Currents

I’ve added images from my new wall at the Upstairs Art Gallery in Healdsburg, California. Here’s the description that accompanies it.

CURRENTS

In every moment, we are moved by currents. We are moved by the wind, the water, the air, our feelings, and the events all around us. We can choose to fight the currents or work with them to allow us to go where we want to go. In this series of monotypes, I’ve tried to capture the feeling of currents, the way they surround and move us. I hope these currents move you as well. Thank you for viewing my work.

Gail Morgan

Reclamation

My current show at the Upstairs Art Gallery in Healdsburg, California, is titled “Reclamation.” We hear of reclaiming land, reclaiming our spirit, reclaiming peace after war. All forms of reclamation are valuable. Reclamation is making something useful from something that was not. Reclamation is the opposite of waste.

In these works of mixed media collage, I was inspired to reclaim previous monotypes that never seemed to stand alone as completed art. I found patterns, colors, and images that I wanted to put together in new ways. I think of reclamation as a valuable process of creating something new from something old, recognizing new images by putting together and juxtaposing pieces from old work and making new connections.

 In the process, I am also reclaiming feelings that were hidden from me when the work was in its original form. The feeling is akin to looking through old photos and reclaiming the memories held within them, finding new meaning from a new perspective. I hope the viewer can make connections to my work and discover the value of reclamation in their own life.

Art has been part of my life since my earliest memories. I earned a degree in art history in college but have always loved studio art and have pursued learning new techniques throughout my life, studying in various locations and with various teachers in northern California and Mexico. Currently, I volunteer monitoring the print studio at the Sonoma Community Center where I create most of my work. I also teach classes there in printmaking.

Monotype printmaking (or monoprinting) is a process where a clear plate is used to create an image which is then transferred to paper using a printing press. Unlike etching or woodcarving which allow multiple copies, each monotype is unique and original.

Please check the website upstairsartgallery.net for information about hours and our reception.

February 14, 2023

After suffering two falls last summer and a broken wrist which prevented me from driving to the print studio, I was able to get back to work in the fall. My work reflects a new simplicity of form and space. I am using Chine collé to add color and interest. The work evokes a kind of meditative spirit which will probably remind you of Zen art. I’m looking forward to making more art in this vein. Meanwhile, I will be hanging my art UpstairsArtGallery.net in Healdsburg. I will also be participating in the Sonoma County open studios event “Art at the Source” the first two weekends in June. Our catalog and details will be available on the website artatthesource.org.

The Warmth of Wax: Explorations in Encaustic

Artists have been using encaustic techniques to create beautiful work since ancient times. It began in ancient Greece, and the earliest portraits from Greco-Roman Egypt date from the first century A.D. What is it? Simply, it is the combination of pigment with beeswax and resin. Heat is used to fuse the encaustic paint to a surface whether it be wood, fabric, clay, or paper. The suspension of pigment in the wax creates a translucence which allows light to penetrate the layers. Light seems to be trapped within the art. Although it was used throughout the centuries, it was revived in modern times in the work of Diego Rivera and Jasper Johns. I studied encaustic painting with Ezschwan Winding and Rae Miller while living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Encaustic paint can be applied with brushes in a traditional way, each layer being fused to the previous with a torch or heat gun. It can also be applied directly to a surface using a monoprint process. My works for this show are primarily encaustic monoprints. They are created by designing on a hot surface and then applying paper which absorbs the wax. Successive layers can be added in the same way with care that the heat doesn’t melt everything together. I incorporate oil pastels to expand my palette and add detail. Each monoprint is original and unique. I love the fluidity and spontaneity of this process.

I hope that viewers of my art enjoy looking at it anew every time they see it. Sometimes they may find an element that evokes a reality, a form that seems like a figure or a landscape feature. Other times, the representational may disappear and be replaced with a feeling or a sense of something calming or wildly adventurous. There is no ordered progression to my work. You can start at any point and follow different paths to explore it. I hope it evokes a spirit of endless opportunity, a spirit of hope, and looking forward to a brighter future.

With my   beloved presses at the Sonoma Community Center where I monitor the print studio unavailable since March of 2020, I have had to change course and renew my interest in other creative media. I’ve turned to oil paints, pigments, cold wax, and encaustics. This has led to a lot of creative exploration, not always having a specific goal or knowing the end point. So far, I’m enjoying the journey. I hope you enjoy traveling with me by viewing my work.

Driven to Abstraction: 2020

Has there ever been a year like 2020? Hindsight is not perfect in this case. In fact, it might be best to leave it all in hindsight. So many feelings, so many thoughts, so overwhelming that neither words nor logic can capture what we have been through. So, I have been driven to abstraction which has allowed me to escape this reality and connect with another, an inner conscience that encapsulates my feelings of confusion, fear, anger, and frustration, the turmoil of the earthly world. 

 In this past year, days went nameless and weeks sped into months of undefined seasons. What happened last summer? Did we even have one? It seemed that every day brought new and often disturbing news. Some of us turned to streaming videos, others to music, I did those, too, but spent a lot of time escaping into a space where I could disconnect from the reality around me and let my tangled thoughts flow into a space made of color, form, and line, layered and textured. Abstraction in art has always allowed me to express the confusing boundaries of time and space

 I hope that viewers of my art enjoy looking at it anew every time they see it. Sometimes they may find an element that evokes a reality, a form that seems like a figure or a landscape feature. Other times, the representational may disappear and be replaced with a feeling or a sense of something calming or wildly adventurous. There is no ordered progression to my work. You can start at any point and follow different paths to explore it. I hope it evokes a spirit of endless opportunity, a spirit of hope, and looking forward to a brighter future.

 With my   beloved presses at the Sonoma Community Center where I monitor the print studio unavailable since March, I have had to change course and renew my interest in other creative media. I’ve turned to oil paints, pigments, cold wax, and encaustics. This has led to a lot of creative exploration, not always having a specific goal or knowing the end point. So far, I’m enjoying the journey. I hope you enjoy traveling with me by viewing my work.

I am pleased to be starting 2021 as the featured artist at the Upstairs Art Gallery in Healdsburg, California. My new work will be on exhibit from January 4th through the end of the month. For location and hours and to see our other members’ work, please visit our website: upstairsartgallery.net.

Another auction opportunity!

We are so grateful to everyone who visited and/or participated in our recent auction. We raised $3500 for the Redwood Empire Food Bank! We have just opened a new auction to sell our art for the benefit of our gallery and our local artists. Although, this is not an auction for charity, we think you’ll enjoy seeing what we have to offer and may have a chance to purchase a wonderful piece for less than retail. Please have a look at:

https://www.32auctions.com/UAGArtists1

April 27, 2020

The last time I was able to use the printing press at Sonoma Community Center was early March. It seems so long ago! My new work page shows what I was working on at that time. I’m drawn to images of figures in space and how they relate to each other and their environment. The interplay of negative and positive space fascinates me and pulls me in and through the image.

I have posted two videos on my Facebook page “Gail Morgan Art” showing what I’ve been doing since I’ve been isolating at home with my husband. Please take a look.

The gallery where I show my work, Upstairs Art Gallery in Healdsburg, is closed, but you can visit us online at upstairsartgallery.net

I’m hoping we can all be through this awful period soon.