ARTIST CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023 – TOOLS
GARDENING ?
ARTIST-LED, COMMUNITY GARDEN ?
definite . . a CRAFT !!
SHOUT OUT TO: JEFFREY TRANCHELL
LAVENDER COUNTRY DETROIT / GARDEN SWAP
GIVE TAKE TRADE / PLANT SWAP / SEEDS STARTERS BULBS CLIPPINGS / HOUSEPLANTS / TOOLS
12333 MACKAY ST, DETROIT
SAT SEPT 30, 2023 / 4 – 7 PM
~LAVENDER COUNTRY DETROIT / PLANT SWAP, SEEDS, HOUSE PLANTS, & TOOLS / DETROIT / SAT SEPT 30 | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 27th, 2023, 4:02pm
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023 – TOOLS
when you see ‘craft’ – ‘tools’ are not far behind.
in this case, the ‘tools’ are also, the hand-made / one-of-a-kind . . art.
JACOB GOBLE . . is a NYC-based painter, and museum . . . ‘mountmaker’.
he makes custom ‘mounts’ to hold up the historic, precious items that are going to be displayed
at the MET / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
sometimes he has to fabricate the tools, as well as the mounts, themselves.
you can follow his work, life, and art on Instagram: @jacob__goble
note: all images via Instagram @jacob__goble
JACOB GOBLE . . . hand-made calipers, Sept 2023
@jacob_goble: “I made another set of ‘inside/outside’ calipers.
#bentfinger #caliper #divider #measuringtools #measure #handmadetools #brass
just in case,
you’re as curious, as I am, here’s a recent ‘museum mount’ he designed & fabricated for The Met:
@jacob__goble: “An early 15th Century Italian Jar and its ‘Earthquake’ mount. In the unfortunate event of seismic activity this mount will keep the jar from jangling around. / for: The MET / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.”
~JACOB GOBLE . . INSIDE/OUTSIDE CALIPERS | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 26th, 2023, 3:19pm
changing gears – but, still . . . !!
ARTIST – CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023
HAND-CARVING WOOD TOOLS – are definite . . implied.
TWO RARE WOODLANDS MIDE SOCIETY EFFIGY HEADS /
POWERS – LOWENFELS,
53 Stanton St., LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC
“They have . . . something which may be called an idol. This is the Manitto [sic] representing in wood the head of a man in miniature, which they always carry about them, either on a string round their neck, or in a bag. They hang it also about their children, to preserve them from illness and ensure them success.”
~George Henry Loskiel, ‘The History of the Moravian Mission Among the Indians of North America’, 1838, p. 8. / via Steven S. Powers / @stevenspowers
the smaller one, top, is maple burl – the larger one is elm burl – [SOLD]
these burl-head-shaman spirits – are “early to mid 19th C.” ~ Steven S. Powers
ALL images – courtesy: @stevenspowers
note: A ‘burl’ or burr . . . is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. it is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dormant buds.
~wikipedia
~WOODLANDS MIDE Society / EFFIGY HEADS / POWERS LOWENFELS / Lower East Side, NY | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 25th, 2023, 2:44pm
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH – in NYC / SEPT 2023 – continues:
where there’s . . CRAFT / there’s . . . TOOLS !!!
SKEWVILLE – ‘BUILD A BONG WORKSHOP’
SUN SEPT 24 / 12 – 6 PM
237 STARR St., BROOKLYN
FEE: $20
GRAB YOUR OLD WINE BOTTLES, ANTIQUES / FAMILY HEIRLOOMS ? or SODA BOTTLES & HEAD TO . . .
‘THE BUILD A BONG WORKSHOP’ at SKEWVILE.’
all images courtesy: SKEWVILLE on Instagram @skewville
~SKEWVILLE . . ‘BUILD A BONG WORKSHOP’ / SUN SEPT 24 | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 24th, 2023, 9:06am
ARTIST – CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023 . . .
continues / this time, with a little ‘mind-power’, thrown into the mix . . !!!
you might think it a stretch to include artwork by GERALD FERGUSON, under the subtext of: craft,
but, I would totally disagree. thinking hard, and breaking down barriers . . is a craft.
making paintings that lead to future theoretical pathways, being able to inspire generations of young artists through teaching, and through your work, and continuing to be mind-rattling – is a craft.
education is a craft.
GERALD FERGUSON, ‘LAST LANDSCAPES’, & . . 2 EARLY STENCIL WORKS, (1968) on PAPER.
SEPT 8 – OCT 21, 2023
CANADA GALLERY, 61 LISPENARD ST., DOWNTOWN NYC
CURATED by . . . LUKE MURPHY
GERALD FERGUSON, ‘Trees and Rock’, 2008.
enamel on canvas / 48 x 55 in.
that’s a lot larger than the work might seem in this, straight-on photo.
as opposed to an installation shot, anchored by a gallery wall, etc.
think: 4 ft. x approx. 4-1/2 ft.
so, here’s the deal on GERALD FERGUSON,
he was many things. Above all else, he was an exploratory artist; both in thought, exploring new philosophies and theory on art, be they conceptual or minimalist / but, also an exploratory artist in terms of his own work, how he used common hardware store materials, such as ropes, rods and chains, to breach traditional boundaries. ‘Landscapes’ might be the furthest thing one might expect therefore from so entrenched a visionary and forward thinker, yet the ‘craft’ of these
landscapes, speak for themselves. all his art was the ultimate ‘stretch’ of the imagination meets future concept, so I think it’s not a stretch to associate his body of work with craft, which is very much foremost a skilled and though-out, albeit passionate endeavor.
You could rightfully say, he was to ‘craft’ a new philosophy of art-making, one which made room for the breaking down of barriers between outsider art, folk art, simple everyday objects such as hardware tools as pictorial subjects, within a minimalist design mindset that we increasingly embrace, today.
GERALD FERGUSON (b. Cincinnati, OHIO 1937 – d. 2009) was a conceptual artist and painter who lived and taught in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
“In the late 1960s, Cincinnati-born Gerald Ferguson traded in New York’s conceptual art scene for the chance to transform a provincial art college in Nova Scotia, (Canada). For Ferguson, who was in the same crowd as Lawrence Weiner, Dan Graham, and June Leaf . . . it wasn’t an easy decision to forgo the sophistication of Manhattan for a remote, impoverished navy port that valued hardiness and results over ideas; but he believed that the gallery system was starting to subsume the conceptual art movement by covertly supporting the things that he rejected – fame, excess, privilege, war. (and, probably the pressure to make salable ‘product’). Over the next decades, Ferguson worked to turn NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) into a conceptual hub importing visiting artists such as Gerhard Richter, Sol Lewitt, Eric Fischl, and Vito Acconci.
“Over his almost forty-year career, Ferguson wrestled with two constants. The first was a relentless battle with depression. The second was his art practice, which consisted of conceptual works and frottage paintings . . . In his frottage paintings, he treated folk and decorative art elements with a post-minimalist approach, rubbing black house paint over canvas purchased at the local sail-making shop. repeating patterns of mostly quotidian objects such as Victorian fireplace panels, chains, ropes, and rods, which leave the viewer with a sense of hard-earned humanity.
“The landscapes presented here, Ferguson’s last series of paintings, differ significantly from his past work. After breaking his arm in a car accident in 2008, Ferguson found himself unable to move his usual ropes, rods, and chains . . . Unwilling to disrupt his studio practice he returned to the paintings that inspired him as a young man . . Drawing on his prodigious knowledge of art history, and using a cheap hardware store 2.5” roller, Ferguson painted directly on raw canvas with his good arm, synthesizing elements from Cezanne through the third and fourth string landscapes that form the bulwark of American art in the first half of the 20th century to Hartley.He even let himself do a variation on plein-air painting by driving around the back roads of Nova Scotia, a diet Coke in the cup holder, a cigarette in the ash tray, fabricating sketches through his car window and a modernist American lens. Although resoundingly irascible, Ferguson was delighted to find this unexpected new studio process was marked by the presence of joy. The results in his words: ‘Dangerously close to real painting.'”
~from the wonderful press release essay by: LAURA MacDONALD
see: the press release in full / CANADA – ‘Last Landscapes’
GERALD FERGUSON, ‘Untitled X’, 1968.
enamel on brown paper / 40 x 37 in.
that’s also larger than it appears . . being, approx: 3-1/3 ft. x 3 ft.
1968: he was so ahead of his time,
& really – where is the rest of that gang now. this work just keeps on, keeping on, right on point, 50 years later. it must have been so wild, and off-the-grid, back in 1968. the art world probably didn’t what to think, if they didn’t just outright ignore him /
at that time, everybody was buying Andy Warhol, weren’t they ?
no wonder he left. this is such a major, major piece of American art history.
it’s like Ruth Asawa, is all I can say /
I remember seeing this piece in an early group show at Canada, though nobody can remember exactly which one. it had a profound, validating impact on me: stencils, cut paper. common, freely available (at least back then) brown grocery wrapping paper. (you can get it for free now, in Prime Amazon boxes.) minimalist colorways, minimalist attitude, but all soul. sustainable, could be spontaneous, with a heady folk art nod, an American quilt history nod. antique woven ribbon nod. all about hardware store – arts & crafts / DIY.
in other words: AMERICANA / CRAFT TO THE MAX.
and, I’m pretty sure – I wasn’t the only one, who was hit so hard.
one can only imagine, all the ‘old stock’ hardware stores & old textile purveyors of woven ribbons, and other miscellaneous ‘notions’, including hand-woven, or early machine-made fluttering finery, such as fine white lace, and collars. the old dark wooden display cases, and old creaking wooden floors, and probably rolls upon rolls of brown wrapping paper, that Gerald Ferguson must have strolled amidst. the old tools, and brass stencils, and even the stenciled signs – that, for sure abounded in an old trading port like Nova Scotia. Downtown NYC used to be like that – all along Broadway, from Houston to Canal St., up until the late 90s, when they all got priced out, who knows where all that historic inventory ended up. real pearl shell buttons, yards and yards of woven, ribbon rolled onto paper display discs. some of it felt pioneer, it was such ‘old stock’ / straight out of Little House on the Prairie.
CRAFT. TOOLS, SKILLS. MAKING THINGS, DIY . . AMERICANA.
maybe you bought the fancy imported fabric / but, you sewed the dresses yourself.
ps: in my notes from Luke Murphy, who studied with Gerald, and curated this show:
“He was quick with biting comments and the problem was that, when it came to art and painting, the bastard was almost always right. He had such a fine and deep sense for authenticity in terms of work that nothing really got past him. I think that’s why he was also such a valued art picker for many collectors. (!!)
At one point he donated more than 500 duck decoys to the AGNS / Art Gallery Nova Scotia.”
I knew it / of course . . . !!!!!
CRAFT BABY, all the way home.
LUKE MURPHY, sometime in the mid 1980s, shearing sheep / just a few years before starting studies at NSCAD / Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, in Halifax where he studied with Gerald Ferguson, “mostly from 1987 – 1991 / then we shared a studio, and then we were friends.”
VINTAGE PHOTO COURTESY: LUKE MURPHY
GERALD FERGUSON (L), and JOSEPH BEUYS (R), in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.
VINTAGE PHOTO COURTESY: LUKE MURPHY
GERALD FERGUSON in his studio, Halifax, Nova Scotia / looks like it’s 2008, and that’s one of his later landscapes – on the wall behind him.
note: the vintage, and/or antique . . hand-carved & hand-painted duck decoys, arranged along the top of the back wall, on a recessed shelf.
his work may have been cutting-edge conceptual, but his ‘eye’, and ‘heart’, were all fine-tuned by . . . CRAFT. CRAFTMANSHIP. and the history, of . .
VINTAGE PHOTO COURTESY: LUKE MURPHY
~GERALD FERGUSON . . ‘LAST LANDSCAPES’ / CANADA GALLERY, DOWNTOWN NYC / thru OCT 21V | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 22nd, 2023, 1:40pm
ARTIST – CRAFT MONTH in NYC . . . !!
CONTINUES . . . !!
DANA ARBIB . . ‘VETRO ORTO’ / ‘THE GLASS VEGETABLE GARDEN’
AN EXHIBITION of MURANO GLASS VESSELS & LIGHTS /
OPENS TO THE PUBLIC / WED SEPT 20th
& continues thru . . . OCT 13, 2023.
TIWA GALLERY, 86 WALKER ST., 5th FLOOR, DOWNTOWN TRIBECA, NYC 10013
note: GALLERY VIEWING HRS: WED-SAT / 12 – 5 PM
for the duration of this exhibit / SEPT 20 – OCT 13, 2023.
image via Instagram @tiwa_select
PHOTOS BY NANCY SMITH – OPENING PREVIEW / SEPT 19, 2023:
DANA ARBIB . . . designs & works with a professional glass-blowing team, to hand-craft each piece. the glow of the minimalist colorways, along with the subtle ‘organic’ embellishments – is insane / just check out her golden, light-infused wall sconce, on the left.
DANA ARBIB . . . table lamp, in ‘Vetro Orto’ / ‘The Glass Vegetable Garden’.
DANA ARBIB, generous but not . . pedestrian.
more: glowing, and . . . growing. open, but secretive.
DANA ARBIB, total beauty, even . . on a rumpled white tablecloth.
DANA ARBIB, even the simply clear pieces, held great . . . magic.
DANA ARBIB. the sconce / light fixture, is a very old form of fixture (to a wall), historically used with candles & oil lamps. they work beautifully here, and throughout the toned-down, retro Americana Tiwa space, in classic pairs.
DANA ARBIB, from garden, to kitchen, to . . . books.
this illumination, is of a gentle narrative touch – via glass: a most fiery, powerful, and difficult medium.
DANA ARBIB: an alchemy. a poem. a luminous, glowing, seemingly . . growing, kitchen celery, of the mind !!
PHOTOS: Nancy Smith
~DANA ARBIB . . ‘VETRO ORTO’ / TIWA GALLERY / DOWNTOWN NYC / OPENS WED SEPT 20 / UP-DATE: PHOTOS POSTED | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 19th, 2023, 7:57am
between . . shaker sweaters, colonial era weaving, gun-making, send-off ceramic flowers & artist books, this looks to be shaping up into /
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH in NYC . . . !!!
POWERS & LOWENFELS PRESENT / ‘PICNIC: LETT-HAINES / GEORGE OHR & MORE’
thru . . . SUN SEPT 17, 2023.
53 STANTON ST., LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC
HRS: THURS-SUN / 12-6 PM
“We are a NYC gallery exhibiting a Venn Diagram of Outsider, Self-Taught & Contemporary Works of Art”
GEORGE E. OHR, (1857-1918).
Glazed earthenware / Jefferson Snake Mug, ca. 1896.
3-3/4 x 4 in.
~incised to outer: “Here’s (to) your good health and your family’s and may they all live long and prosper J Jefferson”.
~impressed signature to underside “G.E. OHR, BILOXI’ with incised date and number “3-18-1896”, (partially obscured from glaze.)
~Provenance: James carpenter:, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1973.
Image via Instagram @stevenspowers
GEORGE E. OHR, (1857-1918).
Bisque fired earthenware ca. 1905
3-1/2 x 4-7/8 in.
~Signed to underside: “Mud from New Orleans Street/ G.E. Ohr / Times Democrat 1905”
~Provenance: Collection of Dr. Ellis F. Rubin and Suzanne Borow Rubin
Image via Instagram @stevenspowers
Image via Instagram @stevenspowers
GEORGE OHR, ‘MUD FROM NEW ORLEANS’
with George Ohr’s signature: “in-body twist”, and “ruffled” rim.
Image via Instagram @stevenspowers
~GEORGE OHR . . POTS, etc / POWERS & LOWENFELS / LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC / LAST WEEKEND | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 15th, 2023, 1:32pm
CRAFT WEEK in NYC . . . !!!
when a commercial, knitwear sweater – from the British label, Warm & Wonderful, and not even an exclusive ‘haute couture’ design, / achieves outrageous auction success /
you know . . .
it’s most def, the season of the . . . CRAFT !!!!!
Princess Diana’s . . iconic ‘Black Sheep’ / in a sea of Red Sheep, knit sweater, famously worn just before her ill-fated wedding to Prince Charles, sold for $1.14 MILLION USD, at SOTHEBY’S NYC, yesterday / Sept 14, 2023.
~PRINCESS DIANA’S ‘BLACK SHEEP SWATER / SOTHEBY’S, NYC / $1.14 MILLION | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 15th, 2023, 10:02am
MAX SCHUMANN, then the Associate Director of PRINTED MATTER,
at his customary perch inside the alternative book shop.
Archival Photo by: NANCY SMITH, NYC, Oct 22, 2005.
MAX announced this past January, 2023 that he would be stepping down as Executive Director, and sure enough, slightly behind schedule, Printed Matter announced that this Sept 13th, 2023 week, would be his last. “After eight years in the role of Director, and more than thirty years contributing” . . immeasurably to the growth of this arts-focused indie voice, including the Art Book Fairs, in multiple & various roles, and in a big way inspiring the indie Zine movement & personally bringing to life, along the way – many small, limited edition artist books.
“With so many exciting projects on the horizon it will be difficult to leave, however I feel that the time is right for me to move on to other pursuits, chief among them my return to my artwork.”
~Max Schumann
There will be an “informal send-off” to Max on Thurs Sept 14, 2023 from 6 – 8 PM at the Chelsea storefront, 231 11th Avenue, NYC.
see: PRINTED MATTER
“return to his artwork”, is not a glib statement / Printed Matter, the N.Y., and now L.A. Art Book Fairs, and other people’s projects in general devoured Max, and he gave his creative and visionary ‘all’ – but, now maybe the painter inside Max can step forward again, and
may the new, great American atmospheric, realist, politically-hinged painter of our generation, emerge, and receive the recognition he deserves.
I caught a few of his humble, but deeply-felt, early painting shows, but my fav was:
‘Max Schumann: The Return of Freedom’, Taxter & Spengelmann, Chelsea, NYC /
November 30 – January 12, 2008.
this was the hard copy invite, exhibit poster / card. it was approx 4 x 6 in.
the illustration is a work of Max’s, ‘CHEVY CHASE’S GRAND BAHAMA VACATION.’
MAX SCHUMANN, ‘Untitled, (The Last Terroir)’, acrylic on board / 42 x 72 in.
MAX SCHUMANN at the ‘Return of Freedom’ opening.
MAX SCHUMANN, ‘FREEDOM – $500′.
I think that was the price, but maybe the title.
maybe – both !!
hard to say – so many years later.
my notes long lost – into years’ worth of filed archive binders.
but – great painting, no doubt.
MAX SCHUMANN, ‘EXCELLENCE – $200’, in ‘THE RETURN of FREEDOM’, PART I,
his second solo show at TAXTER & SPENGLEMANN, NYC.
November 30 – December 22, 2007
ALL PHOTOS: ARCHIVAL COLLECTION of NANCY SMITH / NANCY SMITH PHOTOS, NOV 30, 2007
~MAX SCHUMANN steps down from PRINTED MATTER . . . | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 13th, 2023, 4:30pm
MAKE MY DAY . . . !!!
MY DARLING LITTLE CHARLIE BROWN WANNABE – UPDATES . . !!
SOME FREEZE FRAMES – from a new Luke Murphy LED animated project.
LUKE MURPHY, ‘Reading the News’, 2023
CANADA GALLERY BOOTH 5 – FREIZE SEOUL
up thru . . . SAT SEPT 9th.
LUKE MURPHY, ‘Reading the News’, 2023.
wire armature, LED matrix panels, video driver hardware, software, power supplies,
PC, code. 30 x 25 x 2 in.
Audio by Luke Murphy / yes, you want the ‘spacey’ . . audio !!
see the animation: @canada.nyc / Instagram
note: all screen shots via @canada.nyc Instagram
also, see: @lukemurphy49 on Instagram
PLEASE, also note: LUKE MURPHY designed & installed – the animated DELI LED ‘RESIST’ BANNER that runs, like a new age, cross-stitch embroidery,
at the top of this page . . . !!
~LUKE MURPHY . . ‘READING THE NEWS’ / CANADA at FREIZE SEOUL 2023 / thru SAT SEPT 9 | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 9th, 2023, 12:11pm
