6/17/10
Two of the wonderful Studio Gallery interns interviewed me today, and it was fun being on the other side of the questions, which dealt with process, using text, and my take on why you should experience local art. Check it out at the Dupont Circle Arts blog.
Lori Anne Boocks / Abstract Artist
The Art, It's Hungry...
6/15/10
Don’t feed the art, because it may bite... This show coming up at artdc Gallery encompasses a wide range of techniques that are powered by motors and the viewer, creating motion ranging from random physical movements to very defined circles. It's wind-powered. It's moving disembodied faces. It's a bunch of parts that "crank, buzz, flap, blink and jitter," notes gallery director Jesse Cohen.
How can you resist moving disembodied faces?
Jesse adds, "In a room overflowing with tweaker-like energy, Sarah Martin’s paintings jump out and grab your attention with calming power."
artdc Gallery
5710 Baltimore Ave.
Hyattsville, MD 20781
Dates: June 5th to July 10th 2010
Reception: Saturday June 18th 7:30 to 10pm
Visit the artists' sites below, and be sure to check out the 2-D work by Christian and Peter. I love their surfaces.
Zac Jackson
Christian Benefiel
Grayson Heck
Peter Gordon
Sarah Martin
Don’t feed the art, because it may bite... This show coming up at artdc Gallery encompasses a wide range of techniques that are powered by motors and the viewer, creating motion ranging from random physical movements to very defined circles. It's wind-powered. It's moving disembodied faces. It's a bunch of parts that "crank, buzz, flap, blink and jitter," notes gallery director Jesse Cohen.
How can you resist moving disembodied faces?
Jesse adds, "In a room overflowing with tweaker-like energy, Sarah Martin’s paintings jump out and grab your attention with calming power."
artdc Gallery
5710 Baltimore Ave.
Hyattsville, MD 20781
Dates: June 5th to July 10th 2010
Reception: Saturday June 18th 7:30 to 10pm
Visit the artists' sites below, and be sure to check out the 2-D work by Christian and Peter. I love their surfaces.
Zac Jackson
Christian Benefiel
Grayson Heck
Peter Gordon
Sarah Martin
Small Boxes... Some on Fire
6/13/10
Had a full day in the studio yesterday and came up with the title for my September two-person show. Here are two relatively small pieces I hope to include that got wrapped up yesterday.
Things She Wanted To Be
Acrylic and Charcoal on Canvas
12 x 16 inches
Shadow Lessons
Acrylic and Charcoal on Canvas
12 x 16 inches
Had a full day in the studio yesterday and came up with the title for my September two-person show. Here are two relatively small pieces I hope to include that got wrapped up yesterday.
Acrylic and Charcoal on Canvas
12 x 16 inches
Acrylic and Charcoal on Canvas
12 x 16 inches
Meet the Artists at Iona
6/11/10
Artist in Residence Melanie Grishman (art featured above), Special Guest Artist Chuck Baxter and Poet in Residence Anne Becker join the Gallery at Iona for a Meet the Artist Reception on Thursday, June 17 from 5 - 7 pm. The exhibit continues through August 23. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9 to 5, and the gallery is located at 4125 Albemarle Street, NW in DC.
At Iona, we understand the relationship between wellness and arts and aging well. We offer a whole host of creative arts activities ranging from a chorale group to short story clubs. We also are very proud of The Gallery at Iona which features the works of highly talented senior artists in the community.
For more information about the Artist in residence program, special workshops and events, please call Gallery Coordinator Patricia Dubroof at (202) 895-9407 or email pdubroof@iona.org.
Artist in Residence Melanie Grishman (art featured above), Special Guest Artist Chuck Baxter and Poet in Residence Anne Becker join the Gallery at Iona for a Meet the Artist Reception on Thursday, June 17 from 5 - 7 pm. The exhibit continues through August 23. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9 to 5, and the gallery is located at 4125 Albemarle Street, NW in DC.
At Iona, we understand the relationship between wellness and arts and aging well. We offer a whole host of creative arts activities ranging from a chorale group to short story clubs. We also are very proud of The Gallery at Iona which features the works of highly talented senior artists in the community.
For more information about the Artist in residence program, special workshops and events, please call Gallery Coordinator Patricia Dubroof at (202) 895-9407 or email pdubroof@iona.org.
Exhibit: Through Their Eyes: Haitian Artists' Visions of Home
6/11/10Haitian Children & Artists Use Art to Tell Their Stories
Washington, DC - June 23, 2010 - The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery located at 1632 U Street, NW announces the opening of Through Their Eyes: Haitian Artists' Visions of Home, also featuring the work of National Geographic photojournalist, Maggie Steber. Haitian artworks provided by the American Visionary Art Museum, Zanmi Lakay and the Art Creation Foundation for Children. Opening Reception: Friday, June 25, 6:00-8:00PM. The exhibition runs from June 23 to August 7. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Friday 11AM-5PM, Saturday 11AM-3PM and by appointment.
Haiti's January 12th earthquake may seem like a distant memory for those of us safely grounded here in the U.S., but for Haitians the tragedy of that day is an everyday reality and far from over.
Those who survived the earthquake are now falling victim to infection and disease, and up to a million have been rendered homeless. From our vantage point in the US we can only speculate how Haitians find the strength and hope to face the daily suffering surrounding them. Yet, in this rare exhibition, Maggie Steber, award-winning National Geographic photographer, and over 30 Haitian artists offer us a window into how Haitians perceive their disrupted world and a glimpse at their extraordinary strength of spirit and unwavering faith.
"Through Their Eyes" exhibits the work of artists and children currently living in Haiti and actively using the arts to heal: Featuring over 100 photographs and handcrafts produced by children, and traditional Vodou flags hand-sequined by seasoned artisans. Alongside the Haitian artists' surprisingly uplifting visions, we are also showing Maggie Steber's poignant pre and post-earthquake works, which capture the "tortured, enchanted place" she has fallen in love with over her 20 years covering Haiti and its remarkable people.
The American Visionary Art Museum, Zanmi Lakay and Art Creation Foundation For Children have generously provided the exhibition's Haitian artworks. All works are available for purchase with 100% of the proceeds donated to Haiti relief.
IMAGE: Man Doing A Handstand by the River, 2010 by Cheldine Bazile, 15 years old, Jacmel, Haiti
An Interview with Artist Thierry Guillemin
6/7/10
Into the Mystic
Thierry Guillemin
For his portion of a duo show with Micheline Klagsburn, fellow Studio Gallery artist Thierry Guillemin talks about why the work for this show Something in Common is different from his past pieces. Be sure to stop by and see his energetic paintings, up through June 19th at Studio Gallery.
Q: What's your favorite piece from the show and why?
A: My favorite piece in the show is “Into the Mystic”. I am very much in tune with what it reflects and at the same time it surprises me, which I expect every strong work to do. It is a very interesting synthesis. I made it in a very physical way, and yet it has the serenity of inner silence and the transparency of water. I “action painted” it but many people who see it tell me that it reminds them of Monet. Water lilies? My childhood in little villages of the “France profonde” must be coming back to me, in quite unexpected ways. The title of this work comes from a song of Van Morrison that I love and listened to continuously when I painted this work.
Q: Do you paint intuitively, with a hardcore plan, or somewhere in between?
A: I paint intuitively and try to be open to what happens. A plan would interfere with the attention that is needed and would waste precious energy. The quality of the work depends entirely on the quality of my attention. If I am present to my work, the work has a good chance to be alive. If I lose myself in plans, or any other intellectual day dream, life is drained from the painting and it begins to lie, and at some point to die.
Q: Who is your biggest influence and why?
A: I am certainly influenced by many things: lights, perfumes, places, strong emotional moments, people I love, music, poems, personalities, sincerity, honesty, energy. Many great artists, whether writers, painters or musicians have been a strong source of inspiration when I was younger: Nabokov, Matisse, Coltrane, Hendrix, and a very long list of contemporary painters. But a lot is happening now. I keep discovering amazing artists who create now. Gabriela Proksch in Austria, Jean-Francois Provost and Jean-Pierre Lafrance in Canada, Eeva-Leena Airaksinen in Finland are all incredibly strong and original abstract painters who fascinate me.
Q: For this show, did you do anything differently... new techniques, subject matter, palette, etc.?
A: This is a little show with 6 pieces, 4 of them very recent. I let energy flow much more freely than I used to, the paints I use are more fluid “soft-body” type, the colors richer and I use more elements of language, like projections of paint or long black lines. There is a watery quality to my most recent work, more depth and transparencies. These are directions I feel compelled to explore, there is more to find there.
Q: What's your favorite part about being a Studio Gallery member?
A: My favorite parts of being a Studio gallery member are the friendship of many artists, the love and energy Adah Rose gives us all, and the blessing of being part of a group where the main ambition and focus is to make our art grow and develop.
Thanks, Thierry, for sharing insights into your paintings! I look forward to seeing them in person this week.
Thierry Guillemin
For his portion of a duo show with Micheline Klagsburn, fellow Studio Gallery artist Thierry Guillemin talks about why the work for this show Something in Common is different from his past pieces. Be sure to stop by and see his energetic paintings, up through June 19th at Studio Gallery.
Q: What's your favorite piece from the show and why?
A: My favorite piece in the show is “Into the Mystic”. I am very much in tune with what it reflects and at the same time it surprises me, which I expect every strong work to do. It is a very interesting synthesis. I made it in a very physical way, and yet it has the serenity of inner silence and the transparency of water. I “action painted” it but many people who see it tell me that it reminds them of Monet. Water lilies? My childhood in little villages of the “France profonde” must be coming back to me, in quite unexpected ways. The title of this work comes from a song of Van Morrison that I love and listened to continuously when I painted this work.
Q: Do you paint intuitively, with a hardcore plan, or somewhere in between?
A: I paint intuitively and try to be open to what happens. A plan would interfere with the attention that is needed and would waste precious energy. The quality of the work depends entirely on the quality of my attention. If I am present to my work, the work has a good chance to be alive. If I lose myself in plans, or any other intellectual day dream, life is drained from the painting and it begins to lie, and at some point to die.
Q: Who is your biggest influence and why?
A: I am certainly influenced by many things: lights, perfumes, places, strong emotional moments, people I love, music, poems, personalities, sincerity, honesty, energy. Many great artists, whether writers, painters or musicians have been a strong source of inspiration when I was younger: Nabokov, Matisse, Coltrane, Hendrix, and a very long list of contemporary painters. But a lot is happening now. I keep discovering amazing artists who create now. Gabriela Proksch in Austria, Jean-Francois Provost and Jean-Pierre Lafrance in Canada, Eeva-Leena Airaksinen in Finland are all incredibly strong and original abstract painters who fascinate me.
Q: For this show, did you do anything differently... new techniques, subject matter, palette, etc.?
A: This is a little show with 6 pieces, 4 of them very recent. I let energy flow much more freely than I used to, the paints I use are more fluid “soft-body” type, the colors richer and I use more elements of language, like projections of paint or long black lines. There is a watery quality to my most recent work, more depth and transparencies. These are directions I feel compelled to explore, there is more to find there.
Q: What's your favorite part about being a Studio Gallery member?
A: My favorite parts of being a Studio gallery member are the friendship of many artists, the love and energy Adah Rose gives us all, and the blessing of being part of a group where the main ambition and focus is to make our art grow and develop.
Thanks, Thierry, for sharing insights into your paintings! I look forward to seeing them in person this week.
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