Art Friends Keep Me Warm

Sean Scully says it's very important for a young artist to have friends, because friends keep you warm. Now that I'm no longer a young artist, this is still a truth. So here's to Sharon Swidler, Mary Jo Marks Aardsma, Diane McGregor, Judith Roth, Jason Messinger, Scott Simons, Dara Felz, Basia Krol, Randi Russo, Emily Roynesdal, Jim Pinto, Joey Wozniak, the entire Artists' Breakfast Group, my art-friends who keep me warm. You should look up their work, you should, it'll keep you warm too.

Picture of the Day, Oregon Coast

Posted for no reason other than I want to.

Oregon Coast 2007, c. Nancy Charak photograph

Artist of the Day: Joan Mitchell

My artist of the day is Joan Mitchell, fellow Chicagoan. h/t to Hyperallergic. I had the pleasure of seeing her work just about every working day for 10 years while at my job at the big law firm. So many of my co-worker secretaries had no clue what they were looking at.

Joan Mitchell, artist

Joan Mitchell, artist

Joan Mitchell, artist

How Many Miles to Babylon No. 9, Work in Progress

Here's No. 9 in the How Many Miles to Babylon series for the show "Surface" at Space Gallery in Denver, opening September 25th, this year. Please come on by, I'll be hanging with Mary Jo Marks Aardsma, Diane McGregor, Sharon Swidler, Nancy Koenigsberg, Tonia Bonnell, Sophia Dillo, Carlene Frances, Sue Gibbons, under the good auspices of gallerist Michael Burnett, at 400 Santa Fe Drive, Denver. Space Gallery got a terrific write up here.

How Many Miles to Babylon No. 9 is 18"x24", oil, oil wash, polyester thread, copper roofing nails, wood glue on unprimed cotton canvas.

How Many Miles to Babylon No. 9, c. Nancy Charak artist, 2014

Artist of the Day: Judith Joseph

My artist of the day is Judith Joseph. We met through overlapping memberships in the ARC Gallery, women's art cooperative in Chicago. Judith Joseph's work is about color, light, joy and simchas. I always look closely at her work because there are always sweet surprises in them. Should I ever marry (what again! nah), she will make my ketubah.

Plumeria Ketubah, 2007, Tucson, Arizona, 18" X 24", Judith Joseph, artist
collection Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Stein

And one more thing, she blogs. Find Judith Joseph's blog here.

Artist of the Day: Kevin Swallow

My artist of the day is Kevin Swallow, a stalwart, devoted, lunch-bucket kind of artist. He shows up every day and works. He works in the historic Cornelia Arts Building, in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago.

Here he is announcing a corporate commission.

Wrigley Building, Kevin Swallow artist, 2014

Work in Progress, How Many Miles to Babylon No. 7

Can't resist putting it up for all to see. Here's No. 7 in the series, How Many Miles to Babylon. To repeat the poem...the first six lines are from the old British nursery rhyme, the final five lines are mine, for what it's worth. This piece, like the others in the series, is 18"x24", oil wash, polyester thread, copper roofing nails, wood glue on unprimed cotton canvas.

How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
If your heels are nimble and light,

You may get there by candle-light.

How many miles to the hanging gardens,
How many miles to the Babel tower,
How many miles between the two rivers,
How many miles from the Hydaspes,
How many miles to Enkidu and Gilgamesh wrested in clay?

How Many Miles to Babylon No. 7, c. Nancy Charak, artist, 2014