Some Interesting Land Artists

Here are 3 different land artists that I found intriguing. The first one is Simon Beck, who has created art in snow and sand. I think I found something new I can do with my snowshoes.

The next artist is Cornelia Konrads. Here are two of her works. Cornelia seems to have done a lot of work that incorporates structures such as houses, and parts such as doors and windows.

And, finally, here is some work by Sylvain Meyer, a Swiss artist. His work seems to conform more to images and concepts found in nature:

Places That Are Special to Me

Below are several photos of one of my favorite places: Grand Teton National Park. When my family took trips from Moscow, Idaho to Rexburg, Idaho, in the summers, I could see the Tetons off in the distance and always wanted to go there. So, after my second year of college, I got a job working at Jackson Lake Lodge, in the national park. My spare time was spent hiking, mostly, some canoeing, and socializing with other like-minded students. I still go back every one or two years. These photos were taken in the Fall of 2015.

Natural Container: Curly Willow Basket

My friend had some branches come down during the high winds we had yesterday and the day before. I brought some of those home, along with some green branches that were pruned from the same trees, and proceeded to make a basket with a handle. I watched a couple of videos online, describing how to make a willow basket. The original intent was to use this to hold paint brushes or other items when I'm plein air painting. We'll see how functional it is. The videos I saw, demonstrated basket weaving using long straight willow branches. These are curly, which definitely created some interesting challenges and effects.

Dry curly willow branches

Green curly willow branches

Making the dry branches more flexible by simmering them in hot water.

Removing the leaves from green branches.

Digital Mandala

Here is an image of the revised mandala. I shot a photo of the original physical mandala, took it into Photoshop, breaking up the pieces and adding 3 other photo image clips.

Here is the original mandala:

Curriculum Sketch: Spirit Collage

Below is an image of a "spirit collage" curriculum sketch.

Mandala Creation and Destruction

I created a mandala out of old spices that had lost their savor, and a few other herbs and seasonings as well. Cooked Spaghetti noodles were used as separators between the shapes. These photos show the completed design:

Closeup of Center

Bird's Eye View

In Perspective

Following the creation of this mandala, it was destroyed by removing the pasta noodles and discarding them. Then the spices were poured into a glass canning jar.

Collage Artist: Kurt Schwitters

The following images are some that were created by the collage artist, Kurt Schwitters, a German artist who lived from 1887 to 1948. During his art career, he worked with Expressionism, on to Dada art, Cubism, and later on Internationalism. He fled to Norway just before the beginning of World War II, as he was in danger of arrest. His art was considered "degenerate art" by the Nazi's. He was in exile for a number of years, and spent some time in internment camps which, oddly enough, contained many artists, writers and other intellectuals. He also created installation art called "Merzbau," wherein he altered interior spaces using the same style as is seen in Cubism.