Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

I have completed another Monotype whose imagery draws on the bull, the Goddess and Cretan ritual for inspiration.  It is called The Bull, the Bee and the Goddess .  It will be exhibited at the Heron’s Nest during Vashon Island’s Holiday Studio Tour (December 5, 6 & 12,13) and is one of several paintings and Monotypes I will be exhibiting at The Heron's Nest throughout the month of December. A few years ago two good friends walked the El Camino de Santiago in Spain. Later, while describing the experience of hiking through Galicia and encountering shrine after shrine to “Our Lady”, one commented that these alters were probably manifestations of the Goddess filtered through the Christian tradition.  Her observation struck a personal chord and inspired my own arm chair research and subsequent visual exploration. The Goddess or Mother Goddess is the oldest deity in the archaeological record. Her manifestations are legion. One of her earliest (neolithic) forms is th...

The Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Crab Feed, a much loved tradition (1969-1994), party and auction fundraiser,  rides again.  This 2009 gala promises to be spectacular!  In addition to beautiful glass. sculpture. painting and print art donated by local and regional artists there will be such exceptional items as a flight over Bainbridge in an historic airplane, Emu Topsoil Garden Compost (really!), a Sage fly rod, and tickets to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert.  The party starts a 6:00 PM, October 24 at Banbridge Arts and Crafts.  Purchase tickets at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts or by telephone at 206.842.3132.  The image above is my donation to the Art Auction, a Monotype print, titled The Garden of the Hesperides.

Today I am posting an image of and detail from The Bull from the Sea. It’s a Monotype I have just completed and will be displaying when I open my studio for Vashon Island’s Holiday Studio Tour, the first two weekends in December. Lately I have been reading about bulls and the richly various rolls they have played in human history. If you are familiar with the myth of the Minotaur you may remember to what the tittle refers. Archaeological discoveries of ceremonial objects and art from numerous Paleolithic, Neolithic, and particularly in Minoan and Mycenaean sites attest a long symbolic life giving connection of the bull, to seasonal waters, vegetative regeneration and the incarnate generative force of the Goddess. Dorothy Cameron in her book “Symbols of Birth and Death in the Neolithic Period” offers diagrammatic comparison that the likeness of the head and horns of the bull in Neolithic art may also be a symbolic depiction of the female reproductive organs. Cretan culture is ric...

Beginning in 2003 PrintZero Studio, founded by Brian Lane and Jeremy Cody, has hosted and coordinated the exhibition and exchange of prints with the admirable intention of promoting the art of printmaking. Participating print artists must submit an edition of 15 small (5x7) prints created through any traditional printmaking process. There is no assigned theme. Each artist then receives in exchange 13 randomly selected prints and the opportunity to exhibit in a wonderful traveling venue. Past PrintZero Exchange shows have exhibited in Seattle WA, Portland OR, Miami FL, Homer AK, Laramie WY, Buffalo NY, Madison WI, and Naestved, Denmark. This year 383 participants representing 21 countries will be exhibited. My submission, Night Garden, is a simple linocut and visual exploration of a poem by a friend called “Madam of the Secret Garden” . The opening reception for PrintZero Studio’s Exchange 6 exhibition will be held on Saturday August 29 from 6-10pm, at Airport Way South, ...

Earlier this summer, VIGA, the Vashon Island Growers Association, invited regional artists to submit imagery, for reproduction, representative of island growers and garden produce. My Monotype, Cabbages and Kings was selected to advertise the VIGA markets as a promotional poster for 2009. Now Greg Wessel, manager of the Two Wall Gallery, has invited VIGA and all artists that participated in the competition to show their poster entries and related work. In addition to wonderful imagery, art patrons may also sample tasty food made from Vashon-grown produce at the opening. The show will hang through September and opens Friday, September 4th, 6pm at Two Wall Gallery, 17600 Vashon Hwy SW. Posted above are the two Monotype images, Cabbages and Kings and Harvest Kings that I will be exhibiting.  

George Wright, sculpture and director of the Heron's Nest Gallery on Vashon, invited seven artists to create work for an August show in the gallery. She chose Postcards from the Edge as theme and everyone has approached the subject quite differently. I frequently print at an almost postcard scale, particularly when I am searching for accidental compositions to develop as paintings or larger print imagery. The cards are 6 3/4 x 5 inches. Above are a few of the twenty Monotype and Collograph print images I made for the exhibit.

Trojan Horse Achilles Rage This weekend is the 19th annual Vashon Island Garden Tour and the island is humming. This much anticipated tour benefits Vashon Allied Arts. Six island homes open their garden gates and welcome plant and garden design enthusiasts on Saturday and Sunday June 27 and 28, 10 AM to 5 PM. For all the details visit www.VashonAlledArts.org. There are lectures by Karen Baer, on Friday night, a sunset garden dinner at the home of landscape designer Daniel Klein with guest speaker Valerie Easton, a wonderful exhibit at the Blue Heron gallery of sculpture by Mike Urban, watercolors by Donna Botten, paintings in oil by Kristen Reitz-Green, and not to be missed, a chamber music concert by world renowned cellists Rowena Hammill and Doug Davis with piano accompaniment by Francoise Regnat. Who could ask for anything more? How about a chance to bid on an artist-created mailbox. Twenty island artist have turned ordinary mailboxes into works of art. ...