Open Studio Spring 2012

Please Join Me for Spring Open Studio

Swan Brothers

I will be showing new work in my series of pieces based on fairytales and legends.  

At left is a piece inspired by "The Swan Brothers", a story of transformation and sacrifice that has haunted me since I was a small girl.

The book shown in the three images below tells a story in pictures, one that is both familiar and mysterious, referring to and mirroring many archetypal tales.

Ur-story

March 30th 6-10pm--Reception


March 31th 12-5PM - Open Studio    

April 1st 12-5PM -  Open Studio



ARC Studios and Gallery
1246 Folsom, between 8th & 9th
San Francisco, Civic Center BART


The collage painting below, 40 Thieves, is one of several works in this series that are meant to honor Shahrzad, a prodigious storyteller.

40 Thieves

The dress below is one of Cindrella's, giving you a sense of what happens when your wardrobe is made by Bluebirds.

Waiting for change

Fall Open Studio, Oct 14-16

Reception:

Friday, Oct 14
6–10pm

 

Open Studio:
Saturday, Oct 15, Sunday, Oct 16
11am to 6pm

ARC, Studio #205

1246 Folsom St.  San Francisco
between 8th and 9th
Civic Center BART station

 
  Come to my studio on October 14th, 15th or 16th to see my new work.  I will be showing mixed media pieces and artists books made with glass, resin, handmade paper, fiber, found objects and ephemera. 

ARTISTS' TALK AND FINAL CHANCE TO SEE THE SHOW WITH THE ARTISTS ON HAND

  
Once Upon An Other Time
Tanya Wilkinson and Kristine Mays 

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 6pm to 8:30, talk at 7pm

Location:
ARC Project Gallery,
1246 Folsom Street

between 8th and 9th
San Francisco, California

Exhibition dates:  Weds, Aug 31 - Sat, Sept 10th

Gallery Hours:  Weds, Thurs & Sat 12-5pm.

Fairytales & Mythic Moments

Old Wives

Once Upon An Other Time
A visual exploration of Fairytales, Myths & legends by Tanya Wilkinson and Kristine Mays

"Such stories... open a door on Other Time, and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, maybe." — J.R.R. Tolkien (On Fairy-Stories)

Exhibition dates:  Weds, Aug 31 - Sat, Sept 10th

Reception: Saturday, September 10th from 4-7pm

Gallery Hours:  Weds, Thurs & Sat 12-5pm.

Location:                                                           Contact: tanya.wilkindaughter@gmail.com
ARC Project Gallery, between 8th and 9th
1246 Folsom Street
San Francisco, California

WORK IN PROGRESS FOR "ONCE UPON AN OTHER TIME"

 When a story is foolish and fit only for the gullible we call it, misogynistically enough, an "Old Wives Tale".  In my opinion, the "Father of History", Herodotus, was the first Old Wife to publish. The many strange stories and the folk-tales he tells also earned him the title of 'The Father of Lies'.  If you want a good description of the Phoenix rising from it's own cremation, or of the strange Scythian ability to fly, you can't beat him.

detail, Old Wives

There is a collection of tales from the Middle East that is, in a way, a paradigm for story-telling. 

1001, detail

The One Thousand and One Nights of Scheherazade is a compilation of Middle Eastern, South Asian and Mesopotamian folktales and legends.  It presents the human compulsion to narrate as, literally, a lifesaver.  The collection is framed by the story of Scheherazade's nightly effort to avoid execution by telling a good tale.  Framing devices are incorporated throughout the tales themselves. Some proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Layers of archetypal reality overlap and intersect as the nights unfold. These are detail sections of a 7 foot long scroll named "1001".

Bluebeard and other tales

Ondine

old lessons, still unlearned

I'm working on a new series inspired by old Fairytales.  Here are the first two pieces.  Ondine is a response to Irish and German stories about water creatures that become women.  These tales are a bit like "The Little Mermaid" in that the water-women fall in love with men and try to live on dry land.  Disney, of course, gave it a happy ending, something the old stories never have.  Old Lessons is a rumination about the many versions of "Bluebeard".  Most European cultures, and a few Asian ones, have Folk stories about a serial wife killer.  My favorites are the ones in which a "wily" potential victim turns the tables.


This series will be part of a pop-up show I am going to do with Kristine Mays at ARC in September.  Kristine's work is wonderful, check it out at http://kmaysart.blogspot.com/

2011 Spring Open Studios, April 1-3

mixed messages

joy of cooking

Please Join Me for Spring Open Studios 

ARC Studios 1246 Folsom, SF, between 8th & 9th Civic Center Bart

April 1st, 6-10PM - Friday Night Reception---Eat, Drink and be Foolish
April 2nd & 3rd, 12-5PM - Open Studios

Some new work, some old work, some troublesome work. My theme for this year, or perhaps for this decade is:
PRETTY OBJECTS MADE FROM SINISTER MATERIALS

dites-moi

I have also put together a photo book of my visual ruminations on this topic from the last 3 years and you can find it posted on both my blog (March 11) and my Facebook Wall. Or just come to Open Studios and see the originals.

lingering ache

Fortuna

Open studios prep-a-thon

Little Wing

New work, old work, can't show everything but I really, really, really want to.  Open Studio is such an adrenaline shot,  it's very tempting to keep makin' new stuff right up to the last minute.  Having to switch over to getting organized is such a buzz kill--not to mention having to go to the mortgage-paying day job.  These people want me to do the stuff they pay me to do.  Don't they know I'm an artist?   Here are four pieces in the newly re-named series "Angels and Odd Bitches" (formerly known as "Seen and Unseen"). I changed the name because it's obvious that these girls are angels and odd bitches, and because they are no longer unseen--I see them and you will too when you come to Open Studios this weekend, along with a couple of their sisters whose varnish is still drying.
.

Dites-moi

                        
OPEN STUDIOS AT ARC   
Reception...........Friday, October 15,  6–10pm
Open Studio.......Sat., Oct. 16 & Sun. Oct. 17, 11am-6pm
Where................ARC Gallery and Studios, 
                           1246 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
                            Between 8th & 9th, 3 blocks from Civic Center

Seen and unsee

Fortuna

                                                                                                                                                     

New work

Here is a new piece called Fortuna, the third painting in the "Seen and Unseen" series.  I think it's finished but I am also considering mounting it on a dark, reddish-black background.  I notice that I go through a cycle with new pieces that is sort of like cycles in dating---I'm in love, no I'm not, this is perfect, no it's not, this is the best, oh no, don't get to happy, something will go wrong........Anyway, I'm happy with Fortuna at the moment.

REMEMBER: Open Studios, October 15,16,17 at Arc Studios, 1246 Folsom St., San Francisco

FourSquared closing reception and preparing for open studios

The current show at ARC Gallery,  FourSquared, will have a closing reception on Saturday, September 18th from 10am to 3pm.  There will be an Artist's Panel from 1pm to 2pm.  My studio will be open as well.  The opening reception, on Friday, August 27, was intense--lots of people, lots of family, lots of art talk.  The first sale of work from my 5 piece "Illusion of Choice" series was completed that evening.  Yes, Do Supermodels Dream of Anorexic Sheep?, at left, was the first to leave home, but her sisters, a sample of which can be seen at right and below, are still in my studio, waiting to be seen, and perhaps adopted, at Open Studios in October.  Although I had a somewhat conflicted time producing the "Illusion of Choice" suite of works, I kind of love them now, as they are on their way out into the world.  Both studio space and mental space are opened up and I am enjoying focusing on my new series, "Seen and Unseen", which will include mixed media paintings, artists' books and assemblage. 

"Seen and Unseen" ( here you see a detail from the first painting in that series, Dites-moi) continues my ongoing rumination about Femininity, in both its luminous and disturbing manifestations, its cultural distortion and archetypal power.  Several years ago I was in Italy, and when you are vacationing in Italy, going to Museums and churches, you are completely surrounded by Mary.  It's all Madonnas, all the time.  I became very interested in the various iconographic conventions of the religious paintings that I saw everyday.   I especially enjoyed the attributes of the Virgin-- objects included in her portraits that symbolically indicate her qualities, virtues and powers.  One night I had a dream that took the form of a slide show and each slide was an attribute of Mary: a crown of stars, a mirror, a spindle, a book, Lilies, a rose, many others.  A narrating voice said "you  should go home and do portraits of the bad girls of the bible.  You should portray Eve, Jezebel and Salome and give them the attributes of Mary". My first thought at waking up and remembering the dream was "gosh, that seems kind of blasphemous."  Many times over the years I have attempted to follow the exact instructions of the dream, to base work explicitly on the bible stories of Jezebel or Salome, but those pieces inevitably failed.  Instead, with "Seen and Unseen" I am implicity exploring the attributes of good and bad girls.  So far, I have been able to re-experience the playful and exuberant feeling of the dream.

On a final note, another really good thing happened at the FourSquared opening.  I was able to buy the fabulous Sabertoothed Rabbit, below, by the fabulous saberbrushed painter, Sandy Yagi.  I have admired her work for many years and I can't wait to bring this angry bunny home.  Come and see the rest of Maestra Yagi's wonderful hybrids while you have the chance, along side the other fascinating work in the show.

SPRING OPEN STUDIOS

Friday, April 16, 7pm-10pm 

Reception for Spring Open Studios at ARC Studios and Gallery

1246 Folsom St., between 8th and 9th.  I am in studio #205. Please click http://www.arcsf.net/index.html for a map. The Reception will feature live music and refreshments.  

Saturday and Sunday, April 17th and 18th 
Open Studios continuess at ARC over the weekend. Artist's studios, including my own, will be open to the public from 11am to 6pm both days.  Please go to  http://www.somaopenstudios.org/ for details and directions

In my studio you will see my new series “Illusion of Choice”, which is finished (at least for now), and some new Artists Books.  
 


The five pieces in "Illusion of Choice" have been both exhilarating and troubling to produce.  I have constructed figures resembling paper dolls, marionettes and death masks which are then collaged over 5 or 6  distressed layers of fashion magazine layouts and beauty advertisements.  These underlying layers are inspired, in part, by the semi-destroyed temporary walls that you often see surrounding construction sites.  The walls are plastered with tattered posters making vague promises, partially peeled away; revealing fragments of older posters with more vague promises. Such walls document relentless cycles of unfulfilled desire. Unfulfilled desire is also at the heart of beauty magazines--desire for love, for self-regard, for power--all to be gained through appearance.

The process of building up and stripping down images (choosing—tearing—shellacking—texturing—painting) was great fun.
However, working with the source material was oppressive.  Paging through magazines full of beauty advice brings me to the place where identity and capitalism meet. It is the wellspring of an unending quest for perfection.

I will also be showing the remaining three unsold pieces in my "Female Personae" series, as well as a couple of new, smaller mixed media sculptures in a similar vein.

 





 
That entire series may be viewed at http://www.tanya-wilkinson.com/

.