly, Chickadee, White-Tailed Deer, Yellow-Throated Flicker, and the Egret (at sunrise).

Posted in Guest Spot! | Tagged art inspired by nature, birds, butterflies, Carolyn Rutgers Clark, drawing, hedgehog, watercolors, wildlife | 2 Comments

24 Ecstatic Minutes: The Clear as Mud Session

Posted on November 5, 2011 by CatRutgers4Art

Ah, the rush of trying something new and it works. Works well! I’ve just downloaded my first set of photos in six months from the trusty Canon PowerShot, which is no less ingenious than its lucky owner, though much more reliable in certain aspects.

How I let this lacuna happen I do not know. As the darling buds of May were just emerging, the camera batteries ran out. The batteries I had on hand did not work. The Canon kept saying “Replace the batteries.” This caused both dismay and distress. I was afraid it might be broken.

The past six months have been gorgeous, the sky in crazy sweeps of changing light. Near-extreme weather: an earthquake, hurricane warning, mega heat in June, mega rain in July and August, snow in quite early October. Gardens flourishing, bubbling toward tropical, sunflowers and zinnias, the ferns overflowing their original boundaries, the roses still sweet in November. And I didn’t photograph a single thing.

I went to the local camera shop today. Asked for good batteries. The helpful store owner opened a fresh package, popped them in the camera … and I was ready to snap the pix for the Clear as Mud thesis post.

The first image in this series is a violet on the lawn, Monday, May 2, 2011 at 7:27 a.m., and that was the last photo taken until November 4. Click, click, click from 3:21 to 3:45 p.m. This is the first time I have set out to take pictures just for a post. I love it! It was sparkly and windy out there. To keep my hair away from the viewfinder I had to wrap it around one hand and hold the camera with the other. Awkward. Repeatedly. Then came one of those imaginative leaps we love so well. What if I let my hair fall into view? Answers appear in this lineup.

Posted in Snapped | Tagged autobiography, bliss, favorite photos, gardening, light, urban sky, violets | 1 Comment

The Origins of ‘Origins’ and Then Some

Posted on October 30, 2011 by CatRutgers4Art

“In Origins,” I wrote, days after the artwork was done, “a plastic pomegranate is a playful indication of Persephone’s meal that set the course of the seasons; circular layers echo the earth and the face of a clock.”

And that’s not inaccurate, but I wasn’t thinking anything about Persephone when creating the image. Time was on my mind, because it was part of a series for the ArcheTime exhibition in 2009. As not unusual, my first thoughts ran to CD versus LP and I began with scanning a particularly rainbow-esque bit of plastic (which, however, didn’t become part of the finished image).

Next in line was a sculpture from 2001. The slides weren’t so good, so I re-photographed it and was happy with the results. There were many digressions along the way, just as there have been while creating this post. The first six images are from the original process for Origins of Time; the next five from the evening of October 29, 2011.

P.S. Seeing the image in Infinite Instances: Studies and Images of Time was one of the best surprises ever. Curated and designed by Olga Ast, and edited by Buzz Poole and Eli Stockwell, “Origins” is the first full-page spread in this marvelous book.

The images in this post are original artwork by Catherine Rutgers © 2011.
As of February 2020, Infinite Instances is available online.

Posted in Revelations | Tagged ArcheTime, Infinite Instances, mixed media, pomegranates, vinyl LP | 2 Comments

Guest Spot: Ellena Rutsch

Posted on August 15, 2011 by CatRutgers4Art

The art of Ellena Rutsch is an electrifying journey into the world of paint. Lustrous, gritty, glistening painting that echoes nature and rides into the realm of imagination.

Here’s the good word from the artist: “My artwork has been described as ‘big, bold, and warm,’ and I rather like this description. Of course, to me they are not just paintings. I want my compositions to be true, vivid, and spontaneous, a reflection of myself. No compromise! My aim is not to please but to cause emotions. I’d rather have somebody hate my work than merely like it …

“Le Millénaire 2” by Ellena Rutsch: 39.4 x 59.1 inches, acrylic and oil, 2009

“Passion is definitely the leitmotiv! My paintings are almost like poetry to me, and they are closely linked to music, too. One could probably not exist without the other. Freedom is Mine (shown at left) spontaneously comes to my mind. I deliberately chose the climax of Nina Simone’s refrain instead of the title, ‘Feeling Good,’ because it totally reflects how I felt the evening I created this canvas. That day I made a hell of a decision and changed my life for good!

“What’s fascinating to me about this painting is that half of the viewers ‘saw’ what I saw when I painted it – an eruption of the Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala – but the other half saw some kind of Egyptian goddess rising from the ashes. It’s this type of reaction that I like so much.

“Other paintings, such as Crosstown Traffic Dripping Experience, carry the full name of a song. I love Jimi Hendrix and was listening to ‘The Ultimate Experience’ when working on this canvas, exploring Jackson Pollock’s dripping method for the first time. Although I have worked with ‘realism,’ I have found that abstract is the only form that gives enough freedom to imagination, interpretation, and rêverie – for both me and the viewer.

“I feel close to Zao Wou-Ki, a French painter of Chinese origin, and agree completely with his vision that ‘Ce qui est abstrait pour vous est réel pour moi’ (what is abstract to you is real for me). Just like him, I am of different origin. Born in Australia some forty years ago, I grew up in various countries in Europe, including Germany, Belgium, and France (and they are very different from each other). Although I ‘blend in’ as much as I can, I am also trying to hold on to my roots and to mix them with new influences.

“Occasionally, I work on commission, which I find extremely challenging. Recently, I was requested to create a painting something like Le Millénaire 2 – in shades of blue, green, and purple. Blue Moves (above right) was my second attempt, and Cosmic Girl (at left) was my fifth and final version. Orchidées sauvages is a by-product of this series (the second image, below, is a detail). In a way, it was born out of frustration. But it has turned out to be one of my strongest paintings.

“Last but not least, I have recently come to terms with the fact that I am no new Basquiat. But mixing acrylic with oil is what suits me the most! Only time will tell … stay tuned.”

And there’s much to be attuned to. Ms. Rutsch lives in Montpellier, France, where her work is included in multiple shows that began in June and run through September. The range and depth of her art are astonishing, but Guest Spot can offer a taste from the banquet. Forthwith, here are close-up views of Blue Moves, Orchidées sauvages, Cosmic Girl, and Champs de coquelicots!

Posted in Guest Spot! | Tagged Ellena Rutsch, Jimi Hendrix, painting | Leave a comment

“Wake Up in the Morning Feeling Like P Diddy”

Posted on July 21, 2011 by CatRutgers4Art

I love “Tik Tok” and I loved reading that Ke$ha based her style on Keith Richards. Long live rock. Long live pop (pulp) culture.

Nearly everything in music is based on something else, isn’t it? Jazz, show tunes, cantatas: they all appropriated something from somewhere. And the genius part is when nobody gets uptight about this because we’re all enjoying ourselves too much.

Same is true for collage, which is (usually) appropriation and was my first medium for art. Beginning in the year I turned thirteen and discovered Tiger Beat and the New York Times fashion supplement, I spent hours perusing pages in a magazine, tearing them out, taping them up on walls, and carefully gluing them to paper and canvas.

The thing about collage is that it’s so much fun. You take things and you make new things. This was a seminal technique for the Dadaists, the Surrealists, and so many artists, including, of course, Robert Rauschenberg. But in my own work, I was haunted by giving credit where credit is due.

With rare exceptions, everything since the ’80s is made from my own sources – photographs, drawing, scans, and paintings – with scattered found objects and an occasional tidbit of wrapping paper. My new work is often digital collage, playing in the wide-open field where collected treasures can be altered in a million different ways. For the Unbearables Assembling Magazine, 1998, reversion to the mélange was irresistible.