Tag Archives: art reception

KAC Celebrates

The Kirkland Art Center in Clinton, New York is celebrating its sixtieth year! They’ve invited artists who have had exhibitions there in the past – both founding members and recent exhibitors – to be a part of their anniversary show, which runs June 8, 2021-July 8, 2021.

The art reception was today from 1-4pm. There are forty-nine artists represented, among them, my friends Penny Santy and Linda Bigness (pictured). Most of the pieces are for sale.

The Kirkland Art Center is located at 9 1/2 East Park Row, Clinton, New York 13323.

They are open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 2 pm, and on Saturdays from 1 pm to 4 pm.

Call (315) 853-8871 for more information

KAC 60 years of art exhibitors –

Stephen Arnison, Constance Avery, John Bentham, Linda Bigness, Jan Burke, Howard Chaney, Edward Christiana, Karen Christiansen, Robert Cimbalo, Frank Cittadino, Sally Clark, Sylvia de Swaan, Barbara Decker, Laura Diddle, Sebastian Domenico, Kathy Donovan, Charlie Fisher, Jan Fisher, John Gardner, Frank Jacobs, Pinny Kuckel, Jessie Landecker, Gregory Lawler, Mary Gaylord Loy, John Loy, Jim McDermid, Roger Moore, Ralph Murray, Gina Murtaugh, Stephen Perrone, Vartan Poghosian, Easton Pribble, Tim Rand, Marietta Raposo,Bill Salzillo, Penny Santy, Stella Scarano, Alba Scott, Sheila Smith,Gail Strout, Joseph Trovato, Frank Viola, Frank Vlossak, Heidi von Bergen, John von Bergen, Shirley B. Waters, Rainer Maria Wehner, Doug Whitfield, Jonathan Woodward

Decorative Surfaces

20200123_174854.jpg

Just returned home from another wonderful art reception.  This time I was around the corner from home, at SUNY Empire State College (6333 State Route 298, Suite 300, East Syracuse, New York 13057) for the Independent Potters’ Association exhibition, Surface Decorations on Ceramics.

20200123_174841.jpg

20200123_174847.jpg

20200123_180559.jpg

I spoke with Alan Stankiewicz (above), the mastermind of this show, as he is curator and exhibitor, as well as an educator at the college.  He used horsehair as a surface decoration on his piece – the horsehair is placed on hot-from-the-raku-kiln-fired pottery.  It is allowed to burn away leaving fine lines resembling the look of a gestural charcoal drawing.  I’d never seen this technique before.

20200123_174835.jpg

This is the beauty of the exhibition.  The whole thing is a teachable moment.  This group of potters share their expertise with each other and now, here, with the students of this college and you, the public.  There is such a sense of positivity in their camaraderie.

The exhibit is nicely linked via tiles with explanations of individual techniques and literature that tells the story of this vernacular.  It is really so amazing how many ways pottery can be decorated and, of course, multiply that times the combined techniques variations and you have madness!  I honestly don’t know how the artists settle on a particular style.  It has to be inspired action.

20200123_174923.jpg

Many SUNY Empire employees joined the artists for the reception in the Central Arts Gallery.  They had a marvelous spread of munchies.  It is on the third floor of the building on the left after entering the college facility.  I was here once before for Maria Rizzo’s thesis exhibition.

20200123_174858.jpg

20200123_174932.jpg

20200123_174947.jpg

Surface Decoration on Ceramics will remain on display through February 28, 2020.  Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9 AM-5 PM.  I highly recommend this to any high school ceramics art teachers in the area who are contemplating a field trip.  It is a really informative show.  So many cool ideas! Thank you, IPA. <3

20200123_174955.jpg

20200123_175501.jpg

20200123_175455.jpg

20200123_175002.jpg

20200123_175013.jpg

20200123_175039.jpg

20200123_180757.jpg

20200123_175121.jpg

20200123_175152.jpg

20200123_175228.jpg

20200123_180402.jpg

20200123_175429.jpg

20200123_175234.jpg

20200123_175306.jpg

 

Misery Loves Company

I love a man who believes in the devil.

20191109_143929.jpg

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.

20191109_143950.jpg

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.

20191109_144007.jpg

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.

20191109_144000.jpg

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.

20191109_144749.jpg

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.

20191109_144605.jpg

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

20191109_144306.jpg

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.

20191109_144029.jpg

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.

20191109_144735.jpg

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.

20191109_144743.jpg

The Yoko Experience

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In 1971, Syracuse Folklorist Dan Ward met someone (okay, it was a hitchhiker), which led to his first trip to Syracuse, New York to see James Taylor in concert at the War Memorial. Instead of acquiring tickets to that sold-out concert, he ventured across the street and was pulled through the door of the museum. Somehow he randomly became part of an elite group allowed to tour the Yoko Ono exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art, along with the artist and her husband John Lennon.

13552298-mmmain

20190830_184019.jpg

20190830_190608.jpg

The whole thing was documented on film and in the media. Dan Ward was a teenager living a serendipitous existence. There was a waterbed on the floor that evening, positioned to offer a unique view of the spiral staircase. He thought it was unusual but gave it a try – his first time on a waterbed and with a bed-bug (a Beatle). There were other interactive ingredients as well, some have been replicated for the retrospective/new exhibition, Yoko Ono: Remembering the Future, which opened last night. Every piece cultivated to reside harmoniously within the walls of I.M. Pei’s modern architecture. This show was meant to create a dialogue between viewer and artist with the viewer creating the closure.

7b971b190d655e31f1910c7c2ef588de

Yes, a stunningly beautiful Ono (according to Ward’s recollection – photographs never did her justice) and Lennon, and Ringo Starr were all there that night, as well as several of their close friends from Manhattan. It was a media circus focused on celebrity in a time when art was misunderstood and maligned.

images-4

20190830_185106.jpg

I wish I could have been there back then, too, wish I could have been that fly on the wall – to bear witness to perceptions of the past while remembering the future….

20190830_184111.jpg

Imagine a museum filled with objects – hammers, nails, string, ladders, piles of dirt, blue paint. Imagine a world where the viewer participates and the result is a collaboration between artist and you. Artist as conceptualist. You as executioner. You as artist too.

IMG_20190830_183858_996.jpg
Rachel Zoe dress, BCBGeneration sandals, Coach bag, Tashkovski bracelets

20190830_183521.jpg

20190830_183516.jpg

20190830_194536.jpg

It is what I do as a teacher. Okay, students – here’s the lesson, here are the supplies…. It is always so gratifying and almost strange in a way. Like – do this, and they say okay.

20190830_184647.jpg

20190830_184141.jpg

20190830_191645.jpg

20190830_191707.jpg

20190830_191712.jpg

20190830_184137.jpg

This is the genius of Yoko Ono. It is a presence, a facilitator who loves her audience, who gives them an experience, a happening, a memory. Something to do. Museums are always a DO-NOT-TOUCH place, but here you can add string to the wall, hammer in a nail onto a piece of wood, paint part of a mural, be a part of something bigger than yourself that has no other meaning than what it is. Collective mark making. A chance to interact in a museum in a child-like manner and by that, I mean being totally present. Not thinking about anything else but the art – and not even thinking too hard about the how or the what, or the why.

20190830_185505.jpg

20190830_185014.jpg

20190830_185039.jpg

20190830_191745.jpg

Because you are a part of the experience and your existence is relevant, necessary and needed. You matter. You are loved. You are welcome. You belong.

20190830_185303.jpg

Imagine that. <3

20190830_185036.jpg

20190830_185317.jpg

20190830_185429.jpg

20190830_185419.jpg

20190830_204747.jpg

20190830_184047.jpg

***from www.everson.org

On View August 31 – October 27, 2019

All my work is a form of wishing.
-Yoko Ono

For six decades, Yoko Ono has maintained an unwavering belief in art’s ability to transform, uplift, and inspire. Her work, typically ephemeral or participatory, occupies the porous boundaries between artistic disciplines, from music and film to sculpture, poetry, and performance art. Ono’s approach to art making is generous, and since emerging in New York’s downtown art scene in the 1950s, she has privileged collaboration over solitary authorship, inclusivity over isolation, and transience over permanence. These underlying precepts, which simultaneously undermine the capitalist structure of the art market and criticize the institutional model of the museum, also unified a postwar artistic movement known as Fluxus, of which Ono was an important contributor. For Ono, as well as later generations of artists and those currently engaged in social practice, art belongs to everyone, can be created by anyone, and has the potential to change the world.

Yoko Ono was born in Tokyo in 1933. A survivor of the trauma inflicted on Japan during World War II, she moved to the United States in 1953 during a period of surging nationalism, consumerism, and anti-Japanese sentiment. During this time, Ono became a central figure within New York’s downtown scene and became close collaborators with artist George Maciunas, the founder of Fluxus. Many avant-garde intellectuals, artists, composers, and writers gathered regularly at Ono’s Chambers Street loft for experimental performances by groundbreaking artists like La Monte Young, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Terry Jennings, Jackson Mac Low, Richard Maxfield, Henry Flynt, Joseph Byrd, Simone Forti, and Robert Morris. Here, Ono realized some of her earliest conceptual works that would greatly influence the trajectory of art, film, and music.

Ineffable, intangible, impermanent, Ono’s art, as a body of work, defies categorization. The term Wakon yosai (“Japanese spirit, Western technology”), the national slogan of modernization in Japan during the Meji era, might best describe Ono’s approach to life and art. Her works, conceptually linked to the form of musical scores, draw on sources as diverse as the history of classical and modern Japanese art and Zen Buddhism to early black-and-white cinema and classical music. Ono’s signature text-based scores date back to the early 1950s. In 1964, she published the scores in Grapefruit, her definitive text. The scores, as Ono explained in 2016, “are a bit like music scores which exist so anyone can play the composition. What I’ve imagined are art scores. Each visitor can take them up so that their own ‘music’ can be heard in my creations.”

Throughout the 1960s, Ono had significant solo exhibitions in the United States, Japan, and in England—including the AG Gallery in New York City and the Sogetsu Art Center in Tokyo. She performed at the 83rd Fluxus Concert: Fluxorchestra at Carnegie Hall, In 1966, Ono performed Cut Piece in Kyoto and Tokyo, exhibited her work at the Judson Church, and participated in the first Destruction In Art Symposium organized by Gustav Metzger in London. Ono met John Lennon when he visited her exhibition Yoko at Indica, at the Indica Gallery in London.

Following her marriage to Lennon in 1968, Ono was catapulted onto the world’s stage of fame and wide public visibility, a position she has brilliantly coopted to further her long-standing interest in the power of the imagination, human rights, and world peace.

Forty-eight years after the Everson hosted This is Not Here, Ono’s first museum retrospective, YOKO ONO: REMEMBERING THE FUTURE presents her enduring artistic work devoted to healing human connections and exposing social and political injustices. Spanning more than six decades from germinal early instruction pieces to recent, large-scale architectural installations, YOKO ONO: REMEMBERING THE FUTURE traces Ono’s experimental approach to language, art, and participation as a means of contributing to a more accepting and peaceful world.


YOKO ONO: REMEMBERING THE FUTURE is curated by DJ Hellerman, the Everson’s Curator of Art & Programs and Jon Hendricks, Ono’s long-time friend and curator in partnership with Yoko Ono, Studio One, and Susie Lim.

The operation of the Everson Museum of Art is made possible with funding from the
Dorothy and Marshall M. Reisman Foundation, the County of Onondaga administered
by CNY Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the Richard Mather Fund, the Everson Board of Trustees and Everson Museum of Art Members’ Council.

YOKO ONO: REMEMBERING THE FUTURE is made possible, in part, through support from Bonnie and Gary Grossman, and Sollecito Landscaping Nursery.

20190830_184058.jpg

20190830_184903.jpg

20190830_185232.jpg

20190830_185309.jpg

20190830_185710.jpg

20190830_185556.jpg

20190830_191726.jpg

20190830_192242.jpg

20190830_194326.jpg

20190830_194317.jpg

20190830_185044.jpg

Cool August Moonies

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Tonight was the opening reception for the summer art exhibition at The Syracuse Tech Garden gallery (235 Harrison Street, Syracuse, New York 13202).  It is titled Cool August Moon. I saw my high school friend and fellow art teacher Audrey Levinson there!

20190815_184254.jpg

Artist Steve Nyland (another Jamesville-DeWitt alum) is the curator and a participant in the show.  He told me that he signed a new contract to continue with these exhibitions for at least another year.  They take place in the lobby of this building, which is across the street from the Syracuse Marriott (Hotel Syracuse).

Other local artists contributing to this show –

Laura Audrey
Terry Lynn Cameron
Richell Castellon
Fletcher Crangle
Kathy Donovan
Ryan Foster
Larry Hoyt
Lisa Ketcham
James P. McCampbell
Sally Stormon
Rabekah Tanner
Mitzie Testani
Ray Trudell
Kayla Cady Vaughn
Ryan Wood

20190815_185427.jpg

20190815_183727.jpg

20190815_183921.jpg

20190815_183928.jpg

Massachusetts transplant Lisa Ketcham creates these kitschy assemblages and frames.  They are sort of a cross between steampunk and macabre via the use of gears, timey-wimey-ies and skeletons.

20190815_183259.jpg

20190815_183828.jpg

20190815_184155.jpg

20190815_185823.jpg

Terry-Lynn Cameron brought her originals to share.  I met her on Sunday at City Market where she was selling prints of these lovely acrylic paintings.

20190815_184209.jpg

20190815_184824.jpg

20190815_184817.jpg

Richell Castellon Ferreira is the real deal – a painter and woodworker by trade.  He comes to us from Cuba.  His paintings of the Syracuse landscape would make perfect additions to any local collector’s art stash!  He paints from photographs and from memory.  These originals are only $175.

20190815_184923-1.jpg

20190815_185551.jpg

20190815_185548.jpg

Ray Trudell focuses on the invisible in his black and white photographs taken of the surrounding area.  He “slows time” by defining a glimpse of a moment using sharp contrast in his compositions.

20190815_185605.jpg

The exhibit will be on display until September 20, 2019.  For more information contact Steve Nyland at gallery.ttg@gmail.com.  To purchase artwork, contact the artists directly.  They have left business cards and also have contact information on their respective art tags.

20190815_184115-1.jpg

 

 

 

 

Motion Forward

20190712_191753.jpg

Summer is a time where time doesn’t matter to me.  I get up when I want.  I do what I want.  It is not slow or fast motion.  It is pure bliss.  Today was a bit wonky in that it was cloudy-ish – it rained last night and seemed like an indoor-all-day kind of day.  I worked on a fun, creative project, I practiced on piano, watched some TV (I cannot get enough of Million Dollar Listings on Bravo) then I noticed that it was actually nicer out than I thought.  So, I decided to go for a hike.  So satisfying!  When I returned, I stumbled upon information that there was going to be an art reception and I still had time to get ready to go!  Can someone hashtag #ootd fast enough?  Could this day get any better?  Yes and yes!

IMG_20190712_203523_075.jpg
Halston Heritage dress, Michelle DaRin Jewelry bracelets, BCBGMaxAzria sandals

20190712_192115.jpg

20190712_191543.jpg

20190712_191725.jpg

I was delighted.  For some reason I thought SU’s galleries went on summer hiatus but that is not the case with POC this time.

Syracuse University’s Point of Contact gallery is located in the Warehouse Building in Armory Square (350 W. Fayette Street, Syracuse, New York 13202).  It is primarily a space that features latin artists, although from time-to-time they curate other exhibitions, like the annual Sum Art show.

Time Changes Everything is the current exhibition.  Curated by Sara Felice, Managing Associate Director of the gallery, it features Margie Hughto, Beth Bischoff and Darcy Gerbarg with an art and video installation by Franco Andres in the back space.

20190712_191802.jpg

20190712_191811.jpg

It is a magnificent show!  It was such a thrill to meet and speak with three of the artists.  I have met Margie Hughto before but this time – OMG, her new work is breathtakingly beautiful, the kind of thing that moves me to want to make art, moves me to the tears that form the essence of joy.  They are ceramic assemblages that sort of bridge the space between archeology and modernism.  Each piece is fired separately then the artist uses intuitive rhythm to create movement in each piece, a swirling that truly captivates.  Her inclination here is to showcase climate change.

20190712_191813.jpg

Darcy Gerbarg blends her history as an Abstract Expressionist painter with her knowledge of digital technology.  She has always been on the cutting edge in her field and these pieces are digital prints created by utilizing virtual reality software.  Like a conductor wielding her baton, she executes a rhythmic flow of movement that then gets translated into digitized color on a monumental scale.

20190712_191847.jpg

20190712_192111.jpg

Beth Bischoff spent six years living in the Yucatan.  Her photographs of this landscape are taken with a unique panoramic camera then digitally printed.  The imagery created transports the viewer to a jungle habitat lost in time.  Again, the sweep of rhythm thrusts mightily, albeit in black and white.  It appears in tree branches and tall grass, as well as in the contrast of the stone facades.

20190712_191903.jpg

20190712_192452.jpg

The time changing element to this show is that feeling of having been here in the present moment and everywhere simultaneously.  Time doesn’t stand still.  It swirls and dances upon the landscape of photograph, painting, print and bas-relief.  I feel changed for the better blessed by the momentum of art.

20190712_191911.jpg

20190712_192222.jpg

If you would like to view this show and find out more about the 4th artist, Franco Andres, (I did not get the opportunity to meet/speak with him), the exhibition runs through August 9, 2019.  Point of Contact is open Monday – Friday 12 – 5 pm.  Call (315) 443-2169 for more information or visit the POC website at www.puntopoint.org <3

20190712_192208.jpg

20190712_191939.jpg

***From the gallery website

TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING

MARGIE HUGHTO, BETH BISHOFF, DARCY GERBARG, FRANCO ANDRES

JULY 12 – AUGUST 9

66619586_3047229845317034_1800997752784551936_n.jpg

Each artist in Time Changes Everything battles the temporality of human existence and the material world constructed around it.

Bischoff’s photography expresses a harmony of the past and present depicting the ruins left in the world’s progression. Bischoff’s Ruins series functions as a reminder of the care our planet deserves.

Ceramist Margie Hughto draws inspiration from landfills and remains left by humans in the creation of her Excavation Series. Hughto’s work embodies the transience of the human experience in a world heavily structured by transitory material objects.

Bringing together numerous modes of digital art, Gerbarg forms The Syracuse Pictures. Her artwork abstracts the world into its own heterotopia, existing in both the past and present.

Andres realizes the difficulty of authenticity for artists as he utilizes an accumulation of mediums in the formation of one’s identity. The process of his artwork becomes a depiction of time and change as his work spans from ancient processes to contemporary modes of video.

These four distinct artists come together in “Time Changes Everything” to pose a larger challenge to the viewers through the ultimate tool, their artwork.

Time Changes Everything will be on view through Aug. 9th.

 

20190712_191944.jpg

20190712_191325.jpg

20190712_195429.jpg

20190712_192022.jpg

20190712_192027.jpg

20190712_192033.jpg

20190712_192036.jpg

In-Your-Face

20180908_201556

20180908_202235

The year was 2006 – I started working at the middle school after another teacher retired ten years into my career.  I would be teaching 8th grade Art and an 8th grade accelerated Studio in Art class, for which I had to plan a field trip to New York City.

20180908_201529

20180908_202248

I followed the guide left by the previous teacher using the same bus company.  In addition, I planned every detail including the itinerary of visiting two museums and the cost calculations to include fees for the museums and meals from the school cafeteria.  It was a lot of work, a huge responsibility on top of preparing new curriculum and all that teaching stuff.  I was excited though, because I focused on all the cool things the kids would learn about art, all the amazing art and art history to see and experience, and of course the thrill of being in Manhattan.  My students all kept saying they just wanted to see a real live hobo.

20180908_202142

20180908_202145

20180908_202200

Finally, the day of the trip arrived.  It was November 10th, the day before Veteran’s Day. Everything was going at a good clip until about five hours in when the bus started having wonky problems.  It took us an extra hour to get from Macy’s in Manhattan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art because the bus kept, like, shutting down-starting up again-shutting down, etc. at every stop light.  We arrived, spent five wonderful hours enjoying the Met and the American Museum of Natural History.  Instead of the company dispatching another bus, the driver returned with that faulty one.  Start-stop-start-stop-infinity until we made it to a Mobil station where we evacuated.  The bus driver put transmission fluid in then said he would drive around the block and come back for us.  He left us stranded for six hours, maybe seven.  We, kind of, became hobos.

20180908_202210

20180908_202217

20180908_201933

Luckily, it was a warm November night.  The children took it all in stride.  An adventure for them – they never felt in danger or scared.  Lol, I am pretty sure some of the chaperones are still traumatized to this day.  A one-day trip turned into an overnight ordeal.  Somehow the principal paid for us to take taxis to rendezvous with the dead bus now parked in a grocery store parking lot somewhere in the Bronx.  We made it home the next day via a bus dispatched from Quebec that had smashed both headlights in a collision with two deer on its way to save us.

20180908_202523

Those students are about twenty-five years old now!  Wow, that is just so crazy.  I suspect they are all doing amazing things these days and are not among the homeless faces exhibited in this art show.

20180908_201544

San Diego artist Neil Shigley has been working on this series of prints for about as long as I have had this memory in my head.  He interviews the subjects, photographs them then begins sketching their faces and transforms them into these larger than life prints.

20180908_202111

Each one looks to use two large pieces of linoleum; they are printed on two sheets of paper and mounted with large tacks directly into the wall.  The result is an in-your-face type of statement.  Making the invisible visible in terms of the scope of homelessness in our society.  Apparently, it is a vast and growing population in the San Diego area with people of all ages living on the streets and in parks, and just barely existing in this nomadic way.

20180908_202530

20180908_204456

The exhibition is titled Invisible People:  Portraits of the Homeless.  The art reception was tonight.  It continues at Art Rage Gallery (505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse, New York) through October 27, 2018.  Shigley will talk about his work on Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 7:00 pm in the gallery.  Call (315) 218-5711 for more information.  Gallery hours are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 2:00 – 7:00 pm and Saturday noon – 4:00 pm.

20180908_201610

IMG_20180908_205613_578

 

Little Birdie

20180612_142812

I hosted a closing reception for Jamie Santos’ art show.  The exhibition had taken place in the Chittenango Middle School library (Chittenango, New York) during May and June 2018.  Since they administered the algebra regents exam in the library today, we held the party in my art classroom.

20180612_142417

About twenty students attended this end of the year celebration.  Cookies were served.

20180612_142432

20180612_131520

Jamie Santos is a tattoo artist.  She works at Tymeless Tattoo in Baldwinsville, New York.  Jamie is a 2003 graduate of Fayetteville-Manlius High school.  She says drawing is an important part of her life.  She gets up by 9:00 am and starts the day by sketching ideas for tattoos or paintings – she brought several notebooks full of these wonderfully executed drawings to share with the students.

20180612_142437

20180612_142505

20180612_144328

20180612_144338

Her focus lately has been on birds.

20180612_131557

20180612_131544

Students had a lot of questions about the tattooing process – does it hurt?  How long does it take to finish a tattoo?  Do people bring snacks? ( Lol, love that one <3 )

Jamie was very honest about the process, the time commitment, the pain.  She explained how the needle works, how it vibrates when you hold it, how the artist gets better with every job.

She used to work every day and now she books clients only four days a week, devoting the rest of her time to creating art in her studio.  Designing her own unique look, her own motifs are crucial to her success and she takes pride in the fact that her work ethic has truly improved her skill.

20180612_131549

20180612_131552

I asked how many of these eleven to fourteen-year-old students think that they want to get tattoos when they are older and the majority of hands flew up!  Should I be surprised by that?  I guess not.

20180612_131534

The students absolutely loved her!  She is amazing.  Thank you, Jamie Santos, for being such an inspirational voice for your profession.

A thousand thank-yous, as well, goes to my fabulous colleague, Katy Conden, for working with me to make these art talks happen. They are no fun without you!

20180612_142358

20180612_145107

If you would like to see more of her work, Jamie will be exhibiting in a show of tattoo artists at the Everson Museum of Art.

 June 30–August 5, 2018

Embracing the Underground explores the rich and diverse culture of modern day tattooing. This exhibition is the second presented through the Everson’s Community Exhibition Program, which provides opportunities for Central New York organizations to present the work of area artists.

20180612_145140

Save the Date

20170909_160356

20170909_160417

Eye Studio is in a brand new location!  It is around the corner from me at 712 W. Manlius Street in East Syracuse, New York (13057).  The space is welcoming with a gift shop in front, office space, a kitchen for culinary classes and an immense studio space for creating art where wine and paint nights for adults take place, as well as ceramics classes, glass fusing and other art courses for all.

20170909_160404

20170909_160411

20170909_160350

20170909_160346

In addition, there is gallery space.  Proprietor Ilene Layow is currently exhibiting her Green Lakes series of drawings, paintings, and glass works.  Yesterday she offered me a show for next month!  I will display Futura, my series of twenty-four angel encaustics.

20170909_160503

20170909_154937

20170909_154945

Yes!!!! They have found a temporary home from their current location on my dining room table.  I am beyond excited right now!  The space is really a perfect location for this artwork.  A match made in heaven!

20170910_092007

We have scheduled a closing reception for Friday, October 27, 2017 from 6:00-8:00 pm.  There will be wine and food, and a musical guest to be announced.  Save the date.  It would be just over-the-top amazing to see you all there.  I am so grateful for all of the support I have received throughout the years.  You are such amazing friends!

20170909_154828

20170909_154833

The great thing about a closing reception is the cash and carry aspect.  You can buy the art and take it right off the wall and home with you immediately.  The show goes up on October 2nd and will be available to view during normal business hours and by appointment.  Contact Ilene at iteachart.twcny.rr.com  or call (315) 345-4576 for that information.  The hours of operation are changing for the fall season. They will be up on their website soon.

20170909_154845

20170909_154945

I am quite certain you will fall in love with this place then receive the impulse to take art classes.  Art is the absolute best medicine for a happier you. <3

20170909_154910

 

Friendship & Art

IMG_20170429_131408_509
Coach baseball cap, Halston Heritage dress, Karl Lagerfeld Paris boots

20170429_135637

20170429_125431

20170429_134331

20170429_134305

The closing reception for Art & Baseball, my watercolor show at Half Moon Bakery & Bistro, was sooooo much fun!  The baseball cupcakes were so cute, and delicious too.  I had a lemon one – yum!

20170429_125710

20170429_125705.jpg

20170429_142809

I have such an amazing support system of love from my immediate family.  My sister Kathy and my mom were there and my dad stopped in after a long morning of tilling his vegetable garden.  My friend Penny was doing the same at her place in Sylvan Beach before coming!  I have the best friends and I know how fortunate I am to have them in my life.

20170429_134925

Proprietor Debbe Titus said exactly that – “you have the best friends supporting you”.

20170429_155827

20170429_134532

20170429_131808

20170429_134345

After the reception and take down, my friend Kim and I drove over to her hair salon, Kimberly’s Salon at 2520 James Street in Eastwood (Syracuse, New York).  We hung the paintings there.  So that is the answer to the questions, when and where is your next show?  They will be up indefinitely and are available for sale in a cash & carry.  I will just replace them with more art.

20170429_170215

20170429_170307

20170429_170158

Kimberly’s Salon hours of operation are as follows:  Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:00 am – 6 pm, Wednesdays & Fridays 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, and Saturdays 9:00 am – 2:00 pm.  Call (315) 463-2735 for more information.

20170429_170257

20170429_170245

I do have the very best friends a girl could ever ask for.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Today was such an amazing day in my universe.

20170429_170338

20170429_170334

20170429_170325