I spent the day selling artwork at this Harvest Festival at The Neat Whiskey Bar, 6706 E. Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville, New York 13078. The event included music, alcoholic beverages, food trucks and art. There were nine of us settled into a brand new event center.
Thank you to my fellow artists for a wonderful day (noon – 6:00 PM) and to all the amazing patrons. I enjoyed sharing my art with you.
I’ve got a couple of group exhibitions coming up. Stay tuned!
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.
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.
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.
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….
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.
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.
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.
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.
Imagine that. <3
***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.
“Eye Studio Arts, LLC is featuring the work of artist Deborah Walsh during the month of April. Walsh is known for her acrylic paintings of reflections on shiny surfaces, most often cars, motorcycles, chrome, and glass. Her work is about how light and color is diffused and reflected on various surfaces creating repetition, variation, pattern and rhythm.
Walsh graduated with a BFA in Painting and MS in Art Education from SU. As a retired Liverpool art teacher, she says her students she taught inspired her for more than 30 years. Her work has been included in Central New York Regional and National juried shows as well as many one-woman and group exhibitions. Private collectors throughout the United States own and commission work.
The Artist Reception, April 12th, will feature an acoustic performance by Caleb Liber, food and beverages and an opportunity to meet the artist.” (from the art exhibition Facebook page)
I stopped into Eye Studio this evening – once again I missed the art reception by about twenty-four hours and ten minutes. But, yes, I was there. The art studio is a place for ceramics, glassware, and drawing and painting classes for all ages and ability levels. There is a gift shoppe in the front room and two adjacent gallery spaces with the classrooms in the roomy back space.
My encaustic angel show was up at this time last year. It is a wonderful gallery space and Walsh’s work is spectacular. This art is highly collectible! I can see how the car motif resonates with so many people – from color to model and make. It is the kind of thing tailor-made for home décor. Walsh’s prices are quite reasonable for her originals and there are also Giclée prints available that are of incredible quality.
Deb Walsh has been painting shiny, reflective-surfaced items for almost thirty years. She gravitates to vehicles, but is currently also finding that this style works well with silver tea-sets and glassware.
Here is her artist statement from the Saatchi art website:
The work will be on display until April 30, 2019.
See the website for more information including hours of operation and pricing (here).
The artwork presented by storyteller artist and quilter Vanessa Johnson is an extension of her being. The outstretched arms of this humanoid fabric art are inviting, welcoming and loving, connecting the women they represent, the artist and the viewer in a heart-warming embrace. She is honoring women as she visually interprets their struggle while contemplating her own life journey as an African American with roots in Ghana.
Vanessa begins with the bodies – sewing cloth to cloth, much of it found in West Africa. This becomes her canvas and from it sprouts limbs, heads and the detailed decoration of meaning that produces emotionally-charged and animated floor-to-ceiling quilts.
Last night was the opening reception for Unwrapping Vanessa at ArtRage, 505 Hawley Avenue, Syracuse, New York. The art exhibition continues through March 25, 2017. ArtRage is a gallery that focuses on social issues. They hold several exhibitions a season and coordinate them with other events – lecture/discussions, musical performances and poetry readings, film screenings and theatrical plays. There is a pancake breakfast on Sunday, March 5, 2017 beginning at 9:00 am. On Wednesday, March 8, 2017, Vanessa Johnson will give an artist talk at 7:00 pm.
Vanessa has been creating art quilts for over twenty years and has exhibited her work all over Central New York. She displayed work at the Chittenango Middle School library a few years ago! Since then her work has evolved considerably.
There is so much raw emotion to be discovered. Of the love of identity, of the power of friendship and of the joy of knowing a world where so many women of color are respected in their achievements. She is certainly inspired by these women and by the strength of the community in which she lives.
The artwork is combined with stories, text in quilted books and woven into the tapestry. In addition, pouches of soil from her homes here and in Ghana are lovingly added as a type of talisman. She calls them “gris gris”. It is this narrative that blurs the lines between artist and artwork, iconography, environment and inspired action. So much beauty in the richness and flavor of her life! <3
ArtRage is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 2:00 – 7:00 pm and Saturday noon – 4:00 pm. They are available for school tours as well, and are always seeking submissions from artists for future exhibitions. For more information, contact info@artragegallery.org. Their website is www.artragegallery.org.
I don’t know anything better – I certainly cannot think of anything better than when the owner of a business tells me that my artwork is a perfect addition to her venue. Thank you, Debbe Titus! I am so grateful for those kind words, grateful for the opportunity to share these paintings again. They are from my Talisman series of oil and collage works created in 2008. Fifteen of this series of twenty-four are represented here at the Half Moon Bakery & Bistro, 6500 East Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville, New York (13078).
I do love the way they fit into the space, and that was all thanks to my friend Bobbi Rock Petrocci who came to my rescue and helped me install the show. (gratitude times infinity – love you, Bobbi! <3) No measuring devices this time – just our old-fashioned spatial intelligence, lol, and a power screw-driver.
The artwork will be on display and for sale through the month of October 2016. If you are interested in purchasing them ($200 each), I have left contact information via my business cards.
There will be an artist reception for me on Thursday, October 20, 2016 from 3:30-5:00pm. Light snacks plus you can try the delicious cookies and cupcakes, coffees and teas or go for a meal instead. The quiche is out of this world! Today they were preparing apple pies and other treats for an upcoming wedding reception and it smelled soooo good in there! If you have never been there, please come out and meet me for a chat and a chance to fall in love with this gem of a place.
About the Talisman series – the paintings took months to create. I created thumbnail sketches first, as well as a list of the text I wanted to use. The titles of each painting created a personal narrative reflecting the trajectory of my life at that time. I layered canvas on canvas as collage then gessoed the surfaces, broke up the space into an 18″ square with six inches to spare at the top or bottom. I painted the latter in chalkboard paint. Then I drew the image in pencil and began painting in oils.
These paintings are sort of the thread that ties all of my interests in art-making together. I used abstract impressionist strokes, as I do in my watercolor paintings. Months later I added varnish to these paintings, which is something I actually tried for the very first time in my work and I really loved the result – how it contrasts with the matte finish of the chalkboard area. The chalk text is meant to eventually erase and/or be erased by the owner of the work, which might seem weird to a non-artist. But I like the idea that love is like that text. It comes and goes, grows strong or weak…and can grow stronger with help from the love of another. The painting’s owner can interact as well, by writing their own graffiti on the chalkboard creating a dialogue with me. I am especially fond of this idea. We are all in this together sharing our love of life and through that togetherness the art transforms/will transform. It’s all good.
The Half Moon Bakery and Bistro is open Monday through Saturdays. Monday 10:00 am-3:00 pm, Tuesday 8:00 am-3:00 pm, and Wednesday-Saturday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. Call (315) 492-0110 for more information or visit their website, www.thehalfmoonbakery.com. I trust I will see you there!
I went to the New York State Fair on Friday night. It was one of those perfect evenings where everything just fell into place. The traffic was reasonable – relatively light for the amount of people at the event. My cousin Jackie and I found a great parking spot within minutes of driving down State Fair Blvd in Syracuse, New York.
We were there for the Toto concert. They played in Chevy Court at 8:00 pm.
We had enough time to hit the bathroom before finding a seat. I suggested my favorite one in the whole place, the lavatory on the second floor of the Art & Home Center.
It isn’t a heavily trafficked area, hence super clean and no queue for a stall. I’m actually not sure if there is an elevator to get up there – I mean, there must be, although it is one of the oldest buildings at the fairgrounds. The Art & Home Center is home to Arts and Crafts competitions with Fine Art upstairs.
Here are some pictures of the art on display. Photography, drawing, painting, sculpture with different divisions based on age. It is sort of a hodge-podge of work. The giant ribbons indicate the winners, but you kind of need your readers to decipher the category and age brackets of said winners.
They make the most of the display area with art hanging in close proximity covering all the walls and doors plus work on stands resting on several tables scattered around.
For those of you who have attended The Fair and never knew this existed, you’re welcome.
Competition is inspiring for the winners, especially for school-aged children, because it offers validation and perhaps a nudge in the direction of the arts career-wise. For adults, it is a chance to add to one’s resume, another award/group exhibition, which could lead to more of the same, as well as future gallery representation. Hey, you never know.
Here is the link to the web-page where you can download entry forms for New York State Fair competitions.
The Fair continues through Labor Day, Monday, September 5, 2016. For more information, visit their website here. Last year, I actually went to it twice after a decades long hiatus. I have plans to go at least twice more this year!
As for the concert, Jackie and I scored 5th row center seats about one minute before the concert began. It was the craziest thing! Later, we walked around with friends who’d messaged me after seeing my face on the giant screens then established a rendezvous point at the wine pavilion, lol. (“Was that you?” “OMG, yes!”) Perfect night. So fun!
