Two artists (Woods and Hasui) at Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh

Woods reminds me of Sol LeWitt a tiny bit--that architectural/geometrical take on space.

Went to see the latter's show here in SF some time ago:
http://www.sfmoma.org/exhibitions/exhib_detail/00_exhib_sol_lewitt_bio.html

Osso, I think it's one reason I play the lotto; I yearn to be the woman who travels around the world to museums and then sitting awhile with what I've seen. Translating it in some way, and going out again!
sigh.

And on the woodcut guy, I admit my interest is from envy. I've done a few woodcuts. Debacles all.

I did one of a cat face, got about 7/8 into it and screwed it up by cutting a chunk out (what was I doing using found lumber*) and then, for my next piece de resistance (spelling?) I did Venice (CA) rooftops along the beach from my rooftop.
Well, that was dead in the water about 1/2 way through.
There must be some learning curve with woodcuts.....

Back after I look at your link on Sol LeWitt...




*Not that I'm not clumsy, but back then I had really good hand-eye coordination: what was wrong was that I didn't understand the wood...

Loislane, yes, I yearn to do that too. I am envious of your '05 italy trip and hope you feel free to post, say in travel, on what you'll be seeing, whatever, just to riff about it.

Which brings up, have you seen the horse (horses?) at Tarquinia??

On LeWitt, that's a great link.

I have never been attracted to seeing a show of his, and barely to ever read about him - while not repulsed, one makes choices for time. This link gives me a clue how necessary in the continuum he is, purgative in a way.

On Woods, I didn't stare all that hard or read long, as I wanted just to post and get a discussion started, but my reaction to Woods was re seeing dynamics happen from sticks...

I should explain I got the link for the Topic from the website artdaily.com - I seem to fail to read any of the accumulating links they give on daily updates in a timely manner; I gather you have to read them that day or yesterday's link doesn't work. However, having lost their link by clicking on their update too late, I have checked out their referenced exhibits anyway, when I could by some clue in the accompanying text, and this Carnegie exhibit in Pittsburgh is one of those.

Oh, yes!! The horses at Tarquinia!! I loved them, absolutely adored them. In fact, I was thinking about getting a tatoo with them! (I can never quite seem to decide what and where--which are the only relevant discussions in Tatoo-dom!)

As part of our hilarious trip with driving crazies, we were looking for a parking space and were suddenly out of Tarquinia and down the hill--lol and completely uncontrollably! Talk about blink and you're outta there!

Have you by any chance also visited Tuscania? It has not much in museum world, but we had the nicest time there. The people were warm and generous, we stayed at a fabulous teeny place and had wonderful food; I bought a beautifully made wooden hexagonal box from a carpenter, and two favorite lovely scarves that were like $7.50 each. The shop mistress gave me a piccolo sconto because I bought both of them and praised them, and they had been made by her best friend!

Which kind of brings me back to woodcuts. They're hell! The learning curve requires patience, an incredibly steady hand and an ability to think in reverse. oy.

I once did a set for Caucasian Chalk Circle by Brecht where I used a style very like woodcuts: I did these stark full stage drops with woodcut like designs of the scene and loose watercolor washes behind-so that the drops, done on thin muslin, when lit from behind, really gave depth and softness at the same time. kinda hard to describe.

those sets sound amazing.

I love the woodcuts but I'd need to see the other stuff in situ - it's a bit too geometric for me.

Ciao, Vivien--love your avatar!

Thanks--I loved designing sets for theater. I've sadly left it behind (unless you're with a rep company or in NYC, you can't live on what you make) except on very rare occasions. Mostly what I do now is photography.

One of my other favorite sets--and this one was recognized by the exhibition on African American set designers at Lincoln Center--was for a play called "Ma Rose."

The play was about the cycle of female abuse in an African American family through 3 generations. The Grandmother is repenting because she knows she started it because one had to control their children or they might be killed (the grandmother lived during the end of slavery). The basic plot is the mother using the grandaughter to try to get the grandmother out of her giant family home. Lots of confrontations and some heart-rending situations.

There's a scene where the mother and daughter are at the house in bed under an ancient quilt; she tells the daughter where the pieces of the quilt are from: one of your uncles old shirts, your grandmother took the remains of this tea towel from the big house etc.

For me, the scene was pivotal in the play-the generations collapsing, the reconciliation of mother and daughter. I designed the set to be warm wood flooring (which I hand grained myself!) and side walls. The main structure of the set were enormous panels that looked like slats of wood you'd have in a lath and plaster wall. Instead of the plaster, I had friends strip quilt what felt like miles of period looking fabric, and I stuffed that between the horizontal slats (there was about a 1.5 inch gap or so, then a 2" piece of wood and so on).

Another set where I depended on the lighting designer--at an intense moment, the lighting rose from behind, and the room looked almost like a church because the fabric came alive like a stained glass window! I was so happy with that set!

L/Lane, do you have any photos? Not to put it to you if you don't, as memory is large.

I did one minor set design, on a play of my ex's at USC, (will be back with a name of play at some point)... just a drop/wall, whatever you call that, painted to my specs, and an arc'ing lamp of the period (Mary Lou's).. which landed to light the couch....

Hmm, what's his name, John Housman (sp?) did C. Chalk Circle around that time, there, well, shortly thereafter.

What I am happiest about is the Lois and Vivien have met.... two creative, lively, avid, wonderful people.

<blushing vividly!> - thank you Osso!

- and you too




I too would love to see photos of these sets as they sound absolutely beautiful

Wow--ditto the blush and ditto the Info re: you Osso!!

Hope everyone is having fab holidays! I'm sitting about watching wonderful TopCat cartoons--a hidden love! I just adore that Arnold Stang gang of alley cats!

Hey, Osso-- have pix, but not sure about the download process. Lemme get the scanner cranking, and I'll try to upload some!

Lois, the trick is what to do when you have personal photos and don't have an intermediate website to get an URL from.

When the gallery here is working, all you have to do is get it the right size and into jpg or gif, and post it in the gallery - after a short time for review by the mods (they actually post it there). But to put a photo right into a post, one goes through the Post Reply box, clicks on the Image button, and cuts and pastes the URL (the http:// thing) to that little window that comes up. So, there's the problem, if you don't have an http:// with a jpg or gif at the end.

So, some folks have msn websites for just such a reason, as you can enter your photos on that and transfer from there.
I've heard there's a site called something like Irfan.com, that works in this way (so you don't have to set up your own site). If you have your own site already, you can use that URL that comes up when you click on a specific photo.

However, in that case, don't just write the url in the post, as that is considered a kind of spam, and is a frowned on no-no here at a2k; instead, put the specific photo's URL into the Image window in the Post Reply Box.

Finally, images should be under some number of kb (can't remember the number, but I try to keep mine under 100kb).

Vivien is great at posting photos in threads; she probably can help more than I can if you run into questions.

someone on a2k - I've forgotten who, but I'm very grateful! - told me about photobucket.com


it is designed for imges for ebay and so on and is perfect for linking as it has a little box with url/img/and another I've forgotten(!) type links - copying and pasting the img link into the reply (click on IMG just above the box you are typing a response in and then paste the img from photobucket) and voila! there it is.

it is also easy to upload the images following their clear instructions.

it also gives a bigger picture size than using the gallery on a2k

Thanks, Vivien, that is the sort of site I was thinking of with Irfan. Here's the direct photobucket link -
http://photobucket.com/

Thanks, both--I'll check this place out and see what I can manage. I have a ton of stuff for ebay, so this is perfect timing!

Hope both are having the best of the holiday seasons!

THought I'd continue a discussion on art that begs to be turned into sets here, if ok with you two.
I have loved andy Goldsworthy's sculpture for some time; it just feels like outdoor sets. Dramatic and earthbound and big fun. I could see any number of Shakespearean comedies taking place in some of his larger works.

This link gives you info on his work, with some great pix
http://www.sculpture.org.uk/artists/AndyGoldsworthy
and this is just Amazon--where you can get used copies from their sellers of some of his books.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0810933519/104-2210368-6846338?v=glance

Any other sculptors or painters that you could see creating sets with their art?

I totally agree and have liked Andy Goldsworthy's work for a long time now - I've almost persuaded Osso!

I love the subtlety, beauty and delicacy and the way it fits into the environment rather than forcing itself onto it.

i did have some good links - I'll see if I can find them

link to goldsworthy

another link

Eh!

But I've been trying to think of other folks and went so far as to look up siah armajani links and thought about Heizer, but all I found that pricked my interest so far re theater is this one, for where not to sit waiting for Godot -
http://www.skac.org/SiahArmajani.html

Will consider this all some more...