Isabelle goes to Miami

This is one of my newest series, "Wish You Were Here", in which I combine images from my mother's family album with vintage book pages and engravings. In this one, a digital transparency of my mother as a very serious three-year-old is overlaid on an engraving titled "The Riding Lesson". Watched by a governess, young girls in summer frocks are being taught to ride ponies - sidesaddle.  

Seager Gray Gallery has selected twelve pieces from this series to take to Aqua Miami later this month, and I couldn't be more pleased. Visit www.seagergraygallery.com for news and images of current and upcoming exhibits.

Bay Printmakers Open Studio

Bay Printmakers is a group of twenty terrific artists, working in a great variety of styles and techniques, and we held our Open Studio once again in the Fleet Room at Fort Mason last weekend.

Yes, we're all printmakers, but many of us also work in other media, and here is Sylvia Buettner showing Eleanor Murray her witty and elegant ceramic work. I'm happy to say that one of these came home with me.

50/50 Show at Sanchez Art Center

For this year's 50/50 show I decided to work entirely with old photos and tintypes from my mother's family. I've scanned these old images and reproduced them as prints and as digital tranparencies, and layered them in different combinations, as hands-on collages (as opposed to digital collages).
It's a juried show in which 70 artists create 50 small works in 50 days, and the opening reception is this Friday evening, August 24. It's a festive and high-energy event, and I hope to see old friends and meet new ones.

Altered Book Auction

Saturday was the opening reception of the Third Annual Altered Book Show and Auction at Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, which benefits the museum, and was conceived and organized (to a fare-thee-well) by Eleanor Murray. The reception was preceded by a talk by Donna Seager, who juried the exhibit of over 140 works, and gave several honorable mentions and three awards, of which my little book collage above received Second Place.

Some Open Studios

Today I visited several Open Studios, among them the San Francisco Art Institute Graduate Center Open Studio, where my daughter had some pretty impressive work on display. Have a look, at alisonwoods.artspan.com.

Another Chance

The second of the two exhibits curated by Hanna Regev on the theme of Chance, in honor of the centennial of the birth of John Cage opened February 17 at the San Francisco Center for the Book. The exhibit expands the definition of what constitutes a book, with exciting and ambitous interactive works, including a number involving video screens. It will take several visits to do justice to each piece. I feel very honored indeed to be represented with two works in such distinguished company. The show runs through May 12, and you can find a complete list of exhibitors at www.sfcb.org/. My little "Nest for John Cage" is in the photo above.

A beautiful, touching exhibit

Here's my rather poor photo of friend Joe Ramos with one of his subjects at the opening of his exhibit of extraordinary photos at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library. The show, titled "Acknowledged", is the culmination of six years' work photographing homeless individuals and families (at his own expense) for Project Homeless Connect. A more loving and compassionate collection of portraits would be hard to imagine. The exhibit will run through March 25. The San Francisco Bay Guardian says, "[Joe Ramos shows] the true face of homelessness - in all its complexity, dignity and humanity." I urge you to read the complete review at www.sfbg.com/pixel_vision/2012/01/27/headshots-homeless-photographer-joe-ramos-connects-art-and-social-work.

Chance and Luck

Curator Hanna Regev created two invitational exhibits in honor of the centennial of the birthday of John Cage, on the subject of Chance. The first exhibit, at SOMArts Gallery, is titled, "Get Lucky: The Culture of Chance". The gallery was packed, but I was able to take the photo below before the crowds arrived. My grid of nine pieces is on the wall at the left, and in the foreground is David Middlebrook's amazing piece,"Bamboozled". Below that is a closeup of one of my nine pieces, collectively titled "Against All Odds".