So Worth It

Image July 28, 2017 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

Worth is an amazing luxury clothing line, which is sold via their website, www.worthnewyork.com and through individual stylists. The Worth collection is in town until August 3, 2017. It will eventually make its way back, adding the holiday collection in October. I visited the salon on E. Seneca Street in Manlius, New York today with my friend Jackie Terribile, the Small Town Stylist.

The clothing is truly magnificent. Exquisite fabrics – the finest silks, cashmeres and buttery soft leathers and suedes. OMG, everything is as light as a feather, and fits true to size.

IMG_20170728_141512_790 — Worth dress, BCBGeneration booties

Each item from the collection is available to view in limited sizes and from there orders are taken. It is a collection definitely worth seeing, feeling, touching and wearing. The quality inside and out is just the best – everything so beautifully finished with attention to the tiniest details. Love, love, loved it! <3

If you visit the website to shop, you will find opportunities to join the team. You can find a stylist in your area or become one. These clothes are in the realm of direct sales and not available in stores. Naturally, seeing the merchandise in person is best because the camera doesn’t always do justice to perfection. I am still intoxicated by the gorgeousness of those leather jackets. I am in some sort of fashion heaven right now….

abstract, art, found object, Karen Tashkovski, painting, sculpture

Parking

Image July 22, 2017 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

There are things I have always liked doing and still do – swinging on swings at a playground, lol…playing jacks and Chinese jumprope, blowing bubbles with a ninety-nine cent bubble wand. They never get old. The best things in life from childhood – because when you were little you were free to just have fun and dream.

My summer has been a lot of that. A world filled with possibilities and joy. I discovered a new park today. It is on the west side of Syracuse, New York past the Delavan Center on W. Fayette Street, called Lipe Art Park.

I love that there are people in this city committed to improving abandoned areas, in this case a former railroad yard. Sculptures flourish beside positive message murals and flower garden vignettes, like set decoration for a movie with a backsplash of real-live moving trains. It has this surreal flavor of being elsewhere. Unexpected urban beauty.

I’ve driven past it loads of times and never noticed it until a Facebook post inviting me to visit unveiled it to me, which is just so amazing. I found a playful atmosphere there – a happening – Blinded by the Lipe! with music, food and new interactive art.

The best things in life are free.

abstract, art, art exhibition, art for sale, art gallery, ceramics, fashion, found object, illustration, Karen Tashkovski, mixed media, painting, paper collage, Syracuse University

Come This Way

Image July 21, 2017 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

Point of Contact gallery is located in The Warehouse building, 350 W. Fayette Street (near the intersection with West Street) in Syracuse, New York. It is an annex of Syracuse University located in the Armory Square area of town. Its mission is to provide an arts dialogue with the community focusing on Latin American culture.

In the summer, however, the gallery opens its doors to a juried exhibition, welcoming all local artists to participate. Currently, Sum Art 2017 is up until mid-August. The art reception was last night.

For some reason, every time I enter this gallery, it starts out feeling like Dr. Who’s Tardis – bigger on the inside. Last night, as I winded my way around the exhibit taking quick snapshots here and there around the many patrons who attended finding myself in the second room and nearly impaling myself on a tall wooden sculpture, I realized that idea is an illusion.

It isn’t so big and yet, this show really packs a punch. So much to delight in – to see. Large scale works and tiny collage pieces. Realism in both painting and ceramics juxtaposed with pricey abstracts. There was something for every individual aesthetic.

Last year I bailed on this show, lol. I made up for it last night, even getting an Instagram fashion post out of the dealio – thanks to contributing artist Penny Santy (photo cred)!

IMG_20170720_195628_079 — BCBGMaxAzria romper, belt and clutch, BCBGeneration booties

Maybe next year I will go a step further and enter my artwork…. (???)

Gallery Hours: The gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-5 PM to the general public.

abstract, art, art exhibition, art for sale, art gallery, ceramics, found object, illustration, Karen Tashkovski, mixed media, painting, sculpture, Syracuse University, watercolor

Allentown

Image July 13, 2017 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

Left Hand Path is the title of the latest art exhibition hanging on the walls of Apostrophe’s Art Gallery, 1100 Oak Street in Syracuse, New York. Glendon Allen has curated an exhibition that includes ten artists –
Charles Buechner
Ray Madden
Star Daniels
Jessica Whitely
Dylan Allen
Risa Fox
Maggie Carlin
Sherry Spann Allen
Katelinn Carrier
Glendon Allen~ Curator

It is a family affair. Both Glendon and his brother Dylan are graduates of Syracuse University. Their mom, Sherry Spann Allen, is a recently retired art teacher, as well as a nationally recognized abstract artist. Their dad, Peter Allen, is a successful local graphic artist, painter and musician. Alice, Dylan’s daughter, poses here with her artwork on the wall as well. (She said it was a giraffe!)

Left hand path is a term to describe the religious practice of dark magic. (I Googled it.) In this case, the artists are aligning with the feeling of being placed in the category of outsider. Their emotions play a significant role in the production of their artwork. Discord is at the center of this vibration, although the work here is a combination of action strokes and calm precision. A sort of beautiful aesthetic meets the doom and gloom of the future kind of thing.

The above prints were available for immediate sale, the rest can be purchased once the show comes down next week. Apostrophe’s is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays and by appointment.

art, art for sale, encaustic, found object, Green Lakes, hearts, Karen Tashkovski, mixed media, painting

Passionate Union

Image July 6, 2017 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

20170706_110618 — Karen Tashkovski, Creation, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

20170706_110702 — Karen Tashkovski, Pure, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

I feel so much satisfaction in the completion of these heart paintings. I made them during Memorial Day weekend but only put finishing touches on them, including titles, a little while ago. They are sprawled on the dining room table currently, waiting for me to find a place to store them/sell them.

20170706_105445 — Karen Tashkovski, Veil, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

20170706_110529 — Karen Tashkovski, Divinity, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

Hearts are my thing. They are everywhere in my life – heart paintings in all media abound on the walls of my house; I even find heart stones, (literally, everyday) when I walk the trails of Green Lakes. I love love. I find beauty everywhere, particularly in the heart motif, and coupled with the vibrant hues of oil paint infused beeswax and its subsequent texture in my artwork, it fills me with gratitude, a sort of passionate energy and joyous warmth. I desire to share that feeling with everyone in the world.

20170706_105807 — Karen Tashkovski, Heartbeat, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

One person’s positive energy is stronger than a roomful of debbie downers, lol. It would be lovely to think that my good vibes saturate these paintings and in that way I can spread seeds of love into this universe. Corny, I know, but genius. There is power in the unity of spirit. Believing in goodness is the stuff of legend. <3

20170706_105919 — Karen Tashkovski, Denim, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

20170706_110009 — Karen Tashkovski, Butter, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

20170706_110434 — Karen Tashkovski, Imprint, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

20170706_110337 — Karen Tashkovski, Lyric, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

20170706_110100 — Karen Tashkovski, Match, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

20170706_105620 — Karen Tashkovski, Renaissance, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

20170706_110219 — Karen Tashkovski, Harmony, 2017, encaustic, 6″ x 8″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $75

art, art for sale, encaustic, found object, Karen Tashkovski, mixed media

Encaustic American Pastime

Image July 4, 2017 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

20170704_214641 — Karen Tashkovski, Blood & Sweat, 2017, encaustic, 5″ x 7″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $48

Last month I created these baseball paintings. I finally got around to mounting them onto the chalkboard painted masonite today.

20170704_215048 — Karen Tashkovski, Vintage, 2017, encaustic, 5″ x 7″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $48

20170704_215222 — Karen Tashkovski, Mint, 2017, encaustic, 5″ x 7″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $48

They are very experimental. I did not set out to do a baseball theme – in fact, I bought the hardboards with the intent to do more horseshoes paintings. So, these just happened. They kind of came out of nowhere.

20170704_215442 — Karen Tashkovski, Golden Strike, 2017, encaustic, 5″ x 7″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard, $48

20170704_214726 — Karen Tashkovski, Spin, 2017, encaustic, 5″ x 7″ on masonite mounted on 9″ x 12″ masonite, &48

I love the texture of encaustic. The smooth areas juxtaposed with thick globby drips, the creamy wax and the gorgeous smell… It is an intoxicating medium. I added paper money to these, both real and imaginary. I also had this wonderful feather-infused rice paper that I loved incorporating. So cool!