Southern Culture and Art

Some of the South Mississippi Art Association painters at my workshop this weekend in Hattiesburg, MS.

Art as a metaphor:

Art is a metaphor for me, so I try to be honest with my work, wanting to describe my life though my paintings.  It seems pretty intuitive to do this. My life seems pretty ordinary to me and I enjoy describing it in my landscape paintings. An example of that is in the finished painting that I did mostly in plein air out in our garden. I ended up naming the painting,"Coon Trap".   You can read about it here.

 Soviet impressionists seemed to do that and they are some of my favorite artists. An architect at my show this weekend said the Russian impressionist's influence was apparent in some of my work and that I would probably enjoy reading the Russian art theory. I have a big book of the Soviet impressionists work but mainly I just look at the pictures. I may actually read it now to see if it describes a deeper theory behind it...besides the well know government imposed propagandized art censorship in the history of the art there. But I hope I find a deeper meaning because I like theory. I like finding interrelationships and connections between of things.

And speaking of interrelationships:

The night before my show opened at A Gallery, there was another art show opening in town- actually right across the street at Oddfellows Gallery. Half of that show was probably classified as non-objective work. I look closely at work in shows and this work was by the USM Art department faculty. I really enjoyed meeting them and seeing the show. But while I was browsing over the work, an astute young guy asked me if I was an artist.  I answered that yes- and that I was mostly a "landscape" painter.
He asked me a question that taught me a lot about my own work:

"Do you consider yourself and American landscape painter?" 

I nodded, "Yeah... Pretty much."

Then I stood there thinking about it, and spoke up hesitantly not wanting to "peg" myself into a specific region, but felt the need to better describe my work,   "Well, I'm mostly a 'southern landscape painter'.. and then just being me, I blurted out the simple truth:  

"Honestly, a lot of my work is just painting things from my backyard!"

Silence. 

So I asked, "What do you do?"   

He lifted his nose into the air and said he was a Cultural Anthropologist. 

Feeling much better about my work, I said, "Then you should go see my show... It's all about cultural anthropology!" 

The American Anthropological Association defines Sociocultural anthropologists this way:
 They "examine social patterns and practices across cultures, with a special interest in how people live in particular places and how they organize, govern, and create meaning."

Should I start describing myself a "Cultural Anthropological Artist? ...It has a nice ring to it!

Getting them straight...Justin Albert hanging paintings for my show at AGallery in Hattiesburg. The show includes the painting, "Coon Trap" and it runs through mid October. All paintings ©2013 Dot Courson.

"Coon Trap" Oil, 30x30 ©2013 Dot Courson
This painting is a strong cultural anthropological statement about sustenance and the southern life: a garden with a live trap to save the sweetcorn crop from raccoons. (Wink.)

Traveling and Painting

This week I will be traveling to Richmond, VA!

Here is the flyer for Plein Air Richmond. I so honored and really looking forward to painting there! 

 

 On my trip, I'm taking a painting for Senator Roger Wicker's staff to come down and pick up in Richmond. It will be on loan to hang in the office of Senator Wicker in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC!  I'm honored to have The Natchez Trace there.

For almost 3 years it hung on the top floor of the Walter Sillers Building, Governor Haley Barbour's official capital offices in Jackson, MS.

Here is a photo of us. On it's last day there he signed it for me at my request- before I picked it up. This is funny now but I was initially mortified because somehow he was mis-directed and signed the front (rather prominently) instead of the back as I had asked - so I had to take his signature off! I hated to do it - I'd wanted his signature for the provenience of the painting. But guess what? It turns out that alcohol removes permanent magic markers! Who knew? 

 Before it was in Governor Barbour's office it hang for almost a year in the Tupelo Regional Airport terminal. Actually, that is why I painted such a large painting. The airport marketing manager (shown below) wanted a "really big regional work of art" and I made this from several other paintings I'd done.

Upcoming News: On my return from Plein Air Richmond, I'll be painting the Delta as I'm teaching a workshop for the Delta Artists Association in Greenville the 28- 30th of June.
Hopefully, I will post some photos maybe of all this on my next blog. 
Incidentally, this painting- The Natchez Trace Parkway is still for sale! Send inquiries to artist@dotcourson.com or visit Caron|Prince website for more information and pricing.

Painting Snow

January Snow 24x30 Oil on board ©2011 DotCourson

We recently had a rare snow in north Mississippi. We got 8 inches of snow on January 2nd and it is still outside on my back yard in the shaded areas today! I just got back from teaching/demo a snow scene. (in studio) I'm no expert on snow, but DO know when to bring in the experts. So I brought in a few books: The Landscapes - Richard Schmid's new book, Soviet Impressionist Painting, and a Paul Strisik landscape book. Variety. I painted from an image of the woodsy road/trail near my house.

We'd decided to paint snow pictures in class. We missed one class the day after it snowed, and I did not call everyone to cancel class. They are all adults... and of course I new no one would risk it to come to class in Tupelo. So I just decided to send all my students a "spoof" email about painting en plein air. Here is what it said:  

Hello everyone!

Due to the snow  and ice I want us to do a little something different when we meet back on Monday to begin our new year!

Please wear layers of extra clothes, hats, scarves and boots and bring your outside easels. I've never had the opportunity to do plein air in the snow and I'll bet you haven't either! ....It'll be fun for us all and a rare opportunity! I'm going to cut the fingers out of some old gloves to wear to keep my fingertips free. That new Under Armor long underwear I got for Christmas last year will come in handy and I advise you wearing some if you have it! Just a note: you may want to nail a nail into the bottom of the tips of the legs of your easels to keep them form skidding on the ice as you paint. Also, you may want to throw some old boards in the car to set the legs on if the snow is deep to keep the easel legs form sinking into the snow if we get a lot of snow.

Please make sure your gas tank is full and cell phones charged, with water and some snack bars (in case you're stranded in the snow!) and that you take extra caution driving to Juanita's as snow plows won't be everywhere and there is probably thick ice on the bridges. Don't wear tight boots as when you're standing on ice it only makes your feet colder. Also, keep paints inside your car by the heater on your way so they will not be thick and gummy at first. Prepare to paint thick as paint gets very hard and not as viscous in the cold as wind chills are going to be in the low teens! Burrrrrrr!!!!

Love you - and I'll see you ALL tomorrow!

Dot

Some got it - and I got some strong responses from others! Oh well!