Art Plus Life

I am getting ready for my next exhibition called "Art Plus Life," a group exhibition at a really lovely venue. Commonweal is a center for healing, research, and inspiration in Bolinas, CA. I will exhibiting some of my large-scale mixed media collages from Milagros. In this series, I photographed people's arms and asked them to write a wish for a positive change or miracle in their life, and then I created a collage combining the two with the intention of creating a visual affirmation of that wish. Pictured here is one of my pieces in the "Art + Life" exhibit - called "Kindness". And if you look closely at the original you will find the handwritten wish in the forearm, stating "What about kindness becoming infectiously popular - among close relations and strangers - unknown kindness mischief." I am so delighted to be showing this series at a place so committed to transformation and healing. I hope that if you are in the area, you will get a chance to see the exhibit.

"Art Plus Life"

June 23 - September 21, 2012

Opening Reception: June 23, 3-5pm

Commonweal Art Gallery

451 Mesa Road, Bolinas, CA 

www.commonweal.org

curated by Jacqueline Mallegni and Claudia Chapline

Artists: Bob Demmerle, Linda Gass, Mary Daniel Hobson, Elizabeth Jameson, Daigon Lueck,and Maud Zimmer

Image Info: "Kindness" from the series Milagros, 28 x 10", mixed media collage, $1750

New Show at Cavallo Point

I am delighted to share that I have new solo show at Cavallo Point in Sausalito, CA - both in their art gallery (pictured here) and in their healing center. This lodge at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge has a unique art program. In addition to the gallery, each guest room features original fine art work on extended loans by wonderful local artists including Linda Connor, Judith & Richard Lang, Candace Gaudiani and many more.

I was thrilled when curator Anne Veh contacted me last fall about showing my work there. I have to say I hesitated though when she told me the dates because the show was to open January 5 - just two days before the due date of my second child. Fortunately Anne was open to creative solutions, so in mid-December when I was very round with pregnancy, we met in my studio and selected all the work, wrapped it up, and she took it with her and stored it at her home until she installed the show a few weeks later. I had to really let go in a way that I don't usually with an exhibit and let Anne truly "curate" - a word whose etymology means "to take care of." She has attended to all the myriad details of the show beautifully.

One of my favorite parts of this exhibit is the spirit of generosity that is present. 10% of all sales proceeds go to the non-profit of my choice. I selected Lily Yeh's outstanding organization Barefoot Artists which "works with poor communities around the globe using art to bring healing, self-empowerment and social change." And then at Anne's suggestion, we created a give-away for every visitor. In the center of the gallery is a wooden bowl filled with rolled scrolls tied with ribbon, and inside each is one of my favorite quotes about the creative process. There are 11 different quotes, so each visitor can intuitively pick the best one for him or her. As you can see from the photo above, the bowl was empty the day I visited as these have been so popular that it has been hard to keep up with the demand, but I have been assured that the bowl is replenished often. If you are unable to attend the show, but would still like the creative inspiration, please email me and I will send you a pdf of the quotes.

One of the quotes is George Braque: "Art is a wound turned into light." Anne as a curator really understood right away the healing inherent in my creative process, and chose to emphasize this aspect in the show. She selected a very nice group of over 40 pieces from 5 different series including Mapping the Body, Milagros, Evocations, and Sanctuary (pictured in the photo above). I do hope if you are in the Bay Area that you will get a chance to see the show and/or hear my artist talk on March 22.

Mary Daniel Hobson, Creativity: A Journey of Transformation
Cavallo Point Art Gallery & Healing Center, Sausalito, CA
January 5-April 3, 2011
Special Program & Artist Talk on Tuesday evening, March 22, 2011
For directions & more information, please see www.cavallopoint.com or call 415-339-4740.

Living with Art

A good friend and collector sent me this photo from her iPhone last week. I was touched to see how she has arranged on her mantle postcards of my art with the three collages she owns. Pictured here left to right are two small-scale collages from the Milagros series, a postcard of Creative Fire Within, the collage In Memory from Mapping the Body, and postcards of Flight, Evocation #001, and Sanctuary #1.

This photo was such a great reminder that my work exists and lives beyond me. It is easy to forget when I am working away alone in the studio that my art is out there enriching the experiences of others. I am so grateful to Nell for the gift of seeing how my work is installed in such a graceful and beautiful way in her home.

Beginning...Again

I find myself at a place of new beginnings in my art. Ever since my daughter was born in May 2008, much of my creative energy has gone toward parenting. Now, as she is getting bigger and a little more independent, I find myself itchy to dive more deeply into my creative work again – yet I feel like a novice, hungry to make progress and yet uncertain of how to proceed. So this morning I did some journaling about how in the past I transitioned from one series of art to the next. I discovered some commonalities…

1) It seems to take about 2 years for me to fully develop a new series - two years of experimentation, some false starts, some breakthroughs and then refinement.

2) I like to work on two projects at one time, so that when I get stuck working on one, I can move over to the other one. Bottle Dreams and Milagros were both born together and so were Evocations and Sanctuary.

3) There are false starts, there are one-offs that never become a series, and there are pieces that never go anywhere, but making them was really important in the overall development of new work.

4) Gathering and collecting are a big part of my process. Getting the right bottles, maps or other objects around me in the studio is essential.

5) New technology, tools and materials helped me grow as an artist – whether it was taking classes on alternative photo processes that eventually helped me make Mapping the Body, or getting a digital camera which led me to make Evocations and Sanctuary.

6) A deadline has been a key factor in moving the work from experimentation to manifestation. Having a solo show on the calendar usually does the trick for me.

7) I don’t work on my art everyday. I never have. With a child in my life, this is even more true. My creativity lies dormant within me and then explodes with the right combination of prep work, materials in place, concentrated time and a deadline. A lot can come to together very quickly.

Sitting here today, this list becomes a kind of road map for me. I am setting out on what may be a two-year journey. I am looking for two ideas to work on in tandem. I will play and experiment and gather the things my intuition says to collect. I will look for some new tools and materials to inspire me. When I get a little further down the road, I will set up a deadline to accelerate the creation of new work. In the meantime, I am going to do my best to relax and trust and enjoy the process.

Image Above: A Creative Fire Within from the series Milagros

Prints Byte Exhibition

I delivered several of my large-scale collages from the Milagros series today to SomArts Cultural Center in San Francisco for an exhibition opening this Friday, February 5. Curated by Hanna Regev and Justin Hoover, the show is called "Prints Byte" and examines the cutting edge of printmaking today.

It was exciting to walk into the expansive space "under installation." I arrived as Justin was hanging Enrique Chagoya's art - prints that had been converted to lush textured tapestries. Several large installation pieces had already gone up including a magnificent waterfall piece constructed of probably 100 small abstract blue prints by Seiko Tachibana. I look forward to seeing the work altogether on Friday night at the reception.

Prints Byte: The Cutting Edge of Printmaking
February 5 - February 27, 2010
Reception: Friday, February 5 from 7-9pm
SomArts Cultural Center
934 Brannan (at 8th), San Francisco, CA
Gallery Hours: Tues-Fri, noon-7 and Sat: noon-5
www.somarts.org

Image above shows three Milagros pieces each 28 x 10"

For Marcel Duchamp

Last week I packed up my pieces for the "Seduction of Duchamp" exhibition and sent them north to the Slaughterhouse Space in Healdsburg, CA. I thought I would share the pieces here, so that if you can't make it to the show, you could still experience the work.

The first piece is a mixed media collage called Invocation and is a new addition to my Milagros series. In it, reproductions of Duchamp’s art surround the photograph of my arm, literally inspiring my hand in the creation of new work. This piece contains a handwritten wish for myself and the other artists in this show – that the spirit of Duchamp generate “new works that delight, humor, and provoke.”

The second piece is called Rose-Sea-La-V. Inspired by Duchamp’s use of glass in works like the Large Glass and Ampoule, I have used old bottles to hold symbolic elements that when pieced together reference Duchamp’s pseudonym, Rrose Sélavy.

The show will open this weekend - I will be at the reception on Saturday, October 3, 5-8pm. For directions, click here. It would be great to see you there.

The Map As Art

I just got a delightful surprise in the mail - a preview copy of The Map As Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography by Katharine Harmon. I am a big fan of her earlier book, You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination (which informed my thinking about maps in my series Milagros), so I was quite honored when she asked me to submit work for her latest book. My piece, Territory, from the series Mapping the Body is reproduced on page 144 as an example of "Personal Terrain: Maps of Intimate Spaces." I am in some very good company - the pages of this book include works by 350 artists including Maya Lin, Olafur Eliasson, William Kentridge, and more. Katharine Harmon writes in the introduction:

"Spend time immersed in the world of artists' maps in this book, letting it steer you through familiar landscapes revealed in new ways and over strange topography resonating with hidden meaning. Contemplate each artist's use of cartography and consider maps of your own journey. Discover how mysterious, jarring, thought provoking, and gorgeous artists' maps can be. Wayfinding documents as artworks have never been as diverse, or as stimulating. Mapmaking as a whole is enhanced as each artist makes a mark on a bigger map, calling out I AM HERE."

My foray into maps began with my series Mapping the Body, in which I often layered maps under kodalith images of the body to convey a sense of a pschychological inner world. I am most often drawn to older maps for both their beauty and their errors. Just as early navigators set sail on uncharted seas, so does the explorer of the self. Some contours of one's world are known, but many others shift and change and surprise.

The Map as Art will be released this fall by Princeton Architectural Press. You could pre-order copies at Amazon by clicking here.

Ersatz: Mail Art Exhibition

I just completed a piece today for SF Camerawork’s Ersatz Mail Art Exhibition – the front side of that piece is pictured here. There are a couple things that really appealed to me about this show. The first is that it is open to all SF Camerawork members who want to mail in a photo-based contribution – it’s egalitarian – no judging. The deadline is May 1, so there is still time if you would like to participate. The second is that at the end of the show, each work gets mailed back to a different person. So my piece becomes a gift to an as-of-yet unknown stranger, and I will receive a surprise in my mailbox. I love the sense of chance and possibility here.

In making this piece, I dug through piles of prints and ephemera in my studio and finally settled on working with the print pictured here – an early test from my series Milagros. I have stitched this print together to a piece of BFK Reeves paper and sandwiched between the sheets is a secret message – a blessing of sorts – which I hope might bring the recipient luck. On the back side, I have handwritten the required address info as well as a little inspiratioin in the form of this poem by Rumi.

Every part of you has as a secret language
Your hands and your feet say what you’ve done
And every need brings what’s needed
Pain bears its cure like a child
Having nothing produces provisions
Ask a difficult question
And the marvelous appears.
-Rumi

A Fresh Stack of Invitations

Sitting here with morning coffee and a fresh stack of invitations to my upcoming exhibit at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA. My husband (good guy that he is) delivered 59 pieces from Mapping the Body and Milagros to them yesterday and picked up 200 invites for me. Labeling and stamping them will keep my hands busy while watching tomorrow night’s Academy Awards.

One of the nice things about this exhibit is that because it is at a non-profit (rather than a commercial) gallery, I am able to include some artist proofs from editions that have sold out and a few pieces borrowed from collectors. So pieces like Release, Crescendo, Territory, Union, and Nocturne will be able to be in the public eye again.

I will be driving down for the show, which opens on Friday, March 14. At 5pm that night, I will give a gallery walk-through, followed by a reception from 6-8pm. If you are in the area, it would be great to see you there.

"Figuratively Speaking"

Over thirty of my pieces are now installed at the Etherton Gallery in Tucson, Arizona as part of a three-person show called Figuratively Speaking. I shipped the work there a few weeks ago, and now thanks to the magic of the internet, can see the show online. At the end of the month, I will fly down for a reception and see the show in person, but for now, from a distance of 1000 miles or so, I am enjoying seeing the work arranged anew and spotlit on brown walls.

More Miracles

This week I collected another two wishes for the Milagros project.

One woman wrote…

“May we see each other as family.”

And the other..

“I want the violent killing all too prevalent in the world to stop.”

The picture here is of the arm of the first woman. Soon I will print this image on transparency and create a collage - a visual affirmation of her wish. It will join the other hands in the series, all reaching for the miracle of positive change in our world.