DANE PURDO

After a hiatus of several months I am blogging again! I just finished an article on silversmith E. Dane Purdo which will be published in the September issue of Silver Magazine. An excerpt and some pictures of his exquisite work below.

E. Dane Purdo's work in sterling silver displays the highest level of skill in both handcraftsmanship and design. His long career as a silversmith and teacher is highlighted by a distinguished list of exhibitions and a legacy of outstanding hollowware. . . . The sterling hollowware that Purdo created was characterized by carefully controlled contours, perfect balance between convex forms and concave outlines and mirror-smooth surfaces. The fitted lid and integral hinge on a 1957 teapot reveal perfection of technique and design. Occasional incidents of restrained ornament include little protuberances like a patch of mushrooms growing from the convex lid of pillbox and a "crown of thorns" disposed around the stem of a chalice which is visually balanced between prickly verisimilitude and gnarled abstraction. . . . In 1960 Purdo's hollowware was exhibited in a three-person exhibition, called "Dimensions 1960" at New Mexico Highlands University Art Gallery in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The other two exhibitors were weaver Lenore Tawney and ceramist Peter Voulkos, both renowned today for their pivotal positions in 20th century crafts. Writing in Craft Horizons magazine, Ray Drew acknowledged Purdo's "excellence of craftsmanship" and observed that the works shown were "quietly pleasing" but "not as unusual as the ceramics and weaving"

Shown below, works from 1955 to 1958:

THE DEATH OF JAMES LEE BYARS

The magnficent Death of James Lee Byars (1982--below) is on view at the Guggenheim Museum in a moderately successful show full of great art. The exhibition, “The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860- 1989” includes an exquisite small section of Japonisme in 19th century painting and one sculpture (Augustus Saint Gaudens' Adams Memorial), some wiorks by Morris Graves and then right on to abstract expressionism. From there on, the greater part of the show, it really should have been called 'The Zen Buddhist Influence on the Avante Garde." There are wonderful pieces by Agnes Martin, Walter de Maria, Robert Irwin et al., but who really cares about the theme. Zen contemplation is destroyed by the crowds and the noise in the Guggenheim. In any case just go to see work by Byars and the other art, as always.

NEW ORLEANS 2009

I was in New Orleans again, as well as Natchitoches and Baton Rouge Louisiana over the past few weeks. In New Orleans I had the wonderful opportunity to see the Mardi Gras Indians doing one of their occasional practice runs. As you may know the Indians are really Africans (or African-Americans, or African-French, or Afro-Creole or whatever). The men work all year on their hand beaded, sequined and feathered costumes. There was music, dancing in the street, grilled sausages and homemade pralines.

LECTURE IN LITTLE ROCK

I am pleased to announce that I am giving a lecture on American mid-20th Century enamel art/craft/design at the Arkansas Arts Center on March 31st. If you happen to be in Little Rock I hope you will attend. The AAC has an outstanding collection of 20th century crafts. Check out their website and some images from my lecture below:
http://www.arkarts.com/

Edward Winter

Edward Winter
Karl Drerup

Karl Drerup
Karl Drerup
Jean Ames

REGO PARK, NY

I visited Rego Park, Queens, New York, recently, to meet fellow crafter Fern Ellen Cohen (http://fernals.blogspot.com/). I LOVE Rego Park. Not sure that I'm ready to move there but it's a really nice, interesting place to spend an hour or two or three. There are beautiful places to live there, adorable little houses with lovely gardens and a small-scale 1950s tower-in-park development called Park City that is meticulously maintained and has all its original details, lobbies and modernistic entrances intact. There are amazing Russian groceries, an Uzbek pastry shop, Russian/Uzbek restaurants. Unfortunately many of the charming 1920s-30s houses have been altered and have lost some of their original details but many are still in original condition.

TCHELITCHEW AT THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

I was pleasantly shocked when I visited the Museum of the City of New York the other day to find Pavel Tchelitchew's Hide and Seek hanging there. The painting is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and, despite it being rumored to be the "most popular" painting in the museum, has not been on view there in many years. It is at the MCNY as part of the exhibition Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940:
http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/current/paris-new-york-design-fashion-culture-1925-1940.html
The exhibition is worth seeing in any case but the opportunity to see Hide and Seek requires a visit. Since I'm blogging about Tchelitchew I might as well add a photo (below) of his Sleeping Pinheads, which is in my top ten favorite paintings by any artist. If I had the resources I'd buy Sleeping Pinheads and hang it in my living or dining room. Since I'm blogging about people with microcephaly check out the Foundation for Children With Microcephaly:
http://www.childrenwithmicro.org

Hide and Seek:

Sleeping Pinheads:

PARIS - Last Pictures

Inside the Romanian ambassador's residence:

ELIZABETH PEYTON

Go see Elizabeth Peyton's exhibition at the New Museum. My portrait is not in the show but here's the study Peyton did of me and my brother Charles around 1995. Peyton's elegant and delicate sensibility is extremely well served by the survey. While you're at the New Museum also go see my good friend Mary Heilmann's wonderful retrospective. Her beautiful paintings are more complicated than they seem and easier to understand than you might be led to believe.
http://www.newmuseum.org/

JUDITH EISLER

Judith Eisler's show show at Cohan and Leslie has closed before I was able to catch up with my blogging. Well, go to their website or go to the gallery and ask to see Judith's paintings. Her new painting, her portrait of me and my brain scans seem to fit together.

http://www.cohanandleslie.com/

FRANCE - NANCY

Nancy was great--so many things to see: the Musee des Beaux Arts, the Musee de l'Ecole de Nancy (art nouveau museum), the Villa Majorelle, the Place Stanislas, the botanical garden, the Museum of Natural History, lots more, and we saw it all. Next time I think I'll try to slow down and do a bit less.
http://edn.nancy.fr/web/index.php/portail
http://www.ot-nancy.fr/uk/centre_historique/index.php

18th Century Gates of the Place Stanslas:

The aquarium pavillion at the Musee de l'Ecole de Nancy:

The Villa Majorelle: