I Know What I Like
As Cathy says, even if you don’t like what you see at the Stutz Artists’ Studio Tour, there are plenty of things to make fun of. I liked what I saw and I got to make fun of something–what more could I ask for? Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see nearly as much as I’d have liked (perhaps only 2/3 of the show) but I still came away just this side of sensory overload.
My first stop, of course, was Francie Broadie’s studio. (Francie has done a couple of very nice–and affordable–custom pieces for me, and is therefore entitled to the first shameless plug.) Both her paintings and her jewelry are just like she is–bright and fun. If you manage to get over there tomorrow, be sure to ask about the watches; they aren’t on display because they don’t have batteries, but she’ll probably sell you one anyway. Moon Stumpp/Belladonna Tails Studio has more high-end beadwork pieces, in a style that is quite different, but just as lovely. If pressed, I would describe it as “boutique-y.” The other jeweler I visited was Magickal Dragon Designs. Tina and Marti Icenogle’s work incorporates fused glass and silver, and while it definitely has an air of fantasy art, (as you might expect to see at a convention dealer’s room) it’s tasteful rather than over-the-top.
Staying in three dimensions, I was extremely taken with Michael Smith’s bone-textured, clean-lined “Fossil” sculpture, which looked like a large prehistoric fish skeleton as imagined by Frank Lloyd Wright. Michael Swolsky’s metal sculptures are also worth seeing; oxidized-metal trees share wall space with layered, geometric, multi-metal patchwork and heated-treated prismatic copper butterflies with curvy cutout wings (”Like garden sculptures, only good,” I said to my mom.) A couple of fabric artists, Stephanie Lewis Roberts and Walter Knabe had what I can only call (in my best Ab Fab voice) gorgeous things. Lewis Roberts’ work involves dyeing, printing, quilting, embellishing, and sculpting fabric into kaleidescopic, exuberant, free-flowing soft sculpture. My favorite piece was “Water”, which had opalescent paint over more shades of blue than I can count curling into waves. Knabe’s work is more orderly, but no less imaginative; you’ve probably seen some of his stationery products in nice gift shops. He combines French and Italian brocade patterns with botanical and architectural designs and calligraphy (Chinese style-characters or flowing English script) in strongly contrasting colors. He’s done work for the Indianapolis Artsgarden and Orchards in Bloom, and works in a wide variety of media, including ceramics, paints, and textiles.
Of course, there were a large number of painters and graphic artists whose work was on display, and I can’t possibly do justice to all of them. Jerry Points‘ style immediately reminded me of the artwork in the front matter of the Sandman compendia volumes; it would complement Walter Knabe’s textile work nicely, come to think of it. My favorite pieces were “Southern Comfort,” “Homage to Raphael,” and “Southern France.” The Spears’ studio (Bryan and Bruce, not Britney) looked like the inside of a casual dining restaurant–the kind with various signs and other random “antique”-sale stuff on the wall. My take on it is that it’s designed to appeal to straight guys. I’m happy to say that Susan Mauck showed her work again this year. My favorite pieces were the fish paintings, which are an Impressionist take on Chinese-style scroll paintings. Another returnee is Laura LaFarge, whose work is a little bit Edward Gorey, a lot of comic-book color, and occasionally sparkly. Ric Epley’s work was a mix of (unimpressive) drippy-paint-on-canvas that might have been a dropcloth in a former life and Rothko-inspired textured geometrics that were not bad at all, although some of them are so large that you really need more space than his small studio to really take them in. Finally, Lynn Morton Walker didn’t limit her painting to canvas; she also had some decoratively-painted chairs–one of which had a gold, bronze, and cream marbled-paper pattern on a pink background–picture frames, mirrors, and objets.
Unlike last year, I didn’t see very much photography, but I didn’t get through the entire show (four floors, six areas per floor). BPL Images had some crisp, black-and-white and sepia photos, mostly portraits, cleverly displayed outside the studio. The displays inside the studio weren’t quite so clever, but the work is compelling enough to speak for itself.
There were a few unusual offerings this year as well–wines and beauty products. Simmons Winery, of Columbus, IN. had a tasting area set up on the third floor. Mindful of the fact that I was going to have to drive home at some point, I only tried two of their twenty-some products. The Chambourcin was, as advertised, dry and lightly oaked, with lots of rich fruity goodness. The peach wine was much sweeter than I usually prefer, but it was so smooth and had captured the essence of peaches so well that I would happily make an exception–and a granita–of it.
I stopped in Paint Cosmetiques very briefly; it’s an upscale, boutiquey line with pretentious spelling, but a wide variety of eye and lip colors. There weren’t any testers available, so I can’t speak for the products first hand, but they did look very good on the drag queen who was modeling them. Whisper Canyon’s bath and body products were given minimal presentation, but looked very nice. I thought that the petroglyph soaps were particularly clever–chunks of soap that looked like rocks with a variety of designs “chipped” and painted into them. Another series of soaps looked like amalgamations of mineral crystals. There were also several types of creams (hand, foot, face, etc.). Apparently the mango-peach is the best-selling frangrance, and if it’d been ice cream, I would have had some on the spot. Personally, I preferred the lime-ginger scent.
Oh, and what did I make fun of? I won’t reveal the artist’s name, but I will say that I probably should not have been surprised by the contents of her studio, given that she had a very bright, quasi-expressionist female nude hanging outside her studio door (”Oh look,” I thought upon seeing it. “Technicolor breasts.”) I entered the studio and saw a large, almost-cartoonish, full-length portrait of Jesus with arms held out in front of him, in a kelly-green toga and Lucille-Ball-orange hair in a 1930s ‘do, stigmata, with a very stern expression. I murmured to a fellow attendee, “It’s Jesus with Joan Crawford’s hairdo, directing traffic.” She somehow managed to keep from laughing until we actually exited the studio…but I didn’t hear anyone disagree with me. (”I can’t believe you said that,” she exclaimed. I’m not sure why not; it’s exactly the sort of thing I’m likely to say…even when I haven’t been sampling wine.)
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