The Nature of Things…

The Nature of Things

It has been almost a year since my last post, a year since I joined the Cazenovia Artisans Gallery, almost a year from my last semester of teaching. It was a year that brought many changes and challenges…good and not so good. The year ahead looks exciting.

I have an installation up in Utica NY at the 4 Elements Satellite Gallery and an Exhibit at Cazenovia Artisans as their feature artist for the month of June. Please come by the gallery to see this exhibit there will be all new work and I would love to see you. I always have work is in the gallery and on the website.

Mary Padgett and I have started our weekly treks out to paint ponds it’s a wonderful thing. We become completely immersed in the action of looking and painting. We both admire the work of Lois Dodd her sense of wonder and continued focus on looking. The New York Times recent article shows that other are looking at her too. Her Views From Close Up Are on Everyone’s Radar

Stay tuned, I promise to be here more often.

Leigh

Joining a Cooperative Gallery

A friend ask me a question that I have been pondering…what will I get from being a part of a collective art gallery. I was brand new to the gallery so I didn’t  have an answer for him. I have been think about this for a few weeks now, and in some ways I am still not sure. But I can say something about where my thoughts are at the moment.

The intangible benefits are the parts I am still discovering. Most of my non-studio jobs for 40 plus years have been positions in which I was the only one in a space/place performing that work. I was use to designing my own role and flying under the radar of the places I inhabited, I was an interloper.  Would I be comfortable as a group member of an established practice? What do I have to offer the organization?

It feels good to be a part of something that has a collective mindset to bring every members art to a public space. Each of us are dedicated artists that now run an art business as a partnership rather than trying to be a solo business promoting our work. This collective, Cazenovia Artisans is 20 years old and continues to grow as a business. During the pandemic they expanded to online shopping and set up a shipping station. They have all learned the ins and outs of computerized inventories and marketing. These are all skill that I have tried on my own to conquer. Having an established system made it easier to keep trying to get it done. These are tangible aspects of being a member of a collective.

Located in Cazenovia NY the gallery is  in a community that is committed to the arts as part of their identity.  We have monthly visiting artist exhibits and each member is showcased on a rotating bases. Everyone is juried in by a committee and then the entire membership. We have a broad range of work from jewelry to sculpture furniture to painting all by skilled artists from the Central New York region.

For the month of August my friend and fellow artist Mary Padgett and I are the featured artists. Mary is an outstanding pastel artist and my work will be watercolor. Our exhibit is the results of 2 1/2  years of pleinair painting of ponds. Truly a practice in  new media, trying to understand the changing light, challenging color, reflections time and place. The exhibit is up August 1-31, with an artist reception on Saturday August 6th, 2-5PM.  I hope to see you at the gallery.

Pond Painting Tuesdays

What’s an artist to do when a pandemic shuts down the world? We’ll find away to make something new. I set myself a challenge to return to creating with watercolor. I had played with them on our trip to Spain in 2019 and nothing spurs me on like wanting to understand a medium better. At the same time I was feeling isolated from my artistic community so I emailed my friend Mary Padgett and invited her over, I thought we might paint in the garden. Instead we talked about what we could do to create a challenge safely together. We settled on painting ponds…plein air. We began meeting up each Tuesday at a different pond we continued until winter took over, then started up again in March of 2021. We are still at it test our skill of observation and reflecting on the challenges of light and space. It was never about a finished product but we have found some images we like. To that end we will exhibit them opening in August at the Cazenovia Artisans Gallery 39 Albany Street, Cazenovia, New York 13035 an artist reception will be 2-4 August 6th. Mary and I would love to see you there!

Here is another new element you can now subscribe to my blog! Doing so will keep us connected with updates on exhibits and news from the studio.

Change is hard

Change is hard change is good… this flip little phrase has a been the mantra that has guided me through the changes of the last few years. Changes brought on by the pandemic, changes in family care, changes in jobs change that just happens.

This website is one of those changes after years at LeighYardley.com I have moved services and was unable to move my old domain name. LeighYardleyArtist.com will be my domain moving forward. It comes with some advantages. One is the ability to link my blog Take Me to the Studio to the site easily, another is the ability to link to my website that are showing and selling my artwork Cazenoviaartisans.com.