Painting Show

Dear friends, family, fans and fanatics,

I would like to invite you to join me at the Elusie Gallery in Easthampton, MA on Saturday, May 14th for the opening reception of my show, "New Paintings". The reception coincides with Easthampton's Arts Walk. There will be free visual, musical and performance art events at different locations throughout Easthampton.

This is my first solo show of paintings and I would love to have your support. Come and see my recent artwork, drink a glass of wine, and enjoy the Arts Walk!

I hope to see you there!
-Chris

(more info)
www.chrismillette.com
www.eastmontgallery.net
www.artwalkeasthampton.org

SPOILER ALERT!

Here are some sneak peeks of new paintings in progress:

Steamroller Print Workshop!

More photos on my Flickr page here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20677285@N02/sets/72157624076460562/

Oh, if only I had a studio...

While friends and I are desperately searching the area for cheap studio spaces, I have to make due with with my bedroom. Note the exemplary usage of space i.e. the bed that doubles as a work table, dresser with bench clamp feature...


Despite the less than ideal space situation sculptures are moving ahead! I've got 4 days to finish them up for a group show at the Umass Student Union Art Gallery. The reception will be on Tuesday, March 23, for all of you in the western Mass area. It is a juried group show of installation art, also featuring the work of another fine Northampton artist, Ms. Lea Chiara.


Here's a sneak peak of one of the works in progress. None of this will be visible once the sculpture is completed. This is just the armature. If all goes well, that guitar will be playing itself from within the sculpture.

To see how it turns out, come check out the show! It will only be up for a week or two!

Reppin' Eli and Drew

So glad this music video finally got leaked online. Check it out. My good friends Eli Stonberg and Drew Daly directed it a few years back.

Passion Pit-Sleepyhead from ssarenofun1 on Vimeo.

New sculpture and Palermo

Here are some photos of the sculpture that Louise commisioned us to make at her house in Tuscany. We made a frame out of beautiful chestnut wood and then attached pieces of olive wood together to make four tree shapes. Their branches reach inwards to form a shading roof. Louise plans on planting kiwis, grapes, or some other leafy vine to grow over the structure.

The night that we finished we had a big dinner at Louise's with lots of friends. We brought them all out to see the sculpture by candlelight and took a few photos.

The next day we left for Sicilia! After an all-night 15 hour train ride we finally reached Palermo! (At dawn our whole train went on a ferry to cross the sea to Sicilia.) We had no idea where we would sleep but luck came our way. We met a great Swedish couple (shown above with Lea) who gave us some advice and a map. Then Couchsurfing pulled through and connected us with the wonderful Giuseppe and Geraldine. We've been staying in Giuseppe's small apartment in the center of Palermo. He took us out for delicious pizza and brought us to a cool bar venue where three musicians were playing jazz.

Today we wandered through Palermo. Above is the Cathedral (part of it, rather. It's tremendous!) We walked all over town, much of which was closed to traffic for Xmas shopping. Lots of street performers and markets. Note the palm trees and glorious weather.

Oh, we also saw this car. We parked next to it last night. I think it was firebombed. We are in Palermo after all! But don't worry, we don't have any money so I don't think anyone will mess with us!

Tomorrow we go to a WWOOF farm nearby, on the way to Lea's ancestral stomping grounds. I'll keep you all in the loop. Lots of love,

C

Grapes, Olives, and Kittens, oh my!

Here's the happy family, Alessia with Ajo (the kitten/tiger), Lea, Me, Nicoletta, Fabio, and Dino.

It's harvest time in Tuscany! Lea showed up about a month ago and we made our trek back to Dino's just in time for the vendemia: the grape harvest and pressing. Like berry picking, grape harvesting mostly means putting grapes in a basket when you can no longer fit any in your mouth.Almost right after that we got to work on the olive harvest, and have been picking ever since! We often pick until sunset, as you can see below.

Here's Ajo, our little tiger. He provides endless entertainment around the farm, as well as insightful critiques of my drawings. He's also a great climber and percher.

Fall is quickly turning into winter, with chilly nights, shorter days, and lots of rain! Luckily we still get incredible sunsets. That's Dino's, seen from the olive groves above the house.


Today Lea and I transfer to Louise's to build a goat shed, make a sculpture, and pick MORE olives. Then its off to Sicily and then... home sweet home! See you all for Christmas!

Love, chris

New drawings and poetry

Well, here's what I've been up to during my last few weeks of travel.  I've made a bunch of drawings and written some poetry in English and Italian or some mixture of the two.  Its wonderful to play with the different languages because certain phrases and words cannot be fully translated.  They lose their meaning.  My Italian is still far from perfect, but in a way this helps.  I am not tied to grammar and traditional phrases.  I try to use the words (whether English or Italian) like pieces to collage with.  I think of these poems as drawings with words. 

Our Dusty Lives

  

Le stelle fanno il loro viaggio

Syria

Cervo

Viola

Breakfast with the Holy Family

Viola dormendo

Taro

Leaf Shadows

Train Bird

America

Paperlight

Le anche degli alberi

Itaca

Seeds Need Soil