Karen Silve, Artist Talk - Beijing Trees - at the Susan Calloway Fine Art Gallery in Washington DC, May 2017.
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Susan Calloway Fine Arts is proud to present:
KAREN SILVE: BEIJING TREES
Wisdom, Strength, and Renewal
“While drawing in my accordion sketchbooks in Beijing, I realized it was the structured balance I was after; a sense of renewal built on strength and wisdom.” –Karen Silve
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Traveling and the unique experiences it brings has become my greatest artistic inspiration. I went to Beijing for the first time in the Spring of 2016. I had never been to China before and wanted to experience it with fresh eyes.
A few days into the trip, I realized I was repeatedly inspired by the thoughtfully pruned trees. The blossoming cherry trees had their own vibrant beauty. However, it wasn’t just the cherry trees, but every tree throughout the city. From the parks, temples, gardens, and along the streets, all of the trees demanded respect. Many of them were just starting to leaf out which allowed me to see the structure of the trees. Such care was taken with each tree, and the older trees were well supported. In the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City, there was a very old tree with a huge steel frame around the trunk holding up the heavy branches. In the Botanical Gardens there was a 3,000 year old tree with it’s large branches supported by other trees which had been grown to hold them up.
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My Paintings will be on view at the Madison Gallery! Press Release below.
Madison Gallery presents Women Painters a group exhibition featuring the work of abstract artists: Jane Booth, Mel Davis and Karen Silve. Throughout art history many women artist were encouraged to divorce art practice from female experience and self-awareness in order to succeed professionally. This shifted in the twentieth century, as women became an integral part of society and female artists found their space within male-centric art movements, most importantly, Abstract Expressionism. Abstraction became the vehicle in which gender became obsolete, as it centered on movement, color and emotion. The exhibition strives to combat the oft-repeated and false compliment unthinkingly paid to women, that genius has no sex; there may be equality of power, but in its quality and application there will be and must be, difference and distinction.
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I'm dreaming of spring! After being in sunny Mexico a couple of weeks ago, I returned back to the grey skies of Portland. But there are little growths coming out of the ground that make me happy and excited for spring.
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The Forbidden City was such an impressive place. There were many gates, one after another, each with their own name and meaning. Walking through each gate I felt like I was entering into something more precious or secret. The last gate opened into the Imperial Gardens; a jewel at the end of the palace. There were so many unique old trees. I was taken by the respect and care given to these trees. Some of them were hundreds if not a thousand years old and had metal structures to hold up the large branches.
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Being a full time artists, I've had to adapt to the changing skills needed for this career. One of them is figuring out social media. I certainly haven't figured it out, but I started taking more photographs of my work in progress. I usually never go back to them, but today is different. I thought I would share images of this Beijing Trees painting in progress. I included some images below, as well as a gif (above) showing the images merged together. At this point in the process, I live with the painting on a clean wall (see below) while I decide on the final marks. I usually have about three paintings going on at a time.
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I went through my storage and found this gem from my cellist painting days. The title is "Relativity", and is 60" x 48" painted in 2006. At the time I was working with the idea of multiple sounds of the cellists working in harmony. So I started painting two cellists on one canvas. When I hung it up yesterday for a client to see, I found it interesting that I am now putting two trees together in my current work. I enjoy seeing how the abstracted trees in my paintings, as well as the physical trees that inspired me, relate to one another. The relationship of subjects working together may be a recurring theme in my work.
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