Hello friends, family, and favorite folks!
What are your thoughts on winter? Do you hunker down in the dark to focus on the to-do-list* that doesn't get done? Do you add an extra dose of Vitamin D to your morning coffee routine to get through the day? In the wintertime, I find it hard to motivate myself beyond snuggling on the couch with my cats. And although that sounds beyond pleasant, I'm disappointed that I haven't gotten much done in the studio this winter. But there's empowerment in an affirmation of intent (like an outgoing newsletter with lots of interesting links through which to wander...) So with the spring equinox on the horizon, I'm fertilizing sleepy seeds of ambition to bloom some new paintings, prune up some curatorial projects, and twine myself more tightly into my studio practice.
(If you're wondering why you're receiving this email - scroll down for an explanation note in the footer.)
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This quick plein air study recently sold at Festoon on Hudson as part of the "Nasty Women" exhibition benefitting The Center for Safety and Change.
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I'm excited to share these exhibitions with you:
Click the photos below for more info.
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I'm honored to be included in THE FIGURE CONTEMPORARY, a national exhibition at the Santa Cruz Art League in California, juried by Noah Buchanan, whose artwork I respect and enjoy.
Noah states, "Not only is The Figure the most intriguing topic for an artist, it is also the least forgiving to depict." I concur completely: this small acrylic, Bobbie by the Irises, was painted from life, in the garden with the bugs, in one session as the light and shadows shifted with an indomitable live model. While the image may look cheerful and easy, working with the figure en plein air is one of the toughest scenarios in which I've painted! I was glad this painting was selected for the exhibition, as it is one of my favorites from the "nude in nature" studies on which I've been working.
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I was glad to participate in two shows that echoed the "Nasty Women" exhibition which was organized after the 2016 presidential debates. From the original exhibition in Queens, NY, which sold out with overwhelming results, grass-roots "sister" shows popped up across the country raising awareness for human and women's rights.
Hosted by HERA GALLERY, RI - one of the oldest women-founded gallery spaces in the US - a painting of mine was included in this show which benefitted Madre. At the pop-up exhibition hosted by FESTOON ON HUDSON in Nyack, NY, my painting helped raise $1,300 though the exhibition's proceeds for The Center for Safety and Change.
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Master draughtswoman Lauren Amalia Redding has drawn together a group of female artists (one of whom I am over the moon to be) at The Rockport Center for the Arts, TX, inspired by Charlotte Brontë's eponymous "plain Jane."
In her curatorial statement, Lauren highlights Miss Eyre's assertion to Mr. Rochester: “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” For a 'poor, obscure, plain, and little' governess to forge her own life was revolutionary and breathtaking when Jane Eyre was first published in 1847 [...] To create art is also an act in self-sufficiency, intelligence, and courage, and the eleven women artists in NO NET ENSNARES ME assert their own independent wills to make. Fastidious technical knowledge, exploration of materials, and emphasis on craft and skill demonstrate that these artists, and their artworks, speak in a voice as clear as Jane’s.
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Coming to Abend Gallery in Denver in June, I am pleased to be a recurring character in the second chapter of the palette painting show originally curated by Trek Lexington and Dina Brodsky.
My artwork in the seminal POINT OF ORIGIN exhibition at NYC's The Lodge Gallery reinterpreted "La Source" paintings by Ingres and Courbet. I am revisiting this theme for the upcoming PALETTE show in Colorado. While I often get bogged down with "writer's block" when I attempt to describe in words the imagery that flows from my fingers, I'm eager to swim in another wet-paint whirlpool of concepts such as conquering and persevering, hubris and exploration, ripening and decay, dominion and desire.
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Share a link, a book, or an article with me?
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I've been building up my website, adding a couple of fun sections on my "News & Notes" page. Check them out by clicking on the image below - and please do recommend an artist, an article, a book, or a link that you think I should know about. Dankeschoen!
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Thank you for letting me share my studio news with you!
I infrequently gather up a bit of news about my artwork in a short e-epistle like this, aiming for a semiannual share, but you may always see what I'm currently up to - kittens, musings on life and death, works-in-progress, and the occasional beer - on my social media. I hope you'll stay connected with me!
This letter carries my best wishes for you,
Charis
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* What's on your to-do-list? Let me see now... there's the pants that need patching, the clothes that need folding, Christmas ornaments that (still) need organizing, books that need reading... ack, at least I finished this newsletter. Hooray! I'm going to get some wine.
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