Draw, Paint, Sculpt

Berry Picker

2011-12-27T23:13:00.003-05:00

54" x 48", oil on canvas.

snow face/ fort in NH

2011-11-30T22:46:00.002-05:00

Visited Black Hill Road in Plainfield, New Hampshire last week and collaborated on a snow fort with a few members of the Mogielnicki/Spade family, plus Kate. Then I screwed it up with a big face on one side, once they were all inside drinking cocoa. (Peter stayed out with me, took these photos, and gave valuable feedback.) The winterberry nosebleed was Riley's suggestion; when I left it looked more like a goatee and moustache but it had gotten too dark for photographs.

link: Hadley Nunes article

2011-11-30T21:01:00.002-05:00

My old friend from school was featured a couple of months back (but I just now got around to looking) in an online magazine: Hadley Nunes. Some great photos of Hawai'i, painting and interview answers... good examples of the attitude I liked about the Studio School. Yay Hadley!

occupy

2011-10-15T18:37:00.003-04:00

69" x 42", housepaint and ink on vinyl (I did it on the back of one of my printed Peace Banners). Then I went and marched from City Hall to the State House, with maybe a couple hundred other people? Got to try out (being part of) the human mike and having a General Assembly on granite steps in the rain. I'm not quite sure I'd call it fun, but worth the effort.

I'd like another stab at this design, or a similar one. The underlying version in graphite was better, but I didn't take a photo!

Esme Standing

2011-09-28T14:12:00.002-04:00

24" x 18", graphite on paper. I did this over the course of the past week for a couple of friends in town-- fun to do. Little kids move a lot when they're awake.

last Camp Glen Brook post

2011-08-25T09:33:00.004-04:00

Glen Brook Barn, 11" x 16.5", pastel on paper. If you look really closely you'll see that the field is packed full of milkweed, with a few monarch butterflies and caterpillars.

Demanded Peace, got chocolate: since I was away last week from my regular Montpelier federal building peace rally (every Friday 12-1-- join us!) I decided to find the local post office, handy symbol of the federal government, in Marlborough, NH. I walked down the hill from the camp with my protest banner, startling three wild turkeys and being annoyed by those little flies that hover around your nose and then fly directly into your eyeballs-- what do they think they're doing? The lady in the post office, when I told her what I wanted, gave me a look like "Peace? Good luck, buddy," and said she thought it would be okay as long as I stood across the street. Across the street was a lawn with a roto-tiller for sale ($50) and Unbridled Chocolates. I didn't want to piss off the chocolatier so I went inside to ask HIS permission to rally for peace on his lawn. (He looks just like his picture above.) Luckily he didn't say "It's okay as long as you're across the street;" he said instead something like "Peace? Fuck yeah, come in when you're done and I'll give you a chocolate," which he did. I picked a dark chocolate with ghost pepper. It was super.

Stream crossers, near the pond at Camp Glen Brook. The little one in back is a single rock shaped like a big tooth, with two "roots" that work as legs. One of the best things about making these pieces is that I get to see some really neat rocks... sometimes it feels like I'm curating the woods, as pretentious as that may sound. What I'm trying to say is I'd really like to be able to make things that are as beautiful as rocks you can pick up in the woods. (Maybe I could make them like Superman makes diamonds out of coal, by squeezing REALLY HARD.) Finding beautiful things is easy; making them is difficult.

Camp Glen Brook third post

2011-08-23T10:52:00.003-04:00

Waterfall Trail, 8.5" x 11", pastel on paper.

Undead Pine, somewhere in the woods, probably fallen by now. I didn't much like the Ents in the Lord of the Rings movies, because they looked dead or at least very unhealthy to me. In general I think it's pretty hard to make a detailed, convincing image of a living tree. On the other hand it's easy to make them look spooky and dead-- and it can be fun.

Monadnock photographer, 5.5" x 3.5", pencil on paper.

to see in Montpelier: HIGHLOW PROJECT

2011-08-22T11:09:00.002-04:00

The HIGHLOW PROJECT is a series of large-scale photographs by Ned Castle in collaboration with local young people, showing on walls outside in Montpelier (among other places in Vermont, I guess). I stumbled on it while I was running errands this morning. It's really good. You should go out and see it, and if you have money to spare you should give them some.

more from Camp Glen Brook

2011-08-22T10:37:00.003-04:00

I took some photos in the woods-- there was a lot of wildlife. This might be Clavulinopsis fusiformis, according to MushroomExpert.com, a site I can't recommend highly enough. I'm better at taking photos of wildlife that doesn't move noticeably, as you'll see in future posts.

Glen Brook before soccer, 8.5" x 11", pastel on paper. The guy on the left is a camper's dad who started doing some crazy martial-arts-looking activities with what looked to me like a large plumb bob shortly after I started sketching. I didn't really capture the intensity of his movement, but in the end I think it's okay because it would have distracted from the rest of the (relatively calm) scene.

Brave Mountaineer, on the corner of an old stone wall near a meadow full of milkweed. This is the second; the first one fell down overnight before I came back with a camera. By now it's probably time for a third but I'm no longer there.

From Camp Glen Brook residency

2011-08-21T13:16:00.002-04:00

Many thanks to Kate Langridge for the opportunity to stay at Camp Glen Brook for a few days. I spent a lot of time in the woods, some time making art, and a bit of time playing Settlers of Catan....Stone Balancer, on one of the trails. The blue streaks on the pines aren't mine; they're planning some careful logging.

Storm approaching Monadnock, pastel on paper, 11" x 8.5". Luckily there was a shelter to duck under.

Camp Glen Brook, graphite on paper, 3.5" x 5.5". The kid on the right is there because he came over and asked what I was drawing, and I said "I'm drawing you looking at my drawing." He's got his sunglasses dangling from his mouth; very cool.

brief political interlude

2011-08-16T15:08:00.004-04:00

Here's a blog post on why progressives might want to support Ron Paul (among other topics) argued by Glenn Greenwald.

more sketches of George

2011-08-16T15:04:00.002-04:00

George talking #3, 17" x 14", graphite on paper.

George talking #1, 14" x 17", graphite on paper.

sketches of George

2011-08-15T08:11:00.004-04:00

George talking #4, 17" x 14", graphite on paper. George is one of my weekly peace-rally buddies.

George talking # 2, 22" x 18", graphite on paper.

last Stander photos for a while

2011-08-13T15:07:00.003-04:00

Asphalt standers #24

Asphalt standers #20.

Yet more Standers

2011-08-12T14:20:00.001-04:00

Asphalt stander #23, five piece.

Asphalt standers # 16. Just a couple more to show.

More Standers etc.

2011-08-11T10:08:00.002-04:00

Asphalt Standers #12, big man.

Asphalt Stander #17, washer dog. Much more stable than any of the others.

China Fun in the rain, 8.5" x 11", pastel on paper.

Still more to be posted...

More work from the Habitat for Artists

2011-08-08T11:21:00.001-04:00

11" x 8.5", pastel on paper.

Asphalt stander #4.

Asphalt standers #3. Still lots more.

Habitat for Artists 8/2

2011-08-06T13:44:00.002-04:00

Asphalt stander # 9, looking out at Route 100.

Asphalt standers number 8, from inside the Artists' Habitat.

The Habitat for Artists, pastel on paper, 11' x 8.5".

More to come...

Work from 7/27 Inhabitancy

2011-07-29T11:24:00.002-04:00

Artist in Habitat Waitsfield Tomorrow July 27

2011-07-26T20:57:00.004-04:00

I'll be inhabiting a neat little Yestermorrow-built box for the day tomorrow in Waitsfield, VT, doing drawings and whatever else I can manage... this is a project sponsored by the Vermont Festival of the Arts, among other organizations, called Habitat for Artists; it's something started by Simon Draper. I'm one of many artists who'll use the Habitat over the next month or two, and there are other Habitats in nearby towns-- Stowe and Morrisville.

I figure I'll use the Habitat as a people-blind, hiding in plain sight and drawing people unawares (mostly from a distance I guess, but maybe I can lure some up close if I try to smell like them, or lay out a trail of things they like to eat... or with judicious use of mating calls).

If you have some time and are in the area, come see! The Habitat is conveniently located near the creemee stand in Waitsfield. You'll find it. For the rest of you, I'll post some images here later.

July 3 One-Day Show in Montpelier

2011-07-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

People around here: keep an eye out for some of my paintings in a "guerrilla gallery" in downtown Montpelier on the afternoon of July 3rd. It'll be just off of Main Street, near Bagitos. I won't be there, but my friend Aron Martineau is doing me the favor of baby-sitting my work along with his photography. Happy summer!

Someone else's article to read

2011-06-28T00:37:00.002-04:00

A Home Before the End of the World, by Adelheid Fischer. On biodiversity, extinction, ignorance, human identity, and naming. Very good.

peace banner for sale

2011-06-04T11:21:00.005-04:00

I'm having my "We Demand Peace" poster printed on tough vinyl with grommets, so it'll last longer than another week or two. It would really help the printing costs (and make me happy) if I could sell some to people who might have a use for them. Around $70 including postage, which I think is pretty cheap for a big (6' tall x 3.5' wide) useful sturdy peace banner. Unfortunately it'll probably remain topical for a long time. Get in touch if you're interested: glen@gchfineart.com

And join us every Friday, noon to 1:00 pm, in front of the Montpelier post office (federal building) for a peace rally!

PS to the heirs of Viktor Koretsky: I'm trying (here and elsewhere) to get in touch with you to avoid infringing copyright-- the poster above is derived from Koretsky's of 1950. Please contact me!

not art (but politics)

2011-06-01T20:44:00.001-04:00

I got annoyed today and commented on a New York Times article. My comment's #15.

PechaKucha night Tuesday in Waitsfield

2011-05-15T23:16:00.002-04:00

from the Athens Archaeological museum (my photo); portrait head of a philosopher, bronze with inlay, ~240 BCE.

I'm one of the presenters in a PechaKucha (slideshow) presentation on Transition (to a future with a lot less fossil fuel) in Waitsfield, VT this Tuesday May 17th. This is my fifth slide of 20; each presenter gets 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide. Other people are talking about energy systems, building, permaculture, etc... I'm talking about art, from prehistory to six months ago, and speculating about art in the near future. Join us!

We Demand Peace, State 2 (after Viktor Koretsky 1950)

2011-04-30T00:00:00.005-04:00

5' x 3.5', gouache and mixed media on paper. At the table, clockwise from lower left: Obama, Sarkozy, Zapatero, Gillard, Cameron, Berlusconi, Merkel, Harper.

Join us at a peace rally every Friday 12-1 PM in front of the Federal Building (post office) in Montpelier, VT!

We Demand Peace, State One (after Viktor Koretsky 1950)

2011-04-28T16:25:00.004-04:00

5' x 3', graphite on paper. To be painted tomorrow morning, and hung somewhere public for May Day?

Blame

2011-04-26T08:15:00.002-04:00

22" x 30", graphite on paper, after Leonardo.

Currently on view at the 1/2 Lounge (Red Square) in Burlington, VT.

Big Pointer

2011-04-25T11:38:00.001-04:00

2' x 8', gouache and dry media on paper.

Family

2011-04-23T10:02:00.000-04:00

2' x 3', gouache and dry media on paper.

Michael O'Keefe on Chris Cairns

2011-04-22T10:31:00.001-04:00

A teacher and a role model of mine.

Hanging Out

2011-04-22T10:11:00.000-04:00

2' x 8', gouache and dry media on paper.

Pointer

2011-04-21T08:38:00.000-04:00

1' x 4', gouache and dry media on paper.

Curiosity

2011-04-20T08:12:00.002-04:00

2' x 2', gouache and dry media on paper. Come to the reception this Friday evening, 5-7 PM, in the Shoe Horn in downtown Montpelier!

Class at S.P.A. in May

2011-04-19T11:53:00.002-04:00

I'm offering a one-day intensive ink-painting class through Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT this May. Register and see the full description here: www.studioplacearts.com (look for "Whole Body Ink Painting").

Solitary

2011-04-19T11:51:00.003-04:00

2' x 8', gouache and dry media on paper. This one might be about the kind of war(s) we're in now.

Christopher

2011-04-18T07:10:00.000-04:00

2' x 1', gouache and dry media on paper.

Footwalk

2011-04-16T11:07:00.001-04:00

2' x 2', gouache and dry media on paper.

Crabwalk

2011-04-15T09:26:00.000-04:00

2' x 2', gouache and dry media on paper.

Glory

2011-04-14T20:01:00.001-04:00

2' x 4', gouache and dry media on paper. About war-- not the sort of war we're in now though.

One Two Three One Two

2011-04-12T13:50:00.002-04:00

2' x 8', gouache and dry media on paper.

Onward!

2011-04-03T22:02:00.001-04:00

2' x 1', gouache and dry media on paper.

Aah Monster!

2011-03-25T13:56:00.003-04:00

2' square; gouache and dry media on paper.

Vegetables at Play- for Pete's Greens

2011-01-21T11:51:00.003-05:00

10.5" x 14", graphite on paper. All local produce-- for Pete's Greens, whose barn burned down last week.

Thoreau as Shoki Demon-Queller

2010-12-15T23:06:00.003-05:00

10x8 inches, watercolor. Not sure what to say about this. You can buy it at the Burlington Artists' Market this Friday.

Guardian Lions

2010-12-15T10:45:00.002-05:00

8x10 inches, watercolor. Another for the Burlington Artists' Market on Friday.

Sitting Meditation

2010-12-13T21:55:00.002-05:00

5x7 inches, watercolor. My favorite so far of a bunch of little things I'll be taking to the Burlington Arts Market on Friday. Come visit me there! The market runs Friday and Saturday in City Hall, but I'll only be able to make it on Friday.

Avoid Amazon.com

2010-12-10T09:30:00.002-05:00

I was unhappy to read about Amazon.com's recent unjustified actions against Wikileaks at the urging of Senator Lieberman. I'm going to avoid buying things through Amazon in the future. There's a great bookstore site, Abebooks.com, that I will use instead.

Auction at Yestermorrow

2010-11-29T14:37:00.003-05:00

I have two pieces in an auction at Yestermorrow Design/Build School, this Saturday December 4. Come see! Bid!

Online Auction

2010-11-26T17:26:00.004-05:00

I have a painting, Bacchus (after Michelangelo) in the Doing Our pART online auction to benefit the Vermont Food Bank-- go see! Bid! Find some other neat stuff to pick up for a holiday gift (or for yourself) and help some hungry local folks.

Faces

2010-11-14T21:59:00.003-05:00

14" x 17", ink. Done to start filling the huge gap in my portfolio where facial expressions should be.

Hand Work

2010-11-01T08:18:00.002-04:00

~9.5" x ~13.5", about 12 pounds (guess), tempera on stone.

I pried the stone off a ledge in our backyard, roughed out the rectangle with a chisel, and filed grooves in the edges for the hanging wire to wrap around. The shiny thing he's working on in there is a chunk of pyrite embedded in the stone. The paint is a stab at getting more comfortable with tempera-- pigment mixed into egg yolks.

You can see this piece (and bid on it!) at the Yestermorrow Auction, on December 4 2010.

In Opposition to the Proposed Teaching Cuts at NYSS

2010-07-05T21:32:00.003-04:00

More text than art here for a while... sorry. This one is about the New York Studio School, where I studied for three years until last spring. They're in financial trouble-- if you're in a position to help, please do!-- and proposing to cut the teaching hours in the Sculpture department, where I spent most of my time. If you're an alum or otherwise connected to the school, please consider writing them a note before Thursday July 8 (when they'll approve the year's budget) to tell them that cutting teaching hours is a bad idea. For reasons, see below:

Dear Marianne [Barcelona, chair of the Board of Governors],

I'm writing this open letter to you as the Chair of the NYSS Board of
Governors in protest against the proposed teaching cuts in the Sculpture
department, which I heard about a few days ago from Garth Evans.  Please
distribute it as you see fit, and if possible read at least the
following paragraph to the Board this Thursday.

Cutting teaching hours (by as much as half!) in any department as a way
to save money is shortsighted, contrary to the NYSS's founding spirit,
and ultimately unsustainable.  I'm startled and dismayed that it is even
seriously considered as an option, particularly as the school (still!)
lacks full accreditation.  A school that cuts faculty as a first resort
in financial difficulty cannot hope to be taken seriously.  It should
not be.  I hope the board will reconsider the cuts and find a more
reasonable alternative.

Excellent, unique and intensive teaching has always been at the core of
the Studio School, and the sculpture program is exceptionally strong.  A
majority of the sculpture students choose, at personal cost, to stay in
the program past the recommended two years.  How many other schools can
claim that?  The work produced by the students and alumni is of
extremely high quality and just beginning to attract the notice it
deserves.  In a program where students voluntarily pay an extra year's
tuition and NYC rent to have more time with the teachers, how can it be
justifiable to cut the student-teacher time in half?

Meanwhile, if the school is in trouble financially, it is no less
precarious in terms of the long-drawn-out accreditation process.  A move
to cut faculty, effectively crippling the sculpture department as a
credible degree-granting program, must jeopardize the whole
accreditation bid.  It shows bad priorities.  If the school's
degree-granting credentials are dubious under the current system, how
will they be seen when the teaching time is halved, effectively
requiring the students to stay in the program twice as long to get the
same hours of instruction?  Such an anemic program would correctly be
seen as a joke.


There must be alternatives.  From Vermont, more than a year after
graduating, I can't offer much, but here are some suggestions:

First, has there been a specifically targeted call to donors to fund
faculty positions?  A school that is offered valuable real estate (the
DUMBO space) at no rent, for the good of the program, should be able
also to find money for something so vital as part-time faculty salaries.

Second, has there been any targeted outreach to alumni?  In the past
year and few months, the only communications I've received from the
school have been invitations to travel to NYC for the annual benefit.  I
doubt I'll be able to afford that, but even on my pay as a seasonal cook
I would gladly donate money to a NYSS faculty retention fund.  I
guarantee that if alumni are specifically asked, for this specific
purpose, they will give almost across the board.

Third, if cuts are absolutely necessary, why not cut administration?
The Studio School was founded as a strong coalition between students and
student-chosen faculty, with deliberately minimal admin.  Currently all
faculty positions are part-time, while there are something like 6
full-time administrators for a student body of around 75.  Is a 12-to-1
student-to-admin ratio really necessary, much less in keeping with the
founding principles of the school?  If that many administrative hours
are truly needed, why not lean on the highly competent student body by
creating a few more work-study administrative assistant positions?  Such
a move would save money and begin to return the students to their
original status as central, full partners in the running of the school.

Last, as much as I love the 8th St. building and environment, I would
even rather see the school change locations and move somewhere cheaper,
with lower maintenance costs, than shed faculty to survive.  The Studio
School is not essentially its place-- it is the community of students
and teachers who choose to follow the ideas set forth at the founding
and carried to the present.  If the current arrangement is
unsustainable, as I assume it must be for the suggestion of cutting
faculty hours to be entertained, then anything should be sacrificed
before that community is threatened.  The founding students opened the
school in a loft that they had located themselves.  If necessary they
can find another.

I hope this finds you well.



Yours,


Glen Hutcheson

MFA* Sculpture 2009
Former Secretary, Board of Governors, 2007-08
Former Chair of the Student Body, 2007-08


*pending accreditation

Fourth Letter to Barack Obama- July 4, 2010

2010-07-05T00:28:00.001-04:00

4 July 2010

Dear President Obama,

I got your July 4 greeting today [below]-- thank you, and I hope you and your family had a good day. Happy birthday to Maia!

I'm glad you mentioned the armed forces, because it reminds me to tell you: I consider myself a conscientious objector, and will never willingly join the military. This has been my conviction for many years. I make it public here now. Sorry if I disappoint.

I wish you would actually ask me, and my generation, to show some of the "immeasurable bravery and sacrifice" that you attribute to the troops. If you ask, I predict that you will get a future country that is more interesting than what we now enjoy. Few of us, I think, would choose to fight, but many-- very many-- would choose to build, repair, teach, heal, plan, and create. Please ask.

Glen Hutcheson

----- Original message -----

From: "Barack Obama"

To: "glen hutcheson"

Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2010 23:15:24 -0400

Subject: This Fourth of July

glen --

The Fourth of July is especially dear to my family. For us, it is not just our nation's birthday. It is the day Michelle and I became parents 12 years ago. And every year we enjoy watching the fireworks with Malia on her birthday.

As we celebrate the profound pride of being American, today is a time to honor the women and men in our armed forces, whose immeasurable bravery and sacrifice have made our country what it is today.

That sacrifice is shared with husbands and wives, with sons and daughters, with fathers and mothers, who are asked to wait at home as their loved ones protect our nation. Their heroism, too, has helped pave the path of our freedom.

Even before we moved into the White House, Michelle was a champion for those military families. She has witnessed their struggles, and she has made it her personal mission to fight for them. On this Fourth of July, she recorded a personal message, commemorating our nation's birthday and paying tribute to these families.

Please take a minute to watch Michelle's video -- and join us as we honor our military families here and abroad:

http://my.barackobama.com/July4th

From all of us, happy Independence Day.

Thank you, and may God bless America.

President Barack Obama

July 4th, 2010

third letter to Barack Obama: 19 June 2010

2010-06-19T13:09:00.002-04:00

This and the previous two posts have little to do with art, but might as well be public.

The quote is from a joke he made on May 1 about killing the Jonas brothers.

6/19/2010

Dear President Obama,

I voted for you in '08 and would like to vote for you again, but you're not making it easy. Quoting you: "Two words for you, boys: predator drones." (I only just read that quote yesterday evening or would have written sooner.) Your escalation of the various endless wars we're in, and your abuse of the drone technology, make me furious. Joking about it doesn't help. Nor does caving on the public option, going after whistleblowers, or failing on Guantanamo. I refuse to be any more guilty than I already am for your bad actions and decisions on our behalf. If you have any interest in my vote, please shape up. Otherwise, I expect I'll throw away another vote on a Ralph Nader.

Sincerely,

Glen Hutcheson

second letter to Barack Obama: December 1 2009

2010-06-19T12:53:00.002-04:00

In response to President Obama's speech of the same day, in which he said the following:

First, there are those who suggest that Afghanistan is another Vietnam. They argue that it cannot be stabilized, and we're better off cutting our losses and rapidly withdrawing. I believe this argument depends on a false reading of history. Unlike Vietnam, we are joined by a broad coalition of 43 nations that recognizes the legitimacy of our action. Unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency. And most importantly, unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan, and remain a target for those same extremists who are plotting along its border. To abandon this area now -- and to rely only on efforts against al Qaeda from a distance -- would significantly hamper our ability to keep the pressure on al Qaeda, and create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks on our homeland and our allies.

12/1/2009

Dear President Obama,

Please reconsider your plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. I reject your claim that this will "keep the pressure on al Qaeda." Al Qaeda is stronger in many other countries than it is now in Afghanistan, and "pressuring" Afghanistan and Pakistan with war and drone attacks supports anti-U.S. recruiters worldwide. Even if the goals you set forth tonight are met, we would be much better served spending our time at home, trying harder to live up to those values, like the rule of law and democracy, that must be the core of our security.

I think I speak for my demographic, which overwhelmingly voted for you last year (me included), when I say that my opposition to this war has little to do with comparisons to Vietnam. That war was over several years before I was born, and I accept the differences you pointed out tonight between Vietnam and Afghanistan. The similarity, which you didn't address, is that Afghanistan, like Vietnam, is a DUMB WAR. Our stated goals are not worth the lives and resources we're wasting to reach them.

first letter to Barack Obama: 28 August 2008

2010-06-19T12:47:00.003-04:00

8/28/2008

Dear Senator Obama,

Congratulations on the nomination! I heard your speech last night at the Democratic Convention. It was excellent: clear, well-crafted, fresh, and beautifully delivered. I'd like to take the opportunity to donate $25 to your campaign, and with it some advice.

The strongest parts of your speech, I thought, came when you spoke of empathy, national unity, and the common ground that we can find on problems like abortion and gun control. Your concentration on this sort of human connection and cooperative work has impressed me deeply over the last four years, and it's the main reason my parents, brothers and sister and I are hoping you'll win the election (I haven't actually spoken with them about this, but I know them well enough to guess).

I was concerned by the parts of your speech in which you spoke of strengthening the Army, and the aggressive stance you took toward Russia.

I understand why you might have included these elements: clearly, the world at large seems as troubled as ever with wars, oppression and tyranny; and Putin, among others, feels that he can ignore the rules of common humanity, and game the system. I expect there will be more problems to deal with in the near future. If you are elected President, they'll be very much YOUR problems. I can also understand that you might want to persuade Americans that the Democratic Party is not "weak."

Your strength is in your empathy. I think you have an almost unique understanding of the American people, emotionally and intellectually, and I honor you for it. If you are elected, I ask you to use this ability not only to deal with us, but to deal on our behalf, on a human level, with the countries and people of the rest of the world. Speak for us in the confidence that all people want good for themselves and their families, and that with care and wisdom, no one needs to take from another to achieve a common good. Help us understand our neighbors, and help them to understand us.

I wish that people understood and loved the United States so well that we wouldn't need an army at all, because no one would think of attacking us... and I wish that our leaders understood the rest of the world so well that they could always find an alternative to war. Imagine if, after 9/11, people had thought well enough of the States to recognize bin Laden as the aberration he is, and turned him over voluntarily for trial. Imagine if, on 9/11, the reaction of the American people had been, "This is terrible! We must try never to inflict this horror on anyone."

I trust that you WILL speak and listen for us in this way, not because I ask, but because empathy is integral to your composition. But please think consciously of it! remember it! keep talking about it to us! Make it clear that the strongest human being-- and the strongest country!-- is the one who understands the others' wishes for good.

Thank you-- good luck!

Sincerely,

Glen Hutcheson

Emma and the Witch (updated 3 June)

2010-05-19T23:43:00.010-04:00

A children's story by my friend Sonja Seawright; I illustrated it for her with cut-paper designs. You can see the whole thing at my website-- I had it up here on the blog for a while, but didn't like the format.

I loved working on these illustrations, and am looking for more projects to illustrate. If you come across anything, let me know!

Shove

2010-05-18T22:47:00.001-04:00

8.5 x 11 inches, pencil on paper.

Footrace

2010-05-17T22:26:00.001-04:00

14 x 17 inches, pencil on paper.

Pine Woods

2010-05-03T23:27:00.003-04:00

26 x 34 inches, oil on canvas. Painted from life near the Vermont Studio Center, where I was lucky enough to spend all of last week.

Bruce Gagnier at Lori Bookstein

2010-04-27T20:00:00.004-04:00

Visiting Bruce Gagnier's show at Lori Bookstein Gallery in Chelsea, I first saw movement. A man straightened himself in front of me, addressing a woman who cupped her shoulder away. Beyond them, a dozen forms stepped, crouched, arched their backs or let their arms fall. Neither quickly nor slowly, each sculpture danced, shifting and turning on their short pedestals like anemones in a cold, clear tidepool. But these figures were hard, painted plaster, without flexibility. Their motion was only in my awareness of them.

Gagnier's sculptures move by virtue of their deliberately asymmetrical, dynamic arrangement of forms. They lead the gaze from one point to the next, always up and down, side to side, forward and back, suggesting simple shapes and lines that constantly appear and dissolve, conveying an unlikely but definite moving balance. Like words swelling and shrinking under a magnifying glass drawn along the page, each part passes through the mind's eye in orderly progress.

Continuing to look, I began to see that each characteristic movement was embedded in a specific body. The breadth of a leg from knee to hamstring, the cupped flesh under a jaw, the curving swells of finger-joints presented themselves to me as if I saw through the eyes of a lover. I felt the weight and texture of each part, and saw the clear shapes of muscles and organs and bones under the skin.

The sculptures' intense presence comes from the modulation of their surfaces, pulling the eye as if the sculptor were taking us by the wrist and dragging our hand across each swell and hollow. We tend normally to look at certain features: eyes, noses, fingers, buttocks. Gagnier's work shows us where those things are and what they look like, but always draws our attention to other features that we rarely notice. He engages our sense of touch by way of our sense of sight. Hardly "realistic," at their best the sculptures manage to seem more real, more firmly embodied, than many living people I've met.

And they did seem real, in movement, body and even as individual personalities. When I was there, none of them would meet my eye-- I was ignored-- but I was sure each was aware. A combination of particular gesture, structure and expression gave them life and selfhood. Looking around, I saw signs of cruelty, pride, fear, arrogance, and generosity. I saw emotions that I knew but had no names for.

I can't explain to my own satisfaction how these sculptures hold such strong character. It's something I've seen before, in Rembrandt, Corot's portraits, and one or two Roman heads. I know the only way an artist can reach that point is long, hard work and care. I urge you to spend some time with the show before it comes down this weekend, and reach your own conclusions.

Haikai party of two

2010-04-21T21:19:00.002-04:00

about 7 x 9 inches, pencil on paper. Haikai, as I understand it, is a poetry party of a particular sort, with two or more people. It's the main root of the modern haiku form. I'd like to try it sometime.

Thoreau as Shoki Demon-Queller

2010-04-19T22:52:00.001-04:00

about 10 inches square. Ink, marker and chalk on gessoed paper.

emma and the witch, illustration page 13?

2010-03-30T22:10:00.002-04:00

8 1/2 x 11 inches, cut paper.

I'm illustrating a children's story written by a friend; this is one of the images. The colors will be different in the final version, though.

woodchuck

2010-03-23T22:21:00.003-04:00

3 x 5 inches, watercolor, pencil and marker on paper.

sandman and nima tour poster

2010-03-22T23:05:00.003-04:00

24 x 18 inches, acrylic and pencil on paper.

On Tour NOW.

More than worth seeing these guys (or hosting a house concert) if they pass through your region of the world. I should have posted this weeks ago, when they were here in Montpelier.

sitting for dinner

2010-03-21T22:23:00.002-04:00

8 x 8 inches, pencil on paper.

keep-away

2010-03-15T00:01:00.003-04:00

8 1/2 x 11 inches, pencil on paper.

kmgs on the laptop

2010-03-13T23:11:00.001-05:00

11 x 8 1/2 inches, pencil on paper.

Kate dislikes this one for some reason.

champlain cairn

2010-03-12T21:51:00.002-05:00

about 2 feet tall, stone and wood.

I didn't make this one, only took the picture. It's on the east side of Lake Champlain, somewhere near Lakeside Avenue in Burlington.

river god attenuating

2010-03-08T21:52:00.002-05:00

6 feet, snow.

This is the River God from a few posts back after a week of sun.

Kate says it's beginning to look like one of Giacometti's sculptures. I'll sell it to you for $104.3 million-- but you'd better hurry.

mary, angel-- free to a good home

2010-03-06T23:17:00.003-05:00

5 1/2 x 3 1/2, pencil on paper, after Titian.

This sketch returned to me today after a sojourn in Italy and Serbia. I drew it last June, in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples. I like it a lot-- am thinking of putting it in a little frame-- but am too atheist to want it hanging in this house. I'm only religious while I'm drawing from Titian (or singing Bach, etc.) Any Catholic-friendly people out there want a little drawing? Free, but you have to convince me that you like it enough to hang it somewhere visible.

tree worker

2010-03-04T22:54:00.002-05:00

8 1/2 x 11 inches, pencil on paper.

we demand peace

2010-03-03T21:46:00.003-05:00

after Viktor Koretsky. 5 x 3 inches, pencil on marker on paper.

This is a sketch of a poster I saw today in the Fleming Museum in Burlington, VT. The text in the original is in Russian, and the figures at the bottom are world leaders (of 1950) in caricature. The worker's fist scatters piles of weapons and little model tanks, ships and planes that were arranged on the table.

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From Thoreau's Walden:

It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

flower sermon

2010-03-02T22:39:00.003-05:00

8 1/2 x 11 inches, cut paper and glue.

The Flower Sermon is a story about the origin of Zen Buddhism.

pianist

2010-03-01T22:46:00.002-05:00

11 x 8 1/2 inches, pencil on paper.

I've been listening to old jazz and ragtime piano music in the cafe for a little while, and made this sketch a week ago while thinking of that. She might be playing something more dramatic than ragtime.

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Last week's Driveway Snow Buddha got posted on the Killing the Buddha blog-- here. I'm glad; it's one of my favorite sites. Recommended to me last year by Marija Skoko.

salmon and river god

2010-02-27T21:51:00.003-05:00

Salmon: 7 feet long
River god: 6 feet high seated

Kate did the salmon, Sarah Waring and I did the river god.

driveway snow buddha

2010-02-26T22:42:00.003-05:00

life-size, snow.

lotion, clamp, speaker

2010-02-25T21:52:00.001-05:00

11 x 8 1/2 inches, pencil on paper.

Symmetry

2010-02-24T21:53:00.004-05:00

9 x 8 inches, pencil on paper.

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David Alpaugh has an essay at The Chronicle of Higher Education about his worry that the great poets of our era aren't being recognized or even noticed in the flood of poetry being published. Nearly all the arguments could be transposed neatly into the field of visual arts. His main gripe, which resonates with me, seems to be that "the academic oligarchy that controls poetry [is allowed to]... impose a nonaesthetic, self-serving scoring system" to determine what poems are celebrated and preserved in the culture. This is the sort of frustrating thing that I love thinking about. What would an aesthetic scoring system look like? I'm pretty sure I could come up with one-- at least for visual art-- but it might look non-aesthetic and self-serving to some people. Wouldn't be, though, I promise!

February Thaw-- first try

2010-02-23T22:07:00.003-05:00

18 x 28 inches, oil on canvas.

This is from a very warm winter evening a couple of days ago, painted on the hillside behind our house. Needs a few more sessions, but it's snowing again, and might be a while before I get back to it. I wouldn't mind-- Kate gets cranky when the winter isn't snowy enough, so tonight's little blizzard is kind of a relief. The painting will wait in the studio for another warm evening, and I'll re-post it here next time I work on it.

sw

2010-02-22T22:24:00.001-05:00

18 x 16 inches, pencil on paper

kmgs working from home

2010-02-21T23:33:00.001-05:00

18 x 24 inches, pencil on paper.

Mercedes Matter show in Malibu

2010-02-06T22:22:00.002-05:00

Mercedes Matter was the founder of the Studio School, where I went, and she taught some of my teachers-- so I think of her as my artistic grandmother, though we never met. I know her work only peripherally, but I'd like to see more. Apparently there's a show up at Pepperdine University until April-- but I'm on the wrong side of the continent... if any of you have a chance, go look and let me know what it's like. In the meantime, this article is worth reading.

Fluency ("Easy equals True")

2010-02-03T20:58:00.003-05:00

Here's a fun article from the Boston Globe about how we favor things that are easy (and how we can be persuaded to pay attention by making things just a little bit difficult). I think it has interesting implications for art-making. For one thing, it begins to explain why we find beauty in rhyme, repetition and symmetry.

Show of Paintings in Montpelier

2010-02-02T08:30:00.004-05:00

Twelve paintings and drawings-- mostly from the Hohenberg show, just back from NYC-- are on exhibit (and on sale) at Rhapsody Cafe in Montpelier, Vermont. The show went up yesterday and will be up through the month of February; please come see if you're in the area! Rhapsody serves as the Greyhound station for Montpelier, so if you get to town that way you'll be delivered to the doorstep of the show. And, as it happens, I work there most days. Come in and say hello!

Website Updated

2010-01-15T22:52:00.003-05:00

So the show opened last night at the Studio School, thanks to the staff at NYSS who helped enormously as usual. Tonight I'm back in Vermont, dealing with jet lag even though I took the train and crossed no time zones. But I managed to update my website with most of the new pieces in the show. Take a look!

Featured on NYSS website

2010-01-11T13:53:00.003-05:00

Here's a NYSS webpage with a little slideshow of some pieces in the January show, along with a slightly garbled blurb.

NYC Show Jan 14-28

2010-01-07T13:12:00.005-05:00

Bay of Naples, oil on cardboard, 6 1/2" x 9 1/2"

Come see! and tell other New Yorkers!

GLEN COBURN HUTCHESON
2009 HOHENBERG FELLOWSHIP EXHIBITION

14-28 January 2010
Opening: Thursday 14 January, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Gallery Hours: Daily 10:00am - 6:00pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday 27 January, 1:15pm - 2:00pm

The New York Studio School
8 West 8th St., NYC, NY 10011
212-673-6466
www.nyss.org

A few new paintings

2009-12-28T22:17:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to uploading some photos of recent paintings on my website. A handful of these-- the European landscapes and the little Bacchus-- will be part of my upcoming show at the Studio School in NYC, January 14th to the 28th.

[Oil Painting] Studio Ecosystem

2009-11-21T18:13:00.002-05:00

This post is mostly for my own use and reference. It's here, rather than elsewhere, because I can't think of a good reason NOT to share it, and on the chance someone will be amused.

BRUSHES
Each day they're wiped with RAGS and set to soak, on a hardware-cloth pillow, in a jar with clean OIL. Once a week they're rinsed on another hardware cloth pillow in a jar with clean MINERAL SPIRITS, wiped with RAGS, and set on their feet in an empty jar to dry overnight.

PALETTES
After big globs of leftover paint have been saved, the palettes are wiped with RAGS.

OIL
Yesterday's dirty oil is poured into the week's oil jar. At the end of the week, that jar is set aside for the pigment to settle out, and a clean jar is set for the next week. Once the pigment has settled, the clean oil is decanted and the sludge is discarded.

MINERAL SPIRITS
After being used to clean the BRUSHES each week, the mineral spirits are poured into a jar to let the pigment settle. Once that's happened, they're decanted and the sludge is discarded.

RAGS
Having been used to wipe BRUSHES and PALETTES, they're hung flat to dry on a rack. When dry, they're re-used once. After a second use, they're dried again and cut into small pieces. The colored pieces are used for collage. The collages are sold (all of them!), cheap because they'll probably turn to dust in a couple of years.

Denis Dutton on art

2009-10-16T08:22:00.005-04:00

The New York Times prints today an opinion piece by Denis Dutton, on conceptual art and hand axes. I recommend it.

I saw some of the axes he's talking about this summer, in a few different museums. They were satisfying to look at. If I could own any one thing I've seen in a museum, I might choose an axe like this. (I took this photo in the Bologna Archaeological Museum.)

From Dutton's piece:

The direct response to skill is what makes it possible to find beauty in many tribal arts even though we often know nothing about the beliefs of the people who created them. There is no place on earth where superlative technique in music and dance is not regarded as beautiful.

It might be just that simple: good technique.

Rule of Threes?

2009-09-28T20:23:00.002-04:00

William Safire wrote in 2005 (republished today in the New York Times): "Three subjects... can give an essay the stability of an oaken barstool. Two's a crowd, but three's a gestalt." I've noticed something similar in visual art, and am curious to hear what other people think.

In sculpture-- assuming a reasonably smooth, level surface to rest on-- three points, defining a plane, make for a good stable stander, like Safire's barstool. (I understood this fact embarrassingly recently, and am still enjoying how wonderful it can be.) In drawing, I usually find I need a minimum of three tones-- light, middle, and dark-- to describe volume, though it can be fun to try to make do with two. Some of the main ways of using color divide in three: red-yellow-blue "primary colors" in painting; RGB (red-green-blue light, which is how my computer monitor works if I understand it correctly); cyan-magenta-yellow (although I guess printers use four, right? CMYK, with K being black?). And visual art, in general, deals with the three spatial dimensions-- length, width and depth.

But beyond that kind of necessary stuff, it seems like there's something attractive about putting three main elements in a work of art. I've noticed myself doing it automatically, and I remember the sculptor Jilaine Jones saying that she often thinks in threes in her art. Anyone else? Ideas?

The Safire column in its entirety is a list of rules on how to read political columns. As a maker of lists of rules, I like it.

Food Rule

2009-09-15T22:24:00.003-04:00

Thanks, all, for responding, and sorry I was out of it for so long. We'll say I was thinking.

Ellen, I think you're right that art can be "nourishing." As for your feelings about the word "good," I admit: I was trying to be sneaky with that word. I'd rather have people focus on the rest of the rule: "good like food" -- because I think the food analogy modifies "good" to be a little more specific, without pouring concrete around it. So, I can dislike Warhol, or broccoli, while accepting that other people enjoy Warhol and broccoli, and that I might get some nourishment out of both of them despite my dislike. And my tastes can change over time, like Harry said.

I do want my rules to rule some things out, too. (Otherwise, what's the point? If a rule's too flexible, you can't have any fun breaking it.) With the "food" rule, I'm trying to rule out, as art, stuff that's harmful or visually "indigestible." Unhappily, I think we're all better at identifying poisonous and inedible food than we are at identifying art that's not nourishing. (Of course I don't mean you, kind commenters-- you know what's what. But there are a lot of people out in the Art World who seem to eat a lot of rocks and dirt and green fuzzy stuff from the back of the fridge, if you see what I mean.)

Laurie and Su, your comments showed me that I hadn't made an important point clear: these rules are meant for someone making art, not really for someone "seeing a work of art." Laurie, I like your description of how art can affect people; what I'm going for with the rules is something to help artists make that kind of experience more likely. Su, please don't take away my rules and parameters! I need them! Anyway, I think your phrase "you can be careful what you present" is perfect, and would shut me up entirely if that were possible.

Website update

2009-08-12T22:32:00.000-04:00

On the off chance that someone is reading this who doesn't already have the address to my website, here it is. I'm hoping to update it immediately after posting this. There's one new painting (and a few older ones that hadn't made it onto the site before) as well as several new pictures of the cardboard sculptures that I showed in my MFA thesis exhibition at the New York Studio School this past May.

Rules I

2009-08-07T12:32:00.000-04:00

Today I went back to VCFA to look at the MFA in Visual Arts thesis exhibition. I came away mildly disappointed, confused, and sad, like the way I feel when I see a bunch of empty beer cans left in the middle of the woods. I didn't have the energy or time to look really closely, so instead of talking specifically about the show I'm going to lay out a few basic rules for visual art that I wish were more closely followed, here at VCFA and generally.

Rule 1: Visual art should be good to look at in the same way that food should be good to eat.

Rule 2: Art should be presented carefully, inviting people to look at it in a straightforward way.

Rule 3: Visual art, like music, should not need to be explained in words to be understood.

Rule 4: A piece of art should evoke largely the same reactions in different viewers, the way Romeo and Juliet strikes nearly everyone as sad (and not, say, funny or infuriating).

I'll start filling between these rules later.

Opening Post/ Shirley Tse talk @ VCFA

2009-08-04T22:49:00.000-04:00

Just attended Shirley Tse's slide lecture at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and had argumentative thoughts directed at the Art World, so I figured I'd start a blog. We'll see where it goes, but I'm going to try to use it as a field to cultivate specific, useful thoughts on contemporary visual art.

I'd heard positive things about Tse before this evening, but didn't know her work. Most of the slides were beautiful, especially some details of her carved styrofoam pieces. But there were only flimsy connections between the images and her explanations. A pretty, funny-looking photograph of tiny plastic ducks, turtles, and dinosaurs on a foam-laced beach was, according to Tse, a reference to the geopolitical/ecological webwork of connections linking Hong Kong factories to the United States through the ocean currents of the North Pacific. That webwork of connections exists, no doubt, and I could choose to decide-- at least, while listening to Tse-- that her photograph was a comment on those themes. But the visual content of the photo, composition, colors, characters, lighting, and everything, held none of those associations without Tse's verbal steering. It was a funny, pretty picture of toy animals on a beach.

I don't mean to attack Tse. I like her work (what I saw in tonight's slides) very much. But I'm not at all convinced that it really has the complex meanings that she ascribes to it. And that kind of mismatch between visuals and text is the rule, rather than the exception, in the contemporary art world. If someone switched all the explanatory labels in your local Institute for Contemporary Art, or whatever, how many people would notice?