Dream Vessels and A Murder of Crows

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assembling, Authentic Movement, birds, broken, California, crows, dance, darkness, gallery, hope, inspiration, Murder of Crows, nature, peace, spirit, studio, Vanitas, voice, wings, witness

Dream Vessels #125: Metronome

Gathering paintings and collages and poems for an exhibit at Upstairs Art Gallery Feb. 24-Mar. 24.

Discovering connections and stories in my own artwork, how collage making laid ground for constructing Murder of Crows paintings. What Vanitas symbols can you find?

Artist reception and short poetry reading with my daughter Reba on Sunday afternoon March 10, 2-5 pm. You’re invited!

Upstairs Art Gallery, 306 Center Street, Healdsburg, CA 95448

(707) 431-4214  Open daily 11-6

www.upstairsartgallery.net  

March Featured Artist, Marsha Connell

Dream Vessels and A Murder of Crows

EXHIBIT DATES: February 25 – March 24, 2019

Artist Reception:  Sunday, March 10, 2019: 2 -5 pm  

Poetry reading with Marsha Connell and Reba Connell, 2:30-3 pm.

Thinking About Bonnard, Murder of Crows oil painting series

Press release:

The March Featured Artist, Marsha Connell,  presents works that articulate an artistic evolution initiated in collage and leading to the “Murder of Crows” still-life oil paintings.

Connell had long been a painter and sculptor when her daughter, Reba, invited her to make a collage for shared communication while she was having her junior year abroad in Israel, a year that coincided with the first Gulf War.

The collages became an unexpected healing process, fueled deeper by a dream of war preparations that suggested she bear witness.  The collage “letters without words” to her daughter grew into a series of 150 “Dream Vessels” that speak with a visual vocabulary, like Vanitas paintings, symbolically merging awareness of death and the passage of time with the beauty of life.

When words finally came, they emerged from the “dreaming in the day” dance practice of Authentic Movement.  The resulting poems were often written in the presence of the collages and arose from a similar place of finding connections among discovered fragments.  They accompany the Dream Vessels, but do not describe or explain them.

The arranging and rearranging of found images in collage-making, laid the groundwork for assembling and staging objects in the “Crow” series.  “Spirit birds” and wings play a supporting role in the collages; birds star in the still-life series.

Thinking about Hokusai, Murder of Crows oil painting series

 

“Through this work, I found a way to bring hope together with darkness.  Assembling these found images was like taking the broken pieces of the world and putting them back together.”

Both the collages and the crow paintings entice the viewer to look closer and follow a path of discovery.  The paintings are also homages to other painters, such as Thinking of Bonnard and Thinking of Emily Carr. And there is humor, Connell confided,  “The longer these crows were in my studio, the more trouble they got into!” evidenced by their activities and positions in the paintings.

Where you can find Marsha Connell’s paintings in Sonoma County Fall 2018

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artists, California, community, gallery, garden, home, nature, originals, peace, spirit

My Studio 2180 Beverly Way, Santa Rosa by appointment. (Showing Anchor Bay Inlet, above, and many other paintings in oil, watercolor and pastel)
marsha@marshaconnell.com 707·527·7754 main; 707·331·0105 cell
Open to public during Art Trails Open Studios
October 13, 14, 20, 21, 2018. Save the Date! Bring your friends!

Corrick’s (showing Pond in Bloom above), 637 4^thStreet, Santa Rosa,
10 am to 5 pm Mon – Sat
Art Trails Gallery at Corrick’s, and My Daughter the Framer
Receptions every First Friday 5-7 pm

Upstairs Art Gallery (showing Mimi’s Garden 1 & 2), 306 Center Street, Healdsburg, 11 am to 6 pm daily
21^st Anniversary Celebration June 23 Saturday 2-8 pm. Join us!

Empire College, 3035 Cleveland Ave, Santa Rosa 10 am to 6 pm Mon-Sat
On the walls outside the Law Library

 

Petits Bijoux Small Painting Jewels

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artists, bouquets, brushstrokes, California, dance, expressive, flora, flowers, France, gallery, garden, inspiration, Japan, nature, small works

Upstairs Art Gallery, 306 Center Street, Healdsburg

Please join May’s featured artists
MARSHA CONNELL and DAN SCANNELL
Saturday May 12, 2-5 pm for our artist reception

Petits Bijoux  Small Painting Jewels  by Marsha Connell

Plein air painter, Marsha Connell, is exhibiting a collection of Petits Bijoux, Intimate Scale Paintings from France to California, in the Upstairs Gallery’s Small Works Showcase. The Showcase is uniquely situated to be viewed as you climb up and down the staircase.

These “Small Jewels” celebrate encounters with wild and domestic landscapes, and traveled home in suitcases to tell the story. Marsha’s expressive and rhythmic brushstrokes are a dance of color, in oil and pastel.

Reaching the top of the stairs, you can meander in Marsha’s larger scale garden paintings, from the coast to tabletop bouquets.

Creek at Bowling Ball Beach by Marsha Connell, oil, 12 x 12″

Upstairs Art Gallery is on the Mezzanine above Levin Books on the Healdsburg Plaza, across from the Gazebo.

Stop in anytime to view this month-long show, open daily 11-6, hosted warmly by the dozen plus artist/owners.

Snow and Wildflowers 1 by Marsha Connell, oil on canvas, 12″x12″

I’m a new partner and will be hosting the gallery:
Saturday May 19, 3-6; Sunday May 20, 2-6; Sunday May 27, 11-6.

Renoir’s Bridge 1 by Marsha Connell, oil on canvas, 7 ½”x 9 ½”

Flora and Fauna in Silver and Gold  by Dan Scannell

Dan Scannell’s new series was inspired by Japanese screens from the 19th century.

He became interested in the highly stylized nature scenes, and thought it would be interesting to create paintings based on Sonoma county flora and fauna. He then finished the backgrounds of these paintings using gold and silver leaf as Japanese artists did when making screens.

Gold Magnolia by Dan Scannell

I’m excited to be offering two plein air painting workshops in May

Tags

barns, California, Environment, nature, spirit

These painting workshops will be held at stunning Sonoma County sites that are only accessible via the conservation groups that protect them from development, Pepperwood Preserve and Laufenburg Ranch. Painting in community, with guidance and support from an enthusiastic and practiced plein air painter, could be a great way to kick off your summer painting season or vacation time. You are welcome to join us for one or both sessions, whether you are an experienced painter or haven’t picked up a bush or pastel since childhood. Scientists, hikers, and students, painting and drawing deepen your powers of observation which translates to many disciplines.

Two Landscape Painting Workshops

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barns, bucolic, California, Calistoga, creeks, Environment, expressionist, hillsides, impressionist, inspiration, Mt. St. Helena, nature, orchards, realist, spirit, techniques, tonalist, wildflowers

Recording & Expressing “Spirit of Place”

Sunday, May 7, 2017, 9am – 3pm
Pepperwood Preserve
2130 Pepperwood Preserve Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Meet at the Bechtel House
$45 per participant ($40 for members)
For ages 13 and up

Explore plein air painting with artist and Santa Rosa Junior College instructor Marsha Connell. Deepen your naturalist and artist observational skills. Express your responses to Pepperwood’s verdant and blossoming spring landscape. Open to beginning painters, who will learn basics of working in the field, and experienced painters, who may expand their repertoire and enjoy support for finding their own voice. Demonstrations will be given in oil and pastel,  but students may use any drawing or painting media of their choice.

Marsha’s approach to landscape painting conveys the spirit of place and evokes the mood of the inner landscape. Marsha has also taught at Sonoma State University and at a variety of other venues in the US, Mexico and France.

A suggested materials list will be sent upon registration.

Reserve your spot

Painting Iconic Rural Landscapes

Saturday May 13, 2017, 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM
Class level: All levels
Class Size: 6-15
$60 per person, $45 per Sonoma Land Trust member

Learn how to convey the spirit of place and embody the rhythms and forms of the landscape in this plein air painting workshop at Sonoma Land Trusts’ legendary Laufenburg Ranch near Calistoga. Beginning and longtime artists alike can benefit from Marsha’s expertise and extensive history of teaching, which brings out the joy of the creative process.

Enjoy a day in the bucolic setting of Laufenburg Ranch in Knight’s Valley. Create a record of your experience, which might include the magnificent 1883 barn, native oaks, old orchards, creek and hillsides, even Mt St Helena, by painting in the field. Explore gesture, shape, composition, light and shadow. Beginning artists: learn the basics of using painting materials and composing images. Experienced painters: expand your repertoire of painting techniques and visual approaches, realist, tonalist, impressionist, expressionist. Demonstrations will be given in oil and pastel, but you may use any drawing or painting media of your choice.

Materials Required: You will be able to do this with simple minimal supplies, for example, just black and white or three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) of oil or acrylic, and one brush, or a basic small set of pastels, or any materials you may already have.

Sign up here

3 Art Receptions for 3 Great Events

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artists, California, community, Environment, flowers, gallery, garden, inspiration, joy, nature, originals, reflections, spirit, weekends

Sunday, October 23, 2-5 pm, La Crema Estate at Saralee’s Vineyard

La Crema Estate at Saralee’s Vineyard, 3575 Slusser Road, Windsor, CA, is hosting an Artists’ Reception, welcoming collectors, aficionados and friends to view the Estate’s permanent collection of artwork, and a revolving exhibit changing seasonally, through our partnership with Healdsburg Center for the Arts. We are currently featuring fourteen large expressive landscape drawings and paintings by Marsha Connell. (Exhibit dates August 15-January 15) View and purchase the art online.

Our permanent collection highlights a diverse selection of local artists, including James Armstrong, Elaine Greenwood, Chris Henry, Cari Hernandez, Dusanka Kralj, Benjamin Owen, and Paula Strother.

We invite you to enjoy these fabulous artworks, and light hors d’oeuvres expertly paired with La Crema’s acclaimed wines, including selections only available at the Estate, in a panoramic vineyard setting.  

              RSVP appreciated: marsha@marshaconnell.com

Friday, October 21, 6-7:30 pm,  Sebastopol Center for the Arts

A Cabin Above a Lake began as a demo for AWS (Art Workshop of Western Sonoma County), just last month, inspired by small plein air paintings from our recent East Coast annual summer sojourn. As Helen Frankenthaler once said, ” I had the landscape in my arms when I painted it. I had the landscape in my mind and shoulder and wrist.” After revisiting it in my studio, I entered the painting in this juried exhibit, and am pleased that juror Sukey Bryan selected it, (along with about 56 other works from a pool of almost 700 entries).  Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 High Street. Exhibit dates: Oct 21 – Nov 27, 2016. I’d be pleased if you joined me at the Artists’ reception for YOUR LANDSCAPE.  

Saturday, October 22,  6 pm – 8 pm, History Museum of Sonoma County

Reception for  Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Altars. This exhibition brings together altars created by community members, festive artwork and three-dimensional sculpture associated with the Day of the Dead celebration. I am honored that Peter Perez requested that my painting, Thinking About Bonnard, from my Murder of Crows series, be included in his altar against violence.

Exhibit runs October 18 – November 27.

The reception in the History Museum of Sonoma County is concurrent with a reception in the adjacent Art Museum of Sonoma County, for Faith Ringgold: An American Artist featuring storyquilts, works on paper, tankas, soft sculpture, and original illustrations.

Exhibit runs October 23 – January 29.

Art Trails Open Studios – My Plein Air Suitcase

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artists, California, conversations, Environment, flowers, gallery, garden, home, inspiration, journeys, large works, map, mountain, nature, ocean, originals, small works, Sonoma county, studio, suitcase, weekends

It will be as easy as 1-2-3 to find my studio the next 2 weekends. It’s #123 on the Art Trails map. 10am-5pm. Come see what came out of my suitcase from my recent plein air painting journeys, West Coast to East, ocean to mountain, and back home in Sonoma county, and how it inspires studio work. Drawings, pastels, oils, watercolors. Small works to large. Hope to see you!

Here’s a great map of most of the artists in the Northeast Santa Rosa area participating in Art Trails. #123 is just about in the middle.

Landscape Painting at Pepperwood Preserve. May 15

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abstract sensibility, art, brushstrokes, California, colorist, demonstrate, en plein air, Expressionism, Impressionism, joy, landscapes, Marsha Connell, nature, observation, oils, painterly, painters, paintings, Pepperwood Preserve, Realism, Sonoma county, voice, watercolor, weekends, wildflowers, workshop

There are just a few spots left. Sign up by Thursday May 12 noon!
Landscape Painting: Observation and Expression. Sunday, May 15, 9am – 3pm
Only $45 per participant ($40 for members)!
Ages 13+
Explore plein air painting with me! Deepen your observational skills and express your responses to Pepperwood’s verdant and blossoming spring landscape. The continuing rains have gifted us with wildflower joy this year!
Beginning painters: learn basics of working in the field. Experienced painters: expand your repertoire with elements of realism, impressionism, expressionism, with support for finding your own voice. Demonstrations in oil but you may use any media.

This week! Empire College Exhibit Reception

Tags

art, California, Coastal, colorist, en plein air, gallery, landscapes, Marsha Connell, nature, oils, painterly, paintings, Sonoma county, watercolor

Empire College Reception. May 12

Please join me and other Sonoma County Artists, most from our Northeast Santa Rosa Artists group at a reception for a spring exhibit at Empire College
(You can find my 8 paintings of waterways and hillsides next to the Law Library)

Thursday, May 12.
Enjoy Appetizers and Beverages 4 to 7 pm

Empire College
3035 Cleveland Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95403

STEM to STEAM

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art, artists, California, class, collaboration, drawing, journaling, landscapes, Marsha Connell, Mt. St. Helena, naturalist, nature, observation, paintings, Pepperwood Preserve, science, Sonoma county, STEAM

Go left to science, right for art

By Sandi Funke, Education Director

Posted on http://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/2016/03/29/go-left-to-science-right-for-art/

March 29, 2016 Categories: Blog, Education 1

When I was a student in high school back in the *throat-clearing* 1980’s, our fully enclosed Midwestern high school had “wings.” All of the humanities and language classes were upstairs. Downstairs to the left there was a long winding hallway which housed the science classrooms. These halls always smelled a little funky and to me, they represented hands-on, relevant learning. Way at the other end of school were the hallways where the visual arts classes happened. I often craned my neck looking at the desktop easels to get a glimpse of what those classes were working on. I have always LOVED to draw, but in high school, drawing and painting weren’t “college prep” classes so I didn’t take many of them. I took so many science classes however, that they added up to 6 years of high school science.

What if things had been different?

STEM represents the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. STEM seeks to integrate these subjects while focusing on solving real-world problems in education and research. The STEM to STEAM movement, led by the Rhode Island School of Design, adds “Art and Design to the national agenda of STEM education and research in America. STEM + Art = STEAM”. The objective is to “foster the true innovation that comes with combining the mind of a scientist or technologist with that of an artist or designer.”

How would our world be different if artists and art were regularly included in scientific endeavors?

STEAM in our Own Backyard
Last year, Sonoma State University took the creative step of integrating authentic natural sounds with music and dance. With training from nationally known bioacoustics expert Dr. Bernie Krause, students from SSU recorded a diversity of sounds in the field at SSU’s Fairfield Osborne and Galbreath Wildlands Preserves. The recordings were given to composer Jesse Olsen Bay, who created an original composition. Choreographers Christine Cali and Kristen Daley and dance students used the original score to explore the sounds and create a dance performance. The collaboration was shared with the public last fall. Check it out here.

Art and Science Merge at Pepperwood
Collaboration is also central to the relationship between Santa Rosa Junior College visual artist and instructor Marsha Connell and biology instructor Shawn Brumbaugh. Marsha and Shawn discovered their common interests through co-teaching the Natural History of Pepperwood course, which certifies participants as UC California Naturalists. This course, which served as the pilot for the now state-wide program, emphasizes sketching, nature journaling, and practicing deep observation as fundamental skills for naturalists of all experience levels.

Marsha and Shawn will be presenting a Discover Nature lecture entitled The Synergy of Art and Science – Perspectives of Pepperwood on April 1^st, 2016. Through lush slides of artistic renderings of the environment and its inhabitants, they will discuss the relationship between art and science including the historical importance of sketching in documenting scientific inquiry. Click here for more info on the lecture.

Later in the season, you can deepen your own observational skills and express your responses to Pepperwood’s verdant and blossoming spring landscape through a Landscape Painting class with Marsha on May 15^th, 2016. Click here to learn more about this class.