GIVE LOVE: AUTOPOIESES RECEPTION AND BENIFIT FOR CASA LIBRE $5 VIRTUAL OR IN PERSON WINNERS’ CHOICE RAFFLE TICKETS

Please join me SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21 at 8pm for a RECEPTION and WINNERS’ CHOICE RAFFLE At CHE’S LOUNGE
350 N 4th Ave, Tucson, Arizona 85705. 100% of the proceeds go to benefit CASA LIBRE; raffle tickets are $5 AND ARE AVAILABLE IN PERSON AND AT CASA EVENTS IN FEBRUARY OR ON LINE AT casalibre.org. Winners need not be present or may choose a work on display to take home that night. There will be no charge to mail prizes to locations outside of Tucson.

The mission of Casa Libre en la Solana is to cultivate and enrich a vibrant community of writers and artists through the invention, presentation, and appreciation of creative work.
Casa Libre provides- a venue for classes, residencies, readings and workshops, opportunities to artists by offering the resources and support they need to make their artistic dreams a reality and offers space for other community events related to arts and letters.

Casa Libre has these previous works in my Autopoiesis series on display.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A generous portion of the sale of any of these works will be donated to Casa as well.

Raffle Prizes
One intaglio print
One 3″x3″ acrylic or mixed media on canvas
One 3″x3″ or 6″x6″ acrylic or mixed media on canvas or pine
One encaustic or acrylic or mixed medium of any size

Please see the slideshow below or visit valyntinagrenier.com to view potential prizes.

Work will be on display through February
Cafe Passe is at 415 N. Fourth Ave. Tucson, AZ 85705
Su-W 8 am – 8 pm
Th-Sa 8 am – 10 pm

Casa Libre is at 228 N. 4th Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85705

Advertisement

AUTOPOIESES at Cafe Passe January|February 2015

Please join me SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21 at 8pm for a RECEPTION and WINNERS’ CHOICE RAFFLE. 100% of the proceeds go to benefit CASA LIBRE; raffle tickets are $5. Winners need not be present or may choose a work on display to take home that night.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Interview by Jane Miller

JM: What is autopoiesis?

VG: Autopoiesis is a scientific term that describes the paradox that, in order for beings to be autonomous, they need to obtain resources from their environment. It plays out in these works metaphorically in the relationship of the pieces to each other, and in the way the viewer interacts with the pieces.

JM: What are the advantages to working in a small format?

VG: I can produce a lot of pieces that I can sell affordably.

The size gives me an opportunity to move back and forth, which inspires new combinations of forms and methods. In this case, I worked with oil paint in the encaustics, and I painted with acrylic, water, polyurethane, and some special mineral pigments from Peru; the look of the pigments, when sprinkled as dust and then wetted, inspired me to use oil paint over the encaustics to create some similar effects.

JM: Do you encourage your encaustic pieces to imitate sculpture?

VG: Definitely. I use sculpting tools when I make them. Pottery tools, dentistry tools, too. Also, many of the encaustic techniques imitate intaglio printmaking – similar to the way one etches lines in a metal plate, I start with a well of encaustic medium and carve the figures into it. Instead of using ink, I use medium in different colors to create an image or story.

JM: Your work seems to use both figurative and abstract elements. Do you see a relationship there, or do you experience those forms separately?

VG: I would call this series abstract symbolism, meaning my figures are less literal and more symbolic – some viewers experience the shapes as human, others as plants, etc.

JM: Your themes are often dark but your color palette is bright. Do you care to comment on that seeming disparity?

VG: I have seen that in other series I’ve done, but in this current body of work even the black, while literally “dark,” has bright, airy figures who are doing things, lively things, together at night. So I would say it is simply night, rather than describe the black backgrounds as emotionally heavy. No one’s alone, everyone’s with someone having a good time.

Café Passé is at 415 N. Fourth Ave. Tucson, AZ 85705

Su-W 8 am – 8 pm
Th-Sa 8 am – 10 pm

AUTOPOIESIS

Art in progress for show at CAFE PASSE January-February 2014

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Join me at the reception- I’ll be raffling of four pieces to benefit CASA LIBRE! Details to come…

TUCSON OPEN STUDIOS Saturday and Sunday, April 12th and 13th, 11am-5pm

When you are out and about at Tucson Open Studios, stop by Splinter Brothers and Sisters Warehouse to see Fred Soto at Fred’s Custom Stretching. Fred is showing my work and the work of several other artists. He  does all my stretching and framing as well as makes substrates for my encaustic art, and he deals in supplies. My work on display is discounted from online prices.

Splinter Brother’s is at 901 N. 13th Ave.

ANNOTHER SUNNY DAY AT CAFE PASSE

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ANOTHER SUNNY DAY IN THE DESERT | MARCH 3 – APRIL 30 | CAFE PASSE | 85705

I owe the title of this series to my sex-same partner, who often opens the shade of a morning and exclaims, “It’s another sunny day in the desert.”  The phrase can be understood as a point of fact, irony, or wonder.  In a state that votes discrimination into law with such Senate bills as the federally-disputed SB 1070, and that narrowly vetoed SB 1062, which would have legalized a faith-based right to refuse service to assumed members of the LGBTQ community, it doesn’t always feel like a sunny day.

So much behavior comes from, and makes for, heavy hearts. To oppose fear and hatred, I am compelled to expose and explore with light-heartedness and whimsy.  It is important to me to bring heavy subjects to “light.”

The master images for ANOTHER SUNNY DAY IN THE DESERT exist as light.  Reading about David Hockney’s use of iPhone technology to make art led me to explore the drawing applications available on my iPhone. I settled on Green Gar’s Whiteboard app.  I began making digital paintings in 2012 at local businesses, and outdoors at home of an evening or afternoon.

My use of color was greatly expanded by working with a digital palate.  It was a delight to match colors in encaustic and acrylic with the digital colors.  Each encaustic or acrylic corresponds to a digital fingerpainting and is one of a kind. Translating digital images into encaustic art required me to use tools in new ways. Previously I relied on incising, using paintbrushes to fill incisions, but with these pieces, I also used the brushes to paint.  Next, I used a heat gun to move and to fuse the layers that I’d painted on. The process of moving back and forth between ultra-contemporary and ancient techniques is liberating.

The prints are produced in a range of sizes, with a maximum of 5 images per size and a maximum of 25 prints per image.

All works are discounted for purchase during the exhibit. If you would like to take a piece home today, Café Passe will accept cash on my behalf. If you would like to pay with a credit card ($5.00 processing fee on purchases of $100 or less) via PayPal, please contact me.

Thank you to Betts Printing and Fred’s Custom Stretching.

LOTS OF NEW WORK DUE TO DEBUT IN MARCH

ANOTHER SUNNY DAY IN THE DESERT showing MARCH 3 – APRIL 30 at CAFE PASSE and at BENTLEY’S MARCH 15 – APRIL 15

DON’T SHOOT showing at FemArts: ART INSTALLATIONS BY WOMEN ARTISTS Hosted by Dinnerware Artspace FRIDAY MARCH 7th 6-9pm THE STEINFELD WAREHOUSE | 101 West Sixth Street | 85701

FemArts TUCSON

FemArts: Art Installations by Women Artists TUCSON

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

DON’T SHOOT- 81 garlands made of approximately 3,629.5 feet of fabric and plastics to be hung from the ceiling of THE STEINFELD WAREHOUSE for FemArts: Art Installations by Women Artists Hosted by Dinnerware Artspace. A panel discussion will be held to talk about our process and experiences as a group and as individual artists, date tba.

TUCSON FOOD TRUCK ROUNDUP WILL BE THERE.

DON’T SHOOT work in progress for FemArts: Art Installations by Women Artists Hosted by Dinnerware Artspace

NOVEMBER 2014!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

SHOWING AT THE STEINFELD WAREHOUSE

Julia ‘Jai’ Miller
Ruth Hillman
Autumn Bree
Elizabeth Burden
Marie Closeness DeGain
Traci Miller
Shannon Stephens
Susan Kay Johnson
Moira Geoffrion/Shirley Wagner
E Burke
Alesha Fiandaca
Kate McHugh
Valyntina Grenier
Natlie Brewster Nguyen
Liz Weibler
Bridgitte Blanton Thum

http://dinnerwareartspace.blogspot.com/

ALSO, TUCSON FOOD TRUCK ROUNDUP WILL BE THERE ON THE 15TH SO COME HUNGRY!

ANOTHER SUNNY DAY IN THE DESERT

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Reading about David Hockney’s use of iPhone technology to create art led me on a search to explore the drawing applications available on my iPhone. I settled on Green Gar’s Whiteboard app. Many of these were drawn on the front porch in the desert of an evening, or on the back porch of an afternoon, inspired by Tucson’s green desert. Each encaustic corresponds to a digital “fingerpainting” and is one of a kind.

The images printed on glossy photo paper are available in a range of sizes, beginning at 8 1/2″x11″, limited to an edition of five archival prints.
8 ½” x 11” $100
Larger sizes (24” x 36” or 48” x 72” for example) priced upon request.

To view the images one by one go to valyntiagrenier.com

Also, CLOUDSHOW / UTOPIA (see below) is showing at Bentley’s till September 15th