Studio Cup

Potter Alex Beam-Ward is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series'

"Studio Cup"
©2012BoBedilion

This has been my studio cup for many years, and one of my most cherished cups in my collection.  It is by Bo Bedilion, a potter and professor at Columbia College. Bo is also a mentor and dear friend of mine. It was a gift from the artist. 

I have always admired Bo’s deliberate use of archetypical forms and outdated glazes. He uses this as a means to ground his work in the past, but he is able to find new life within his self-imposed restrictions. 


In a conversation I once had with Bo in his studio,  he likened his work to “Putting new red laces on a pair of old work boots.”  


I have always thought this was a lovely analogy for his work.  

Alex Beam-Ward lives and works in Chester County, PA. His work recently caught my eye at a Farmer's Market in Kennett Square. No red laces. White is the new red here.

Mose Tolliver on her Wall

Carol Lesher is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector series.

Mose Tolliver
collection of Carol Lesher

I came across this paintingon eBay when I was browsing around looking for a nude for my bathroom.  Well- when I saw this piece, I just had to have it.  It is a painting by Mose Tolliver, an African American folk artist who painted in a very primitive style.  


Not the traditional nude you might expect, but something I really enjoy!
I hope you enjoy it too.


Carol Lesher is a contemporary landscape painter who has a really cool studio and gallery in historic Kennett Square, PA. 


Carol bought her Mose Tolliver on eBay, I knew someone who had found a Milton Avery at a Garage sale.


Reminds me of  the indie film Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? about a semi-truck driver who buys a painting for her friend for $5.00 and after some expert opinion spends her time and energy proving to the art world that she owns an original Pollock.  Hey, y'never know!


What is your best find in an unexpected place?

Up & Running at Willow on State

Our show is up and running at Willow on State in Kennett Square, PA.   

We have the honor of having our work featured at two First Friday Kennett Square Art Strolls this fall season.  If we missed you this past Friday, October 7,
November 4, 2011 is the next one. Nathan Laing, Maya Winters, and myself will be there along with FishCastle; original music by Cyril Caster and Catherine Braik Selin.

Featured at the gallery are mixed media prints, collages and sculptures from my Body as an Open Book, and Inherently Found Series.

Prints, paper, dried pulp on wire, encaustic, collage
Flotsam & Jetsam speak of what we inherit,
what we hold onto, and what clings to us
©2011NanciHersh

Nathan Laing of Habitat Studios has photographic collage prints hanging upstairs of the gallery and Maya Winters has her allegorical paintings on the street level.

Nathan Laing at Willow on State

Maya Winters at Willow on State

There are also alot of great hand made items- jewelry, pottery, altered books and vintage and retro collectibles. Owners, Sandy Mayer & Hillary Sculthorpe bring their own unique eye to pull together an exciting new vision for Kennett Square.

See you on the 4th.   Be there AND Be Square (couldn't resist!)

Shots from the Stroll

Woke up on April 1 to snow, no joke.  (Though Nate woke up with a mustache drawn on his face by his older brother Griffin!)

Entrance to
The Garage Community and Youth Center

Tricia Sickles, Lisa MacMain, & Carolyn Viens

Bridget Phillips, artist
below her collograph

The weather cleared in time for Art Stroll Kennett Square and the YoungMom's work looked great!

Combat Ready

This card recently came in the mail.   A fairy godmother with combat boots.

That's what I need - a pair of combat boots to paint for my Walks thru Life: Shoe Portraits Series!

But where, or from whom?  

This guy was behind me at the store.  I asked if I could take a picture of his boots.  

They weren't quite right, not gritty enough.  I wanted a pair that "walked the walk."

Marc's Boots, 2011
Acrylic on Canvas
10" x 10"
©2011NanciHersh

Then ... poof! A perfect pair came in the mail (along with a petite pair of ballet slippers) commissioned by Shari Epstein.  This is the painting for Shari.  I am holding onto the boots a little longer- I want a painting of them for myself.  To remind me that I am strong and that I am going to kick this cancer....

Maren's Slippers, 2011
Acrylic on Canvas
6" x 6"
©2011NanciHersh

On that note...  I pushed back my surgery date to Wed., April 6.  This way I can be at The Garage for the Kennett Square Art Stroll and our YoungMoms printmaking exhibition.

And besides, would you want to have major surgery on April Fool's Day?!

Signs of Spring

Goose Egg, 2011
Acrylic on Canvas
6" x 6"

First day of spring... yeeha!  Nature and marketing collide as there are buds on the trees, daffodils sprouting up, and of course lots of candy eggs in the grocery store.

This is another verision of Unrequited Love with the half of goose egg (that never got eaten) and the pair of shoes that were never worn.

Coincidentally I also got my surgery date today.  It is Friday, April 1, up at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC. 

That also happens to be the date of the First Friday Art Stroll in Kennett Square with my Leeway Art and Change Grant Partner, Lisa MacMain and the YoungMoms Project.   We are meeting this week to prepare for the event but I will be up in NY for the exhibition.  There is a great team of women who will be there to share the wonderful collographs and prints the YoungMoms have created during this residency. Hope you can stop by The Garage and say hello to Lisa, Rosa, Carolyn and the YoungMoms  if you are in Kennett Square.

Here's to new beginnings.... Happy Spring!