Mary Bentz Gilkerson

Artist’s Talk at if ART Gallery

mgilkerson — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:35:13 +0000

The Congaree, XXXVIII, 2011 15.75 x 11.5 in. (image) © Mary Bentz Gilkerson

Please join me!

if ART Gallery

presents on

Saturday May 12, 2012, 2 pm

A gallery talk by Mary Gilkerson

In conjunction with the exhibition
The Congaree: New Monotypes and Paintings
On view through May 12, 5 pm

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART Gallery, (803) 238-2351/wroefs@sc.rr.com

How Do You Find Creative Inspiration?

mgilkerson — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:38:10 +0000

Congaree National Park

I’m part of an artists’ community online – the Artists Conspiracy – that shares ideas about creating a successful art business. (If you’re a creative, you can find more info at the Artists Conspiracy, brainchild of art marketing guru Alyson B. Stanfield.)

The focus for this month is inspiration, one that is important to all of us! Our challenge for this month is to set goals for the things that inspire us, things that feed us.

Coming off of multiple shows and the end of the academic year I’m ready to feed my imagination and my soul. My challenge for May is to drop back into what inspires me, which is…

Weekly walks in the Congaree National Park, the old growth bottomland swamp that feeds my work. It’s the Land of Oz now that summer foliage is on the trees.
Pick back up my daily paintings. They started as a tool to build my newsletter subscribers but they’ve become an addiction, and a way to be really grounded in the world around me.
Hit the museums and galleriesin town once a week.
Find more artists’ podcasts and videos to play while I’m working. I love to hear other artists talk about their work. I became totally addicted to this during my daily painting project when I would listen to these while I painted. It definitely fed the work. Art21.org is a great source. Here’s one of my many favorite’s from youtube.com on Sean Scully, a truly magnificent painter.
And back to riding early every morningsince the connection with the horse feeds the connection with my painting.
My Friend & Mentor, Clyde

What a refreshing to start off at the beginning of a month!

Drop a comment below and let us all know what are the things that inspire you? What feeds your soul and what do you need to do to clear the path to it? Can’t wait to hear everyone else’s goals.

- p.s.

Here are just a few of the other blogs and sites that get me excited about ideas and images:

Joanne Mattera Art Blog

Art 21

Alyson Stanfield’s Artbizblog

Cynthia Morris’s Original Impulse Blog

Nancy Natale’s Art in the Studio

Tim McFarlane

Sharon Butler’s Two Coats of Paint

Why Blog??

mgilkerson — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:00:42 +0000

Someone recently asked my about why I blog and I had all the usual answers right there at my fingertips – because

“They” say that you have to in order to market in today’s world.
Artists have to be proactive about their own careers. The traditional gallery business model is on the wane. There are still great galleries out there, and I work with a couple of them, but they are the tough survivors. A huge number of galleries have gone under with the recession and I don’t think they are coming back.
It’s an easy way to share my work with people who are interested, to connect with both the people who buy my work and the people who might buy my work in the future.
Blogging is instant gratification. It’s not like print where you have to wait weeks, sometimes months to see the published results.
I really like the sound of my own voice.

But all joking aside, the surprising thing for me, when I’m being totally honest, is that the last reason really comes closest to the truth.

The main reason that I blog is to find and develop my own voice.

The discipline of writing regularly is one that frees you up, lets you explore what is rattling around in your head in small enough soundbites that you can get them out before they disappear. Writing about my work makes it much easier for me to talk about it, and we artists have to get better at that. No one else will ever have as much insight as we do.

I also blog to be accountable…

if I don’t post regularly I really catch a lot of crap from all sorts of people. That keeps me motivated and brings me back to the computer to write, over and over again.

So I’d like to throw the question back out there and hear from you. If you’re a blogger, why are you blogging? And if you’re a reader, what are some of the things that make you read a blog?

Who’s My Reader??

mgilkerson — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:52:55 +0000

From the Edge, XXXII oil on panel 6"x4" by Mary Bentz Gilkerson

Mention New Year’s resolutions in December and people get all fired up and create long lists of self-improvements. Bring them up in May or June and folks declare sheepishly that they didn’t make any this year since it leaves them free to respond to the moment.

I have definitely been a member of that latter group many times. But this year I swore was going to be different.

And it has been. What was the magical inducement in 2012??

Accountability.

I’ve discovered that if I link accountability to a goal, I’ll get it done, especially if there is some sort of embarrassment involved in letting it slide. Since I’m a perfectionist, this is a very effective tool to keep me in line.

One of those New Year’s resolutions was to really make a commitment to my blog, not only to post consistently but also to make it more exciting. The 90×90 painting project was like a super-charged energy drink – it gave me just the jolt that I needed to start the year off.

But now that the project is over I want to make sure that I keep my momentum up as well as find some fresh ideas. To help (push) me along in that, I signed up for the 4-week Blog Triage class with Cynthia Morris and Alyson Stanfield. Today’s assignment is to describe the people I want to visit and read my blog.

So I’m thinking about who my ideal reader is, just who I’m hoping is reading this post right now. I don’t think that I have a single ideal reader, but several.

I think of a blog as being like a cocktail party or happy hour. It’s a chance to meet new people and have interesting conversations. So these are some of the readers, some of the “you’s”, out there that I’d like to meet and invite to my party/blog.

The Casual Drop-In You.

Hey! (We Southerner’s have our own lingo. I lived in NY for a while, so I know we live in our own world down here.) Welcome! I am really interested in the idea of making art more accessible. So I’d like to hear any questions you might have in the comment section below, and please let me know what brought you here.

The Friend You.

You’re here to cheer me on and to let me know when my slip is showing, so to speak. You know just the right moment to say “atta-girl!” but you’re going to tell me when the angle in that photo I just used as my … is definitely not my best one. You’re only allowed to leave the “atta-girl”s below. For triage, please use my cell phone and make it fast.

The Student You.

You’re an aspiring artist, someone who’s had a bit of training in either classroom or workshop settings, and you’re curious about process or technique. Sharing “how to’s” is part of making art more accessible. When I assume that you already know something and you don’t, please let me know – you got it – in the comment section below.

The Artist You.

You’re another artist, who like me, finds the web to be a great source for creative inspiration. You’ve stumbled across my blog and site by googling for other artists who are dealing with similar things. I am so glad you’re here. I really value feedback from fellow artists so I hope you’ll drop a comment in below. If you also have a blog or website please include the address.

The Collector You.

You buy the art that you love and see it as a way to connect with both the idea in the work and with the artist. And you’d really like to have a stronger connection with the artist. My blog is a way for me to invite you into my studio so that you can see where I work, how I work and why I work. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you like. My students will tell you that I love questions.

Thank you for dropping by and please come back again often.
–Mary

Questions Start Conversations

mgilkerson — Sat, 05 May 2012 16:00:41 +0000

I love questions when I’m teaching, and I’ve gotten some great ones through the years in teaching both college classes and private ones. Questions are bridges that open up conversations.

Another good source is an open studio event like the recent Columbia Open Studios. These give an artist the chance to talk to visitors about the process of making art. People always ask such great questions that I’d never think of!

How do you make a good composition?
How do you find the structure in a landscape?
How can I keep my painting from turning into mud?
What’s the difference between a painting knife and a palette knife?
Why should I work with a premium brand of paint?
How do I layer a painting so it can be finished in one sitting?
How can I use a painting knife to build up my painting’s surface?
What’s the difference between a premium brand of paint like Golden, Vasari or Williamsburg and one of the good brands like Winsor Newton, M. Graham or Gamblin?

These are great topics for future newsletter and blog articles so stay tuned if you’re curious about the answers as well.

But if you want the answers NOW, you can sign up for my upcoming weekend painting workshop, Structure & Surface: Finding Nature’s Patterns, where I’ll be covering all of these and more!

Missing the 90×90 Project!

mgilkerson — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:34:25 +0000

After doing a painting a day for three months, I’m a little bit lost in the evenings without a painting to do. But I did enjoy having all of the remaining ones together for visitors to see during the Columbia Open Studios tour.

90x90 Paintings on Display

A number of people asked me what I was going to do with them.

The remaining 90×90 paintings are available through the gallery that represents me in Columbia, if ART Gallery, where we shared them with the public during last Thursday’s Artista Vista event. Of course if there’s one you’re particularly pining for just send me or the gallery an email.

90 x 90 Paintings: #90

mgilkerson — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 23:30:39 +0000

From the Edge, XC, detail oil 4"x6" by Mary Bentz Gilkerson

For the last and final painting in the project, I went back to the same setting as the very first one, the front field of Libby and Alex Bussinah’s farm in Hopkins. When I started the project in January, the field was umber and ocher, in full winter regalia. Now everything is impacted by GREEN.
There’s be one more daily newsletter tomorrow before I go to the regular schedule of every other week. I have some shots of the paintings all laid out together that I want to include.

90 x 90 Paintings: #89

mgilkerson — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:00:12 +0000

From the Edge, LXXXIX, detail oil 4"x6" by Mary Bentz Gilkerson

This is the edge of George Martin’s hay field along Cabin Creek Road. I’ve painted it several times during the project since I find the intersection of industrial culture (power poles and lines), rural culture (field and fence), and nature (the trees and floodplain beyond) such an interesting combination.

90 x 90 Paintings: #88

mgilkerson — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:21:38 +0000

From the Edge, LXXXVIII, detail oil 4"x6" by Mary Bentz Gilkerson

I’ve started noticing how much the relationship of the flat, open fields to the wooded edges is like the relationship of the marshes to the land’s edge on the coast. This field undulates across a huge area, about 50 acres, and that curving edge makes for lots of interesting passages of light.

90 x 90 Paintings: #87

mgilkerson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 23:18:23 +0000

From the Edge, LXXXVII, detail oil 4"x6" by Mary Bentz Gilkerson

I moved just a little bit further back for this painting, but I’m still on the edge of Cabin Creek Road at the bridge. The fading jet trail in the upper left echoes the line of the tree tops. I left the power lines and poles in for scale (and just because I like the way they look).