The Fezziwig News by Stu Jenks

A CD Release Party at Studio BR-549

A gathering to celebrate the release of Stu's new CD "Deaths & Injuries" on Maundy Thursday, April 5th, 2012, at 549 N. 7th Ave, Tucson, Arizona.

I will be performing a short musical set from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. Refreshments will be provided. I promises to entertain.

As an Episcopalian by birth (and partly by faith), Maundy Thursday is my Christmas, the night Jesus gave his final commandment, to love one another. Seems important to me.

I'll be performing a song or two from the CD, old mountain spirituals, punk rock songs, and sea shanties.

Please come if you can. It won't be dull. And all are invited. This is not a private affair.

Again, the performance will be from 8:30 to 9:00 on the night.

And I know many who read this blog are nowhere near Tucson. Wish you were closer. Wish you were here.

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.)

 

"Hoop-Dancing With An Angel/Ghost"

"Hoop-Dancing With An Angel/Ghost, Dragoon Springs, Arizona" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

"From The Saddle At Owl's Head..."

"From The Saddle At Owl's Head, Arizona..." (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

Many of y'all are familiar with my images of Owl's Head (See the image at the bottom), yet few of y'all have seen the view from Owl's Head. Here are a couple taken last week from the saddle.

"Ridgeline Reflected In A Whipple Mirror"

"Ridgeline Reflected In A Whipple Mirror, Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

"Grand Canyon Hoop Dance"

"Grand Canyon Hoop Dance, Arizona" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

There's a story to tell with this image, but I'll tell it another time. Let's just have the image speak for itself for a change.

Fun Facts: This photograph was taken around 4:30 this morning. That's about as fast of a production turnaround as you'll ever get out of me.

And I wasn't in much danger shooting this. A little, but not much. I tend to be careful and heights don't scare me.

Graphic Pen Images From The Novel

Been working on a backlog of images that may be chapter headers for the novel I'm writing. Images from Memphis, Pacifica, San Francisco, Picacho and Barstow.

I have been on the road a lot this year, haven't I? From North Carolina, Virginia, California, and parts inbetween.

It's good to be stationary for a while, working at my desk, with cool wet night air drifting in from outside, and the smell of lavender on my hands from a living plant I purchased today.

Happy Solstice everyone.

The Sun will return.

 

Now available, on the Apple IPad: The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) and Bozo In Love

Been a long time coming for The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010).

Three editors, two proofreaders, two designers, four printers, and hours, days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes, (I know I'm overstating), of writing, traveling, shooting, editing, remembering, hiking, and more writing, shooting, and editing, but I'm not complaining. No, no, no.

And apologies for not having the dough right now, to print The Transpersonal Papers as a coffee-table book as I had originally planned. ($10,000, it would have cost. Maybe someday.) But you now can buy it, for $14.95, as an Ebook on the Apple IPad, and I expect it to be available within a couple days on the Nook and the Kindle as well.

I just looked at it on my new IPad. The photos, text and design look grand.

And as an extra surprise, Bozo In Love is now up on IBooks too, ($9.95), as well as the rest of my catalog: Flame Spirals, Hoop Dancing, and Dementia Blues, on IBooks, Nook and Kindle.

Just in time for Christmas.

And don't worry. All but The Transpersonal Papers can still be bought as a book book through Fezziwig Press. I have plenty. Just go to www.fezziwigpressonline.com, for the hardbounds and paperbacks, but go to ITunes, today, (and Kindle and Nook, soon) for the ebooks.

Heavy sigh from my third story apartment balcony. I look out onto the Tucson city lights in the valley below. Cold, dry air embraces me. I inhale deeply. Exhale.

A very good night in the desert.

Think I'll make a cup of coffee with egg nog and play some Angry Birds on my new IPad.

Time to celebrate.

 

"The Empty Kitchen Chair"

"The Empty Kitchen Chair: Raleigh, N.C. & Haw River, N.C." (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

It's been a month since the Amherst House sold. This is the last photo I took of the place before leaving town.

Word is the new owner has cut down every tree on the property, for no particularly good reason. I didn't like the man before I heard this. I like him even less now.

Before leaving the Triangle Area, I stopped the Penske truck at the Haw River Bridge on U.S. 64, east of Pittsboro. A few friends and I used to visit the Haw pretty often, near that bridge, during our college days at Carolina. I've walked along The Haw, a few times, in the past few months. When much around me has changed, The Haw is not one of them.

I carried a 50-pound river stone away from the Haw, back in 1977, to use in a sculpture. Toting a old kitchen chair into the forest, in 2011, was much easier.

Saw no eagles that day. Did, however, find a nice place to sit for a while.

[Contemporary Art Note: To view this little piece as I intended, drag and drop the two empty chair images onto your desktop, placing the house photo on the left and the Haw photo on the right, so the energies move outside of the frame.

Guess I need to print and frame it at some point, but not today. I need hit the desert soon, and smell the wet creasote from yesterday's rain.

A raven's outside my window, calling for me to come. I will obey.]