Katya Reimann, Writer & Artist
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Katya Reimann : 2020

Katya has been telling stories, building worlds, and creating the art to go with them for most of her life.  

The content of these pages reflect her diverse interests over time.

Sargent & Tonks: A Favorite Artist, & a Long Friendship

2/26/2020

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One of my favorite artists is John Singer Sargent, who is best known, perhaps, for his society paintings. "Portrait of Madame X," etectera.

Like most artists revered for their portrait work, Sargent... got tired of doing it by the time he was forty. And, lucky for him, by that time he had enough money to travel and indulge himself in making some very beautiful watercolors--many of which are my personal favorites of his work.
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John Singer Sargent's watercolor "Brook among Rocks," circa 1900 to 1920. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
"Reverence," "Indulgence," "Sumptuous," "Entitlement"--this is the vocabulary that comes to mind when I think "John Singer Sargent."  But then there is Sargent's friend, Henry Tonks. With whom none of these words can be associated.

Tonks was not an easy man to know. A physician before he became a painter--and during World War I, he became, for a time, physician again. Appointed an official war artist in 1918, he painted a series of uncompromising portraits of wounded soldiers which I do not recommend looking up on the internet unless you want to be upset. One of Tonks's early students, from the time Tonks was teaching in London, wrote:
"Tonks cared nothing for other authorities and he disliked self-satisfied young men….His surgical eye raked my immature designs. With hooded stare and sardonic mouth, he hung in the air above me, like a tall question mark, moreover… of a derisive, rather than an inquisitive order. In cold discouraging tones he welcomed me to the Slade. It was evident he considered that neither the Slade, nor I, was likely to derive much benefit.
I find myself according Sargent deeper respect, for maintaining a friendship with this man... past the superficials of disdain for "making nice."

And, even better, some great satirical images remain for us, out of that decades-long friendship.  They were "official painters" of the war together (~1918), but also traveled and enjoyed each other's company both before and after that. The details of these images are particularly fine.  Note that Sargent, in the third picture, is being "belayed" on his mountain perch by two rope-wielding assistants, and he has set up his easel on the top of a mountain route--as evidenced by the heavily packpacked climber, trying to crawl up into the picture...!

The images are all linked through to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts--click through, if you like, for more details.
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"John Singer Sargent Painting," Watercolor & graphite pencil on paper, 35.6 x 33.7 cm. Henry Tonks, 1918 (Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
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"Sargent Sketching in the Alps," Watercolor on paper, 17.8 x 22.9 cm. Henry Tonks, ~1907 (Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
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"Sargent Sketching in the Alps," Watercolor on paper, 25.4 x 37.5 cm. Henry Tonks, ~1907 (Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
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"Caricature of Velázquez's "Las Meninas," with Sargent as the Painter," Watercolor on paper, 26.7 x 24.1 cm. Henry Tonks, ~1920-24 (Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
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Helen Sadowy Reimann, Portrait of the Artist's Daughter, ≈1972

1/30/2020

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When I was young, my mother did a number of bad portraits of me. Or so I thought, at the time she was doing them.

My feral child self thought this one in particular was hideous, and especially was furious that she gave me yellow eyes.

Now that I am not young ... I better appreciate that my Mother was a patient painter.

​I was not a patient model.

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William Merritt Chase

11/15/2019

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 My mother took this photograph of me and my Dad in 2016. We were visiting the William Merritt Chase exhibition at the Boston MFA.

We got a wheelchair for my mom, so she wouldn't have to walk. She was extremely nervous about the outing. In her last years (my mother passed in 2018), she had diminished lung capacity owing to a severely dysfunctional diaphragm. We had a big argument in the car before we got to the museum.

*At* the museum, we had a wonderful, wonderful time. WMC may not have been the most original painter of the 19th century, but he is a painter's painter, with luscious brushstrokes and a sensualist's love of color. And he's one of those 19th century artists who got to spend a lot of time on beautiful beaches, and in lovely country homes, shaded by old trees. I'm glad I have this picture, to remember.

William Merritt Chase could have been another John Singer Sargent, but--he isn't. Sargent. Had something bigger or more complex going on. This said--I'd be happy to have a good WMC at home on one of my walls!
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Baroque Pearls

11/4/2019

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I find these forms irresistible. This one =>
is in the Wallace Collection in London, England.

I'll be visiting London in January, 2020 (if all goes as planned). It is a very, very long time since I've traveled for myself. I am... having some ambivalent feelings, trying to understand what this trip is for. To see beloved friends? Certainly. But... why else?

Among other ventures, I'm hoping to see the William Blake Exhibit at the Tate Gallery.  That-that will certainly be a privilege for me. But one gallery visit (or two, if I visit twice) won't take a full two weeks, which is what I'm booked for.

I'm pretty familiar with Renaissance ornaments like the Canning Jewel (actually a 19th century resurgence of the form). Originally these jewels would have been worn on the big, puffy brocade sleeves worn by wealthy cavaliers of the 15th, 16th, 17th centuries.  But this hare, which I came across just today, was a new one for me. 
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Who knows why anything catches one's imagination? But this one did (I also like the second one I found <= once I started searching--this one on the market by auction--not that I'll be putting a bid in, but I love it!)

Will I visit the Wallace, and try to see this funny, lovely thing? Maybe.

Mostly, though, I love the idea of holding these things in my hands, and examining the cleverness with which the artisan made them.
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Nancy Carlson's Daily Doodles

11/24/2018

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“You were wild once don’t let them tame you.” Isadora Duncan © 2018 Nancy Carlson
Carlson's books were not household favorites when my kids were young, but what she's going through right now--I have empathy for it. A beloved family member's illness torpedoed her life on every level. Through it, she produced--and uploaded a "Doodle a Day," to keep herself going.

Nancy Carlson's Doodling Process

​The first article I read about her doodling was not very interesting--but then I looked at the images. She is going through a fascinating evolution, day-by-doodled day.
In the bedroom-turned-studio of her apartment in Bloomington, her drawing table sits next to a window that overlooks a parking lot.
“Barry would have caught that,” she said. “He was the detail guy. Before we would have rented this place, he would have walked around the building and said, ‘No, let’s find a unit with a better view for you.’ ”
I wish Carlson all the best as she works her way through this painful episode. Hope she makes it to the other side & back to joy.
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Nikolai Mikhailovich Kochergin (1897-1974)

11/24/2018

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All I know about Kochergin: something in his fairytale illustrations appeals to me. I came across this illustration yesterday.  It is a cropped image from a postcard that someone sold awhile back on Etsy.

I find this illustration humorous. Yes, that fox looks like he's in trouble (yes, I'm quite certain that foolish fox is a he), equally, I'm quite sure that he's going to come out of the situation scathed, but perhaps wiser.

I can't find out anything else online about the Fairy Tale (or, the thing I'd really like to see, an uncropped verstion of this illustration).
Russian Folk Tale
Russian Folk Tale "The Fox and The Eagle" - N. Kochergin, 1963
I got intrigued. The limits of the internet fascinate me.  And the more I looked for Kochergin images, the more I realized how familiar I was with his imagery.  To some extent, he has the corner on classic Russian fairytale imagery.  He owes a debt to Ivan Bilibin (1876-1942)--one of those innocent, tremendous "Golden Age of Illustration" artists who got caught up in weird Central European Nationalism (much to the detriment of their illustrations, I'd put Alphonse Mucha in this category also). But from what I can tell, Kochergin is a creature of a different generation.

I say "from what I can tell," because the internet isn't telling me anything about these next pieces, except that they are all images created by artists named, variously, "N. Kochergin," "Nikolai Kochergin," and "Nikolai Mikhailovich Kochergin," all of whom appear to have lived 1897-1974. I am pretty sure that these are all the same person. But--this is just from the internet, so maybe not.  In any case, Kochergin's images:

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A 1920 ANTI CAPITALIST PROPAGANDA POSTER BY NIKOLAI KOCHERGIN (RUSSIAN 1897-1974)
EGE KAPITALISTU GORE, ZAGONIM EVO V CHERNOE MORE [Aha Sorrow to the Capitalist, We Will Drive Him Into the Black Sea], color lithograph, 1920, initialed in plate, 70 x 105.5 cm (27 1/2 x 41 1/2 in.)
SOVIET WWII PROPAGANDA POSTCARD, PUBLISHED IN LENINGRAD DURING THE BLOCKADE. ARTIST N. KOCHERGIN
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And then come these (POSTCARDS: 1960s. N. KOCHERGIN). Okay, I can see the Social Realism influence here, but there's a step (in history) that I'm feeling gets glossed over:
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What was the progression from the young man who created the top image to the old(er) man who created these last images? I don't know if it would make a book. But it's something I'd like to know something more about.
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Snihurónka

10/19/2018

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Snihurónka is the Ukrainian Snow Maiden, companion to Did Moróz, Grandfather Frost.

Moróz has been identified with
Morozko, the pre-Christian pan-Slavic personification of the snow (an animistic spirit, god, or demon, depending on your perspective), but it is widely accepted that his companion, Snihurónka, dates back only to the 19th century, and Alexander Afanasyev's 1869 ""The Poetic Outlook of Slavs about Nature."

I have yet to resolve to my own satisfaction why this should be. Afanasyev is, effectively, the Russian equivalent of the Grimm brothers, and his folktale collection techniques, where "he never tried to give any definitive version of a folktale: so, if he gathered 7 versions of one folk type, he edited them all,"* is considered to have been intellectually sophisticated and ahead of its time. Why Snihurónka should be relegated as Afanasyev's personal invention, rather than one among many folk figures that he collected--I have not seen the scholarship that tells me this is anything other than bias against the story--the Moróz figure, in other cultures, does not have a female companion.

Very little is known definitively about Slavic mythology, but one thing that is known is that the Slavic pantheon was full of unusual gender assignments, gods who are variously represented as female or male in different times and locations, and god-pairs with male and female partners. So--why not Did Moróz and Snihurónka?

The archetypal nature of the icy grandfather, ceding way to his more delicate grand-daughter--who melts away in spring, cycling back to repeat out of the depths of each winter... it feels to me that something deeper (and older) is at work here than a late Imperial Russian fantasy.
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Terri Windling's "Perfectionism" post

8/31/2015

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Now, there are several artists I know whose life and work gives a viewer or reader moments of pause, in which it seems one is viewing/reading/experiencing something close to "perfectionism" snared. 

Terri Windling, who has maintained studios in Arizona, US, and Devon, UK, is one of those individuals.

Seriously--could there be anything more perfect than these images of her working space?  The books?  The drawings?  The tapestry?

(photos from Terri's blog entry, click the link below for the original page and context)

This said--the subject of Terri's post, and the wisdom with which she observes the topic...

"The ability to view one's own work critically is, of course, a necessary skill; but when healthy discernment turns into destructive self-judgment, there is usually a persistent "perfectionism" in the mix....and although some folks boast of this, believe me, perfectionism is Not Your Friend...."

Go and have a read.  She's collected a number of people's thoughts on the topic, and a lot of them are good ones--great ones--& inspiring.

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When Every Day is Judgment Day, Terri Windling's 'Myth & Moor' blog post, January 7, 2015
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Tape Day at the Science Museum of Minnesota II

5/4/2015

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On Saturday, May 2, from 12:00 - 4:00, I demonstrated tape sculpture techniques, and showed some of my tape sculptures.  My focus was on teaching museum visitors to build tape sculptures using:

Armatures

 (a structural framework over which other materials can be mounted.  It remains embedded within the sculpture when the sculpture is complete)
and

Forms

(a stabilizing structure over which a sculpture can be built. When the sculpture is complete, it is removed from the form)
The staff at the Science Museum of Minnesota was incredibly helpful and did everything they could to make my time enjoyable.  The visitors were a terrific group, and very adventurous.  Some beautiful bowls were created (form sculpures), and a variety of creative masks, animals, spaceships, and flowers.

Thanks are due to all who participated and made it such a great experience.
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Sheer Genius

6/7/2014

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Okay. This is for anyone who love comics.

First:
read the week's worth of cartoon strips that starts here:
http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/06/02

Second:
take a look at Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis's Facebook post of June 6, 2014--and follow the link through to read to his blog post about the same topic.
https://www.facebook.com/PearlsComic
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    Sites I recommend

    These ones are maintained by long-time personal friends.

    William Reimann
    is a consummate artist.  There are so many images to enjoy on this site.  His carved wooden long-leaf red pine Rhinoceros (which he made for me when I was ~11 years old)  is a personal favorite.

    Starless River
    Is the U.K. based caving gear store run by serious hard-ass Tony Seddon. This link goes to the 'caves' section of the store's site--complete with alarming portrait photo of Tony ("After 7 days underground and 700m prussiking").

    The Oxford University 
    Cave Club
    Maintained by Steve Roberts, a guy who is extraordinary in so many ways, I'll just limit myself here to saying "Steve is a man who knows about motors."

    Bensozia
    John Bedell is an archaeologist, historian, and father of five living in Maryland. His blog is a fascinating grab-bag of historical, artistic, and political materials.  This entry about work and leisure gives a good example of his voice.

    Earthsign Studios
    This is Liz Manicatide (now Liz LaManche), principal at Emphasis Creative's personal art & graphics site.  I love Liz's work, panache, and aerial artistry, which leads me to-

    Flying Squirrel Consortium
    Phil Servita's site, and the place to go for custom fabricated circus equipment (either freestanding or fixed point), and aerial classes, if you happen to live in the area.

    Paul Nordberg
    Paul's site is... unique, authentic, & expressive, and pretty much exactly what I think of when I think of a website as an artform.

    Metro Bikes Trails Guide
    (St. Paul, MN)
    "Reviews and Reports on over 70 bicycle paths in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area!"
    Maintained by the tireless Seamus Flynn, and a great little site for those local to the Twin Cities area.

    Green Ivy
    I enjoy the Ukrainian/Russian artisanship on this website.

    Sites I enjoy

    I don't know these people, but I appreciate their work.

    What's That Bug?
    The title says it all.  A useful site for both the non-bug-phobic & the consummate bug-phobe.

    Margaret & Helen
    Best Friends for Sixty Years and Counting…

    Raging Grannies
    I'm not a grandmother (or raging!), but I appreciate this site.  Especially the fact-checking part.
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