Together We Will at RISE!

Karla Albright of the Los Gatos chapter of  TWW/Indivisible Los Gatos caught the Gutfreund Cornet Art show, RISE: Empower, Change and Action!, the day it opened and approached Whitney Modern for a special tour so the rest of her group could take it in! Though it is a national exhibition, a number of Bay Area artists were happy to get together again and share some of the inspiring motivations behind their social justice work in the gallery.

Please note that if you click on any of the names of artists and organizations, etc, in bold in this post, you will open a link to their website!

Suzanne Whitney Smedt, welcoming us all to her beautiful contemporary art gallery, Whitney Modern, located on the second floor of 24 N Santa Cruz Ave in downtown Los Gatos. The gallery typically represents twelve fine artists but has teamed up with Gutfreund Cornett Art for this specific summer show curated by Karen Gutfreund, Sherri Cornett, Marianne McGrath and Suzanne Whitney Smedt.

Karen Gutfreund reading Maya Angelou’s poem, Still I Rise from the exhibition catalogue, on which Ceciley Blanchard (Jackson Tennessee) had based her photographic series. I love hearing that read (or sung by Ben Harper)!

Irene Carvajal (Belmont, California) with her (what) do YOU think? desk with the positive  messages we’d wish we’d grown up with carved into the wood. You can even take rubbings with the graphite pencils and paper provided, if there is a resonating message you’d like to bring home with you.

Priscilla Otani (San Francisco) with her original braille art book, Political Action Group on democratic women in congress and democratic women running for congress – copies available at the gallery have all sold out but you can still order them through Amazon!

Rozanne Hermelyn Di Silvestro (Sunnyvale, California) with her monotype, oil, paper and string on panel piece, Bound and her mixed media installation, In a Constant State of Rising and Falling.

Winnie van der Rijn (San Carlos, California) with her photographic image transfer and embroidery on muslin pieces, One Size Fits All.

When it came time for me to speak about my painting, In the Pink, I shared how I believed that the Pussy Hat (originally co-created by Krista Suh) became such an immediate, global, viral icon of the Woman’s March because it employed such a feminine voice. It took knitting, a traditionally feminine craft, one that we do with our hands, and our hearts, in our homes or together in groups, using soft, warm, pretty and fuzzy fibers and often give as gifts to one another to wear with pride (a bit of kitty humor) saying in our sea of pink that, “We see you Pussy Grabber in Chief and we do not approve, we will not forget, and we will stand together and march for our rights.” Even the metaphor of knitting one stitch, connected to another, and another, collectively making something bigger than ourselves, is so perfect!

Rinat Goren (Woodside, California) with her beeswax, pigment and paper paintings, Finding Points of Agreement 1 and Finding Points of Agreement 2.

Irene Carvahla (Santa Cruz, California) with her acrylic, mixed media and image transfer, Ambient Thoughts.

Irene Carvajal (Belmont, California) with her screen print on paper, fan and plexiglass tank kinetic sculpture, Future Gains: the dollar is rising. She is selling individual bills to help fund her trip to the border to offer her language services to those families who are seeking asylum at the border and are too often being separated and denied their legal rights.

Chandrika Marla (Mountain View, California) with her acrylic on canvas painting, For Our Lives.

Karen Gutfreund standing with Jenny Reinhardt‘s mixed media on canvas painting, Split the Sack, shared the dismall figures, of the percentage that women artists earn in comparison to their male counterparts, as well as how poorly they are represented in museum shows and what an incredible value their work actually is! Sales continue a pace at Whitney Modern and RISE has been extended to September 9th, 2018 to be included with ForFreedoms a 50 state activist art initiative!

Shannon Edwards from TWW/Indivisible Los Gatos thanking the Whitney Modern and the artists for the evening. Together We Will as a grassroots civil engagement movement that helps to lobby for progressive initiatives, supports candidates and sponsors local events was the perfect audience for RISE! It’s so great to join together like this!

Artist, Winnie van der Rijn and author and speaker, Nilofer Merchant.

RISE! Pano Power

In my continuing documentation of RISE: Empower, Change and Action!, the Gutfreund Cornett Art exhibition at Whitney Modern, I’d like to explore the power of the pano and it’s potential to give the illusion of being in the gallery and experiencing the flow of the work….

RISE! Reception!

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Wow! This Show!

The Gutfrend Cornett Art exhibition, RISE! Empower, Change and Action Reception and Artist Talk and Walk at Whitney Modern in Los Gatos, California last Saturday was completely uplifting and inspiring with artists as far away as New York sharing the moving inspiration and fascinating stories behind their work.The exhibition is intended to create a dialogue between artist and community together over important issues feminist issues of out time. Click on artists names for links to their websites where available.

The girl blowing bubbles on the cover of the exhibition catalogue came to life welcoming quests to the reception.

Three of the four fabulous curators, Suzanne Whitney-Smedt, (Gallerist of Whitney Modern) Marianne McGrath (Independant Curator), Karen Gutfreund (Activist Curator at Gutfreund Cornett Art and Arist) that pulled together this fabulous exhibition, standing in front of Vanessa Filley‘s (Evanston, Illinois) archival pigment print on cotton rag paper pieces, #Me Too, Minerva Looking, #Me Too, Assata Toward, #Me Too, Gabriela, The Futrure and bedside Indira Cesarine‘s (New York, New York) neon piece, Equal Means Equal. The fourth fabulous curator, Sherri Cornett (Activist Curator at Gutfreund Cornett Art and Artist), was unable to make the reception, and was greatly missed!

Karen Gutfreund, engaging the audience, earlier she had read Maya Angelous’s poem, Still I Rise, in honor of Ceciley Blanchard (Jackson Tennessee) who had based her photographic series, (included in the catalogue) on this poem and was unable to make the reception where she had hoped to recite the poem herself.

Gathering to view the work of Carolyn Doucette (Tiburon, California) and Sarupa Sidaarth (Tiburon, California)

Love how the In a Constant State of Rising and Falling installation floats in the “atrium” between Whitney Modern above and Gallery 24 below.

Artist Walk and Talk around the gallery where each artist would speak briefly about their contribution to the show.

Me with my oil on panel painting, In the Pink.

Dana Richardson (Scotts Valley, California) with her oil paintings Burning Woman and Millennial Woman.

Irene Carvajal (Belmont, California) with her screen print on paper, fan and plexiglass tank kinetic sculpture, Future Gains: the dollar is rising. She is selling individual bills to help fund her trip to the border to offer her language services to those families who are seeking asylum at the border and are too often being separated and denied their legal rights.

Maeve Grogan (Bend, Oregon) with her Mixed Media and Flashe acrylic painting, Noise & Space Game.



Mague Calanche
(San Francisco, California) with her acrylic, oil  and wax on wood painting, Todas Trabajamos, Hasta Las Ninas.

Rozanne Hermelyn Di Silvestro (Sunnyvale, California) with her monotype, oil, paper and string on panel piece, Bound.

Penny McElroy (Redlands, California) with her graphite, colored pencil, digital composite, encaustic, metal thread with LED piece, sweet fragrant spring.

Jenny Reinhardt (Summit, New Jersey) with her mixed media on canvas painting Split the Sack and Karen Gutfruend.

Amy Pleasant (Mill Creek, Washington) with her acrylic painitngs, Something Worth Waiting For and On Her Shoulders.

Chandrika Marla (Mountain Vew, California) with her acrylic on canvas painting, For Our Lives.

Rinat Goren (Woodside, California) with her beeswax, pigment and paper paintings, Finding Points of Agreement 1 and Finding Points of Agreement 2.

Winnie van der Rijn (San Carlos, California) with her photographic image transfer and embroidery on muslin pieces, One Size Fits All.

Karuna Gutowski  (Santa Cruz, California) with her acrylic, mixed media and image transfer, Ambient Thoughts.

Paula Bullwinkel (Bend Oregon) with her oil on canvas painting, So The Darkness Shall Be The Light And The Stillness The Dancing.



Sally Edelstein
(South Huntington, New York) with a print of her monumental collage, Women’s Lib-A Storms Approaching.

Roberta Aherns (Petaluma, California) with her plaster embedded fiber and acrylic painting on box frame painting, Sepia Dahlia.

Sondra Schwetman (Arcata, California) with her silk, pigmented sewing pins and steel sculpture, Witness. This piece was a Special Award Winner by guest juror, Joan McLoughlin of Mcloughlin Gallery in San Francisco!

Brian Rothstein (Vallejo, California)  with his oil painting on canvas, Be Gentle 1.

On the far left of this photo is the monitor displaying even more amazing work that is included in the catalogue but for which gallery space would not accommodate. On the right is Marisa Govin‘s (Talent, Oregon) watercolor on paper painting, Ñust’as.

Pages from Gloria Matuszewski ( Novato, California) mixed media, Altered Book, Gray’s Anatomy.

Gina Herrera‘s (Bakersfield, California) assorted found materials sculpture, Jaunting for Restitution.

Rozanne Hermelyn Di Silvestro (Sunnyvale, California) upstaged by her clear umbrellas, fishing line, silkscreen or laser cut plexi installation, In a Constant State of Rising and Falling.

Viewing Nayda Cuevas (Arlington Massachusetts), oil and panel paintings #latina:Reclaimingthelatinatag.

Anitra Frasier (Dolton, Illinois) was a Special Award Winner chosen by guest juror Jessica Porter (Arts Bussiness Strategest, New York, New York) for her oil on wood painitng, I Think It’s Going To Rain Today, on the left. On the right is Kelsey McDonnell’s (Buffalo, Wyoming) acrylic on canvas painting, Learning to be a Phenomenal Woman, #6 Balancing Time and Energy who was also chosen as a Special Award Winner by guest juror, David Weinberg, (Executive Director of Weinberg Newton Gallery, Chicago Illinois) for her acrylic on canvas painting, No Turning Back.

Sally Edelstein speaking on her work.

Maeve Grogan describing the meaning behind her work. A glimpse of Beth Lakamp’s (Fenton Missouri) watercolor on clayboard panel, that’s the idea and she told them so.

And my favorite photo from the reception, my muse for my oil painting, Feathers hanging with my favorite bubble girl!

A distant peek at Sarupa Sidaarth‘s (Tiburon, California) acrylic, googly eyes, eyelets on canvas painting, Shh.

The League of Women Voters, a non partisan group, had volunteers available at the gallery to register people to vote. Make your voice heard and Vote! 46.9% of those eligible did not vote in 2016 and look where that got us! in the background you can catch a glimpse of Blond Jenny‘s ( Edison New Jersey) c-print, Womanhood, Lindsey Carrell‘s ( Billings, Montana) oil and egg tempera on panel painting, Translate, and Shelly Floyd‘s (Round Rock, Texas) acrylic on paper painting, Struggle to Rise.

RISE! – Going Up!

Spent the day with Suzanne Whitney-Smedt, Karen Gutfreund, Marianne McGrath and Rozanne Hermelyn Di Silvestro, because it’s more fun to unload a U-Haul together!

Many hands make for light work!

Unwrapping Jenny Reinhardt‘s huge painting Split the Sack.

Looking good together! Jenny Reinhardt‘s Split the Sack and Gina Herrera‘s sculpture, Jaunting for Restitution.

Rozanne Hermelyn Di Silvestro installing her installation, In a Constant State of Rising and Falling.

The installation can seen from Gallery 24 down below as well.

Laying out the pieces of the puzzle, Nayda Cuevas paintings #latina:Reclaimingthelatinatag.

RISE! – Incoming!

I brought in my painting, In the Pink, to Whitney Modern on Friday, for the upcoming Gutfreund Cornett Art show RISE: Empower, Change and Action! and was delighted to find the exhibition catalogues hot of the press! It tells us about Gutfreund Cornett Art with its vision of “Changing the World Through Art” and Whitney Modern a much needed Contemporary Fine Art Gallery in the heart of the Silicon Valley,  the curators of the show, Gutfreund Cornett Art, Marianne McGrath and Suzanne Whitney-Smedt, the guest jurors: Jessica Porter, Kelsey McDonnel and Joan McLoughlin (and all the special award winners) and documents all of the art in the show with artists comments about their pieces.  There are also two important essays on the importance of social activist art and engaging with community by Sherri Cornett and Karen Gutfreund.

Gallerist, Suzanne Whitney-Smedt and Curator / Artist, Karen Gutfreund, (curators for the exhibition along with Sherri Cornett and Marianne McGrath), graciously modeling the new catalogue for me. Catalogues are available at Whitney Modern while supplies last or through Amazon.

165 pages of gorgeous images and inspiring content!

See?

Santa Cruz artist, Karuna Gutowski was bringing in her Ambient Thoughts painting just as I was leaving. It’s in the bottom right corner, just below Scotts Valley artist, Dana Richardson‘s painting Burning Woman. Can’t wait to see the rest!

The exhibition runs July 18 – August 31 with an opening reception and artist talk Saturday July 21 12:30 – 3:30pm. 24N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, California.

Thinking Outside the Frame – print show at NUMU

 

I was excited to take in the new print show which opened to members last Thursday night at the New Museum Los Gatos! Presented by The California Society of Printmakers, Thinking Outside the Box was juried by Cathy Kimball,  Executive Director and Chief Curator of The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, bringing together fascinating prints, which employed a wide variety of processes, mediums, materials and methods of presentation, engaging the viewer in a very different experience than with traditional printmaking. Makes me want to print on stuff!!! The show runs until September 30. Check the NUMU website for hours and all the printmaking demos they have lined up this summer! Also, click on artist’s names below for links to their wonderful websites if you’d like to see more of their work.

Outside the Frame – NUMU

NUMU’s curator Marianne McGrath introducing Susan Howe, who is in charge of Special Projects at The California Society of Printmakers which is presenting Thinking Outside the Frame and offering an excellent exhibition catalogue which is available at the museum. She will be conducting a Mokuhanga Woodcut demo June 30 at the museum.

Cathy Kimball, Executive Director and Chief Curator of The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art brought her considerable experience and eye to jury the show. She is speaking here about her selection process.

Kent Manske – Genetic Garden 5-17-18 – 2018 – Installation of screen based monoprints on aluminum.

Ellie Honl – Coping Strategies – 2013 – HD stop animation video made from prints.

Michelle Murillo with DNA MAP – For a Shifting Identity – 2015 – Fused glass screen print.

Detail – the artist is using bits from her own family history!

Karen Gallagher Iverson – Variable Horizons 1,2 – 2016 – Pochoir Print – drawn colored pastel on wax.

Close-up of Variable Horizons 1. The artist has echoed the contours of the landscape to the rhythm of a heart!

Beth Fein – Betrayed – 2011 – Monoprints formed into 3D shapes, paper, ink, shredded US currency

Close-up.

Ashley Rodriguez Reed and little one – The Forest of My Wild Heart – 2017 – Silk-screened, digitally printed, found, sewn and embroidered fabric.

Detail, a toucan amongst the intricate patterns of a piece inspired by tangles of exposed tree roots at Mount Tamalpais and the environments they create.

Ginger Crawford Tolonen – Hopscotch Allegories – 2003 – Accordian artist book, intaglio and drypoint etchings, handmade box.

Up-close.

Ewa Gavrielov – 5 Shades of Pink – 2017- Screen print.

Ewa Gavrielov – Alternating – 2016 – Mixed media, shredded and folded paper.

Carrie Ann Plank – Dermaombré Brown and Blue Variations, Small Versions – 2017 – Laser assisted woodcut with indigo dye on Okawara.

Carrie Ann Plank – Dermaombré – 2016 – Woodcut with indigo dye.

Robynn Smith  – Liminal Terrain – 2015 – Linoleum relief print over digital output, 5 panels. This artist will be offering a Silk-Cut Linoleum Relief Printing Workshop July 14 & 15 at the museum.

Detail.

Donna Westerman – Generation – 2015- Woodcut installation.

Close up.



Katherine Venturelli
– Lunar Calculations – 2013 – Artist book, intaglio, Rives BFK paper, book cloth binding.

Luz Marina Ruiz, Tierra de los Sueños – 2017 – Tunnel artist, linoleum cut, hand-colored with watercolor.

Me with Betty Friedman‘s Untitled (triptych) 196, 2010 – Intaglio, chine collé, printed on handmade paper.

NUMU’s Executive Director Lisa Coscino in conversation with Genetic Garden’s artist Kent Manske.

Artist Walk and Talk – NUMU

Join me for an Artist Walk and Talk with NUMU’s Waterlines artists, Christel Dillbohner, Theodora Varnay Jones, Danae Mattes, Linda Simmel and curator Marianne McGrath along Los Gatos Creek Trail this Tuesday, January 9th (rain date – Thursday, January 11th). We will be meeting at 11:00 am at New Museum Los Gatos. Learn about the artists’ practices and connections with the natural environment, and the role that hiking plays in creativity and problem solving. After the hike, everyone is invited to return to NUMU for refreshments, an exhibition tour and continued conversation.

Tickets are available at NUMU – $10 general admission and free to members.

The hike (which I do regularly) is fairly moderate with some rises and falls – good footwear is essential and hiking sticks can be very helpful in areas with loose gravel.

Here’s a little preview of some of the great views along the trail which I had snapped on a recent hike with Marianne McGrath.  Let’s hope for great weather!

 

Waterlines Artist Talk at NUMU Tomorrow

Please join me for a conversation with curator Marianne McGrath at NUMU tomorrow, Saturday, November 4th. We will be talking about the genesis of my pieces Stilla Maris (drop of the sea) and California Water Rites, currently on exhibit with Waterlines. We will explore my artistic process, my relationship with water and notions of what might be considered sacred. Come and ask me stuff! Share your experience of water and what it means to you!

Here are some panoramic view of the exhibit which includes  (painting, photography, assemblage, installation, video, drawing prints and sound pieces)  by Judith Belzer, Barbara Boissevain, Marie Cameron, Matthew Chase-Daniel, Christel Dillbohner, Linda Gass, Nancy Genn, Liz Hickok, Theodora Varnay Jones, Pantea Karimi, Cheryl E. Leonard, Danae Mattes, Marsha McDonald, Klea McKenna, Ryan M. Reynolds and Linda Simmel, curated by Marianne McGrath.

Several artists exhibiting with Waterlines will speaking about their work in conjunction with NUMU’s Winter Celebration which will run from 12- 4 pm. Check out this link for all the activities (including decorating sugar skulls)!  This is free for all NUMU members, $10 general admission, $6 for seniors, students and military and free for everyone 18 and under.

NUMU is at 106 E. Main Street in Los Gatos, California.

Waterlines Preview Party

Waterlines opened up last night at NUMU with a fabulous, packed preview party for members!  I am so honored to be part of this extremely beautiful show curated by Marianne McGrath with such outstanding artists working in a multiplicity of media and bringing distinct perspectives and sensitive visions and voices speaking to our experience of water. Exhibiting artists include: Judith Belzer, Barbara Boissevain, Marie Cameron, Matthew Chase-Daniel, Christel Dillbohner, Linda Gass, Nancy Genn, Liz Hickok, Theodora Varnay Jones, Pantea Karimi, Cheryl E. Leonard, Danae Mattes, Marsha McDonald, Klea McKenna, Ryan M. Reynolds and Linda Simmel, I have added links to all of their websites which can be accessed by clicking on their names below.

Always a pertinent topic, and especially so in California, NUMU was able to enjoy the support of sponsors such as Badger Meter and San Jose Water Company and Kumiko Iwasawa, Iwasawa Oriental for Waterlines.

Executive Director Lisa Coscino and Curator Marianne McGrath, talking about the genesis of the show and introducing sound artist Cheryl E. Leonard who played transporting music with objects from the sea and layers of recorded sounds from waves and melting glaciers.

Here are some of her instruments, mussel shells, stones, dried kelp flute, stinger driftwood and shell rattles  and sand.

Music by Cheryl E. Leonard,  Video by Oona Stern.

I love how the various pieces in Waterlines seem to be in conversation with one another.

With my assemblage painting with found objects and Pacific Ocean water, Stilla Maris which is Latin for Drop of the Sea and is thought to be the precursor to Stella Maris.

With California Water Rites, my assemblage with Los Gatos tap water.

California Water Rites and Poem

Theodora Varnay Jones – Poem

Christel Dillbohner with Frozen in Time – oil, cold wax on linen and Motionless Torrents – oil on silver leaf.

With Danae Mattes and her Evaporation Pool.

Site Specific Evaporation Pool by Danae Mattes.

Exhibiting artists Danae Mattes and Liz Hickok with Holly Van Hart.

Liz Hickok‘s photographs (sublimation print on aluminum) Lithosphere and Signal to Noise.

Pantea Karimi speaking about her silkscreen, Mapping a Gulf: The Persian Gulf Map and Tour of The Persian Gulf Album with Lorraine Lawson.

Judith Belzer‘s paintings.

Linda Gass with her sumptuous painted silk textile pieces, Owens River Diversion and San Joaquin Merced Revival.

Marsha McDonald – Slough, one of many GIF videos of water.

Barbara A. Boissevain aerial photographs of Bay Area salt ponds.

Barbara A. Boisssevain – Salt Pond Restoration Photo Grid

Matthew Chase-Daniel – Swamp South of Crescent City – photo assemblage.

Nancy Genn‘s Patagonia series casein paintings on canvas.

Linda Simmel photopolymer intaglio etchings, 75kts and 60kts.

Linda Simmel – Book of Seas – gesso/pencil on gampi paper, steel binding.

Ryan Reynolds – Frogshead and Petaluma River – oil on panel.

Klea McKenna Rainstorms & Rain Studies

Klea McKenna

Waterlines runs from October 6 – March 18.  November 4th several Waterline artists will be present to talk about their work (including me) in conjunction with NUMU’s Winter Celebration. I hope you get a chance to see the exhibit in person because my photographs are not capturing the beauty of the work!

On Exhibit with Waterlines

I am so very honored to asked to participate in Waterlines, a gorgeous and relevant exhibition at NUMU curated by Marianne McGrath which includes some amazing work from 16 artists, bay area and beyond each coming to water with a different viewpoint and voice!  The show runs from October 6  – March 18 with a member’s Preview Party tonight and an artist walk through November 4, as part of NUMU’s Winter Celebration.

The two pieces I have in the show, Stilla Maris (Drop of the Sea) and California Water Rites both focus on the notion that all water is holy and we need revaluate our cavalier relationship to it.

Stilla Maris – assemblage painting with found objects and Pacific Ocean water – 2016

 

California Water Rites – Assemblage with tap water – 2016

Abstracts From Life at NUMU

So nice to meet many of the exhibiting artists in Abstracts From Life: Bay Area Figurative Past and Present at the Members Reception held at NUMU last night in Los Gatos, California. It’s a beautiful exhibit curated by Marianne McGrath with exceptional work by Michael Azgour, Joan Brown, Suhas Bhujbal, Linda Christensen, Richard Diebenkorn, Dennis Hare, Mitchell Johnson, Brigitte McReynolds, Nathan Oliveira, Joan Savo, Jennifer Pochinski, William Rushton, Terry St. John and James Weeks. The show continues on until September 10, 2017. The following are a few photos from the evening and a small sampling of the work which glowed dramatically off of the dark walls (so hard to shoot)! All the more reason to come in and see it for yourself! For additional information on the artists, click on their names for links to websites and bios.

Suhas Bhujbal – Flower Market – oil on canvas

Mitchell Johnson

Brigitte McReynolds

Jennifer Pochinski – The Wonderful Race, –  Penelope, Livingroom

(detail from The Wonderful Race)

Linda Christensen – Tableau – oil on canvas

Linda Christensen -The Writer – oil on canvas

William Rushton – Street Play – oil on canvas

(detail)

Michael Azgour – Canal Street – oil on canvas

Joan Savo – Untitled (figure)  – oil on canvas

Richard Diebenkorn  – Untitled – charcoal on paper

Richard Diebenkorn – Untitled – charcoal on paper

Nathan Oliveira – Untitled Figure.  Crown Point Press Nude 14 – watercolor on paper

James Weeks – Promenade Under the Trees – oil on canvas

 

Down the Rabbit Hole – Anne & Mark’s Art Party 2016

What a party! The food, the fun, the friends the fashion the frolicking the theme (falling down the rabbit hole into a world of wonder) and yes, booze, but at its core, Anne and Mark’s Art Party is all about the art – visual, musical, spoken and dance, SO many artist and SUCH great work! Artists emerging and established, local and international, street meets museum! As an exhibiting artist this year I am so grateful to Anne Sconberg and Mark Henderson and Georgie Huff and to the vast army of volunteers and contributors who made this all possible…and it’s not over yet!

The gallery is open this week, Friday and Saturday from 11am-5pm ($10 admission) and a Closing Bash ($29 admission) Saturday night, October I, complete with a Pivot to Fashion Show that is not to be missed!  It’s a good thing because you can’t see everything in one visit! Check out  https://artpartysj.com/ for more information! FYI This post is link rich – click on the artist’s names for websites where available!

Bill Gould‘s installation over the gateway to Anne & Mark’s Art Party clattering in the breeze  like a river rucking over stones.

Exhibiting artist Holly Van Hart and company in front of a sculpture installation by Tulio Flores and Linnae Asiel of Asiel Design.

Live painting!

So delighted to have six of my Florilegia – illuminated mixed media assemblage paintings on exhibit in my own little “gallery” in the south-west corner of the Main Gallery. Here I am with Purity and Oblivion.

Pano of my “gallery” Secret Lover, Mature Elegance, Happy Marriage, Purity and Oblivion.

With Bryan Callanta – the man who knows galleries and shirts and also the man I have to thank for my great little gallery!

With artist W.M. Vinci – the Mad Hatter with the sublime taste and the fab footwear!

Goldfish heels! Swoon!

Fabulous Steam Punk art lovers.

Susan Kraft and her encaustic paintings.

NUMU curator, Marianne McGrath. 

Sieglinde Van Damme and her digital prints from scanned Chemograms with gallerist Jack Fisher.

Jay Ruland‘s  gorgeous dying rose scanned prints.

Lovely White Rabbit & Mad Hatter!

Christopher Elliman‘s mixed media Systematic Deconstruction.

Tessie Barerra-Sharaga‘s mixed media installation.

Exhibiting artist Holly Van Hart with her abstract landscape oil paintings on canvas.

Samuel Price‘s mixed media collage.

Will Marino‘s wound and folded paper, Shadow (Fig Tree)

Jody Alexander and her Keep installation of discarded library books, and vintage linen  and book skins, boro technique worked textiles.

Lisa Wangness‘s mixed media collage Sin / Without.

Dotti Cichon‘s digital photography printed on silk.

Exhibting artist Sara Friedlander and her American Women: Birds of Im/Migration
Mixed media digital collage and paint on wooden panel

Sara Friedlander‘s  American Women: Birds of Im/Migration: Ethel on Her Way Home From School – Mixed media digital collage and paint on wooden panel.

George Rivera‘s dramatic oil on canvas figurative work.

Karen Gutfreund‘s bold text pieces.

Exhibiting artist Laura Jacobson with her prints and ceramics.

Rose Sellery – Baby Shoes!

Rose Selery‘s Pins and Needles dress (detail).

Exhibting artist Rose Sellery and her Rags to Riches sculpture with JR

Rose Sellery‘s Rags to Riches

Laura Scandrett‘s Untitled – Photochemicals on Photo Paper.

Cristina Velázquez‘s installation.

Exhibiting artists Kent Manske and Cristina Velázquez.

Marc D’Estout – Pinhead

Tim Craighead – Without Constantini and D. Brent Stephens – El Triunfo

Khaled Akil‘s Requiem for Syria 1- Digital print from painting and photography — with Anne Schonenberg and exhibiting artist Mary Wold Souza.

        

Exhibiitng artist – Guru and Angel – Mark Henderson.

Robert Larson‘s mixed media paintings – I love the one with the cigarette packaging!

Lorraine Lawson – mixed media on canvas (left)
Mary Wold Souza – oil on canvas (far wall)
Kim Pourciau – wedding china sculpture (center)
Patrick Wädl Hofmeister – mixed media on canvas (right)

Margaret Niven‘s mixed media trees flanking Stan Welsh and Margitta Dietrick Welsh’s mixed media, sculpture, photograph with drawing on far wall

Della Calfee‘s photograph On the Inside.

Robert Ortbal‘s A to Z sculpture.

Robin Lasser‘s photograph & fabulous party goers

Awesome aqua!

Brian Coleman‘s Neon lovliness!

Emanuela Harris-Sintamarian‘s gouache on paper.

         

Green fairy lights – Joe Miller – mixed media install, Exhibiting Artist Jane Peterman Trace and her acrylic Trace Memory

Wild orange!

Exhibiting artist Mandy Spritzer and her metal pieces

Exhibiting artist Danielle Dufayet and daughter.

Danielle Dufayet‘s acrylic paintings.

    

David Middlebrook with his missed media sculpture and the lovely April Gee.

David Middlebrook‘s sculpture and Gail Ragains abstact figurative paintings in oil.

Cool vibe – bass and piano.

Indian classical dance with Abhinaya Dance Co.

 

Best of friends!

Great sax with a jazz-funk-rap group.

Shovelman! I bought his Dirty West CD SOOOO good!

Late night in the VIP lounge.

One final blast of fire before I called it a night.

David Ligare at the Triton

There is an absolutely stunning retrospective of David Ligare‘s paintings currently on at the Triton Museum of Art.  I could try to stumble around a description of his work, the impeccable technique, the fine draftsmanship, the exquisite sense of light and place, the billowing drapery caught on a sea breeze, the classically themed allegories with their sensitively rendered figures and buildings but all of this seems to exist on a higher plain that needs to be seen and experienced rather than clumsily communicated by me. David Ligare – California Classicist runs until August 14 and must be seen to be appreciated!  Here are a few pictures from last Friday’s Opening Reception:

Me standing in front of Arete – simply a stunning masterpiece!

And better still standing in front of Arete with the artist David Ligare himself!

                       

Coung Nguyen, getting his book signed by the artist,  Docta Pietas – Oil on Canvas – Collection of Barbara N. Hyland and William G. Hyland,   Preston Metcalf Executive Director of the Triton and Marianne McGrath, Curator NUMU in conversation.

David Molesky and David Ligare in front of Landscape with an Archer – Oil on canvas –  collection of the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

Artists David Molesky and Holly Lane viewing the exhibition.

The model for Penelope was present at the reception and inspired a photography frenzy!

                          

Rock – Oil on canvas – Collection of Lorna Meyer Calas and Dennis Calas

Et in Arcadia Ego – NUMU

Et in Arcadia Ego
Even in Arcadia there I am

NUMU’s exquisite exhibition, Et in Arcadia Ego, guest curated by David Molesky, just opened last night! Growing out of the classical belief that utopia exists just beyond the bounds of civilization and liminal figures like shepherds are beings that are ideally seen to inhabit both worlds. This show features a stunning collection of work from stellar local and international artists. Running from June 2 – October 2, there well be an Opening Celebration for their summer Exhibitions, tomorrow, Saturday June 4 from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. New Museum Los Gatos is located at 106 E Main Street, Los Gatos, California.

Here’s a taste… all the artists names are linked to their websites where all of their photos will be better than mine!

David Ligare – Et in Arcadia Ego (View Moderne) – Oil on Panel

Aron Wisenfeld – Bloom – Oil on Canvas

Agostino Arrivabene – Il Sogno di Asceptio -Tempra and Oil on Antique Panel (detail)

NUMU’s Executive Director, Lisa Coscino introducing  Guest Curator, artist and writer, David Moseky (He’s the tall one in the middle of the photograph below).

Astrid Preston – Mountain Path – Oil on Canvas

Stephanie Peek – Deeper 1 – Oil on Canvas

Holly Lane – After the Storm – Acrylic on Carved Wood

Seamus Conley –  Po Boy – Oil on Canvas

David Ligare – Et in Arcadia Ego – Oil on Linen

Odd Nerdrum – In Arcadia (self portrait) – Oil on Canvas

Jason Yarmosky –  Counting Sheep – Oil on Canvas

Julie Heffernan – Self Portrait as Acceleration – oil on canvas

Maria Kreyn –  Even Here – Oil on Canvas

Robin F Williams – The Gardeners – Oil on Canvas

Brad Kunkle – Reclamation – Oil, Gold and Silver Leaf on Wood

Me trying to become part of Stephanie Peek’s painting – silk floral camo!

Some of the brains and beauty behind the exhibit: Andrea Schwartz / Andrea Schwartz Gallery, David Molesky / Guest Curator, Marianne McGrath / NUMU Curator, Lisa Conscino / NUMU Executive Director.

Conversation with Philip Hua

Another great conversation at NUMU, this time curator Marianne McGrath spoke with Philip Hua, an exhibiting artist with More Than Your Selfie on going through May 15, 2016.

He spoke on branding yourself as an artist, the differences between selfies and self portraiture and opened a window into his poetic performative prints, that evolve when exposed to light overtime, his re:active work, manipulated digital prints on construction paper and newsprint, as well as his digital pixelation and Ben Day dot portraits, manipulated with water.

Hua’s work strikes me as very spiritual with transient notions of self and often ephemeral use of materials. It reminds me of the monk who spends days making an intricate sand mandala only to brush it away once it’s completed. There is such a beauty and poignancy to his imagery, his handling and choice of materials and process!  I find his work eye-opening and completely entrancing!

One of his pieces, If it Happened Before It Will Happen Again – pigmented ink and packing tpe on Wall Street Journal newpaper mounted on dibond is currently on exhibit at  Salon at the Triton Museum of Art.

Today’s Conversation at NUMU will be with photographer Judy Dater from 2:30 −3:30 pm, 106 East Main Street in Los Gatos (free with admission – go for the membership!)

Julie Heffernan at NUMU

We were so lucky to have Brooklyn based artist Julie Heffernan speak with us Sunday at New Museum Los Gatos in conjunction with their current exhibition, More Than Your Selfie.

More Than Your Selfie - NUMU - Julie Heffernan - Self Portrait with Falling Sky - 2011 - oil on canvas - photo Marie Cameron 2016

 

Included in this exhibit is her oil painting, Self Portrait with Falling Sky. As with many of Julie Heffernan’s paintings, she uses the self portrait as a vehicle to explore her relationship with outer and inner worlds in magical settings of fantastic gardens, wild jungles and gilded palaces – all bursting into flame or blossom or fruit, laced with a secret language of survival and hope held in a tenuous, transcendent balance.

NUMU - Marianne McGrath and Julie Heffernan - photo Marie Cameron 2016

NUMU curator Marianne McGrath with artist Julie Heffernan. It was all about the redheads –  in the historic images, in the paintings, and in the audience!

NUMU -  Julie Heffernan - photo Marie Cameron 2016

Julie Heffernan’s talk and slide show introduced us to her early art influences that broke through her suburban Ozzie and Harriet style upbringing on the West Coast – passionate Catholic hagiography and hippy hedonism in Golden Gate park, then onto German figural renaissance with her Fullbright scholarship in West Berlin. While in Europe she was exposed to the likes of Velázquez, Fantin-Latour and Bosch to name but a few and so began her lush still lifes as self portraits, traditional still lifes with contemporary flourishes and mind bubbles. These grew into the monumental, surreal follies, and the epic dystpoias of today which have been fueled by both personal and global events.

NUMU - Julie Heffernan - slide shoe of work 1 - photo Marie Cameron 2016

NUMU - Julie Heffernan - slide shoe of work 2 - photo Marie Cameron 2016

These are but a few glimpses into the slide show that accompanied the talk but a visit to Julie Heffernan’s website is order – also a visit to NUMU and to Mark Zukerberg’s house if you get the chance!  The artist also recommends checking out Elizabeth Kolbert on the environment, Elizabeth Gilbert on creative creative imps the TV series Black Mirror!

Elizabeth Barlow – More Than Your Selfie

More Than Your Selfie - Curator Marianne McGrath in conversation with Elizabeth Barlow - NUMU - photo Marie Cameron 2016

In conjunction with the current NUMU exhibition, More Than Your Selfie, curator Marianne McGrath has been hosting a series of fascinating conversations with exhibiting artists. Saturday was with Elizabeth Barlow who is known for her Portraits In Absentia, hyperrealist pantings of people and relationships as seen though their personal objects.

Post Cards of paintings by Elizabeth Barlow - NUMU- 2016

Beyond the beauty and masterful technique of these paintings (seen above in postcards), they invite the viewer to feel what it’s like to be this person by standing in their shoes for a moment. There is a shared intimacy in our relationship with these personal objects. When Marianne McGrath approached Elizabeth Barlow about the exhibit, the artist was challenged to turn this gaze onto herself, resulting in Self Portrait (In Absentia) which she painted especially for More Than Your Selfie.

Elizabeth Barlow- Self Portrait (In Absentia) oil on linen - 2015 - NUMU - courtesy of Gallerie Citti- photo Marie Cameron 2016

Elizabeth Barlow     Self Portrait (In Absentia)     2015     oil on linen     courtesy of Gallerie Citti

More that a visual representation of how the artist appears, the Elizabeth Barlow chose to paint a collection of objects that represent her influences, objects that have meaning to her and in doing so, not only give us insight into her character, but also invite us to think about which objects we would choose to represent ourselves.

Elizabeth Barlow - Work in Progress- 2015 - NUMU - photo Marie Cameron 2016

We were treated to a glimpse of a work in progress that the artist brought in to help describe the evolution of a painting. There is much care and thought in the selection and arrangement of the objects and to the type of lighting and the shadows that are created. The composition has to be perfect.

More Than Your Selfie - Curator Marianne McGrath in conversation with artist Elizabeth Barlow - NUMU- photo Marie Cameron 2016

In the course of the conversation we got to learn all kinds of interesting information from the artist, her art background, wonderful stories behind the paintings, specifics of her studio practice, favorite tools, how working for the opera influenced her work, the fact that her father Philip Barlow is a painter in Utah where she is originally from.

Marie Cameron and Elizabeth Barlow - NUMU- 2016

It was great seeing Elizabeth Barlow again. I had originally met her at the Silicon Valley Art Fair last fall where she was represented by Gallerie Citti of Burlingame, and I can tell you she’s as gregarious and fun as she is talented!  I just realized at the talk that I had seen and greatly admired her work, Portrait of a Marriage (a loving depiction of men’s dress shoes) years previously at the Triton Museum of Art! I love when that happens!

More Than Your Selfie runs until May 15, 2016 and the next conversation will be with Julie Heffernan, Saturday, March 13 from 2-3 at the New Museum Los Gatos, 106 East Main Street in Los Gatos, California.

Stephen Beal at NUMU

The New Museums of Los Gatos presented a talk Thursday evening with artist Stephen Beal in conjunction Warp and Weft, an exhibition of Beal’s grid paintings that was guest curated by gallerist George Lawson. It runs until January 3, 2016.

This show spans a decade of work, and consists primarily of acrylic gouache applied to board, muslin and linen. These pieces have been inspired by textiles, music, the work of artists such as Piet Mondrian and Agnes Martin but primarily by the materiality of the work, the way the paint reacts to its substrate, the way colors butt up against each other and by the transformative process itself.

Hard to capture with photography, these panels of dots pulsate with the juxtaposition of color as seen in the detail below.

The complimentary combination of red and green really vibrates!

This series of tape pieces, Untitled #1 – #16, from 2005 is made up contact tape on fluted acrylic panels.

In this detail, you can see how the layering of these transparent tapes creates a fascinating pattern and absolutely feels like a woven textile.

I love this lacy pattern that is created by overlays of tape shown in this detail!

In this “argyle” series on muslin, the color of paint is influenced by the unprimed muslin itself which is left to show through in areas.

Stephen Beal answering questions about his work.

NUMU’s director, Lisa Cosino, and curator, Marianne McGrath introducing  guest curator, gallerist George Lawson and artist Stephen Beal.

George Lawson and Stephen Beal in a fascinating conversation about the work, the process, the craft and the creative impulse. One of Beal’s acrylic gouache on linen can be seen overhead.

Artist Lynn Letterman, gallerist Kumiko Iwasawa Vadas, and artist Lorriane Lawson attended the talk. These two artists are currently exhibiting work along with Stephen Beal at Iwasawa Oriental Art in Los Gatos. That show, Image and Transmission runs through November 30, 2015.

Stephen Beal and and his wife, Dee Hoover met working at the Art Institute of Chicago where Beal did his MFA and Hoover worked as an administrator. Coming west, Beal was provost at the California College of the Arts for over a decade when he was appointed president. He maintains his studio practice, his role as president and positions on many art’s boards and sees all this work as being part of a transformative process!

The NASA Paintings – Rick Guidice at NUMU

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Thursday evening was a stellar night at NUMU with Los Gatos artist Rick Guidice, The NASA Paintings and a fabulous NASA Ames Research Center panel discussion, Our Place in Space: A Panel Discussion About the Future of Space Settlements! This dynamic exhibition of visionary space settlements Guidice developed for NASA in the 70’s helped to shape how we could see our future in space and has informed much later work on the subject. It runs from September 17, 2015  though to February 14, 2016.

Rick Guidice- NUMU - Marianne McGrath - photo Marie Cameron 2015

NUMU’s Curator of Art, Marianne McGrath introducing Rick Guidice for a informal talk about this series and his experience working with NASA.

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Rick Guidice unscrolling one of his early drawings of Mars space suits that had been modeled for him at NASA Ames Research Center.

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Such an enthusiastic and knowledgable turnout for Rick Guidice’s talk, the room was filled with scientists, engineers and artists!

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Rick Guidice explained how he used dramatic changes in scale of the astronauts to indicate how incredible large these space settlements were.

Rich Guidice -The Nasa Paintings - NUMU - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Astronauts tethered to an early space shuttle in a detail from a Guidice painting.

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Spellbound.

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - painting detail 1977 Mass Driver With Solar Power Station- photo Marie Cameron 2015

In Mass Driver with Solar Power Station, an acrylic painting from 1977, Guidice explained how he chose to paint it from an unusual perspective – one where the earth was floating above instead of under our feet. He even signed it to make sure the orientation was maintained in future publications but to no avail, we earthlings are so fixed in our imagination, it was often printed upside-down.

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Guidice’s initial idea was to develop practical, dense housing for these space settlements but NASA had something more reminiscent of the pastoral French countryside in mind.

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings -painting detail- photo Marie Cameron 2015

Here’s a detail of agriculture in space, from a Rick Guidice painting. Maybe this is where The Muppets “Pigs in Space” concept came from?

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Full room for an engaging storyteller!

Rick Guidice- NUMU - The NASA Paintings - painting detail- photo Marie Cameron 2015

The forced perspective, raking angles, high contrast, bold colors and texture seen in this detail from an asteroid mining device illustration, are just some of the artistic devices that make Guidice’s work so exciting.

Our Place in Space - NUMU Panel Discussion - Lisa Coscino - photo Marie Cameron

NUMU Executive Director, Lisa Coscino welcoming the NASA Ames Research Center panelists speaking on Our Place in Space: A Panel Discussion About the Future of Space Settlements.

Panel Discussion  Our Place in Space -NUMU - photo Marie Cameron 2015

Panel Moderator, Alexandra Hall (Principal, Sodor Space Agency LLC) leading an engaging panel discussion on the future of space settlement with guest scientists.

Dr. Ann-Sofie Schreurs ( NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow)

Sidney Sun (Chief of Space Biosciences Division at Nasa Ames Research Center)

Lynn D. Harper (Lead of Integrative Studies for both the Emerging Commercial Space Office, reporting to the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA Headquarters & the NASA Ames Research Center Space Portal.

Yes, it was that kind of amazing night! So many great minds sharing interesting research and posing engaging questions.

The panel spoke on falling in love with space, their individual areas of study,  the importance of human psychology in space, of the impact on the human body and how we may be bio engineered or evolve to better cope with issues like bone density loss and muscle atrophy. There were questions too of how our own colonies of bacteria might be kept in check as they seem to become more virulent in space. How space junk was an issue and recycling is critical. For example, even clothes can not be washed in space and must be trashed in a week – could they be recycled or maybe self cleaning clothing can be bio-engineered? Bio organisms will prove to be an important component in creating organic systems to recycle water and waste in general.

There was talk of how it will be necessary to develop outer orbit mining and manufacturing and recycling of the the highly processed space debris that is already in orbit  (some 12 million tons) There was talk of the excess carrying capacity of current space launches and how material for the creation of these settlements could be sent, taking advantage of the extra room and be stored in zero gravity.

When I asked a question about who owns space (now that there are so many commercial entities vying for a piece of the cosmic pie) I got an unexpected answer from a member of the audience, Daniel Faber, CEO of Deep Space Industries – (asteroid mining anyone?) Apparently The Outer Space Treaty is the only thing currently in pace and while it regulates some things (no nukes on the moon) it has a non-interference policy when it comes to mining – Faber feels taxes will be collected by the countries from which the mining companies are based.

Harper felt that the World Bank could also act to collect a percentage of profits that might be reinvested in global space mining/ manufacture.

It’s all a ways out yet, but maybe not as far as we think – fascinating!