mnartists.org: Gregg S. Reed

Plants from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Gregg S. Reed — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:42:34 GMT

On November 6, 7, and 8, 2009, I drew plants in the pool side gardens of the Hollywood Rosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. I had attended the AFI Fest and the AFI Digi Fest across the street for a week. David Hockney painted the bottom of the pool at the hotel. Gardens of plants grow around the pool.

image: Plant 2 11/7/09

image: Plant 3 11/8/09

image: Hockney Painted Pool (Flickr)

www.wellstoneinternational.com

Gregg S. Reed — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:36:07 GMT

Boris Pophristov, Eva Staneva, and I created [url=http://www.wellstoneinternational.com]www.wellstoneinternational.com[/url] to "re-release" the video documentary Wellstone! on the world-wide-web for England, France, Germany, and Russia. I was happy that Hard Working Films would allow me to make a multi-language web site to stream the video to other countries. In the process of conceiving and designing the web site, the Russians bombed the country of Georgia, and Al Fanken narrowly won a Minnesota senate seat. These events slowed the creation of our web site for security reasons. At the Slamdance Film Festival in January, I thought that Russia's the Prime Minister Putin was sitting behind me as I ate breakfast and listened to President Obama's inaugural address on television at the McDonalds in Heber, Utah. Finally the dust cleared, and Boris and Eva finished the web page, as the Coens released A Serious Man, about their life in St. Louis Park, which is my home town today.

Works for Lost Snakes

Gregg S. Reed — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:31:02 GMT

From May 23 to June 7, 2009, I was the artist in residence at Beaver Creek Valley State Park in Caledonia, Minnesota. The [i]Caledonia Argus[/i], the local newspaper, announced my arrival and printed one of my previous drawings, [i]Trillium 3[/i]. At the park, I drew black-and-white drawings using a brush and Chinese ink at sites along the two-mile Beaver Creek. The drawings are 24- or 30-inches wide. I also spoke on June 6. My speech, [i]The Values of Black in Nature and Art[/i], inspired me. I started discussing a black square, reviewed my new drawings, presented a PowerPoint show in DVD, with pictures of a solar eclipse, the dark evening shadow on the side of a valley, mass, chiaroscuro, and images of Armin Hofmann's black posters and Jim Dine's black botanical drawings. I mixed water and ink logarithmically to make equal steps of black values. Following the presentation, Patrick Kruegel assisted me as parents and children from the state park quickly and skillfully drew leaves with charcoal on news print and drawing boards, which the local lumber yard had cut from masonite for me. [b]Statement of Intent[/b] (November, 2008). In 2009, while I continue to develop my skills in botanical art, I will create work for a late summer exhibition with the Crosslake Art Club in Crosslake, Minnesota. I would use my time as a resident artist at the Beaver Creek Valley State Park to make finished studies for ink-and-brush drawings and prints to show at the exhibition for the Crosslake Art Club. The series of ink-and-brush drawings, studies, and prints that I will develop as an artist in residence will be called [i]Works for Lost Snakes[/i]. I will draw plants and flowers. Black earth tones of ink that I will mix logarithmically will provide an eye-catching and visually correct range of black-and-gray tones. Dr. János Schanda, a retired physics professor from Budapest, Hungary, is helping me confirm my formula for mixing black ink and water logarithmically to create value scales in ink drawings. My artistic studies of plants using drawings and visual principles would contribute to a lecture and slide show about the relation of light, colors, and vision among the sun, the Earth, animals and plants. I have a master-of-arts degree in science journalism from the University of Minnesota, and I produce video, animation, and multimedia programs. I can create an eye-catching slide presentation about how my work relates to the cosmos and biology. [i]Works for Lost Snakes[/i] not only looks at plants from the view point of young imaginations, it also recounts the history of the Chippewa Indians, who once inhabited the river side grounds of Whitefish Lake at Manhattan Beach, Minnesota. That is the location of my Minnesota vacation home. In my classroom studies at the University of Minnesota I read that the Ojibway or Chippewa Indians were members of a tribe called the Lesser Adders, who migrated from the east coast in the 1600’s as a war party. They arrived in Minnesota from the north shore of Lake Superior. Some tribe members became lost and made their home at Lake Mille Lacs, because it resembled the ocean on the east coast. I would review the Minnesota landscape and plants at Beaver Creek Valley and set up a plan and schedule to draw and paint small studies and larger finished compositions of flowers and plants. I would use artist-quality water color paper, brushes, and Chinese ink to make long-lasting drawings. Using sketches and studies, I would select and make works to exhibit with the Crosslake Art Club at the end of the summer in 2009. I would also scan and post some of the works to a web page at [url=undefined]www.mnartists.org[/url]. Once I scan the finished works, the state park could keep copies of the works to sell or give away. I could also make a set of images available to sell or give away on CDs. I would select prints or original drawings to give away to schools, hospitals, or nursing homes for Native Americans in Minnesota. I would also donate one finished work to display and digital images of the work to reproduce at the state park. Gregg S. Reed [i]Works for Lost Snakes[/i] (Beaver Creek) Original drawings in Chinese ink, water, brush, pen, and water color paper created at Beaver Creek Valley State Park, May 23 to June 10, 2009. Drawings and text © Copyright 2009 Gregg S. Reed and the State of Minnesota. All rights reserved. Produced via satellite internet. Large-format black-and-white-only scans by Impress, St. Louis Park. Other supplies, services, and assistance from Museum Services, iStock, Minnesota Film and Television Board, Edina Art Center, Crosslake Art Club, Springboard for the Arts, University of Minnesota, Utrecht Art Supplies, Greatapes MediaXpress, Patrick Kruegel, Caledonia Public Library, and the Caledonia Lumber Company. Read a draft of acommemorative artist's book, [i]Works for Lost Snakes[/i], [url=http://www.interscienceproductions.com/Works_for_Lost_Snakes/Works_for_Lost_Snakes_PRINT.pdf]here[/url]. (Also see Kinsey JL: [i]Thomas Moran and the Surveying of the American West[/i], Smithsonian Institute, 1992, 237 pages, which documents the relationships between American art, national parks, government, the publishing industry, theology, and fees for service.)

image: Spring Flowers 1

image: Wild Leaves

image: Beaver Creek 2

image: Spring Flowers 2

image: Fallen Tree Site, Unfinished

image: Beaver Creek

image: The Values of Black

image: Eclipse

image: Dark Valley

image: Gasterntal

image: Additive Colors

image: Black at Mystery Cave

image: Subtractive Colors

image: Mix Ink and Water Logarithmically

image: Black Poster by Armin Hofmann

image: Black Botanical Drawing by Jim Dine

image: Trillium 3 by Gregg Reed

image: Study of Gneiss Rock

image: Ojibway Bead Work

A Night to Remember

Gregg S. Reed — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:25:36 GMT

I have produced two videos, [i]Night to Remember[/i], and [i]Walking Distance[/i], for St. Louis Park Community Television and for a free DVD. Musical teens and adults sing, play guitars, and read poetry at the Open Mike on Tuesday nights at the Depot Coffee House in Hopkins, Minnesota. Many of the performers forget their instruments, lyrics, and song titles. The coffee house is a project for the schools in Hopkins. I recorded a Tuesday night open-mike performance in February, 2009, which was cablecast on St. Louis Park TV 15 in April. The performances range from beat poetry reading and motion-controlled synthesizer generated psychedelic works to folk songs from girl groups, hip hop from the boys, and musical stand-up comedy. [b]Hopkins Arts Series[/b]. St. Louis Park Community TV 15 cablecasted [i]A Night to Remember[/i] during the week before Easter, 2009. St. Louis Park Community Television will also cablecast excerpts from [i]Walking Distance[/i], an adult-oriented documentary that traces the origin of the thriving teen Hopkins Arts scene to history, from the end of the 19th century, when T. B. Walker started to develop the Walker Art Center and the St.Louis Park community nearby, to the early 20th century Opera Hall and opera society in Hopkins, to the media-generating phenomenon of cruising in Hopkins at the end of the 1970's, to Opera Hall developer Charles D. Redepenning becoming the mayor of Hopkins in the 1990's. To watch the videos, click [url=http://www.greggreed.net/Hopkins_Art_Series/index.htm]here[/url]. See auditions and takes for [i]A Night to Remember[/i] at [url=http://www.youtube.com/hippoflicks]www.youtube.com/hippoflicks[/url]. . [b]Artists[/b]. Angelo Williamson, Ben Berry, Daniel Meyer, Dan Urban, Dustin Stone, Emma Barber, Faith Bobblett, Gino Fumagalli, Hope Brown, Logan Juusola, Michael Inman, Michael D.Larson, Nelson P. Wedin, Rowan Smith, Ryan McGoff, Siri Undlin, Ted Duepner, Tom Robinson, Michael Chernin, Russ Jones, Jay Strachota, Hudson Smart, Jessica Nelson, Heidi Brink.

application: My Bedroom Monster

Vote Yes Minnesota

Gregg S. Reed — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:30:54 GMT

The [i]Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment[/i] will raise $300 million per year from Minnesota sales tax. The State of Minnesota will use that fund to protect water, land, and culture in Minnesota. On November 4, 2008, the [i]Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment[/i] passed, according to the secretary of state, with 56% of votes in favor of the amendment. My 3-minute video encouraging people to vote yes for the amendment appeared on St. Louis Park TV 15, repeating in about 5 30-minute time slots on Halloween and the day after. I was satisfied with the look of my video, although the vintage photography was a faded black and white. I kept the antique photography, which had a modern functional style, because the oldest image of my ancestors was from 1880 in Sweden. The photography of the Palm family and the Nelson family had a Works Progress Administration style. My cousin Joyce Guzzo acquired the negatives and made restored prints in a beginning photography class. In a time span of 5 minutes, I interviewed my 85-year-old mother, who was born on a farm in Dalbo, Minnesota, and lived in Minnesota all of her life. I thought she would speak well, because she had written three history books for our family, and the Minnesota Historical Society had displayed them. When I saw the close up of her face, which I had shot in the style of Sergie Eisenstein, on television, I was happy with the rouge colors and the deep wrinkles in her face. Her face had the impact I had imagined. A few years ago I had recorded an afternoon at our family cabin on Whitefish Lake, but I could hear the loud sounds of machines in every shot--a skill saw, a lawn mower, a float plane, and a boat motor. I decided to repeat the same effect in "Splitting Wood," so I recorded a gas-engine wood splitter, which we had rented for the weekend. I thought the sound of the machine added an element of Futurism, and it was not idyllic. Patrick Kruegal was operating the wood splitter. Although he looks like a young cabin owner, he has appeared in a Donald Sutherland film, and his parents collect modern art in Switzerland. [a href="http://www.yesformn.org"]Yes for Minnesota[/a] requested 3-minute videos that encourage people to vote for the amendment on November 4, 2008. The first- and second-place film-contest winners receive money and/or an Independent Features Project membership. I submitted the video "[a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5IzNrdUnPk"]Splitting Wood[/a]," in three editions, a [a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BCD5j5FPfQ"]first cut[/a], a [a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5IzNrdUnPk"]final cut[/a], and an edition with [a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8U4j1xTFvM"]director's comments[/a]. I recorded my 85-year-old mother, speaking extemporaneously. The arts have a weak pitch in the amendment's news and public-service announcements. While the supporters say the amendment will support the arts, the public-service annoucements don't offer messages about the arts. When a newspaper interviewed a community arts coordinator in Minnesota, she said that explaining the role of the arts was not necessary. But in [i]Art Review and Preview[/i] (Fall 2008), Sara Shaylie says, "Over 1,400 arts and culture organizations serve millions of Minnesotans and contribute over a billion dollars annually to Minnesota's economy." I attended a news conference at the Walker Art Center on October 16, where Yes for Minnesota announced the winners of the video and poster contests, from about 15 entries. The colors and typography of the winning poster, layered for water, land, and legacy, and centered and variously sized to fit the space, looked unique and attractive. The first-place video was a short feature. A dog rolled in green grass, looked at lakes, and swam in a river. The video ended with the titles "You can vote. I can't." The result was a unique and thoughtful message, much like award-winning advertising. The second-place winner, which was broadcast quality, used strong testimonials from citizens in a fast-paced composition. The news conference and the winning works had deficiencies. As they awarded the first-place video prize, Yes for Minnesota did not clearly say the winner would receive the $1,000 award they promised. The news media were not present. The first-place video winner, from Grand Rapids, was late. The only photographer was a woman sitting in the audience of about 15 people. She volunteered to take pictures. The winning poster's varied layout was not immediately readable, and it did not use nature photography. The dog in the first-place video was lame, and its fur was old. Although Yes for Minnesota will submit the first-place video to public television stations, the video did not have real broadcast quality or HD resolution, and the DVD function "Play" was visible. Having only non-broadcast quality equipment is a weakness in community video.

Ink and Brush

Gregg S. Reed — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:34:45 GMT

In the summer of 2008, I'm planning to spend an afternoon a week working with plants, ink, and a brush at the Edina Art Center until August 5. I'm intending to make value drawings or studies of plants with ink washes.

image: Wild Grape Leaf 2 06/24/08

image: Wild Grape Leaf 3 06/24/08

image: Wild Grape Leaf 4 06/24/08

image: Catalpa Tree Blossoms 7/1/08

image: Wild Rhubarb Leaf 7/8/08

image: Water Lettuce 7/8/8

image: The Back of A Grape Leaf 08/15/08

image: Fast Blue Bells in a Blue-Glass Vase 7/15/08

image: Back of Tobacco Leaf 7/22/08

image: Front of Tobacco Leaf 07/22/08

image: Sumac 7/22/08

image: Orchid from Joe Reed's Wedding 7/27/08

image: Edible Orchids 1 7/28/08

image: Edible Orchids 2 7/29/08

image: Edible Orchids 3 (Back) 7/29/08

image: Edible Orchids 4 (Side) 7/29/08

Charlotte's Quilt, 1883, American

Gregg S. Reed — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 04:06:26 GMT

Art-collector Charlotte Kruegel, my friend's mother, from Bern, Switzerland, sends pictures of an American quilt from 1883 that she says is an important work in her collection. Serious quilt and art collector's can discuss this work with Patrick Kruegel of Minneapolis.

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 1

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 2

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 3

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 4

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 5

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 6

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 7

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 8

image: Charlotte's Quilt, detail 9

Biomedical Consortium Logo

Gregg S. Reed — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:04:34 GMT

The new logo for The Biomedical Consortium adds a dynamic look to organization's web site. The Biomedical Consortium is a new name for a nationally recognized professional task group from Minnesota. The group provides quality training for medical companies and organizations. Boris Pophristov and I created the new logo and the web site. In 2005, I decided to assist a scientific group with my media and art skills. I saw the original Biomedical Focus task group as disenfranchised, an invisible college, because the technically oriented engineers seemed to need support to express their important messages. Ralph Arnott, a pioneer in pacemaker design, felt the influence of his group would decline unless their messages about quality could reach an industrial audience. Ralph Arnott and the task group asked Boris Pophristov and I to create a web site for them, to make their invisible college visible, and the web site has become a focal point for the group. The see the updated web site, [a href="http://www.biomedicalconsortium.org"]click here[/a]. In 1979 I started working for a small but growing medical device company, American Medical Systems, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. One of the first corporate projects I completed was designing a new logo and identity system for the company. Seitz Graphic Directions completed the identity system with me, but the company executives were not in favor of the logo options. Wanting to resolve the problem professionally, I turned to the research principles I had learned at the Univeristy of Minnesota. From a graduate psychology class in sensation and perception I had learned that seeing stripes in a common denominator in vertebrate vision. Professor Dwight Burkhardt's research, which I had personally discussed with him, had shown that walleyes see stripes. I decided to go for stripes. A family heirloom, an arrowhead, inspired the logo that I designed and designer Dick Krogsted drew. The company's new location would be in the neighborhood of an Indian burial mound. Seitz Graphic Directions added the type design for the company name in ITC Century, then a new and advanced font. Designers preferred the American look of ITC Century and the high x-height of the font, which improved the font's readability. As the company grew to become a leader in Minnesota's medical device industry, the company displayed the logo around the world and on national television shows such as [i]Donohue[/i] and [i]Wonder Works[/i]. New sterile packages that used the corporate identity system appeared in the prestigious [i]Graphis Packaging Annual[/i] from Switzerland.

image: Biomedical Consortium Logo Options

image: American Medical Systems Logo

image: Lakota Sioux Arrow

image: Medical Book Cover

image: Business Pocket Folder (front and back)

image: PAL Poster

Live@Blake Series (Al Franken Campaign Posters) ('07-'08)

Gregg S. Reed — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:03:13 GMT

I will participate in the Blake School's figure-drawing coop class in fall 2007 and in winter 2008. At the coop a model poses for advanced high-school drawing students and adult artists. The model poses in 5-, 10-, and 25-minute drawing sessions. Each two-hour class includes up to 10 poses. The visiting adult artists pay a fee of $5.00 per class, and all of the participants enjoy free snacks and refreshments at break times. [i]Go Figure[/i], Live@Blake--2008, The Martha Bennet Gallery, The Blake School, Northrop Campus, Starting April 8, 2008

image: Head of a Woman (2/19/08)

image: Female Model 1 (1/29/08)

image: Female Model 2 (1/29/08)

image: Male Model II (12/11/07)

image: Male Model III (12/11/07)

image: Two Students I (12/04/07)

image: Substitute Student I (12/04/07)

image: Substitute Student II (12/04/07)

image: Substitute Student III (12/04/07)

image: Substitute Student IV (12/04/07)

image: The Boot (12/04/07)

image: Two Girls Fighting (Pose, 12/04/07)

image: Model at Blake School 1 (11/28/07)

image: Model at Blake School 2 (11/28/07)

image: Model at Blake School 3 (11/28/07)

image: Model at Blake School 4 (11/28/07)

image: Man Seated (12/11/07)

image: Woman Seated (1/29/08)

image: Woman Standing (1/29/08)

image: Chinese Man Seated (2/12/08)

image: Chinese Man Seated 2 (2/12/08)

image: Bodyworlds (2/12/08)

image: Woman on Chair 2/19/08

image: Woman Nude 2/19/08

image: Woman Back 2/19/08

image: Figure Standing 2/19/08

image: Woman Hiding (2/19/2008)

image: Woman Lying (2/19/08)

image: Dealing with Ropes 1 (2/26/08)

image: Dealing with Ropes 2 (2/26/08)

image: Dealing with Ropes 3 (2/26/08)

image: Like Phil (2/26/08)

image: Aristocrat (2/26/08)

image: Muscular Thinker (2/26/08)

image: Chinese Man Seated (3/4/08)

image: Back (3/4/08)

image: Torso (3/4/08)

image: Face Profile 4/8/08

image: Man Sitting 4/8/08

image: Cancer Victim Standing 4/15/2008

image: Cancer Victim Back 4/15/2008

image: Cancer Victim in Chair 4/15/2008

image: Woman Crawling 4/15/2008

image: Woman on Chair 4/22/08

image: Woman on Quilt 4/22/08

image: Happy Woman Seated 4/29/2008

image: Serious Woman Seated 4/29/2008

image: Woman from Back 4/29/08

Color Painting 1976

Gregg S. Reed — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:14:03 GMT

In 1976 I painted a 40" x 40" color composition to finish a color-design class. I painted squares of canvas-covered wood with values of blue and orange. My first try was a small painting, about 18" x 24" in size. It was a blue-and-orange color squeeze, but it looked too small to be a final project. I worked for several weeks to make the work, covering wood blocks with canvas, attaching them to a pressed-wood base, buying and mixing the values of blue-and-orange paint, and applying the colors to the canvas blocks. The finished painting attracted the attention of the design staff at the University of Minnesota, as the chair of the department stopped to look at the painting. The .jpg file that I am displaying here is a replica of the large painting, which I have stored at home. I displayed the painting in my design-and-photography show at Muddy Waters Cafe in the 1990's.

Live Eye at the Fair

Gregg S. Reed — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:23:25 GMT

I attended the exhibit for mnartists.org at the 2007 Minnesota State Fair on August for a few hours. I gave postcards away, which are available in a .zip file at : http://www.greggreed.net/gregg_reed_postcard_pdfs.zip For the fair, I've posted a collection of drawings that I made in the mid-1970's and in 2007. They are drawings of plants and animals. I made the white drawings in August 2007 at my cabin on Whitefish Lake. I drew a creamy orange fungus (aka "The Cheese Curd from Hell") last using pencil and water-color pencil, and I posted a photograph of the fungus and the drawing. I made the yellow drawings in the mid-1970's. I copied a couple of the drawings from a book about drawing animals, and I made others in a tree house then with my friend Charles Herrig. Chuck drew the foot on a tree trunk. (The drawings have scanning flaws in their backgrounds, which I have attempted to repair.)

image: Fungus

image: Rock Garden

image: Wild Grass

image: Ground

image: Small Green Leaves

image: Wild Plants

image: Blue Bells

image: Wood Duck

image: Tree Trunk

image: Sea Gull

image: Penguin

image: Lemur and Sea Gull

image: Foot on Tree Trunk

Drawing from the Zoo

Gregg S. Reed — Sat, 05 May 2007 23:14:16 GMT

In spring 2008 I drew again at the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory for a botanical drawing class. Mark Granlund teaches the class. I posted new drawings as I made them from April 9 to May 28. I first drew at the zoo the spring of 2007 in the basic drawing class for the botanical and zoological illustration program. Mary Esch taught the class. I drew in the exotic conservatory gardens on Wednesday nights, and I visited the Eloise Butler Wild Flower Garden in Minneapolis to draw away from the zoo on weekdays. I drew plants, animals, and biological specimens in pencil, watercolor pencil, and ink. At the wild flower garden, I drew new spring flower buds and leafless trees. 1907--2007 100th Anniversary Eloise Butler Wild Flower Garden and Bird Sanctuary, Minneapolis, Minnesota If you enjoy the art of natural history, you might enjoy the web site from the Royal Collection's exhibition, [i]Amazing Rare Things[/i], at Buckingham Palace in London. [url=http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/amazingrarethings/]Click here.[/url]

image: Genus Species

image: Leaves from the Zoo

image: Exotic Shapes

image: Exotic Leaves on the Walkway

image: Drawing Specimen

image: Gorilla Skull

image: Pool in the Japanese Garden

image: Impression of the Tropical Pool

image: Ferns Hanging from a Stone Wall

image: Fern

image: Fern Room at Dusk

image: Value Scale

image: Cactus Drawing Specimen

image: Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot

image: Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot II

image: Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot III

image: Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot IV

image: Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot V

image: Tropical Pond Sketch I

image: Tropical Pond Sketch II

image: Tropical Pond Sketch III

image: Conservatory I

image: Conservatory II

image: Conservatory III

image: Spring Buds

image: Stumps, Logs, and Negative Space

image: Trees

image: Bare Spring Landscape

image: Logs

image: Small Flowers Bloom

image: New White Orchids

image: Spring Wild Flowers

image: White Orchids Shine

image: Martha E. Crone Shelter

image: Treeline Dusk Rain

image: Treeline Twilight

image: Pond 1

image: Pond 2

image: Flowerless Red Rocket Lily

image: Country Pond

image: Geraniums

image: Pine Cones

image: Towering Pines

image: Irises Drawn with Star Shapes

image: Iris Drawn with Peanut Shapes

image: A Star at Starbuck's

image: Plant Gesture 4/9/08

image: Plant Shapes 1 4/9/08

image: Plant Shapes 2 4/9/08

image: Plant Shapes 3 4/9/08

image: Plant Drawing 4/16/2008

image: Plant Drawing 2 4/16/2008

image: Plant Line 4/16/2008

image: Plant Contour 4/16/2008

image: Plant Perspective 4/16/2008

image: Plant Sketch 4/23/08

image: Plant Sketch 2

image: Pencil Values 4/30/2008

image: Pencil Values 2 4/30/2008

image: Plant Values 4/30/2008

image: Pine Cone 4/30/2008

image: Plant Proportions 4/30/2008

image: Pine Cone II 5/7/08

image: Plant Drawing 5/7/08

image: Plant in Ink

image: Aloe Vera Stippled 5/11/08

image: Aloe Vera Cross Hatched 5/11/08

image: Aloe Vera Contour Hatched 5/11/08

image: Aloe Vera Pattern Hatched 5/11/08

image: Aloe Vera Scribble Hatched 5/11/08

image: Orchids 5/14/08

image: Trillium 05/18/08

image: Trillium 2 5/19/08

image: Trillium 3 5/20/08

image: Trillium Maquette 05/20/08

image: White Lily 1 5/21/08

image: White Lily 2 5/21/08

image: Norway Pine 5/26/08

image: May Flower 5/26/08

application: Basic Drawing and Botanical Drawing I

Balance

Gregg S. Reed — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 04:08:48 GMT

Boris, my student web master, from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, went into the Rhodopi Mountains near his home with his father to prospect for emeralds. He returned home with nature photographs. A Bulgarian web site featured his picture of a butterfly, which I have titled "Balance." Patrick Kruegel flew from Minneapolis to Germany to participant in a Masters Ski Jumping World-Cup Tournament. At home in Switzerland his parents gave him breakfast. Patrick's father is a dedicated artistic photographer and art collector. Patrick has an eye for art too. He photographed his breakfast at his parents' home in Berne. Photographer Michel Schneider (editor, Urbanscape Switzerland) traveled to the Blausee Resort in the Gasterntal mountain range of Switzerland to photograph one of the country's most beautiful mountains. My friend Carl de la Cova graduated from the University of Minnesota studio arts program. He claims to be the great grandson of a vice president of Venezuela. Carl's colorful montages remind me of James Rosenquist.

image: Portrait of a Fire Salamander

image: Fire Salamander

image: Retreat of a Lonely Warrior

image: Unusual Composition

image: upupa epops

image: vanessa atalanta

image: Breakfast

image: Skillet

image: Eggs

image: Yogurt

image: Gasterntal I

image: Gasterntal II

image: Gasterntal III

image: Gasterntal IV

image: Gasterntal V

image: Gasterntal VI

image: Gasterntal VII

image: June Flowers 1

image: June Flowers II

image: June Landscape

image: Spring Refuge

image: Red-Rumped Swallow

image: Aptura Iris

image: Empusa fasciata

image: Cherry Thief

image: Mother's Instinct

image: Diagonals

image: I Am Hungary

image: Protective Colors

image: Hummingbird Hawk Moth

image: Fungus

image: Carl de la Cova 1

image: Carl de la Cova 2

image: Carl de la Cova 3

image: la fleur detail 1

image: la fleur detail 2

image: la fleur detail 3

image: la fleur detail 4

Art Collection

Gregg S. Reed — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 22:59:57 GMT

In Gertrude Stein style, my collection of photographs, drawings, prints, avant garde posters, stationery, book pages, and stamps cover all of the walls of my home. I also have many of my original works in my parents' modern cabin on Whitefish Lake in northern Minnesota, where visitors enjoy the variety of paintings and photographs. I own some of the works because I know the artists, such as the photographers Ben, [a href="http://www.willagar.com"]Will [/a], and Frank Agar. Other works I have purchased at museums, such as large posters by David Hockney and Wolfgang Weingart. I have purchased many historic works after research into the history of graphic design and typography, such as works by Piet Zwart, B. J. Kiljan, April Grieman, and Karl Gerstner. Although I'm an average home maker in my small but modern condominium, I have original works by artists that museums around the world exhibit proudly. Living with these works is a pleasure and keeps me looking forward. (http://www.greggreed.net/Art_Collection/index.htm)

Drawing Assignment by Vasilii Kandinsky

Gregg S. Reed — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 02:52:04 GMT

In 1974 my main drawing teacher at the University of Minnesota, Lynn Gray, gave our class the assignment to follow a set of instructions expressed as rules from Vasilii Kandinsky, I remember. In the class, the students did not give the source of the instructions much attention. The rules indicated what direction each line should run in each cell of the drawing. At the time, I was not aware of Kandinsky's teachings, although I had bought a small square book in full color with a plastic-covered white cover in a tightly fitted colored box about Klee and Kandinsky in high school, which was the first fine art book I read. I worked all night on following the rules specifically, but they allowed a latitude of creativity. By the middle of the night, the drawing on my drawing table was livlier than the rigorous instructions made me expect. When I displayed the drawing in class, Lynn Gray called it a "noble" drawing. Years later, I have become familiar with the art of the Russian and eastern European avant garde. In the mid-1990's I displayed the drawing above a table for two at the Muddy Waters Cafe in a show of my art collection. I was called in to install more, as a crew arrived to film an Oldsmoble commercial there. Maybe the drawing can continue to hold my attention.