a late night update...
a big *smooch* to rainer
for helping me set the new
banner for the blog ...
do you like it? let me know!

it is our garden last sunday
after the snow. i will update it
each season as it changes.

veilen danke, schatzy!

American Kitty

acrylic 36" by 48"

by Bruce Andrew McKay
(aka BAM)

The seductive nature of cats ...
In larger than living color, with the sly/shy humor and all of the wit...
Meet Bruce, observer and
painter of cats. He has taken his idea of cats and created a huge body of work devoted to their antics, musings and behaviors. I find these thoroughly enchanting. Their sheer size brings them closer to you - just like getting down on the floor and playing with them. He is a life long painter from Toronto who trained as a child with Ralph Abrams. He spent his time with a major advertising firm (SVP Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Canada)when he was fresh out of art school ... But like all of us who have done something else inbetween ... went back to painting. Bruce has never looked back. His original inspiration was a magical little kitty named "Maxine". His work has been influenced by a few sources - Native North American Art for their bold colors and linework, as well as the importance of animals in their paintings and Keith Haring, Roy Liechtenstein and many early 20th century poster artists for obvious reasons. I like the way Bruce has taken us on a ride in these paintings. They emit the fun of owning a cat with out the furballs. Like Liechtenstein they let us stop and enjoy the humor in life. The rich saturated colors depict a larger than life character, who is having a whole lot of fun entertaining us, the viewer. Bruce sells his the bulk of his work to Washington Green in the UK, but good news for us in the USA, artstream will be his first gallery this summer. Don't miss it! In the mean time, take a peek at his gallery. They are sumptuous, silky, sultry kitties, depicted in kitty like and not so kitty like antics. As the one above is doing by pretending to be part of one of my favorite movies.

The word for the day is an onomatopoeia .... purr ... like a cat when you are happy and you know it!

Monday wake up call!
Code Pink.





We are marching on March 8th in Rochester.
Join us downtown in the main parking lot.
Contact Pat for more details.
Women for Peace - because it matters - get involved.

Who is that green faced woman?

Josh Belanger draws. He paints. Does he like this sketch? Not especially ... but I do. This scornful woman is in our design studio space at home to keep a discerning eye on Rainer and myself. I cajoled Josh into letting me buy this huge 5' by 5' charcoal and acrylic painting from him. She is elegant and haughty. With wonderful broad stroked lines for hair. She reminds us of how we could look to others if we are not careful. I love Josh's work. Rainer and I were married in our gallery and the exhibition at the time included Josh's work. They were all large scale drawings of his father from his senior thesis. They were beautiful. Lately some of his work is too violent for my weak heart and too far right on the political scale for me ... But not all of it. And I still have to look as he is really young and really good. He has the eye for the figure like Egon Schiele. I know he admires his work as well. He can make art like nobody's business. I admire his work and work ethic. He does a lot of commercial art for bands - covers, teeshirts, etc. - lately as well as his fine art. He has an amazing eye for line which I covet and to date the longest titles for his artwork which I have ever run across. So, to see more of his work, stop by his studio in Rollinsford, NH. Brace yourself! This is one bad boy. But underneath it lies a true, true artist of the finest, most natural kind. Here is one more shot of something he does like - just to be fair ... this piece is entitled "Cinquanta" 2003 aprx 50"x 70" charcoal, acrylics and watercolors, on Stonehenge.



The word for the day is ... reflect ... like a mirror, inwards or think about what you just said or did for a moment, please.

Sunday Supplement

Davistudios and Mary Anne's beautiful blog

Just go and see what Mary Anne is all about.

Her porcelain is scrumptous and her taste in blogging right up my alley. Her work is available at Greenjeans in Brooklyn. It is both sculptural and functional. It is beautiful. It is also available at her website.

Our views are parallel on world peace and Macintosh as well. Take time to read her UN visit piece.

The word for the day is ... blanketed ... as curled up in bed, the snow outside our window today and covering your table with beautiful porcelain.

Jane Kaufamann
Raku Potter

and so much more...

The first time I saw one of Jane Kaufmann's sculptures, was when I was in college. My roommate had her "Sunman" finger puppet. I thought it was wonderful. A few years later (in the late 70's) I saw her at the Sunapee Fair. I was in awe. Here was a woman living her art and doing it with a family and doing it daily. I still had not met her as I was way too shy to actually go up and speak with her. But I admired her from afar ... for a long time.

I followed her work and finally late in the 90's I met her! I took a pottery class with Karen Orsillo to learn how to work with mason stains to make colored clay and Jane was there. Finally! I was able to meet the legend. She invited me to stop by her house and so of course I did. Her home is an amazing place. Gardens on its hillside location with beautiful artwork strewn throughout the out of doors and of course into the house. Everywhere is art. Art from many of the artists she has known, inspired, worked with and alongside of. Oh! I forgot to say that when you drive up to her home, you view her raku set up in the driveway nestled into the hillside. I liken the site to the lovely iron scraps in Portsmouth Harbor. It shows beauty in work. The purpose for what goes on in the place. I like that in a city and in a person. Don't hide it under a designer lid. Show what is real. That is Jane.
When we opened artstream we spoke with Jane about carrying her work. At the time it wasn't perfect for her for expanding her gallery base. She works really hard making these labor intensive pieces at very affordable prices. Then the day came when she sent us a letter telling us, yes, she could bring us into her fold and she liked what we were doing enough to have us sell her work. Yea!

How to sum up Jane in this blog ? This is such a small space and is way too difficult - there is far too much depth in Jane's work to show it all here. Please go take a peek at her wonderful website to learn more about this artist, activist, mother, writer and wonder called Jane Kaufmann. Come into artstream and take home something wonderful from her collection. Everyone needs one ... one more short story for this incredibly long entry ...

A family from New Zealand, (who now live in Singapore), were on vacation in New England and stopped into the gallery last fall. They had been touring around New ENgland for a month and looking for an artwork to take home as a rememberance of their trip. They were leaving the next day, sadly empty handed - until they came in and fell in love with one of her huge raku orbs entitled "Yellow Sky". We packed it up and sent it on the plane back with them. A couple of months ago they sent me an email which said it brought delight to them everyday, sparked conversations with visitors at their home and reminded them of the lovely tour of New England they enjoyed last fall. That is how I feel about the pieces I own of Jane's work. They bring joy.

On the technical side of things raku pottery is a labor intensive process. To learn more about it just visit Jane's site... take the tour. The physical nature of raku and the size of these orbs (they run from 5 inches high to 20 inches or more!) make it a mystery to me how this tiny woman works it. But she does it ... and with so much passion. Hats off to Jane Kaufmann - hurray for her art, her ideals and her passion and way of living!


The word for the day is ... juggle ... as in your schedule, your dreams, and your life.

Artist Profile:
Kris Lanzer

Kris Lanzer, visual artist, makes sculptures and installations. The latest work of hers is an
installation entitled "In the Dead of Winter"
The work had been in progress over the past year. It is a time specific piece - it had to be in the dead of winter.
The idea sparked from a coversation with artstream late last year encouraging Kris to think about another installation this year, after her 2003 piece was such a success... She started thinking about the winter months directly following the craziness of the holidays.
Kris Lanzer says: It is now the post holiday season, the season of silence,death and darkness. Unwittingly I yearn for this time of year. It is the time to dig deep, to bury myself in silence, and endure nature's nap. Before long, restlessness will stir, light will overtake the darkness, and a renewed voice will deafen the silence.

It will be disassembled and reused in an upcoming play as the set of "The Cemetery Club" by Ivan Menchell done by Eddie's Roving Theater. The Spotlight Magazine from Portsmouth has nominated it for a "Spotlight Award". We created a video documentary to keep the installation in tack in our memory. Thanks go to Kris for keeping our small corner of New England alive with installations. She makes us stop and think for a moment about the quieter things in our over busy lives. For more information about her work contact us at artstream or through her studio space in Rollinsford, NH.

The word of the day is ... frosty ... as in ... a not - so - nice - stare, a car window in winter and a nice cold beer (it's Friday again!)

Metal Sculpture
ah-so by Ron Fountain

Ron is a collector of metal scraps, bits and pieces of things which most of us never take notice of again once we are through with them. He collects these things and organizes them, putting them in little boxes, nooks and crannies to find them easily when he needs them. In his studios - yes, he has taken over most of the spaces in the house he and his wife share in Brookfield, NH there are homages to most everything whimsical, mechanical and otherwise once moving.
When you drift through his home - turned - museum you see his different periods of work neatly displayed in each room. Outside in his yard are the large iron pieces which help you find him to begin with. He lives in the sticks as we say in New England. The works which appeal to me most are his wall sculptures and mobiles. This piece shown today is approximately 48 inches tall and 18 inches wide. It is speaks of parasols and rickshaw wheels. It was part of artstream's Ekphrastic art project, phase I. (stay tuned for the flip flop of this project in November/December of this year) Three poems - two in haiku form were inspired by this work. Ron has a style all of his own, however reminiscent of Louise Nevelson, it blooms in spoons and forks, bicycle spokes, fan parts and refrigerator elements all on its own. His work is very affordable with small sculptures starting at $35 up to his wall sculptures at $300. Stop by artstream or email us for more views of his work. We always have something new from Ron.

The word for today is ... divine! ... as in a fine piece of silk, a well performed tango, and a 3 p.m. nap

Felted items

from Belgium by Els.
This is a iPod Nano case. I don't own a Nano. I think I will have to get one now to own this lovely little felted case. I purchased a small makeup bag piece from Els at her etsy shop "from belgium with love" The craftmanship is amazing and the price was more than affordable and it came in four days from Belgium. The land of chocolate!
But now I want to buy a Nano ... You see where this is leading?

Els is a graphic designer who like all creative people can not work in just one medium. Her little etsy store is filled with bright delightful felted items and they come with a small surprise inside too! She dabbles in papergoods and tucks some in your purchases. Just go take a peek ... It's textile art.

You must see one other totally delightful piece here from Els. It could get you and your loved one(s) to eat the simple elegant boiled egg again! Breakfast time is party time.

Her business is entitled Eénig - I asked Els what the word meant, (no we don't speak Flemish here, nor very good Dutch ...) and this is what she told me:

Eénig is a name I made of two words "Eén" which means one and "enig" which means unique and also "very nice, beautiful". I want to say I make items that are unique, every item is different and I hope people find them beautiful -- Els

I do! I do! -- Susan


The word for the day is ... COZY! ... as in ... a pleasantly tight fit, a warm throw on your sofa, and something which keeps your tea and eggs the right temperature!

Downstream
(# 3 in a series of four from
"Fishing with my Mother")

mixed media 11x14 inches

I had these photographed today by expert art photographer Perry Smith at Photo services ... thank you very much Perry. He is not only a photographer, but humorist to boot. You have to be to work with artists.

Anyway, I decided to show this new work of mine, as I have finally started to finish some work which has been hanging around in my head and my studio for far too long. Some have morphed into new and interesting mixed media pieces and others started out on fresh new canvases like this one. (Yes Molly, one of those canvases is for your beloved Peacock painting...)
This series was a visual journey of growing up with a mother who loved to go fishing and thought we should too. We fished in the lakes around Iowa and Vermont where we grew up. We learned to fly fish in Colorado on vacation. (I think I hooked my mother's best friend's little boy in the arm on that excursion) We took our poles up to Minnesota and Cass Lake and caught Northern Pike. Those are some very scary looking fish with big teeth. We went tent camping out West and took our poles. In Florida we went deep sea fishing out on the Gulf of Mexico and I remember throwing up a lot and feeling rather green in general. On that trip my grandfather caught a huge bonito fish. My grandmother cooked it that evening in a tomato sauce which was simply horrible. Ah well.
However, my mother was passionate about this and my father obliged her by letting her fish and helping us girls untangle our messes and keeping the "green bass" off our lines. It was a homey, fun, kid - like thing to do as young girls but I know that my mom would still like to do it today. I for one would not. Give me a perch dredged in cornmeal sauteed in butter and lemon or better yet some sushi near Grant Street in San Francisco, but no more fishing for dinner!

And so for her love of fishing these small works finally flowed forth. These and some other mixed media works of mine will be in an exhibition in April at the new Seacoast Gallery in Portsmouth. More on that later.


The word for the day is ... Wave ... as in ... the sea, your hand, and a sexy dip in your hair.

Porcelain Sculpture



by Tim Christensen-Kirby
"Dreaming Hen" approach inches tall

Tim is a potter/sculptor who has created some of the most magnificent scrafitto works in black and white. They almost always have a plant/animal theme which is simple and elegant. The hens are a series of smaller sculptures which we had the pleasure to have at artstream last year in a "flock". They have a story on each piece told in a way reminiscent of the Inuit art I have seen in my travels to Northern Canada. However they have a spirit all their own. Tim takes great pains in creating works which not only have great form, but have a printmakers etching style with the scraffito effects drawn into each piece. The black glaze is bufffed to a soft sheen and in some of the hen pieces a gold paint is applied. At artistically we have many of his forms ranging from the hen shown above which retails for $95 to some larger works in the familiar plate form at $300. There are also egg shapes which stand on end and vase and cup forms as well. I have watched Tim's work over the past two years change into this stark, complex scraffito style in sculptures - away from the conventional production pottery which we drink our coffee from and serve our special bruschetta on. I have to say that I love it. I get to live with it every day at the gallery and it brings joy to each person who comes in to the gallery to browse as well as those who have taken them home. Tim's work can be found at our gallery year 'round and in many others across the USA. Check out his site at muddybirdpottery.com

The word for the day is ... layer ... as in your warm clothing, a collage painting and a good chocolate cake!

"One's identity is like a quilt, formed slowly over time. Scraps of fabric are carefully collected from here and there, similar to the way in which we are influenced by relationships with others, our environment and our history". - Kim Ferreira

This is Kim Ferreira. Artist, owner of Three Graces Gallery in Portsmouth,NH and all around sweetie.
Her self portraits are a wonderful expression of her painterly style and brings us closer to the inside person - Kim. When you get a moment, you should look inside her online gallery of images of her paintings which show the many moods and interior spaces she has chosen to paint.
This painting is entitled "Blue" and is oil on canvas, 14" x 11" for $350.

Kim has taken the old Pierce Gallery on Market Street and turned it into a haven for fine quality art with a broad spectrum of styles and custom framing. Her framing is the best around. And I love the themes and exhibitions which she so carefully puts together. I am sure that when the out-of-towners stroll by her gallery that they take a double take as well with her exquisite "Artist Window" She has artists create statements in her window each month with a concept - visually illustrated. My favorite to date was Tim Christensen - Kirby's birds ... but more about him next week.
If you are on the seacoast, do drop by The Three Graces Gallery. You will be sure to walk out with something you will cherish for a lifetime, and tell Kim that Susan sent you.

The word for the day is ... Transform ... as in a special space, yourself, or your conditions.

OK, what is this?










"Good Morning Sweetheart!(treasure)"
These are the funniest little tableware items that I have ever laid my eyes on. But is it art?
Going back six years to when I first went to Germany I saw them... the proper German word for them is frühstücksbrettchen ... breakfast board. We have no idea what they are in the USA.
That is because they do not exist. We do not eat off of cutting boards. Which really, these are not. They replace breakfast dishes. They come in the traditional wooden type and all kinds of laminate types. These are by far the frühstücksbrettchen (yes, I cut and pasted that word the second time as umlauts are hell) which most mimic art ... in a way. Sort of. Well, maybe not, but I just love mine. These were made by a design student at the University of Münster named Simone Hogrebe for her thesis project. I saw them at the student opening which exhibits their thesis and fell in love with eating breakfast all over again. The art of them all is what caught me. Elkedag is a Dutch word which means every day. Elkedag must have caught on as that was six years ago and she sells them to a variety of stores around Europe and on the internet at The Cedon Museum Shops and Details (wholesale)
Now, you may not enjoy eating your toast or brötchen on these as much as I do, but I had to show the artwork as it is very witty ... very useful ... and very much everyday. I will try and translate with the help of my husband the sayings on the boards. Of course, as you can well imagine some of the jokes don't translate. No problem. The pictures speak a thousand words - make up your own jokes! Have another cup and enjoy the moment at your table. Love life! Life is schöen. (beautiful)


"The morning after" (dare-devil)

^ "You rascal!" (didn't Amalie plant those gnomes in our brains everywhere?)

^ "The round peg in the rectangular hole"... nope that doesn't REALLY translate ... cute though.

^ This one is totally universal ... keep your sunny side UP! ...

^ "After every night there is a morning" ... hee hee hee

... and finally, my personal favorite below ... "These boards mean the world to me" ... boards in this useage mean the stage floor.

The word for today, (because it is Friday) is ... Footloose ... as in dancing, fancy free - and
... go have some fun!

Kim Wintje has spent more than 20 years making sculpture. Incorporating many fabric techniques, she uses recycled metal, wire, and paint, to create wall mounted sewn metal sculptures about pollution, habitat loss, complacency, human rights, extinction, and many other environmental and political issues.

This piece is called "Caught in the Crosshairs",
Saadam Hussein ...

Kim sews together pieces of metal flashing and creates these tin toy like serious sculptures. I am in awe of her keeping her hands in one piece as they are so intricate as well as sharp edged in both construction and wit. Which I feel is good. Kim uses her powers for good not evil. Her time is spent helping the viewer connect with something much larger than what they stepped up to the wall to inspect. The first glance is Ohhh, toy like painted antique little bit of something sweet. Then you get closer. You relate the sculptures on the wall with the images you see in your head emblazoned from the screen, the book or newspaper you just read or perhaps the latest rag. Slowly it sinks in and makes you accountable for what is going on in the world - or has happened. Which, as the lady depicted below, who cloned the phrase said: "It's a Good Thing"
I have lists of artists that I admire and then there are the ones at the top. Kim is at the top. Here is what was written about an exhibit, which we had her work included in, in October/November of 2004. It includes my favorite piece of hers "The day we saw the Edge of the Earth" Go look. The show was attended by many and the photos we have of the opening are all here at our photo gallery site at artstream.


This one is called "Corporate Greed Exhales" Martha
(part of the Bad Girl series)








The word for today is ... responsibility ... like in our actions, our thoughts and our deeds

Manhattan Bridge by Richard Rosenblatt
To sit at the edge of the Promenade in Brooklyn looking out into Manhattan, with someone you love next to you is a wonderful thing. Oh! an extention of yesterday? I think so. After all the world can use a bit more love, right?

Brooklyn is a very romantic place to me. This is where my husband and I met for the first time sitting viewing a similar site.

Richard has captured the beauty of this span with oils in a large painting which brings you a little closer to a perspective which makes you feel small and warm and wonderful all at the same time. Close to humanity and industry with a raw dash of nature thrown in. That is Brooklyn to me. That along with dear friends at the Melting Pot, eating jerk chicken at Brawta, strolling along Atlantic Avenue, hurrying off the Javitz in Manhattan at an early hour with Tammy and Nancy to sell our lines of children's clothing, and having three too many cocktails at the corner of Dean and Bond and then stumbling back to Dean sitting on beautiful brownstone stairs to chat until the sun comes up.
Of course not when it looked like Richards other painting below ... then it was coffee in the back kitchen looking out to the garden. Can you see I can't wait to go for another visit?
Below is another season in Brooklyn of Pacific Ave blanketed with snow. Richard has captured it again. Brooklyn in all of it's beauty. We have his paintings now and again at artstream and he is available at the above link as well in Provincetown, MA. We love his work and find that he consistantly brings out the best of all places he depicts.














The word for the day is ... glow ... as in the setting sun, the electric lightbulb,
and your inner beauty.

"Walking through Paris" by Angela Gwinner.
What could be more appropriate today, February 14th -- than that? (did you forget?)

This is a hauntingly romantic photograph to me. I am a total softie on this day of all days. Love is in the air creating soft mist in the background and showing us that even in the deep of winter's cold that it can melt our freezing hearts.
sigh!


This photograph is one of many which Angela has captured in cities in Europe. Venice, London, Frankfurt appear with an intimate view of people in everyday life enjoying the streets and cafes of their famous cities. But it is a day in the life, with an eye on the intimate which draws the viewer in. She has a keen sense of composition and knows how to make you feel part of the photograph. Her limited edition (5) photographs are framed out to 16 by 20 in museum mats and black gallery frames. Angela is not only a photographer extrodinare, but owned a gallery in the Black Forest of Germany where my husband and I met her during OUR honeymoon three years ago... (See photo below of our somewhere in the Black Forest photo) and now is the owner of a whimsical wonderful line of jewelry and clothing called omondieu! Her works are a statement of love of her art and as a European herself, she knows what she is capturing first hand. Affordable? You bet, $150 so you can gift yourself and your valentine. Visit us at artstream to veiw a few more and stop in for the real thing.




The word for today is of course ... LOVE ... it's all you need.

What came first, the chicken or the pear?
Cynthia Fontneau has been exhausting her passion for painting - with chickens and fowl of all sorts for about 18months now. It all started with a dream. She had a dream about some rather abstract chickens hovering around her backyard. They were red and vibrant in her dreams and she had to get them onto canvas. (See how it all began below). This little chick (about 10 by 14 inches) was painted in layers of acrylic glazed deeply with color. Fresh paint! Fresh chick! Fresh pears! Not your ordinary compostion of pears and what have you. Her work is so portrait like with these birds that they could hardly be called anything but portraits. The images are alive with personality, dare we say they have attitude? They are fine paintings. Yes, they are not your trendy folk art chicken prints for the kitchen. These proud birds beg you to speak with them. Look closely, doesn't that one with the fluffy topknot remind you of one of the queens from a small European country you studied in fifth grade? She certainly outclasses her mate in every way. They make you look at the world of fowl so differently, that each painting and wood cut print she creates brings something new to the plate. Ooops! I do not mean for dinner ... hang one of these on your wall - ok - in the kitchen if you must, and enjoy the wit and wisdom of the not so lowly bird. These are truly beautifully executed paintings of chickens. One of a kind. Just like people. They are priced around $200 and below and most are framed. Cynthia's flock can be seen at artstreamstudios.com and she also has some woodcut prints over in South Berwick, ME at Emporium Gallery. Go ahead take a peck ... umm, peek. We always have a few of her birds on hand. Which is far better than the bush. Any Bush I can think of.














The word for the day is ... Plucky ... as in fortitude, imaginative and fearless

"A cup of sake, a morsel of sushi and thou...." Nick Park has a way with still life. He brings the viewer to the table of life and compels you to sit down and stay a while. This oil painting is 38" square and is framed in a floating black frame.
Nick has a pallete which speaks to me. It is personal, yet it is everyman. The handling of the space and objects give the viewer a sense of arrival.
Nick works in oils as well as etchings and monotypes. His works range from landscape to figure and still life with a great sense of his own style and view of the world. We have had his works in many exhibitions throughout the past two years (see our past exhibitions ) and hope to see very soon what he has been up to in the great city of San Fransisco! The work I am showing you here is entitled "Still life with a Sake cup" in oil and is $500. For more information please contact us at artstreamstudios.com

The word for the day is ... "Prost!" ... hey! it is Saturday after all ... tip one for me!

Pickstitch! I met this stitch on a beautifully designed skirt and blouse by Cynthia Designs of Dover, NH this week. I had to show you what it looked like up close because I find it so amazing. Most people tell me that they can not draw a straight line. I tell them I can't sew a straight line ... but now I know something which has to be even harder ... Hand sewing a curly line! Cynthia is a woman of many talents. She creates clothing based on textures, patterns, line and color. She is an artist of the fabric world. Her one of a kind clothing is fashionable, funky and full of life. Each have a title and story behind them. The details are astounding and her combinations of color/texture and shape of garment are more than unique. By now are you are wondering why I am not showing you the entire outfit? Simple! You must come see for yourself. (or wait to see the photos afterwards) We are having an Art to Wear/Home Design show on April 15th from 11 to 4 p.m. at artstream.
Come on over and enjoy all kinds of fashionable things you or someone else can wear, use in your home or write on or hang on your wall. There will be music and refreshments as well as some of the most interesting designers in the area who will answer your every question about their work. Shameless promotion here? You bet! Look for our invitations in your mailbox and bring a friend. Not on our mailing list? Sign up at the gallery website artstream. The event will be full of clothing, accessories, pottery, jewelry, fiber art pieces, silk scarves, felted items and more nestled into our upcoming exhibit "Composite Memories". Oh yes! There is also going to be a fashion runway show beginning at 2 p.m. Come have some fun with us in April!

The word for the day is .... Details .... as in important, tiny, and don't get lost in them.

Ah February...the time when having sculpture in your backyard makes the midwinter thaw seem like summer just isn't that far away. Here is something to ponder whilst the snow turns to mud again near your herb garden. "Down the Drain" by Jerry Glynn. A sculpture which had a home in a backyard at the beach... until Alison Cleveland called us up and told us about this humble quiet man. We drove down to the beach and found Jerry. His yard and home were filled with these fantastical, found object sculptures. This work "Down the Drain" stands 4 feet tall and is perfectly at home in a large foyer or backyard gathering further patina. Jerry has a knack for seeing modern machines and antiquated human forms in bits of wire, draincovers, driftwood, nuts and bolts and whatever else washes up from the Atlantic. See, Jerry finds his materials on the beach. Has for years. Keeps them in a storage area in his backyard until he needs just that piece. That day always seems to come for him too. While we were touring his personal museum I came across a small sculpture which I felt needed a new home - mine. When I asked Jerry what the piece was called, Jerry said he didn't really have a name, but somehow I already knew his name: "Java Man" So Java Man came home with me that day and has peered through his monocular eye fingering his wild mane of telephone wire now for over two years. He speaks to the part of us all who wants to take a bit of this and a bit of that and become much more than the sum of our parts.

Jerry's sculptures are so different and so personal to him that I believe each one has much more to offer than seen by first glance. "Down the Drain" has a large heavy swinging drain cap suspended from the large copper pipe hoop he has constructed. When placed outside, the drain cap moves with the breeze. Something which you don't see often - heavy metal floating on air. This gentle man has taken our society's cast offs and has breathed new life into them. He brings a little of himself to each new object he creates and tells a story about where they have been.

The word for the day is.... Bend...as in wire, cooperation and the rules.

Red is a warm and powerful color. It can overpower most everything around it. That is why when my husband and I went in search of a couch for our new house we were not thinking about the color red. We sat on, bounced around on, lay down on, and ran around more couches than either the sales people at the furniture stores would care to remember and more than I care to tell you about. But there it was. In it's sexy (read durable) microsuede self. Deep and soft, wide enough for a great snuggle and afternoon nap. Yes, this was the one. Looks and quality to fit my designer husband's needs and color and comfort I just had to have. But three months later, our freshly painted "kettle pond" wall above it was still just "kettle pond" Nothing in our collection of artwork could sit above this red beauty and compete. Until May. Enter Dustan Knight with her Metal/Petal exhibition last April at our gallery. Our walls were filled with the most vibrant huge floral and woodland watercolor paintings. Yes, watercolor. I know that you are looking at the piece above and thinking where is the frame? Dustan paints very large scale works (and some small ones too!) which she mounts through a process she has devised onto a wooden cradle support. She has a finish which she applies to them which protect them from UV damage as well. The whole process is so unique that she has created a videotape with instructions for other artists to learn the process by. This painting we were gifted after doing a photoshoot for Dustan of the exhibition. In choosing the piece, I didn't have the couch in mind. No artist does, sadly. The piece is 40 by 40 inches and is filled with a rose colored woods. It is filled with brightly colored branches and soft red mist. It is calm and quiet. It is red. My couch loves it and lives in harmony with it. My two girls are convinced that the faeries live behind the chartreuse tree. Dustan's paintings range from huge florals which we have shown to scenes of fantastic animals with children riding them to woodlands and water. She is a painter who came from the NYC expressionistic movement and keeps that edge in most of the works I have seen. Need to see more? Go to her website at dustanknight.com or stop by the gallery this summer. We will have some of her brand new larger than life florals splashing up the place through labor day. She will also be offering workshops with us at the studio gallery - stay tuned!

The word for the day is.... a German word! ..... Wundertüte ... which means surprise bag or a bag which you do not know what is inside until you open it. (say voon - dher- too-teh , it will make you feel good!)

Rose Sielian Theriault paints. She paints and has painted for many years. Artichokes are one of her passions. This watercolor painting is 22 by 30 inches and shows her intimate view of her dining room table. Today,Rose has a dozen dried artichokes in a shallow raku ware bowl on said table. Now, I love artichokes...and lemons too, but had never seen a dried one. She told me that she couldn't throw them out after painting them, as they dried so beautifully. She was right.
But I digress. This painting is pure simplicity, elegant and calm. It speaks to me of a quiet moment in our hurried existance. Rose's paintings will do that to you. Slow you down, keep you thinking about the simple things in life, the things which matter. Her background is rich with education, she has inspired many to paint and create. Her own rigorous exhibition CV has inspired many to own a piece of quiet from this magnificent painter/printmaker. Her membership in the Ogunquit Art Association, the country's oldest art association and the NH Art Association has kept her busy producing work - along with galleries across the country. She currently has work on display at the Currier Museum in Manchester, NH. For more information about this painting or (ok I had to show you one of her etchings as they are so wonderful) etching below contact artstreamstudios.com.


The word for the day is:


ZEST! ... as in lemon peel, a passion for life and that special feeling you get when you have done something wonderful.

Contrasts, comparisons, and powerful images.

These are the photographs of Matthew Alexander Wyatt, (formerly MatthewEmerson). I met Matt three years ago at the ripe old age of 16. He has become one of my favorite photographers in the area. This work was taken in NYC, but he is a new 2nd semester student in Manchester, NH. He has been attending the Manchester Institute of Art, but happily is moving on to Chicago to study next year...good move. This boy needs a big city. The photo below is one of his self portraits.

Usually I don't want to put more than one image here, but I strongly feel that his best work is of the portrait. Infact, so strongly do I feel this that I will now urge you to push the emerging cool button in my links I like section to see the rest of his site. The images of people go right to their soul. The textural pieces are my second favorites with Matthew's work. Matthew also dabbles heavily in film. He swept the short film festival, (in the two catagories he could win in), which we held in November 05 , entitled filmstream. He is a man of many talents and we should keep our eye on him... great things are about to happen!


For more information about the above photograph - Iron Gate $150 matted please contact artstreamstudios.com.


The word for today is:

Patina ... as in rust, verdigris and a desireable second skin.

Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us.
-Anonymous

Here's to hoping that you don't!
--Susan

Ahhh Tuscany... this is one of many Italian landscape paintings from Eve Corey. Eve paints from the hip, makes fabulous sense of skyscapes and landscapes from Italy to The Fox Run Mall in Newington, NH and Floridian pools to engaging British rolling hills.
I love her work, there is no way around it. I cherish the pink horizon landscape with the row of trees in my living room. A painting should take you away - into a place which makes you think, dream and explore. Her paintings do just that for me.
When I visited her home studio, which is truly that -- each room a painter's delight with different canvases and assemblage works in different states of "finished" -- embellishing the walls and tables everywhere, I felt the true sense of an artist at work. The works take you out of the room and into a place which is directs you to her intended destination by color, mood, and horizon line. Simple elements exquistely formulated. This diminuitive work , 12 by 12 inches of a Tuscan landscape draws you into the most wonderful part of the day in Italy, twilight. It is $350 and for more information on this and other Eve Corey works, please contact artstreamstudios.com


The word for the day is:

Mystery .... as in places unfamiliar, some of our dreams and people you have noticed, but not yet met.

Ever feel like you just can't please everyone?
I think that in life, especially as a woman, this happens daily. The more roles we take on in our life the more complicated that feeling becomes.Floating though the day as a student/mother/artist/waitress/clerk/wife/partner/
daughter/million other possiblities woman that life can get intense. Which can be a good thing. It can inspire.
Artist Jackie Hernandez fresh in from NJ brought this piece of artwork to my attention last month.. and it struck a nerve. It is every-girl. At first glance you would think that it is staight collage, a gluing of a variety of ephemera to paper.
But no, here is an excerpt from her site describing the technique:

"The images I create are produced by hand using traditional
photography techniques, rather than by computer manipulation. I have developed a method for dissecting and reassembling photographs into montages. Although tedious, the result is a more raw and unaltered piece. Each image I select has its own strong and unique meaning. When several of these stand-alone images are worked together i
nto a single piece, they become part of a more complex and interrelated message. Almost all my photomontages appear in my own dreams and desions, which are frightening to most people. For example, the theme of suicide or losing oneself is evident in one of my pieces called “Undone”. I welcome these nightmares and translate them into my work. It can be said it is all in my head."-Jackie Hernandez
The piece of artwork is a demure 8 inches by 10 inches framed and is available for $75. Yes, even in this world filled with copycat look-alike prints of everything which has already come before and has to come around again, there is still affordable original art.
And Jackie Hernandez creates it. Contact her or artstreamstudios.com for more information.


The word for the day is:

Sparkle ...as in diamonds, your personality, and the stars

The feeling of walking on air... or better yet, the reality of wearing a work of art which nurtures your foot day after day.

These are the shoes of the Cordwainer Shop right here in the great state of NH. These shoes have been made the same way by hand custom fit to your foot since the 1930's!

And my friend Molly has been stitchin up a storm with her husband Paul making them for the likes of these famous folks to name a few:
Sonia Henie (I personally saw the skates hanging at their shop last Sunday, what a thrill!)
Shirley Temple
Caesar Romero
William F Buckley
Robert Walker
William Loeb
Henry Ford-(yes, the real Henry Ford)
Valerie Harper
Julie Kavner
Bill Murray
Dana Ivey
Joe Perry
Lindsey Wagner
Michael Douglas
Carly Simon
Sally Jessy Raphael
Juliet Prouse
Debra Winger
Jane Withers
Timothy Hutton
Julie Christie
Demi Moore
Jennifer Tilly ... to name a few... and most of all, they look so great and unique on your foot!
Now there are a few things in this world of which I will not compromise on, foot comfort is at the top of my list. Art is a very close second. Why fill your life with mass produced stuff which doesn't last a year, which you will see at, (or on) the next cocktail party given by a coworker, when you can purchace one quality item which will perform perfectly, can be repaired if damaged and still live a long long life (with you of course) and look stunningly unique along the way? I say buy quality and enjoy forever!
Contact Molly and Paul at the Cordwainer Shop -- give them a ring to fit your deserving dogs with a pair of shoes made just for you.

The word for today is:

Deserve as in you are worthy, you shall be served, and justification!

Meet the Alien.

Here are some of the 114 odd Aliens I made for the Rochester Public Library Children's Room Summer Reading Program.

When I was a child, our library had a program where for every ten books you read,up to 100, you received a small ceramic prize based on a the theme for the summer program. One year it was the jungle, with the lion being the prize for the 100th book. One year it was an underwater sea adventure with the golden buried chest being the end prize, (I still have mine!) These fabulous tiny works of art were all made by hand by art students at the local college.

Well, this was a special time, as my darling children say, "The olden days" when TV was black and white, (Hey mom, was the world black and white too? a five-year-old's wisdom), and we read a lot of books in the summer.

This past year I felt overly nostalgic and shot my mouth off about how I would make little ceramic aliens for the end of the summer prizes. Their theme was "Reading is out of this world" or "Take me to your Reader"
Didn't think too much about how many kids would make it to the end of the summer program...

Marie in the children's room thought that around 100 would be enough. (oh my!) I wanted to be sure that nobody was turned away - or alienated.

It was great fun making these small creatures. They are all a wee bit special and different from one another, but all in all, just like us, are the same inside.

They went to good homes and I hear that they are adjusting well to life here on earth.



the word for the day is:

Adjust... like in your attitude, your skirt, your perspective

I don't know how to organise thoughts. I don't know how to have thoughts.
-Jasper Johns

Well, doesn't that speak volumes?
--Susan

In the spirit of Feininger and Klee with a flash of tomorrow, Aaron Rannenberg lets us into his mind's eye view of "Atropolis". These 18x24 paintings (yes, it is a series of at least 13 works) bring you closer to a place you feel compelled to investigate.
This painting is #7 in the series is done in acrylic. Aarron is a New England boy hailing from Providence but we see him frequently in NH when he recreates.You can view his photographic work and his wild music at www.rannenberg.com

Atropolis #7 is painted in acrylic on canvas, costs $100 and is unframed. Contact me at artstreamstudios.com if you have more questions - especially about seeing numbers 1 - 13!

The word for the day is:

Explore

as in Marco Polo, Cabral, Madame Curie - and Aarron Rannenberg