Art in Roosevelt

The Roosevelt Arts Project was a competitor in the past weekend's art and craft exhibitions. The tiny town rose to the challenge with artist's home studios open to the public showing a wide range of talents. I cannot review all the studio work. I visited late in the day and the only studios I was able to visit were those of potter Naomi Brahinsky, the painters Sheila Linz and Ellen Silverman and mixed media artist Barbara Atwood. I did not come home empty-handed. Again, price was right, loved the artist and her work.

Naomi is a former school therapist who has been working in clay forever as far as I know. She told me about all the places she works in clay (not only in her studio but in NYC as well) and the multiple types of firing that she undertakes, again at home and afar. She had some smoke, wood-fired and reduction fired pieces displayed in her studio. Though some of the larger pieces were even more appealing, I thought I'd stick with my theme of the cup form and selected one with a faceted foot in a greenish white glaze.

Barbara Atwood had a series of perhaps two dozen abstract ballpoint pen drawings lining the walls of her studio. They each were a fine spiderweb of lines that created a sheer fabric of blacks and grays on the smooth white paper. Some of them suggested internal body parts; pelvic bones and arm sockets, wombs and other vital organs. I interpret them as living forms in motion, perhaps because of the rapid, repetitive movements of the artist's hand in making the images.

Here is the untitled drawing I brought home. It was one of the more subtle and gentle drawings - some might be seen as somewhat disturbing, though I am okay with that. I found it very difficult to choose and this is what I rather hastily chose on impulse.

I am going to try rotating it. I think I might change the orientation when I hang it. What do you think?