Bukowski at Hopkins

Bukowski paintings will be at the Hopkins Center for the Arts until February 21.

The space is pretty dramatic with the glass walls and plenty of natural light. If one just drives through the city of Hopkins, you can't help but to see the exhibition right from your car. The best part is to walk along the wall on the inside and see a large part of the Sibley Park series. One reward of doing a show like this, is to see random people walking along very slowly looking at every painting.

They are actually looking......

Hopkins Center Exhibition Opening

Garden Paintings by William Bukowski

Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, Minnesota.

Last night was the opening of this show in Hopkins. There were 3 other artists showing new work and a play going on in the theater, so there were a lot of interested viewers.

I called the show, "The Search for Paradise" because of the show in Waseca. The paradise metaphor works for these painting because it is a garden that is not easily identifiable with a specific place and there are no people in it to define fashion or time period. I like how the show is visible from the street and during the day has some beautiful natural light. If you are in the area, check it out. The show runs until February 21, 2010.

Show coming up at Hopkins Center for the Arts.

Hopkins Center for the Arts will be showing my garden paintings coming up next week in Hopkins, Minnesota. I am getting everything ready.

It is always interesting to see a the paintings together. I decided to call the show" the Search for Paradise". I think it gives it kind of a Romantic notion like the European desire to fine an earthly paradise. The Sibley series has evolved to more of a metaphor for the desire for heaven. Heaven probably isn't Sibley Park in Mankato for most people, but it is art after all, and an interpretation.

Small is still in....

William Bukowski

Petite Garden I

oil on linen

12" X 9"

I am finding that the small works continue to intrigue me. I am on my fourth small work in this series and the miniature quality of the brushstrokes and different kind of concentration appeals to me. The image is still Sibley Park in mid summer. I can work out some ideas of light and color that would take much longer in a large scale. That is not to say I wouldn't jump at the chance to do a large work, it is just that this is what is happening right now.

Monet on my mind.

A recent trip to New York always gives me pause to reflect. One of my favorite paintings on the trip was Monet's large water lily painting at the Museum of Modern Art. This is such an amazing painting because of the surface and giant brushstrokes. It is a simple idea but put together with a sense of scale that goes far beyond the easel. The fact that he was in his 80s when he did this painting is completely astounding. Imagine working away at 80 years old in your warehouse studio on such a series. It really alters the definition of the artist in old age.

Emy Frentz Gallery Poetry Collaboration

The RiverCrossings Art Fair that took place in October also had an exhibition at the Emy Frentz Gallery in Mankato. Artists were asked to submit a painting and then poets would write their reaction or interpretation next to the painting. I showed a Sibley park painting from a few years ago. The show went on into November and just recently came down.

The poetry read like this:

Second Nature

Late September. The garden

has its daggers out-

bristle-armored moon flower pods,

the yucca's razor-edged lances,

phlox heads frizzy and brown.

The blazing dahlias elbowed out their neighbors.

Now they stretch across the cobblestones.

I remember summer's perfection,

the swirls of pink and lavender,

the pale green of new leaves unfolding.

The rose hips darken. Soon, everything

will be crisp and brown, and dry stems

will chatter in an early October wind.

Jana Bouma

Sibley Park Paintings featured at the Waseca Art Center.

The Waseca Art Center is showing 15 recent paintings in the Sibley Park series. The show opened on October 13 and will be on display until November 20th. The Waseca Art Center has supported my work with workshops and exhibitions over the years. They have at least 2 paintings and an etching in their permanent collection.

There was a reception last night in Waseca with a gallery talk.

It is always interesting to see your own work up in a public space. It can almost look like someone else's work and can make you feel a little off balance.