The Golden Foundation for the Arts
137 Bell Road
New Berlin, NY 13411
Time sure flew by this summer and last week the bell sounded once again to summon all for another Open Studios event at the Golden Foundation's marvelous Artist In Residence barn. And I took mom! ;D Flora is where I got it from, an accomplished artist with a background in painting, photography and silkscreen printing. She'd seen pictures of the other open studios I'd been to and wanted to know just what the Golden Foundation was about. Been trying to help Flora re-connect with her creative energies now that she's in retirement and figured this was the perfect chance to light a spark for color & materials. Gassed up the Jeep, dusted off the a CD by Traffic and we put it in gear ...
Click here to visit the Golden Foundation website for information on their residency program and how to apply! ALL artists strongly urged to take a look, and no they don't just pick acrylics painters, or even just painters. They pick artists.
Or, click here for the Golden Artist Colors website. You know you want some!
Whoah ....
.... Heh, mom remembered this part. Fun!
Aces!!! Emma Golden, our hostess for the afternoon.
Mom getting the 411 on the Foundation from its source. Though I'd dropped the ball by not going over footwear before we hit the road. Poor dear lasted about an hour before needing to put them feet up for a bit and I didn't think to set her down at one of the artists tables to maybe have her own try at some of the materials they were using. So, next time!
First up, Canadian painter Derek Dunlop here with the two of the finished paintings on display from his residency. Derek's work confused me at first, I'm trained to look for pictures basically and didn't comprehend how he had used his residency as a way to meticulously research how Golden's product could work for him. From paints to mediums and back again, this guy had rows and rows of experimentation swatches like those in his hands which my brain refused to accept at face value. Instead of making pictures he was taking stock in what their materials had to offer, and may indeed have gotten more out of his residency as a creative force looking for new methods than anyone else I've encountered there.
Derek Dunlop, and if memory serves both are oil on paper utilizing the Golden's Williamsburg line.
Derek Dunlop
Derek Dunlop
Derek Dunlop
Derek Dunlop
Derek's table of swatch tests where he experimented with blending the colors.
Derek Dunlop
Derek Dunlop
Derek Dunlop, here experimenting with the gels and other acrylic grounds.
Derek Dunlop
Derek Dunlop
Derek Dunlop
Derek Dunlop
"Think you can take the one on the left? I got the other guy."
"Let's roll."
Linda Lee Nicholas! a dynamo of creative might wrapped up into one phenomenal little ball of energy. Linda explained very simply that her paintings depict alternate universes, parallel planes of existence, manufactured asteroids and constellations of awareness which we look into for our own answers. She's also what I'll now start referring to as a Peeler.
Peeler (noun, singular): An artist who constructs their images at least partially from strips of acrylic, latex or other pliable materials which were dried on something like a plate of glass and then peeled off to be placed on another surface in a manner which has visual design inetentionality. "Artists Linda Lee Nicholas and Jessalyn Haggenjos are both Peeler artists, and they rule."
Linda Lee's artists statement with further clarification on these constellations and alternate universes.
Linda Lee Nicholas, and amongst the finest pieces I've seen at a Golden Foundation open studios.
Mom counted forty different shades of Linda Lee's Williamsburg oil paints before deciding "That's a lot." Should have sat her down right there in a chair and told her to have fun, Linda would have loved it.
One of Linda's oil paintings, done with a brush on what appeared to be an Ampersand board. When asked she said she felt like she should do some actual painting while at this painting residency, with a brush.
Linda Lee Nicholas
Linda Lee Nicholas
Sampling peeled swatches from the drying table, I thought this one might make a nice earring.
Linda Lee Nicholas
Linda Lee Nicholas. Told her these reminded me of the man made asteroids from some of the science fiction epics I love so much and was told that's exactly what they were. Knew it!
A killer view of Linda's studio setup with the drying tables. Chatted with Barb Golden for a few and she expressed amusement at how nobody is making artwork to go on walls these days, it's all flat on the tables.
Linda Lee Nicholas
Linda Lee Nicholas
Linda Lee Nicholas
Ready for ice cream! We were good, I promise.
Ahh, Kimberly Lillywhite. Feast your eyes, and rest assured the pose was her idea. Though the sensation of being in her presence was so distracting I was negligent in documenting more of her work, or at least getting a closer look at these two marvelous large works which had been the focus of her efforts. It's easy to see why I was distracted and in spite of the lack of pix we actually visited for quite a while. I even recall glancing over at mom hanging to the side after she was done looking and the dear woman gave me one of those exaggerated stage winks like one of the Little Rascals. Which is when I should have realized that I was in trouble here & gotten my head out of the clouds. So, a bottle of something nice on me next time we meet up, my dear! You bring the opener, I'll have two glasses ready. Three if mom comes along too.
And click here for Kimberley's public Facebook page! You'd gosh darned better Like it too.
Counting on ya!
Kimberley Lillywhite, and I wish to god I'd made some closeup shots of this. That left border ... what the heck??? Not bad at all, my dear!
Kimberley Lillywhite
Kimberley Lillywhite
Kimberley Lillywhite
YOU MAY START HATING ME NOW.
;D
(Thank you, my dear!)
Ogling the green shelves in the residency's stockpile of materials. Liking that jar of turquoise there especially.
Flora + High Flow = WINNING.
Hoping to score some for her pronto!
;]
Took mom down to the ground floor for a look at the residency dorms and this miraculous kitchen.
Thought this was pretty interesting! and was bummed that I missed Paul Shakespear, that guy rulez. Offered to get me a beer at the big reception back in April! I'm on the wagon but things like that I remember. Look in the posts from November 2013 for a look at some of what he made during his turn on the swings at the barn.
Our "card" of the afternoon -- Bill from the Golden's plant! who came bearing rolls of Sweet Tarts which kept mom in the game until we got to Gilligan's Island. Can't recall exactly what Bill's job title was but he assured me that he basically runs the entire plant from a hyperbaric chamber buried deep beneath the main vats, and only comes out to distribute goodies amongst the staff to cheer their hearts. Apologized for all the Freeze Pops having been donated to a home for wayward performance artists who used them in a happening event where 150 people got both blue tongue & brain freeze in the middle of Times Square. How'd I miss that??
YES!
NO! but it's whom you're with that makes the picture, amirite? With Barb Golden and artist Christine Heller! Guess which one gave me the knee and I'll send you a free zombie painting. Maybe.
Windmill research on the way home ... Asked mom to take the wheel for a second while I worked the shot and she replied "STEPHEN WHERE IS THE MOTORCYCLE."
Caz
And one of mom's! Little thing, 10x10 inches or so, looks like oil and charcoal on canvas. Garden study which sat by the back door for about a decade, until I found it. Hoping to organize a show of Flora's work at Sparky Town Gallery back in Syracuse, will let ya know.
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