Collaborations show at Artisan Gallery

Now showing at Artisan Gallery: Collaborations. Here’s some in-progress and final (detail) shots of the piece I did with Kay Myers, below. Collaborative Metamorphosis features hand-colored, cutout linocuts of insects I did, plus (seen in the last photo below) some of Kay’s insects–exquisitely detailed paper sculptures.

The Collaborations show is up through October 28, 2012 at Artisan Gallery in Paoli, WI.

Gallery hours:
Tuesday – Sunday 10a.m. – 5p.m.

Extended Holiday Hours:
Open Seven days a week Thanksgiving through Christmas 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Open Late Thursdays: 10 a.m. – 7p.m.

Insects printed (lino cuts printed on etching press), with some hand-colored…. (size: asian beetles approx 1/4 – 1/2 inches)

Insects printed, hand-colored, and cut out, ready for assembly…. (size: asian beetles approx 1/4 – 1/2 inches)

Detail from “Metamorphic Collaboration” 20in x 16in, mixed media. Those are Kay’s 3-d paper sculptures of insects.

‘Birds in Art’ interview by Rob Duns at WAOW

Click on image to watch interview.

Marla Brenner and I were interviewed at the Birds in Art opening weekend. Watch the interview!

The part Rob left out of the interview was that the turkeys that I “liberated” were actually, originally intended for Thanksgiving dinners for friends and family. I raised the turkeys to use
as models AND for meat, just as I’d done years past with the Broad Breasted Bronzes and Giant Whites. But wild turkeys can fly (which I didn’t think about ahead of time), and they had a different agenda, so I started clipping their wings once I realized they were all going to fly away.

But then, through my own  need to have beautiful models, their wings were allowed to grow out (after a clumsy, unsightly wing clipping –hey c’mon, my models were escaping one-by-one daily!– that left my models looking like strange, ungainly, flightless birds that were not exactly fit for modelling). I decided then that wild turkeys flying off to be wild kind of made sense, and I sketched and photographed the birds like crazy once their wings grew out, knowing they were going to take off any day. And then, one by one over a few days they flew over the fence to freedom. They definitely earned it! Well, they also got a long, safe-from-predators, well-fed childhood before they took off.

And it was awesome the following spring to go on jogs with the dogs, when all-of-a-sudden we’d scare up a mama turkey and her rafter/gobble/flock of tiny little poults flapping like mad to follow her up into the trees. This happened often that spring. I felt proud–like they were my grandkids or something.

“Turkey Promenade” and 59 other “Birds in Art” works selected to go on tour…

…to Kansas, South Carolina, Michigan, Colorado, and Alaska. Full list of venues here.

The Birds in Art exhibition is currently showing at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum (the big opening weekend was last Saturday, Sept. 10th), and is on display through Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. After that, the 59 selected will continue on to the national tour (which ends in Anchorage, Alaska, January 20, 2013). I feel very honored to have had my piece selected!

Here’s more info about Woodson Art Museum, Birds in Art and so forth:

What is Birds in Art?

(From the Woodson Art Museum):
Introduction
Since 1976, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum has organized Birds in Art annually, seeking to present the very best contemporary artistic interpretations of birds and related subject matter. Two- and three-dimensional artworks in all media other than crafts and photography are eligible for submission. Approximately 100 works are selected by a jury review of digital images. 

As the Museum’s flagship exhibition, Birds in Art enables the Museum to meet its goals of presenting and collecting art of the natural world having birds as the primary or secondary focus. A fully illustrated, four-color catalogue accompanies each Birds in Art exhibition. Catalogues are available for purchase online.

In conjunction with Birds in Art, the Woodson Art Museum selects an artist to receive its Master Wildlife Artist Award. The award honors artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in using bird imagery in their artwork. The individual recognized as the Master Wildlife Artist is further honored by a mini-retrospective (approximately 10 to 12 artworks) during Birds in Art.

Each year, 60 works are selected from Birds in Art to be included in a national or international tour. This tour considerably expands the exhibition’s reach to broader audiences.

Birds in Art opens to the public on the first Saturday following Labor Day every year and is on view for nine weeks. Specific Birds in Art education programs and special events will be available online by August 15 each year.

Mount Horeb Area Spring Art Tour this Fri, Sat, Sun!

Weekend Schedule for Sue:

1 of 5 new cards available this weekend

Friday: Cutting 2 new blocks. Printing a new (Dexter) tee by end of day.

Saturday: Cutting and printing 2 new reduction relief blocks.

Sunday: 1st of 2 blocks should be nearing completion.

5 new card designs

Both hard and soft cover versions of CLUCK: From Jungle Fowl to City Chicks is also available.

The Mount Horeb Spring Art Tour

Now in it’s 5th year, the Spring Art Tour features 21 artists who will open their studios to the public for 3 days in June. This year the open studio event is June 10, 11, 12 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), 10-5 daily.

Open daily 10-5

Tonight: CLUCK talk at Overture

“Presentation with author Susan Troller and artist S.V. Medaris, this is an illustrated talk about Troller’s new book ‘CLUCK: From Jungle Fowl to City Chicks,’ which is beautifully illustrated with art by Medaris. Troller is a reporter with The Capital Times.”

“This 45-minute illustrated talk will include Susan Troller’s colorful critter stories and S.V. Medaris’s amazing artwork, followed by Q & A for both. S.V. Medaris’s relief prints are on display in ‘Beastly Prints: Modern Interpretations of the Art of the Bestiary‘ in Overture Gallery I.”

Wed, Jun 1, 6 PM
Wisconsin Studio, free
More info at the Overture and publisher Itchy Cat Press.

Book Launch Party for CLUCK…

…buk, buk, book party of the year!

Book Launch Party for Susan Troller & S.V. Medaris by Itchy Cat Press
When: Tuesday May 24, 5-7 p.m.
Where: Harmony Bar, 2201 Atwood Avenue, Madison (608) 249-4333

Please come to our book launch party for CLUCK: From Jungle Fowl to City Chicks at the Harmony Bar. We’re celebrating with Lake Louie beer (made just up the road from Itchy Cat Press) and Harmony’s tasty pizza. (Sorry, no chicken wings.)

Help us celebrate the publication of our colorful illustrated book on the romance and foibles of raising chickens.

You can discover the “Joy of Chix” and the “Zen of Hens” and maybe even learn to dance the funky chicken! Sue and Susan will be there to share some eggcellent stories and autograph your copy of CLUCK.

Don’t miss the buk, buk, book party of the year!
Caroline & Frank
Itchy Cat Press

Birds in Art 2011!

"Turkey Promenade", 5-color reduction woodcut, 30in x 22in

Turkey Promenade made it into Birds in Art this year.

The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum writes:
“Jurors Martha Hill (author and former Audubon picture editor), Amy Montague (director, Mass Audubon Visual Arts Center), and Jim Richerson (president, Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences) spent a productive day reviewing 957 entries submitted by 583 artists before heading into the final selection round….[which includes] 113 juried artists and past Master Artists and the 2011 Master Artist, Jim Coe….”

I fortunately picked the right art to submit for this year’s jurors. This’ll be my 3rd time (2005, 2010) at Wausau, and I feel as lucky and honored to be in this show as I did the first time.

New book coming soon!

New book coming soon: CLUCK: From Jungle Fowl to City Chicks.

Very exciting! The book design is gorgeous (Caroline Beckett from Itchy Cat Press) and it features artwork from the One Chick Show all the way up to current work. I’ll have a preview copy (hard cover) at my May 7 MFA show (A Pattern of Processing).

Cluck: From Jungle Fowl to City Chicks

By Susan Troller
Art by S.V. Medaris
9780981516134
$25.00 • paper • Full color • Midwest

Funny, poignant, wry look at the backyard phenomenon of raising chickens for eggs, meat or just plain pets. Additional stories by Jane Hamilton, Michael Perry, and Ben Logan. Stunning artwork by S.V. Medaris. For animal lovers, pet owners, and art enthusiasts.

Itchy Cat Press
www.itchycatpress.com
608-924-1443
Read more about Cluck.

Badger Herald article about our “Beastly Prints” show

ArtsEtc.: Art
Dichotomy of human-animal interaction depicted through diverse media, aesthetics

‘Art of Bestiary’ explored in Overture print exhibit. Photo courtesy Patrick Smyczek

By Kathi Gadow
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 10:05 a.m.

Even if you are not in the Veterinary School, or even an animal lover, you’ll enjoy “Beastly Prints: Modern Interpretations of the Art of Bestiary,” part of the Overture Center’s new round of spring galleries….. (Read entire article)

“Beastly Prints” show is up!

Some sneak peeks:

Closeup of one of Patrick Smyczek's hand-colored screen-prints

Closeup of one of Briony Morrow-Cribb's intaglio prints

Briony’s website, Sue’s website.

Closeup of S.V. Medaris' 8ft chicken woodcut

The show is open now, with the big reception at the Overture on Gallery Night, Friday, May 6, 2011 at 6pm.