Continuing the Conversation- Artist as Collector

Philadelphia area artist Bill Brookover is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series.

Fran Gallun, Untitled
collage and mixed media on paper,
10"  x 7 1/4" 

I’m lucky to have been a friend of Fran Gallun’s for over 30 years. We are part of a small group of friends who have watched our kids grow from diapers to kids of their own. Over the years I’ve watched Fran’s work evolve from large square canvases of still lives and scenes from her studio, to installations of sacred spaces, to small collages evoking the landscape of Israel and the spirituality of Judaism.

Several years ago my wife and I bought one of Fran's large still life canvases; we have been watching this recent phase of her career with great interest. She uses strips of intensely colored paper laid done onto equally intensely colored backgrounds. They evoke landscape, layers of history, and layers of time through their sheer beauty. 

We visited her open studio last month and, when we saw this small collage, we decided the time was right to own a piece. Its small size made it affordable for us. We’ve recently moved into a new house and can’t wait to see it framed and in conversation with the still life from decades before.

Fran Gallun is represented by the Rosenfeld Gallery in Philadelphia; her work is currently on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art at Congregation Rodef Shalom.

Bill Brookover is a photographer, printmaker and teaching artist based out of Haddonfield, NJ.

Bill has taught silkscreen printing at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. since 2010. His work celebrates the beauty of everyday life in the buildings, cities, and landscapes around us. 

Wrapping up the Year 2012

Wrapped Up, 2012
Shell, overly beaten flax
©2012NanciHersh

As 2012 wraps up I would like to acknowledge and thank all of you who have touched my life.

May the new year bring good health, peace, joy, love, inspiration and prosperity. May we acknowledge the miracles big and small that make up our days.

With love and peace,

Nanci

Gifted In Istanbul, Artist as Collector

This week's Artist as Collector blog post comes from American Printmaker Celeste Pierson currently living and teaching in Istanbul, Turkey.

Garden of Ephsus

Solar Plate Print

©2012DanWelden

collection of Celeste Pierson

Last August after packing up my belongings and putting them in storage,  I got on a plane with my dog Nelly, and we flew to Istanbul, Turkey where I  had accepted a job teaching art at a wonderful school called Robert College.  A month later, my partner Jack joined me. We are happily settling in while exploring the culture and sights of Istanbul.

One day a phone call came to the house where we live on campus, from an old friend and former colleague, Dan Weldon who just happened to be teaching art on a cruise ship docked for a few days in Istanbul.  We journeyed down to the port to visit with Dan, and over tea we discussed many interesting things.  In the course of conversation Dan mentioned his concern because his assistant for this leg of the trip wasn’t able to make it… and would Jack like to join him for a week free of charge and travel throughout Turkey and Greece as his teaching assistant? Of course, said yes!!  Jack went on the  cruise while I stayed and worked. 

This solar plate print by Dan Welden, - the first print of our Istanbul collection, was gifted to us as a gesture of thanks and gratitude for Jack's help on the cruise.

That’s the bonus of being a printmaker- creating multiples to share and exchange of our work,  so we can surround ourselves with “soft and fuzzy” memories of friends, students and colleagues.

Capturing Images You want to Share Again and Again

Chester County, PA based photographer Rich McFarland is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series.

Otter Cliffs Acadia
Photograph
©2012NateParker

Every creative person knows- or has a very good idea about their strengths and weaknesses.  As a photographer, composition, lighting and color are my strengths. Conversely, I feel that although, like most photographers, I began almost 25 years ago shooting in black and white, I’ve never been satisfied with my finished b&w products.

Perhaps that's why I gravitate to Nate Parker’s work. His concentration is the New England landscape and seascape, and spends a lot of time shooting Acadia National Park – not far from Bar Harbor, Maine.   His latest work has been almost exclusively black and white – and it’s simply amazing. He mixes things up, throwing in some long exposure from time to time - such as "Otter Cliffs Acadia".

 

It has a ghostly, otherworldly feel – and the image could have been taken in 2012 …or 1912. 

 

Rich McFarland's work includes his own beautiful landscapes, portraits, corporate work and more. This statement is from his bio page.

"Someone once told me that a photo is only worth something if you want to see it again...

My photography is centered on that concept - capturing images that you
want to share again and again."

Thanks for sharing Rich!

Indulging Her Passion - Artist as Collector

Philadelphia based artist Ellen Benson is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series.

©2012MichaelRusso
collection of Ellen Benson

I collect 2 main types of art: sculptural work made out of found objects, and "outsider" and folk art. I go to Mexico every winter and I call Oaxaca the art capital of the world, so it's not been hard to indulge this collecting passion!

This piece is from Florida based artist Michael Russo which I fell for when I saw it in a small gallery he owned in Miami Beach on Espanola Way, probably in the late '80's. The simplicity wowed me.  He made something fabulous out of absolutely NOTHING--a box that held XMAS ornaments and some artfully crumbled up faces torn from magazines- stuff that would have been thrown out anyway, with no intrinsic value.

Quite different from ART BASEL Miami Beach where I saw hundreds of collectors flown in on private planes to write checks for Jeff Koons pieces for millions. 

Ellen Benson is a member of the Dumpster Divers of Philadelphia, a group of artists which focuses on re-claiming cast-off pieces of the world around us to make art, as well as to make use of things headed for the trash stream. She is moving towards her goal of creating 1000 figures that she calls "divas"many of which she makes an armature for their “bodies” from those ubiquitous plastic grocery and newspaper delivery bags. To date she is up to about 400, many of which are currently on display at the Philadelphia International Airport.

Exploring the Mundane or the Forgotten- Artist as Collector

Delaware based artist, Jane Chesson is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series.

Untitled, 2011
C-Print
24" x 24"
©2012JeffreyStockbridge

I was introduced to the work of Philadelphia based artist Jeffrey Stockbridge through my position at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts where he had an exhibition in 2011. The show featured interiors and portraits. I became enamored with the interiors of abandoned homes in and around Philadelphia, but purchasing one at the time was not feasible for me. When I heard Jeff was donating a work of art to our annual art auction I knew I had to have it. This photograph is significantly different than the work that was in his exhibition. It depicts a pile of discarded Christmas trees in what appears to be a park or abandoned city block. I fell in love with this image. I find it to be so quiet and peaceful. I was actually fairly surprised after I purchased it when friends started saying that it was "sad" or "depressing." 

I get that response a lot from my own work as well - even though I don't see it as such. I really enjoy exploring the idea of the mundane or the forgotten. Perhaps this is what draws me to Jeff's work. In my own paintings I make - what I like to think of as - insect death portraits. I find dead bugs and make somewhat tedious, slow paintings of them using traditional mediums and techniques. This intimate process is very important to me, even though it is not always apparent in the finished work.

Most people would not see a direct link between Jeff's work and mine and I think that is important. It has always been more interesting to look at and be inspired by artists working in a completely different process than my own. I think being surrounded by works or art that you love and that challenge makes life exciting!

Moth
Oil on panel
33" x 14"
©2012JaneChesson

Jane Chesson is a painter, teaching artist and the Director of Education at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts.

Gifted Art

New Jersey based artist, Bob Matarangelo is this week's guest blogger for our Artist as Collector Series.

Over the years I have accumulated more than a fair share of artwork from students, friends and collaborators. Some were gifts, others purchased, and still others part of an exchange. Each holds a personal back story, in addition to its aesthetic qualities, so choosing one is never easy.

I have decided to post about an untitled diptych given to me by Ric Haynes from Quincy, Massachusetts. Ric was my best friend in graduate school as we matriculated towards our MFAs at Vermont College, both of us in middle age.

Ric's process incorporateds a thickly brushed application of oil paint leaving an impasto trail, like the frosting on a Wayne Thiebaud cake.  His characters are benign monsters lumbering through a barren pastel world, while captured in an iconic Robert Crumb gesture. Their draw lies in that tenuous space between comic and horror, like Grimm Brothers Fair Tales. They are loaded with personal references but their secrets are not easily accessed.  These images are the unique product of Ric's most inner creative being.  In fact, it is Ric we see hanging on the wall, but in a Shamanistic, shape shifting form.

Ric is also a poet, printmaker, watercolorist, and a very accomplished artbook maker, with his work in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Bob Matarangelo is an artist working in digital video, animation, painting and sculpture. He is also a teaching artist and has created and collaborated on many public murals in New Jersey.

In Case You're Wondering

In case you're wondering...

A view of the space... we had a great turnout...
I pulled out my camera after most had left

How my  opening at Alfa Art Gallery went last Friday.... OR
How I find the different artists to participate in my weekly Artist as Collector Series, this post is for you.

My work hung at Alfa Art Gallery
as part of the New Brunswick Art Salon Fall 2012

It was exciting for me to see how my sculptures and the drawings created from the shadows of the nets informed and related to each other in the gallery space.  I received wonderful feedback and came away feeling energized to continue exploring this series of nets- how they hang and the shadow drawings and paintings.

Add caption

It was also so wonderful to see so many family and friends- many who I had not seen in years, and others who took a break from dealing with the recent implications and devastation from Sandy.

Ethan Sherman's work at Alfa Art Gallery

I also met new artists- one of whom, Ethan Sherman was last Sunday's guest blogger for my Artist as Collector Series.  Ethan's paintings remind me remotely of Howard Hodgkin's work of whom I am a huge fan. I love Ethan's use of materials, the surface and the paint and how there is a pared down approach to his work.

My husband Scott was really drawn to the work of Dion Hitchings so you may soon find a post about Dion's work in our collection!

Back into the Sphere of Contemporary Culture

New Jersey based painter Ethan Sherman is this week's guest artist for our Artist as Collector Series.

Smooth
Acrylic, oil and spray paint on wood
16" x 13"
©2012NickRepasy

I recently acquired "Smooth" by my good friend Nick Repasy at an art auction during an opening reception at the Mason Gross School of the Arts.  I have a cyclical understanding of it because I was present when Nick purchased the printed portrait on wood from a second hand store. The process of taking a painting that somebody else made, owned, sold (or donated), and then re-making it can be seen as an amalgamation of numerous contemporary and historical metaphors for society and culture as a whole. 

The artist began with a black and white image; a dated portrait of a youth and time long gone. Color is a primary "update" for nostalgic media and the soft grain of spray paint on the image is reminiscent of hand-colored photographs from the turn of the century.  When addressing a found object, in this case a finished painting, one runs the gamut of formal and symbolic ideas already present in the work. The haze initiates a divide between the figure, foreground and background while simultaneously placing all of the formal considerations of the work on the same plane. This brings the viewer to consider the textural application of the acrylic and oil paints and their formal or subjective qualities. Spray paint is the strongest medium that suggests a delinquent approach to painting and materials, especially when used to extenuate a stylistically classical portrait.

This work recycles a once relevant image back into the sphere of contemporary culture for digestion by an audience that is subject to an infinite amount of personal and social ideologies. 

The most interesting part of the work to me is its inherent simplicity. It now hangs in my studio. 

Ethan Sherman's work currently
at New Brunswick Art Salon Fall 2012
Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ

Ethan Sherman, a recent graduate of the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University  also studied at Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art, Bretagne, France.  Currently, Nick's mixed media paintings are on view at the Alfa Art Gallery in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Immersed in Art

Immersed, 2011
Graphite, acrylic, spray paint and collage on paper
32" x 40"
©2012NanciHersh

I have been spending alot of time lately at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, and loving every minute of it.  After 7 weeks of intensive training, I conducted my evaluation tour last week for some of the staff members.  Based around the theme Sense of Place I selected 3 works from the galleries; Suntek Chung's 3 photographs from the Young Country Exhibition, Joe Girandola's Duct Tape drawing of Stonehenge, and Alison Stigora's Natural Forces installation.  Three very differnt ways of creating and constructing a sense of place, Chung's work examines identity and cultural stereotypes, Girandola constructs architectural and cultural icons in decay, and Stigora's installation transforms the gallery in an awe inspiring natural environment. All three are theatrical in a very different way.

Monday was the Guide Luncheon welcoming new and thanking veteran guides.  Pema Domingo- Barker, Director of Education at the Queens Museum of Art was the guest speaker.  I learned that Queens is the most culturally diverse population IN THE WORLD (did I hear that right?) and to reflect the population some amazing programs have been designed to integrate, educate, and support the community.

And tomorrow is Surviving the Art World: A Practical Approach, an opportunity to have work viewed by 5 or 6 different curators and get much needed feedback. I understand it will kind of be like "speed dating" as those of us who have signed up cycle through the various curators and take from it what we will.  I have prepared my power point presentation, my artist statement and updated my resume.  Should be very interesting... and hopefully, not too intimidating. But what the heck....

Have you every done anything like this? I'd love to hear about your experiences and what you came away with.

A Year of Art in our Collections

It's a year this month since I began the Artist as Collector Series on this blog.  It is a great way to learn about new artists and see what inspires everyone. Personally, I am passionate about art. I love making it, being around it, and connecting with other artists and art lovers (if you are reading this, then count yourself among them.)  My home is filled with art- my own, friends', and work I have picked up in my travels, near and far.

Frida and milagros in Pegge Hopper's kitchen

This series is one way to share this passion, introduce people (myself included) to new art and new artists and see why and what makes someone want to have a piece of someone's work in their home or collection.

Many of the artists I knew and several I met through Alyson Stanfield's blog and workshops. Some were introduced by a guest blogger who wrote about a piece in their collection and then that artist became a guest blogger.  It's a great way to Pay it Forward, and a lot of fun along the way- kind of like Art Tag- and the best part, everyone wins!

Many of the selected pieces have been the work of teachers or mentors. Other's a student of theirs, or the work of a family member. A few have never met the artist whose work they wrote about but nonethless, felt a kinship.

The work has been purchased, traded, gifted or found. All are treasures.

I guess that's the point of all this... living with art inspires us, makes us feel happy, connected, joyful, and can reminds us of what it possible.

©2012StanSmokler 

So if you have not contributed yet, please join in... and if you have, thank you for being a part of this.

The Painterly Print: Monoprint Workshop

Here are some shots from my Painterly Print: Monoprint Workshop at Delaware College of Art & Design this past Sunday. The monoprint process is the most direct and spontaneous of methods of printmaking.  

Photos by Jessica Sturgis,
Director of Communications
Delaware College of Art and Design
A Creative Partnership of Pratt and the Corcoran

Working with a variety of textures the students experimented with color and process and enjoying fun surprises along the way.

Love these papers that one student brought from India.

Meeting new wonderful and creative people is always a bonus in a workshop

A workshop is a great way to make time for yourself!

Monoprints by DCAD student Joel Turner

The print on the left was the first run, printed on Rives BFK White,

the one on the right is the "ghost" print- we ran the plate through the

press a second time without adding any ink.

Printed on Rives BFK Buff.

Look for my Monoprint and Book Arts Workshop in the Winter Catalogue at Delaware College of Art & Design in their Continuing Ed Program.

Just one of those things about Art!

Texas based artist, Cynthia Alderete is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series.

Brainstorm
Acid tint/ Lithograph
©2012SydneyCross

I first met Sydney Cross, a Professor at Clemson University, when I signed up for her workshop at Frogman’s Print Workshop at the University of South Dakota in 2000.

Failing terribly (4 tries with her assistants) at her Acid Tinting techniques, we finally gave up and laughed about it.    Just one of those things about art!

We became friends that year and and spend time catching up at various art conferences. We have also participated in many portfolio exchanges together. Brain Storm is one of my favorite pieces from one such portfolio.

Sydney still teaches at Clemson’s and offers workshops throughout the US. 

Cynthia Alderete is a fine artist, printmaker and educator who lives and works in the Hill Country outside of Austin, Texas.  Cynthia and I met at Santa Reparata Graphic Art Centre (now called the Santa Reparate International School of Art) in Florence, Italy many years ago.  There is something about printmakers and friendship that transcends time and miles!

Stay Tuned

Lower Manhattan
Hurricane Sandy's Wrath

Hurricane Sandy is not responsible for the delay in today's Artist as Collector post... incompatible files, time zone changes and well, life is... so stay tuned tomorrow for Cynthia Alderete's post.

Love, Loss and Healing

As heavy rains and wind whipped outside my studio doors I have been working on the newest evolution of my nets which I have come to realize are also nests. Nets/nests- both are vessels for holding, a sanctuary, a filter for memories, objects. The hanging teabags mark time, a daily ritual in our home.

Love, Loss & Healing, 2012
detail 1
Wire, pulp, encaustic, collage, vinyl tubing, teabags
©2012NanciHersh

In one incarnation they hung from lines, fishing lines, like the flotsam and jetsom that wash ashore and come in with the tide.  Now they hang from clear vinyl tubing, like i.v.'s or life lines. No longer are they only bare and skeletal, most are now enveloped in another kind of netting- pantyhose that has been burned to also be net like, think fish net stockings.  The inner frameworks support the more decorative coverings which reference fashion of some kind- mostly the flamboyant hats I grew up with in my dad's milinary stores- Nobby Hats.  Family. Home.... and loss-

Love, Loss & Healing, 2012
detail 2
Wire, pulp, encaustic, collage, vinyl tubing, teabags
©2012NanciHersh

There is something breast- like about them, as they float detached from the body. But art is about creation, redemption and transformation.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who has or is facing loss during this "Frankenstorm."

Soul of a Woman in her Collection

Painter and designer Delona Seserman is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series.

Soul of a Woman
Acrylic, charcoal, spray paint on canvas
48" x 36"
collection of Delona Seserman
©2012Alice Swager

I acquired Alice's painting a good few years ago after not seeing my best friend for almost 6 years. Our friendship goes back to preschool years , back in Romania . We went through so much together  ....and when I saw her painting  '' Soul of a woman'' for the first time , a feeling of love, compassion, hope and peace  embraced me . I felt that the rich chromatic palette of blues , red and oranges outlined by black lines and pointed by  '' white tears ''  of white dots captures the very feminine soul ..... the love for her man , the motherhood's  cradle , the dedication and strength that we, as women are gifted with . 

 Alice had always said that '' the soul of a woman is infinite....because the love she has is so complex...this soul is a miracle and one day ...when men will understand this completely ...the whole world will change " .

  

As an artist  I admire  the balance Alice  achieved between cold and warm colors : vibrants tones of yellows, oranges and reds are surrounded by peaceful blues .....I see a flame representing the woman and the '' ocean'' of life's waves she has to navigate for her loved ones.  

 

Alice has a FB page Chaotic Diversity Art.

Romanian born artist, Delona Seserman is a painter, designer and owner of Adris Group an interior design company. Now based in Delaware, Delona's passion for color and compassion for other's defines her work personally and professionally.

Art in the Community

Thursday was the opening reception for the Annual 2012 Regional Exhibition at the Center for Creative Arts in Yorkly, DE.  It was also the Lights On After School Community event for the Kennett After-School Association's After the Bell Program.  Both events are a reminder how the arts play a vital part in creating and enriching a community.  

Kathy Hrenko, Executive Director of After the Bell on right
with middle school students, and me on the left.

Kennett After-School Association's After the Bell Program is an award winning program that offers free after school activities for middle school students in the Kennett Consolidated School District.

It is an amazing collaboration between community organizations, volunteers and the school district.  Students are able to choose from a wide variety of activities that include sports, cooking, games, science, knitting, and skill building for young teens.  There are three 6 week cycles that are offered during the year.  Over the past couple of weeks, we had the students ink up their "kicks" to create a rainbow of footprints to make up this banner that was presented at Lights On After School where community leaders and board members recognized the accomplishments and value of this program.

 

Mixed media piece on left by Carla Pastore,
artist and Executive Director of
the Center for Creative Arts.
next to my Kaleidoscope on right
Love how they play off of each other!

Later that evening I attended the opening of the 2012 Annual Regional Exhibition at the Center for Creative Arts.  Danielle Rice, executive director of the Delaware Art Museum was this year's juror who was gracious and attended the reception. My painting Koi #6 received an Honorable Mention. Met some new artists and saw some friends who stopped by to say hello and see my work.  A big thank you  to all!

Koi #6
Acrylic on cradled board
14" x 14"
©2012NanciHersh

In her Juror's statement, Dr. Rice said "Artists put themselves on the line when they create something from nothing and they open themselves up to criticism again when they exhibit their work. ...Without your courage and creativity, the world would be a dull place indeed."

Here's to working together to helping our communities shine through art.

Effort (less)

Koi #6
Acrylic on canvas
14" x 14"
©2012NanciHersh

Effort (less.)  Funny how we can work and work on something, falls into the overworked pile. Then we leave it, let it go.  Rework it and poof, effortlessly it comes together. Of course that is a myth- it's logging in all those miles/hours to get there.  That's what happened with this painting.  Had a different incarnation for months (more than a year) never felt right, but kept it up on a wall for the heck of it.

Then poof. I knew what I wanted to do.  Now Koi #6 is up at the 2012 Annual Regional Art Exhibition at the Center for Creative Arts with an Honorable Mention.  Opening reception is tomorrow night, October 18, 6-8 pm.

Come say hi.

Drawn to Fragile Fragments- Artist as Collector

New York based artist Claudia Demonte is this week's guest blogger for our Artist as Collector series.

Fragile Fragments 2, 2000-02
Foldable cutout dolls: screenprint
and archival digital print with thread
17" x 10", 27" x 12" (size varies as arms move)
©2012CeciliaMandrile
Collection of Claudia Demonte

I am particularly drawn to Cecilia Mandrile's work, and the Fragile Fragments series in particular for the way she combine content with materials. The use of the doll figure, something I have use in my own work for very different reasons, has always intrigued me. Mandrile's hand, so sensitive in all ways, uses both high tech digital process with traditional techniques. These Victorian doll inspired pieces, complete with moving parts, are both playful but painfully serious.

I love that Mandrile has figured out a way to make art while constantly on the move... moving/traveling from country to country, homeless in some ways, but strongly centered in others.... actually she is always 'home'.   Band aids covering health wounds, fragility a way of life.

There are few artists who captivate your mind's eye, without sentimentality overtaking subject matter. 

Claudia Demonte is a mixed media sculptor and installation artist, lecturer and curator whose Women of the World project brought together women artists from all over the world to come together and present a unique and collective expression of what it means to be a woman today. 

Had to Have Her- Artist as Collector

Kentucky based artist Sharmon Davidson is this week's guest blogger for our Artist as Collector Series. I learned about Sharmon's work when Donna Drozda blogged in this series about a piece of Sharmon's in Empty and Full with a Fresh Eye.

Ima
 gouache, watercolors & oil pastel, chartreuse book,
 4" x 6"
©2012LynneHoppe
collection of Sharmon Davidson

When I first saw ‘Ima’ on Lynne Hoppe’s wonderful blog last year, I just knew I had to have her.  Like all of Lynne’s ‘people’, she somehow seemed real; she spoke to me in the way an imaginary friend speaks to us when we’re very young.  And, lucky me- on the other side of Ima is her alter-ego, Rosie, who is just as beautiful in her own way.

Rosie
 gouache, oil pastels, watercolors & casein paint, chartreuse book,
4" x 6"
©2012LynneHoppe
Collection of Sharmon Davidson

I think the fact that Lynne lives at the edge of a huge forest is evident in many ways.  Her work has the honesty of a childhood drawing, combined with the free, organic mark-making that only technical mastery can bring.  Her work inspires me with its vibrancy.  She allows herself to play, fearlessly exploring new methods and materials; this keeps Lynne’s pieces as fresh and vital as the forest she so loves.  

Sharmon Davidson has always had a passion for making art. She is a mixed media artist working with a variety of materials building layers upon layers to reveal the magic and interconnectness of life.

Art. there it is.

Swimming, 2012
Acrylic on canvas
20" x 30"
©2012NanciHersh

I just completed this painting. or maybe not. yet.  Funny how that can be.  works evolve, they change, you like a part you don't want to lose it. but you may have to for the sake of the painting. the overall something. cohesiveness.

This is my second week of Guide training at the DCCA and I am really enjoying the process. The program is led by Education Director Jane Chesson and her assistant Sarah Ware. Maxine Graber, the director of the DCCA came for part of each session highlighting major movements in art in a fun, succint, engaging manner.  Terms like modernism, post modernism and contemporary art that we all hear thrown about become simplified. somewhat.

Edouard Manet
Luncheon on the Grass, 1862-63

Confused? You are not alone. Know this. Edouard Manet was a game changer. Up to that point in art history (Western art that is) art was realistic, representational whether is was a biblical or mythological scene, portrait, or still life. Ed comes in and throws it all to the wind, somewhat. He is still painting a traditional scene but he is challenging how we look at and represent art.  Nothing is ever the same.
Opens the door and swoosh in rushes in Impressionism, Fauvism, dadaism and lots of other isms.

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG. (AMERICAN, 1925–2008)

Bed

Roughly 100 years later, Rauschenberg does a similar type of thing with his "combines."Now there is appropriation, riffing on popular culture, riffing on art, performance art, conceptual, installation- all out there, and it's all art. Or is it?

Go see some art... many places have a First Friday of the month where museums and galleries have openings, happenings with art, often music and refreshments. Tonight the DCCA is hosting Art on the Town.

Have a great weekend!

Basement Find Inspires this Artist

Hawaii based artist Karen Gally is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector series.

Gouache on board
12" x 12"
collection of Karen Gally

I found this painting in the basement of my grandmother's house in Philadelphia as I was organizing her estate sale in the 70's.  When she was about 68,  the house-  a small brick bungalow and it's contents were bequeathed to her by her boyfriend, a traveling magician. 

At the time, I was living in Maryland.  I didn't know anything about tropical flowers and assumed the artist had taken liberties making the anthurium curvacious and the white ginger broken at the stem.  The painting was a bit dusty and had acquired a water stain in the right hand corner, but I loved it for it's vintage look and kept it. It has no date or title but has a very clear signature of inez in lower case with the dot over the i as a circle.

Years later I moved to Hawaii and understood how the artist captured these very real tropical flowers.  There is a mastery of color, balance, and romance, with beautiful fluid brush strokes that are simple and expressive. The taupe colored background is the unpainted color of the mat board. I had the picture matted and framed with Koa wood. 

I have tropical flowers all around my garden. Images of flora pervade my art in the form of appliqued art quilts, fabric collages on wood  panels, and even imaginary botanical graphite drawings. This piece is wonderful to glance upon daily and surely has influenced my own style of eloquence and color choices.

Karen Gally lives and works on Kauai, Hawaii.  Her lush and intricate quilts, paintings and drawings are represented by Galerie 103 owned by artist Bruna Stude in Poipu, Kauai. In addition, this week, on October 4th  Evolution: Mixed Media Works by Karen Gally  opens at the
Honolulu Museum of Art First Hawaiian Center on Bishop Street. Nineteen works of the last ten years will be displayed through January 30 2013. For more info, Karen can be reached at karen.gally@gmail.com.