come and gone...

The Artist Reception for my exhibit 'Beyond The Pale' has come and gone. The gallery was bustling with lovers of photography, family and friends who came to offer support and check out my latest endeavor. The evening was a blast and very successful.

Here is writer extraordinaire James V. Hart, my daughter Becca, me, my son Jesse, my sister Veronica, Jim's wife and long time pal Judy (who had just flown in from New York with Jim), and hubby Steve.


A beautiful bouquet of red roses was delivered from Phil Erklen and the IMS Syndicate, my friends in Colorado. They are gorgeous.

...Musician, actor and old pal Bill Mumy dropped by and told me my other shows were like "Meet the Beatles", but this show was like "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"...what a compliment...!WOW

A big thanks to Vince and Mardjie, owners of A Studio Gallery and Franks Black & White Custom Lab (which is behind the gallery). They are terrific people to be associated with. A STUDIO GALLERY is excludively a black and white photography gallery. My art begins with black and white fiber prints of my images that I hand-paint and merge with altered art techniques and mixed media.

I loved making this art. It was a journey that was so fulfilling and has ignited a passion to keep spreading my wings...It is so freeing to have the show up and out there. If you can't come by in person and want to take a look, I have posted the exhibit on my website.
www.acartwrightstudio.com/beyondthepale.htm

looking beyond the pale...sigh

Today I feel like I am arriving at the end of my journey...that may sound a little dramatic...but when you have an exhibit, ask any artist, it takes a lot out of you.
It's not just the time, the work and the intensity of a deadline...it's an emotional journey too.
I feel like it's the last day of high school...or that last day of work on a movie set...it is exciting, sad, and it feels good to sigh...

If any of you who are wondering why my show is called 'Beyond the Pale'...It's an expression that was used in my family when I was a child. (Remember my family is from England and we have lots of quirky sayings that have been passed on...)
It seemed a perfect name for an exhibit that would be stepping outside the comfort zone of how people view photography. I was exploring a variety of techniques in the presentation of these photographs that would be shown in a gallery where we exclusively exhibit black and white photography (and my handpainted photography in the past.) I needed to maintain the perimeters of the gallery...(no digital, no color photographs and all black and white photographs that are hand trayed on archival paper.)
I would keep the integrity of what we displayed at the galley by handpainting my black and white photographs with oils... but then I went on to explore layers of acrylic and watercolor paint and fabric, print and ephemera, mosaic, inks and collage, all merging together and embracing my images.

For those of you who are curious...here is an explanation of what 'beyond the pale' means.

Pale is a historic term for a pointed stake driven into the ground to form part of a fence. This meaning has been around in English since the fourteenth century. By 1400 it had taken on various figurative senses, such as a defense, a safeguard, a barrier, an enclosure, or a limit beyond which it was not permissible to go. With this usage, the word pale has nothing to do with the adjective for something light in color except that both come from Latin roots. The one referring to color is from the Latin verb pallere, to be pale, whilst our one is from palus, a stake.
In particular, it was used to describe various defended enclosures of territory inside other countries. The expression beyond the pale, meant outside the bounds of acceptable behavior. The idea behind it was that civilization stopped at the boundary of the pale and beyond lay those who were not under civilized control and whose behavior therefore was not that of gentlemen. The paling fence is significant as the term pale became to mean the area enclosed by such a fence and later, the figurative meaning of 'the area that is enclosed and safe'. So, to be 'beyond the pale' was to be outside the area accepted as 'home'.

And so...as I add the last touches and prepare the canvases and wood boxes for their unveiling I can't help but feel a sigh of relief. I'll be posting the exhibit on my website after it opens and I will let you know when that is up.

whiter shades of pale

I just finished my 'white' chunky book page I made for a swap and here it is. It kind of looks like I've felt all week...a shade of pale.
I've been under the weather for the past week. I don't get sick very often, but I'm afraid this bug got me. It's been chilly here in LA and I've had my slippers on all week. Drinking enough tea that I'm surprised I haven't floated away. I've still been making art...but it's been slow going...just haven't felt the spark...however, today I turned a corner and I feel human again...

Surfing around and checking out my friends blogs is a good thing to do when you are feeling uninspired and out of sorts. I was thrilled to see Celine Navarro used one of my nest transparencies from the 'Cottage Garden Collection' in a piece of her artwork on the home page of her website. The three collections of Angela Cartwright artist papers, vellums and transparencies are available from Stampington & Company if you want to check them out... http://stampington.com/html/somerset_artistpapers_ac.html


Here's a piece I love that Sarah Fishburn made called 'Real Life' using several of the transparencies from the 'Casa Vista Collection.'

In 'Transparent Art' several artists used my transparencies in their art throughout the book. Did you know that's my photograph that Nina Bagley used in her art hanging on the cover of the book? Nina gave me this treasure and I hung it in a small window in my home that I pass everyday. I have really enjoyed discovering the many uses of transparencies and using them in my art...and it's a thrill to see my photography being used in other peoples art too.

Here's a piece I just finished with my angel transparency from the Stone Portals 3 sheet. I need an angel on my shoulder to catch up on everything now that I've lost the week...
Instead I have an angel at my feet...