Yet another Charleston WV artist blog. (But this one's SHINY!)
Mr. C, the Taylor Books shopcat.
Showing posts with label Taylor Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taylor Books. Show all posts
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Apocalypse Exhibit Reception
I've already seen the exhibit. It's just a small exhibit, taking up the back corner of the Annex Gallery, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in creativity! From Mark Wolfe's cartoon-like demon paintings to Amy Williams' "Four Owls of the Apocalypse" to Charley Hamilton's "Charleston at the Apocolypse," this is definitely an interesting collection of works.
Monday, March 12, 2007
ArtWalk Website
The folks at the Purple Moon have generously put together a website for the monthly ArtWalks. For those of you who live under a rock haven't been to an ArtWalk, they're lots of fun. You start at any of the galleries around 5:00 on the third Thursday of each month, and you walk around to the rest of them during the next two hours, eat gourmet noshies, drink wine, and meet the artists who exhibit in Charleston galleries. Very fun.
The new website is here: http://www.charlestonartwalk.com/index.htm and will be added to the Carpe You Some Diem sidebar, also.
The new website is here: http://www.charlestonartwalk.com/index.htm and will be added to the Carpe You Some Diem sidebar, also.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Peace Crane Project
I took these photos at the debut of the Peace Crane Project, an art installation by Amy Williams at Taylor Books in Charleston WV. Some of these cranes were folded and strung by my students, and I think there ended up being over 1,500 cranes at the last count (although there were plenty more made after the official count!) These photos don't do the exhibit justice -- you really have to be there to get the full effect. The strings of cranes are literally all around you as you walk around the store, and there are larger cranes dangling from strings here and there. And if you think about it, each crane stands for a wish for peace -- for this war to come to a peaceful conclusion. Soon! It's a beautiful exhibit, in every way.
Diego and Frida
Check out the Diego Rivera/Frida Kahlo collaboration at Taylor Books:
photo by Amy Williams
Local artist Amy Williams made Frida, Charly Hamilton made Diego, and photographer Mark Wolfe took the creepy cemetary photo in the background. The exhibit debuted at this month's Art Walk last Thursday, but will be up until the end of the month. It's in the Annex Gallery front window, to the left of the Taylor Books storefront.
Collaborations make me happy. :)
photo by Amy Williams
Local artist Amy Williams made Frida, Charly Hamilton made Diego, and photographer Mark Wolfe took the creepy cemetary photo in the background. The exhibit debuted at this month's Art Walk last Thursday, but will be up until the end of the month. It's in the Annex Gallery front window, to the left of the Taylor Books storefront.
Collaborations make me happy. :)
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Heroes
Guess who I got to meet?
Can you guess? Can you?
Charly-freakin'-Hamilton, that's who!
For those of you who don't know, I credit Charly with really getting me interested in the local art scene. It was back in the 90's, and I was in high school. My art teacher was the really cool sort who would take us to art exhibits all around town, and they were all pretty nice, but kind of bland. There were a lot of paintings of West Virginia landscapes, like the Grist Mill or barns in the snow. There were a lot of P. Buckley Moss and William Goebel pieces which I appreciate more now, but they didn't really move me then. There were a lot of pretty things that looked like they would be at home hanging over someone's sofa or in a doctor's office waiting room...
... and then there was something like this:
(not this particular painting... but something like it. This is also his work.)
I must have stood there in the Cultural Center for an hour, just staring at that one piece. I remember my Mom checking out the entire exhibit, then coming back to find me at the same spot. His work is like that -- you can look at it for hours and find new things to enjoy anywhere you look. (In fact, his art sort of reminded me of the art of an up-and-coming artist named Keith Haring that I had read about not too long before this exhibit.) I think it was at that point that I realized that art could be so much more than just a pretty picture on a wall somewhere that you really don't interact with, much. Art can have a message. Art can stand on its own. Art can make a person stop in their tracks. Art doesn't have to match the decor. Art can be an experience that goes so much beyond canvas and paint, or carved wood, stone, or bronze. Art transcends language, or culture, or religion, or sexual orientation, or economic status, or age, or even time. Art is one of the last truly free forms of communication we have. It's not sponsored by major corporations and really can't be censored (it just finds new ways to speak.) It can't be taxed, or DRM'd to death, or squirreled away for only the most elite. Art is for everyone.
That's when I decided I wanted to be an artist. My art teacher had been pushing me to enter art exhibits, and I had won some pretty hefty prizes in them, but I never felt the need to make art, other than for my own enjoyment. But after that day, I knew that I wanted to be an artist and that art would allow me to say things I could never communicate, otherwise.
Fast forward to yesterday. The always-awesome Amy Williams had invited me to help string cranes for her Peace Crane Project at Taylor Books. She and Charly had collaborated on a Frida Kahlo-Diego Rivera portrait piece and so he would be there, too, to hang it. She introduced me to him, he shook my hand and thanked me for mentioning him in a review I wrote last month (and told me not to be upset about the backlash it got) and I probably looked like a big noob because I felt like such a fangirl. I thanked him for his kind words, and talked briefly with him about his work and the local art scene, and spent the next hour stringing cranes with him, Amy, and some other Patriots for Peace friends. It was a fun evening, cut short by a really nasty winter storm that caused me to rush out of there to try to make it home before it really got bad. (I didn't make it -- it hit while I was there and it took me two hours to get home. It wasn't too bad, though -- I kind of enjoyed driving and listening to old podcasts of NPR's This American Life.)
I am so glad I've had the opportunity to meet Charly, Amy, and some other area artists. Charleston has a really cool art scene for such a small city, but part of what makes it so interesting are the artists, themselves. They're all (well, mostly... *hehe*) such cool people! And many of them are really into providing art experiences that involve the public -- much more than stuffy art exhibits with wine and cheese receptions. I hope to be part of the artist crowd, too, someday, but until then, it's great fun just to enjoy it as it happens.
Can you guess? Can you?
Charly-freakin'-Hamilton, that's who!
For those of you who don't know, I credit Charly with really getting me interested in the local art scene. It was back in the 90's, and I was in high school. My art teacher was the really cool sort who would take us to art exhibits all around town, and they were all pretty nice, but kind of bland. There were a lot of paintings of West Virginia landscapes, like the Grist Mill or barns in the snow. There were a lot of P. Buckley Moss and William Goebel pieces which I appreciate more now, but they didn't really move me then. There were a lot of pretty things that looked like they would be at home hanging over someone's sofa or in a doctor's office waiting room...
... and then there was something like this:
(not this particular painting... but something like it. This is also his work.)
I must have stood there in the Cultural Center for an hour, just staring at that one piece. I remember my Mom checking out the entire exhibit, then coming back to find me at the same spot. His work is like that -- you can look at it for hours and find new things to enjoy anywhere you look. (In fact, his art sort of reminded me of the art of an up-and-coming artist named Keith Haring that I had read about not too long before this exhibit.) I think it was at that point that I realized that art could be so much more than just a pretty picture on a wall somewhere that you really don't interact with, much. Art can have a message. Art can stand on its own. Art can make a person stop in their tracks. Art doesn't have to match the decor. Art can be an experience that goes so much beyond canvas and paint, or carved wood, stone, or bronze. Art transcends language, or culture, or religion, or sexual orientation, or economic status, or age, or even time. Art is one of the last truly free forms of communication we have. It's not sponsored by major corporations and really can't be censored (it just finds new ways to speak.) It can't be taxed, or DRM'd to death, or squirreled away for only the most elite. Art is for everyone.
That's when I decided I wanted to be an artist. My art teacher had been pushing me to enter art exhibits, and I had won some pretty hefty prizes in them, but I never felt the need to make art, other than for my own enjoyment. But after that day, I knew that I wanted to be an artist and that art would allow me to say things I could never communicate, otherwise.
Fast forward to yesterday. The always-awesome Amy Williams had invited me to help string cranes for her Peace Crane Project at Taylor Books. She and Charly had collaborated on a Frida Kahlo-Diego Rivera portrait piece and so he would be there, too, to hang it. She introduced me to him, he shook my hand and thanked me for mentioning him in a review I wrote last month (and told me not to be upset about the backlash it got) and I probably looked like a big noob because I felt like such a fangirl. I thanked him for his kind words, and talked briefly with him about his work and the local art scene, and spent the next hour stringing cranes with him, Amy, and some other Patriots for Peace friends. It was a fun evening, cut short by a really nasty winter storm that caused me to rush out of there to try to make it home before it really got bad. (I didn't make it -- it hit while I was there and it took me two hours to get home. It wasn't too bad, though -- I kind of enjoyed driving and listening to old podcasts of NPR's This American Life.)
I am so glad I've had the opportunity to meet Charly, Amy, and some other area artists. Charleston has a really cool art scene for such a small city, but part of what makes it so interesting are the artists, themselves. They're all (well, mostly... *hehe*) such cool people! And many of them are really into providing art experiences that involve the public -- much more than stuffy art exhibits with wine and cheese receptions. I hope to be part of the artist crowd, too, someday, but until then, it's great fun just to enjoy it as it happens.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Peace Crane Project
This is why I love my job -- I get to do silly things like this!
This is a commercial of sorts, made to play at the CCHS Student-Made Film Festival to get kids interested in the Peace Crane project. It's my first-ever attempt at stop-motion animation, and it probably stinks, but I had fun so it's all good.
Incidentally, there will be a crane-folding workshop for the Peace Crane Project tomorrow (Friday) at 3:00 at Ellen's Ice Cream on Capitol Street. The cranes will be used in an installation by artist Amy Williams at Taylor Books to promote a peaceful end to the war in Iraq.
You know, if you fold 1,000 cranes, you get a wish. I lost count. Do you automatically get the wish when you get 1,000 cranes, or do you have to fold 1,000 and then make an official wish?
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