Eric Dubnicka: "Learning My True Art Work"

Monday I had an opportunity to visit the home and studio of Eric Dubnicka, local artist and former curator at the Tweed Museum of Art. The conservation swept over a wide swath of topics from work-life balance to the current state of the Duluth arts scene.

Dubnicka is the kind of artist who subscribes to the idealist maxim, "If I only had five dollars left I would buy art supplies before food."

He made observations about . some of the changes taking place as the local art scene undergoes a generational shift. He himself has been greatly appreciating the older (75+) makers who have been singularly dedicated to their craft like Jerry Ott and Pat Joyelle. At another point he also expressed concern about artist's tendency to play it safe and the resultant loss of spontaneity. Other topics included concerns about patronage (or lack of) for the arts and the financial challenges artists face.

A question we also explored was the matter of permanence. Institutions and collectors look for art that will last because it is an investment. This devalues temporary art and pop-up shows that are intentionally temporary yet beautiful, Dubnicka's two-hour pop-up show on the Summer Solstice being an example of this stripe.

The conversation wove in and out amongst many other themes. To retrieve them you will have to find that fly on the wall and see if she/he had a tape recorder.

What follows are a variety of images from my two-hour visit. You will note a several recurring themes including fascinations with symmetry and textture. The layered wire work has become his latest exploration.

* * * *

On the beach... front page of the DNT.

Am looking forward to my next studio tour. 

What have you been working on these days?

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Get into it.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Jill Mackie's Studio Is Cool

Last Wednesday I flew home from a two week road trip that included Tampa, Washington D.C. and my mom's home in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The last day of my trip I took advantage of an opportunity to visit the home and studios of artists Frank Holmes and Jill Mackie in Narrowsburg, New York. Narrowsburg is a small town less than 500 in population on the edge of the Delaware River just northeast of Scranton, PA.

The home is exactly what you might expect find when two world-class painters take up residence somewhere. The house is large, lovely and ideally suited for painters. The main floor consists of an entryway with a wide foyer/hallway that goes to the rear of the dwelling, symmetrically dividing the space here into three sections. To the right you will find the studio of Frank Holmes, 1973 winner of the Prix de Rome. To the left you will see the studio of Jill Mackie, who has had work displayed in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. When the sun shines, both studio spaces have an abundance of light from their expanse of windows.

Like myself, Jill Mackie is fascinated with faces. Here's a link to our interview last fall, and here are a few snapshots I grabbed while visiting last week.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Frank Holmes Studio Tour

Imagine what it would have been like to spend an afternoon in the studio of Pablo Picasso, Dali or Matisse. Now think about this. When my peers and I were in art school at college in the early 70s, many of the 1950's artists whom we'd adopted as new heroes were actually still painting, still producing, still active in their studios. Warhol, Larry Rivers, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Rauschenberg -- these guys were going for another two and three decades after I finished school. What would have happened had I tracked them down and asked to see what they were up to?

Well, yesterday I had an opportunity to visit the studio (or studios) of a pair of artists who I consider equal to any of these masterful artists. The only difference is in name recognition. Today and the next few weeks I plan to share photos from my visit to the studio/home of Frank Holmes and Jill Mackie, lifelong artists whose work has inspired many and hangs in the four corners of the world... or at least, the globe's farthest reaches.

I have written about each before, and will begin with Frank, a painting instructor I met while in Ohio University before he won the Prix de Rome in 1973. (Links at the bottom of the blog post.)

A chief source of inspiration for Holmes.

Detail from Big Date. (see link below)

In the Studio, Frank & Jill

NEXT WEEK: A Jill Mackie Studio Tour

RELATED LINKS
Frank Holmes' "Big Date"
A Most Unusual Portrait: The Sarcophagus by Frank B. Holmes
The Ohio Theater Project

In addition to his own ongoing explorations, Frank Holmes continues to produce commission work for clients around the world.