Monthly Archives: November 2010

Bruce Garrity, Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ

Bruce Garrity, Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ

Bruce Garrity, Double Boulder in Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, 495 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood, NJ.

Bruce Garrity, Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ

Bruce Garrity is a professor at Rutgers Camden and is the curator of the Hopkins House Gallery on the banks of the Cooper River as well as a fine artist and painter in his own right.  His large canvases are atmospheric, the clear, bright colors of the paint telling stories packed with myth and mystery, each painting taking the viewer deep into the artist’s introspection.  The new Crestmont Gallery on Haddon Avenue occupies a grand old house with the first floor now dedicated to art, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and more,  the space looks so elegant with Bruce’s paintings accompanied by beautiful ceramics and cases filled with desirable objects.

Owner Gary is planning exciting exhibitions to coordinate with the car shows, street fairs, art scene and cultural events that have become the calling card of Collingswood.  The Second Saturday art crawl in Collingwood is really fun with fine art, good food and a great small town atmosphere that is optimistic and forward looking with the arts being a driving force.

Bruce Garrity, Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ

Bruce Garrity, @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ.

Bruce Garrity, Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ

Dr. Deb Miller, a friend and colleague of Garrity’s said his paintings are, “Asian in perspective“, a Zen-like feeling of contemplation and respect for nature is infused in the compositions.

Bruce Garrity, Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ

Bruce Garrity, Black Sea Bass @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ.

 

Photos by DoN.

Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery

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Carla Lombardi, Gavaciolli, high fire stoneware, Shinoglaze, @ Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery on 22nd Street.  Decameron is presented in conjunction with the world premier of Karen Saillant‘s new opera of the same name presented by the International Opera Theater and inspired by Il Decamerone by Giovanni Boccaccio.  The stories of the ten people who escaped the Black Plague to a country estate is operatic in scope with so much source material from the tens of tens of stories told while the world collapsed around them that the tales of love, lust, morality and sin still ring true and wise in the modern age.  The artists reached deep to connect the dots of our common deep past with our futuristic present through drawing, painting, sculpture, collage and photography.

Ona Kalstein Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery

Ona Kalstein, Lisbetta Weeps, 4th day, 5th tale,  ink & colored pencil on vellum.

Rosalind Bloom Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery

Rosalind Bloom, Danse Macabre – The Black Death, watercolor, acrylic, collage.

Ted Warchal Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery

Ted Warchal, Tale 5 – 2, Gastanza Sails to Tunis, assemblage Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery.

Ted Warchal Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery

Ted Warchal @ Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery.  Tale 6-1o – The Relic of Archangel Gabriel reminds us of a time when zealots professed to own bits of Saints which could be viewed at a price, Warchal’s magical assemblage holds a golden feather and a bone.

Rachel Citrino Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery

Rachel Citrino @ Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery.  Citrino created a 100 block grid of images relating to Italy and the hundred tales of the Decameron, printed on canvas, the digital collage pops with hits of color amidst the stark black and white memories of a distant world.

DoN Brewer Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery

Rosalind Bloom, The Embrace..., oil & mixed media collage and DoN Brewer, Heliotrope, digital photograph, digital print.  Roz’s painting refers to the boils caused by the Black Plague called Caviciolli like some pasta, but when you got a boil you’re dead in 3 days. DoN‘s Heliotrope does not refer to the color but the magic stone offering the power of invisibility.

Alden Cole Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery

Alden Cole‘s painting depicts the rise of humanism and the lesson of living in the moment filled with love.

Sadly, this is the last Da Vinci Art Alliance show at Smile Gallery, Ken Tutjamnong‘s restaurant has become so popular that he needs the room for diners he has been turning away and he can show his own outstanding artwork as he does in the dining room at street level.  Admittedly the art drew people to the restaurant and the gallery offered DVAA space outside the club’s gallery to do theme show’s like Decameron.

 

Photos by DoN.

Zoe Cohen – Wind and Weather @ The Crane Building

Zoe Cohen - Wind and Weather @ The Crane Building

Zoe CohenWind and Weather @ The Crane Arts Center in Fishtown.

Zoe Cohen - Wind and Weather @ The Crane Building

Zoe Cohen - Wind and Weather @ The Crane Building

Zoe Cohen‘s site specific painting/drawing continues her exploration of the symbolic power of line by taking on Mother Nature.  First the surface of the long, high walls of the main hall (which is changed out regularly with installations) was prepared like one would for a fine painting, then long, strong strokes of muted color is heroically applied in swirls, curls and stretches of balanced lines.  DoN truly sensed the mythology of the elements signified in the simple line and color palette chosen by Zoe to delve deep into symbolism and communication.

Zoe Cohen - Wind and Weather @ The Crane Building

The Hall @ the Crane Arts Center in Fishtown, with Zoe Cohen’s Wind and Weather, connects all the venues and is an important space for artists to activate since everyone passes through; Zoe Cohen s contribution to the legacy of the space is a simple, direct connection to a hive mind memory of simple shapes informed with complex ideas, capturing the imagination and stirring memories.

Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club

Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club

Caroline Biel, Untitled, Latex/silicon/Monofilament @ Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club.

Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club

Caroline Biel, Untitled, Wine/ToolDip/Thread.

Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club

Caitria Gunter, Untitled, thread/cotton.

Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club

Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club on Camac StreetThe main floor and the studio gallery have an amazing selection of fiber art which is so creative with trippy felting, witty quilts, OCD handiwork, lush textures and a freedom of design which is deeply satisfying.

Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club

Kate Graves Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club

Kate Graves, Camels and Elephants, cotton & silk @ Fibers and Textiles @ The Plastic Club.  Kate Graves’ quilt is like being with Grandma reading little Donnie Arabian Nights, the cold Winter wind blowing outside, inside cuddled under the colorful crazy quilt with marching rows of exotic desert animals.

The Fiber and Textile Show @ The Plastic Club has an amazing sixty-six art works which are sure to bend your mind and stir the imagination.  Through November 28th, 2010.

 

 

Photos by DoN.

Philly Photo Day, 10/28/2010 @ Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Gray Area, The Crane Arts Center, Fishtown

Philly Photo Day, 10/28/2010 @ Philadelphia Photo Arts Center

Philly Photo Day, 10/28/2010 @ Philadelphia Photo Arts Center

Philly Photo Day, 10/28/2010 @ Philadelphia Photo Arts Center

Philly Photo Day, 10/28/2010 @ Philadelphia Photo Arts Center

Philadelphia Photo Arts Society presents Philly Photo Day, 10/28/2010 – the concept is shoot & upload one image shot that day to their site, they then printed out groups of submissions on huge sheets of photo paper in alphabetical order.  Sarah Stolfa is a PR genius with the show in the fabu Gray Area @ the Crane Building, the raffle of great door prizes, the opportunity to meet other artists, the populist view that people in Philly have taste and can participate in grass roots projects with great results.  Martin McNamara of Gallery 339 told DoN he hopes next year’s project will be even bigger; the current show has over 300 submissions.  Read about the unique purchasing opportunity @ Philadelphia Photo Arts Center‘s website – $20. for an 8 x 10″!!!

DoN Brewer Philly Photo Day, 10/28/2010 @ Philadelphia Photo Arts Center

DoN Brewer, #28, Philly Photo Day, 10/28/2010.