atelier sisk

Concerning Spring

2012-02-17T10:13:00.000-04:00

I wonder if the sap is stirring yet, If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate, If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun And crocus fires are kindling one by one: Sing, robin, sing! I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring. ~ Christina Rossetti I will strip the muslin from the walls today and wash the room clean, preparing it for fresh paint and its future. Those who gave me

Love Returned

2012-02-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

For Today & Tomorrow because it is Today for some of you. You will find it in the impulsive embrace of a child and in the laughter that is with and not against you. It comes in the variety and amount that others can give rather than the type and quantity you may need or have been taught to expect; the only control you have is in how you return it, redoubled, to the world.

The Give & The Take

2012-02-07T12:54:00.000-04:00

Acrylic (3.25" x 5")

In the Beginning

2012-01-31T11:36:00.000-04:00

There it is: the first seedling, a solitary sign of life. Extraordinary. It's the two of us against February, and come what may, my garden goes with me. Do not forget that your plants are like people, and then you cannot fail them. They all have basic needs to be met in differing amounts. Give them the right companions. Bring them gradually in and out of the safety of their homes

A Square Deal & Art On Tap Exhibition

2012-01-30T22:07:00.002-04:00

A SQUARE DEAL & ART ON TAP are benefiting the Kevin P. Spiers Scholarship Fund with this one (Friday, March 2nd and Saturday, March 3rd from 6-9 PM at Maureen Bowie Studio). Presenting work by Maureen Bowie, Colleen Hammond & Beth Medoway & Square Deal artists from around the country. Over 300 Works of Art. All Genres. All Mediums. All Affordable.

Notes for an Unsung Lullaby

2012-01-26T00:20:00.000-04:00

Sister, Self

2012-01-16T10:41:00.000-04:00

Once a year, the opportunity to contemplate twinhood arrives. Today is that day, and I am using it to finish my better half's portrait. Severely out of practice and overwhelmed with other grave Matters, my fingers prove clumsy. I am nonetheless determined to treat this as if it were the last piece that I will ever make. Do not assume that sculpting your twin in her absence is as

The Work of SAG

2012-01-13T12:30:00.000-04:00

Mantis on Wild Blue Chicory by SAG My entire day often centers around the moment that I permit myself to check my mail, electronic and snail. The latter is not always easy: either the white box is camoflauged by snowdrifts, or the emptiness inside it after going through the cold to reach it is too disappointing for me. Occasionally there is a warm ray of light waiting in there,

Transfusion

2012-01-09T16:18:00.000-04:00

Graphite on vellum

Lifelines

2012-01-05T11:13:00.000-04:00

Walnut ink, casein, and red chalk

The Great Partridge Giveaway Winner

2011-12-25T22:44:00.000-04:00

Congrats to fellow artist & winner of The Great Partridge Giveaway...Anke! I am pleased, as always, to have my work winging its way to her.

The Elves Plant A Tree

2011-12-21T11:47:00.000-04:00

I have had some Weird Holidays, Solitary Holidays, and Horrific Holidays. Haven’t many of us? As of last night, however, this year goes into the lesser-known Happy Holidays category. When I returned to the house, I immediately noticed the light on outside. I was certain that I had not possessed the foresight to turn it on. “You’re ill,” I told myself. “Maybe you did turn it on.”

Four Dreams from the Playground of Good and Evil (Excerpt)

2011-12-19T14:07:00.000-04:00

For Anon, who made me promise never to stop making. III. Seesaw The only sound is a slow creaking: deserted playground swings drift listlessly in a slight breeze as if occupied by invisible, consumptive children. The stick in her hand has been replaced with what seems to be a filled stocking, and having believed herself alone, she is startled to turn and discover a man on the seesaw.

The Great Partridge Giveaway Update

2011-12-09T12:22:00.001-04:00

In regards to The Great Partridge Giveaway, please note that I cannot honor anonymous entries. Several people are already in the running, but not the anonymous ones; you have until midnight on December 24th to enter by sending an email with PARTRIDGE in the subject line to info@ateliersisk.com. Again, you must have a legitimate first and last name associated with your email address/message.

Tenacity

2011-12-09T10:24:00.000-04:00

The state of the lungs is such that I crawled to the windows to let in the light this morning and lay there by the glass for some time to look at the pure, untouched snow, of which there had been no hint late last night. Nature has provided my holiday cheer - the holly at the door and the colourful tenacity of these golden ornaments! The day of the tornado stripped the tree of its leaves,

Warmth

2011-12-06T09:54:00.000-04:00

The beautiful shawl created for me despite the maker's broken bones and impaired eyesight - a fact that I find inspirational - has been joined by a scarf from yesterday's post (one made with a möbius strip pattern, how fun!). The best part of this newest addition to the lovely things that you darlings make and do to keep me warm is that its scent is of a childhood home. I slept with my nose

Sea Thorns

2011-12-05T17:00:00.001-04:00

Oil on panel

Restoration

2011-12-03T19:53:00.001-04:00

Sculpting with needles and painting with cat whiskers will get you into the hot seat to save a dissertation when that operation requires revealing copper, tinning, and soldering wires in very specific places on a circuit board the size of a fingernail. S's father (left) is a kind engineer; we made a successful team despite my being too ill and ignorant to follow directions well. There are

Dēsertum

2011-12-01T13:36:00.001-04:00

This cannot be the way. She was taught to wait And eventually, to hate From the world was hid a right hand A distant cloud ignores parched land He knows she’s below She knows he’s above And there can be no clay. Mirage mirage mirage Our laughter's on the line She sees through brush named turpentine Who comes now, the shimmering groom? Gather your needles and hide your bloom The light is

Awaiting Word

2011-11-21T15:59:00.001-04:00

Exterior Interior

A Walk in the Woods

2011-11-18T17:31:00.001-04:00

Beautiful but deadly: nails were once made of these. The burnt, the broken, and the bare... I am a piece taken too soon from a whole. Unbelievably and undeniably homesick. It will pass. It is only a season.

New Work & Old Favorites Exhibition

2011-11-17T09:15:00.001-04:00

New Work & Old Favorites AN EXHIBITION OF SMALL ORIGINAL ART November 15 - January 2012 OPENING RECEPTION   November 22, 2011 5 - 7 P.M. Brandywine Prime Rtes 1 & 100 1617 Baltimore Pike Chadds Ford, PA 19317 If you are in the vicinity of Philly, this is just a heads-up that my work is being shown in A Square Deal's current exhibition (including Three Gorgons, an unfinished

The Great Partridge Give-away

2011-11-14T15:36:00.001-04:00

If you're not on the mailing list, you're missing out... To enter, the email address is: info@ateliersisk.com.

Breaking the Mold

2011-11-14T09:31:00.001-04:00

Natural plaster experiments: A) Turmeric, B) Chai, C) Cinnamon, D) Paprika, E) Hazelnut, F) Black Walnut I, G) Nettle, H) Beet, I) Black Walnut II, J) Chicory, K) Coffee Literally. I messed up, as I do every day. The mold must be recreated. In the meantime, the opportunity to experiment further presented itself. Crossbreeding the plaster samples above would be interesting at some

Relief Update

2011-11-10T19:36:00.000-04:00

The Partridge (original, pre-mold) As with most things that I make, I was left staring at this tiny relief in bemused bewilderment. How did it come to be? It is quite possibly one of the oddest things I've ever made...part-partridge, part-quail boasting a glaring ignorance of anatomy, and complete with an utterly bizarre treatment of the eye. IF (and this is capitalized because it is a

First Snow

2011-11-10T13:56:00.001-04:00

The early morning air promised snow, and voilà! Perhaps this is not a proper first, but it is delightful to be snug and (somewhat) warm while experimenting with finishes for partridge casts here in the studio.

The Dying Bee

2011-11-08T17:02:00.000-04:00

O little one of flight arrested Without flowers, your fellows And from sun's full glory, wrested! Quiet blacks and velvet yellows What remains is no longer tested.

Vestiges

2011-11-07T09:25:00.000-04:00

Oil on illustration board

Of Doors & Windows

2011-11-05T15:31:00.000-03:00

The Art of Self-Defense II

2011-11-03T16:09:00.000-03:00

One would think that the instruction in firearms would have occurred in Texas rather than in the Middle of Nowhere. It was raining too much to draw; my guests and I took our firing lesson (we ended with archery, which I delight in). If your options and requirements for the sustenance of a creative life are as singular as mine are, there are certain self-defense skills that you may wish to

A Crisis of Light

2011-10-31T11:14:00.000-03:00

Seven of us ventured into the woods and built a bonfire in which to burn things - love letters, artworks, and items that hurtful hands had touched. I did not contribute tinder of the past but contemplated Blake’s The Tyger. It is the Tyger, not the Lamb, that is associated with light. Light and dark were once simple to me. The light was love and the truth. The presence of the dark

A New Gratitude

2011-10-24T17:09:00.000-03:00

Before I sleep and upon waking, I often name to myself the things that I am grateful for. The list is generally brief but powerful. My twin and I call each other to find something of beauty when inundated with difficulties that obscure our vision. In driving solo across the country for the third time in a month, a shift occurred in how I approach a practice that Cicero named as the parent of

The Partridge

2011-10-22T22:58:00.000-03:00

(Printed with permission) For reasons known and unknown to you, dear readers, I am weary of the nuptial. This does not stop anyone from requesting what I will term nuptial sculpture (go figure...I would have thought I’d be making tombstones instead). Today it is a future best man helping his friend to propose, and the action will unfold over the Twelve Days of Christmas. A handmade gift will

All Shall Be Well

2011-10-20T21:09:00.000-03:00

It is as cold as my mental image of Siberia and an immediate, unrelenting case of the sniffles is born. No matter. The silence is broken only by the passionate zephyr and I delight in seeing it move through fields awaiting harvest. One can step outside to take breakfast from a tree. In theory, that is, as the pears are not quite ripe (or perhaps they froze); I place a wee figure in the bowl

Swallow

2011-10-10T11:17:00.000-03:00

Sister nightingale, silver-tongued and strong You know the name of a distant wrong Stitches in time will close the wound If you but sing me the plaster, perfectly tuned. Swallow, I cannot hear you ‘til tomorrow For great is the song of my own sorrow. A good man bade her look across the board To a better sovereign, the loving Lord But fragile trust forced an absolute pin The game’s a

Bittersweet

2011-10-07T16:21:00.000-03:00

You and I walk slowly along the river; we are nearly frozen inside and out. We pass two dead voles and pairs of black beetles mating in the cold grass. The metaphors are obvious and we add to them the breeze as God: unseen, touching all. High on a hill, a man waves to us from his garden. The distance colours the greeting, foretells a farewell. My gaze is captured by bittersweet at the

The Art of Self-Defense

2011-10-05T11:38:00.000-03:00

Rilievo con ninfa e satiro, da ErcolanoNapoli, Museo Archeologico Nazionale Do you hear this? The sound of the pencil sharpener echoes in a quiet room. You sneer at my choice. Ah, it is more acute than any knife that you could threaten me with, I have one for each hour that you stole, the tongue of Philomela, multiplied, the midwives of the work I set myself to now, the architects of my future

Repose

2011-09-30T14:18:00.000-03:00

XIII Be ahead of all parting, as if it had already happened, like winter, which even now is passing. For beneath the winter is a winter so endless that to survive it at all is a triumph of the heart. Be forever dead in Eurydice, and climb back singing. Climb praising as you return to connection. Here among the disappearing, in the realm of the transient, be a ringing glass that shatters as it

175 Years of Reflections

2011-09-03T20:30:00.000-03:00

Laurel Hill Cemetery’s lovely book has arrived in the post! One of my paintings appears in it. Copies are available for purchase here. “This book is a collection of 175 personal reflections, created by our visitors, patrons and those persons past and present whose commitment to Laurel Hill has been demonstrated by their labors of the mind, body and soul. It has been conceived, compiled,

Until Autumn

2011-08-12T23:29:00.000-03:00

The week was an arduous one. Just as exhaustion and disgust with my own ineptitude were about to succeed in breaking me, I stepped back from the work to glimpse this little guy...someone had made him out of a plastic glove to temporarily preserve a moist paint roller. Hah. Let's use him as a placeholder, shall we? I will be absent for the remainder of August but return next month with new

Morning of the Rat

2011-08-06T15:34:00.000-03:00

O, Rat! Come out, for I have built you a shining, golden bridge to freedom! NOW, if you please! This was my cry after I had spent nearly an hour trying to rescue a rodent from the pool this morning. Rats have an unfortunate reputation, but I think them terribly clever. They understand how things are put together. Perhaps not this one, I pondered ruefully, as s/he refused to investigate the

Teach Me A Thing I've Never Known

2011-07-06T17:42:00.000-03:00

Collage/found objects (2.5 x 2.5 x .5")

Imago Dei Completes Intricate Mosaic Mural

2011-06-29T20:35:00.000-03:00

. Some of you have asked to see the work I do at Imago Dei. I do not take ownership of the art/share information about projects; however, you can visit Imago Dei's website, blog, or Facebook page for the occasional glimpse. I briefly discuss a recent mural in this article.

The Education

2011-06-19T16:43:00.000-03:00

Oil on panel

Spider in the Sky

2011-06-13T00:17:00.000-03:00

When I returned from lunching with family, I found the slight figure of a boy standing before one of the front windows. The past several days have brought the neighborhood children to the yard, scurrying through the house, and asking to learn how to swim (my instruction in floating is overshadowed by a popular lesson on how to make monstrous waves in the pool; I’m not sure the babysitters and

Be Like The Fish

2011-06-08T22:21:00.000-03:00

My grandfather drew this for me some years ago. It has traveled with me ever since. A dear former student was in dire need of this reminder today, and I will share it with you, too. Be like The Fish. It often requires a brutal resolve to eliminate from your life all those people toxic to the pursuit of your art (you know the ones....they like to belittle your personal and professional

The Texas Year Concludes

2011-06-07T14:52:00.000-03:00

Investigating a cemetery in Galveston - seems last week, not last year! A few days have been taken to mark the conclusion of one year in the South, and in the same good company that saw me into it. There were moments of déjà vu and we reflected on how much - and yet how little - has changed in the course of twelve months. On Spider Peninsula (christened thus due to the webs we found between

Fugue

2011-06-01T18:21:00.000-03:00

Oil on panel

Quiescence

2011-05-28T09:22:00.000-03:00

At dawn I stopped at a gas station, a backwards Persephone who ate a single pomegranate seed for the month of May (it is fitting that some of you gave me these still beauties this week, as the long days and nights, loose ends of various projects, and recognition of cold, irrevocable truths will soon be at an end, and I will breathe new life into these gifts during the studio hours ahead). An

Study for Caesurae

2011-05-21T21:36:00.000-03:00

Charcoal

Completed Bas-relief

2011-04-10T15:53:00.000-03:00

Imago Dei

2011-03-09T21:39:00.000-04:00

I have the absolute honor to be doing some work with a wonderful team of creatives at Imago Dei! Sometimes life surprises you by bringing all your strengths and weaknesses and sufferings and triumphs to a point in a place you'd never think to call home. Check us out online and on Facebook!

Imago (In-Progress)

2011-01-23T14:16:00.000-04:00

Upcoming Lecture

2010-11-05T15:39:00.000-03:00

Please join us on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 in A126 (Teaching Theater) from 1 – 2 p.m. for a presentation in our continuing Art Lecture Series. This month’s guest artist will be noted sculptor Amanda Sisk. The following statement on artblog Dorset Sculpture describes her intrinsic understanding of the human condition. The line of the jaw, the fine line of nose and lips indicate

A Square Deal Exhibition

2010-11-01T22:49:00.000-03:00

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, November 4, 6-8 PM Brandywine Prime Rtes 1 & 100 1617 Baltimore Pike Chadds Ford, PA 19317 www.artsqs.com A portion of all art sales benefits Operation Warm.

Transplant

2010-09-27T22:36:00.000-03:00

Oil on panel

A Square Deal Exhibition

2010-09-08T23:57:00.000-03:00

Our Biggest Show Ever: Over 150 Works from Around the World August 30 - October 31, 2010 OPENING RECEPTION: Sunday, September 12, 2-4 PM Espressit Cafe 18 Haddon Avenue Westmont, NJ 08108 www.artsqs.com

Studio Companion

2010-09-06T17:53:00.000-03:00

Fired clay with iron oxide and casein Unfired clay I treated the piece as one would an etched and inked plate, selectively wiping away the iron oxide for highlights. The effect didn't hold during firing, and casein paint was put on as an experiment.

Livelihood

2010-08-28T13:14:00.000-03:00

Oil on panel

Etruria

2010-08-26T20:59:00.000-03:00

Hand-built, iron oxide glazes

Bozzetto

2010-08-07T17:47:00.000-03:00

Fired clay, iron oxide (detail)

Threnodial

2010-07-01T15:37:00.000-03:00

Oil on panel

Remnant

2010-06-11T12:03:00.000-03:00

Graphite

Portrait of M

2010-05-07T10:32:00.000-03:00

Exhibition at Philadelphia's Magic Gardens

2010-04-19T14:06:00.000-03:00

A long week spent indoors was enough to prod me along to the opening, where I found that the works and the venue had much in common: bright colours, bold shapes, and whimsical mark-making. L was adding finishing touches to the walls, and the three rooms or so of exquisite corpses were rapidly filling with visitors. I escaped into the Gardens with the wistful thought that a life-long game of

Hüzün

2010-04-12T14:48:00.000-03:00

Oil on panel Fairmount Park has yielded some botanical delights both transitory and destined for further study. There were the wineberries, harvested and rapidly consumed in a rainstorm alongside the Wissahickon. And then came the remnants from the Chinese cedrela sinensis. My gaze had been rather morosely fixed upon the cold ground when captivated by these little marvels quietly woven into

Three Gorgons

2010-04-07T17:34:00.000-03:00

Between the farewell-for-nows and under the day-to-day survival lies the real reason for the week's chaos: the daily practice denied for so many months. The pencils felt odd, the paper too flimsy, and the sun too bright, so late last night the razor blade and graphite dust were introduced to masonite, resulting in a happy sculpting-while-drawing moment. The mess will serve as a departure for a

Adieu to Laurel Hill

2010-03-31T21:11:00.000-03:00

The number of generous and sincere good wishes garnered as I depart Philadelphia has surprised me, and I will truly miss a few beautiful souls encountered at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Here is a thoughtful gift that makes me smile. She's so very Victorian and adopts the attitude I felt myself to be in throughout my tenure here: constantly sleep-deprived and world-weary, but somehow more at peace

Oasis Collaboration

2010-03-07T11:50:00.000-04:00

Ah, a quiet morning of sun-blessed studio time! Here is a detail of the treatment of Bruno's piece. Yes, life consists of many unfortunate comparisons and judgments, but no matter our forms or the composition of our chosen languages, most of us desire the same things. Perhaps our communications are best understood as growths towards that end. L has paired me with Bruno. Deaf and fairly

Ears, Eyes, Noses and Mouths: Sculpting the Features

2010-01-10T15:03:00.000-04:00

Crash Course Conclusion

2009-11-21T18:43:00.000-04:00

We encountered the absence of heat and water - plus dreadful lighting - at Greylock, and relocated for the duration of the course. My students were a delight to work with this autumn. All in all, they had mere hours to grasp and apply the profile technique, and they each struggled and progressed in the studies. In our last session, the portraits were cut apart, hollowed, and put back together

Autumn Madness

2009-09-25T22:26:00.000-03:00

Striving to create natural patinas on these Italian steel leaves in time for the Ball next week. This one is a mystery. The sheen is not due to moisture, trapped or otherwise: it is a fragile silver. What a tragic process the application of lacquer and/or paste wax is proving: said materials discolour and destroy the experiments. Rain water and salt yield an astonishing gold. Apple cider

Eros

2009-08-21T21:51:00.000-03:00

A Snail's Pace

2009-07-13T21:25:00.001-03:00

It appears that I'll be teaching a course on the portrait bust this October and November - and the venue may be in "a manor resembling a castle." It suits. I feel a special kinship with my wee straw-paper-snail. Slow-moving, fragile, and fashioned of but one strand of paper that no one saw much potential in, it is nonetheless imbued with special powers (if only those of perseverance).

June Exhibit in Philadelphia

2009-06-21T20:50:00.000-03:00

I've a piece on exhibit in the Saint March Collective's June show, The Golden Touch. While interested in the Midas slant, short notice dictated that old work make the appearance. This week I shall disappear on my "vacation" -- a full week in the studio.

Melancholy Find

2009-06-11T09:45:00.000-03:00

Details from the christening certificate found in my studio, dated 1836.

Your Private Tour Online (Part III)

2009-04-18T18:03:00.000-03:00

The Mullen Monument ("The Prisoner's Friend") Image courtesy of Laurel Hill Cemetery. Most of us would like to be remembered after death, but William James Mullen went to extremes to be so. In fact, it has been noted that even his obituary seems to mock his zeal for self-memorialization. Depicting a life-size portrait along with, among others, Jesus Christ, his marble monument was displayed in

Your Private Tour Online (Part II)

2009-04-09T21:14:00.000-03:00

The Lea Monument In addition to portraiture, the allegorical has been a popular memorial use of figurative sculpture. Here lies Henry Charles Lea, a respected historian - hence the figure of Clio, the muse of history. Plagued by periods of ill health, Lea's extreme sense of discipline enabled him to work despite pain, and so it is perhaps fitting that his monument exudes a flavour of austerity

Your Private Tour Online (Part I)

2009-04-07T20:20:00.000-03:00

A coloured engraving by William Croome, published in Godey's Lady's Book. Image courtesy of Laurel Hill Cemetery. For those of you unfamiliar with Laurel Hill Cemetery, it was founded in 1836 as the first garden cemetery in the United States and is one of only a few U.S. cemeteries to be designated a National Historic Landmark. Although surrounded by the urban landscape today, Laurel Hill was

2009-04-06T12:00:00.000-03:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETHE FRIENDS OF LAUREL HILL CEMETERY PRESENTSEPULCHRE SCULPTURE: LAUREL HILL'S OUTDOOR GALLERYLaurel Hill’s unique establishment as an outdoor sculpture gallery remains highlighted by the view that still greets visitors today, the sandstone sculptural group Old Mortality and His Pony. This work and other monuments were actually exhibited as

One April Fool

2009-04-01T20:20:00.000-03:00

One year ago today, I chose to return to this country - but the city remains foreign. I haven't any exciting news for you. My adventures in the funeral industry continue. Recently, a client from China requested an artist's rendering of her future burial site. Granted, my fingers were clumsy with yew and flowering shrub, and I struggled with the reflections in a black, polished granite that I