Category Archives: Philadelphia Abstract Art

Non-representational art in all media including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, prints, video, on-line, writing, etc.

Women of Vision: 2012 Barbara Gesshel at Hidden River Gallery

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Women of Vision: 2012 Barbara Gesshel at Hidden River Gallery

Barbara Gesshel, “I’m a painter and printmaker and a muralist. My paintings have mostly been skies and clouds, water recently. But, the prints are mono-prints, I also do woodcuts. I was a printmaking major at UArts and then traveled to Norway where I was was studying the work of Edvard Munch and then I matriculated at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art and then I went to the University of Oslo to learn Norwegian. Which, I’m still fluent in.”DoN asked how Barbara Gesshel ended up in Philadelphia? “Well, I came back,” “Everyone comes back!”, DoN interrupted, “Not really. My father had given me money for a Eurail pass and return passage. And then I found out I had to pay him back.” DoN, noted, “That’s a Women’s History moment.”

“When I came back, the school I was teaching in, I worked so I could get back to Norway. I literally just fell in love with the country. I became a painter and a printmaker when I came back, very much influenced by Munch’s color in his later work…Munch was very funny. He would continue to repeat a theme, the kiss, the scream, the bridge, vampire, these were his early ones and he would paint them in many different ways. His later work, he did murals at the University in a series of huge murals and he did these paintings of the people, the peasants, the workers. He did these larger than life paintings that literally have coming out in a multitude of colors that you wouldn’t think to use for skin color.”

“Now, I’m working at a University City High School mentoring program doing murals and they’ve never really painted. The other artist is having them work on parachute cloth and they’re making little words that represent things. And we find we’re working on masonite panels, this is all their work, I show them and they do it so that they’re actually using color as much as possible. Each kid has a brush and a pan of all the colors, one on top of the other, the concept is it starts at the top and then moves down organically. Nothing is set in stone. And therefore there is no such thing as a mistake, the greatest thing you can teach a kid.”

Barbara Gesshel Richter Hell, monoprint on paper, DoN lifted from Barbara Gesshel‘s HeavyBubble bubble

Women of Vision: 2012 at the Hidden River Art Gallery and Salon, 525 South 4th Street, Philadelphia hosted by Debra Leigh Scott through April 30, 2012.

DoN will be posting stories about the other featured artists Pamela Peitzman, Madeline Bates, Lauren Acton, Lilliana Didovic and Maria Lourdes Soloman on upcoming DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog posts.

Read more about Women of Vision 2012 at Side Arts Philadelphia Art Blog

Read more about Gesshel at SideArts.com

Photographs by DoN Brewer

Blick Art Materials’ Current Promo Code

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Her Philadelphia Tales, Book Party

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Lilliana Didovic, Of South 2, Smile Restaurant, Her Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic Book Signing Party, 2/25/2011, Instagram.

A brisk north wind bit into DoN‘s face as he walked up 22th Street to Smile Restaurant on a Saturday night for his book signing party. Lilliana and Joseph reserved the dining room upstairs and invited all of our friends to celebrate the publication of Her Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic. The creation of the book was an adventure in itself, DoN is a blogger, publication in print is not a goal for DoNArTNeWs. DoN is into page impressions, rankings and search engine optimization results and the effects of reporting on Philadelphia art in Google. But Lilliana said DoN‘s writing uses “nice words”.

Lilliana proposed collecting reviews from DoN‘s blog posts with her art in book form, an art book to sell and use to further her career as a painter. Writing a book and writing a blog are not the same thing, page layout in a column is very different from designing a book. A blog you can always go back and fix, a book is a one shot deal. No pressure. The book is published by CreateSpace on Amazon.com. The 98 page book is full color, 9.5 x 11″ glossy soft cover with beautiful prints, even now when DoN thumbs through it feels surreal that an actual, tangible product has emerged from his writing.

Beyond Lilliana and DoN‘s wildest expectations, right at 6:00pm people emerged from the freezing Winter evening to crowd into the dining room made ready with a table full of beautiful Thai appetizers by chef Ken and Lilliana‘s own famous Bosnian chicken salad. The wine flowed and people actually lined up to buy books and sit with the Lilliana and DoN to have their copy autographed. C. Todd Hestand the mastermind behind the Side Arts blog platform which enabled the bulk of the material used in the book was there chatting with artists, gallery owners and educators…Lola Z, Spike, Ted and Ona (the Ona-bomber), Carl and Liz, Regina, Steve, Chris Z, Rachel, Kathryn, Dr. & Mrs. Dunn, Gordan’s liver transplant doctor…OMG – it was so crowded and the roar of conversation was so loud that Chris Z yelled in DoN‘s ear, “I think there are a lot of Bosnians here!” The evening was wonderfully cosmopolitan, so many languages, so many people from all diverse backgrounds, artists and entrepreneurs, all together in the middle of down town Philadelphia for something as East Coast elite and snobbishly intellectual as a book signing party. DoN LoVeD IT!!! The night will always be one of DoN‘s most memorable moments.

Thank you so much to Lilliana and Joseph for hosting a beautiful evening. This fantastic team of husband and wife, who have been through so much, have shown hospitality towards DoN that has always been exceptional. Telling Lilliana‘s amazing story with DoN‘s writing and information design is an accomplishment DoN has only dreamed about until now.

Lilliana Didovic, The City, Smile Restaurant, Her Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic
Book Signing Party, 2/25/2012.

Her Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic, Lilliana S. Didovic book signing party, February 25th, 2012.

Other stories about Lilliana S. Didovic: Lilliana Didovic @ TRUST, Lilliana’s Tales, Her Philadelphia Tales, Structure and Gesture

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Leap Year! DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog achieved a new milestone for page views topping 2000 unique visitors on one day, February has seen a consistent climb in page views achieving the highest rankings for the blog so far. DoN is also a Contributing Writer to Side Arts Philadelphia art blog and is participating in a demonstration on how to write a blog post on the Side Arts platform at the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy at the University of the Arts, March 24th, 2012, 1 -3:00pm.

Get tickets http://corzocenter.ticketleap.com/side-arts-demo/

InLiquid v.12

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Ellie Brown, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Brenna K. Murphy, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Clarissa Shanahan Schirmer, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Jim Houser, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Jung Wah Ahn, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Jordan Griska, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

LGTripp Gallery, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Donna Usher, LGTripp Gallery, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Rachel Zimmerman, the mastermind behind the artist representation website InLiquid, sent DoN a FaceBook message asking if he had received his V.I.P. invitation to the InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012? DoN double checked his inbox and passes to the pre-opening Silent Auction cocktail party for the biggest art event in town unopened. Cool! 4:00 – 6:30pm, Friday February 10th – DoN had copped the ultimate art party early-bird special!

The ICE Box Gallery in the Crane Center for the Arts is massive but the hall was filled with art of all kinds, tables brimming with collectibles throughout the room, even extra walls to accommodate the array of art and DoN had it all to himself, sort of, for about thirty minutes. Wandering through the collection DoN spotted familiar artists from across Philadelphia and lots of new faves. A cocktail bar was in the middle of the room and a bartender made DoN a drink with gin, aloe vera juice and muddled basil, in the Gray Area (the large gallery next to the ICE Box) tables with fantastic treats like a thin crustini with a smear of sun dried tomato paste topped with a dollop of pate’. Displayed around the room were silent auction bidding sheets for dozens of desirable services and a group of prints selected by jurors from submissions. So, even if you didn’t win your bid you can still buy a collectible art print.

Soon DoN had a good buzz going from the gin, wandered back in the hall to absorb the sights and ran into artist Amie Potsic. Walking and talking we were struck by the high quality of the art: a bold red and black painting by Da Vinci Art Alliance Executive Director David Foss, massive abstract expressionist paintings by one of Amie’s faves, Jung Wah Ahn, Brenna K. Murphy‘s hair art, Ellie Brown‘s bag photographs (she photographs people and the contents of the bag they carry) and so much more by many great Philadelphia artists.

Amie Potsic is an artist, photographer, maven, Director of Career Development at CFEVA, and has been an InLiquid member artist since it’s inception in 1999 – that’s pre-Google. Amie told DoN the more web presence she has the better. InLiquid is a non-profit organization providing hundreds of artists not just portfolio web pages but real world opportunities to show their artwork, their website is information rich with artist images, bio’s, statements, events and news. Some of the donated art is still for sale on the InLiquid website. Support the efforts of InLiquid artists and businesses who gave so generously from their own inventory to help the artist community hub in Fishtown grow and thrive.

More photographs on DoNArTNeWs FaceBook page.

DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog

Photographs by DoN Brewer

Leslie Friedman

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Leslie Friedman, CFEVA Introduction 2012, Galleries at Moore, Cargo for Port Derby, 2010, serigraph on paper, 10 color print, edition of ten, Nasty Button, 2010, serigraph on paper, 9 color print, edition of eight, 3-2-1 Blast Off!, 2010, serigraph on paper, 7 color print, edition of twenty-eight.

DoN asked Leslie Friedman how she felt about being in the CFEVA Introduction 2012 exhibition in the Galleries at Moore? “I feel really great! I was really honored to get the fellowship. When I was sitting in the room at the orientation they were saying that three hundred and fifty people applied. And a lot of the people that applied, some of them are here tonight, have applied multiple times. And, I just feel really great to be here. The work looks amazing, especially Kay‘s piece, I don’t know, it’s really exciting. I had seen her work at the To Scale show and I’ve been a fan but I never met her.”

Dada? DoN asked. “I think it does, I mean, there’s definitely any kind of work that’s on paper with the ephemera of paper is definitely going to make you think of Dada-ism. Also, the fact that it’s collage. The way that I collage is a 21st Century way of collage-ing. It’s using the internet to get all my imagery, finding things and altering them. So, I’m not cutting up magazines or photographs, my collage is all done on line…I feel like this young generation, whatever you want to call it, uses the internet so fluidly. I think art is about the interchange of ideas, so none of what I’m doing with this is never making fun of, or debasing any of anyone else’s work. I take something that may be forgotten and turn it into something memorable.”

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA), in cooperation with Moore College of Art & Design, presents an exhibition by the new Career Development Program Fellows. A highly selective fellowship with only a 2% acceptance rate, these six artists represent some of the most promising talent among emerging artists in the region: Leslie Friedman, Daniel Gerwin, Rebecca Gilbert, Kay Healy, Heechan Kim, and Johanna Inman.