I was lucky enough to spend the day with my dear friend and fellow artist, Penny Santy. It was a lovely day for a drive to Little Falls, New York where Penny’s art show, Intertwined, is currently on exhibition at the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts (MVCA), 410 Canal Place, Little Falls, New York 13365.
Penny gave a talk today explaining her process and the emotion that defines her work. It is to do with motion – in winds, in ocean currents and in the way people must physically move, working together to attain goals, helping each other rise up the emotional ladder too, all while intertwining with nature.
Ghostly figures emerge from the abstracted canvases, which are inspired by her personal life, one of beach water sports, travel and enjoying time with family and friends. In addition, she infuses a tribute to Native American mores and interprets favorite poetry stanzas then titles these oil paintings accordingly.
There are seventeen paintings in the show. Several are still available for sale. You can view this exhibition through November 14, 2025. See the MVCA website for the deets including hours of operation.
Twenty-four-year-old Zoe Sauvé is more than just flesh and bone. She is a highly accomplished technician. Her line quality is Mary Cassatt proficient. Her color choices exemplify an acute understanding of the formal principles of art, color theory and synergy. I am blown away by the detailed power, as well as its emotional dynamic expressed in these paintings.
Am I biased because she was one of my art students once upon a time? I’d love to take credit for the small part I played in presenting this emerging figurative artist to the world.
Not biased, no. I both envy and admire Zoe Sauvé’s ability to bare her soul, to be such a brave and authentic artist. In these life-sized self portraits, Zoe insists we look at her raw yet vibrant image. She sketches herself in front of a mirror then proceeds to find any available work surface to paint on – repurposed plywood or random size canvas.
I forgot to ask her how she’d transported them to the gallery. Maybe a truck?
Art in the Atrium is located in City Hall Atrium, 201 E. Washington Street in downtown Syracuse, New York (13202) next to The Fish Friar.
The opening reception was today. There is one more day to view the work, as this venue has been doing micro pop-up events. You can still see the show by visiting tomorrow, Sunday, October 5, 2025. They will be open noon – 6:00 PM.
I’ve driven past the Matilda Joslyn Gage house a gazillion times. You know how it is – you see the sign and say to yourself, one of these days I will investigate what that’s all about. It is located at 210 E. Genesee Street, Fayetteville, New York 13066.
I mean, yes, it is about abolishionist Gage, and her connection to the Underground Railroad, friendship with fellow suffragette Susan B. Anthony AND she also happened to be L. Frank Baum’s mother-in-law.
Small world.
My almost thirty year connection with Chittenango, New York and all things Oz should have brought me here sooner, No matter because today I was invited to an open house and art reception for the fabulous Jen Gandee.
Jen has created an installation of pottery and digital imagery utilizing human silhouettes representing her experience with long lines at the voting booths during the 2020 election. These figures are stenciled onto ceramic cups glazed in variations on skin color. They are also superimposed on printed documents from the Library of Congress, papers that have historical significance to our voting system.
The show was made possible through a CNY Arts Initiative grant. It will be on display until November 24, 2024. Check the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation web-site for hours of operation.
Other rooms in the house display Gage’s connection to Native American tribes in the area, women’s rights and a historically accurate parlor room, as this house was her childhood home. They’ve removed the kitchen and replaced it with a gift shop. They can also accommodate physically handicapped via a small elevator.
P.S. I loved that they served cucumber sandwiches at the event. I almost felt like I could fall through one of those Land of the Lost time doorways and find myself in 1924, but only because the rooms reminded me of the museum in that Christopher Reeve movie “Somewhere in Time” plus I’ve been falling into too many timey-wimey rabbit holes on YouTube lately.
Thank you, Jen Gandee for giving me a reason to explore this wonderful home and for being an inspiration as both artist and advocate.
She was resolute in her determination to create art on her own terms.
I have known Syracuse artist Arlene Abend for thirty years. We met when I joined the now defunct Visual Arts Committee at the Civic Center. We held juried exhibitions and installed the work of local artists on the walls of the space – a captive audience situation, which lead to several sales. My sister even bought someone’s art from there and I met my first patron who ended up buying several of my paintings over the years.
I left the program after about four years. I wanted to do member exhibitions and everyone felt that was self-serving. Later, they moved the exhibitions to the PBS building (was it? I don’t really remember) but they did start having those member’s shows.
I have always felt the same way about the Everson Museum of Art. They would bring in these out of state artists who’d get recognition from our less established museum subsequently gaining the confidence to go on to illustrious careers. I couldn’t understand why the Everson didn’t cultivate from within. That seemed the perfect opportunity – to big up our talented local artists and catapult us towards successful art careers nationally. It would be a win-win as it would generate interest and revenue for the museum because there would be so many wealthy and amazing artists who would give back. I guess I was never thinking universally, but selfishly (my vortex contains the dream of showcasing my art in all four of the upper galleries – I can 100% fill them), The idea that we are an art community that helps and supports each other – is that too daft?
Well, it’s finally happening. Elizabeth Dunbar has begun this trajectory and we can currently see this manifestation in the form of a feisty little ninety-year-old woman who is currently showing her sculptures in the Robineau Gallery at the Everson Museum of Art.
We create our own realities and Arlene Abend’s road has been one primarily of family and deep-rooted friendships combined with the solitude of her artistry. Every one of us has stated a collective “it’s about time” in reference to this exhibition!
The bumpy amorphous shapes in her metal wall sculptures sort of mirror the curves in her path/emotions in her path – health issues, worry, relationship heart break, disappointment, money struggles, fears…and yet, the tiny humanoid figurines showcase her whimsy and humor, her belief in the human spirit even while the resin pieces indicate a sort of trapped suffering.
This exhibition has always been in Arlene Abend’s vortex – of that I am certain. It’s almost as though the resolution was in lowering the resistance. Lessening the struggle in favor of the resiliency of the human condition. Here she is at the apex of her career, all ragged edges, highs and lows, structures and voids, liquids solidifying inside her mind for all of us to witness – a life lived with an expectation to share it in all its incarnations.
It really does not matter how much time it takes for a dream to come true. That’s the beauty of it.
Arlene Abend – RESOLUTE is on display through April 17, 2022. Visit the www.everson.org for information regarding hours of operation and admission price or call (315) 474-6064.
The Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison Street
Syracuse, NY 13202
#amicale hat #kesnyc face mask #tashkovski bracelet #frame leather shirt #joesjeans leather pants #ragandbone boots
Every year the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center does a Made in New York (MINY) juried exhibition. This year’s show – what can I say? A lot of eggs and phallic symbols, am I right? OMG – round circular objects with the center piece sculpture filled with actual eggs. And every other sculpture is sporting the dildo-esqueness of a you-know-what.
LOL, so great! I wonder if this was the intent, or am I being fresh?
Sixty-nine artists were selected….
Shari Werner, New York, NYChristina Bang, Pittsford, NY
Actually, the great thing about this exhibition is that artists must produce new work for it and everything looks very fresh in that sense of the word. It is all so colorful and curvy, clean, linear, firm and innocently provocative.
It’s a great show!
Jean K. Stephens, Honeoye, NY
MINY will be on display through August 7, 2021. Check out videos of the artists sharing their respective visions here.
Sharon Louden is an artist, educator, advocate for artists, editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books, and the Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution. Louden’s work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Drawing Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Weisman Art Museum, National Gallery of Art and held in major public and private collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, Arkansas Arts Center, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.
George Afedzi Hughes is originally from Ghana and studied painting at The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, College of Art, Kumasi, Ghana, where he earned a BA in Art: Painting and Drawing (1989) and an MA in Art Education (1991). He later received an MFA in Painting and Drawing (2001) from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, U.S.A. His paintings, performances, and installations have been featured in several museum exhibitions: Perez Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Football Museum, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Museum voor Zuid-en Noord-Beveland. The following museums have collections of his work: Royal Museum of Ontario, Harn Museum of Art, Iwalewahaus and the Ghana National Museum.
Hannah Frieser is the Executive Director for the Center for Photography at Woodstock, an arts organization that features exhibitions, residencies and other artist-oriented programming. With over twenty years of leadership experience in the visual arts, she has curated countless solo and group exhibitions with contemporary photographers, including Suzanne Opton, Adam Magyar and Barry Anderson. Her essays have been featured in monographs and publications, such as Contact Sheet, Exposure, and Nueva Luz. Prior to joining CPW, she was Director of Light Work in Syracuse, NY.
Lauren Bristol, Syracuse, NYJohn Fitzsimmons, Syracuse, NYCharles Compo, New York, NYEmily Kenas, Geneva, NY
MINY Artists
Carolyn Abrams Liz Alderman Robin Arnold Patricia Bacon Christina Bang Howard Bartle Madeline Bartley Mary Begley Marna Bell Tammy Renée Brackett Paul Brandwein Lauren Bristol Andrea Buckvold Susan Byrnes Carlos Caballero-Perez Nancy Callahan Eva Capobianco Stephen Carlson Kevin Carr Tara Charles Sage Churchill-Foster Fernando Colón-González Charles Compo Cynthia Cratsley Carole D’Inverno Lisa DeLoria Weinblatt KP Devlin Lisa Donneson Audrey Dowling Robert Doyle Sharon Draghi Leonard Eichler John Fitzsimmons Faithanne Flesher John Galt Jacq Germanow Cora Jane Glasser Julia Graziano Raechelle Hajduk Barbara Hart Laural Hartman David Higgins Lee Hoag George Hrycun Bob Ievers Emily Kenas Dale Klein Tom Kredo Timothy Massey Becky McNeill Valerie Patterson Beth Pedersen Judith Plotner Rose Popper Jim Quinn Steve Rossi Amy Schnitzer Catherine Shuman Miller James Skvarch Jason Smith Jean K. Stephens Susan Stuart Jane Verostek Kim Waale Mary Pat Wager Shari Werner Katharine Wood Hope Zaccagni Leah Zinder
Julia Graziano, Manlius, NYJim Quinn, Williamson, NYKim Waale, Manlius, NY/Nancy Callahan, Gilbertsville, NY
The Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center is located at 205 Genesee Street, Auburn, New York 13021. For more information, including hours of operation, call (315) 255-1553 or visit their website here.
Paul Brandwein, Rochester, NYRobin Arnold, New Paltz, NY/Timothy Massey, Spencerport, NYCharles Compo, New York, NYCatherine Shuman Miller, Williamsville, NYAndrea Buckvold, Syracuse, NY/Patricia Bacon, Lyons, NYMary Pat Wager, East Greenbush, NYCora Jane Glasser, Brooklyn, NY,#coach #tashkovski #rebeccataylor #ragandbone
I don’t give credence to evil. I believe there is goodness and lack of goodness. We create our own realities and so, perhaps unwittingly, we create sadness, doom, mayhem and what have you. The Universe/God gives you EVERYTHING you ask for without the emotion associated with positive or negative vibes.
That’s the gist of it. In this way, no outside entity or force is inserting itself into your experience. You and you alone create the life you have.
The good news is that you can control your life experience by thinking positively, by working to create a sense of goodness via happiness, joy and love. You can have a beautiful life if you choose to look at the good, that is to say to create rather than face reality.
People who argue for their limitations, who need to revisit shit-storms don’t get this. People who use the devil as a temptation scapegoat instead of taking responsibility for their actions – well, that seems a fearful way to live.
I accept that I will not be loved unconditionally by this man, because it is apparent our beliefs have divided us, and so, this so-called devil has seemingly wedged itself in the cracks of my relationship after all.
Isn’t that ironic? You get what you think about – perfectly illustrated. Imagined evil wins this round (for the sake of this article). And the moral is that you just can’t take yourself too seriously. Allow everyone to live their own truth even if it perpetuates pain rather than alleviating it. And don’t judge. Yes, that’s the trick – to love anyway, even if you don’t always agree…and to trust, trust, trust that goodness will inevitably/eventually prevail. There are always positive outcomes available to you. <3
Jerome Witkin has made a career of facing harsh realities via his large-scale figurative paintings. Art must show our times, without any holding back, showing how we are living in this time – this world . His quote operates on the assumption that everyone in this time is living crummy lives. He uses Katrin Naumann, my friend and yogini as a primary model to illustrate the dastardly manifestations of society, which is such an irony in itself. Katrin is an ethereal soul, an absolutely beautiful human person.
Witkin is proficient in rendering and paint applications. His compositions are modern visual collages shaped like temples for his angst-infused pulpit. The devil is in the details, lol.
Jerome Witkin: This Time, This World is currently on exhibit at ArtRage Gallery (505 Hawley Avenue, Syracuse, New York 13203). The art reception is tonight from 6-8 pm. The show runs through January 11, 2020 with an artist talk planned for Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 7 pm.
