Why Dragonflies?

The dragonfly is the symbolism of change and light.

Adaptability and joy.

I have been enamored with them since hanging out in the frog ponds with my grandfather.  They bring so many wonderful memories of those childhood moments as well as paddling around Maine lakes in the canoe with my dog, fly fishing in the Allagash with my father or just hanging out in the gardens at home.

Watching this video I learned more than I ever imagined.  I thought I knew it all.  Ha!  Thank you National Geograhic!

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/short-film-showcase/the-secret-world-of-dragonflies

La Napoule, France

This past April I went on an amazing journey with 16 like-minded book art enthusiasts.  We were there under the tutelage of Rebecca Goodale's University of Southern Maine Travel Books Arts Class.  We were there to make books inspired by the surroundings at the La Napoule Art Foundation.   Mary Clews turned the ancient structures into a living studio and art center in the early 1951 in honor of her husband and sculptor, Henry.  His sculpture is everywhere in the gardens, on the outside and inside of the buildings.  It is a fascinating history.

What can be better than to live in a castle not 20 feet from the azure blue Mediterranean Sea for a week, and make art?!!!  It was heaven.


We made art in the gardens, by the sea, in the small village at the Boulangerie, or in a bar!

State of Nature

Celebrating a wonderful opportunity with some new fused glass work for this upcoming show in Arundel, Maine.  It's been a hot summer in the glass studio!

Making fusible glass elements for one of the sculptures.  Cut glass and mica will be layered with glass frit and sheet glass.  Hint: it's got something to do with dragonflies!

Glass mandala taking shape and ready for colored glass and frit layers.

Join us if you can.
Nine artists - Nine mediums
Kat Buchanan, Victoria Elbroch, Bonnie Faulkner, Deweitt Hardy, Norma Johnsen, Berri Kramer, Erica Radich, Susan Wilder and John Wiley.
 
August 6-27, 2016

At Arundel Farm Gallery
76 Arundel Road, Arundel, ME

Opening Reception August 6th from 5-7pm
561-702-6396

Color

and similarities...both are endless.

What I Like About Tides

Always moving, always changing, always present.

I've tried living away from them, but it usually results in cranky Bonnie.

River in winter, tide coming in to meet the ice.

Fusing glass is moving glass.  Not like the tides, but it's moving and changing in ways that, hopefully, I can make happen on purpose!

Detail of fused glass mandala.  Movement in the stringers and frit makes me happy.

6" glass bowl, slumped into a ceramic mold.  Texture and text come together for a happy marriage.

Treasures

How many treasures did your mind collect today?  

Living on a tidal river on the coast of Maine I am blessed with so many treats for the senses.  In or out of the water, it's a dream come true.

Cousin's River, Sunday Morning Quiet

 It is sometimes a little overwhelming to think of the many inspirations that grab my attention throughout the day.  Whatever it is, you can be sure there is some 'light' involved.  Light that makes me want to dive into the glass studio and use glass as a way to capture and transmit the light.  It doesn't always happen the way I 'see' it, but it always is a captivating process for me to try!

Dragonfly Mandala, detail.

In this detail of my fused glass dragonfly mandala, the glass becomes the water's surface as I look out my studio window to the little pond in our yard.  Dragonflies were dancing around the lily pads skimming the surface of the water.  Late August is particularly active in the gardens with dragonflies galore! 

This time of year the shadows get longer and the light at the end of the day becomes magical.  If you look closely, you can see the reflections of light from the surface of the water on the branches.  I love finding these unexpected hidden gems.  I like to think that when people look at my fused glass they see something unexpected every now and again!

Along the Cousin's River

Light, reflected or transmitted, enjoy it!

Monhegan Island artist Elena Jahn, 1938-2014

On Friday night, August 7th, we celebrated the life and art of Elena Jahn at Heron Point Gallery, Portland, Maine.  It was a well attended event with old and new friends alike admiring her vast array work from her large, colorful Monhegan Island panels to her tiny black and white etchings.  Throughout her life, she travel the world and much of her art in this show takes you from Monhegan Island her summer studio, Norway, France, San Juan, New Mexico, Arizona, and her winter studio in Culebra, Puerto Rico.

Self Portrait on Monhegan Island,  51 x 41", oil.  Collection of Artist, NFS

"Sunrise, Sunset", Monhegan Island, 72 x 120" Oil, (Inquire for pricing)

There are some wonderful paintings still available.  Here are just a few...

'Untitled', 1959, 25 x 29", oil on canvas, $3200

'White Cloud Reflected, Monhegan', 20 x 23 Framed, Oil Pastel, $1250

Puerto Rico Flag, 25 x 20 unframed, Oil & graphite, $2900

Elena Jahn, 1938-2014.

Elena Jahn was born in 1938 in Moscow, Idaho and raised in Syracuse, New York. In 1949 her family began spending summers on Monhegan Island, Maine where her career as an artist began. She lived in Rhode Island from 1966 - 1976 and was a co-founder of HERA Cooperative Gallery in Wakefield. She then became a resident of Brunswick, Maine until 1988, when she began dividing her time between her Monhegan studio and Culebra, Puerto Rico.

She received a B.F.A from Syracuse University’s College of Art and an M.F.A in Painting from the University of Wisconsin. She continued her studies in Paris on a Fulbright Grant. She has taught in college and university art departments in Wisconsin, Nova Scotia, Rhode Island, Norway, and Maine. In 1991, she was invited to have a solo exhibit in the ‘Maine Perspectives’ series at the Portland Museum of Art, showing work from Maine and Puerto Rico. Her work has been exhibited in solo and groups shows and is in private, corporate and public collections in the United States, Canada, Norway, and France.  She was an active member of WAMI: Woman Artists of Monhegan Island.

Elena’s artistic preoccupation has always been with the landscape and a sense of place. She traveled the fine line between personal, lyrical abstraction, and figuration, moving back and forth between them. Primarily, she worked with two-dimensional media, including drawing, painting, and collage, often incorporating more than one medium into a piece. Her subject matter spans from realistic rocks, cliffs, sea, and vegetation of her island homes to more abstract renditions of light and sky. In addition, Elena has always drawn the live model and kept plentiful notebooks of sketches from the many places she lived and traveled: upstate NY,, Sweden, Norway, Paris, Rhode Island, Nova Scotia,, Iceland, the southwestern US, Maine and Puerto Rico. She painted up until her death in 2014, leaving behind a legacy of spirited and energetic art.

In her 1999 artist’s statement, Elena wrote:
“As I review the many facets of my own work, I see that they are all threads connected to my inner core. Each change reflects an urge to move into unknown territory, leading to the place where I find myself now.”

To make a purchase of Elena's artwork or to see more, please contact Bonnie Faulkner
email

And here's a video of Elena in her studio on Monhegan Island.