Different news from Syria - mosaic crafts on edge of extinction

Wouldn't it be nice if some billionaire came along to get this industry back on its feet?
DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Since the 19th century, the Damascene people have known the craft of mosaic through a wide range of its wooden products inlaid with silver, shell and bone to make home and office furniture. Read more here:
http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2012/01/25/396514.htm

Digital Darkroom at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City

After guiding my tour buses through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, my favorite route to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) is through Century City which was the former 20th Century Fox Studios lot (a smaller lot and corporate headquarters are still on the site). On the east side of the Avenue of the Stars, where the much-lamented Shubert Theatre used to sit, is now an office building housing the Annenberg Space for Photography which I always point out to my tour-goers.

Today members of the Culver City Art Group met at the museum for our January outing. It was my first time in the building. I thought it would be pretty interesting as I have always loved photography as an art form from my early days when I had a darkroom set up in the bathroom (much to the chagrin of my boyfriend at the time who had to make an appointment to use the facilities!).

The current exhibit, DIGITAL DARKROOM, runs through May 28 and features the work of 17 artists from around the world who are exploring the marriage of art with digital technology: Josef Astor, Pierre Beteille, Joel Grimes, Ted Grudowski, Claudia Kunin, Chris Levine, Bonny Pierce Lhotka, Khuong Nguyen, Mike Pucher, Jean-François Rauzier, Martine Roch, Christopher Schneberger, Brooke Shaden, Stanley Smith, Maggie Taylor, Jerry Uelsmann and Jean-Marie Vives.

Whatever you might imagine can be done in the realm of art photography (digital or otherwise) has been produced by these artists. Their creativity is nothing less than amazing. If you are any kind of artist or photographer you need to see this exhibit.

As a somewhat creative person, I take inspiration wherever I can find it. It could be a walk around the neighborhood, a movie, a sunset, a good book, music, a gallery of Renaissance or contemporary art, landscapes or sculptures, or in this case, imaginative photographic manipulation.

Jerry Uelsmann was my hero in the seventies when I was creating my own black and white darkroom "masterpieces" in the bathtub. It was wonderful to see some of his older and contemporary work at the exhibit. He still works in the darkroom while his wife has her digital studio across the street.

If you have any interest in art or photography, do not miss DIGITAL DARKROOM. Admission is free and at the weekends parking beneath the building is a mere one dollar. After viewing the exhibit you can walk across the street to the Westfield Century City shopping mall for a meal.

No photography is allowed inside.

(Photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Hypsography. You'll have to look it up.

I am calling these Hypsography White and Hypsography Black. I can't decide which one I like better. Well, I like them both equally in their own way. These are 4.125-inch ceramic tiles. Now I want to do something bigger in a similar style.

(Designs and photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Back to the sixties

I am experimenting with my new glazes. I like these colors and textures. I am calling this series Back to the Sixties as the colors remind me of that era. Of course, I don't remember that era personally... okay I do. But so do the Rolling Stones so it can't all be bad!

Ooooooh, I like these!!!!
(Photos and designs copyright roslyn m wilkins)

First tiles fired in 2012

Quartet of the New Year 010212
10.5 inches framed

After leading a whole bunch of tours around Hollywood and Beverly Hills over the holidays, I was anxious to get back to painting some tiles.

As there are so many things I am interested in, my brain goes around in circles like a train in a loop stopping off at the various stations along the line. I have to take advantage of whatever station I am at  while I am there. For right now that seems to be painting tiles.

I am having a lot of fun coming up with ideas for what I am calling "Abstract" designs for lack of a better name. I am sure at some point I will want to paint tiles in my cats series or places series.

And who knows when I will want to move on to something else entirely different in my bag of tricks. I never know!

I painted these tiles in a different order but when they came out of the kiln they were screaming to be rearranged. Like a jigsaw puzzle, there is only one way the pieces fit in a satisfying way.

I really like painting quartets of tiles and just bought a pile of new frames!!
(Photo and design copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Another quartet of tiles show their colors

This set of four ceramic tiles were painted before the quartet shown in my previous blog, for those of you who are keeping track of those things...

The image above is how the bisque tiles looked before they were cooked in the kiln. As you can see, there is no indication of what the colors will look like or what shapes and textures the glazes will form. The fired tiles are below.

I can only look at color samples online which really means nothing other than giving me a basic idea of which glazes to put next to each other... or not. So when I am envisioning the end result I have only a very rudimentary idea in my head.

Again, it would be great if there was some way of showing the luminosity and textures of these glazes on this blog. I guess that will have to wait until I can make a holograph.

As I am becoming a little more familiar with how these glazes will behave that end result is somewhat easier to control.... up to a point. As you can imagine, I had plenty of disasters when I first started using these glazes.

I haven't quite decided how to frame these yet. My first set of four tiles I framed together and afterwards wished I had framed them separately (too late, they were cemented in place). I am going to play around with the framing of these.

I have to say I am pretty much pleased with this set of tiles. There is something about designing in fours that is very satisfying to me. I am tentatively calling these Squares within Squares 1-4. But maybe Universes within Universes is a more poetic title. You can decide.

(4.25" tiles in 6" frames)

(All designs and photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

A tile quartet I like more than I thought I would

I admit I had a little too much wine when I painted these tiles (or can there ever be too much wine?). I shoved them in the kiln at midnight knowing I had wasted bisque tiles, glaze, electricity AND my precious time by being so sloppy.

I had my Christmas lights blinking away, a log in the fireplace and Pink Floyd in the DVD player. With all that, could I really ask for satisfactory artwork too?

I wasn't that excited about taking the tiles out of the kiln. In fact it was about 6:00pm the next day that I even thought about opening the kiln. I took out the first tile. Hmmm, not too bad. The second one, oh, kinda nice. The third, this is promising. The fourth, I think I like this.

I put them all together as a quartet. Not too shabby. Yes, this maybe okay after all.

There is no way I can represent the real colors here or the shimmering effects. This image is a poor representative of the real thing. But you will have to make do with this. I'll let you know when I am showing it at a gallery so you can see it in person. The computer can't do it justice.

I am having fun painting with my Mayco Elements and Cystalite glazes.

They are totally unpredictable so you just have to use your imagination to "see" what the outcome will be when you take them out of the kiln. Of course, the more you paint with them the more you have a handle on them.

But they are pretty much like my cats. Just when you think you have figured them out they do something completely off the wall. I guess that's why I love 'em.

(Photos and designs copyright roslyn m wilkins)