Another Year in Berlin

The first piece of very exciting news is that I have been awarded a DAAD fellowship to stay in Germany for a second year to complete the painting project I'm working on this year. This award is through the German Academic Exchange Service and is Germany's version of Fulbright (it is a comparable stipend), and I am extremely honored to have the chance to deepen my experience and my work here.

The other good news is that in August, Tyson and I will both be artists in residence at the Vermont Studio Center. Unfortunately we won’t have much time in CA or the East coast before we return to Berlin, but I’ll keep you posted as travel plans develop.

We miss family and friends in the states, so come and visit us in Berlin if you can!

Besides my "Artnotes," Tyson recently updated his blog: http://www.tysonwashburn.blogspot.de/

The following are some images of new work (more are up on my website):

Open studios installation, we had a good turnout and visiting family were able to make it too!

On the left: Flight into Egypt; on the right, Wet Heat 2, both oil on linen, 40 x 30 cm

Universe's Shadow, oil on linen, 30 x 40 cm

It’s been a transitional and celebratory time. In late March, the Fulbright Berlin seminar took place, then my parents and Tyson's dad arrived, I participated in open studios as an artist in residence at GlogauAIR, I moved out of my studio there and set up a temporary space, and we traveled to Görlitz and Dresden. The following images are from these experiences, but are heavily edited due to space limitations. A more comprehensive view can be seen here: Flickr Set

 

By Tyson Washburn

The following are images from the Architecture tour we went on as part of the Berlin seminar:

 

By Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Berlin city-planner, architect and artist

 

Another Schinkel!

A few images from the Pergamon Museum--one of Berlin's finest:

Part of the salvaged temple of Pergamon

Detail rendering suggesting what it would have been like when it was completed

 

Part of the processional entrance to the Gates of Ishtar at the Temple of Babylon--so awesome.

From our tour at the Gipsformerei in Charlottenburg:

Molds about to be used by current artisans at work at the Gipsformerei

A library of molds going back several hundred years.

Replica sculpture made at the Gipsformerei

And then on to originals from antiquity at the Neue Museum featuring the Egyptian collection:

The newly renovated, re-opened museum is a work of art that showcases the historical residue of the building while housing great works of art.

From the Surrealist Museum in Charlottenburg:

 

On the left, Manet's print for Poe, on the right Bellmer's The Doll, 1936-38

Hans Bellmer, Self-portrait, 1942, gouache and paper on wood

Odilon Redon, Illuminated Flower, 1900, pastel

Salvidor Dalí, study for Suburbs of a Paranoic-Critical Town, 1935. These doodles are so good.

René Magritte, detail from Gaspard the Nightwalker, 1965

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Known Foolishness or What a Warrior!, 1815-24

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Foolishness of Fools or Horde of Bulls, 1815-24

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Up to His Grandfather, 1797-98

From a suite of immaculate prints by Piranesi from the series The Prison amazingly from the 1760s:

Now onto Görlitz in the Silesian region on the German-Poland border:

Looking across the river from the Polish side

Love the painted detail

Silesian (Schlesisches) museum

My parents, Tyson, and Tyson's dad on the terrace of our pension

And then on to Dresden and the Zwinger Museum complex:

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in the museums

One of the most well-known works in the collection is the Sistine Madonna by Raphael. It's quite large and known for it's beauty and balanced composition. It was interesting to see in person, but looks like it needs a good cleaning. Something that I didn't notice while in front of the painting, perhaps because I read them as clouds, are the unsettling and haunting faces that come out of the background. These are much more apparent in online reproductions.

And then, we finally made it to the Naturkundemuseum:

Amazing dinosaur skeletons

Cool exhibit about the native wildlife found within the city limits

 

Tasmanian Wolf, now extinct

Who doesn't like a diamond in the rough

Lastly, I couldn't resist including this photo of Quince jelly and Grapefruit jelly from our latest domestic activities with Joe, our friend who’s a composer. He will also be staying on for an additional year with DAAD, so count on more images of our "jam-sessions." 

The lighter ones are Quince, the darker ones are Grapefruit

Until next time,

XO Caetlynn