Photos from Walden Installation

Below are some views of the installation at the Visitor’s Center Gallery at the Walden Pond State Reservation from this past weekend. The display space is made of horizontally set wood that catches light throughout the day, which changes the view of the work, it’s quite amazing to watch over the course of a few hours.

Visitor’s Center front entrance

Setting up works inside the space.

Setting up works inside the space

Installation set up

Three paintings on the outside wall of the Visitor's Center Gallery at Walden Pond.

Setting up the outside front wall

View of the north wall of the Visitor's Center gallery, nearly completely set up.

Nearly complete installing works inside the space

View looking through the glass into the Visitor's Center Gallery at the Walden Pond Center.

View looking in: The glass wall of the Visitor’s Center

Walden Exhibit: Return to Walden Woods, exhibit statement

It was in 2014 that I first exhibited paintings at Walden Pond State Reservation. At that time, many of the works I produced were direct responses to the landscape around the pond and the surrounding woods. Near the end of that time of intense drawing and painting, I found my “stride” and began to open up my creative intuition enough to move beyond literal depictions of what I saw. This process was necessary, somewhat like taking very detailed field notes before I could learn what improvisation might look like. Simultaneously, I was reading Thoreau’s Walden again, appreciating the patchwork of experiences that informed his stay in the woods. Drawing, reading, walking the woods, and swimming in the pond were much like leaves as you see them at the pond’s clear water-edge: delicately layered, finely outlined, with contours running into each other.

To return to Walden and immerse myself artistically into the woods and the water again was both exciting and daunting. I’ve always loved this place, and have spent innumerable hours here over the years. At the same time, I wondered what it would be like to revisit painting and drawing from my particular perspective of life at the present moment: Does Walden speak differently to me now than it did then? How have we both changed? I picked up Walden again and while reading was reminded of Thoreau’s constant fascination with the everyday (even mundane) details that he’d see around him, and the following drew my attention:

Why do precisely these objects which we behold make a world?

“Water and Land Flora” Ink, gouache, and gesso on wood panel, 24 x 18 inches, 2023.

I carried that quote around with me as I walked, read, took photos, and painted. Walden has become a large part of my being; I feel as though a part of me resides here all the time, as if my surrogate walks the woods even if I’m otherwise occupied, so that I never quite leave. This was important to me as I worked because I noticed that creating art was more intuitive and sure-footed than it was nine years ago. So although it may not mean that Walden communicates any differently to me now than it did then, I have learned more of its language and understand what it says with greater comprehension, and deeper sensitivity.

I have chosen views, subjects, and sensations from Walden that are, for me, the precise objects that I behold that make a world. 

John Biebel is a painter, writer, musician and product designer who currently lives and works just outside Providence, Rhode Island. This is his second exhibit at Walden Pond.

New Exhibit at Walden Pond State Reservation, Concord, MA - February 11 - April 30, 2023.

I’ll be exhibiting a new selection of Walden-inspired paintings at the Walden Pond State Reservation at Concord Massachusetts beginning 11 February 2023 through the end of April. This is a particularly exciting opportunity as I’ve exhibited at Walden before about 9 nears ago - a truly joyous occasion, and it represented a thorough exploration into the woods, Thoreau, and my connection to this historic spot.

More info will be posted, including photos of the paintings, in the next next. Two of the works will be available as giclée prints in limited editions. Look here and in your email for more information as it becomes available.

“Early Autumn at Walden Woods” Oil on linen, 26 x 28 inches, 2021.

Open Studios, and New Studio Location

Once again it is time for Open Studios at Waltham Mills. This will be a particularly important year because it will be my last participation at this historic site, since I am moving the studio to a great new space at 250 Esten Avenue in Pawtucket, RI. 2018 has been a year of incredible change for myself: I’ve bought a new (yet historic) home in Cranston, Rhode Island, and with that change, I’ve been slowly moving the rest of my life along with it. The process has been a joyful one, however, as the best periods of life always seem tied to changes. I’m swept up in the lore and culture of seaside Rhode Island and really loving my new environment. Still being tied to Boston (through my full time job) makes it all the better, having the best of both worlds, so to speak.

NewHousePorch.jpg

View from the porch of the new house.

There will be approximately 12 new paintings to view at Waltham’s Open Studios this year, happening on November 3rd and 4th, the first weekend of November, Saturday and Sunday, from 12 noon to 6 pm each day. I will be updating the website with the new works right up until the actual weekend, so come back for more updates as they are announced. Please come and see all the art, there are many different kinds of artists participating, and something for everyone to enjoy. It will be a great pleasure to see many of my friends and colleagues again, and of course I look forward to sharing part of the Waltham Mills experience again before I move onto new adventures in art in my new Rhode Island location. See you there!

Website Changes

It's summer of 2017, and the website is undergoing some changes, mostly streamlining the look and feel and simplifying navigation. I will soon be adding an "archive" section that details some of the older works that I've been unearthing in the studio. I'll also be cataloging as much as possible of the drawings and prints in their own new single category. I appreciate your patience as things are shifted around. Soon the site will be a richer, fuller archive of the past and present work, with some more links to other work that I'm doing in my other associated careers (UX, freelance writing, scent creation.)

"Puberty" Edvard Munch, Oil on canvas, 1894 version.

I've also seen some monumental exhibits in the recent past and will be writing more about their impact on the work that I'm doing lately; the larger impact on my evolution as a whole. In particular, the current Edvard Munch exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was a wonder, a reminder of how important his work has played in my development and imagination in my younger years. I could write endlessly about the impression that certain paintings of his have had on my imagination, and I will find time to do so. Meanwhile, we cull the archives and keep working. Look for many new and old images to appear. JTB

Open Studios - This weekend!

Greetings everyone - Mad and wondrous preparations are underway for Open Studios happening this weekend, November 5th and 6th, at Waltham Mills Open Studios. You can find my studio at 144 Moody Street, Building #4, 3rd Floor, Waltham, Massachusetts. I'm through the main entrance, just a slight bit to the left (you'll see a large canvas of a minimal tree landscape just past my studio door.) All the buildings are open from 12 noon to 6 pm on each day, Saturday and Sunday.

This comes as a cap to an exciting year with an exhibit at The Painting Center in New York City in July. I've added over 30 new paintings to my body of work this year, so it's been very prolific and fruitful. The trip to the Netherlands in the Spring was a huge influence; being surrounded by everything from the Cobra works to the Dutch Masters to the retrospective of Bosch brought an incredible perspective of artwork that I love and speaks very keenly to me.

I hope to see you this coming Saturday or Sunday - and thank you for the continued support.

J

City of Fog, Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches, 2016.

Waltham Mills Open Studios, Saturday and Sunday November 5-6, 2016

Please join us at the 40th anniversary Waltham Mills Open Studios in Waltham MA. All details can be found at the WMAA site. It takes place on the first weekend of November, Sat and Sun 5th and 6th, 2016, from 12-6pm each day. The site includes transit and parking information, a map of all the buildings and how to get to them, listings of all the artists and their disciplines and many photographs of their work. It'll be an exciting weekend. Please be sure to come to my studio, #3, on the 3rd floor of Building #4 at Waltham Mills at 144 Moody Street. I really look forward to seeing you there.

New York City Exhibition at The Painting Center, 19 July - 13 August, 2016

I'm very excited to announce a new exhibit of works at The Painting Center in New York City from mid-July to mid-August 2016. The show is titled Imaginary Portraits and Remembered Cities, and will feature recent works from 2015 and '16. Works presented are culled from his series of imaginary portraits and city abstractions, creating a dialog between spaces and the people that inhabit them. From the gallery's press release:

The portraits and landscapes reveal a mythical world that feels somewhat close to our own, but which is enlivened through the wandering mind, where figures blossom out of their humbleness, and cities undulate in shimmering reflections. Biebel uses a wide range of pictorial language in these works, floating between painterly chiaroscuros, to graphic print-like effects, to achieve a state of flux where solid objects seem to be in a state of humming motion.

You can read the full press release at The Painting Center website. The exhibition dates are Monday, July 19th - Saturday, August 13th, 2016. The opening reception is on Thursday, July 21st from 6 pm to 8 pm.

The Painting Center is located at 547 West 27th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY 10001, tel: 212 343 1060, and is open Tuesday - Saturday, 11:00 am - 6 pm.

For more information about visiting The Painting Center, please see their Visitor's Page.

Open Studios at Waltham Mills / River Street Artists, November 7th - 8th, 2015.

Enormous preparations are underway for (my) first Open Studios at Waltham Mills this year. The event covers all the buildings associated with Waltham Mills plus the Lincoln Studios a bit further up Moody Street. My studio is located at 144 Moody Street, Building 4, 3rd Floor, Studio #3. 

It will be two full days from 12 noon to 6 pm, with nearly all the artists participating; a chamber music ensemble will be preforming, refreshments served, and lots of incredible art being made, displayed and available for purchase. Waltham does such an amazing job at promotion and support for its arts, I'm really looking forward to this opportunity.

I've decided to expand a bit in the offerings this year and I'll be selling t-shirts that I designed, and (fingers crossed) will also be offering my first completed project in the realm of the scent senses. As some of you know, I've been studying the complexities of perfume-making, and am happy to have arrived at some formulations I'd like to share with the public now as a starter, and to hear some reactions. This first release will be a small roll-on perfume oil, of which I will write more very soon. Production is still happening, but many more details to come soon.

I look forward to seeing you at Open Studios this year, it will truly be an exceptional event.

New Studio at River Street Artists / Waltham Mills, Waltham, MA.

I made the move from Joy Street Studios in Somerville to Waltham Mills (River Street Artists) in Waltham, MA this July. By mid-August, It feels pretty comfortable now and I'm enjoying it a great deal. The space is huge, well-lit, and incredibly climate controlled by big windows. The other artists with whom I share the space in this big building are very talented folks and I couldn't ask for better studio mates. I'm really looking forward to Open Studios in November when I can show some of the latest works to a new audience. More photos and stuff to come from the new digs.

Details for Walden Exhibit

The exhibit at Walden Pond Reservation has been hung, and will be up until the 28th of March, 2014.  The Tsongas Gallery, which is just next to the Thoreau Society Bookstore, is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the month of February, and seven days a week during March.  It's located at 915 Walden Street, Concord, MA, 01742.  You can find all the relevant details at this facebook listing, and you can 'like' the facebook page while you're there if you'd care to do so.  Thank you.

New Site:

Starting January, 2014, the www.johnbiebel.com has now moved to a completely redesigned format.  After years of an html-driven site, I've moved the operation to something far cleaner, easier to manage, more robust, and completely mobile-enhanced.  It's exciting to be working with such a particularly clean slate as I'm also looking forward to the opening of the Walden exhibit as well in just about a week's time.  Thanks for your visits here, and I hope to be adding as much new content as possible as time passes.