Tourist Again - Part 1 More Icelandic Adventures

Although it was strange not to be hiking over to the Gullkistan barn studios each day, there was so much more of Iceland to see.    Our Friends Aegir and Linda knew just where to go and when.   The Saga Museum in Reykjavik tells the violent history of the vikings arrival and subsequent conquerors, plagues, slavery and survival by this tough people.   The models are so lifelike it's almost scary - famous actors and artists where used for the molds.   Here is a woman being burned as a witch.

Iceland is a new land and steam comes up in various places.   So the entire country is heated geo-thermally and no one pays for hot water!   Note the gorgeous color of the water which is said to have healing powers even for psoriasis.

At the famous Blue Lagoon we tested out the healing mud masks available in big tubs for free (after you pay your entry fee).   Everyone in the huge pool looked like ghosts but we all had smoother skin afterward.

Below are a few highlights - and again the photo ops were endless - Iceland is an amazingly visual country.   This is probably why an early Norwegian king who wanted it for himself called it Iceland to deter people from coming.   He called the neighboring island which is almost all covered in ice Greenland in hopes of allluring them there.

It was a great week, but....

Just funnin' - it really was a great week.   Next stop Berlin...

Beginnings

20120716-102116.jpgOur last day at Gullkistan we went hiking near one of the oldest churches in Iceland. we walked by milky waterfalls and rapids lined with wild blueberry bushes ( albeit a month too early to gorge ourselves). Brooke went with Jon the Mountaineer husband of Alda, one of the 2 women who run the residency, and I took the "high" road back the way we came. When we saw Brooke stranded on a tall wall of shale I was glad I did. She crawled up Auke's body to get the plants to grab on to. Filthy footed but happy she made it and even tracked the challenge points on her GPS. An art piece will follow soon.

We showed our work in progress of Tangled Dreams through the temporary rust screen Brooke made and we got some great feedback for the final editing when we get back. Also have another video installation in the works. Very lucky to have met such an amazing and eclectic group of artists including Auke, a terrific young animator from Holland, Guttrun,  a former East German artist living in Paris, Amy, a new media artist from N. Carolina, and Yu Jun, an incredible concert composer as well as every other kind of musical genre imaginable just to name a few.

As with my two other residencies I used my time at Gullkistan to get back to my "roots", drawing and painting what was around me and letting ideas that had been back burnered by the busy-ness of my "regular" life, bubble up to the front of my mind.   I am sure these beginnings will lead to exciting work in the months and even years to come!

Did you know that golf was big in Iceland - short season but long days.

30 Words for Wind

20120713-103347.jpg There are about 30 words for wind in Icelandic! this tells you a bit about the weather - medium hard wind, cold wind from the north, harder than medium breeze, etc. Why generalize? This wind causes a huge erosion problem, a sense that Iceland is literally blowing away. One anti-erosion strategy has been to import a North American blue lupin and plant it all over the sand and mountain sides where it has taken off like crazy.

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It is beautiful but as with any imported ecological solution has also caused problems. The sheep don't like its bitter taste and it grows so tall that it wipes out the shorter native grasses as well as moss and lichen. But it has stabilized the soil.

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A long day trip to the North led through a long expanse of nothing with barren heidis (heaths) on one side and shimmering fljõts (streams) on the other. And there would be a long camper parked in the middle of it all so the owner could fish. The fjördurs (fjords) are a gorgeous blue against the sky amd there are even fewer trees.

Back in my studio looking out at pairs of white plastic wrapped hay bales that look like sheep-mates as I think about this raw new land, Iceland. Was this what it all looked like in the beginning?

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Best Icelandic Ice Cream, Reykjavik Art Day + Horses

20120706-233915.jpg Isbudin Island Ice Cream - best in Iceland - dipped in chocolate and salted peanuts YUM!!

July 5th was a gorgeous sunny day to tour the art galleries and museums of Reykjavik led by my dear friend Linda. The Reykjavik Art Museum Hafnarhús had three exhibits I loved.

20120706-225555.jpg The Icelandic Love Corporation's Sokkkabuxnavefur/ Tights-Web - a great surprise when you look up in the entry. Best use of pantyhose ever!

20120707-100533.jpg Dagskrá. Palestinian Embassy a political video that was actually fun to watch! A hot air balloon with Palestinian Embassy written in English and Arabic in the colors of the Palestinian flag is launched over Oslo. As it floats its way across the city a woman sings a song in Arabic, soothing, melancholy, beautiful, and I assume political until the balloon disappears into the fog. Beautiful and Poignant!

And Knitting House by Elin Strand Ruin and The New Beauty Council, which recreates the most common type of apartment in Husby, a suburb of Stockholm, a pre-fab, post war European housing block. Women living in the same type of apts. collaborated on the project, knitting exact replicas of the homes at 75% scale. The textures and details are mind blowing and visitors can walk inside, stepping over the steel support structures to enter all the rooms the walls of which include stains, spots, wallpaper patterns, knobs...all in muted pastels hues.

20120706-234313.jpg Exterior View Knitting House

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The Icelandic Horse Pure bred, strong, sturdy and super cute and friendly the Icelandic Horse has 5 gaits - walk, trot, gallop, pace and the famous running walk "so smooth and steady the rider scarcely notices any motion". They used to be used more for field work but today mostly for riding and showing. Owners take them abroad where they consistently win prizes and thereby are sold for more $$$. But once a horse leaves Iceland, he/she can never come back - gotta keep the breed pure. And of course no other horses can come into the country. The most important thing is Don't Call Them Ponies!!!!

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The Spectacular SEern Coast

Took a weekend studio break last weekend to tour the southeastern coast of Iceland with my friends Aegir and Linda from Reykjavik. Amazing that we got anywhere as we stopped every 30 meters for another fabulous photo op. Aegir won taking over 1000 photos in 2 days! We saw the ash from the eruption of the impossible to pronounce Eyjafjallajokul and brought some back to draw with...so far just grit to me. Miles of moss covered lava 10" thick that takes 100 years to grow back if you snitch some. standing on it feels like a trampoline.

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Giant waterfalls that you can walk behind or climb to the top of.

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Old houses and barns built into the mountainside.

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Skogasandur with black beaches and cliffs of crystalline formations one more spectacular than the last.

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And Glacier Lagoon at Jokolsarlon at the base of Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe covering 12,000 sq. killometers. The blue ice with black and white stripes, blue green water and chunks breaking off and heading down to the Atlantic where the waves crash over them is like watching the beginning of the planet...this is a "young" island. The lagoon and the ice formations are never the same and you can sit there for hours absorbing the beauty and peace of the place. Of course you can also take a raft trip, a glacier climbing trip or an amphibian boat trip around the lagoon which gives you a sense of the scale of the icebergs but sitting was perfect for me. The lagoon is 250 meters deep in places so you are literally seeing just the tip of the bergs.

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And this is just one of Icelands scenic wonder areas...like India it would take multiple trips tomsee it all. Now back to my lovely studio with view in the barn.

Learning Icelandic and Endless Days

Having never had a flair for languages I find Icelandic quite tongue twisting. So I tried to put some words into English sentences they way I was taught in grammar school. You can see the results of Learning Icelandic Pronunciation on Youtube by clicking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nng2Acjwj4 The days are endless with a short twilight barely noticeable between sunset and sunrise so time is altered in interesting ways.

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Clouds and More

The sky is huge and full of constantly changing fabulous cloud formations as the weather switches from sunny to overcast and back. Walk 15 minutes to farmhouse studio. Settling in and starting to work but constantly distracted by the beauty of the landscape. Wonderful walking in this small resort/hot spring/ sport village. Big treat to see my friends Aegir and Linda after 20 years and meet their 3 almost grown kids. LearningIcelandic pronunciation...stay. tuned.

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Iceland Ho!

Next week I leave for the Gullkistan artist residency in Iceland. Sent supplies ahead and am trying to get Gear Small with iPad, tiny projector and camera. My laptop now seems huge. The residency is located in Laugarvatn, a small village 45 minutes east of Reykjavik in an agricultural area. Nearby are some popular tourist sites. The village of Laugarvatn has 250 inhabitants. The closest town is Selfoss, 45 km south of Laugarvatn. I am looking forward to absorbing my surroundings and the light and digging in in my studio. Brooke Holve and I will continue to collaborate as well as work separately. Watch for more posts.Image

Upcoming Events In June

June 9th and June 10th, 2012

IN | PRINT - Juried Art Show with 14 Artists                                                                             Gallery Hours during East Bay Open Studios                                                                                June 9th from 11am-6pm   June 10th from 11am-10pm

The Warehouse Gallery | 1234 International Blvd. (Btwn 12th & 13th Ave.), Oakland, CA

June 15 - Sept. 28, 2012

Beyond Landscape                                                                                                                       Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm                                                                                                   Opening Reception: June 28, 4:30 -6:30

The Marin Community Foundation | 5 Hamilton Landing, Suite 200, Novato, CA                            In connection with WEAD (Women Environmental Activist Registry)

June 29 - Sept. 9, 2012

Digital Mixed Media: Bay Area Artists Take Digital Photography to a New Level                            Opening reception: July 7th from 4-6pm

Petaluma Arts Center | 230 Lakeville Street, Petaluma, CA 94952

ArtPadSF

Portrait of the Artist as a Sucker, 2010 (3 of 9 panels

May 17 - 20, 2012

Toomey Tourell will be exhibiting my work in ArtPadSF at the Phoenix Hotel

Thurs. May 17th 6-8 - Opening Night Benefit Preview 8-10 - Opening Benefit Party Friday though Sunday, May 18-20 12-8 - General Admission

ArtPadSF Phoenix Hotel 601 Eddy Street, San Francisco, CA 94109 Toomey Tourell 49 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

Collect! at BAC

COLLECT! June 16- July 14, 2012

Opening reception and bidding: Saturday, June 16, 2012 - 5-8 pm Closing Reception and final bids: Saturday, July 14, 2012

Berkeley Art Center’s bi-annual silent/live auction and exhibition fundraiser, this year in celebration of Berkeley Art Center’s 45th anniversary! Featured artists include those from our acclaimed Artist Lecture Series and exhibitions over the past three years. Not to be missed!

Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut Street in Berkeley, California, 94709


Square Cylinder Review

E Sher pages from The Art of the Book Catalog, 2012

I was included in a wonderful review of The Art of the Book show at the Seager Gray Gallery. It was written by David Roth and published on SquareCylinder.com.

Here is an excerpt from the article, The Art of the Book @ Seager Gray, which was published on 29 April 2012.

"What is it about books that make them so irresistible for artists? Is it because they introduce us to worlds we couldn’t otherwise know? Or is it the opposite: that certain proscriptive books activate a hard-wired instinct to subvert and rebel? Whatever it is, book art, in recent decades, has blossomed, and its practitioners, both in number and diversity, have multiplied like rhizomes. The form has attracted painters, sculptors and conceptual artists; poets, photographers, novelists and scientists; and, dedicated fine art printers who facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration.
The so-called death of print?  If anything, it’s emboldened artists by bringing to the fore all of the qualities that have always made books compelling, namely, pictures, words, tactility, design and, yes, stories.  And stories, as we know, have long history of artistic embellishment, as illuminated manuscripts and their predecessors demonstrate.  Donna Seager and Suzanne Gray, in whose eponymously named gallery this annual museum-quality show takes place, have been keen observers of this activity, and in this exhibit they’ve brought together a wide range of book artists from the U.S. and abroad. There are 33 in all.
They include Brian Dettmer, a Georgia artist who makes fantastical sculptures out of surgically exposed antiquarian books; Richard Shaw, the legendary Bay Area maker of trompe l’oeil ceramic sculpture; multi-media artist Kota Ezawa; and East Bay filmmaker Elizabeth Sher whose “blog” — of sorts — consists of Torah-like scrolls filled with automatic writing in an alphabet she devised. You’ll also find the stunning Oliver Sacks-Abelardo Morell collaboration, The Island of Rota, about which I’ll say more, as well as works from Lisa Kokin. Her thread-based sculptures, which hang in mid-air, dispense almost entirely with the stuff of which books are made, save the words themselves."

The Art of the Book

The Art of the Book - April 17 - May 31, 2012

Opening Reception on Saturday, April 28, 6-8pm

Elizabeth Sher often combines humorous looks at today’s society with formal aesthetic concepts.

BLOG © 2012 offers an ironic hand crafted comment on today’s obsession with incessantly sharing the minute details of our existence.    This daily diary of Sher’s month at Can Serrat residency in Barcelona, Spain, is written with bamboo quill pen and French ink in a subconscious personal language.    The scroll handles reference the Hebrew torah; the case refers to the plain wooden box used for traditional Jewish burials.

Seager Gray Gallery 23 Sunnyside Ave., Mill Valley, CA

Two Upcoming Shows

October 27 - December 3 Shoes

Opening reception on Thursday, October 27 from 6-7:30pm.

Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 6780 Depot Street Sebastopol CA 95472

November 30 - December 2011 5x5: Invitational

Opening reception on Wednesday, November 30 from 4-6pm.

Artists and public figures from across the nation have been invited to create 5-inch square works of art. Their creations will be for sale, with proceeds benefiting the Museum.

Westmont Museum of Art, 955 La Paz Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108

MBS Traveling Exhibit

This year, my book, Mollusca Gastropoda Fever, is in the Miniature Book Society's annual traveling exhibit. It will stop in Orange, CA, Ann Arbor, MI, North Texas State University in Denton, Dublin, Ireland and finally to the MBS Archive in the Lilly Library at Indiana University.

The stop in Dublin (7/29-8/1/11) was for the annual MBS Grand Conclave, a gathering of all their members.