Category Archives: New Jersey Art

DoN Brewer Photography: Perkins Center for the Arts, Da Vinci Art Alliance Gallery, Photographic Society of Philadelphia, The Plastic Club and The Philadelphia Sketch Club

DoN is running this town just like a club!  Art clubs, that is – with fine art photography in open and juried art shows in five major art spaces in South Jersey & Philly.  The Art of the Flower show @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club is a juried competition with an enormous turnout of talented artists; DoN feels great relief that his decision to include an inkjet print photograph collage of Carnivourous Plants @ Bartram’s Garden has been recognized by the jurors to be included in the highly coveted show.

 DoN Brewer Photography: Perkins Center for the Arts, Da Vinci Art Alliance Gallery, Photographic Society of Philadelphia, The Plastic Club and The Philadelphia Sketch Club

DoN Brewer, Carnivorous Plants @ Bartram’s Garden, digital photograph, Photoshop collage, inkjet print @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club‘s annual Art of the Flower Exhibition, a blind juried competition of all types of art.

DoN helped install the Small Worlds show @ The Plastic Club; the team of volunteers hung over three hundred small images through out the old town house, each room, gallery and hall is filled with a myriad selection of art.  The tremendous trove of work is smooshed in but exhibitions chair Alan Klawans foresees a day when cuts will have to be made.  And, listen to DoN when he says – prepare your art properly for installation and rough handling, DoN had an artist’s piece literally come part in his hands and Plastic Club President Bob Jackson spent extra hours kindly adding wire to art submitted by artists, after spending two days logging art by hand in the log book and then hanging work on the walls Bob really doesn’t need to prepare your work for you.  Really, if they have to make cuts, the first to go will be poor presentation, artist Art Ostroff & DoN griped about the lost skills of presentation.  Ironically, DoN was a wire offender but took his work home to fix himself – if Bob Jackson wired your art for you to be in a huge show like Small Worlds, you owe him a big favor.  Speaking of favors, DoN doesn’t know who dropped out but he has five photographs included in the Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club, a prestigious honor bestowed only on members in good standing.  DoN is presenting a group of abstract landscape photographs from his series, light beings,  several new images have been added to DoN‘s on-line gallery.

Plastic Club Small Worlds DoN Brewer

DoN Brewer, Panama Street, digital photograph, Photoshop, inkjet print, 8 x 10″ @ The Plastic Club’s Small Worlds art extravaganza.

 The opening reception for Diverse Perspectives @ Da Vinci Art Alliance was super fun, DoN will write a separate review of the group show in South Philly.  The group that came together organically and easily, organized an art show that DoN is proud to be a part, truly diverse, artistic and eclectic – just like DoN!

Diverse Perspectives @ Da Vinci Art Alliance: Bud Boehringer, DoN Brewer, Lorna Kent, Yeoun Lee, Marcy Morris, Lee Muslin, William Myers & Edna Santiago

DoN Brewer Photography @ Diverse Perspectives at Da Vinci Art Alliance Gallery, 704 Catharine Street, South Philly.  DoN will be hosting a discussion, Search Engine Optimization for Artists, Saturday, March 5th, 2011, 2 – 4:00 PM.

The Perkins Center for the Arts Photography 30 Show is almost over,  it has been such an honor to be included in the exclusive annual photography event.  The show is truly inspirational, aspirational & astounding – no kidding.  As photographer Bonnie Schorske said, “…it’s a feather in your cap!”  Thank you to Uncle Dave and Aunt Barbara, Cousin Carla & friends, Shoshka, Lola, Rob, Bonnie and all my friends & family who cheered me on and braved the snow to visit the beautiful mansion in Moorestown, NJ.  You got to tip on the tightrope!

DoN has a new piece on display @ Bonte’s, 9th & Walnut that is a departure from the abstraction he’s known for, a church lady hat store window titled South Street Chapeaux, a documentary still life composition that Shoshka will love.  The on-going show promoted by the Photographic Society of Philadelphia is a cool spot to show along with fellow photography enthusiasts; the PSoP events @ The Plastic Club are always informative, the recent talk by photographer Ed Snyder and graphic designer John Bacille about how to produce your own book was inspiring and a recent field trip to the Wistar Institute for the Nikon Small World show is exclusive and informative.

DoN Brewer Photography: Perkins Center for the Arts, Da Vinci Art Alliance Gallery, Photographic Society of Philadelphia, The Plastic Club and The Philadelphia Sketch Club

DoN Brewer, South Street Chapeaux @ Bonte’s Cafe, 9th & Walnut Streets.  Thank you so much to the good people at the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Sketch Club, The Plastic Club and Da Vinci Art Alliance for providing the art opportunities, diverse creative outlets and intellectual peer support in the heart of the coolest city in the world.

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts – DoNArTNeWs

Sarah Bloom Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts

The snowy January afternoon of the reception for Photography 30 @ The Perkins Center for the Arts did not deter an avid crowd of photographers and collectors from crowding into the grand rooms and halls hung with a collection of photography gleaned from over 600 entries.  Eighty-three photographs were selected by juror Rick Wright composing a visual symphony of tone, content and clarity with swaths of crisp black and white prints then deliberate interstitial insertion of color. The photo in the center above is by Sarah Bloom literally drawing a crowd, the dramatic self portrait the punctum to Wright’s studium.  The halls are curated by Perkins Center’s Executive Director Alan Willoughby and Associate Curator Philip J. Carroll arrayed the galleries with a masterful curatorial eye for connecting symbolism, narrative and style with elegance befitting the architecture.

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts

Richard Zanoni of Edgewater Park, NJ, The Off Season, digital photo and Brenda Kele of Montclair NJ, Untitled, pigment print @ Photography 30.

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts

Tommy Graef, Who’s Afraid @ Photography 30, Perkins Center for the Arts annual photography competition and exhibition.

DoN Brewer in Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ

Click the thumbnail – DoN‘s photo (far right)totally reads from across the grand staircase, yet surprisingly detailed and vivid in the lustrous light flooding through the high window.  Watching visitors examine the photo while sitting on the wide window sill will is a nexus point in DoN‘s history as a photographer, a beautiful sweet moment of pride and redemption – like Niki Minaj sings,”...haters you can kill yo’self!

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts

Ron Brignae of Wilmington, DE, received a Jurors Award for his photo of frozen water and Neil Persh of Monroe Township, NJ, Model 7, inkjet print on exhibition fiber paper, of a dust encrusted typewriter is Dada for real.  Technical virtuosity combined with stream of consciousness story-telling is the hallmark of Photography 30 with a broad range of thought provoking images, techniques and presentation worth contemplating, emulating and imitating.

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts

Alice Grabanier of  Branchberg, NJ, Voyeurism, pigment ink-jet print.

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts

Mark D. Thellmann of Merchantville, NJ,  Ontario Gas Station, archival inkjet print of HDR photo.  Mark told DoN to Google HDR, high-dynamic-range imaging, a process which created an ethereal image impossibly rich with detail, earning him a well deserved award.

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts

Fellow Da Vinci Art Alliance member artist, Ligia Richter of Wynnewood, PA, Izzy by the Window, black and white silver gelatin print.

DoN is grateful for the support of family and friends who braved the snow to celebrate the art show and the artists, it feels so good when an artistic risk like entering a show with slim odds pays off big time.

LoVe

DoN

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts – DoN Brewer “light beings (Sid & Nancy)”

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts - DoN Brewer “light being Sid & Nancy”

light beings (Sid & Nancy), digital photograph, 2009, DoN Brewer @ The Perkins Center for the Arts in Moorestown, NJ.  The Photography 30 show is the cover story of the Weekend magazine section of the Philadelphia Inquirer!

DoN uploaded a new group of photographs from his “light being” series to DoNBrewerPhotography.com, click on the slide-show button in the top bar.

Today is a good day!

DoN

Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ

DoN Brewer in Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ

DoN Brewer’s light beings (Sid & Nancy) is included in Photography 30 @ Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ.  DoN‘s Grandparents lived in Moorestown and family still lives there, DoN is so proud to represent the Hayes clan especially in a photo competition ; )  Photography has been big deal in DoN‘s family for a long time, his first photography experience was developing film with a kit Grandpa gave him with a red light bulb; Grandpa was a teacher, engineer, photographer and filmmaker, it must be genetic.  DoN’s MoM is going to freak out that her son is in a show in her home town!

Photography 30
The opening reception will be Sunday, January 30, 2011
from 1:00 to 4:00 PM with an awards ceremony at 2:30. Free and open to the public.
Gallery Hours, January 30-March 6:
Thursday and Friday, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM

 

Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Michelle Post Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Michelle Post @ Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ.

Michelle Post has curated an outstanding exhibition of art lamps with an astonishing array of Philadelphia region artists who each use electric light to enhance their creations and bring them life.  The gallery was dark except for the art lamps, each piece softly illuminating it’s own carefully chosen space, the warm glow of golden shadows around the room is enticing. Michelle Post and Dave Carrow recently exhibited @ Da Vinci Art Alliance, see the photo below, where DoN had the opportunity to meet Michelle and talk about art.

Phil Vinson Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Phil Vinson created each part of this lamp by hand from the carved finial to the metal base, truly a tour de force in craftsmanship, style and design; like a dreamy pod of a luminescent night blooming flower, this lamp is entrancing, drawing gallery goers like moths.  Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Charmaine Caire Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Charmaine Caire @ Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ.

Dave Carrow Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Dave Carrow creates heavy metal, industrial strength art, building lamps of welded chunks of metal like cyber-punk set pieces for the star-ship Serenity.  Carrow’s lamps are large, substantial, ambitious constructions, creating a transmuted modernist environment all on their own with clever connections and thought provoking problem solving.

Alden Cole Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Alden Cole is showing a cluster of his signature glowing objects, the lamps are more night-light than reading lamp, each subtly changing color, energizing the shadow patterns flowing across the walls.  With his lamps groups together, DoN noticed gallery goers having difficulty not touching the orbs, curiously drawn to the light.

Sarah Stengle Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Sarah Stengle – Genius!

Wayne Russell Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Wayne Russell, Streamliner, lamp @ Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ.

Lighten Up! has so much more that DoN wants to share but if I were you, I’d take a drive down to Millville and check out the art center, the RRCA is a model of a multi-purpose art space.

Lighten Up!” curated by artist, Michelle Post, exhibits uniquely constructed lamps sure to “lighten up” your night.  Michelle gave the eleven artists included one stipulation- their lamps must plug into an outlet and actually light up.  Beyond that, artists:  Harry Anderson, Charmaine Caire, Dave Carrow, Alden Cole, Pam Lethbridge, Ted Simon, Michelle Post, Wayne Russell, Eric Schultz, Sarah Stengle, Carole Sivin and Sally Willobee were left to create their illuminated treasures.  The exhibition offers stellar examples of the creativity artists have when looking at ordinary objects many of us take for granted.  Michelle explains, “Rising to the challenge of bursting through and penetrating darkness come artists whose wit and imagination show us not to take life too seriously.   With laughter comes healing, and with illumination comes peace.”

Michelle Post & Dave Carrow @ Da Vinci Art Alliance

Michelle Post & Dave Carrow @ Da Vinci Art Alliance, Autumn 2010.

Photos by DoN.