Monthly Archives: July 2009

Legacy of Leonardo @ Da Vinci Art Alliance

Legacy of Leonardo

Dexiang Qian, Gold Medal award winner.

The Legacy of Leonardo

Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Annual Members Exhibition 2009 is a multi-media exhibition open to all current Da Vinci members, featuring works inspired by the life, art, and science of Leonardo da Vinci.

July 8-29, 2009
Gallery Hours:  Wed 6-8 pm, Sat-Sun noon-5 pm
The awards for the Legacy of Leonardo were as follows:

Da Vinci Gold Medal for Best in Show:  Dexiang Qian, Dinner, Bread, and Tea

Silver Medal, 2nd Prize:  Gerard di Falco, Camera Non-Obscura:  Clarity

Copper Medal, 3rd Prize:  Burnell Yow!, Mona Squared

Honorable Mention:  DoN Brewer, Self-Portrait

Honorable Mention:  Carol Wisker, Urban Machine I

Legacy of Leonardo

Mina Smith-Segal with her watercolor painting, In Gratitude to Leonardo Da Vinci @ The Da Vinci Art Alliance.

Legacy of Leonardo

Rachel Citrino‘s digital prints, Vanishing Point, for The Legacy of Leonardo exhibit.

Legacy of Leonardo

DoN Brewer with his Self Portrait in charcoal and chalk on paper.  Photo by Morris Klein.

Legacy of Leonardo

Michael DiPrinzio, Untitled, mixed media.

Legacy of Leonardo

David Foss, Model for Flight, mixed media and wax and Mickie Rosen, Seeds of Flight, photage.

Legacy of Leonardo

Mona, Mona, Mona – clockwise, Mickie Rosen, My Mona Lisa, photage, Karen McDonnell & Tony Cortosi stencil & spray paint, Ona Kalstein, Mona by Ona, ink, pencil on vellum, Jed Williams, L.D.V. by J.W., acrylic & collage on paper.

The board of directors of the Da Vinci Art Alliance continues to promote exciting opportunities for alliance artists to create original works based on a theme such as Envisioning Othello, Envisioning Romeo and Juliet, Art in Bartram’s Garden, Photo Synthesis and more – upcoming programs include Heroines and Harlots: Women in History, an open juried awards exhibition at Da Vinci Art Alliance of art depicting the female personage in history, literature, and religion 9-27 September 2009, Opening Awards Reception: Saturday, September 12, 6-9 pm and “Little Show of Horrors: Carnivorous Plants and the Inspiration of Darwin” a multi-media exhibition open to all current Da Vinci members featuring artworks inspired by carnivorous plants and their explication by Charles Darwin, 14-23 August 2009.

The Plastic Club – Workshop Show

Plastic Club Workshop Show

Kim Martin @ The Plastic Club.  Kim leads an early morning workshop on Tuesdays at the club featuring extended poses.  The result is magnificent works like this portrait of Bob Jackson; Martin’s exuberant use of color and expressive gesture is fun to be around.

Plastic Club Workshop Show

Glenn Benge, Reclining Figure, chalk @ The Plastic Club.

Plastic Club Workshop Show

 Workshop show @ The Plastic Club.  The venue is one of the few accepting all work which is then juried.

Plastic Club Workshop Show

Correction – the show is down.  Next – Models as Artists.

Prospectus’ – PSCs Miniatures, Da Vinci Art Alliance Heroines & Harlots

Philadelphia Sketch Club Miniatures

Works Eligible:  Miniatures, up to 3 pieces utilizing any 2-dimensional medium.  All submitted work must be offered for sale during the exhibition. No transparencies will be accepted.  Maximum framed size 8”x10”, image size up to 5 “x 7”.  All work must be framed with glass or plexiglass, wired and ready for hanging.  No clip frames.  Improperly framed pieces will be rejected. Active PSC members:  $8 for each piece or $20 for three. All others:  $10 for each piece or $25 for three. Pickup: Unaccepted work: Friday, August 21, and Saturday, August 22, 2009, 1-5 p.m. at PSC, Accepted work: Sunday, September 20, 1 to 5 pm and Monday, September 21, 2009, 1-5 p.m. at PSC. 

Da Vinci Art Alliance Heroines & Harlots

Rules for Entry:  The exhibition is open to all visual artists; work may be in any medium, but must be directly related to the theme.  Dimensions may not exceed 36 x 36” for wall pieces, or 36 x 24 x 12” for 3D work.  Application must include entry fee of $20 for 1-3 entries for non-members, or $10 for 1-3 entries for current Da Vinci members (and your annual membership dues, if not current, of $30 for adults, $20 for full-time students, with copy of valid ID).   Make check payable to Da Vinci Art Alliance; no cash please.  Entries may be submitted in the form of slides, photos, or, preferably, digital images on disk (JPEG, pc format), and must be clearly labeled with the artist’s name, title, date, medium, dimensions, retail price or NFS, and an arrow to indicate top of work.  Images should be numbered to match entry form.  Include a SASE for their return.  No glass slides or Mac format entries can be accepted.

Grow @ Off the Wall/Dirty Frank’s – Salon @ Plastic Club

Grow @ Off the WallNancy Barch, Chained Mail, mixed media @ Grow – Off the Wall Gallery.  The use of disposable materials such as the ceiling tile and old slides reek with hidden meaning and memes.  Slides are so anachronistic and ceiling tiles, even though functional at insulation and sound-proofing, are out of style.  Barch’s piece sends obtuse mixed messages stimulating social consciousness neurons to fire in the brain.

Grow @ Off the Wall

 Grow @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s Bar.

Grow @ Off the Wall

Alisa Fox, Jars, mixed media.

One of the cool things @ Off the Wall is the corner display case where more delicate constructions can be installed.  The team of Jody and Togo extend much effort in branding, soliciting, promoting and selling art from publicity to art cards and posters to installation, the production is always top notch. Off the Wall has hosted hundreds of local aspiring and established artists in their thoughtful exhibitions.

Karl Olsen @ Grow

Karl Olsen, Free Compost, mixed media including ingredients from mustard to absinthe.

Grow is on display through August 7th and includes work by 30 artists including members of the Plastic Club, Photographic Society of Philadelphia and other regional arts groups.  Frank’s has been an outpost for many Plastic Club members and recently Anders Hansen hosted a Salon at The Plastic Club to discuss the Grow show.  In branding the show, curator Jody Sweitzer and manager Togo Travalia, put a new spin on the current “green” trend with a focus on recycled materials and ideas.

Karl Olsen used phylo dough, Julia Fisichella‘s amazing photoshop collages are inspired, Ed Snyder’s floral photograph exquisitely illuminated the concept with an image pinched from nature, Veronica Schmude‘s moody interior photograph is brimming with stolen narrative (Veronica is the guest speaker at this Tuesday’s PSoP lecture series at The Plastic Club).  The Salon was lively: Shoshanna Aron (just back from Israel) pointed out how being “green” is a new concept – that the old paradigm was consumerism, Bob Bohne introduced the topic of the healing power of art and the importance of community outreach, Alan Clawens highlighted how artists resist creating new work for a theme show and try to squeeze old works into new parameters, DoN mentioned bricolage and Burnell Yow!s amazing show at Smile.  The group sipped wine and chatted until sunset and the party moved to Frank’s.  The discussion helped DoN realize that thinking outside the box isn’t always the best approach – sometimes all you need is the box.

Joroko & Yow! – Intuitive Bricolage @ Smile Gallery

Burnell Yow! Dolls of the Apocalypse

 

Burnell Yow! Dolls of the Apocalypse

Burnell Yow!, “Dolls of the Apocalypse“, Smile Gallery.

Burnell Yow! Dolls of the Apocalypse

Burnell Yow!, “Mummy Barbie“.

Exquisite Corpse

B. Yow!, L. Parkes, D. Walters, “Exquisite Corpse #33“, giclee print, 20″ x 16”

Joroko

Joroko,”March On“, mixed media.

Joroko

Joroko, “Subtext“, mixed media.

Bricolage, pronounced /ˌbriːkoʊˈlɑːʒ/, /ˌbrɪkoʊˈlɑːʒ/ is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts and literature, to refer to the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things which happen to be available, or a work created by such a process. The term is borrowed from the French word bricolage, from the verb bricoler – the core meaning in French being, “fiddle, tinker” and, by extension, “make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are to hand (regardless of their original purpose).”

A person who engages in bricolage is a bricoleur.

Thank you Wikipedia!

Burnell’s dolls are totemic, shamanistic, zen-like, beatific, clever, ironic, dystopian creations repurposing objet trouve and doll parts.  The digital “exquisite corpse” prints are a great stealable idea – so po-mo.

Joroko‘s goth skeletons populating bombed out surfaces, dancing and cavorting with stars, stripes, crosses and words perfectly counterpoints the odd dolls – somehow the energy of the room becomes a bad boy’s fantasy world of stealing your sister’s dolls and ripping the heads off and drawing war scenes with explosions, craters and bodies.  Dr. Deb Miller curated the show – deep.