Sketchbook blog

Just to make your day a little more creative:

Let's take a tour of a formerly thriving commercial district in High Point, NC.  Various arts enthusiasts, REALTORS(R), and activists are working hard to make this place thrive again with some creative placemaking strategies. This small house is owned by the Hayden Harmon Foundation, and was formerly a  notorious crack house in High Point.  The Foundation started 512 Collective here,  an art gallery filled with work by local visual artists. The adjacent lot will host exciting,  community-wide events. New wooden picket fence erected in front of Foundation-owned  512 Collective Art Gallery, which was the site of a former crack house.   Just a small change to signal the reclaiming of this property. Private commercial space diagonally across street from art gallery.   Another view of same space. Private residence adjacent to 512 Collective art gallery lot.  Across Street from dress shop. Dress shop is in the middle (taller building).  Please note historic (story) mural on ground level.

Now, I'm wrapping my tiny paintings up in the "cigarette boxes" for the Art-o-mat machines that will eventually hold and vend them.  Just think, for $5, you can buy a morsel of a masterpiece with a bit of art history.    Both Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian had to flee their jobs, studios, and homes multiple times during WWI and WWII.  Kandinsky kept secret for years that he and his wife lost a child to complications from starvation during the terrible circumstances of WWI.  Both men attempted to bring contemplative art that provoked conversation to a world that witnessed intense suffering and pain. I continue to be amazed at the hopefulness, brightness, and optimism that the work of both men portray.  I hope others who see my small bits of their paintings will desire to research both artists more deeply and will take heart in their stubborn refusal to be crushed by one of the most tumultuous periods in history.  

And I finally got my 2nd batch of 50 paintings done for Art-o-mat .  These will ship very soon.  Who knows where these little works of art could end up? This batch features little pieces of works by Kandinsky and Mondrian.  I am really enjoying learning more about these artists, their color choices, and how loose or tight each artist is with relatively simple, strong geometric subject matter.