Category Archives: New Jersey artists

Envisioning Shakespeare – Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Through April 26, 2011 at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, in collaboration with the Da Vinci Art Alliance, presents “Envisioning Shakespeare” an exhibition of art by 24 members artists relating to the works of William Shakespeare in the lobby of Wilson Hall which houses Rowan’s Pfleeger Theatre.

Artists in the exhibition include:  Bobbie Adams, Betsy Alexander, Rosalind Bloom, Bud Boehringer, DoN Brewer, Alden Cole, Lilliana Didovic, David Foss, Linda Dubin Garfield, Sharri Jerue, Carl Johnson, Ona Kalstein, Marie Keane, Rikard Larma, Carla Lombardi, Karen McDonnell and Anthony Cortosi, Deb Miller and Ray Costello, Liz Nicklus, Patricia O’Halloran, Francine Strauss, Ted Warchal, Carol Wisker, Burnell Yow! 

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Click the thumbnails for panoramic views of Envisioning Shakespeare – a Da Vinci Art Alliance Event @ Rowan University, Glassboro NJ.

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Envisioning Shakespeare @ Rowan University.  Da Vinci Art Alliance is an 80 year old art gallery cooperative located in South Philly; the expansive show of art gleaned from Shakespeare themed art shows from the past examines images, themes and ideas from Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet and Henry IV, Part 1 by artists working in all types of media.

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Lilliana DidovicEnvisioning Shakespeare – a Da Vinci Art Alliance event @ Rowan University.

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Carl Johnson@ Envisioning Shakespeare – a Da Vinci Art Alliance event.

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

DoN Brewer and Mina Smith-SegalEnvisioning ShakespeareDa Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University.

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University

Envisioning Shakespeare – a Da Vinci Art Alliance event @ Rowan University.  Thank you to the great work by the Da Vinci Art Alliance team for installing the exhibition; director Dave Foss, board members Alden Cole and Ted Warchal transported and hung the show in a coherent, flowing retrospective in the handsome lobby of the Pfleeger Theater with each artwork resonating and reinforcing the messages from the works in proximity.  But, Dr. Deb Miller, Da Vinci Art Alliance Board President is the master-mind behind the series which has brought this collection of Philadelphia artists together in a bright, welcoming setting where the art can be seen by theater-goers and students at Rowan University.  The on-going series of theme shows allows artists to interpret Shakespeare in their own styles and media, most recently interpreting A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Black Box Gallery at the Lantern Theater Company.

Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Lantern Theater Black Box Gallery

Lilliana Didovic has participated in each of the Da Vinci Art Alliance Envisioning Shakespeare exhibitions and won First Prize this time for her painting in the Envisioning A Midsummer Night’s Dream (the dreamy blue night scene above).  Lilliana is dedicated to Da Vinci Art Alliance, volunteering her time and creating art even as she worked at achieving her Masters Degree in Psychology from the University of Chicago this Spring.

Envisioning “A Mid Summer Night’s Dream” @ The Lantern Theater’s Black Box Gallery.

Nadia Kunz was thrilled to be exhibiting for the first time with Da Vinci Art Alliance for the Envisioning A Midsummer Night’s Dream art show; Nadia’s construction is a whimsical interpretation of the famous play created with found objects.

Envisioning “A Mid Summer Night’s Dream” @ The Lantern Theater’s Black Box Gallery.

Envisioning “A Midsummer Night’s Dream @ The Lantern Theater’s Black Box Gallery.  DoN know’s that’s Ted Warchal’s Puck in the middle but he needs help identifying the others, if you know who’s who in any of these photos please comment so credit can be given to the artists.

Envisioning “A Mid Summer Night’s Dream” @ The Lantern Theater’s Black Box Gallery.

Envisioning Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Black Box Gallery at Lantern Theater.  See the Da Vinci Art Alliance Facebook page for more photos. Thank you to the Lantern Theater for giving DoN exclusive access to the gallery, normally only theater-goers get to see the art show, the underground gallery has a bohemian vibe synchronizing with the eclectic artist collective’s esthetic, Da Vinci Art Alliance has been invited back for next year’s Shakespeare production.

Photos by DoN. shot exclusively with Kodak Digital Cameras

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

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.

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.