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….
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.
Let me just start by saying wow! WOW!
I hear that Anne and Mark have been hosting their Art Party for a number of years now but this is the first time they’ve held it at the Santa Clara Fair Grounds – because they’re just that big and fabulous!
Artist Holly Van Hart and I got dolled up for the Opening Gala to check it all out and we were so impressed with the quality and variety of the work which was not limited to just visual art but there was spoken word, poetry, music and dancing! Just when you began to think you saw everything there was another maze to follow and more talent to be amazed by! I hope we can wrangle an invite to participate next year!
Where possible I have linked the artist’s names to their websites so you can find out more about them and their work, just click on them!
Oh – and the party is still going on until September 25th artpartysj.com. Go!
Me with Li Ma‘s 633 Hours to Intergalactica! installation.
Joe Miller exhibited a great street inspired installation.
Turns out photographer Michelle Longosz and I have a lot of friends in common – which is always really fun to find out! I was blown away by her serene yet emotionally charged photographs, Seven (above) and White ( below). They are very still and full of movement at the same time ?! To me, they are like photographs of the human spirit!
Dotti Cichon explaining her photographic process for printing silk scarves. They make a great backdrop for the the couple on their date below. (Can you guess which one is based on graffiti from Florence that I picked out for myself?)
Art gaze – Thorn of Plenty by David Middlebrook of Los Gatos.
Kebe Konte‘s Rings of Fire – nails on wood.
Cie doing an impromptu dance for me in front of Jen Jenning‘s untitled work made from wood, nails and human hair (they reminded me of wool carders).
CT-86 Big Iron by Richard Starks was a showstopper!
Roberta Aherns paints her florals on cracked linen which gives them a soft textured age look like a fresco.
Did I forget to mention that I did have some artwork on exhibit after all? It was on Holly’s back, a shapie tattoo compliments of yours truly! A little something I dashed off (to match the one she’d done on her leg) before we dashed off in her car.
And while my little feather was lovely and all that, what was really breathtaking was this Rose series by photographer Jay Ruland! Thump – thump…Thump – thump…Thump – thump!
A quiet moment of reflection with Stan Welsh‘s Void and Pilgrim – ceramic figure and epoxy resin.
White Queen by Michael Garlington – silver gelatin photography, mixed media frame was full of fabulous, dark details as was his other shrine like piece.
Party goers discussing the ecstasy of the nun in Michael Garlington’s shrine like sculpture.
And while on naughty and nice – this mixed media piece, Foot & Ass by Tracey Snelling also took a look at secret pleasures.
Fields of Gold by Yvonne Escalante, speaks to the aggressive nature of modern agriculture, with these bullet or even missile like forms. They are striking as handsome, sleekly crafted objects, loaded with symbolism and complex implications!
Another favorite piece was this encaustic work, Part of the Whole, by Linda Steenkamp. These cell-like shapes could be read in a lot of ways but they reminded me of little boats made up of maps and bits of writing on a crowded sea where everyone had a journey but no one was getting anywhere. Perhaps I’m too imaginative with my interpretations. Viewer’s prerogative!
Mixed media paintings by D. Hooker, whimsical and perhaps a little menacing.
Monica Van den Dool‘s Blue Rabbit’s Foot and Canary mixed media ceramic pieces combined pop (over-scaled, familiar objects in bright colors) with something tender and dark (the real rabbit’s foot and wishbone) leaving me with a feeling of soft melancholy.
David Pace exhibited riveting portraits, that pin you with their stare piercing through the kaleidoscope of pattern.
A George Rivera mixed media painting looms central in the photo above.
A dramatic detail from George Rivera’s mixed media piece, Hope, with its deeply wrought darks and its burnished highlights.
Artist Phyllis Jenkins, Lorraine Lawson (yet another Los Gatos Museums Gallery artist – along with me and Holly), Gallery 85’s Sandy Burkhart and Holly Van Hart!
Melissa Kreisa and her rich metallic Abstract paintings.
Susan Kraft and her textured abstract acrylics.
Great people watching!
I’ve been a fan of Gail Ragains bold and bright abstracted figures for some time now and it was great to see an entire alcove full of these swimmers in acrylic!
I would have liked to walk home with these! Voices of Dissent and Off with Their Heads, mixed media paintings by Christopher Elliman. He uses elements of stencil and poster bombing, street art and fairytale. I find them both whimsical and politically charged! LOVE!
A rose by any other name…
VHS tape knitting by Cristina Velazquez – I’ll take a sweater dress please!
Patrick Hofmeister‘s installation above and below (I hear he’s on his honeymoon – congratulations!)
Dancing dudes with stilts and blow torches.
Fire Dancer performed to one of my all time favorite musicians, Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn and his qawwali piece, Dum Must Qalandar. I believe this was the remixed version with Massive Attack.
A possible Anne and Mark sighting – Thanks for the party!
Deep sea fish car.
I watched early on as artists were stringing up the CDs among the lights, and by the end of the evening they looked like twinkling stars!
When your photos start getting blurry like this you know it’s time to go home – too dark for my hand held camera or too many Art Dog martinis?
But not before one last blast from Jon Sarriugarte‘s snail car, The Golden Mean!