Thank you Art Appreciation 100

When I was working on my Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts, I was always intrigued when artists would talk about what influenced their work.

None of us work in a vacuum, and it makes sense to me that pretty much everything must influence creative work. I can often see influences in my own work, whether it's painting, glass, clay or sculpture.  Usually it's a reflection of a recent adventure, travel to a new place, environmental changes or the sense of discovery--like hearing a new composer or watching a pink cloud float in the sky.

But, I had to laugh when I realized my major influences while creating the 3-D flood stick assemblages!  Clearly, I HAD been paying attention during Art Appreciation class!!

In case you haven't read my posts on "Sparkling Stories," I'm creating work out of sticks found along the banks of the Cache la Poudre River following major floods last fall and this spring.  I thought I would primarily create wall sculptures for the exhibit I will have this September.  These are comprised of flood sticks, twine and found relics--usually something I've found mired in the mud at the riverbank or deep within a "stick-jam," my word to describe a pile-up of sticks lodged by an unyielding tree or a stubborn riverbank.

The beginning of a "stick-jam" -- flotsam getting caught in an eddy.

 

After the river receded, this is one of my favorite harvesting sites.

Oh, I've found remarkable and strange things stuck in the sticks--lots of flip-flops, plastic bottles, tennis balls--and things I didn't expect to find like an arrow (without its feathers,) a baby's pacifier, and a hairbrush.   


 

  




This is an example of one of my finished wall sculptures, "Bend Like A Willow," created from flood sticks, sisal twine and river willow.  h - 39" x w- 50" x d 7 1/2"

            
When I'm "harvesting" sticks I have also been lucky enough to stumble upon the oddest, strangest, most intriguing bits of wood and bark.  Some I have used in other sculptures but some insisted on becoming sculptures in their own right.  And, how right they were!

And, THIS is where I realized how deeply I must have absorbed art by the great masters!  

I remember the first time I saw a photograph of this piece by Pablo Picasso, "Bull's Head."  I was so amazed that he saw the parts of a bicycle as shapes and not just handlebars and a seat.  It has influenced every piece of sculpture I've created since, regardless of medium.  

I, too, look at shapes and let my mind play with positioning.   

When I realized in my harvested collection of sticks I had naturally shaped pieces that would lend themselves to new combinations, I couldn't wait to begin!!

(All borrowed art photographs are from my well-worn textbook, ART Across Time, Second Edition, by Laurie Schneider Adams, McGraw Hill.) 

 This is my piece, "Wild Game," in homage to Picasso's "Bull's Head."  It is an assemblage of two found pieces of flood wood.  h - 12" x w - 15" x d 13"

No doubt you've seen Boticelli's "Birth of Venus."

 Here's my version, "Venus Rising," created from three pieces of found flood wood.  
l - 9 1/2" x w - 3 1/2" x h - 8 1/2"

"Venus Rising," two views.

And, here's my tribute to that famous Japanese woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai, "Great Wave of Kanagawa." 

 This is my "Tsunami," created from two pieces of found flood wood.  I love the sweep of "water" just ready to crash!
l - 7 3/4" x w - 2 1/2" x h 8 1/2"

So, thank you again, dear art professors, who continue to show art in the dark to students you might suspect are dozing.  Surprisingly, we absorb more than we all realize!!  

Thank you for continuing to influence.


(To see more flood stick wall and 3-D sculptures please go to my website:  www.tobybakerart.com.)   

Big Wonderful Wyoming - a quick trip to the mountains

I'm from Wyoming and my folks still live there so it's just a hop, skip and a jump to drive north from Colorado and cross into the Cowboy State.  We finally had a few days last week to slip the surly bonds of earth and head into the high country.

As we drive north on Highway 287 I cannot resist taking photos from the car window looking east. I have a zillion of these and they are never alike.

Big skies abound!

  I should mention that Wyoming is the 10th most extensive state in the union but the least populous with just over 580,000, according to 2013 numbers.

Rugged grasslands, high plains and rocky outcropping merge in northern Colorado en route to Wyoming. 

As a girl I was always proud that Wyoming was the first state to grant women the right to vote and to elect a woman governor.  A funny thing about that election is that Nellie Tayloe Ross defeated my great-grandfather Frank E Lucas, who was then Secretary of State until the death of her husband, then governor William B. Ross.  My great-grandfather served as the 13th governor from 1924-25 until the next election and Mrs. Ross was elected as the 14th governor of the state of Wyoming.  Although she only served two years she later served as Director of the U.S. Mint from 1933-53.

About a mile north of Virginia Dale, four miles to the Wyoming border, elevation 6,970 feet.

 Virginia Dale, now an easy-to-miss shuttered building along the highway that used to house a cafe and post office was once a famous stop on the Overland Trail in the late 19th century.  I read that it's the last of its kind still standing.  Few cars whizzing by it would ever guess its history.

Soda Green Lake, a favorite for ice fishing.

    
As we continue to head SW into the Medicine Bow Mountains via Highway 230 that we picked up in Laramie, Wyoming, it is a breathtakingly stunning day for travel.

Highway 230 heading into the Medicine Bow Mountains.

Sheep Mountain, a traveler's familiar reference point.

We pass Woods Landing nestled along the Big Laramie River, about 25 miles southwest of Laramie with about five miles to our destination.  Wyoming is drier and windier than most anyplace in the U.S. with great temperature extremes.  Regardless of the season, it's always good to pack for the unexpected.  In summer, nights can get cold and days could surprise you.  At this elevation the UV rays can be brutal, especially on cloudy days, so be sure to pack a good sun protection lotion and clothes to layer.  And, NEVER leave home without adequate water.

Our trip was unexpectedly cold and rainy.  Really doesn't matter, though.  When I'm in the mountains, at 8,770 feet elevation, I'm so elated to be in the crisp mountain air that I'll be happy with any weather!  

(I was also rather happy to have brought some warm sweatshirts, long pants and boots.) 

It's always fun to take a Jeep ride, bumping slowly along rough dirt trails, enjoying the scenery and that marvelous feeling of exploration.

Since it had rained so much and the questionable quality of the dirt roads was even more questionable with all the thick mud and new ruts, we stayed only on the "main" roads.  We passed a lot of fellow campers who had the same idea.

If you love the solace of open space, you'll love Wyoming.  If you love skies that seemingly never end, you'll love Wyoming.  If you love looking out at hundreds of miles without human development, you'll love Wyoming.

   I should probably explain why so many trees appear dead.  Sadly, they are dead, killed by an infestation of the Mountain Pine Beetle.  More than 1.5 million acres in Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming have been destroyed by this nasty beetle.  Nearly all the mature lodgepole trees are dead now and when you read or hear about raging fires in Colorado and Wyoming, you'll understand that there is abundant fuel just waiting to ignite.

The Mountain Pine Beetle infestation was triggered by severe droughts in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  I wish I could tell you that it's over but this infestation cannot be stopped.

I confess that I was horrified the first time I saw areas that were once thick forests of lodgepole pine now cleared bare areas, dead trees knocked down for safety's sake, sometimes in huge pyres to be burned as safety precautions.  It was heartbreaking to travel to beloved places, once quiet and shadowed, now open and bright in unrelenting sunshine.

I won't lie to you and tell you that I don't miss the forests of my youth.  I miss them with every trip to the mountains.  But, my parents, wise as parents are supposed to be, look at it simply as change.  Just that.  With this change there are more wild flowers and a whole new vista awaits.  I've tried to embrace that philosophy.  

With that, here are a few additional vistas I want to share...

Dead Man's Rock

 

It's not unusual to spot a moose munching willow branches here.

A vista worth taking the time to absorb.

Can you smell the sagebrush? There is no sweeter fragrance when it rains.

    
"...I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."
                                                                                 From The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost