Jo’s in a Row

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker

Despite my absence, I was well represented at last Friday’s opening reception for my Art of Living retrospective show at the Octagon. “Thank you” to Marty and Angela, who stood in for me as art students demonstrating techniques we’ve used in class, and to Carole Horowitz for her nice write-up in the Ames Tribune. And to Linda W., who sent me this photo from the exhibit — they interpreted my “Jo in a Row” poster of bird prints, with a whole row of Jo’s!

Jo's in a Row

Jo’s in a Row (wearing “Jo” masks)
from Linda W. and co-conspirators

Asked for her impression of the opening, Linda notes that the exhibit includes very diverse artwork from across the past 30 years, and writes, “In them all I see your joy, love of life and family, especially in the newest watercolors but also in the paper sculptures of children, the funky colored sculptural collages and the puppet-person ready to be on the move!” I appreciate the kind words, and the participation of everyone who evidently made the opening a fun event! The exhibit will be in the Octagon’s third-floor Main Gallery through December 22, 2012.

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Working toward a watercolor

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker
Value study

Value study

In a value study, you focus on the relationship of lightness-to-darkness in the subject, and how this gives a sense of space and perspective and gives form to things.

The Drawing & Composition class did value studies by drawing with a brush, an exercise which can help in the transition into watercolor painting.

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Farewell to van

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker

After 300,000 miles of good and faithful service, the red van brought me home safely from a recent trip and could go no further. The bottom had rusted out. Repairs would have cost close to $1,000 and even then, the parts might not have stayed in place because of the extent of the rust. The van had been an escape vehicle, workhorse, and service to many people, a place to pray and to paint from the back of along the roadside. It had been all across the United States hauling things like bricks, trees, and art shows. I took pictures to document the murals (detail below) before it continued its service through recycling.

St. Francis mural on red van, by Jo Myers-Walker

St. Francis beside a tree, hanging out with Brother Sun and Sister Moon

St. Clare mural on red van, by Jo Myers-Walker

St. Clare on the opposite side; Sister Water flowed all around the van

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Literary influence

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker

(Update: the opening reception is past, but you can see my exhibit at the Octagon through December 22, 2012.)

I have an exhibit going up in the Octagon’s third floor Main Gallery (427 Douglas Ave. in downtown Ames), and there will be a special opening reception on Friday, November 9, 2012, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Mary Swander will be reading from her works at 7 p.m. during the opening reception. Some of my art students will be there with tables set up, demonstrating drawing techniques. Unfortunately I won’t be there for the opening! (The students are calling it the “show without Jo”!) Normally I wouldn’t miss an opening of my own show, but because of a change in plans for the exhibit, I already had another commitment for that time.

Acrylic low-relief sculpture by Jo Myers-Walker

Acrylic low-relief sculpture

The show was originally intended to display works from a variety of artists, “inspired by or referring to a literary work by Iowa Poet Laureate Mary Swander.” At the submission deadline the Octagon felt they had too few applicants to hold the exhibit as originally planned and instead suggested a mixed-media retrospective display of my work during that time, including my notes about Mary’s influence. This exhibit will be at the Octagon from the opening on November 9 until December 22, 2012. After that the paintings will go on tour to the Sanford Museum in Cherokee, Iowa.

I was disappointed that I wouldn’t see how the other artists related their work to Mary’s writing, and obviously the applicants were disappointed after their hard work. Happily the Sanford Museum had additional display space to offer, so I’ve invited the other artists to send along some of their paintings when the show travels to Cherokee in January. Mary will also read at the Cherokee museum and I’ll teach a watercolor workshop there in conjunction with the exhibit.

Driving the Bodies Back to Indiana, watercolor painting by Jo Myers-Walker

Driving the Bodies Back to Indiana
(watercolor painting)

I’ve known of Mary Swander for a long time and met her about five years ago. I’ve read The Desert Pilgrim, Driving the Body Back, The Girls on the Roof… as I read, I would “see” landscapes and situations and then paint them, but as they related to my own life. To me, even her prose is like poetry. You can see the color and texture of the people and the land as she writes (other evocative writers for me include Joyce Rupp, Richard Rohr, and Mary Howard). It’s fascinating to talk to her about creativity — her creative writing, and my interpreting that into the visual.

My exhibit at the Octagon (Nov. 9–Dec. 22, 2012) will share its space during part of that time with the Festival of Trees, from Nov. 16 to Dec. 2. I’ve been thinking the Tree of Hope should participate in that Festival… I’ll let you know if it does!

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Visual effects during surgery

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker
Visual images during cataract surgery

Watercolor representations of what I saw during each cataract procedure

These are the paintings I gave to my doctor to show what I saw during cataract surgery on each of my eyes. The colors were more muted during the second surgery (on the left), possibly because I didn’t have any sedative medication for that procedure.

Each time I saw half a “cup” shape. The salt technique in watercolor painting works well to depict what it looked like when they were breaking up the cataract. They suction that out and put the new lens in. I have 20/20 vision in both eyes now!

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Iowa City adventure

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker
The Red Van Theatre

The Red Van Theatre

The red van took a trip to Iowa City and was suddenly transformed into a movie theater! My grandchildren brought out their computers, popcorn, and a lantern (it was dark out), and we watched movies amongst the boxes and ramp. (Here we are watching the stop-motion animation Fantastic Mr. Fox.)

My grandchildren and I also went to visit the All the World’s a Stage BookMarks sculpture at the Riverside Theatre Festival Stage in Iowa City’s Lower City Park. It’s missing its plastic parts, and we traced and checked where the holes are so we can repair it. I’ll remake the acrylic figures and the Iowa City Parks & Recreation people will fasten them on.

All the World's a Stage sculpture by Jo Myers-Walker

BookMarks sculpture in its park setting

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Artistic exercises

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker
Angela considers some different perspectives

Angela considers some different perspectives

Here are a some exercises by students in Drawing and Composition class!

Right: Angela poses with her “up the hill/down the hill/straight on” perspective drawings.

Below left: Marty’s intricate tree is an exercise in negative and positive space.

Below right: Rae’s scene of a country road was drawn by turning the original upside-down before copying. We’ll sometimes fold the original in fourths, or else lay a screen over it to divide it up like window panes. By drawing a small section at a time it’s not so overwhelming.

Marty's exercise in negative space

Marty’s exercise in negative space

Rae's landscape was drawn upside-down

Rae’s landscape was drawn upside-down

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Cleaning the Story Wall

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker
Detail of hands from terra cotta Story Wall sculpture by Jo Myers-Walker

Detail of hands from the Story Wall

The ceramic Story Wall sustained smoke damage in the recent fire at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, and I’m acting as a consultant for its cleaning. It took me a week to be emotionally ready to go in and see the wall and pray there for the woman who started the fire. It was an emotional journey for me to reenter the church and I was saddened to see the Story Wall in that condition, since that has been a prayerful space for me. Originally they wanted to take the sculpture down for cleaning, which was scary since I felt it was likely the pieces would break apart in removing them. The problem is cleaning behind the sculpture — any remaining soot would eat away at the material and leave an odor.

I went to see materials engineer Dave Martin and worked with him on discovering the best way to clean it considering the terra cotta material and the sealer I put on it 12 years ago. The church ultimately decided not to take it down, and the ServiceMaster people will be doing the cleaning of the sculpture and the church. The work will take a couple of months, during which those parts of the church will be closed. I told the cleaners I thought God would help them clean the wall, because He helped me sculpt it! After they’re finished I will get up there and put new sealer on.

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Journey through family history

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker
Photo of the Clymer homestead

Photo of the Clymer homestead

Watercolor of Clymer house by Jo Myers-Walker

Watercolor of Clymer house, with returning siblings

Recently I took a trip to Indiana where all of us cousins had decided to bury our parents together. We’d been planning this for over a year and had a lovely service (in the church we had attended with our grandparents), told stories celebrating the lives of our loved ones, then went out to where our ancestors (Brethren and Mennonites) had established a burial ground.

To support upkeep around the gravesite, I painted the Clymer homestead — my parents’ house — working from an old photo, adding us four siblings coming home. I made prints of the original, each person purchased a copy and we put the money into a memorial fund.

Borden home with welcoming beagles

Borden home, with part of the five-beagle welcoming committee

I’ve been reading Driving the Body Back by Mary Swander while taking my own journey through family history. I’ve been learning about how our ancestors came over, and how they arrived in that area in Indiana. Some came up the Eel River on a raft, and some walked from Ohio with wagons. They settled in underground earth shelters until they could build homes. We cousins went together to visit sites, and found items at the Historical Society in Peru, IN that our relatives had made. I think this type of trip could be a great retreat for families! I plan to make a coloring book of some of the homesteads and ancestors for my grandchildren, like a treasure hunt of the past.

We found the original Borden home, built in the 1800s, where my grandparents and uncle lived (all since passed away). They got it from the Sears catalog, and the Sears company sent two on the train by mistake! (I don’t know what happened to the other house.) They used stones from clearing the fields on the outside of the house, which you can see on the porch in this photo. The new family living there let us take pictures and come in and see the beautiful woodwork.

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Clearing out the treasures

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Jo Myers-Walker
Side yard of JB Knacker, September 29, 2012

Side yard of JB Knacker last Saturday
(photo courtesy of Pamela McKenna—thanks, Pam!)

An exercise in perspective

An exercise in perspective

The picture above left shows neighbor JB Knacker’s side yard during their special Fall for Junk sale this past Saturday (update: now closed in Gilbert). The drawing class has been using that same view (minus all the people!) as a practice subject for using perspective in drawing (a classic exercise in perspective is shown above right).

Below left shows the front of The Left Bank Studio on Saturday—I’ve been clearing out the vault and selling off the various found objects, not-yet-repurposed pieces, and other items that I rediscovered there. Saturday we sold some shutters and antique frames, but there are plenty of treasures left (including the Tree of Hope—comes with its own supply of hope!).

Moving things out of the vault made room for my office, which you can see on the right below!

Sidewalk in front of The Left Bank Studio, Sept. 29, 2012

Sidewalk in front of The Left Bank Studio last Saturday
(photo courtesy of Pamela McKenna—thanks, Pam!)

Office in the vault

Office in the vault

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