Constance Hobbs Art & Photography: 2010

Monday, December 27, 2010

Lunar Eclipse

I'm a little late getting this up. This is the lunar eclipse as seen from Delray Beach Florida at 3am, December 21st, on the winter solstice. A very rare cosmic event. A full moon, an eclipse and on the winter solstice. The moon literally turned red. It was magical. I stood there gazing at this incredible event with the knowledge that it wasn't going to happen again for another 498 years. I wondered about all the people gazing upward as I was. I wondered about their lives, their stories, their families. It's astonishing to think about, and what will the world be like in 498 years? Impossible to imagine. It's all so mysterious.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and every possible good wish for great things in 2011.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 3

Friday, December 10, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 2

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 1

I did not find Art Basel Miami inspiring this year. I saw a lot of art that we all know. Many well established artists. I have to admit that I did not have time to get to Scope and Pulse and some of the other surrounding venues where emerging and inspirational work could be found. I also think Art Basel has shrunk. Attendance must be down. A reflection of our times. I will post some more work tomorrow. Enjoy.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Jaffe Center for Book Arts

I recently took two work shops at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts at FAU (Florida Atlantic University) in Boca Raton. It's a wonderful place dedicated to artist books. Arthur and Mata Jaffe donated their private book collection to the University in 1998 and the collection has grown from there. The first workshop was given by John Cutrone who is the director of the center. A lovely, sensitive, gentle man who loves what he does. He is also a letter press printer, bookbinder, papermaker and a partner in Convivio Bookworks a small press and book arts studio in Lake Worth. The first workshop was a general introduction to the Jaffe collection, learning how to operate the Vandercook printing press and printing and binding a small book to take home. The second workshop involved exploring copier art. This workshop was given by Ginny Lloyd. Ginny is one funny lady. I enjoyed spending the day with her and I'm sure you would too. We explored the use of the photo copy machine in making art pieces. I think the workshop should have been two days instead of one. There is so much material to cover. Ginny's workshop has been so popular that they are considering adding a part two more advanced class. I learned some unique techniques that I definitely could not have achieved with photoshop. A few samples above.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Lenscratch Family Exhibit

There are some interesting opportunities on The Lenscratch blog organized and run by photographer Aline Smithson. I recently had a photo included in the Thanksgiving "family" exhibition. My image above was conceptual and symbolic on what family means to me. Other artists were more specific in literal images of family and family life. Have a look, it's fun.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. My husband and I went over to Sarasota Florida to visit our daughter Alexandra. The weather was good except for a few inclement moments. We stayed in a hotel on Lido Key Beach. We've tried two hotels there and do enjoy being right on the gulf. We found a wonderful sushi restaurant also. Contact me if your interested in more info. Here are a few images from the trip. When I download more images perhaps I'll put up a few more. We had a great time.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Workshop with Anna Tomczak

I had the great pleasure of taking a workshop with artist photographer Anna Tomczak shown above. It took place at Palm Beach State College Eissey Campus. If you are not familiar with Anna's work I have included some examples below. She is an early pioneer using the large format Polaroid camera. She generally assembles the images in front of the camera and then shoots. Of course, this is one method and she naturally uses many others. Please stop by her website to experience more of her wonderful work and workshop offerings.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Holga Fun

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

More Holga Experiments

I really like these sensitive results that i am getting from the Holga. What fun this is.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Holga Experiments

This is one of my first experiments with the Holga. The funny funky plastic fantastic film camera. I'll post more images tomorrow. I really enjoy the very unusual quality that it gives. I can tell I'm going to be Holga crazy for a while. What took me so long?

Monday, November 8, 2010

Turkey Vultures

I found out what the birds are below. They are called Turkey Vultures. They feed exclusively on dead animals. They have no feathers on their heads which gives their faces a brutal appearance. The reason for this is, so that no bacteria takes root on their heads which are frequently inside the carcasses of dead animals. So, I guess they didn't nab the neighbors dogs the other night.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Everything in Florida grows vigorously. Look at this bird. I suppose it's a healthy hawk of some kind, can't be sure. The wing span must be about 3 feet. They fly over head frequently and sometimes quite low. The other evening was simply beautiful. I was outside enjoying the weather when I noticed high above me maybe 50 or so of these hawks swarming about.

Eventually they started swooping down in copious numbers. I wondered what they were doing? Hunting for food? They were circling over the neighbors house when suddenly I heard their dogs barking and shrieking, making an awful racket. I wasn't able to see what was happening but all I could think is that the birds were after their small dogs. Either after the dogs themselves or their food. There's a preserve not far from here called Grassy Waters. I've been contemplating going there to photograph. My only deterrent is that they have alligators and I heard they are frisky this time of year. It is not a zoo where there are protective barricades. This is a natural habitat. Scary for a northern girl like me.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Happy Halloween and Youngs Farm

Behind the walls of this quaint little farm house there exists some very yummy food stuffs. Especially the home made fruit pies, tea cakes and cookies. I played on this farm through most of my youth. I was lucky to have plenty of brothers and sisters to join in with me. My favorite game was hide n seek in late summer when the corn stalks would grow incredibly tall, way beyond my size. It was really thrilling because we couldn't see one another only hear one another. The sun would set, it was growing dark and the bats would be out flying around. You could just make them out against the deep blue sky that was not yet black. My older brother told me the bats would make a nest in my hair if I wasn't careful. Of course I believed him. It was scary because the bats would swoop down low and dart about right above my head.

This is what the farm looks like at Halloween. Straight ahead at the farthest trees is where I lived. This farm is on the north shore of Long Island in Nassau County. Very close to the Long Island Sound as well. It's a beautiful area known as the Gold Coast. I was very privileged to grow up here. 45 minutes from Manhattan and yet so bucolic. The flavor of the area has changed somewhat but because of the strict zoning laws has remained very much the same. Some farms in the area have had to close and have become vast open spaces with mega mansions scattered about. Almost surreal looking because there are hardly any trees. Quite a few horse farms still exist and driving around the area is still very pleasant. I have very fond memories of crazy, wild Halloweens of my youth.

Constance Hobbs Art & Photography