I'm now selling 8" x 10" archival prints of my art. There are 5 different images from my Masks series, 5 from my Objects in Place series and 5 from my Ropes series. They are $25 each and can be purchased directly from the shop on my website. They are a standard size and can be framed easily. I've gotten great feedback from those who have already purchased them. Thank you!
After a wonderful week in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming I am back to work on my drawings. While there I was inspired by the teepee frame in the meadow behind the cabin where we stayed and the roofs on the ranger station in the distance. These two drawings reflect these forms, abstracted and promoted by the patterns and color that emanate from the structures.
Teepee, ink and colored pencil, 5" x 7", 2013
Roofs, ink and colored pencil, 5" x 7", 2013
A solo show of mine opens in early August in Longmont, Colorado. The body of work is still forming, but there will certainly be a dialogue between repeat pattern design and drawing and between sculpture and furniture. It's really exciting and important for me to span these disciplines and have the work bridge both worlds.
Ladder #1, 5" x 7", 2013
While working on this latest mask drawing I realized that I was inspired once again by a UFO drawing that I stumbled upon years ago and wrote about on this blog. I am so seduced by the tiny intersecting spot that is created when a round form rests on a flat surface.
As I continue to work on the drawings for this series, I get more and more excited to begin the sculptural realm of the project.
The Silencer, ink and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2013
After speaking on the Untitled Art Show about my Powers of Ten series, I've been thinking again about the wonderful individuals who helped me out with all of the coloring that had to be done for this series. As I ran out of time to finish the drawings on my own, so many people came to help. The coloring circles were amazing gatherings, and I was thrilled with how much everyone enjoyed the activity. Adults love coloring and thrive in the meditative process. Here are some photos of these tremendous individuals.
I think I managed to get an image of everyone - my incredibly supportive and infinitely loving Mom and Dad; my patient, encouraging and spectacular husband Mathias Leppitsch; my great great friend Jessica Riquetti who came out from Oakland to help; Tallie Dietz who tirelessly helped many many days and hours upon hours at a time; Liz Green who dedicated so many hours and much enthusiasm; Sabin Aell and Randy Rushton, Rachel Prago, Chase DeForest, Libby Saeger, Jamie Marchbank, Philip May, Gretchen Schaefer, Rebecca Peebles, Cindy Frigard, Jeremiah Hueske, John Grimberg, Jose Medina, Janice Schindler, Andi Todaro, Adam Gildar, Sander Lindeke, Owen Gordon, Whitney Stephens and Lindsay Roome. You are all such generous, creative and joyful people. I am so happy to have you in my community! Thank you!
I'll be on the Untitled Art Show tonight at 8pm MST which is a weekly, internet talk-radio show focused on visual art and the visual art world.
You can listen directly at their website: Untitled Art Show whenever you like. My section of the interview begins at 18:40 minutes.
I'll be talking in general about my art and specifically about my last show at Gildar Gallery where I showed the Powers of Ten this past September.
Powers of Ten (grouped), 30" x 40", ink and colored pencil, 2012
Pattie Lee Becker, What I Thought Was Once-Mine is Now Ours, 15" x 22", 2011
In 2011, I was struck by the large quantity of tornadoes that were ripping through the US as far east as Massachusetts. It was unprecedented and being from Kansas, I felt somehow that something of mine was being lost. I knew that I wanted to do a series of sculptures and drawings that investigated tornadoes, and What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours is that exploration. The title responds to my personal sense of perceived loss and also to the emotional and physical collision of the families directly affected by a tornado’s path. What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours is the first drawing in the series.
As I Slept You Carried Me and We Listened as You Moved On are two new pieces in the tornado series, What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours. These works are also depictions of my personal relationship to tornadoes.
When I was a young child there was once a tornado whipping through town in the late evening while I slept. My dad carried me to the basement and with my mom and brother, we all waited there listening to the radio report for the storm to pass. We were most likely in the basement for a half hour or so, and then we returned to our beds. These times were exciting. Rushing to the cellar, listening to the voices on the small radio, hearing the wind outside, heading back upstairs to check the damages and seeing the green black sky recede into the distance. The next morning when I went to breakfast my older brother was talking about the previous night's experience and I didn't know what he was talking about. I had slept through the entire storm. My father had taken me out of bed, carried me downstairs and then back up to bed, and I never awoke. This non memory has always had a profound effect on me. As I Slept You Carried Me is a non memory drawing of that storm.
We Listened as You Moved On represents a less specific memory. There were storms every spring and early summer that made us run back to the house or bike home from the park to be safe in our basement. These moments were fast, colorful, loud and dreamy. This drawing investigates that energy, that pull and motion.
See more from the series here.
Rope Pile Triptych is shown on a massive billboard in downtown Denver as part of the Denver Theater District's (DTD) mission to present the arts more visibly around town. The billboard is located on 16th and Champa. Check it out if you're in the area. There are lots of great artworks presented around town, so keep your eyes open.
Pattie Lee Becker, Rope Pile Triptych Billboard, 2011
The exhibition Ropes at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art has been up for a couple of months and has one month to go before it closes. Please stop by and check it out if you are in the area. The series is composed of sixteen drawings and two sculptures all of which explore the simplicity and complexities inherent in ropes. Youngna Park at 20x200 wrote a nice piece on their blog: http://www.20x200.com/blog/2010/03/ropes-by-pattie-lee-becker-at-bmoca.html
Thanks to all of you who came out to the opening or otherwise and supported me and my practice. It means so much to me that all of you have shown up to take a look. Here are some exhibition images taken by the fantastic friend and photographer Ashley Davis.
Pattie Lee Becker's Ropes exhibition at BMoCA 2010
Pattie Lee Becker's Ropes exhibition at BMoCA 2010
Pattie Lee Becker's Ropes exhibition at BMoCA 2010
Pattie Lee Becker's Ropes exhibition at BMoCA 2010
The hanging sculpture is made of woodblock printed linen, batting, tubing, and steel. Theresa Haberkorn, a local Boulder woodcut printmaker helped me with the carving and printing. I had never met her before she agreed to come help on the project, and it was really nice working with her.
The Rope Pile (below) is made of handmade ropes that I created from various twines and other materials. Mathias Leppitsch, a fabricator, designer, and artist in Denver, welded me a specific hook that fit into my drill to speed up the otherwise antiquated process. We spun rope into the wee hours of the morning as the installation date drew near. A life saver.
There are also two other shows up in the first floor galleries that are very worthwhile: Beverly McIver and Steve Steele. It’s a privilege to be in their company.
Ropes at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art runs from 5 Febraury through 23 May 2010. To commemorate the series, a Coloring Book and Artcard Set with letter-pressed hang tags were developed with designer Justin Fuller of Pencil + Paper and printed and bound by Brad O'Sullivan of Smokeproof Press.
Pattie Lee Becker, Ropes, 8 Artcards for hanging and mailing, January 2010
Pattie Lee Becker, Ropes Artcard Hang Tags, January 2010
Pattie Lee Becker, Ropes Coloring Book, January 2010
In October, The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art held Boulder, Colorado's first Pecha Kucha Night. Pecha Kucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
The presenters were Mimi Steiger, Barry Ollman, Ryan Batch, Michelle Ellsworth, Ali Gid far, Pattie Lee Becker, Molly Baker, Monika Wittig, Alicia Davis, Joel Haertling.
I presented some older artworks with their corresponding narrative:
In the Lands of the Extinct or The Redevelopment Project
Autumn Leaf Portal, 9" x 12", 2003
One day, in a moment of great disquiet, an urgent animal conference is organized to discuss the demise of their kingdom, forging a plan to hunt for an ancient portal, spoken only of in myth, in hopes that its discovery will offer passage to a new land. Over time, it is unearthed, and through this find, our animals leave us. Later, far into the future when our lands are not the only ones we know, when people are giants and lifeforms are scarce, this portal is rediscovered opening up possibilities to restore our world with species and kingdoms once thought gone forever. It is covered in leaves, with remnants of a unicorn, and twisting throughout, a heart of luminous and long ventricles.
The Diamond Thief, 14" x 17", 2007
This entryway leads the Travelers, a band of giants, a selected few chosen to roam from land to land in search of life forces, into worlds of great circumstance, hope, and peril. One struggles to recover a diamond-encased soul from the bank vaults of lions. Another is sent out to retrieve the diminishing element of song.
For the Troubadour, 14" x 17", 2007
She gathers a hawk from a lonesome tree and readies herself to transport it back to our planet through a ring of stones. Forms have personalities and new purposes. These are mystical days. These are telepathic times.
Flame Carrier, 14" x 17", 2007
The Travelers have warm clothes that serve multiple functions as tents, nests and packs. A diamond death blanket is worn to cover the dead in hopes to renew life. A flame carrier walks along a new land to bring light and warmth to where it is needed. A hat provides the carrying system and a pathway to transport his collections home.
The Offering, 14" x 17", 2007
In the light of day in the bright cold, a woman crouches by the fire and offers up a gift to the land in exchange for another diamond-soul. A bird companion, hers through shared stories, leads her from place to place in search of other's souls to collect and other creatures to encounter.
The Collector, 2005
The Collector (detail), 2005
And traipsing though the lands, The Collector, a mighty traveler of great skill and power, searches in the deepest and darkest of places. With his death blanket, bird, nourishment, and leaves; he discovers remnants of an animal civilization not previously known in their world.
ESP Preparation Chart, 11" x 14", 2008
All of the travelers must look upon the ESP preparation chart and renew their connection to one another through the form. Their lives depend upon this communication. It connects them with animal, vegetable, and mineral. It fuels their minds and spirits with community and shared space.
Blue Feather Arrow, 5" x 3.25", 2003
hey also share a common symbol, an object which they keep in their pockets, of a feather on a patterned field of blue crystal with an arrow shooting forth. This icon represents a nest which supports the life that will be protected and saved through consciousness and fight.
Electric Discovery, 2003
Through this strength, persistence, and belief in a positive future; The Travelers make discoveries that begin to transform their land: the collection of diamond-encased souls, song, redevelopment organisms, flora and fauna. Seen here, returned to their homeland and presented on platforms, Electric Discovery is a pile of unicorn intestines and a unicorn horn surrounded by mushrooms discovered in a different land.
Electric Discovery (detail), 2003
Later, we will discover that the combination proves fruitful in reintroducing the species. And will it have been a fortuitous find? And will the creature be true?
Rebirth to the Stars, 14" x 17", 2005
One Traveler discovers a spinning plant planet that captures its dying from the attack of others and transforms the dying into stars. Those already dead and gone are covered by The Traveler's death blanket in hopes to capture the souls so as to have material to build up their crumbling civilization.
Rebirth in the Nook, 22" x 34" x 18", 2006
This is the rebirth of a heart, a procedure that was carried out by one of the Travelers. The ceremony was performed in a cave where the damp nook breathed its air into the hands of the sky. Later it is realized that this object has both healing powers and evil destructive properties.
Campfire Evolution, 66" x 54" x 42", 2004
A Campfire Evolution is manifested by the work of more Travelers. A ghost pillow is set aflame in a campfire conjuring a true ghost to life. As he crawls out of his tent, his life is renewed and he becomes an assistant to the Travelers. The night will no longer be elusive and new adventures and opportunities are forged.
Campfire Evolution (detail), 66" x 54" x 42", 2004
The campfire is composed of feathers, minerals, mushrooms, zebra tails, and sticks. This combination releases history and with the intention of the Travelers, the ghost is freed and willing to assist them.
Hand Holding Furry Rocks, 6.5" x 9", 2003
The ghost leads them to a group of hand-holding furry rocks that together form a circle. They do not move nor make a sound, and the Travelers are perplexed by their purpose, until one ventures too close, and is sucked out of this world and into another. It is discovered that the rocks act as another portal.
Redevelopment Organism: Unicorn Hoof-making Machine, 48" x 96" x 32", 2002
The Collector, one of the most powerful Travelers, follows his fellow Traveler into the opening of a world he had hoped to find, a world so sad in its present state, but so teaming with life. This is the land the unicorns created long ago when their prescient minds came to understand their future demise.
Redevelopment Organism: Unicorn Hoof-making Machine (detail), 48" x 96" x 32", 2002
They built a portal and it took them into nothingness until their bodies shed themselves into soil and land was created. Later the other animals discovered the entrance and with their inclusion the land eroded and all the unicorn died. Ever since, the animals of this land have been conjoining their forms together in hopes to recreate the unicorns.
Unicorn Hoofs: Failed Attempts, 48" x 96" x 32", 2002
This is a Unicorn Hoof Redevelopment Organism that is comprised of marmots, polar bears, bacteria, and worms. It is failing in its function, but succeeding instead in creating snake components that are rejoining and coming into a new creature.
Mineral Shadow Forms, 2003
And why the death of the unicorns? A battle was waged based upon misunderstanding. When the first animal discovered the gateway, it was a porcupine, and it jolted through space right into the heart of a unicorn -- the first death to occur in the land. It began a wave of destruction. These are the mineral shadow forms that cover the inside structure of the memorial death chamber built by the Travelers as a reminder of Reaction and its potential.
She Arose From a Vast Volcano, 14" x 17", 2008
The very moment that the structure was completed, in another land not so far away, a woman burst out of a giant volcano.
