Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

Last weekend was the kick off for the Vashon Island Artist Studio tour and although my studio is not in the tour line-up this year I have work in several venues on Vashon and garden sculpture in the Small Works show at Roby King Galleries on Bainbridge Island.  All these openings were on the same night Friday December 6.  The work will show through the month. In the photo above I stand before some of my Monotype and sculptural work at The Heron's Nest, during the Vashon First Friday Artwalk. Sculpture and watercolor artist, Darsey Beck and I were the featured artists this month at the Heron's Nest on Vashon. Below is a shot taken at the opening of the Vashon Allied Arts Gallery's "Masters in Miniture" show.   My Monotype work (the three descending at center) along with print collage work by fellow artists and friends Janice Mallman (below) and Edith Sehulster (at right) were part of this 40+ artist invitational show.

"Kentro (center)" Monotype with Gold Leaf, (1/1), 6 x6 x 1.5 in. on panel Above and below are two of the Monotype images I will be exhibiting in the Masters in Miniature show at the Vashon Allied Arts Gallery, December 6-23.  The opening is December 6, 6-9pm. I have been exploring "Journey" and "Center" as subject for the past couple years and these small works were compositional studies for much larger Rust Prints and future oil on canvas paintings. "Transit of Venus" Monotype Print with Gold Leaf (1/1), 6x6 x1.5 in. on Panel

Last night the Vashon Island Community Meal Program, sponsored by Vashon Social Services Network held the Vashon 'Empty Bowls' fundraiser.  Vashon Island artist Liz Lewis coordinated the making and painting of each handcrafted bowl for the event. In exchange for a cash donation guests kept a bowl as a reminder of all the bowls empty of food around the world.  Above and below is one of the many bowls Liz Lewis made and that I had so much fun painting.  As a creative experience I felt inspired by the project and the challenge of painting on a three dimensional surface!

I have continued to explore rust as a medium this summer and early fall.  My "Man at Center" Rust Monotype, 30" x 30" in., mounted to wood panel, was made with an open Corten steel plate and acetate stencil.  Below is am image of the plate after the print was pulled.

‘Studios’ magazine featured four Vashon artists and their studios in its Summer  edition. My studio was chosen as the cover.  The following is how I describe my present creative space. I am a Print, Paint and Assemblage artist.  The images I make have their origin in story. The story may be personally relevant but often falls within the realm of myth.  The interpretation of myth and visual exploration of story is informed by and evolves in my approach to Monotype print.   I think of Monotype as a lively conversation of knife with paper, ink with plate, and paper and plate with press.  The exploration of these simple materials, mediums and tools provide an exciting way to discover imagery that I may subsequently interpret in the more traditional medium of oil on canvas or include as critical components of my assemblage work. In addition to my press work I am currently exploring another Monotype process utilizing mild steel plates that are composed, cut and rusted to muslin.

'Saqqara, Oil on Panel, Gold Leaf, 48x36 in. In the Greco Roman Egyptian region known as Fayum or el Faiyum, the Egyptian cult of the dead inspired unique portraits that were bound to the mummified body.  As such they became by definition objects of worship.  Each was an intimate and symbolic part of the mummy with which it was found.  The portraits were regarded not just as representations but as the immortal surrogates of the dead.  Men were identified with the god Osiris and women with the god Isis. The mummies were considered to be essential for life after death according to Egyptian rituals and the portraits were sourced in style by the naturalistic traditions of Greece. The Faiyum portraits are thought to have been painted from ‘sittings’ done during the youth of the subject and kept in the subject’s home until death, when the were placed on and bound into the mummy as the face or soul of of the deceased. The image (above) is my contemporary interpretation of a s

Faiyum is an Egyptian city and region located about 80 miles southwest of of Cairo.  Faiyum Governorate, the modern capital, is also the ancient site of Shedyt or Crocodilopolis.  Founded around 4000 BC,  it is the oldest known city in Egypt and one of the oldest settlements  in Africa. During the Ptolemaic dynasty, (305 BC to 30 BC), and after, the Faiyum region was a major producer of grain and cotton for the Roman world.  Today Faiyum is particularly know for the remarkable tomb portraiture created during it’s Greco Roman period of affluence in antiquity. The Faiyum portraits or Fayum portraits, were created as encaustic on panel or sometimes tempera on linen.  They were bound into bands of cloth that wrapped the mummified wealthy for burial.  About a thousand of these portraits have been discovered.  Each is a remarkably realistic portrait, sometimes double portrait, of people that lived 2000 years ago.  Buried with their “subject” the portraits  were never meant to be seen

My sculpture 'Haiku' with yucca and a stunning white rose. The Vashon Garden Tour is this weekend.  I was honored to have my Threshold Guardian stakes and sculpture in the garden of Ron Gawith and Linda Weiss.  Their contemporary home and the garden that surrounds it are absolutely stunning. Behind me is 'Hyperion' in stainless steel, hung from Gabion cage.

ISLAND TO ISLAND ART FROM AROUND THE SOUND June 13th-August 4th EXHIBITING ARTISTS: Anne Belov, Sandy Byers, Debra Calkins Brian Fisher , Melinda Hannigan, Lorraine Healy. Ingrid Lahti Mark Lucero. Mary Dyer Rothermel Kim Tinuviel THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 5:00-7:00 PM ALJOYA MERCER ISLAND 2430 76th Avenue SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040 ARTWORK IS ON EXHIBIT THROUGH AUGUST 4, 2013. Please RSVP at (206) 230-0150 "The Caledonion Boar," above, (14 x 14 in.) is one of several Monoprints I will be exhibiting in the Island to Island show.  June Sekiguchi and Kelly Lyles curated this exhibition for Aljoya. It will showcase work from Washington State "Island" artists, (Whidbey, Vashon, Mercer, etc).

Earlier this year I completed an interesting commission for a good friend and patron. The final print images were to be digitally reproduced and used as skins for pantry doors in his kitchen.  We discussed imagery and finally decided that two Monotypes describing four phases of his life would be fun and personally relevant. Above are the door skins in place.  Below are the initial drawings and  the final Monotypes that were reproduced as door skins. 

It's a blue sky day!   Great weather for a drive and some island hopping.  That's what I am about to do because tonight is my opening at Roby King Galleries on Bainbridge Island.   Here is a link to the images I will be exhibiting.   Brian Fisher at Roby King Galleries I am very excited to be showing my Rust Monoprints and several new wall sculptures.  The sculptures are a bit of a twist to what I have been doing with steel,(rusting.)  Two of the sculptures are made from stainless and one of those combines stainless with carved and painted wood. It has been my intention to combine carved wood with cut steel and since the beginning of the year, sculpture, Elaine Hanowell has been teaching me to carve in wood.  She is a wonderful artist and teacher and I am grateful for her instruction.  "Okeanos," is the Titan who personified the world ocean encircling the "known world" in Greek Myth.  My wall sculpture "Okeanos," at right, is 47.5 x 24 x 4.

May 3 to June 1,  2013, Roby King Galleries of Bainbridge Island will exhibit the Paintings of Martha Brouwer and Rust Monoprints by Brian Fisher. Gull Descending, 18x11 in. I am honored to exhibit with Martha Brouwer and thank Andrea and Wes, the owners of Roby King Galleries, for the opportunity to exhibit my new rust work. Martha describes her work:  "My design skills and my interest in patterns and textures are reflected in my approach. I enjoy layering different media to accomplish depth of tone and meaning."  When thinking of her subject she says: "My paintings celebrate the interconnected of all life -  the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, humans. These connections imply a responsibility for caring for each other and sharing the planet.”  www.marthabrouwer.com Sowing the Dragon's Teeth, 14x14 ln. I also embrace the importance of caring connection to the world around us and revere the human past that defines us.  Much of my imagery is

The Vashon Allied Arts retail gallery, the Heron's Nest, is reopening after an extensive remodel April 5th and on Vashon's First Friday Art Walk.  Earlier today I dropped off art and art cards. Here are some of my HepCat Club boxed  card sets they will be selling. The images were inspired by jazz and bebop musicians like Oscar Pettiford, Herbie Mann, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Lester Young, and Joe "King" Oliver. I grew up listening to King Oliver.  My Grandpa Ed had a great Victrola in his billiard room.  While we grand kids abused his pool table we would listen to records like Wille, the Weeper.

This year I have been printing about, painting, carving and thinking about "center" as concept and source for imagery.  This is not a new subject for me to explore but a recognition that all of the stories I am drawn to, make art about, have at core the search for center.  Within mythic story, center is generally a tribally circumscribed place, a point of connection between sky and earth where cardinal directions meet.  Whether that center be Delphi or Delos, the Temple Mount or the Black Hills, it is the same symbolic center.  It might be called Omphalos or Axis Mundi, Bindu or Bethyle  but details and superficial observations aside it functions as the still point from which all objective reality is a manifestation. Spiritually it is the point we search from and for which we search. My image “Center” is a mixed media bas-relief, 13 x 10 in.

I just returned from a nice First Friday night out on Vashon.  Bergamot Studio's themed show is White on White this month and I was delighted to have three mixed media collages included in the exhibit.  Above and at center are "The Challenge," "Threshold Guardians" and "Center." Each represents an aspect of the Hero's Journey.