DoNArTNeWs

“Tiffany Wallops the Drome” by Bridgette Riversmith won an honorable mention award; DoN LoVeS the idea of whacking a monster with a frying pan, demonstrating the strength, fearlessness and determination of people living with disabilities.

ArtFirst is an artshow in it’s 7th year, developed with the intention of promoting artists living and working with disabilites; the show in the University of Princeton Medical Center was well attended by patrons resulting in sales and support for talented artists using art to express themselves whether they have to paint holding a brush with their mouth, reach out from a wheelchair or struggle with pain. The term disabled seems to be a misnomer when the quality of the art stands on it’s own - DoN is honored to be included in this outstanding cadre of talented artists.

Musician Adam Parker-Lavine entertained the crowd with beautiful, unobtrusive music -if you need a musician for an event, this artist has a wide repertoire sure to entertain your guests.

The ArtFirst team put together an outstanding party, drawing patrons to the medical center to enjoy an open bar, fabulous food and dedicated volunteers who helped to make sure that the art sells.

Philadelphia artist Clifton Anderson’s still life paintings are brilliantly colored, expertly painted and visually captivating. Clif is an art teacher in Philly, a member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club and a cello player with the Jefferson orchestra - this is one brilliant artist who doesn’t let a wheelchair keep him from doing anything. DoN was so pleased to see a friend at the show and to hear that he was explaining to patron’s that DoN’s photos are award-winners, surely helping to make some sales. Thanks, Clif!

Elayna Alexandra is a self taught artist working in digital media; her work incorporates drawings, photographs, digital manipulation and her own x-rays. Elayna won 2nd prize; DoN is inspired by her mixed media works and her willingness to expose the inner beauty of a disabling physical problem. The two of us kept high-fiving as sales, prizes and compliments came our way.

“Girl with a Mirror“, sculpture by Arnie Segal. DoN & Arnie are developing a website for Philadelphia area artists with disabilities called NUVISIONS for Disabled Artists. Arnie encouraged DoN to participate in the show; it’s difficult to “out” oneself as a disabled person but this show is such high quality, so well managed and supported by kind and understanding leaders and patrons, it’s easier to deal with the stigma and continue to create art.

Etching, “Each to it’s Own Kind” by Michael Jameson.

DoN chatted with a patron about the symbiotic relationship between crows & wolves, how they are totem animals and work together to find food. DoN advised her to buy it; at first she said she couldn’t afford it but all of a sudden she decided she couldn’t leave without this fine, expressive etching. The first rule of sales? Ask for the sale!

DoN Brewer’s “light beings (Dora & Pablo), light being (Leo Seeger) & light being (Barbara Gittings)” @ ArtFirst, University of Princeton Medical Center.

The Philadelphia Dumpster Divers have overtaken Outsiders Folk Arts in the Goggleworks Center for the Arts, a major cultural hub of the Reading region. DoN saw families tumbling out the door after some sort of recital, there’s an art show of students who have taken classes in the center, there’s an enourmous wood shop that smells so good. The Goggleworks is a magnet for artists of all stripes finding access to a wide array of opportunities and is really cool space itself, packed with studios, galleries, show spaces and art. The Dumpster Divers are definitely grooving on the vibe of the place and have installed unique, quirky objects which will inspire many budding artists as well as attracting collectors, since Viener’s artistic eye is well respected.

George Viener is a collector of folk art, outsider art and self-taught art; even though the many of the Divers are professional artists in their own right, collectively the group has a simple basic principle of being creative with what’s on hand, art doesn’t have to be expensive to make and rescueing lost objects ala Marcel DuChamp is de riguer. DoN thinks that counts as self-taught, it’s new, unfiltered raw ideas bubbling to the surface; Dada.

Len Davidson, Queen of the Gnomes, @ Outsider Folk Arts in Reading, PA.

Randal Cleaver, Space Time @ Outsider Folk Arts.

Warren Muller, Philadelphia light artist @ Outsider Folk Arts in the Goggleworks Center for the Arts in Reading.

The Dumpster Diver Gallery @ 734 South Street held a gala in honor of their 17th anniversary as an anarchist art collective dedicated to making art from cultural refuse. Like the gleaners in a Millet painting, this disparate group sifts through the remnants of contemporary culture creating junque, elegant objects, witty pronouncements, versatile visions as if gathering potatoes in a French field.  Ellen Benson’s mixed media constructions from old books and Lincoln Logs throb with vague dreams of lives past; each anthropomorphic object has a funky little personality all it’s own, Benson is on a mission to create 1000 dolls, she’s approaching 500.  

Randy Dalton has recreated the Blue Grotto in the back of the sprawling space;  DoN LoVeS seeing funky old computers like the Mac blue-and-white monitor being used as an art object like some retrofitted Neuromancer future style.  DoN’s blue-n-white glowed purple and made a zapping sound early in the morning a while back but it’s still in the basement, too beautiful to throw away.  Neil Benson’s lamp made of stacked tin boxes is a museum piece; each box filled with memetic waves forms depending on the pattern printed on the thin folded metal.   The Dumpster Divers on South Street is like William Gibson’s future city built on the remains of the Golden Gate Bridge after the grid goes down and a whole society develops meeting every need from noodle soup to watch repair.  

Artists are taking the city over from City Hall to South Street, Kensington to University City, Rittenhouse Square to Pretzel Park; art is more than just on the surface, it’s being built in. 

Ellen Benson with her dolls @ Dumpster Divers on South Street.

Randy Dalton’s Blue Grotto @ Dumpster Divers. 

Check it out - a wide angle shot of Justin Duerr’s incredible show at St. Asaph’s.  DoN can’t stop thinking about Justin’s story about his first job in a bakery.  The boss was mean - we’ve all had mean bosses but this jerk took the cake - but Justin learned to decorate cakes and design with frosting. Duerr decorated his own cake for the opening party with day-glo orange piping of a woman’s face. The framing by Robert Bullock of Coalition Ingenu is truly superior, some of Duerr’s drawings are five feet or more with thin plexiglass offering distortion free viewing.  Learn more about Coalition Ingenu and the fine work they do using art to improve people’s lives and our community, you’ll be inspired - Shoska & DoN LoVe this show and art space! 

Justin Duerr: Song-Story Images in Black and White  (and some Red) @ St. Asaph’s Gallery, presented by Coalition Ingenu is a tour de force in magic realistic drawings.  Duerr’s marker drawings, some huge and involving, some small and dream-like, fill the Gothic room with Bosch-ian imagery of bird-men, crawling words and psychedelic thought forms.  The presentation by Robert Bullock of Coalition Ingenu is pristine, with simple framing with glare-free plexiglass, permitting the viewer to delve into the mind of Justin Duerr.  

Cake decorated by Justin Duerr for his opening party at St. Asaph’s gallery.  One of Duerr’s first jobs was working in a bakery where he learned to work with frosting. 

Gallery view of the Justin Duerr installation @ St. Asaph’s Gallery, 27 Conshohocken/State Road, Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

“Ghost Born Free From Cages and Jails”, drawing by Justin Duerr.

Justin Duerr @ St. Asaph’s Gallery through April 5, 2009.