In January 2014, I got a cell phone with a standard cell phone camera capable of taking HDR photos. I took more photos in 2014 than in many years with my digital camera.  Driving across the country and living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana inspired me to rely on my phone to document a wide range of visual inspirations.  My motto is "Stop a moment to take a photo.".  My trip to the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico in September was hugely inspiring.  Even the daily routine of walking with my dog in Los Angeles, has given me reason to pause and compose a shot.  Here is a random sample of photos from the past year, one from each month.   I am looking forward to refining several photographic series and continuing to flow with the inspiration.  Happy New Year 2015!  

Companion piece to "Baby Superman", "Baby Zod" is showing in the 16th Recycle Santa Fe Juried Art Exhibit, December 5-7, 2014.  

Step one: concept and inspiration.  "Baby Superman" was inspired by the idea of recreating the pod that Superman travels to Earth in as a baby fleeing his home planet.  "Baby Zod" ponders a similar journey for General Zod, with varying influences.  The companion pieces create a Light vs Dark scenario.  Part of the challenge was utilizing found and recycled materials. 

Step Two: Design layout

Step Three: Collage

Step Four: Finish work. Create the illusion of technology with bit and pieces of found and recycled material.

Details of completed work "Baby Zod": 14" x 11", Mixed media collage 

Materials: Basic structure, Masonite box - abandoned project of artist I share studio with (aka husband)

Found, recycled, gifted and yard sale Materials:

See's Candy wrapping
Various Christmas wrapping paper and gift bags 
Image - clothing store bag
Tie Rack packaging: celebrating 500 years of Paisley 
Baby Jesus - sidewalk sale at sewing factory downtown Los Angeles
Chess pieces - pawns - gifted to me for my frames
Keyboard keys - old keyboard
black and gold glitter - gifted
smile - dentist's post card
words on cubes, game pieces gifted to me
Dejour magazine collage pieces, magazine is free to Academy members
Envelope from AMPAS, annual dues letter, tiny Oscar design
Black Easter basket grass - gifted
faux gems, framing supplies collected over 3 decades
small nuts and bolts
nurnies and sprues, parts from model building kits
buttons
jack 
metal objects found on walks
sequins
computer parts found on walks
toy parts
Black plastic "crystals" -found chandelier
safety pins - yard sale box of 10 gross Prym Dritz - making safety pins since 1559

Non recycled materials:

Gesso
Acrylic paint
Mod Podge
Liquitex Gloss Medium
Elmer's Wood Glue Max
Quick Dry Tacky Glue
Nova Color Texture Paste
Hanging hardware

"Baby Superman" was inspired by the idea of recreating the pod that Superman travels to Earth in as a baby fleeing his home planet.  "Baby Zod", companion piece, ponders a similar journey for General Zod, with varying influences.  These two pieces create a Light vs Dark scenario.  Part of the challenge was utilizing found and recycled materials.

"Baby Superman", alt title "Super Baby Man", companion piece to "Baby Zod"
Dimensions: 14" x 11" x 3" Mixed Media

Materials
Basic structure Masonite box - abandoned project of artist I share studio with (aka husband)


Found, recycled, gifted and yard sale Materials:
Foil: recycled from foil leggings I wore to keep my cat, Peanut Butter, from biting my ankles
Padding in corners, under foil, paper towels from painting project
Used Holographic wrapping paper saved for appropriate project
Baby Jesus - sidewalk sale at sewing factory, downtown Los Angeles
Crystals - from chandeliers salvaged from Santa Monica Pussycat Theater when it sold
Bow - from Christmas
Bicycle reflector - not sure
Stars, faux gems, sequins from my framing supplies
Exterior of box - keys and hardware saved over the years

Non recycled materials:
Gesso
Acrylic paint
Mod Podge
Liquitex Gloss Medium
Elmer's Wood Glue Max
Quick Dry Tacky Glue
Nova Color Texture Paste
Hanging hardware

I am excited and honored to be included in ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool, at The Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico.   Celebrating and exploring different aspects of the Lowbrow/Post Pop genre that grew out of West Coast surfer, car and street culture ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool  is the uniting theme for four exhibitions. 

Lowbrow Insurgence: The Rise of Post-Pop Art  includes internationally recognized artists
such as Robert Williams, Mark Ryden, Ron English, H.R. Giger, R. Crumb, Marion Peck, Stanley Mouse, Mark Bryan, Dennis Larkins, Winston Smith, Niagara, Anthony Ausgang, Esteban Bojorquez, Camille Rose Garcia, Von Dutch, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and more!

Nuevo Lowbrow:Pop Culture in the West will feature over 100 celebrated artists of the Post-Pop Generation including Bob Dob, Joel Nakamura, Gary Baseman, Douglas Johnson, Laurie Lipton, Ryan Singer, KRK Ryden, Tim Prythero, Joe Coleman, Max Lehman, Isabel Samaras, Conrad Cooper, Carrie Ann Baade, Toby Morfin, Rik Allen, Brandon Maldonado, Tim Biskip, El Moises, Ana Bagayan, Greg Moon and many more!  A selection of original art by pioneers of Rock and Underground Comix including R. Crumb, Rick Griffin, Gilbert Shelton, Wes Wilson, Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse will be exhibited in New Mexico for the first time.

Pinstripe Madera: Pinstriping as Minimalism  and El Tatuaje: The Tattoo in Underground Culture will run concurrently with Lowbrow Insurgence and Nuevo Lowbrow. 

Jina Brenneman, Curator of Exhibitions at the Harwood Museum of Art, states “Not surprisingly, the outlaw, seemingly expatriate state of New Mexico is a breeding ground for the ‘outsider’, the ‘unruly citizen’, the ‘underground artist’.  The descriptions for these archetypes relate very directly to Post-Pop influences and Lowbrow subject matter. Cars, pin-ups, punk, rock and roll, comics, tattoo, prison art, graffiti, pulp, surfer, airbrushed – anything from the streets and of the people, art that embodies technical craftsmanship blended with fantastical imagery and visually dynamic narratives.”

Brenneman continues, “When we trace the lineage of these new expressions, we have seen cultural influences as widespread as Kustom Kar Kulture, Surfing and Street Art, Underground Comix and Rock Art to Tattoo and Saturday Morning Cartoons! Add to these populist forms the powerful influence of Pop Art and Surrealism, a renewed interest in narrative content (story telling) and a new aesthetic begins to emerge. Possibly the most compelling aspect of all of this has been how seemingly disparate parallel paths, bending to the subtle arc of history, have coalesced in this time and place where past, present and future converge! Kings and Queens of Cool!

Brenneman teamed up with artist Dennis Larkins and co-curators Esteban Bojorquez, Greg Moon, Toby Morfin and El Moises to create ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool. The exhibition will be accompanied by a 100-page full-color catalog, designed by Esteban and Karen Bojorquez, documenting the artists in the exhibition.

For more information and previews of the art!
http://harwoodmuseum.org/exhibitions/upcoming

Exhibition Opening Events

Director’s Circles & VIP Preview Reception
Thursday, September 18, 5-7 pm

Alliance Members’ Opening Reception
Friday, September 19, 5-7 pm

Free Museum Admission
Saturday, September 20, 10 a.m-5 p.m.

Drive In Night/Street Party 
Harwood Museum of Art and Ledoux Street Businesses
Saturday, September 20, 4 p.m.-8 p.m.
Car show, Live music, artist talk

Edited from June 6, 2014 Harwood Museum of Art press release.
The exhibit runs from September 20, 2014 through January 25, 2015.  

The Mechanisms of Beauty, Brain Trust Nature Love
by Snow Mack & Kevin Mack 5/27/2014

The simple chirps of birds
Are the embodiment of complex wave forms
That carry the message we so long to hear

Clouds lurking in the dusk
Surface to gain trust
Making symbols out of water
Their play is our laughter

Crystals
Molecules accumulate according to simple rules
Generating geometric primitives
Along irregular surfaces, perfectly juxtaposing order with chaos

Crepe myrtle majesty
Rolling into infancy
Decorates the moment
Descending infinitely into pink petals of memory

Spiral Blue
by Snow Mack & Kevin Mack  6/14/2014

Capricorn Apricot ornamental transcendental
Cyber frozen field yielding to solar lust
Diffuse action, reflective interaction
Charmed atoms brace against decay
Glowing starlings bring awareness of light
These clouds are not clouds
Opinions all meaningless
Meaning attained through dissolution of meaning
Hush for silence is gold, golden more important than aware
Swaying gently breezy so easy, let's be love and understanding
At the end of time everything is fine.

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For my next series, I am pulling together ideas and themes I have been working with for years.  For "The Seasons of Influence", I am exploring my progress as an artist.  My concept for these paintings is to create a visual diary of my inner life.  Who am I?  Where do I come from?  Why do I see things the way I do?   These paintings will offer clues to my guiding influences and frame a dialog for continuing series.  

I have created four designs; working titles are "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn" and "Winter".  Elements include my collection of toys and other artifacts, a Goddess Cheesehead for each season, Artists, Musicians, animals and my own hands.  I am "standing behind" all these elements revealing my hands as part of the composition.  I am utilizing the calming motif of the mandala design to contain the imagery.  The resulting ordered chaos will be rendered in oils on canvases, each 20" x 20".  To be continued...

Below is a selection of my past works exploring a spiritual theme.

Sketchbook Drawings 2011

1:00pm March 10, 2014, car loaded, gas tank full, tires checked, ready to roll!  Cheesehead Road Trip! 10 fwy East from Los Angeles, California to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The Assignment
Curator Phillip Graffham invited me to create a piece for "Moosylvania: A Group Show Tribute To Jay Ward".
The exhibit opened March 1, 2014 at Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks CA, closed on March 15.

Research and Inspiration
Jay Ward was one of the creators of Rocky and Bullwinkle and other memorable characters.  I had not seen a "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoon in decades so researching this project was very nostalgic. The dialog was oft times far from childish babble, it was sprinkled with subtle wit and wry observations of the times.  I found lots of inspiration, here are some of the highlights:

Rocky and Bullwinkle Opening Theme

Hokey Smoke! Rocky and Bullwinkle

Mr. Know it All - How to Be A Beatnik

Intermezzo #1 Pushing Up Daisies

The Ah Ha Moment!
I have never been able to force an idea; the more intense the search for ideas, the more fleeting they become. The idea for "Rama Rocky & Brahma Bullwinkle"  flowed into my reality as I woke from a dream.  I woke up chanting Brahma Bull...Brahma Bull...Brahma Bullwinkle!  Ah Ha!  The concept took off from there. The characters became divine reincarnations of themselves, doing yoga, practicing mudras, meditating and chanting for world peace. 

My New Year's Resolution for 2013 was to try new things with my art.  I created many works and exhibited in nine events.  The goal was to explore the creative process and see where it would lead me.  I made tightly rendered portraits in pencil for the Mirror/Mirror project, created a sculpture out of recyclables for the Santa Fe Recycle Art Festival, created digital graphics to promote World Peace for "Paper Trail" at Monkeyhouse Toys.  From a triptych of skateboards for "Tunnel Rats" to an Impressionist unicorn painting for "Chroma Go Go, A Lisa Frank Tribute Show", every exhibit inspired me to push my skill set and expand my tool box. 
The year of experiments was fun and informative, concluding with three digital drawings, hand embellished with food coloring for "Appetite:Tasting Hunger And Desire". 
Selection of 2013 works: