Happy New Year!
On Saturday, January 7, from 6-9 pm, I’ll be playing jazz piano and displaying art for opening of the new Big Works Art Exhibit at Five Deuces Gallery in St. Petersburg.
I’ll have several pieces for sale in the Gallery’s Music Studio that night. And a new large piece, Harbor, will be on display in the Exhibit all month.
A Contemporary Art Perspective on a Historic Airport
Harbor
Harbor uses photos of land, sea and sky encompassing St. Petersburg’s Albert Whitted Airport and the adjacent port and yacht basin. I combined and layered those images to portray a mirage harbor for vessels of both air and sea, suspended in sky and water above and below.
This iconic airport is an enduring part of St. Petersburg’s open waterfront and identity. I look out on it from my balcony, fly aircraft off its runways, and often use pictures of it in my collage art. And I’m dedicated to saving it from development.
The world’s first regularly scheduled air service launched from these waters, in a flying boat, on January 1, 1914. Flights from a shell runway began in 1917 and the site was named Albert Whitted Airport in 1928.
In its early years the airport housed Goodyear blimps, military training aircraft and National Airlines. For decades this was home for Coast Guard aircraft and it’s still home for the regional Coast Guard fleet. Today the airport houses over 200 aircraft and businesses, generating over $120 million in annual economic activity.
The Airport is under threat from a new mayor, who would like to use the land for other purposes. I am part of a new group, Friends of Albert Whitted Airport, which is dedicated to protecting the airport and access to aviation for our entire community.
Another Look Back at Berlin in Collage
Berlin in October
I just completed a new collage, Berlin in October, from photos taken during my recent visit there.
This circular collage is built around my photo of Berlin’s Fernsehturm (television tower) which rises high above Alexanderplatz in old East Berlin. The Fernsehturm was a prestige project of the East’s communist government.
Also noticeable are churches, especially the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, the most prominent landmark in the western part of the city. Built from the wreckage of the old church, it is a place of remembrance and reconciliation.
In between are many images taken in museums, on the streets, and in parks during those glorious, clear October days. And you can see me, reflected in shop windows in Kreuzberg.
Revising a Work: Geometric Patterns in my Collage Art
Cubes 7
I recently revisited and revised Cubes 7, from 2020. This piece utilizes overlaid geometric patterns, a practice I recall first using in childhood drawings.
The underlying pattern comprises strips of photos running in a square, something I used in all the Cubes series. Over that I took a foliage photograph, cut it into strips, and arrayed it coming out of the center in rays toward the edges of the collage. Then I cut a photo of a colorful flower, and arranged it in vertical stripes in a V pattern over the underlying square and rays.
What was revised?
In the initial version, there was a black rectangular hole in the center. The piece worked, but something felt missing.
So I found the original flower photo and made it the centerpiece. It’s vivid, the star of the show.
I wish you all the best in 2023!
For more contemporary art in Berlin, I enjoyed these museums:
