An "artist date" can be hard to schedule when you're in the middle of it, hustling it, or back to the drawing board for another go at it. And yet, quality time spent with your inner creative is one of those "can't afford not to" activities. Not a luxury but a necessity.
My favorite artist date place is the Taubman Museum of Art .
If you're in Roanoke, I commend Rimer Cardillo's extraordinary exhibit, "and the deep ecology of a sacred nature."
A series of insect prints called "Sublime Jewelry Suite," is aesthetically beautiful, wildly original, and funny. The sometimes playful titles open up additional windows through which to view the artist's work.
Moths are fascinating. Cardillo's "Cicadas and Moths Series" grabbed me from the start. Like the insect prints above, this homage to Copernicus blends surreal surprise, an imaginative aesthetic, and among other qualities, a sense of humor.
No matter the medium, an artist's sketchbooks and notebooks offer a privileged view into the creative process. Oscar Wilde famously said he always carried his diary in order to have something interesting to read...
Map? Labyrinth? Yes, and...
I loved Harrison Birtwistle's Moth Requiem when it premiered several years ago. It sets poems by Robin Blaser for the unusual combination of SSA voices, 3 harps and 3 flutes.
This excerpt, from "Salut," is representative of his expressionist, esoteric style:
the piano, it was a gift, a promise of a debt
of music it was a moth under the strings,
frantic to escape, played
wings eyed like an owl came to the lamp
the cold has come, the moths have gone,
white, grey, cinnamon... wine purple wings, yellow
edged, tacked with the winds changes, careened, then, taking flight, hid
in the fig tree (from The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser, 2006)
Tchaikovsky quipped that inspiration does not visit the indolent. The beautifully curated exhibit unfurls like giant wings across the spacious contemporary galleries, evidence of this artist's tireless, prolific and inspired work.
Ornithologist friends and family: these birds are for you, even if the way is barred...
The Uruguayan artist, who is 80 this year, will be at the Taubman museum Aug 23, the day before this exceptional show closes.
Also, there are dozens and dozens of other reasons to visit the museum.
Ray Kass: I feel so lucky to be your colleague and friend. I love your work. Thank you.
You can use your smartphone camera as a magnifying glass and get, literally, a more in-depth view of the canvas before you.
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