Mark Twain's Quarry Farm

"Ghosts of Quarry Farm" 8x12 oil painting by Bridget Bossart van Otterloo

     There is something magical about creating in a place with rich history. If you have a chance to visit Quarry Farm, you feel that history as soon as you step foot on the property. 

     This past July, I set up my French half-box folding easel on the green grass of Mark Twain's lawn. Plein air painting is not easy, there's the weather to deal with. On this day in July it was very hot, until a rain storm came through and I had to pick up my painting box and make a dash for the covered porch. 

     My plein air painting is titled "Ghosts of Quarry Farm". I imagined Mark Twain, and the ghosts of all the artists who have visited Quarry Farm, watching and smiling as we gathered to create on his beloved back porch and yard.

 

Plein air painting at Quarry Farm

 The Community Arts of Elmira presents Clemens and The Pen – Perspectives from The Porch at Quarry Farm

Exhibit Artists and Community Arts of Elmira Staff on the Quarry Farm Porch

• Saturday, December 14, 2019
• 6:00-8:00pm
• Free & Open to the Public
• Community Arts of Elmira – 413 Lake Street – Elmira, New York – 14901
• www.communityartsofelmira.com

Clemens and The Pen – Perspectives from The Porch at Quarry Farm is an exhibition of visual art, fashion and poetry created by artists who participated in the inaugural “Clemens and The Pen – Studio Session on The Porch at Quarry Farm” (June 29, 2019).
Regional artists, designers and poets include Satyavani Akula, Bridget Bossart van Otterloo, Joe Caparulo, Christopher Eldred, Matt Guagliardo, Lynne Rusinko, Laura Jaen Smith, Brent Stermer, Sam Somostrada, and Shannah Warwick.
Lynne Rusinko stated that “Community Arts of Elmira is most grateful to the participating artists who applied through application and the Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies.”

For more information on future artist opportunities for Clemens and The Pen, email info@communityartsofelmira.com.
marktwainstudies.com

   

"Suspend" oil and silver leaf, 10"x10" by Bridget Bossart van Otterloo, inspired by the poem below: 

Sic habebis glorium totius mundi*

by Rhonda Morton

Black widow rounds her legs above her head,

a halo circling delicate fangs.

She suspends judgment.

For now.

She is simply waiting

to spin me, you,

into a straight and knotted fate.

The great neuroscientist

Karl Friston is her friend.

He says

everything alive acts

to reduce the difference

between expectation and experience.

Karl and the widow agree:

we are here

to eliminate

surprise.

Fate is a blanket over our heads,

a suffocating repeating weave,

indecipherable dots and dashes

burned onto our souls.

How much glory can I stand?

How much grace?

What happens if I drop a stitch,

dive into the pitch,

collapse a different wave?

I could pledge the gumption

to become

a blue crescent moon spooling from the sun.

Ribs breathing golden arrows.

A pyramid whirling back to angel spit and dust.

I look at where the thread goes.

As above, so below.

I throw away the needle.

Choose to scatter thistle seed instead.

*You will understand the glory of the whole world

 This poem and painting are part of a "Year Long Celebration of Poetry" project organized by The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes, culminating in our current exhibit. Please join us for a closing Reception on Thursday, July 11, 2019.

 

 Game of Telephone

Conversations in Poetry and Art

On view through July 14, 2019

Reception: July 11, 2019

6-8pm

Carey's Brew House

The classic childhood "game of telephone" has been given an artful twist in the unique exhibit, Game of Telephone: Conversations in Poetry and Art.

To kick off National Poetry Month in April of 2018 The ARTS Council worked with poet, Michael Czarnecki, who wrote a poem to start a year-long Game of Telephone in the arts. Michael's poem was given to a visual artist who created a piece inspired by the poem and then the visual art was given to the next poet, who created a poem inspired by the artwork. This continued on for a year with the artists and poets seeing only the piece that came immediately before them.

The culmination of this project is on exhibit at Carey's Brew House in Corning with a reception on Thursday, July 11th from 6:00 - 8:00pm. Everyone is invited to this free event. All artworks will be available for purchase. Come see what one poem turned into over the course of a year!

Free and Open to the Public

Featured Poets Akua Lezli Hope Casey Winston Connie Sullivan-Blum Edward Dougherty Lafayette Wattles Michael Czarnecki Rhonda Morton Steve Coffman Featured Visual Artists Amelia Fais Harnas Bob Ievers Bridget Bossart van Otterloo Bronson Burdick Chris Walters Laura Charles Yolanda Daliz

Pink Cyclamen

This painting was created mostly with a palette knife, and a few brush strokes. I really love the thick texture of paint I can build up with a palette knife, plus it forces me to be looser in my painting.
The snow was swirling on a bitterly cold winter day while I painted this in my friend's studio. Grocery store plants help me get through our long winters.
"Pink Cyclamen" will be available at the Spring Fever Handmade Market this Saturday from 10am - 4pm in the large greenhouse at Chamberlain Acres, 824 Broadway Elmira, New York. 
Little paintings like this go fast at this market, so if you're interested message me and I will hold it for you.

"Pink Cyclamen" 7x5 oil on canvas by Bridget Bossart van Otterloo

Below is a list of spring events. I hope to see you at one or more of them!
-Bridget

Watercolor Workshops in my Home Studio
Join me in my light filled home studio for a relaxing afternoon of painting! All supplies are included in the cost of the class, and no experience is necessary.

Sunday March 10, 1-5pm
Sunday April 7, 1-5pm
Sunday May 19, 1-5pm

More info on my website: www.bridgetbossartvanotterloo.com/workshops Follow this link to register: Register for Workshop

             
Spring Fever Handmade Market
Saturday March 2, 10 am – 4 pm
A unique shopping experience in the greenhouse
Chamberlian Acres
824 Broadway Elmira, New York 14904
chamberlainacres.com
Join the event: ElmiraHandmadeMarket

New Paintings in the Gallery Store
Memorial Art Gallery
500 University Ave., Rochester NY 14607
mag.rochester.edu

Made in NY 2019
Schweinfurth Art Center
March 22 - May 12, 2019
Reception Friday March 22, 5:00 - 8:00 pm
205 Genesee Street, Auburn, NY 13021
www.schweinfurthartcenter.org

Arts in Bloom
Steuben County Arts Trail
This will be our 7th year celebrating Artists in Steuben County!
My studio will be open to the public
Saturday April 27, 10am – 7pm
Sunday April 28, Noon – 5pm
artsinbloom.net/painters
Join the event: www.facebook.com/events


Metamorphosis
May 5 - June 16, 2019
Reception Saturday May 19, 5:30 - 8:00 pm
Oxford Gallery
267 Oxford Street, Rochester NY
www.oxfordgallery.com