So, welcome to my 2nd anniversary as a blogger!

And with that comes the answer to the question I have been asking myself – what happens when I exhaust all the art venues in my area and I have to start duplicating them – I mean, where’s the spin, the angle?  How do we make the old new again?

I haven’t technically exhausted venues.  There are plenty around this town that I haven’t written about or ventured to yet!  But then, there are certain places that I seem connected to, as if they are the set decoration to my personal reality show and the Syracuse Tech Garden is, apparently, one of those spaces.

Steve Nyland chose this time out to curate a seven-artist show, which to my delight, makes this show new and different.  I prefer this to juried shows or the free-for-all themed show (anyone want a bunch of abstract watercolors with baseball-themed titles? because I have fifty I can sell you today, lol).  You know what I’m talking about. 🙂

April Showers: Technically Irrelevant is at the Syracuse Tech Garden until July 8, 2016, which offers you plenty of time to get down there.  It is on Harrison Street (235 Harrison, Syracuse, New York 13202) right across from the Hotel Syracuse, which is currently being renovated for a spectacular re-opening in June.

The artists in the show include my work colleague Sherry Allen, plus Facebook and personal friends Penny Santy, Lauren Bristol, John Fitzsimmons and Ken Nichols along with Robert Kasprzycki and Stephanie Roeser.  Each offers a strong sense of character and style – all different, and so the show is very cohesive.

According to the literature/curator statement, Steve chose the artists based on comraderie, friendship and inspiration.  There is definitely a positive vibe to the artwork here, a mutual admiration society of artists complimenting and encouraging each other to provide us all with a footprint of their souls, as seen in color, texture, brushstroke and commitment to their respective visions.

I have showcased Penny’s work before, but in this space these bulls have enormous presence.  The large canvases give credence to her sweeping brushstrokes and color combinations.  Really breathtaking stuff.

I know that John Fitzsimmons will paint your portrait if you head over to his studio at the Delavan Center on Fayette Street in Syracuse (and if you have several hours to spare!)  His portraits are done with straight painting – no drawing it first with pencil or charcoal, and yet they are so proficient with accurate placement of proportions and an uncanny ability to capture one’s essence.

Here, he is showing ethereal landscapes with magnificent mastery of color choice.  They are simultaneously deliberate and spontaneous and seem to represent the sky’s fickle ability to change on a dime.  A dark cloud approaches on the horizon with hurricane force, and yet, with the smaller works, they are sized to the give the appearance of a landscape at rest – long and narrow horizontals.

I absolutely love the texture in Sherry Allen’s work.  There is dimension as well, the idea that the painting jumps into space and becomes a part of your life.  Her work certainly does not sit back passively waiting for anyone to notice.

She is retiring from her teaching job at Chittenango High School at the end of the school year.  I am really looking forward to the direction her artwork will take once she has more time to devote to it!

I know Ken Nichols as a potter.  We keep running into each other at events.  His mugs are also being sold at Natur-Tyme in Dewitt, New York and at the Clayscapes gallery, even though he isn’t mentioned in either gallery’s literature.  It is because his work sells.  It’s in and out the door in a flash due to exceptionally perfect price points and of course, quality.

Here, he introduces us to his paintings, which are so colorful.  It’s almost as if he is a kid in a candy store with the control he can get out of acrylic paint – very different than the you-get-what-you-get attitude that comes with glazing pottery.

Hopefully, I can connect with him to share these paintings in my middle school library gallery next year.  They are delightful confections that remind me of zentangles.

Lauren Bristol can crochet!  She creates the pattern on large point graph paper and I have never seen this before.  Loved it!  My grandmother tried to teach me to crochet, but that was a disaster, as she couldn’t slow it down enough for me to understand what she was counting out in her Vlashki language (una, dow, tre, patrou, cin-cee, sha-cee, shap-tee, optou, now, zhad-cee…)

Lauren uses crochet as an art form.  She includes abstract paintings in her display as well to fill her space.  I cannot imagine where she finds the time to create all of this, as I know from watching my mom now and my grandmother years ago, how long it takes to string together that work.

I don’t know anything about Stephanie Roeser except to say that her artwork is whimsical.  Very youthful and alive.

And Robert Kasprzycki’s giclee prints have the attitude of technically proficient.  Not at all irrelevant.

The Syracuse Tech Garden is open to the public Monday – Friday from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm.  Contact the gallery at gallery.ttg@gmail.com for more information.