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Artist R.L. Gibson

Author: R.L. Gibson

RECEPTION: Arts in the Airport

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I recently posted an update about my being juried into the Arts in the Airport show.  On Thursday November 5th, I got to attend my first show opening and reception located in an airport.  Click Here to see all of the work in the Arts in the Airport show.

See all the work in the Arts In The Airport show!First, my kudos go out to the Knoxville Airport Authority’s devotion to the arts and willingness to put their money where their mouths are by offering $1000 in awards and NO ENTRY FEE.  Secondly, I want to applaud how well the reception and viewing were handled considering all the security issues surrounding any event held in the airport.

My husband, son Oscar and I drove approximately 1.5 hours to attend, and I had a great time.  Here are some pictures of the event:

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I've never had to remove my belt to view art before!Off with the fabulous Isaac Mizrahi booties too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally made it to the exhibit in groups of 5!Oscar found his favorite quickly...it figures that it wasn't mine, eh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pieces of Me: Fat by and beside R.L. GibsonMore art found in the airport lobby!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget to send your artwork and result to www.ArtandArtDeadlines.com.

 


RESULTS: National Juried Show

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The media in which I work is Xerography.  And I’ve spent years trying to find the technique that works best for me.  SC Artist Kim Lemasters introduced me to Xerography and showed me his method.  His method didn’t work for me…my first methods didn’t work for me.  Years later, I’m comfortable with my own process and find that it is still changing.  As my aptitude increases, my results change in unexpected ways.Pieces of Me: Grace - Click Here to see the whole series!

For years, I worked on wood.  And honestly, I still prefer to work on wood.  However, I had work on wood that in my gut I knew was good that I couldn’t get shown.  I reworked some of the pieces on canvas and sent them to the same galleries as juried entries for different shows…and voila!  They were juried into the same galleries where they had previously been rejected.  It was at that point that I had to confront the issues of satisfying the marketing and realizing that it was not all about my process.  Pieces of Me: Vanity - Click Here to see the whole series!

I began producing ALL of my work for show on canvas while producing a few pieces on wood here and there because I loved them.  The result was a long resume of national shows and a secret belief (held by all artists I suspect) that some galleries and jurors simply have better taste and fewer biases about what constitutes “art” than others.

I decided to enter the Arts & Culture Alliance National Juried Exhibit of 2009 featured on the September Deadlines Post of ArtAndArtDeadlines.com.  As an experiment, I entered two pieces on canvas and a triptych on wood…just as a last hurrah for my sadly rejected wood pieces.  Only one piece could be juried into the show.  Wouldn’t you know… the wood triptych (pictured below) made the cut.

Sue . Sally . Sara - Click Here to see the whole series!

So, the moral of the story?  Oh hell, I don’t know…never give up on a piece you believe in?  have faith that eventually a juror will get it?  there’s no rhyme or reason to taste? 

Pick one.  Your guess is as good as mine.

 


RESULTS: emerge midwest art zine

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Visit emerge midwest art zine today!Are you inspired every time someone’s 5-foot cake doesn’t go splat on one of those cake bake-offs? They make it look like anyone can do it. I find that knowing someone else has achieved results helps me distinguish between the opportunities I should seize and the ones that simply are not worth my time. I recommend giving emerge midwest art zine a try. I was honored to be juried into the April 2009 issue.

emerge is a specialty art zine, created by Sarah Earle, that is open to artists nationwide and is distributed quarterly to over 100 Midwest galleries (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin). Each issue features nine artists whose work is hand selected by a rotation of guest jurors.

Check out emerge!

The next issue should be January 2010. The deadline has not been released as of this post, but you don’t have to wait until the last minute. No really–you don’t. Send your submissions today.

All professional artists, ages 18 or older, working in all media are encouraged to apply. Created by artist and graphic designer Sarah Earle, emerge is a powerful exposure tool for any serious studio artist in the country. The cost to submit up to 10 images for consideration is only $15. you can complete the entire process online in 15 to 20 minutes, or you can send your payment and submission via snail mail. If you are juried in to the zine, here’s what you can expect:

Send your submission to emerge midwest art zine!Art Layout

Pictured right is an example of the spread provided to each of the six accepted artists. The left page is dedicated to the artists work, featuring several full-color images of their current pieces chosen from your submissions. The right page has the artist’s contact information, educational background (if applicable), show history, a Q&A section and more.

Click to see more of my Pieces of Me series!Distribution

emerge is an art zine that is open to artists nationwide and is distributed quarterly to over 100 Midwest galleries (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin). When I asked emerge Editor/Designer Sarah Earle for the distribution list, she happily emailed them–an invaluable asset for marketing my work in the midwest.

Pictured left is Pieces of Me: Atlas, one of featured works in the April 2009 edition.

Take a chance–$15 and a chance you’ll be rejected is about as gentle as the art world gets.

 

And remember, successful artists don’t cook or dine alone…

so invite emerge into the kitchen with you.

 

ROAD TRIP: 250 miles for Shakespeare

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IClick Here for Shakefest dates and times!t has to be said…I love Shakespearean literature. I confess to being a Romantic.  I confess to loving Hamlet.  I confess to having committed to memory endless passages of hackneyed lines so as to have them on the tip of my tongue at just the right moment.  I confess that I derive inspiration from the cadence of every line.  I confess.  I confess.  I confess.

In 2004, I lived in a tiny town in South Carolina with a lovely community theatre called the Pine Tree Playhouse.  Its players are still among my dearest friends.  In the summer of 2004, we decided to do Shakespeare in the Park in hopes that a handful of the 3500 residents would come and watch.

Scene from 3 Witches & a Kitchen Aid, an adaptation written by R.L. Gibson

About 100 people saw the show over 2 weekends, but we were not discouraged.  Shakefest was born–a day long Shakespearean festival to be held outdoors…a festival dedicated to fresh, and often odd adaptations of Shakespearean literature–from a mobster version of Julius Caesar to a black and white TV sitcom version of The Three Witches scene (see pictured left).

Learn a few Elizabethean insults before you go!I saw the festival through its first two years before I moved, and I still can’t stay away.  I’m not on stage anymore, but I attend every year.  Well, the time for Shakefest 2009 has come–Saturday and Sunday, October 17th and 18th.  I’ll be there for my dose of inspiration.  Join me.  It is only $5 for adults and $3 for children for the full day. You can enjoy the performances as well as a turkey leg, a few baked goods and lots of costumed performers.

Come in costume… the Queen is waiting!

I’ll see you there!     R.L. Gibson

PSYCHOMACHIA: Gluttony

 

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Learn more about the Psychomachia series!I find myself working on Gluttony for the Psychomachia series today. Gluttony is represented in a Biblical sense by the bite of the apple.  Thematically, gluttony is being represented by the sideshow freak “World’s Fattest Woman.”

My subject is the world’s fattest woman only metaphorically, of course.  And then I began to wonder how many women live as the world’s fattest woman everyday–wallowing in guilt over their own perceived Gluttony, often false or imagined.  I wonder.



LINKS I LOVE: Alphabet Soup Word Generator

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Okay, I added a blog category today–Links I Love. I trip across them and have them sent to me all the time.  Here’s one that made me smile–the Alphabet Soup Work Generator.  Thanks to Toni Turbeville for this one.

Try the Alphabet Soup Word Generator!

Send me the links that YOU love!

–R.L. Gibson


FUN PROJECT: WordPress Logo Fun

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Wordpress Rocks!As many of you know, this blog as well as ArtAndArtDeadlines.com are produced via a wordpress.org platform.  I am a wordpress devotee, and I successfully made the transition from wordpress.com to wordpress.org despite my limited knowledge of CSS and such.

I still use wordpress.com for my work blog www.ADayInTheSmokies.com, and today I ran across a official wordpress.com logo contest that looks like alot of fun.  There is nothing like a side project to get the creative juices flowing.  I don’t believe my blogs qualify because they are wordpress.org platforms, but I’m going to participate anyway.   Click Here to visit the full post.  Here’s a cut and paste version of the WordPress Logo Fun post:

wp-wheelWhile we’re away, we’ll be running a contest to see who can use the WordPress logo in the most creative way. Take advantage of your camera, graphics applications, crayons, and anything else you have at your disposal. Create a post on your WordPress.com blog, upload your image or images, and leave a comment here with the URL of your post. Please make sure to leave the URL to your post in the comment text or the entry will not be accepted.

wp-milkWe’ll get you started by providing some official WordPress logos, but the rest is up to you. I’m sure you can do better than the photos I’ve included here. We’ll keep an eye on submissions and post some of them to the @wordpressdotcom Twitter account during the week.

The deadline for submissions will be 4 p.m. EST on Monday, October 19.

We’ll create categories based on the best submissions and run polls to let you select the winners. Prizes will include WordPress.com upgrades, swag, and maybe other surprises. Good luck!


KEEP WORKING: What art show to enter?

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Enter the notBig show in Chicago!Although I’m hard at work on Psychomachia with my friend Jerry Portelli, I can’t afford not to be showing work in the meantime.

I’m thinking about entering the notBig show in the Chicago Arts District.  All works must be 12″ or smaller–which means they are inexpensive to ship via Priority Mail Insured.  Plus, the entry fee is only $20 for up to 3 images. 

The call can be found at Art & Art Deadlines.com ; however, I have also re-posted the Call below.  The deadline is October 31st, 2009.  Hmmm…what should I enter?  Most of the Pieces of Me series is 12″x12″.  I’ll have to give it some thought.

notBIG

SHOW: notBig: A Small Works Competition in the Chicago Arts District

ENTRY DEADLINE: October 31, 2009

EXHIBIT TYPE: Gallery Exhibit

MEDIA: This is an open call for any medium including painting, sculpture, ceramics, collage, mixed media, photography and glass.

DESCRIPTION: The Logsdon 1909 Gallery in Chicago, Illinois announces a call to artists for a juried show, December 11, 2009 to January 2, 2010, that is open to all individual artists working in the contemporary arts. $500 first. $200 for second. $100 for third. +Purchase Awards. Juror: Doug Stapleton. There is no intended theme for the work; it just needs to fit the criteria of being “small art”. No works over 12 inches in any direction. $20 for 3 images. Visit http://www.logsdongallery.jimdo.com for prospectus.

CONTACT: Marco Logsdon at logsdongallery@gmail.com or call 312-666-8966.


NEW ART SHOW: Arts in the Airport

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Pieces of Me: Fat by R.L. GibsonJust a short note to let you know you can see Pieces of Me: Fat (pictured left) in the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport.  514 entries from 120 artists were received, and 41 pieces were selected for the show.  To see all the pieces in the show, view the visit the Arts & Culture Alliance .

The Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority (McGhee Tyson Airport) and the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville are pleased to present “Arts in the Airport”, a new exhibition featuring selected artwork. “Arts in the Airport” was developed to allow regional artists to compete and display work in the most visited site in the area.

The selected art features contemporary 2-dimensional artwork and will be exhibited in the secured area behind McGhee Tyson Airport’s security gate checkpoint from November 5, 2009 – April 22, 2010.

This call for entry was featured on ArtAndArtDeadlines.com and had NO ENTRY FEE!  Get to work–No excuses!

Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville!


Psychomachia – Battle of the Souls

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PSYCHOMACHIA (meaning Battle of Souls) is the newest series done in collaboration with Arizona-based artist Jerry Portelli. This work reinterprets the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Holy Virtues in a series of 14 diptychs, one from each artist. The aesthetic theme is the sideshow freak from the circus and fairs of yesteryear–nature’s artwork, if you will.

Pyschomachia coming soon!We seek to honor the sideshow freak as the masque form of the very best and very worst of humanity, regardless of individual morality. This work is wrapped in a celebration of the possibilities of digital media and rejects the pervasive sort of embarassment of digital alteration in photography. The use of square canvases in Psychomachia is meant to echo the pixel of which all digital images is comprised.

The work is ongoing as of October, 2009. I have been sworn to keep the images under wraps until the show opens; however, I think the Clown God will let just a puzzle-piece of two works (see below) out of the bag just for you.

A tiny peek at a portion of Pride from Jerry Portelli“For years I have used the clown mask as a means by which the ordinary becomes the extraordarinary. However, in the Psychomachia series, I
was able to use the clown mask as masque of the common in favor of the extraordinary spirit of the human condition via the sideshow freak of yesteryear — both real and imagined. The Seven Deadly Sins & Seven Holy Virtues simply add a layer of unexpected judgement of intent to the physical reality.”

Jerry Portelli, the Clown God

A Tiny peek at Lust from R.L. Gibson“My work habit is to explore the physical reality of my reverence for human potential with ‘self as other’ as reoccurring content. The Psychomachia series, challenged me to not rely on facial expression. While every face is unique, humanity regardless of culture or language recognizes facial expression as the key to discovering the true soul. Limiting use of the face allowed me to further explore the physcial uniqueness upon which the Seven Deadly Sins & Seven Holy Virtues provide the crux of judgement allowing acceptance of the physical.”

R.L. Gibson, the Xerographist