Jack In The Pulpit Studio- Deux: And It Begins

The move has begun!  I have occupied 1022 Burgess for a month now.  The renovations are beginning, but before I share any of that its time to show some "before" pictures. Above is a view from the sidewalk in front of the house. This photo is actually from a couple years ago and the tree growing right next to the house has gotten much bigger and will be coming down to make way for a front porch.

These are all "before" pictures - as in before the construction.  But I will let you know that these were taken after cleaning the house. There was a lot of debris: garbage on the floor, dishes in the sink, and even a full medicine cabinet.

This is a view of the bathroom door from the living room.  Mind you, the house is only 19 feet by 18 feet, so none of these rooms are of much size. The shelving on the right actually houses the end of the bathtub that extends a foot into the living room. The bathroom is so small I couldn't take a picture from inside of it.

The ladder-steps lead to a loft space. You cannot stand up in the loft and it is about big enough for a queen size mattress. The desk was left behind.  Does anyone need a desk?

This is the kitchen. To the left is the back door. It is so small you can't fit a normal appliance, much less two or three.

Here you start getting a view of one of the interesting parts of the house.  The lofted ceiling is covered with tongue in groove boards.  It gives the lofted space a nice homey feeling. I will be opening up the space (i.e. removing walls) so the ceiling is more prominent. 

The back yard where a giant oak tree was cut down last year. You can see the stump to the left.  Lots of weed trees in and around the sheds. No gardens - that will be changing very soon!

Front steps are a bit wonky because some trees grew up under the railing and heaved them to the left. Trees are gone.  Next: remove the roots and straighten out the steps again.

Here are some more weed trees out the back door. All that green is buckthorn seedlings! Yikes! I better get in there. And what abandoned house wouldn't be complete without a stray dog. Oh, wait, that's my sweet Delilah. Pile of bricks in the background will hopefully have enough good ones to create a brick walkway to the front door.

As I make progress there will be updates here at Jack-in-the-Pulpit Art Studio, at my blog and on the Facebook Page. Join the fun!

Let 'Em In

I like to listen to music when I am painting.  Lately, I have been enjoying listening to the best of the Beatles after they were done being the Beatles. I have compiled the four "Best of..." cd's of John, Paul, George and Ringo. These four musicians really are amazing. Amazing as individuals, but what strikes me is the consistency of message from the years of being the Beatles. There is the usual stereotyping that John has the heavy political message, Paul sings about love, George is spiritual and Ringo is, well,... just Ringo. But that is not the case when you listen to their music. Even after breaking up, the four of them continued singing about love, community, togetherness, forgiveness, and the positive possibility of what could be.

Yes, I am aging.  I am in my fifties and am a Beatles fan. I am of my era, and I am at a stage in life where I am questioning my experience so far. There is much talk about the Woodstock generation (a little older than me) and a general sense that they "sold out" -  gave up on their idealism as they aged. Some say they did even more, that they undermined their own revolution.

I'm not sure my generation had ideals. We came of age in the disco/cocaine sniffing/clubbing days of the late seventies and early eighties - not that I or most people in the country had that experience.  That apparently was what was happening in all the cultural hotspots on the coasts. Not a world full of ideals - hedonism was the theme of the day. At the time, I was too shy and fearful of life to notice what it all really meant. But I do know that our culture has not had spokespeople like the Beatles since their loss. When I hear current cultural stars talking with a communal perspective it seems canned, groomed to be acceptable instead of being an antithesis to the larger culture (I will acknowledge Ani DeFranco here as being way cool). They are not in-your-face with their entire being. The Beatles started as nice boys wearing suits and singing about love. Eventually, they became these guys who grew their hair long, wore outrageous clothing, talked tongue in cheek about their fame, sang about a backward social order and insisted on having their experience on their own terms. To see them, you could tell they were an antithesis to the larger culture. But this was the pre-glam era, it was a little easier to be noticed for wearing outrageous clothing.

I think about meaning, as an artist. Am I simply making paintings for an audience or am I painting in a manner that reflects and encourages our society? I was given advice many years ago by a painting instructor: landscapes sell. Of course, I refused to paint landscapes. Instead I painted about mass-murderers, riots and missing body parts - in the guise of landscapes. Nothing sold. Hmm.

Then I painted about oppression and the holiness of life. Nothing sold.
Then I talked about "The Land" by making artwork with objects from nature. Nothing sold.
Then I started painting botanicals.  I sold a handful and then nothing.
Then I started painting about food. Nothing sold.
Recently, I've been painting landscapes.  They've been selling. Who knew?

I do not worry if I am "selling out" for making landscapes.  I am painting about the experience I have in nature, in particular in Northern Minnesota. To me, it is related to love.  It is something that touches my soul, like a waking dream - Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé. More than anywhere else, the North is where I have sat back and thought there is no where else in the world I would rather be. There is no time, days are meaningless. Anger is futile - it solves nothing! Love is all around. Not romantic love, although sometimes that is there, but love of all that is. Perhaps it is more aptly described as oneness. There is no contention, no division, no competition. Problems simply become annoyances, annoyances become a puzzle to solve or a fleeting moment to be ignored. Healing outweighs hurt. A broken heart gets to beat uninterrupted. The past is not released, but becomes the foundation on which all the good of the day grows. Breathing, itself, becomes a meditation.

My quest is to hold this perspective in my mind when I am in the City, when I am in the midst of my daily life. My vehicle is my art and the contemplation associated with this task. The Beatles help me hold this perspective with their music and with who they were. The following are excerpts from some of their songs I find particularly helpful. A year long meditation could be done on the first line of John's lyrics below. How would it change your life to come to truly know that "love is the answer and you know that for sure?"

John Lennon - Mind Games
"Love is the answer and you know that for sure.
Yes, is the answer, and you know that for sure.
Yes, is surrender, you gotta let it go."

Ringo Starr - Fading In and Fading Out
"Tell me, why we're here?
All we really need is love
And when I disappear
I pray that I have left enough

Fading in, fading out, isn't that what life's about?
First you're here, then you're gone
Still the world goes on and on."

George Harrison - Isn't It a Pity
Isn't it a pity
Now, isn't it a shame
How we break each other's hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other's love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity

Some things take so long
But how do I explain
When not too many people
Can see we're all the same
And because of all their tears
Their eyes can't hope to see
The beauty that surrounds them
Isn't it a pity

Paul McCartney - Let 'Em In
"Someone's knockin' at the door
Somebody's ringin' the bell
Do me a favor
Open the door and let 'em in."

What's Cooking in the Studio - April 2017

Since the last Cooking entry, I have completed another painting in my Sinkside Compost Series. I have a container next to my sink for food scraps. I have been making paintings on panels of this container.  This one includes asparagus stems with a blue rubberband around them, egg shells and a very dark banana peel that is hard to detect (left side of painting).

I have been trying to find just the right onion rings for a painting as a companion piece for [Cigs, Twigs and Fries](http://markgranlund.com/). I finally found them at a place in Saint Paul that we call [The Nook](http://crnook.com/). I can't tell you how they taste, as I didn't try them.  But they have just the right visual texture and size for what I envisioned. The painting includes onion rings, uncooked spaghetti noodles and compasses.

The compasses belonged to my father and are part of a set he had from an engineering drafting class he took at the University of Minnesota around 1950. I like that these are part of the painting as my dad was always up for going out to eat. We often ordered onion rings. The painting is 30" x 40" and will be in the upcoming exhibit at Banfille-Locke Art Center.

Finishing Touches - April 2017

A lot is happening these days. Five months ago I started a new job, my paintings are getting better, I will be purchasing the house next door for teaching art, my work has been selling and I am moving in the direction of making merchandise out of my botanical work.

People who have known me a long time know that I can be a very productive person. But I feel recently foundational change has been happening with each new decision. How has this situation come about?

I have a daughter who is attending college in a foreign country. Before she left I always had a track in my brain reserved for her. Whether she was around my house, at her mother's house or somewhere else, there was a part of my brain that constantly cared for her, wondered what she was doing, worried that I might need to act at a moments notice. I still think about her all the time, but that worry track in my brain has been freed up giving me more creative space up in my noggin'. My new job also is much less stressful than my last. I no longer am trying to run five different programs with forty community partners. I now am setting up one program focused on one thing: public art. This has also loosened up creative space in my brain.

Financially, last summer I was able to unload a house that I had inherited in a divorce. Although there was good reason to keep the house all these years since I inherited it, it was a financial drain. But it was time, and because I sold it, I now am able to purchase the house next to me and expand what I really like to do.

I have always been someone who has not focused on himself. I have been happy over the years to be a bit of a caretaker. I have a lot of abilities and have been happy to share and help where I can. But I would also use this as an excuse to not focus on myself. Somewhere in my travels I came to realize that not focusing on myself led me down a road that did not make me happy. Now, of course, I am not going to go super-gonzo on myself and exclude helping others, but I have learned that true happiness cannot happen if you are not fostering yourself -- if you are not creating opportunities to grow into yourself. I have been acting on this new understanding... and seeing a difference.

I do not take all this for granted. I have been around long enough to know that anything can end at a moments notice. I am happy to move forward into my most full self while knowing that one of the fun things about this is that I get to bring my friends, family, students and art fans with me.

Jack in the Pulpit Art Studio is Moving!!

Classes at my current studio are coming to an end this month. I will soon be moving classes to the house next door to me at 1022 Burgess Street. This small house will become a teaching art studio. I will be continuing to teach watercolor and oil painting classes, but will also have some friends teaching a class or two. I will be renovating the space this summer and classes will begin again in the fall of 2017.

Students will enjoy this space more as it is dedicated art teaching space, there will be no stairway to climb and there will be a little more room than in my studio. There will be updates, as well as before and after pictures, here at this blog and at Jack-in-the-Pulpit Art Studio.

Oil Painting: Granite Face

Granite Face

Oil Paint on Canvas

48" x 48"

This painting is of a face of granite on Mallard Island of Rainy Lake near International Falls, MN. Although, from the island, this bit of water seems open to the great waters that stretch twenty three miles to the east, this area can be calm as there are islands on three sides. I find the rhythm of this lake captures my own personal rhythm and calms me down, simplifies my understanding of life, and brings me internal peace. I try to capture this by heightening the rhythm of the water pattern. Strong geometric shapes across the water's surface bring a sense of strength and calm to the landscape. To me, that is the North.

Upcoming Exhibits

I have a solo exhibition at Reverie Cafe and Bar  in South Minneapolis from **June 1 - July 31**. *Note the date change for this show.

I will be exhibiting work from the Edibility series. There won't be an official opening, but I will be hanging out at the counter at Reverie on Thursday, June 22 and Tuesday, July 25 from 5:00pm - 8:00pm if people want to say "hello" and ask questions.

 In September, I will be in a three person show at Banfill-Locke Art Center in Fridley, MN. More details to come.