Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

Save the Last Dance for Me Once upon a time “Red Shoes” were linked to status, wealth and power.  The cost of red dyes like cochineal, and madder , used to die cloth and leather, made them affordable only to the rich. Popes, Emperors and Kings wore red shoes to symbolize a divine right to rule.  By the late 18th century red shoes had become a sign of aspirational fashion for men and for women. When author Hans Christen Anderson published “The Red Shoes” in 1845 he linked Christian themes of sin, pride, disobedience and redemption to a Danish folk tale and red shoes took on a darker meaning.  His protagonist Karen and by extension women who wore red shoes, became cultural transgressors of the acceptable feminine norm.  Red shoes were recast as symbols of passion, as uncontrollable urges and in Anderson’s version, red shoes possessed a will of their own…to dance. The only way Karen could stop dancing was by having her feet and shoes removed by axe.   Since Anderson’s characterization,

My monotype “Gemini” is exhibiting in "The Printmakers Hand IV" at Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water Street, Port Townsend Washington from July 5-29, 2018.  The exhibition is co-sponsored by Corvidae Press of Port Towndsend and juried by Bob Kochs of Augen Gallery in Portland, OR.  The opening reception and awards are on July 7, 5:30-8:00.  A talk by Bob Kochs is at 1:00 pm on July 8 at Northwind Arts Center.   It's a busy summer.  Jayne Quig, a fellow Quartermaster Press printer, and I recently hung QMP's exhibit "Pressing Forward" at the Tacoma Art Museum's Cheney class room, July 11- September 27, 2018.  The official opening is July 19 when I will also demonstrate a monotype/collagraphy process.   Below is my monotype print Gemini exhibiting in "The Printmakers Hand IV" at Northwind Gallery and my monotype King of the May showing with QMP at the Tacoma Art Museum. Brian Fisher Monotype Prints-   Gemini ,  22.5" x 15"  and

VIVA, the Vashon Island Visual Artists organization, will be selling Garden Totems during  Vashon's Strawberry Festival July 21-22.  Each one is unique and hand-crafted by Vashon Island artists. Proceeds go towards funding the new VIVA website.  The Totems will sell for $175. each. Below are my contributions, Byzantium and Susa, to the project.

Below are my new Leo and Lang images inspired by Karen Gantz's print in the Tacoma Art Museum collection.  Here is a link to Karen's "Puppet" . Quartermaster Press  studio will exhibit work in it's latest show- Pressing Forward , at the Tacoma Art Museum's Cheney class room July 11- September 27, 2018.  Each QMP member artist selected work from the permanent collection and created a new generation of prints in response to subject, image and/or print process.  What an exciting challenge! Brian Fisher,  "Love Puppets" and" The Dating Game", intaglio prints from the "Leo and Lang" series. The Intaglio prints I created in response to Karen Gantz's print, “Puppet", (which I read as role play), have become a personal print series exploring relationship and role play within relationship. "Love Puppets” and “The Dating Game” are visual moments in the tale of Leo and Lang, twin sons of different mothers who f

Below are two new images inspired by Doris Lee’s prints in the Tacoma Art Museum collection.  Quartermaster Press  studio will exhibit work in it's latest show Pressing Forward at the Tacoma Art Museum's Cheney class room July 11- September 27, 2018.  Each QMP member artist selected work from the permanent collection and created a new generation of prints in response to subject, image and/or print process.  It has been an exciting challenge! Doris Lee’s “Maypole" image might appear quaint, her pictorial approach intentionally naive, but the subject has as source an ancient fertility rite and I think her take on the subject a little subversive.  Here is a link to her print.  Maypole  I celebrate her vision and explore the mythic spring rite in “Beltane" (the anglicized name for the Gaelic May Day festival) and again in my monotype print version of “Maypole”.    Brian Fisher, "Maypole" Monotype Brian Fisher, "Beltane"  Monotype with