contemporary collage paintings
the process
Leslie Avon Miller

My life flows when I'm in my art.


Jean De Muzio

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Black and White: The Yin Yang of Colors

Neither Completely Black Nor White 1
Leslie Avon Miller
mixed media collage
5 x 8 inches


My art is created intuitively as I seek to visualize and share this very moment on the continuum of time, just as it slips into the past.


Yin and yang energy are in constant motion and cause everything to happen.


The Nature of Things 1
Alan Bates
45 x 45 cm

From the Dockside series. Alan explains the resources that informed his work in this series; the jangle of boats, slipways, boat sheds, wharves, and old rusted hardware lying in shipwrights yards provided the colours and textures which held my interest.

Yin and yang are the foundation of the universe.


There Are Many Different Sounds
Mirjam Pet Jacobs
mixed media

The art I make is slow art. It is a response to the fast moving, technical, impersonal age. I make unique objects, created with dedication, passion and love.


Yin and Yang are two parts of the whole.


Burnished Double Walled Bowl
Jane Perryman
Saggar fired
23 x 19 x 19 cm

For many years my work has investigated the vessel through traditional techniques of hand building, burnishing and smoke firing. Recently I have developed ideas which allude to the timeless vessel form as well as referencing contemporary urban structures such as buildings, walls, and bridges.

Yin is not completely black.


Tiny Treasure
Noela Mills
ink and mixed media

My art is now almost entirely consumed by the concept of "wabi sabi" - the Zen Buddhist philosophy of finding beauty in things old, worn, incomplete, imperfect and common place.


Yang is not completely white.


Virtues Undiscovered
Bridgette Guerzon Mills
encaustic
6 x 6 inches

I am drawn to the inherent beauty and spirit of the natural world, and my artwork is a personal dialogue that reaches into the stillness of that spirit. Through both imagery and medium, I create organic pieces that speak to the cycles of life, growth and decay, memory and the passage of time.


Yin and yang cannot exist without each other.



Completion
Donna Watson
hand painted rice papers and small scroll
12 x 12 inches


I view my work as an ongoing process of search, and self examination. I am interested in the passage of time, and what remains.


Together yin and yang form the harmony of the opposites.

48 comments:

  1. The words that follow each piece are the artist's.

    Thank you to each artist who allowed me to share their work here.

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  2. And I meant to tell you that you can click on each image to see it larger.

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  3. what a beautiful post Leslie-- minimal yet powerful- speaking volumes - intimate yet universal- I think I am also getting into the ying and yang of it all- thank you for including my collage in with all the other wonderful art works and artists.

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  4. Thanks so much, Leslie for this fabulous post. I feel strongly about minimalist colour in our art as the world becomes more and more crazy with visual stimulation. Muted 'colours' are calming, giving a sense of peace and help to ground us. Thanks for including me once again.

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  5. Nice pieces, all of them! I especially like yours, Alan's and Donna's. Wonderful post.

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  6. Stunning pieces of art. Thank you for sharin.

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  7. I adore Bridgette's piece immensely,

    as as usual , every time I vist here,


    there is a chance to exhale
    and feel my space stretch back oout.

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  8. It is wonderful to see black and white work. You really get t focus on form and texture then. I always love the yin/yang symbol where you can see the movement of black changing to white and vice versa, speaking to that dynamic changing environment in all things that are alive.

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  9. I'm a huge fan of Bridgette Guerzon Mills' work.

    Beautiful post, Leslie!

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  10. love it - fabulous work (and words).

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  11. Thanks for an interesting intro to some new artists. I particularly like the geometrics in Alan's piece.

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  12. Wonderful post...wonderful art...just stunning and so pleasing to the eye.....
    Cynthia Schelzig

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  13. Thank you Lislie! The works are wonderful, I will come again to spend a little more time with each! Really love it!

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  14. I like the simplicity of your words and the concepts here of things interlinked and never just one thing or the other. Love you new (to me) page design and layout. How did you do that? Not with blogger templates????

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  15. Leslie--I love how you changed the header and design of your blog to complement this post. Also love the notion of "slow art"--I think I am heading in this direction...the pieces that you've chose here complement each other so beautifully.

    Noela, I like what you say about black and white as a tonic to the busyness of this world and visual overstimulation.

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  16. First of all, your header is so lovely Leslie and I can see many interesting things in your sidebar that will need perusing. I have so enjoyed this post (as i always do) and have been off visiting the links and loving everything I see. Black and white and in between .... just my scene!

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  17. Lovely post, Leslie; well conceived and carried out. Many levels. I'll go back to explore more. Thank you for your "gallery".

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  18. Great post and your whole site is a place to stay and stroll. I am especially taken with your artists featured...all my favorites.

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  19. Such calm and beauty...
    Thanks to Bridgette for sending me your way.

    Karen

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  20. As I said, I would return, in fact I have returned several times, as I had the time to spend with each artist. I really appreciate getting to know the work of each of these artists. It is a wonderful thing to find new artists to love and to admire! Thank you for your post.

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  21. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
    Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
    Peaceful and beautiful.

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  22. The artwork in this post is stunning. I am already a huge fan of Donna and Bridgette but most of these artists are new to me. I look forward to exploring their sites.

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  23. Color is such a personal choice. Using the same colors all of these artists used black and white in a unique way.
    It's fun to find new artists isn't it?

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  24. This post is like a meditation and the pieces chosen give a feeling of peace and contentment.

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  25. What a beautiful post! i love the work of all these artists, and the way you have used them to illustrate the concept of yin and yang. i like what was said (I don't remember by whom) about slow art- making things by hand using traditional process and craft. In losing this attitude, I think, our society is losing something precious and necessary. Thanks for sharing this wonderful work and thoughts.

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  26. Your new blog header really enhances your blog. Beautiful post of wonderful work, not completly black, not completly white, the colors of yin and yang.

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  27. I love coming here. Art-full thoughts, ideas, pondering, affirmations, and kindred spirits.
    beautiful

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  28. Thanks Leslie, beautiful post...

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  29. Very lovely, thank you for a great post. Inspiring.
    By the way, I think it's you I have to thank for cyber-introducing me to Rebecca Crowell's work.
    I'd like to add to the Alan Cohen quote on your sidebar: I think we may care the most about works we are still to make in the near future.

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  30. i think and see this way ..thank you for sharing such understanding here always L

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  31. love the new header look, and these lovely calm and intuitive works. . . .

    Amelia.x

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  32. oh my - so lovely on this beautiful Saturday morning. Thank you for doing what you do, and for sharing it. peace.

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  33. a quiet and beautiful post.

    enjoy your new studio space--its like a big white blank page, enticing me.

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  34. Beautifully done post. Beautifully curated pieces and words. Beautiful flow, like a poem. Thank you for this!

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  35. This is very interesting as an exploration of what Yin & Yang mean. I have always found the notions to be slightly nebulous...

    http://davidikus.blogspot.com/

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  36. what a great post! already a fan of Donna, Bridgette and noelas work, it is great to see them all here! love the black and white and your header is wonderful!

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  37. saw and enjoyed some of your collage, and Donna Watson's too, on a link from Donna's web page I explored... really enjoyed your work! One was called Communication I think, and it pulled me in, mysterious and balanced.

    Thanks.

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  38. saw and enjoyed some of your collage, and Donna Watson's too, on a link from Donna's web page I explored... really enjoyed your work! One was called Communication I think, and it pulled me in, mysterious and balanced.

    Thanks.

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  39. I've just recently discovered your blog and I just wanted to tell you that I love your collages. Thanks for your kind comment on my own blog.

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  40. I love the one with the ladder, Leslie - it makes one wonder where it leads to.... All these snapshots are very inspiring and since it has been a while since I caught up with your postings, I perused the ones I missed. Big congrats on your exhibition with Dale Copeland - I must get over there now to have a look. Dale lives in Taranaki - not to far from me. BUT, I still haven't got my A into G and gone to see her at her physical gallery.

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  41. What an inspiring post, Leslie! Thank you for sharing all these wonderful artists and quotes. I will feast and linger on all of this for some time to come.

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  42. me encanta tu arte, es tan sugerente...

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  43. I've really enjoyed this post. So many fab artists and a bounty of lines and organic shapes. Interesting topic/concept to feature too.

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  44. Leslie I have been looking at each of your listed book artists. Thank you so much for posting them.

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  45. Good Lord, do you have time to read all your comments. Je ne suis qu'un de plus !

    Beatifull blog.
    Un petit coucou de Lausanne en Suisse.

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  46. simply wonderful!
    I loooove your work!
    Hugs from Spain

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