December art at the Morris Graves' Humboldt Artist Gallery

Celebrating the winter solstice I am showing a glacier topped mountain and a Blue Lucia for you to see at the Humboldt Artist Gallery, downstairs at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka.

The mountain is the famous sugarcane volcano, Snaefellsjoekull on Iceland that Jules Verne used as setting for his fantasy "Journey to the Center of the Earth." I hiked to the foot of the mountain and made four watercolor sketches. It is a three registration oil monotype, 22" x 30".

The other original is a Blue Lucia, Swedish winter solstice celebrant, who is inspired by a photo of my mother at the age of one. She is at the photographer's in her eyelet dress and small boots, standing on a bench made of unbarked birch branches. Adorable!

In the print stand you will find a few Lucia art prints, butterflies, landscapes, and figures. On the counter there are ten Lucia greeting cards. I'll hang new original art each month, as well as fine art prints and a small selection of greeting cards. Once a month I will be in charge of the gallery. I'll post the time on Facebook. Come by and see me! I can show you the art and I'll also give introductions to painting on the iPad. Bring your own iPad if you have one.

Some of the other members of the Humboldt Artist Gallery are Joyce Jonté, Jim Lawry, Frances Kuta, Gary Todoroff, Linnea Tobias, Candy Miller, Julia Bednar and more.

About all kinds of water nymphs, at the Piante Gallery

Richard Evans who writes the Art Beat at the Journal, now featured in the monthy insert called the Muse, dropped in on me a couple of week before the opening at the Piante gallery of The Glacier Art Project and At Waters' Edge. We had fun looking at the paintings - which I strewed out on the floor in my studio - and in his art review he captured a lot of what I said, including the concept of "iciness". But, what I found brilliant in his writing was the interpretation he gave to the figures that appear in quite a few of the paintings. Here's what he wrote: "It’s so fascinating to observe how artists call upon their backgrounds and skills to bring forward themes using new visual clues. Iris has been a lifelong practitioner of drawing from the live model and in many of these prints anthropomorphic figures emerge as though calving into our presence."

Thank you Richard!

Here's what I say about these nymphs in the art: Greek mythology gives us a multitude of nymphs associated with life giving waters: Nereids, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea, Hyades, rain, Limnades, lakes, Potameides, rivers, Oceanids, salty water and Naiades, of fresh water. At the splintering edge of a tide water glacier one can imagine playful Naiades, bathing, dancing, singing, and also raging as the glacier violently calves an iceberg."

Piante is open on Wed. through Sat. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. my exhibit comes down on Aug. 30. I do have a key if one of my friends would like a private showing when the gallery is closed.

Naiad over Beagle Channel: Glacier Art Project

20 days until the vernissage at Piante in Old Town, Saturday August 6, 2011

I am not sure why these figures entered the Glacier Art Project, but they pushed in, and I feel strongly that they belong. I think they connect the remote glacial landscapes to humans. They make a link between the melting ice, the rising waters and us. Some of them seem frozen, some are playful at waters' edge. At the exhibit you will see them grouped with glaciers. They are my own invention. I find them surprising and cool!

Greek mythology gives us a multitude of nymphs associated with life giving waters: Nereids, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea, Hyades, rain, Limnades, lakes, Potameides, rivers, Oceanids, salty water and Naiads, of fresh water. At the splintering edge of a tide water glacier one can imagine playful Naiads, bathing, dancing, singing, and also raging as the glacier violently calves an iceberg.

Naiad over Beagle channel, monotype 15"x 22"

27 days until opening of Glacier Art Project at Piante Sat. Aug. 6th!

I should have started blogging about this art show 34 days before the opening since it will include 34 pieces of art - or 6 years ago, since that is how long I have been working on this project.

But, then again, we were not blogging yet. The inspiration for the study and painting of glaciers started in Alaska, in the Glacier Bay in 1995 when I, together with my husband, his 85 year old mother, and our son, experienced out first calving glacier. Ever since glaciers have captivated me.

You are all invited to the opening, but if that is not possible, you can see the art on this blog and also on my website. At Piante Gallery in Old Town, Eureka, I will have two rooms. In the first larger space I will show the Glacier Art Project, 20 works, in the more intimate center room I will show At Waters' Edge, 15 works, shorescapes from our beautiful north coast. It is all about water.

I also thought it might be interesting for my readers to know all the bits and pieces involved in putting on an art exhibit - from the artists viewpoint. All the shadow functions after all the art has been created. Since I am fortunate to be working with a professional full service gallery - with a great reputation and a lot of experience - I am not alone in this work. The result will be a lovely, festive opening that will seem quite effortless!

Shadow functions for an exhibition:

Choose the best pieces for the show - I probably have twice as many.

Get the measurements of the gallery, make a preliminary layout of the work. For this I had wonderful help from my artist friend, Tina Rousselot, who has an eye for keeping a space exquisitely uncluttered.

Photograph, enter in iPhoto, name, sign, measure, and price all the pieces.

Update my website, start blogging, tweeting, linkedin -ing about the show. (overwhelmed already!)

Work on the wording of an invitation, choose a piece to feature. Check on dates, times, fonts.

Make a list of local people to invite, get their postal mailing addresses.

If you don't live here I'll send you an email invitation. You can see the show on my website.

Figure out when to send a press release to the local news media.

Invite local art critic home for an exclusive "vernissage" - and hope he comes.

Write the press release, choose images to go with it, send it out and hope it gets featured.

Write the artist statement - not too long, not too cryptic. In Swedish we have the word lagom, which means just right. Wish me luck!

For all the writing ask husband to edit...and thank him!

Figure out how to use social media to get out the word about the art show -

I could use your help with this. How are you making use of social media?

It all started with seeing calving glaciers at the Glacier Bay of Alaska. Here are two monotype paintings showing the explosive calving, and the lovely frigid bay.