Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

Long before cultivation of the grape, bees were sacred to the goddess Demeter, and Mead, or honey wine , was the drink of the Golden Age.  Made from honey, water and yeast, fermented Mead was central to the ecstatic Cretan celebration of the Minoan New Year (the summer solstice) and to the ritual sacrifice of the Cretan Bull.  Kerenyi, the word for drunk in classical Greek, even translates as “honey intoxicated!” When Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery invited me to create an image for their exhibition about imaginary wine labels, the original libation of choice, bee begotten Mead, immediately came to mind. Link to the exhibit information for Vin Faux: Imaginary Wine Labels & Bottles at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery: www.bacart.org/exh-current.html My mixed media Monotype, MEAD is 21’”x 21”.

I have been experimenting with a new (for me) Monotype print process.  With this technique I am printing dry pigment onto paper saturated with ink.  The imagery is based on my collection of early to mid 20th century Tanzanian and Kenyan wooden busts originally carved for tourist trade and export.  Pangani is currently showing at Valise Gallery http://www.valisegallery.org/Current.html in a truly remarkable, all Vashon Island artist, show. Panagni is a 12 x 14 in. Monotype with found object (bone button).

I have a new instructor, a minder and reminder.   She is my pup, Aki!   She has come to tutor me in “The Moment”.   Her mantras are “Celebrate the Present” and “Be Here Now”  She teaches by example.  She is, as Pablo Neruda once wrote about his own dog- Joyful, joyful, joyful, as only dogs know how to be happy with all the autonomy of their shameless spirit. The image I have posted above named "Dog Walking Waltz" was made several years ago to celebrate the spirit of another wonderful pup who taught me how to dance every day.  "Dog Walkin Waltz" is a Monotype Print, with gold leaf.  26” x 20”.

The Spring Vashon Island Art Studio Tour begins this weekend!  On May 1-2 and 8-9,  from 10 AM till 5 PM, twenty nine participating Vashon studios will throw open their studio doors and welcome art patrons who may purchase art and learn from Vashon artists how they create the work they are exhibiting. When you visit Vashon artists in their studios you discover art of amazing variety and extraordinary quality.  Here is a link to find out about the wealth of art you will experience on Vashon Island during the Spring tour. http://vashonislandartstudiotour.com/S2010/ This year I will start my art exploration with a new studio on the tour.  The Reimnitz Studio, # 18 on the map, will be showing oil paintings by Hartmut Reimnitz, watercolor paintings and Monotypes by Ilse Reimnitz and sculpture by Gunter Reimnitz. The Vashon Island Art Studio Tour is free, (just follow the numbers designated on the Studio Tour map) but because a visit to Vashon  also entai...

For a few formative years, in childhood, a good friend and I were often described by his grandmother as “Joined at the Hip”.  We shared our hours, days and lives.   It was an apt description for two preadolescent boys, paired by circumstance who discovered, tested, teased and taught, each other, about being boys and life growing up in a small Kansas town.   The phrase, Joined at the Hip, generally refers to the condition of conjoined twins (commonly called Siamese twins), although in reality conjoined twins are rarely joined at the hip. My sculpture, Joined at the Hip, is an assemblage of antique Quebecer gut seat chairs, Wood, and Acrylic paint on Linen.  37 1/2 x 44 x 24 in. Photos by Charles Backus.

Today I am posting a photo of my assemblage Match from an ongoing series about twins.  I am unsure about the basis for my personal interest in twins.   There exists however, a universal fascination with the mystery of sameness and opposites, of duality and the stories that twins inspire. Across cultures and through history, myths of twins as: partners (the Roman Romulus and Remus), rivals (the Egyptian Osiris and Set), opposites (the Greek Apollo and Artemis), and two haves of a whole (the Greek Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux) are evidence of our interest and attempt to explain this intriguing natural phenomenon. Match is a play on the various definitions of the word match and the associated condition of twins.  In my assemblage, Parcheesi is the organized game that may be characterized as a match.  Contestants move color differentiated and matched disks by rolling a set of matched dice along paths that mirror (match) each other in visual ...

Gallery by the Bay in Stanwood Washington is presenting,  Unclad the 9th annual festival exhibition celebrating the nude figure in art.  The opening is Saturday, March 13th, 11 AM to 8 PM.  Come meet the artists, view the show, check out the related gift shop, listen to live music, and enjoy the party! The images above and below are my entries for Unclad. My Monotype, Guardian at Play , (above), is about the inseparable relationship of humanity and nature and a visual reminder to play well with others. My Monotype, First Morning , (below), is about the realization that each day is defined by what we assign meaning to; that the Realm of Possibility, we are born to each day, has infinite boarders.  In addition to these images I will also have 24 related (unclad) images for sale as cards during the exhibit. Gayle Picken, is the founder and director of Gallery by the Bay.  She and her staff of enthusiastic volunteers hav...