“Beyond Containment”

“Beyond Containment,” an art exhibit of paintings and sculptural turned wood vessels, will open February 2, 2012, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Tucson Jewish Community Center (JCC) Fine Art Gallery in Tucson. The exhibit will be up through March 13, 2012.

Woodturner Lynne Yamaguchi of Tucson will be showing her sculptural vessels at the JCC exhibit. Yamaguchi says that the “Beyond Containment” theme applies on several levels. “Though the vessels that I make are literally containers, I approach them as sculptural objects, beyond their traditional function. I also treat them as metaphors, primarily for aspects of the human condition. And much of my new work directly explores the idea of refusing to be contained; for example, a new series, titled ‘Becoming,’ includes works that play with shedding or breaking out of or emerging from an old form to embody a new one.”

Yamaguchi exhibits locally and nationally. She most recently exhibited her elegant wooden vessels at the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix. You can see more of her work at www.lynneyamaguchi.com.

C. J. Shane is best known for her oil paintings and monotypes. Her color- and texture-intense abstracted landscapes are deeply informed by the Sonoran desert landscape. To Shane, “Beyond Containment” refers to her experience of the natural world. “My hope is that the viewer of my art will be reminded of the serenity and depth to be found in the natural world.” Shane exhibits locally and nationally. Her work can be seen at www.cjshane.com.

“Beyond Containment” will be up through March 13, 2012. Gallery hours are Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The center is closed on Saturdays. The Tucson Jewish Community Center is located at 3800 E. River Road, Tucson, AZ.

The Tucson JCC Fine Art Gallery presents C J Shane and Lynne Yamaguchi: "Beyond Containment"

"Beyond Containment" at the JCC Fine Art Gallery: "Starry Night on the Prairie" by C J Shane and "Pirouette" by Lynne Yamaguchi

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Shemer Art Center show

This month, I have 12 pieces in the 1st annual “Home for the Holidays” invitational show at the Shemer Art Center and Museum, located at 5005 E. Camelback Rd. in Phoenix. The show features work from selected Arizona artists and runs from December 2 to 31, with an opening party Thursday, December 1, at which I will be one of the artists in attendance.

Here”s what the Shemer says:

If you are looking for unique, one of a kind, hand-crafted gifts to send to your family and special friends this holiday season look no more! The Shemer Art Center presents its 1st Annual Invitational Home For The Holidays Show & Sale, December 2–31, 2011.
The exhibit features high-quality work from 35 talented Arizona artists working in metal, clay, glass, beadwork, wood, paper, textiles, print and other diverse disciplines that will be for sale during the month of December.

AND … if you would like to be one of the first 100 VIPs (Very Interested Patrons) to get a sneak preview (1st chance to buy), a Holiday Party is scheduled for Thursday evening, December 1, 2011, from 6 to 9 p.m. Artists will be in attendance!

Celebrate with holiday music, wine, appetizers, desserts, and good friends! Enjoy the camaraderie of friends new and old. Area resorts have also donated silent auction items including their signature gift items, a one-night stay, and spa privileges. Cost is $50/person ($35 membership included with the purchase of two tickets). Please help us celebrate our first successful year of managing the operations of the Center without City support. We’re on our own! Your continued support is vital to helping us sustain and grow this beautiful and vital community asset.

Starting December 2, items will be available on-line for purchase at
www.shemerartcenterandmuseum.org.

The Shemer will be open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday afternoons from 12 noon to 3 p.m., and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Stop by if you can!

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Open Studio Tour November 12 & 13

My next event will be the Open Studio Tour. Along with a multitude of other Tucson artists, I will be welcoming visitors to my studio on Saturday and Sunday, November 12 and 13, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. I will be doing some turning each day, so please stop by and see how I do what I do. Click here to see where my studio is.

You can view a list of all the artists participating in the tour, with maps to each location, at the Tucson Pima Arts Council web site. My fellow Flux artists will also be participating, with Lee Roy Beach, Mary Vaneecke, and Sheryl Holland setting up shop at Flux Gallery, and C. J. Shane, Dragana Skrepnik, and Peter Eisner hosting visitors at their own studios.

Open Studio Tour 2011

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St. Philip’s Outdoor Art Show

This year, for the first time, I will be participating in the St. Philip’s Outdoor Art Fair. The fair will be at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, October 22 and 23, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. I will be in Booth 23, near the music stage (click here for a map of the grounds). There will be live music, art demonstrations, and work by more than 100 artists at the fair—including also fellow Flux Gallery artist C. J. Shane. St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church is located at the northeast corner of Campbell and River. Come enjoy the festivities and get a headstart on your holiday shopping!

St. Philip's Outdoor Art Show

St. Philip's Outdoor Art Show

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Flux Gallery 2nd anniversary celebration

Flux Gallery will celebrate its second year of operation on Friday, October 14, from 5 to 8 p.m. Please join us for wine, hors d’oeuvres, and brilliant new work by the Flux artists (including me, of course). Flux Gallery is located at Plaza Palomino, at the southeast corner of Swan and Fort Lowell Roads in Tucson.

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Fall events and beyond

My next public event will be the Flux anniversary celebration on Friday, October 14, from 5 to 8 p.m. Come celebrate our 2nd birthday with us and help kick off our third year with a bang.

Following that are my fall shows:

  • the St. Philip’s Outdoor Art Show, October 22 and 23 (my first time here);
  • the Tucson Artists’ Open Studio Tour, November 12 and 13;
  • and the Tucson Museum of Art Holiday Artisans’ Market, November 18 to 20.

I will post details for the shows and events as I get them. Please note that one of my usual fall shows, the Big Brothers Big Sisters Southwest Flair A-Fair, scheduled for October 28 to 30, has been canceled this year by the organizers.

And looking further forward, come next year, from February 2 to March 13, I will be showing my work at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, in a two-person show with fellow Flux artist C. J. Shane.

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Three rules

The day that the Daily Star article on me came out, this happened to be the poem of the day on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac web site: “Whittling: The Last Class,” by John Stone. Here is an excerpt of my favorite part, which summarizes my own philosophy beautifully:

Three rules he thinks
have helped

Make small cuts

In this way

you may be able to stop before
what was to be an arm
has to be something else


Always whittle away from yourself

and toward something.
For God’s sake
and your own

know when to stop

—John Stone, “Whittling: The Last Class”

Thanks to my friend Suzanne for sharing this with me. By the way, the Writer’s Almanac site is a great one to browse.

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Arizona Daily Star article

The Arizona Daily Star featured a story on me on Friday, August 12; read it here. Reporter Patty Machelor interviewed me and spoke to a few of my collectors for the story, and photographer Benny Sanders took some shots of me in my studio (be sure to click on the Image tag above the story to see them all).

Yes, I know this post is way late, but what can I say? I was on vacation when the article came out.

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Small treasures at Flux Gallery

Flux Gallery presents small treasures by C J Shane, Lee Roy Beach, Lynne Yamaguchi, Mary Vaneecke, and Sheryl Holland, July 8 and 9.

Next Friday and Saturday, July 8 and 9, Flux Gallery will feature small treasures by artists C J Shane, Lee Roy Beach, Mary Vaneecke, Sheryl Holland, and me. I will have several wonderful new small vessels and some new bottle stoppers. Our show will coincide with the summer Zuni fetish show at Grey Dog Trading Company, our neighbor at Plaza Palomino. Special for the show, we will offer a 10% discount on small works at Flux with a same-day receipt from Grey Dog; Grey Dog will reciprocate by offering 10% off of its Zuni fetishes with a same-day receipt from Flux. Flux will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Grey Dog, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Come out and celebrate small with us!

Plaza Palomino is located in Tucson at 2960 N Swan Road (at Fort Lowell Road). Flux Gallery is in Suite 136; Grey Dog, in Suite 138.

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Mary Oliver’s "The Summer Day"

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

—Mary Oliver

(Copyright 1992 by Mary Oliver. From New and Selected Poems (Beacon Press, 1992); originally from House of Light.)

A quotation of the last two lines brought this poem to my attention. Oliver is one of my favorite poets, and this poem is timely for me. I have been thinking a lot about attention and prayer and wildness and preciousness and courage.

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