Archive for the ‘Silk Road Series’ Category

March Ex(plosion)  |  Eleventh Collage

Thursday, March 11th, 2021

 

Silk Road Seductions
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7.75 x 9.125 inches
available for purchase

Silk Road Guardians

Sunday, May 13th, 2018

“We have had 6,000 years of history with the horse and only 100 with the automobile.”
— Gloria Austin
 

In the spirit of my preparations for the Derby Celebration, I finished the next miniature in the Silk Road Series. It, too, carries an equine theme and provided me a perfect opportunity to hone my technique for an “apparently seamless” impression when combining a rich tangle of ingredients. There are times when one wants to convey that each element is a distinct part of the composition, and at other times to disguise their individual identity, working with larger visual quantities and textures formed by a composite of scrap.
 
Silk Road Guardians ~ collage miniature by John Andrew Dixon ~ Danville, Kentucky ~ Kentucky Crafted Mixed Media Artist

Silk Road Guardians
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7 x 9.375 inches
on consignment
 
Purchase this artwork.

a birthday salute . . .

Wednesday, October 7th, 2015

“In 1998, Ma founded Silkroad, a nonprofit outfit that connects diverse cultures and musicians not only through Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble (for which more than 80 pieces have been commissioned), but also by supporting education and cross-cultural business and artistic partnerships.”
– NPR.org
 

Today is the 60th birthday of Yo-Yo Ma, among the world’s most impressive creative individuals. When he brought his Silk Road Ensemble to my hometown in 2013, I was inspired to begin a series of collage poems dedicated to East-West understanding. I can think of no living artist with a greater curiosity for diverse influences, or a wider versatility, fusing cultural traditions with innovative experimentation.
 

Silk Road Details
digital compilation by J A Dixon
a birthday salute to Yo-Yo Ma

uncommon kindness . . .

Thursday, August 7th, 2014

An artist can anticipate nothing more gratifying than to form a sincere connection to another — someone who will discover satisfaction or meaning in one’s creation. As many collage practitioners already know, it is not a frequent experience for those of us who cannot bring ourselves to pander. It is more irregular to find a buyer who wants to live with an artwork. And beyond the satisfaction of a sale, there are those uncommon times when a corresponding creative act takes place in response, and one is the recipient of a profound kindness.

An Art Form Called Collage
by Patty Seitz

Images placed upon a blank paper just so
Or perhaps they were just placed
With no particular pattern in mind
The story emerging on its own
Developing as each image is carefully cut
Then positioned by the artist
By themselves they speak one message
Placed together they speak another
The dictionary says these are
“Various materials not normally associated with one another”
But when we see them together
Their association seems to have existed for a life time
And they bond as if they will never be apart again
Together they speak one language
Using each individual voice to create a harmony
That is most pleasing to the eye

 

Silk Road Triumphant
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.5 x 8 inches
collection of P B Seitz

March Exercise  |  year nine, day nineteen

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

 

Silk Road Calculations
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6 x 7.875 inches
 
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March Exercise  |  year nine, day fifteen

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

 

journal experiment:
dynamics of color and space


 

 

Silk Road Dialogues
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6 x 8 inches
 
Purchase this artwork!

Odes to influence, invention, inspiration . . .

Sunday, April 7th, 2013

“I’ve never met a tradition that is not the result of successful invention. As soon as you invent something that everybody wants, unless you evolve that tradition, it starts to get smaller. I think of the Silk Road, in many ways, as the Internet of antiquity. Today it’s much faster but we had essentially the same results. When people met at the borders, you traded; you figured out who you are; do I trust you? Can we do business together? Can we be friends?”
— Yo-Yo Ma

A week after finishing my 31-miniatures-in-31-days exercise, which culminated in a “Silk Road” collage series, I am able to look at the month’s output with a bit of perspective. A period of sustained experimentation collided with a catalytic event (attending a performance of the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma), and suddenly I was off on a ride of intense thematic exploration. I am now able to link the end result to a piece I created seven years ago as a tribute to Kurt Schwitters. I felt strongly at the time that by transcending the individual characteristics of ingredient elements, the totality of a compositional effect could take on a reverential tone. I have nothing against irreverence, satire, or sarcasm in art, but I am increasingly comfortable with the idea that when I step beyond an inspirational experience, my natural tendency is to seek beauty, harmony, and perhaps even “the sacred” in a work of collage.
 

Sacred Ode To Merz
J A Dixon, 2006
homage to K Schwitters
16 x 20 inches (framed)
private collection

March Exercise  |  Miniature Thirty-One

Sunday, March 31st, 2013

 

Silk Road Triumphant
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.5 x 8 inches

•  S O L D

March Exercise  |  Miniature Thirty

Saturday, March 30th, 2013

 

Silk Road Interpretations
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.5 x 8 inches
on consignment
 
Purchase this artwork!

March Exercise  |  Miniature Twenty-Nine

Friday, March 29th, 2013

 

Silk Road Impulses
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6 x 6.25 inches
 
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March Exercise  |  Miniature Twenty-Eight

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

 

Silk Road Translations
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6 x 7.75 inches
 
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