Phoenix Book Placement

Last week was intense! My thoughts are to stop the madness and start creating, publishing and have fun with photos, I took way back when... Before the face the sand event!

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, Coachella Valley, Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve, California

Snapping photos during physical therapy for my alphabet book gets me excited about working and thinking about the content and title. With a high strain sprain, I’m also taking time to enjoy and study my Sony camera with all its features. Content to learn something every day but it’s absorbing the info that is a process.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Heiden Orthopedics, Salt Lake City, Utah

On the administration side of the studio, while passing through Phoenix, I contacted the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department of the Arizona State University Library. The result of my conversations represents the placement of two artist's books in the Book Arts Collection. The collection contains books with unusual formats about fine printing, binding, and handmade papers, it also includes pop-up books.

With this acquisition, the complete edition of Entre deux and Guadalupe are sold out. Both artists’ books are in great company, I discovered deux and Guadalupe are sold out. Both artists’ books are in great company, I discovered deux and Guadalupe are sold out. Both artists’ books are in great company, I discovered deux and Guadalupe are sold out. Both artists’ books are in great company, I discovered deux and Guadalupe are sold out. Both artists’ books are in great company, I discovered deux and Guadalupe are sold out. Both artists’ books are in great company, I discovered After Image: Colour at play by Barbara Hodgson & Claudia Cohen is part of the collection and The Blame Game: Winning Excuses and Strategies on and off the Court by Carolyn Shattuck. 

Entre deux is an interactive documentary inviting the reader to take part in a simple meal with a couple whiles being privy to their conversation on the subject of love. deux is an interactive documentary inviting the reader to take part in a simple meal with a couple whiles being privy to their conversation on the subject of love. 

© 2013 Louise Levergneux, Entre deux

© 2013 Louise Levergneux, Entre deux

© 2013 Louise Levergneux, Entre deux

Guadalupe was created after exploring Santa Fe, New Mexico, I created a documentary on the Virgin Mary, an image that saturates the entire city in different formats, sizes, and styles.

© 2012 Louise Levergneux, Guadelupe

© 2012 Louise Levergneux, Guadelupe

© 2012 Louise Levergneux, Guadelupe

I have another three weeks in Salt Lake City and looking forward to positive answers to studio visits as hiking the wonderful Wasatch Mountains is out of the question.

Predicaments Make

Still constrained by a sprained ankle, I’m unable to photograph at will, go on hikes, or even stand at a work table. 

How does an artist cope with an overwhelming circumstance? I often create out of the situation I'm presented. 

Through this pickle, I’m developing an ABC artists’ book using my ankle stretching exercises for the content. The images below are some of the elements that will be included in the pages. I have ideas for the cover by manipulating a stretch compression bandage. I’m not sure of the title, that will develop with the book.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux

© 2018 Louise Levergneux

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My predicament compelled me to think of how artists continue with their work during an illness, malaise or unfortunate event. Let me introduce a narrative from Miriam Schaer, an artist, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. Miriam began a teaching and research adventure in Telavi. A Fulbright Fellowship enabled her to live and work, outside Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. 

© 2018 Miriam Schaer

Once in the Republic of Georgia, some 5,600 miles from home in the winter of 2017, a sore knee triggered a cascade of debilitating conditions. 

My right leg from the knee down grew so swollen I could not bend it, stand on it, or fit into a shoe. Walking was out. The pain was excruciating, an arthritic discomfort had become frighteningly serious. I decided to head home on a midnight flight.

I came to grips with the extending length of my recovery and resigned a Senior Lectureship at Columbia College Chicago. I could see it would be a few semesters before I could return.

As an artist, however, I can’t avoid making things. Usually, I’m compulsively busy making artist books, book-related sculptures, prints, and multimedia projects.

© 2018 Miriam Schaer, Miriam home studio

My home studio is well-equipped, but in rehab, my iPhone was the only tool I had to document the unfamiliar rehab environment.

© 2018 Miriam Schaer, hospital diary

© 2018 Miriam Schaer, hospital diary

Back from the hospital, mobility became my top priority. Serious art making would have to wait. Fortunately, I had committed to several projects with long lead times. The commitments turned out to be gifts and, I adapted my limited energies to them. I reverted to a trick developed as a young artist by doing one small thing and hoped each step would lead to another, and so on.

I took breaks. Some short, some longer, like binge-watching episodes of the Great British Baking Show. I allowed myself to fail and make mistakes, to take things apart and put them back together, sometimes multiple times.

However, just as my walking improved enough to hobble around, carpal tunnel syndrome developed from months of struggling, first with a walker then a cane. My ability to make small tools and accomplish anything went out the window. Instead of producing books, I was soaking my wrists in ice baths.

I turned to related work — updated my website, helped a neighbor start her own website. A two-day artists’ book workshop conducted in my studio helped  produce a simple ‘instant book.’

I pecked away at an essay for a book I’d been asked to contribute to, due later in 2018. During the summer, I started a piece, writing a little each day. I wanted to finish a draft by summer’s end knowing I would need time to go through at least three drafts. In the end, there were seven.

I felt overwhelmed by the growing list of new conditions. But once diagnosed and treated the symptoms slowly retreated. By this time, I started on an artwork for an exhibition. Feeling better but with low energy, I was still, not able to stand for prolonged periods. So, I needed to think about how I would approach the project.

I decided to try a garment; I have worked with garments in the past, usually manipulating the clothing items. This time I wanted to make something from scratch.

© Miriam Schaer, Ida's Notebook

The decision was to make a shirt and tie with the neckwear extending, like Pinocchio’s nose to an indecent length inspired by media’s attention to the reign of Trump. I entitled the piece Liar’s Couture.

© Miriam Schaer, Liar’s Couture

© Miriam Schaer, Liar’s Couture

The project was challenging, therapeutic, even fun. It showed me I was ready to get back to work even though I measure my progress by achieving a milestone at a time.

Now, more than a year after that dangerous day in Georgia, my knee needs to be replaced and my fingers are still a bit numb. But I’m hopeful.

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Artists take notice of all events or situations that arise. We create from everything that touches our souls, personalities and, environment. What have you created lately from a problematic situation, a tight spot, dilemma or a can of worms that just happen to disrupt your life on a beautiful day?

Phoenix Architecture

Sorry to have missed a week. I experienced life before the internet as I traveled back-up to Salt Lake City. Absolutely no connection for a week. Odd!

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Traveling to Phoenix, Arizona is not complete without a visit to Taliesin West, Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, and Scottsdale's only National Historic Landmark.

Taliesin West is on six hundred acres purchased around 1937 at the foothills of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale, Arizona. Set amid a Sonoran Desert Preserve, Wright’s home commands dramatic views of Camelback Mountain and the Valley of the Sun.

When standing on the lawn facing the desert from the main house — in Wright's own words, Taliesin West would be "a look over the rim of the world."

Eighty years after its construction, the desert still consumes Taliesin West whole. It is not until one is on its doorstep, that one can appreciate anything at all of the buildings; they so perfectly blend in with the desert. And once inside one does not visualize anything of this world from the windows in any sitting position.

Deeply connected to the desert, Taliesin West is among the most personal of the architect’s creations since it was built and maintained almost entirely by Wright and his apprentices.

Taliesin West is a prime example of Wright’s organic architecture in that the structures are built of the rocks and sand of the Sonoran Desert and melds to the lower McDowell Mountains. 

The next time I’m in Phoenix I would love to visit the David and Gladys Wright House. This house is a 2,500-square-foot concrete house designed and built for the architect's son in 1952. This Wright house was boarded up back in 2014. These days it has been restored and accessible for viewing. My sprained ankle is the culprit for not enjoying this architecture.

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I will be in Salt Lake City for the next couple of weeks. If you would like to introduce me to your studio, just let me know by emailing me at louiselevergneux@gmail.com

Little Things with Great Love

During my stay in Desert Hot Springs, California, I met Cathy Greenblat, Writer, Sociologist, and Photographer, through my husband’s work and game-based learning.

Since 2001, Cathy has been working to change the imagery of aging, illness and dying by combining her background as a Professor of Sociology with her photography.

Cathy’s body of work began at a municipal old age home in Mexico after she left her tenured full professorship to focus on work combining photographs and text. 

© 2004 Cathy Greenblat, Mrs Morimoto Singing, Japan

I believe this to be the most effective vehicle to open people’s eyes, literally and figuratively, providing a better way to help them “face” issues that are generally avoided. Since then I have directed my energies to the creation of photographic projects that challenge stereotypical conceptions of the aged, the infirm, and those in the terminal stages of life.

© 2008 Cathy Greenblat, Benedicte Snoezelen, USA

I then documented a person-centered approach to Alzheimer’s care in the United States; those photographs and text appeared as a book in 2004, Alive with Alzheimer’s (University of Chicago Press). The German edition (Alzheimers und Lebensqualitat) was published in 2006 in conjunction with a three-year traveling exhibition in Germany. In recognition of that work, the University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences awarded me the 2007 John P. McGovern Lectureship in Family, Health, and Human Values.

© 2008 Cathy Greenblat, "Can we use your ball?", India

Cathy has continued to photograph Alzheimer's care in the USA, in France, India, Japan, and the Dominican Republic. These photographs were presented in exhibits and are now offered in her book, Love, Loss and Laughter: Seeing Alzheimer's Differently (Globe Pequot, 2012).

© 2007 Cathy Greenblat, Rolland & his daughter at Kate's music group, USA

In both forms, they offer an additional challenge to stereotypes about Alzheimer’s disease. They show that while the losses created by degenerative brain disease are real, people with Alzheimer’s are not, as they are often depicted,  “empty shells”, completely lost. The photos show what quality healthcare looks like, and illustrate that such care allows people with Alzheimer’s disease to sustain connections to others and to their own past lives at a far higher level than is generally believed to be possible. The photographs reveal that they are capable of experiencing joy as well as sorrow, that loving care can yield loving responses and laughter.

© 2008 Cathy Greenblat, Jacqueline laughing, France

My other project, undertaken between 2005 and 2008 focuses on end of life care. Exhibits from that project have been titled Alive at the End of Life, or Little Things with Great Love. The latter title comes from a statement by Mother Theresa "We cannot do great things, only little things with great love." This project is meant to provide insight into the ways the experience of dying can be enriched, both emotionally and intellectually, for the person who is dying and for those attached to him or her. We cannot do “the one great thing”, eliminate death, but I hope to show the important little things that are being done with great love by those who are engaged in the reconceptualization and reconstruction of the dying process. 

© 2008 Cathy Greenblat, Judge Pratt and his friend John Wayne, USA

As I have spoken with people with dementia, with cancer, and with AIDS and with their family members, I have seen how little prepared most of us are in terms of knowing what to do when death approaches, even when it has been coming on for some time due to a chronic illness. It is rare for people to make advance visits to places where palliative and end of life care is offered. If they visit at all, it is when someone is in need of immediate help, and then they are often so emotionally burdened that they are unable to observe and judge the quality of the services offered. I believe that my projects can help convey new information and insight to viewers not (yet) under such stress.

© 2008 Cathy Greenblat, "It's a DOG!!!", USA

The photographs and accompanying text provide a symbolic journey through the dying process via the representation of everyday people whose lives and deaths have been eased by the best of programs. Because of the obstacles to overcome in viewing death, I believe that still photography is a better medium for this endeavor than is film; people need time to stop and reflect on the images, to deal with their emotions and thoughts at their own pace.  

Much still remains to be done to increase both public awareness of the issues and to provide healthcare professionals with knowledge and training in dementia care and end of life care. I believe that photography can be an important tool in creating a new vision of what can be, of how to meet the growing need for quality care.  

© 2008 Cathy Greeblat, Going home after the Memory Clinic session, France

Professor Greenblat has been selected to have her work archived at the Bienecke Library at Yale University. It will be accessible in the Women in Photography International Archive, Western Americana Collection, and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library/Yale University.

Thank you Cathy for such wonderful and candid photos!

Numerous Hats

I’ve been wearing my arts management hat this week. An assistant to deal with the field that concerns business operations around my art world would be nice. Even on the road, one has to facilitate the day-to-day operations of one’s own organization — the finances, the sales, the invoices, the inventory, the databases, the acquisition of materials, the marketing...

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Heads 2014 by Jun Kaneko at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona

I deal with administration and create policies. But, who fulfills the mission? Most artists work on their own since finances do not allow us to hire staff. We need to understand all business units of a working organization. I've often felt I should fire one of my hats and hire another, better equipped to do the job. But reality presents itself at every turn, and I must deal with the whole shebang!

The teamwork, the creative leadership, and the dynamic process of reflection all lie on my shoulders. Oh! What fun when Income Tax returns are due in 21 days. 

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, a bird making its nest in a Saguaro, San Xavier Mission, Tucson, Arizona

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, a rabbit looking on in Congress, Arizona

I prefer to produce than execute administrivia, I’m adept at it, but that is not my labor of love in life. 

At the moment, I am constrained by the living space and suffering from a sprained ankle. These create disquietness, and I can only dream of hiking and photographing cacti in the Sonoran Desert or standing at a workstation swearing at glue that is running amuck. But for the next week, Income Tax and database reorganization are my future.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, a Geico resting at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, Gila Bend, Arizona

In the meantime, the early mornings are where I dream of new artists’ books. I would welcome the opportunity to visit another studio — I’m in Phoenix, where are you?

What strategies do you pursue to maintain your creative process through the many hats you must wear in a day?

How do you implement these strategies?

What gets your mojo motived?

Documentation

It’s been two weeks since my last post. My friend, Flavie Beaudet, visited us in Arizona and her companionship took precedence over everything else. We enjoyed six days of sun and warmth in Sedona and Gila Bend—what a treat! As artists, art is never far from the conversation, and documenting what we witness is strong.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, cactus at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, Gila Bend

I brought my studio outside once again as I absorbed my surroundings with an unconventional eye. As a lover of landscapes, I could finally share with a friend from back home what I perceived in this astonishing—stupéfiant environment.

Textures and colours of Arizona suited Flavie’s fierce sense of design. In the past, Moroccan patterns have influenced her creations.

© 2017 Flavie Beaudet, first layer for a tabletop design

© 2017 Flavie Beaudet, the second layer for a tabletop design

© 2017 Flavie Beaudet, several layers later, the finished tabletop

© 2017 Flavie Beaudet, another Moroccan inspired tabletop

We soon watched out for each other's obsessions. This past week, I was fixated on the sky with its fabulous clouds. More on that later.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Phoenix sky

Flavie photographed motifs nature gifted within cacti, trees, desert plants, shadows, hay...

There were rocks to photograph...

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, rocks at Gila Bend KOA Camping site

... then there were rocks.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, Gila Bend

Since my camera was always in hand, I recorded Flavie documenting patterns. I’m looking forward to seeing what will become of this photographic archive of Arizona.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, on the way to document the desert

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Flavie documenting at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, Gila Bend

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Flavie stealing a shot of the Solana Generating Station near Gila Bend

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Flavie photographing hay on Citrus Valley Rd near Gila Bend

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Flavie photographing and enjoying an architect's work at Taliesin West, Phoenix

We all document our thoughts and ideas in different ways, what is your process? I would love to hear.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, un bis pour toi

Vibrant Group in Tucson, Arizona

Keeping in contact with artists and people is important in life, but it seems more significant as one travels.travels.

When emailing back and forth with Helen Hiebert about contacts we knew in Texas and groups in our paths... Helen mentioned an extremely active group worth visiting while in Arizona. 

PaperWorks provides educational and creative opportunities for all who love paper works, work with paper, and work on paper. Members and committees promote the appreciation and enjoyment of the paper and book arts. They do so through monthly meetings, workshops, programs, classes, and exhibitions by members. The group also gives scholarships for students studying paper arts and even donates art supplies to a selected charity. PaperWorks presents workshops from artists like Helen Hiebert, Karen Hanmer, Shawn Sheehy, Daniel Kelm, Daniel Essig, just to name a few.

PaperWorks is a virtual association with a huge number of creative and inspiring members who meet on the second Thursday of the month, which I missed! I was a few days short of meeting at least one hundred of the members who come for information, networking, and all the opportunities that may be available. These meetings are open to members, guests, and the public free of charge.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, PaperWorks has a published journal produced by members who volunteer for the job.

 Check out the wonderful artists’ books in accordion structure by Carol Rawlings on page 19 of the latest PaperWorks Journal.

After an email to PaperWorks, I coordinated coffee time with Vice President Linda Penny and Treasurer Cherrie Lucerne-Martin. They were both very approachable and open to discuss the organization and their own work. 

For example, Linda enjoys exploring all art media—collage, bookmaking, jewelry, stitching, mixed media, photography... 

© Linda Penny, All That's Left, one-of-a-kind artists’ book

© Linda Penny, All That's Left

 Linda Penny, Mélange

© Linda Penny, Mélange

I typically focus on one or two media for a while and then move on to something else, eventually returning to something I’ve done before, often taking it in a new direction or simply refining the process. A workshop or new art material can also inspire me to explore something entirely new. I am a teacher, both by profession and with respect to my art. Linda Penny

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© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Clear Quartz and Citrine at the Gem Show

What and where will my journey bring me next—I will be in the Sedona, Arizona area for the next month. If you would like to meet or you have an organization that might interest me, please email me the information.

Tucson, Arizona

I enjoy meeting artists as I travel across the US and Canada. To my pleasant surprise, after emailing Barbara Grygutis for permission to feature her work on my last post, I received an affirmative answer to my request for a studio visit.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Barbara Grygutis' studio

Her studio in Tucson is at the back of a historic building inside a greenish cage, as Barbara calls it. It was a delight to walk through the wood and glass doors and enter Barbara’s space.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Barbara Grygutis' studio

The studio is considerable and airy, with multiple areas, each with a different purpose: spot for the printer, a place for administration, a corner for the computer-assisted design specialist who turns her ideas and designs into computerized renderings. A large shelf with archives of maquettes/models and workstations everywhere... I was given a complete tour of her studio and the first look at some of Barbara’s up-coming public sculptures.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Barbara Grygutis' studio

Stuff is widely distributed and filled with the characteristics of Barbara’s work and personality.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Barbara Grygutis' studio

Amazed to see the architectural drawings and maquettes for such work as Front Row Center and Sonoran Passage in Tucson.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Barbara Grygutis' studio, maquette for Front Row Center

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Barbara Grygutis' studio

Large drawings of new work in progress covered windows and walls. Notes or changes had been made directly on the drawings. The stories and connection to their environment were shared... We talked about the desert and how it related to some of the pieces as in Sonoran Passage where pleated and tapered columns look like stylized saguaros.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Barbara Grygutis' studio, sketches and images for Sonoran Passage

I went back on 22nd Street to view Sonoran Passage from below the Parkway. These works of art are best viewed at all angles to understand the connection and interaction to the spaces.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Sonoran Passage by Barbara Grygutis from 22sd street

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, Sonoran Passage by Barbara Grygutis from 22sd street

As one of the nation's most sought-after sculptor, Barbara impressed me with her openness to share and her warm welcome.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux, à bientôt Barbara Grygutis

Thanks Barbara for a wonderful tour and looking forward to Happy Hour next year!