Art Visit

For my Art Visit I decided to attend a 2nd Saturday Art Walk event. I went to this event on June 14, 2008. We visited many different galleries on this visit. The first reception we went to was located at the Central Library. This was a great event to attend since it showcased different art from many different galleries. These galleries include: The Art Foundry, Elliott Fouts Gallery, Jay Jay Gallery, John Natsoulas Gallery, Joyce Doiron Gallery, Pamela Skinner/Gwenna Howard Gallery, Phoenix Gallery, Mowen Solinsky Gallery, and the Solomon Dubnick Gallery. The exhibit was called Clay Now: Current Ceramic Art. This exhibit reflected a wide range of art work that included vessels and pots, abstract expressions, and figurative pieces. One of the pieces looked like a stack of towels or washcloths-it was very realistic yet made out of ceramic. My daughter enjoyed the ceramic pieces that had images of Mickey Mouse on them. The picture that is accompanying this blog is showing me with a friend of mine-Barbara Strong. She is actually the artist of the ceramic work that we are standing in front of. Her work was titled Underwater Kiss (see picture)
and is from the Pamela Skinner/Gwenna Howard Gallery. Actually seeing the art work up close and personal is a great experience. Looking at the art in our book, and on the computer was informative but there is a lot to be said about experiencing art "right before your eyes." When viewing these exhibits you get a much better appreciation for the detail and the time and effort that goes into each and every piece of art. Another gallery that I visited during 2nd Saturday was the Solomon Dubnick Gallery. This gallery had some very interesting pieces in it. There were a wide variety of pieces that varied in medium. There were a few pieces that really stood out as being intriguing. The first was a mixed media on canvas by Maureen Hood. It was called Embrace, it showed a man and a woman in a loving embrace. Another interesting but rather obscure piece was by Gerald Hoffernon, called the Shaky Compromise. The reason that I thought this piece was odd is because it consisted of animal heads with beer bottles sticking out of their heads while be supported by metal stands (to resemble legs) while wearing cowboy boots. This artist claims to be a wildlife artist if wildlife includes human animals. He says that the forms he creates are speculative but evolutionary, like nature. Each of his pieces has a story, a history, and actual logic. He says that the images, "are designed to have a psychological impact and a lingering echo in the minds eye." Next we traveled to the 20th Street Art Gallery, the art was interesting but not really the type of art that I enjoy. Now on to my favorite exhibit-the Art Bra Show(this show also benefited a good cause:the Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation and the Women's Wisdom Project). This was a fun exhibit in which all of the pieces included a bra in some form. It was in this show that I found my favorite piece. There were many good ones to choose from. The one that I chose was called Still Beautiful by Pat Orner. The medium was watercolor/acrylic. This piece depicts a breast cancer survivor in a black bra with one breast and looking in a mirror and knowing that she is still beautiful. A powerful element that contributes to the message behind this piece is that the artist herself is a breast cancer survivor. The last place that we visited was the new Viewpoint Photographic Art Center (do go if you have the chance, it is worth a visit). The photographs taken by Tamara Lischka were very cool-she took pictures of things like human fetuses, baby stingrays, octopus, etc. The other photographs by Dominic Rouse were a little disturbing in my opinion-the collection was called Haunted By a Painter's Ghost. I have attended a 2nd Saturday Art Walk before so I knew what to expect. Still I am always anxious to see what cool art I will experience. It is always better to see art first hand. I liked and enjoyed the whole experience.