A Post About A Post and Other Inspirations

This little guardian stands on the grounds of the Mable Dodge Lujan house in Taos, New Mexico.  His job must have been to keep trucks from backing into the corner of this building.  I think he is just a post, but as my eye tends to transform things into figures, he looked like a little guy to me at first glance.

I've enjoyed a busy month of attending art exhibits, gallery openings, and studio tours.  As is often the case I was so absorbed in the art, that it didn't occur to me to take a photo.  I will mention a few highlights here with links to share what caught my attention.  

I found Ron Allen's sculpture at the Carole La Roche Gallery in Santa Fe.  Allen's primitive figurative work is fairly large and uses a quirky approach to expressing the garments.  What appears to be a full skirt is created by massing a huge variety of found treasures, tethering each item by a cord from the waist of the figure.

One of the unofficial stops on the High Road Studio Tour was "The Curious" Fine Art, Dolls and Toys by Sophia Torres.  Torres creates her detail articulated figures primarily from metal and includes other materials. They are oddly asymmetrical and quite abstract.  I returned to Sophia's corner on the second weekend of the tour, but she was not to be found.

Another stop on the same tour was the studio of Mesdames Carton, aka Clodie Francois.  I've used cardboard from time to time, but I'd never considered it as THE material.  In her hands this common stuff is turned into sturdy, beautiful furniture and lamps.

Last week found me at "Super Indian", an exhibit of paintings by Fritz Sholder. at the Denver Art Museum.
I was surprised to be very interested in this, and delighted by the artist's abstracted figures and bold use of color.

How might all of this inspiration bounce back to my studio?  Think larger, more abstract, vibrantly colorful figures and, yes, maybe some cardboard.