New as of yet untitled series. These are pen on paper. I am figuring out how I want to paint them. Working through some ideas before I sit down and begin. The idea of the gridded image is one of interest to me. I have for years made drawings in a framed line. It was always the first mark on the paper. Setting up the space and the size.

Ink on paper 2012cc

Ink on paper, 2012cc

Ink on paper 2012 cc

Ink on Paper 2012 cc

Brush and ink on paper. 2012cc

Dark blue ink on paper

Ink on paper

Flower Study 2012 CC

Notebook Drawing

Notebook Drawing 2012

Pen and ink on paper

Framed Willow Branch Drawing courtesy Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

                                         Willow Branch Drawings

The Willow Branch series was started a few years ago in my studio as a break from my paintings. The immediacy and freshness of the ink on paper felt like a wonderful meditative exploration to me. I trusted the brain in my wrist to guide my hand and allow myself the freedom and looseness to find the form. With a minimal amount of lines there was nothing to hide behind. The sureness of my eye and the distance I had from the work using sharpened willow branches dipped in ink created drawings that are both elegant and fine.

Curtis Cutshaw 2012 

Framed Willow Branch Drawing. Courtesy Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

Framed Willow Drawing, courtesy Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawings. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing, willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing, Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

"It's hard enough to make art when you devote your life to it. It's agony to see grown men and women struggling over paintings a five-year-old would throw away." Chuck Close talking about hobby painters.

Willow branch, dark blue ink, on paper

Willow branch, dark blue ink, on paper

Willow branch, dark blue ink, on paper

Willow branch, dark blue ink, on paper CC12

What I have always loved about drawing is that I can do it anywhere at any time. There is never any issue of preparing or cost involved. I read once that Jackson Pollock when he was so broke he could not afford paper he would take bank deposit slips for paper to draw on.
They can be as big or small as you want them to be. Small enough to fit in your pocket or large enough to cover a wall.

Willow branch and ink on paper. CC2012

This Drawing which was made this past week is from a series I started in 2001. Only recently have I returned to it. The drawings are made with cut willow branches dipped in dark blue ink on paper. Some of the drawings are made with branches as long as three feet in order to get back from the drawing while still having contact. I have always walked back and away from the paper to look at my drawings while working on them. Using long branches enabled me to be back from the work in order to see it but still be able to work on it at the same time.  Having only recently looked back at this series I have found a new energy for it and a shift in direction that has taken place some 11 years later.

I remember going into a gallery a few years ago with another painter. Upon entering we saw a drawing show. The show consisted of artists who do not draw, or at least not very much. We said to each other that the dealer must have said he was putting a show together and needed a drawing from each artist in the gallery. We left after having a good laugh knowing that they certainly were not what we were. I draw all the time. They are an activity all in themselves. I have always believed that painters have drawings for blood. If you do not draw then don't show them. Other people may not see what you are but a draughtsman will.  

Installation shots of my show in Vancouver at the Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

Vocal.

New print to be released next week. Final color corrections and test strips done. This print will be featured in Art Miami, December 4th- 9th with the Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

VISUAL ARTS

WATERMARK: NEW DRAWINGS BY CURTIS CUTSHAW

To create his dynamic, poetically-charged works, Curtis Cutshaw attaches a string to a dowsing rod and then a pen to the end of the string. Walking over ground he finds water, deep below the surface, and then the pen moves, creating his drawings. He describes the process as a search for feeling. "Each drawing gives a presence," he writes.

Opening reception, Thursday, 5 - 8: 30 p.m. (with artist talk 7 p.m.); show runs to Nov. 11 Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

Vancouver Sun October 2012

Opening day in Vancouver. If you are in the area it would be great if you could stop by and say hi. Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Yaletown 5-8:30.

Tomorrow Barb and I leave for beautiful Vancouver. My solo show opens Thursday night at Jennifer Kostuik Gallery. I will be giving an artist talk about my work, the origins of it, my thought process on my unique approach and why I make the work I do. Looking forward to seeing the wonderful people of Vancouver and enjoying all that the city has to offer.

YALETOWN EVENTS

• October 18, 2012
  WATERMARK by Curtis Cutshaw Opens Oct 18th at Jennifer Kostuik Gallery
  More Info »
• October 25, 2012
  Shake Up Yaletown
  More Info »

View Events Calendar »

WATERMARK BY CURTIS CUTSHAW OPENS OCT 18TH AT JENNIFER KOSTUIK GALLERY

Start:

October 18, 2012 5:00 pm

End:

October 18, 2012 8:30 pm

Venue:

Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

Phone:

(604) 737-3969

Address:
Google Map

1070 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6B2W9

Opening night Oct 18th 5:00-8:30pm
Artist Talk begins at 7:00pm

Like a seismograph, Curtis Cutshaw attaches a string to a dowsing rod and then a pen to the end of the string. Walking over ground he finds water, deep below the surface. He describes the process as a search for feeling, a movement. When it is found, the pen moves creating the line.

It is the push and pull of the reaction his dowsing rod brings to form a drawing. The motion of his steps interacts with the movement of the pen; if he stops walking, so stops the line. It becomes a delicate balance between nature and the hand. From drawing, to computer scan, to archival print on photographic paper the image transforms to something entirely organic and otherworldly.

To view all the works from Watermark 2012, Pull 2011 or, Blindspot 2006, visit his artist page on our web site: Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

Just over one week till my opening in Vancouver at the Jennifer Kostuik Gallery.
The work is being framed and will soon be ready for preview at the gallery.

Vocal

New Dowsing Rod Print. Watermark series 2012 Curtis Cutshaw

I have always been interested in outside influence in my work. Bringing in something to react to or deal with. Something outside my control. When I was a student I used to go to the hardware store and buy mistints. I would then return to my studio and paint with whatever paint they had there. The choice of colour was removed. Greens, pinks, browns, yellows. Colours I would not normally use in my work. A lot of the time colours that would not necessarily go together or colours that were not what one should put together. I created a problem of making a painting work while removing personal choice. Artists have always selected colour, image and content based on the personal. Removing some or all of that has been something I have always been interested in and it is something that has reoccurred throughout my career. Taking my personal choice out of the equation to different extents. With the Dowsing Rod series I have fully embraced this and found my work going in directions it would not go if I had relied on the personal alone. Monet chose to paint hay stacks. I remember deKooning talking about how it was not a brilliant idea to paint hay stacks. This got me thinking about the choices we make as painters and how we come to the conclusions we do. My interest to remove some of my choice has taken my art in directions that are not the personal. I have said before that where my hand would naturally go left the dowsing rod went right. This is not the accidental. I am then left to react to the mark made and this can be difficult when the eye is involved. After years and years of studying Art History and the story of painting we are very aware of the ladder of Art. Why one artist sits at a certain level and another either higher or lower.
 Francis Bacon's work had the accidental or as he would say the total removal of the accidental. Paint was left to do what it would but there was still the personal in that the image could either be destroyed or reworked until it met with the approval of the artist eye. Is art good if the artist eye is removed? To what extent can we remove the artists eye and it still be good? Or still be art? Can the artist leave a picture unfinished or off balance? How can the artist resist the temptation to correct? Will it be seen as the artist not getting this one right? Or is the off balance piece the strongest of all? The most true of all? The most honest of all? In my latest body of work there is one piece in particular that embraces this notion. The work is off balance and not quite right. It for me is a direction that is both risky and at the same time one that is taking my work to a new level.

This past weekend Barb and I drove my new work out to Vancouver so it could be framed and ready for my solo show at Jennifer Kostuik Gallery in October. The trip was beautiful with all the fall colors and wonderful company! We managed to take in the Cone sisters collection at the VAG too. Nice show. Vancouver was lovely as usual and I feel so at home there. We have put a lot of effort into this new show and with the upcoming Art Toronto and Miami this fall we are looking forward to a great season.

New Solo Show at Jennifer Kostuik Gallery Vancouver 

Curtis Cutshaw

October 18, 2012 - November 12, 2012

Featured artists: Curtis Cutshaw

Opening night Oct 18th 6:00-9:00pm
Artist Talk begins at 7:30pm

Based in Calgary, Alberta, Curtis Cutshaw’s mediums have always including painting and drawing. In 2005 he developed a unique approach to drawing where he acts as the “medium” through which dowsing rods, held by the artist, move when water is found underground. With pens on paper held beneath them, several layers of lines are recorded, much like a seismograph. They are then scanned, enlarged and colored, each image sized according to the scale Cutshaw prefers. Cutshaw’s education includes 1989 residency program Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine, and 1988 Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, New York City Loft Program, graduating with a Diploma of Painting with Distinction in 1989 later receiving several awards in art. Kostuik Gallery has represented Cutshaw since 2000.

I feel a new set of drawings coming on. Like a wave, I feel it approaching. It is coming and all I can do is brace for it. Where will you take me today? Where will we go? Lets find out!

artMRKT San Francisco

May 17, 2012 - May 20, 2012

Jennifer Kostuik Gallery is participating in artMRKT San Francisco 2012. If you're in San Francisco, stop by and visit us at our booth during the fair! Featuring work by Curtis Cutshaw

My daughter came home from school the other day and when asked at the dinner table what she did today in school she said that they watched a movie in Music. Was it a movie about music or a historical piece where music played a huge part? No it was not. Apparently the teacher was preparing for the school play and so she put a movie on for the grade three class. I got upset and everyone was surprised or maybe not, because they know me. I said, would this happen in math class? Or science? No it would not. So why is it ok to do that in Music class or in Art class? It brought back a memory of high school where our yearly Art budget was spent by the sports department instead of on supplies for Art. I have had many discussions about how little importance Art and Music have in schools compared to math. I remember sitting with a mathematician talking about the Golden Section. He was coming at it thru numbers and I was coming at it thru Art. We were both talking at the same level and coming to the same conclusions. Anything that you can teach in grade school math can be taught in Art. Art can be taught at a high level but instead the schools are teaching Art at a very basic level. Art has no place in school or so they would have us believe. I beg to differ and I will always speak up and stand up for Art and Music in the lives of our children. It is important and people are too stupid to see that. Someone said to me that it is too early too put that much focus on art and music. I said we do it for hockey and that is why in Canada we have a history of having some of the best hockey players in the world.
I don't have to worry though because my blog is about Art so it and what I say will go totally unnoticed.

Meghan Jessiman ‏ @SwerveCalgary

Today's Must Do: Curtis Cutshaw: Watermark. The artist ties pencils to dowsing rods and strikes gold at Herringer Kiss.http://bit.ly/JDBSeu

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The Must Do List, Swerve Magazine April 2012

Herringer Kiss Gallery Calgary

CURTIS CUTSHAW: WATERMARK

We don't know if the artist found water when he tied a pen to his dowsing rods, but he certainly created some intriguing images.

Why do you draw? Do you draw because you have to? Do you draw because your dealer asked you for a drawing for the group drawing show? Do you show your drawings? Are they private? What do you expect from a drawing? Are your drawings an end in themselves? Or do you draw as a preparatory stage for your paintings or sculpture?
Drawing is immediate. A single line can completely transform an entire sheet of paper. A single mark can give the viewer enough information on how to look and direct them at what they are looking at. Drawing can be done anywhere at any time.
I remember reading about Jackson Pollock being so broke that he would go and take the deposit slips from the bank and draw on them when he could not afford paper. You can always draw.
You can't hide in a drawing. It is all there.
I often look at master drawings and try to figure out where the first mark was made and how an entire drawing can be built around one single line.
I am the person at the large painting shows standing alone looking at the small little drawings that go unnoticed.
I draw because I have to. Every single day.  They are an end in themselves and take me to places nothing else can.

"I draw as I breathe"- Joseph Beuys.

New print as of yet untitled. I have just done the test strip and I am very happy with how it turned out. I plan on making this one about the size of the recent Close Call. 38''x 45''. It is a nice mid size. Allowing the viewer to see all the detail lost in this small reproduction. 

Curtis Cutshaw: Watermark

Avenue Magazine 

Apr 7, 2012 to May 5, 2012

Herringer Kiss Gallery
709A 11 Ave.S.W.
Calgary, Alberta

herringerkissgallery.com

Herringer Kiss Gallery presents "Watermark," an exhibition of new works by Edmonton artist Curtis Cutshaw.

Cutshaw's work is based on drawings he made incorporating the use of dowsing rods he found on his family farm.

Exhibit runs April 7 to May 5. There is an opening reception Saturday, April 7 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. with artist in attendance.

The opening is now done! We had a wonderful time and a lovely dinner afterwards with Deborah and her husband Joseph. I am excited with the new work and so happy with the direction my series has taken. Standing in the gallery for hours I was able to see the depth of the new work and feel how they seeped into me slowly letting me see more and more the longer I looked. The color and all the layering of line. How the Dowsing Rod series has progressed and how they encompass so much more now. I am confident that people will "see" the work and that we can continue to build and move forward and expand further to let others see what I am doing.

The sun is shining. Opening day is finally here after months of preparation. My solo show is opening this afternoon from 2-5pm at the Herringer Kiss Gallery in Calgary. I can hardly wait to be with my family, friends and my art. What a great day!

Thank you so much to Mia Johnson for her article in this months Preview The Gallery Guide.

Herringer Kiss Gallery
Calgary AB – Apr 7-May 5, 2012

Curtis Cutshaw, Close Call (2012), digital print [Herringer Kiss Gallery, Calgary AB, Apr 7-May 5]

Curtis Cutshaw, Go (2012), digital print [Herringer Kiss Gallery, Calgary AB, Apr 7-May 5]

Curtis Cutshaw, North Branch (2012), digital print [Herringer Kiss Gallery, Calgary AB, Apr 7-May 5]

Curtis Cutshaw, Watermark (2012), digital print [Herringer Kiss Gallery, Calgary AB, Apr 7-May 5]

Curtis Cutshaw creates paintings that combine automatic drawing and digital manipulation. The vivid inkjet prints have an ethereal presence by virtue of their colour and composition. They gain an added sense of romance and mysticism from his “magical” practice of suspending felt pens and paper from dousing rods.

He writes: “Walking over the ground I find water deep below the surface. I search for feeling, a movement. When it is found, the pen moves creating the line… It is a delicate balance between nature and the hand.”

Cutshaw has created 15,000 drawings from the act of divination for The Dowsing Rod Collection. With pens on paper held beneath the rods, several layers of lines were recorded for each image. The drawings were then scanned into a computer, digitally reversed into negatives, colour enhanced and printed up to five feet in size. The push and pull of the divining rod causes changes in the pace and direction of the lines, while the many stops and starts punctuate the webs like polyps or buds on vines. He describes them as “large-scale double helices encrusted with salts” or “the skeletons of complex subaquatic creatures.”

Sponsored by the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Curtis Cutshaw was awarded an Illingworth Kerr Scholarship to attend the New York Loft Program in 1998. He subsequently earned a diploma in painting from the Alberta College of Art. In 1989 he attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Cutshaw currently works and lives in Calgary, Alberta.

www.herringer
kissgallery.com

Mia Johnson