Captive Lions & Feral Cats opening

My art show opened last night. A nice turnout, great conversations and excellent food. My atrwork addresses contemporary situations of animals such as the captive wildlife crisis and the feral cat crisis.

A guest viewing "Barnum & Bailey"



A guest viewing "Kimba"



Guests enjoying hors d'ouevres with "Cat Entering the Universe" in the background



Guest viewing "Cavalini 8"




My professor and her adorable son by "Welcome to Paradise"



Herbal peach tea and organic wine from Thrive cafe in Savannah



Vegan spread including chocolate clarities, samosas, crostinis, organic fruits and veggies from Thrive cafe


Chocolate clarities with local organic blueberries and walnuts. These bonbons deserve their own photo!

savannah/denver blog

Kimba, the lion who inspired my recent art work. Check out his fantastic forever home at the Wild Animal Sanctuary.

denver/savannah blog

one day my blog will be denver ONLY! I am missing my fellow one stoners, my CATS (most of all), my house, and my life. I am having a (mostly) great time in the southeast, from hilton head to clearwater to tybee to savannah. I am living at tybee now and struggling with the feral cat colonies...i wish I could take them all home to live in luxury at my house. artimes & nicci would be super pissed at the addition of 12+ cats & kittens. all i can say is please be kind to our animal friends & SPAY & NEUTER your pets, your feral cats & dogs, & your community cats & dogs.

Captive Lions & Feral Cats
Timothea Biermann
MA Painting Candidate
MA Thesis Exhibition, Savannah College of Art & Design
Oglethorpe Gallery
406 East Oglethorpe Ave
Savannah, GA 31401
July 21-26
Opening reception Friday, July 22, 2011 6-9 pm
Gallery Hours
M-T-W-Th-F 11 am to 1 pm & 5 pm to 8 pm
Sat-Sun 11 am to 8 pm
All artwork sales and general donations will benefit

Something Borrowed

blue crowns in the shadows

up in the trees, blue is everywhere

Birch curls

neat and tidy

a collage



window and wood

in memory

I went away for a week and spent most of the time in the woods of western Massachusetts. I haven't been camping since I was a teenager. The new theme of blue has me thinking about memory and it seems like woods are full of memory. Especially woods like these and especially in the fall. Tombstones beneath the trees by the river. The wind in the trees. Houses left to fall apart in a meadow. Empty wasp nests. Owls hooting at night above our campsite. Stone lambs on the graves of children. The sound of geese flying south for the winter. Broken bottles we recover and try to suss out what went in them and who drank from them? Where are they now? A shaker community abandoned and resurrected. Crockery refilled and wooden floors swept with ancient brooms.

At our last meeting I was amazed at the number of us looking back for our inspiration for the Blue theme. Upon reading a description of blue in a book on color, this made sense. "Blue tends to recede in a picture relative to other colors. Blue tends to withdraw while other hues advance." I'm still trying to work out what form my piece will take. What is it about memory I am trying to capture? While we were in the area we went to Mass MoCA and I really fell in love with the photography of Disfarmer and how much his photographs evoke memory. It's been awhile since I worked with photography but I've been thinking about going back to it for this project and producing a series of portraits. At the very least tying photography in to a larger piece.

Blue

Although I sadly have no pictures to post, I do have many ideas swirling around about the new theme and my proposed project. With the recent move and the birth of the new babe, I have been thinking a lot about family and motherhood and again, the roles we all wear in the context of family. Specifically I have been thinking about gender roles. Jamaica is pretty traditional when it comes to gender. Women work but they are also fully responsible for child rearingl. The men are generally absent, even if the couple is married. He is immersed in his work and "goes about his business" while the woman takes care of the house and children plus any career she might have. Little boys must learn to find their way in life mostly without the influence of their fathers. Strong male role models are few and far between. It leads to excessive aggression, depression and a sense of abandonment. To raise a little boy to be a sensitive, thoughtful, articulate man is a challenge.

My piece is centered in this social dilemma of how to raise a little boy against the grain of the norm. Right now it is taking the form of an installation and be composed of these parts:

a hand woven rag rug---using my son's outgrown clothing, dying them in an indigo bath and weaving them into a circular rag rug. This will be the central element.

the clothesline---white toddler T-shirts with images of my son silkscreened on them and strung across the room, creating the background for the piece

"something" centered on the rug---still thinking about what can go on the rug...some symbol of who the little boy is to become?? it's still forming...

The differences between raising girls and boys here is profound since the birth of my daughter. I'm already noticing how differently people treat my children. I wonder if people's interactions with them would be similar if we were still in Brooklyn...

denver blog

channeling Yves Klein in the backyard:

a cool spectrum of recycling, art and garbage

don't worry there will be more to the paintings soon

even my bucket is blue!

meanwhile:
my 5th grade students made owl artwork these past 3 weeks. the art is uploaded to an online art exhibit/contest. you can rate my students and help them gain recognition, and possibly win!

http://aaronbrothers.com/contests/3/entries?page=15

give 5 stars to Slavens 5th grade students for creating fabulous, imaginative owl artworks!
it's easy to find the Slavens owls - currently they are on pages 15 through 21 and THEY ARE ALL LABELED "UNTITLED"