"Transformation" Series 2010

Beach Umbrella by Eric Olson

36 x 24" digital pigment ink on aluminum.  Limited Edition of 5

A free-wheeling romp on the beach that celebrates

the joy of being outside and free.

Recently sold at Gala Charity Auction

Harrisburg Magazine Exhibit

Yesterday, Eric and I had the pleasure of working with Patti and Len Boccassini at the offices of Harrisburg Magazine in Harrisburg with the installation of 14 of Eric's framed photographic landscape prints. The exhibit is sponsored by the Art Association of Harrisburg and is open to the public from October 5th - December 31, 2010. One third of the purchase price of the prints on exhibit will go to the Art Association.

Our trip to Mercersburg

Still recovering from jet lag after a 21 hour travel period from Italy to the United States. Not much time to waste (or sleep) before off and running to the next "art gig" so to speak. Eric and I packed 6 of his Transformation prints in the car this afternoon and traveled south from our farm on PA I 75 through beautiful country side where the foliage is just starting to turn red, orange and gold - almost like Eric's print "Gold Hot Rays". This was one of the prints on exhibit at the Museo d'Arte in Chianciano, Italy during our recent visit there for the awards for photographic and digital arts. "Gold Hot Rays" will remain part of the museum's permanent collection. Our end destination today was the Burgin Center for the Arts on the campus of Mercersburg Academy in the lovely town of of Mercersburg, PA. We were met at the Center by Mark Flowers, artist and instructor at the Academy who will curate the exhibit of Eric's prints and the paintings of David Bottini in a show called "Forces of Nature". The opening of the exhibit is Friday, October 8th with a public reception at 7 p.m.

The Villa Serbelloni

This morning, Eric and I spent our last day in Italy in a very special place on Lake Como - the Villa Serbelloni, site of the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Conference and Study Center. Eric's father Bill and his mother Betsy had spent many years at the Villa when Bill was the Director of the Center. Eric and his siblings Peter and Annie spent their school holidays at the Villa, and Eric was eager to return to the place that held so many happy memories for his family. We were invited to tour the grounds of the Villa, which is located on a hill high above the beautiful lake town of Bellagio.

Como

After a nearly six hour train trip, we arrived at Lake Como in the early evening Monday. We are staying at the Hotel Borgovico in the town of Como and will soon be exploring some of the more well known lake towns.

We met two nice, well spoken young men at the railroad station in Milan who were on their way back to their hometown Hamburg, Germany. They had been traveling all over Europe with back packs and guitars, playing music in town plazas for the sheer joy of it. They admitted being somewhat "travel weary", and I now can identify with them. I am looking forward to seeing Lake Como, but I will also be happy to be home at the end of the week!

Goodbye to Chianciano

We leave by train tomorrow for Milan, and then on to beautiful Lake Como for a few days. We are sad to leave our friends the Peleggi family who own the Hotel Alba here in Chianciano. We are thankful for their warmth and hospitality. We also are honored to have been part of the exhibition at the Museo d'Arte Chianciano. At the awards ceremony yesterday, it was announced that over 1300 artists applied to participate in the exhibition and only "an elite group" of 100 finalists was selected from 35 different countries. We feel especially fortunate to have made new friends from the Phillipines, Israel, Holland, Germany, Norway and Turkey. Most of all, we treasure the special friendship of Elaine Poggi from Florence and admire her dedication to her Foundation for Photo/Art in Hospitals.

The best news came later today when Eric was informed that one of his pieces "Gold Hot Rays" will stay in Chianciano as part of the Museum's permanent collection. "Aquanta 8" will be delivered to the Gagliardi Gallery in London! Bravo!

Breathing Art Everyday

I am reading "Bella Tuscany" by Frances Mayes who also wrote "Under the Tuscan Sun". She describes the Italians as being intimate with art, growing up with art every day. She writes, "Art always has been outside, something I appreciated, loved, sought, but something not exactly natural. American towns are often void of art and are often actively ugly. In schools, art is usually a luxury which falls with no thud when the budget ax swings. Art, music, poetry - natural pleasures we were born to love - are expendables, fancy extras, so very non-binary. The unnaturalness comes, too, from the hushed atmosphere of the museums, where most of us experience art. In Italy, so much art is in the churches. Artists were commissioned to paint churches, chapels, grain markets, banks, cloisters, city halls, bedrooms, cemetery memorials, and standards borne through the streets. Sculptors glorified the rich with statues and local piazze with playful and joyous fountains. The people began to breathe the art everyday. Art in Everyday Life".

We see art all around us here, in the small hill town churches, homes and gardens. The abstract patterns of the wine fields and olive tree groves are pleasing to the eye. I feel joyously content.