Chapters
by Daniel Stuelpnagel
Chapter Fifteen
untitled # 314 (2005)
collection of Donald Craver (Baltimore)The Gallery M.I.M. show, View Source, was almost a retrospective, including as it did a vast array of pieces that had evolved from the different foundations of seascape and geometry to what was then a relatively new focus on the landscape.
The opening reception was attended by more than a hundred people, many of them old friends in Baltimore who had never seen my work firsthand, let alone a comprehensive solo exhibition, so it felt like another solid step.
Leading to more than ten thousand dollars in sales, it was a great way to start the year, compelling me to get organized, design and print a catalog, update my web site, and develop the momentum for the year ahead.
untitled # 330 (2005)Carolyn Eddins had written from Maui to say that she was settled in and had scheduled a return trip to the mainland for seven weeks, visiting friends and family up and down the east coast, and I was invited to come out and house-sit, take care of her cat, Zeke, and her bungalow on Haleakala, where I would have the use of her car and studio and a ten-mile view of Kahului harbor from upcountry.
The prescient tropical landscapes of the previous year became even more poignant, as I realized that, thanks to the personal connections I was developing through my art, I was on the verge of realizing the life-long dream of traveling to Hawai’i.
With plans moving forward to survey, design and develop a proposal for Funk & Bolton’s additional commission already on the calendar for late spring, I had the perfect schedule to make the trip, funded in part by collectors John Sweeney and Janet Robin’s acquisitions from the M.I.M. show.
untitled # 323 (2005)
collection of John Sweeney and
Janet Robin (Baltimore)Of all the works compiled, they had selected two very recent geometric abstractions, which were becoming scarce in the studio as I focused on the landscape; perhaps the attraction of these pieces was their raw energy, building that foundation of elemental intensity essential to advancing the work, and the experimentation with granular metallic paints, mixed applications and brush strokes, and dynamic, revolving compositions that recapitulated the geometric series of 2004.
untitled # 337 (2006)
collection of John Sweeney and
Janet Robin (Baltimore)I found it immensely gratifying to have new collectors discovering my work; after participating in more than forty exhibitions in less than ten years, I had been grinding forward with relentless work and determination in search of a sustainable relationship between travel, studio work, and a functional art career, and every year, even as new and more intricate challenges surfaced in my creative and personal pursuits, successful developments continued to emerge.
content Copyright © 2007 - Daniel Stuelpnagel - all rights reserved_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
