Friday, March 29, 2024

Easing

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”
-Yoko Ono

And so another summer begins to fade. There is a fervor in the woods as all living things gambol in the final throes of lingering light, gathering themselves for the coming stillness. We, too, as humans, seem to revel in this time. Nostalgia seeps into our souls through the earthy scent of leaves beginning to fall and decay and the occasional tang of wood smoke on cooler air of evenings.

Olivia Valentine‘s Iowa studio is characteristically busy at the moment. She is at work on an ongoing commission for a private home begun in 2015. She is also working on a series of photographs for Iowa State Park’s Centennial. Valentine’s work is rendered in photography, drawing and textile constructions. To hear more about what she’s up to, including details about the private home commission as well as audio recordings created with a collaborator, listen to the complete interview.

Tony Conrad lives and works in Appleton, Wisconsin where he is pressing forward with an ongoing body of work comprising geometric abstractions. There are around 30 paintings in the series so far and Conrad hopes to reach triple digits. The paintings range in size though he thinks of the smaller works as sketches. Conrad creates his complex paintings by hand although they can appear to be digital when viewed from a distance. Conrad also teaches painting and drawing at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. To hear more about his work and process, listen to the complete interview.

A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:

As we slide away from the heat of summer, the cool of autumn quiets the mind.

Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews here.

Books to Read

What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Olivia Valentine recently read Together by Richard Sennett. Tony Conrad is reading Inner: The Collected Writings and Selected Interviews of Sean Scully.

Maajaam invites artists interested in spending time in rural Estonia to apply for residency. Although many media are invited to apply, projects often use materials found on the farm and are subject to wear and decay. This is one of the driving principles of the residency. for more details and to apply, visit the website. Deadline is September 15.

Deadlines

Weekly Edited Grant and Residency Deadlines – review the list here.

Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis Center for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists; Making it in the Art World, New Markets for Artists, The Art World Demystified, Fund Your Dreams Like a Creative Genius, Sell Online Like a Creative Genius and Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius.

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