The Fezziwig News by Stu Jenks

...from a 1978 Chapel Hill Newspaper article...

...written about a person they called The Spray Paint Prankster. That would be me. Photographer unknown. He worked for the paper. This photograph was taken inside the Chapel Hill Police Station after I turned myself in...

To know more, buy the book.

"The Shifting Light" now on Apple's iBooks...

After a long wait, The Shifting Light: A selection of sixteen stories taken from The Transpersonal Papers: 1861-2010; Flame Spirals; Bozo In Love; Hoop Dancing; and Dementia Blues is now available on Apple's iBooks. It's also available on Barnes & Nobles Nook and on Amazon's Kindle.

And best of all, it's only $2.99. I'm very happy with this sampler and it includes an introduction written by mythic fiction author Charles de Lint. Thank you, Charles.

P.S. Apologies to those who don't have digital access. The Shifting LIght isn't yet available as an analog book book, but hopefully someday.

 

 

Red: A Juried Invitational

Today, Red: A Juried Invitational formally opens at Etherton's Temple Gallery. Click on this link to take you to Etherton's webpage promoting the show. Reception is from 5:30 to 7:30 today. Show will be up until June 1st, 2012.

My photograph Bozo & Bozette At Point Reyes, California is in the show.

And to those of you who have bought my book Bozo In Love, thank you so much for your financial support. It puts a roof over my head, gas in my car and food in my belly.

And for those of you who are creeped out by clowns, I hear you. I know a lot of people hate clowns. I understand.

Can I interest us you perhaps in a flame spiral book or a hoop dancing book or perhaps a nice CD of soothing music. (Shameless promotional grin.)

Come by tonight. It's a great show Etherton Gallery has juried.

And Happy Friday The Thirteen. It's usually my lucky day.

Morley Safer on Contemporary Art

I've been saying this for years. Decades. It's not sore grapes on my part. I make money. Some. I just wish it was any type of grape. Just something grape-like: tasty, sweet, refreshing, with real fiber and good for you too. But no. It's not. Contemporary Art isn't good for you anymore.

One point Morley does explicitly makes in this great 60 Minutes piece is that this is where the super-rich, the .01%, or the .001%, spend their extra cash.

Christ, Daddy Warbucks, donate half of what you spend in Miami to your local Salvation Army, will you?

Did that art dealer just use the word 'organic?' Shoot me now.

It's shameful. Truly shameful. And this is coming from a reasonably successful artist. Me.

Watch the piece at this link.

Best quote from an art dealer: "This is theatre. This is all theatre."

Yes it is. Very bad theatre from The Art World. Very good TV from Morley Safer.

"Miller's Spiral"

"Miller's Spiral, Sonoran Desert, Arizona" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

Bear Butte, South Dakota

"Bear Butte, South Dakota"

All images (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

I like to talk. Ask anyone. I'm not going to say much here. Here's a wikipedia excerpt about the place.

"Human artifacts have been found on or near Bear Butte that date back 10,000 years, indicating a long and continuous interest in the mountain.The Cheyenne and Lakota people have maintained a spiritual interest in Bear Butte from their earliest recorded history.

Notable visitors like Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull made pilgrimages to the site. In 1857, a council of many Indian nations gathered at Bear Butte to discuss the growing presence of white settlers in the Black Hills.

Violating a treaty of 1868, George Armstrong Custer led an expedition to the Black Hills region in 1874, and according to custom he camped near Bear Butte. Custer verified the rumors of gold in the Black Hills, and Bear Butte then served as an easily identifiable landmark for the rush of invading prospectors and settlers into the region. Indian reaction to the illegal movements of whites into the area was intense and hostile. Ultimately the government reneged on its treaty obligations regarding the Black Hills and instead embarked on a program to confine all northern Plains tribes to reservations.

Ezra Bovee homesteaded on the southern slopes of the mountain, and by the time of World War II, he and his family were the legal owners of the site. In the spring of 1945, the Northern Cheyenne received permission from Bovee to hold a ceremony at Bear Butte to pray for the end of World War II. The Cheyenne found that the Bovee family welcomed their interest in the mountain, and over the years the Bovees continued to encourage native religious ceremonies.

By the mid-1950s Ezra Bovee was attempting to stir up interest in making Bear Butte a national park. After his death, his family continued the effort. When federal interest in the project waned, the state government in Pierre took action, and Bear Butte became a state park in 1961 and was registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Frank Fools Crow, the Lakota ceremonial chief (d. 1989), made pilgrimages to Bear Butte throughout his lifetime. Fools Crow taught racial harmony not just between whites and Indians, but among all the peoples of the world. He believed the Lakota should never sell the Black Hills. A bust and plaque in front of the education center at Bear Butte State Park honor Fools Crow’s efforts." - Wikipedia.

All 8 1/2" x 11" A/P archival pigment prints by Stu Jenks for $25, shipping, handling and taxes included...

Image: "Queen Esther Baptist Church, Lancaster, Virginia" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks (Just down River Road from Victoria's house. Love that luscious red carpet. And for you nocturnals out there, it was handheld. Rare for me.)

In this time of making photos on iPhones and Macbook Pros and only looking on screens, I forget I'm a old-school guy. I make a 8 1/2 x 11 work print on archival paper of EVERY image I make. EVERY one. It's the only way, for me, to accurately check for color shift, density, composition, etc. I really like my iPad screen but it's no way to make a good print.

And I have hundreds, if not thousands, of work prints artist proofs at my studio.

If you see an image of mine on The StuBlog or on my old website or on the Fezziwig Press Store or in any of my books, there's a beautiful small print in a box somewhere, perhaps with your name on it. And since I'm organized, I can find it.

Many of you can't afford my larger prints. I understand. I don't have an extra 50 or 100 lying around either. But I do have an extra $20 for stuff I really like.

So if you see an image of mine on any of my sites or in any of my books and you want it, it's yours for $25, shipping, handling and tax included. (I believe in paying taxes, sales and otherwise.)

Just email me at my facebook page or through the StuBlog or at stujenks@gmail.com, and tell me what print you would like or just pull the jpeg and send that to me.

I was just watching the Tarhells lose today in basketball, working on images at my computer when I thought, 'I bet people don't realize I have boxes of work prints here.'

You all do now.

Love and light,

Stu

p.s. Ignore the catagories belows. The computer went wacky. Another reason why I prefer a print in the hand as opposed to an image in The Cloud.

Nampeyo (1860?-1942) and Rhonda Holy Bear (1959-

"When I first began to paint, I used to go to the ancient village and pick up pieces of pottery and copy the designs. That is how I learned to paint. But now, I just close my eyes and see designs and I paint them." - Nampeyo.

 

It's worth getting off the Interstate or taking a cab from the airport if you have a three hour layover or simply worth a special trip.

Denver Art Museum's American Indian Art Collection.

I made my third journey to DAM's Native collection just a couple weeks ago. It has a wonderful permanant collection and newer work by living Native artists they rotates in and out.

Included in this post is some work by Nampeyo, the famous Hopi potter and by Rhonda Holy Bear, the Cheyenne River Sioux artist, plus a detail image of Standing Bear's tipi and an Edward Curtis photograph of a Hopi potter.

At each visit, I see something old that I knew I loved and something new I didn't know existed. Isn't that what a great museum visit is all about?

So visit the Denver Art Museum when ever you have the chance.

Oh, and yea, they have some pretty good stuff by some white folk too.

All images (c) Stu Jenks 2012 except for the Curtis of course (but I did take the pic of his photo. And a friend just told me it is of Nampeyo herself. Great image. A great potter.)

 

"Asheville Spiral"

"Asheville Spiral, North Carolina" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

On the Etsy now (and the new CD...)

I'm on Etsy now. (Click here to go to my Etsy store)

Frankly, I didn't know you could sell photography on Etsy. I was wrong. Happy to be wrong.

Book sales are OK (I say with a slight wince), but art sales have been down the last year or so. We are in The Great Recession, don't you know. But I completely understand.

It's easier, in this economy, to buy a $12 CD or $10 eBook or a $20 hardback book, than it is to buy a $100 to $200 print, or a large, more expensive, framed piece. That is, if you are part of the 99%, or the 90%, or the lower 50%. (I'm in the lower 28%. I looked it up.)

Good news: The new CD will be shipped next week. More on that later. I may have a CD release party but I have a very small studio. But I'm thinking about it. Maybe in the parking lot, some night, during the Festival OF Books in March.

Any ideas? I'm open.