Public art: Alice Shaw at San Francisco International Airport

Installation view of Alice Shaw's No Other Lands Their Glory Know at SFO; photo by Allison Chapas
Congratulations to Alice Shaw on the completion of No Other Lands Their Glory Know, a 20 x 26 ft. work on panel created at Magnolia Editions and permanently installed this week at gate G-95 in the International Terminal at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

Based on Shaw’s digital images of Mt. Tamalpais taken along the Dipsea Trail, No Other Lands marries the detailed textures and silvery palette of vintage landscape photography to an eye-catching background of hand-applied 22-karat gold leaf. The massive work comprises 25 plywood panels coated with gesso, printed with UV-cured acrylic ink, and gilded at Magnolia Editions.

Installation view of Alice Shaw's No Other Lands Their Glory Know at SFO; photo by Allison Chapas
Having grown up in Stinson Beach “in the last house on the route to Mt. Tam,” Shaw says she has loved this particular forest since childhood. The work’s title is taken from “The Redwoods,” a 1932 poem celebrating the beauty of Northern California’s forests and written by Joseph B. Strauss, the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge. In addition to its historical connection to the California Gold Rush and the 'Golden State,' Shaw’s use of gold leaf was partially inspired by Byzantine icon paintings.

Installation view of Alice Shaw's No Other Lands Their Glory Know at SFO; photo by Allison Chapas
As the grisaille tones of the forest suggest the silver gelatin print process commonly used by black-and-white photographers, No Other Lands represents a symbolic pairing of two precious metals, gold and silver, in homage to this national treasure.

Installation view of Alice Shaw's No Other Lands Their Glory Know at SFO; photo by Allison Chapas

Donald & Era Farnsworth at Peters Projects opens Sept. 8

Donald & Era Farnsworth - Deer Deity, 2017
cotton Jacquard tapestry, 88 1/2 x 49 inches
Please join us at Peters Projects in Santa Fe, NM for the opening of "I Forget I'm Human," an exhibition of new work by Donald and Era Farnsworth on view from September 8 through November 4, 2017. An opening reception with the artists will be held Friday, September 8th from 5-7 pm.

Donald & Era Farnsworth - Extinction, 2017
mixed media on linen canvas, 63 x 40 inches
In "I Forget I’m Human," the Farnsworths address the relationship between humanity and the environment, investigating how myth and science have shaped human values from ancient times to the present day. Nearly all of the compositions in "I Forget I’m Human" include multiple layers of both hand-painted and digitally generated elements, creating a palimpsest-like effect that echoes the layers, patinas, and weathered wabi-sabi of works that have survived from ancient times while also incorporating contemporary digital processes. A selection of the works included in the show can be viewed online at Peters Projects' website.

Donald & Era Farnsworth - Bulwark, 2017
mixed media on linen canvas, 70 x 46 inches
The exhibition includes tapestries which use a medium older than oil on canvas – weaving, albeit updated by 19th-century Jacquard and 21st-century digital color matching technologies. Meanwhile, the Farnsworths' Art Notes series ‘recycles’ and re-imagines one dollar bill notes, re-envisioning the “Almighty Dollar” as a site wherein to celebrate heroes of creativity and conservation and to light-heartedly castigate polluters and oligarchs. A series of works depicting therianthropic (animal-human hybrid) deities harkens back to those appearing in the earliest surviving human artworks while also incorporating elements from Buddhist, Hindu, Judeo-Christian, Islamic and Jungian iconographies.

Donald & Era Farnsworth - Aulos Echo, 2017
mixed media, 42 x 31 inches
From ancient gods with the heads of animals to living, breathing endangered species; from the capitalistic fever for accumulated wealth to precious natural resources like clean air and water, what we value is evident in the symbolic and visual output of our species: our myths and sacred images. In "I Forget I’m Human," the Farnsworths trace this output, offering a glimpse of the hubris of humanity matched with an optimistic appeal for spiritual and ecological balance.

Donald & Era Farnsworth - In the Moonlight (I Forget I'm Human), 2017
cotton Jacquard tapestry with acrylic paint, 96 1/2 x 64 1/2 inches
For inquiries, please contact Eileen Braziel, Director of Peters Projects at eileen@petersprojects.com or (505)954-5801.

Kiki Smith at Thomas Cole House, Catskill, NY

click to enlarge invitation
"Kiki Smith: From the Creek" opens this Saturday, August 12, 2017 at the Thomas Cole House, a National Historic Landmark that includes the home and the studio of painter Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School of American painting.

In "From the Creek," Smith worked with curator Kate Menconeri to site over 25 artworks inside and outside of the 200-year-old home, including recent prints, life-sized bronze sculptures, and Jacquard tapestries published by Magnolia Editions.

A reception and preview with the artist will be held August 12 from 5 to 7 pm; please RSVP by August 8 to info@thomascole.org.