Paint It Black (and White) — is studio’s newest collage portrait 

John Morse   Paint It Black and White, found paper collage, 34 x 45.5 in.

In a rare departure from his usual colorful palette of found papers, Morse largely relied on shades of black and white and every grey in between.  The work was commissioned by a New York collector.

 

Riot Act makes its summer 2022 debut

John Morse    Riot Act, 2022, found paper collage, 35″x44″

Using a wide variety of colorful found papers as though they were a palette of oil paints — signature elements of the artist’s collages — Morse fashioned this commissioned  image. (Riot Act also happens to be the name of Morse’s first piece of street art he created after arriving in New York City in 1982.)

 

So Very Grateful is studio’s final commissioned portrait of 2021

Morse used a wide variety of papers inside this collage, which features a pair of blue-tinted, see-through glasses perched on the subject’s nose.  Among the items embedded in the beard is a plastic form from a box of chocolates.  The work was commissioned by a collector in Texas.

 

City of Los Angeles dedicates Rainbow Halos, ongoing citywide installation Morse created as memorials to victims of traffic violence

On June 23, 2021, Seleta Reynolds, manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, led a dedication of an installation of a Rainbow Halo near the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Overland Avenue, in memoriam to Monique Muñoz, a pedestrian who died as the result of a car crash.  

Rainbow Halo is a citywide installation of memorials designed by Morse and commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs to honor the lives of the more than 250 people lost every year in Los Angeles to traffic violence.

 

 

City of Palm Desert, California, unveils John Morse designed signal boxes in arts district on El Paseo Drive

The City of Palm Desert, California, in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, recently commissioned Morse to create designs for two signal boxes on the street corner of El Paseo Drive and San Luis Rey Avenue.  El Paseo is home to boutiques, restaurants and a plethora of sculptural installations, among which the Morse boxes are the latest. 

Per the City of Palm Desert request, the artist was asked to incorporate the word “kindness” into his design.  But rather than the English version of the word, Morse also translated the word into French (“gentillesse”), Spanish (“amabilidad”), and in the language of the local tribe of Cahuilla Indians (“achama miyaxwenna”).  

While translating to Spanish and French was relatively simple (though not without its challenges, including calls to the Canadian embassy in Washington and outreach to contacts in France and Canada for French, and native Spanish speakers from Spain, Mexico, Columbia and the Dominican Republic for the Spanish), discovering the proper Cahuilla translation was a months-long challenge, a worthy journey resulting in a heartening result.  

Uncovering the proper Cahuilla term relied on close consultation with the local tribal council which chose “achama miyaxwenna” as the most suitable translation for kindness.  The term literally means “do good.”  

Titled Beautiful Mosaic, after a favorite phrase of the late New York mayor David Dinkins to describe that city’s fabulous mix of people, the boxes offer a panoply of colors and contrasts along with its multilingual outreach.  

 

Atlanta Collage Society hosts celebration of World Collage Day at Spalding Nix Gallery — collage ensues!

John Morse   Knowledge, 2021, found paper collage, 4.5″ x 4.5″

In celebration of International Collage Day on May 8, 2021, the Atlanta Collage Society invited the public to free supplies and spaces so they might create any collage that came to mind.  Hosted by Spalding Nix at his eponymous gallery, dozens crafted their own paper and glue visions.  With a single apple as his model, Morse created a life-sized apple found paper portrait for a still life he dubs Knowledge.  (Morse has served as a volunteer mentor to the Atlanta Collage Society since 2010.)

 

 Morse relies on images of larks to capture the essence of a performer who sings like one

John Morse   Exaltation: 24 Birds, found paper collage, 35″ x 44″

In his signature painterly style of collage, this portrait incorporates images from a reproduction of a 19th century French watercolor offering an orinthological guide to larks.  Besides the one bird flying over the subject’s head, there are an additional 23 images of life-size birds embedded within the portrait.  Further, the collective noun — think “a murder of crows,” or “a gaggle of geese” — for a group of larks is an exaltation, thus the portrait’s title.  Larks, best known for their song, are one of the few avian species that have the ability to sing even when they fly.

 

“All in the Cards: Playing the Hand You’re Dealt” virtual exhibition includes glue-free Morse “collage”

(A still from ACS’s “Hand in the Cards” exhibition of Morse’s work featured in the show.)

In response to the pandemic, the Atlanta Collage Society, where Morse served as volunteer mentor from 2010 to 2021, hosted its first virtual exhibition in April 2021.  Show organizers asked artists to create their interpretations of life during isolation, using up to three regular-sized playing cards.  

Morse’s entry, an actual Bicycle brand ace of hearts playing card with the center heart removed by fire, is a rare example of him using no glue, no cutting, no tearing nor adding any additional paper to the original material.

The technique of art via fire and smoke, known as “fumage” (from the french “smoking), was popularized in the early 1930s by European surrealists, though arguably has been artistically employed since at least the caves at Lascaux.  

The virtual exhibition offers a delicious panoply of collage styles and approaches, each as beguiling as the next.  A highly recommended link!

 

     

Austin’s Ao5 Gallery presents  “A Tear in Time: Five Decades of John Morse”

The exhibition, which opened on January 29th, spans from the earliest surviving collage of the artist’s career, Paris Here, Paris There (Elvis Costello), a detail of which is seen above and on the show’s invitation, and includes originals and prints of Morse’s large-scale collage portraits as well as several landscapes collages.

Additionally, the exhibit features four highly stylized American flags, created with adhesive plastic, Morse created in the mid-1980s in New York City and that he then placed on the ubiquitous scaffolding sheds that litter the city’s sidewalks, his response to the cacophony of spray painted graffiti on seemingly every public surface at the time.

You can see more of the exhibition and the artist’s work here.

 

Morse’s 2020 Design for Protective Face Shield Chosen for Inclusion into the Autry Museum of the West in Los Angeles

Morse’s original design for a face covering affixed to an inexpensive pair of sunglasses with the lenses removed was recently chosen for inclusion into the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles as part of it’s “Collecting Community History Initiative: The West During Covid-19.”

The design was registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in April of 2020, but has subsequently been widely knocked off in the months following his patent grant by manufacturers around the globe.  The artist is glad he was able to contribute this small offering to the potential public good.

 

 

Austin’s Ao5 Gallery Hosts John Morse in New Artist Online Chat Series

Todd Gresley, direct of A05 Gallery in Austin, launched a new online series of informal conversations with artists featured in the gallery, including recent guest John Morse.  (Note: Ao5 Gallery exclusively represents Morse’s original collage,)  Click on the Todd Talks image above to have a peek!

 

     Morse Pen and Ink Drawing Selected for “Color My Valley,” the New Coloring Book Published by the CV Independent

Morse’s View from a Desert Lanai, a simple line drawing of the view from his Palm Springs studio, was selected for a new coloring book created by the CV Independent, the Coachella Valley’s alternative weekly. 

     

End of a Brief, but Shining Slice of Time:

Real Estate Changes Bring Star Dog Studio’s  workspace in Atlanta Arts District to a Close

Star Dog Studio, along with multiple other Atlanta area artists and art cooperatives, opened studio space the new ATLANTA ARTS DISTRICT (+AAD) in 2019.  Located at 1300 Moreland Avenue in Southeast Atlanta at the intersection of Moreland and Custer Avenues, the new art studios and galleries were a rethinking of a massive 1960s strip mall into a vibrant new catalyst for Atlanta arts.  

Opened in October 2019 and extensively renovated in the following months, the studio hosted many of Morse’s works from the past decades, including a 2,500 square-foot installation from his 2009 Inside, Walking through the Colors — his 8-ft x 8-ft fabric collaboration with sister and quilting genius Branda (Morse) Mangum, and more than 20 portfolio prints of recent collage portraits and flags, and his 1986 Art Cart, a shopping cart festooned in hundreds of colorful, blinking LED lights, a simple, if somewhat obvious homage to consumerism, the holidays and all things shiny and bright.

New signage heralded the launch of the new Atlanta Arts District (+AAD), with Star Dog Studio among the new art studios and organizations.

The new Star Dog Studio was particularly entrancing at dusk, when high-powered street lamps that drench the dozens of acres of asphalt parking lot outside the studio — and all surrounds within eyesight, blared through its 25-foot storefront.

Initial works on display include a partial exhibition of Morse’s Inside (seen above), a 2009 installation of multiple human-sized figures made of thin, mirrored Mylar suspended in several mobiles, each with three mirror figures.  The Atlanta Arts District intended to transform a 33-acre strip mall into a bold center for the arts in Atlanta.  And even in its short life it, indeed, helped shepherd in wonderful change to the neighborhood (Go Art!).

The studio’s storefront included a skimpily adorned mannequin behind a frosted panel of glass, a reference to Morse’s tongue in cheek but nonetheless perfectly serious concept installation The John Morse is Naked Museum, conceived during a suburban New Jersey sojourn with studio director Ross Pedersen and fellow shenanigan imp Elizabeth Gilbert, best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love, City of Girls, Big Magic, The Signature of All Things and many other fabulous creative contributions to humanity.

Star Dog Studio’s 4,500-sq.ft. space occupied what was once an enormous Kinney Shoes Store, and greeted visitors to the studio with the original occupant’s stylized logo in red and green terrazzo.  

Other Morse works on display included a 1/3rd scale model of his Paired Trilateral Pyramids (more details on that 2008 sculpture here), and 2010’s paper and tempera After Image Flag.

But recently, as all things are wantt to do (cliche alert!) things changed, with a sale of the property to new owners.  The studio’s heartfelt thanks to Stream Realty for the opportunity and a salute to fellow artist neighbors.  Our stint, albeit abbreviated, brought a much needed injection of love, hope and beauty to a once-dreadful eyesore.  LONG LIVE JUSTICE, PEACE AND ART! 

 

Sophie B. Hawkins Honors Children Lost to Traffic Violence in Video Featuring the Rainbow Halo Project in Los Angeles

Sophie B. Hawkins, best known for her Grammy-nominated hit “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover,” has released a poignant song in tribute to Julie Cukier Siegler, a young child killed while crossing a street Los Angeles.  The song’s music video, produced in Hawkins’ home studio, refers repeatedly to John Morse’s Rainbow Halo project in Los Angeles, including the work’s allusion to the ephemeral nature of life.  In February 2020, the City of Los Angeles installed the latest Rainbow Halo in Julie’s honor.  Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin joined members of Julie’s family at the installation ceremony, along with representatives from L.A.’s Departments of Cultural Affairs and Transportation.  (More details on the Rainbow Halo project below.)

     

Hunter Museum Fundraiser Sets Auction Record For John Morse Collage Print

A Lad Insane  2016, found paper collage, 36″x54″

Chattanooga’s Hunter Museum featured a print of A Lad Insane as the “Show Stopper” for its annual fundraiser, setting a record for a collage print by the artist.

 

Rainbow Halo installations continue citywide across Los Angeles

After years of planning, design and coordination, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and Los Angeles Department of Transportation has launchd a citywide installation of Rainbow Halo, John Morse’s colorful, liquid-filled lenses that cast quiet, ever-changing light displays marking sites of lives lost to automobile violence.

Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs General Manager Danielle Brazell, left, and Los Angeles City Council Member David Ryu, center, introduce John Morse, creator of Rainbow Halo, to speak at a press event launching the citywide project.  The launch of the first Rainbow Halo took place near the corner where 16-year-old Conner Lynch was killed while on his way to track and field practice by a hit-and-run driver in 2010.

The effort, part of the city’s commitment to Vision Zero, aims to eliminate traffic deaths in Los Angeles by 2025 through a combination of raised awareness, re-engineering, enforcement, outreach and art.

During the next year the city plans to install 100 Rainbow Halos at locations near to where pedestrians and cyclists lost their lives.

Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Daily News

Curbed Los Angeles

CBS-TV Los Angeles

NBC-TV Los Angeles

Patch.com

LAist

Streets Blog LA

Each outlet offered extraordinarily thoughtful coverage of the Rainbow Halo launch.

To learn more information on the work of Vision Zero, click here.

 

Palm Springs Mayor Presents John Morse with the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission’s “Commissioners’ Choice Award” for Clothesline as Color Spectrum 

At closing reception for 30×30, presented by the commission at the Palm Springs Art Museum, “Clothesline” awarded Most Outstanding Proposal for Temporary Art

John Morse, center, seen with members of the City of Palm Springs Public Arts Commission and, to his immediate left, Palm Springs Mayor Rob Moon, who presented Morse with the Commissioners’ Choice Award for Temporary Art for his Clothesline as Color Spectrum.

Two new Morse sculptural concepts were presented at the Palm Springs Art Museum in May and June as part of “30 x 30: 30 Ideas for Public Art” in celebration of 30 years of Palm Springs’ public arts program (more info here). The featured artwork included a new colored pencil drawing of Clothesline as Color Spectrum and a new paperboard maquette at approximately one-third scale of Paired Trilateral Pyramids.  At the exhibition’s closing reception Palm Springs Mayor Rob Moon presented Morse with the Commissioners’ Choice Award for Best Temporary Art for his Clothesline as Color Spectrum.  

Clothesline as Color Spectrum

Note: After viewing the sketch for Clothesline as Color Spectrum, Brooklyn-based poet and long-time studio friend Stephen R. Smith penned the following poem using the venerable poetic form of shadorma.

Shadorma for John Morse (after André Breton)

clothesline

marvelous
simply marvelous
uncanny
one might say
such other-worldly beauty
so everyday

 

Maquette of Paired Trilateral Pyramids chosen for Palm Springs Art Museum 30×30 Exhibition

This Palm Sprins proposal is the eighth iteration of the maquette, a concept first conceived 2008 in the moments after waking from a dream.  More information on Paired Trilateral Pyramids here.

 

Australia

2017-18, found paper collage, 40″ x 30″ (private collection)

A collector from “Down Under” gathered five large bags of recyclable materials, including lots of fastfood packaging, from across her homeland and shipped them to the studio with a request that they be fashioned into a portrait of her nation, as viewed from outer space.

September-October 2018 issue of Yankee Magazine features 2011 collage portrait of Emily Dickinson

photo credit:  Jason Varney

To see the Yankee Magazine article, click the image of Dickinson above.

 

Winner of New York City Department of Cultural Affairs 2018 Poetweet contest

The department’s annual poetry contest, held in conjunction of National Poetry Month and now in its ninth year, uses Twitter to share and recognize a wide range of poetry.  This year’s contest judges included the executive directors of the Academy of American Poets and the National Poetry Society.  In announcing the winners, Morse’s haiku, along with four other winning poems, was read aloud by New York City’s First Lady at a ceremony at Bryant Park at the New York Public Library.

The haiku, focused on the common house sparrow, was originally created for a limited edition calendar published by BH Communications in 2016.  For that project Morse merged a QR code containing the haiku with an original 2015 collage.  To read the haiku, scan the above image with a QR code reader.  For more details on the Department of Cultural Affairs poetry initiatives, click on the sparrow.