6 weeks

It's been 6 weeks to the day since my knee surgery. All went well and I am healing but still have a little way to go. I was hoping my recovery period would give me a lot of time to make new work, but the creative juices just don't seem to be flowing yet. I will be sending this older piece to the Doane College exhibition.

"Tenderness"
monoprint, drawing & thread on canvas

Time Off

This will be the last posting for a month or so. I am having knee replacement surgery on Sept. 6. While I'm rehabbing I will be working on one more icon for inclusion in an exhibition at Doane College in NE in Nov.

I have lots of ideas for the "frames" but probably won't get to them until next spring as a bunch of other projects take priority over the winter.



"Mountain Wildflowers"
necklace: beads and copper



Necklace: copper, brass and paper



They're Off!

YEA! Today I shipped my work to the University of Dayton for my solo exhibition that runs from Sept. 6 to Nov. 11, 2011. After the show opens you can read about it online at http://campus.udaytonedu./mary/gallery.html and click on current exhibit.
I've been working toward this show for many years and it feels good to have come to completion.

Without the icons my studio walls were very bare so I have hung these frames that I bought in Santa Fe, NM years ago. I am waiting for the Spirit's inspiration. This is the first time that I will have started with the frame.

Blue Madonna

I have completed all 30 pieces for my exhibition in September with this Blue Madonna.

Jackstraw

brass, copper, paper

I created these 4 pieces of jewelry for Marjorie Cranston's Jackstraw Gallery in Grand Lake. The graphic inserts in the bracelets are snippets from cards of Marjorie's beautiful pastel paintings. The beadwork in the necklaces was inspired by her paintings. The outside dimension of the pendants is 2" square and the beadwork is 1 1/4" square.

copper and glass beads

copper and glass beads

My Brother

"EVE" by Geoff Koetsch

My younger brother, Geoffrey Koetsch, is a professor of art at the Art Institute of Boston @ Lesley College. He works in sculpture, photography, installation and multi-media . As an adult he surprised me when he told me that I was his inspiration to become an artist. Our work is very different in many ways. For one, he works large and I work small, so I was surprised and honored when he asked me to collaborate on a piece a few years ago. I was to select one of several figurative sculptures to work with, to transform any way I chose. I selected his Eve, a sculpture cast in polyester resin. My desire was to transform this Eve of the fall into the redeemed Eve, Mary, the mother of God, redeemed through Christ. In an exhibition at ArtSpace Gallery in Maynard, MA in 2010 three Eves formed a larger whole (see bottom photo). From the beautiful exhibition catalogue I quote my brother: "I am a dropout from three of the world's great religions, and my Eve is a product of Eros, so the statue of Eve has been redeemed by my sister. Thus the work has three aspects: Eve of the origin of the world (cosmic egg), Eve of the fall, and Eve as Mary."

In this piece I wanted to represent the redeemed Eve through the beaded veil. The veil is a redemptive covering. Gold, the symbol of divine intelligence, the color of God and divinity. The star on her forehead symbolizes the star of the nativity. For the veil I used a netting stitch with glass beads on fireline.

Eve redeemed



The three aspects of Eve









Art out of Thin Air



Under the Sea



The third annual AOTA exhibition opened to a large and appreciative crowd last Tuesday evening at the Pole Creek Golf Club near
Tabernash, CO. Art Out of Thin Air is a loosly structured coalition of Grand County artists of all media. We meet once a month at varying locations and show our work once a year at Pole Creek.

The above mermaid was runnerup in the people's choice selection. My second entry is the necklace below. For those of you in the area, the show runs until August 1.



copper, glass beads, ammonite