PHILADELPHIA OPEN STUDIO TOURS: OCTOBER 13TH 12 – 6 pm with Michelle Marcuse and Henry Bermudez
Emerged from the Caribbean tropics, the artistic life of Henry Bermudez has been an unexpected hybrid of ideas informed by an acute sensitivity to the past, stenciled as part of a personal inventory onto different foreign places that throughout his life have become his home and artistic working territory.
Henry’s paintings are steeped in mythical dream imagery within an other-worldliness of carefully constructed creature and plant forms. Further defined by his identity as a Latino, his visual itinerary combines symbols and myth from pre-Hispanic cultures charged with powerful influences from Judaeo-Christian and Afro-Caribbean religions, and further melds these with the iconography of western contemporary art. This blend of cultural diversities is his autobiographical vision that further defines itself through immersion into societies other that the one he was born into. Henry’s art transcends timelines and national boundaries as he joins magical dimensions of symbols with supposed western rationality.
Thank you to Michelle Marcuse, Co Director HOUSE Gallery for the content of this post.
Mending A Reflection, Julie Heffernan, Rowan University Art Gallery
Rowan University Art Gallery is pleased to present Mending A Reflection, a solo exhibition of Julie Heffernan’s self-portraits, curated by Mary Salvante, Director of Rowan University Art Gallery.
The exhibit will be on view September 3 to October 26, 2019, with an artist talk and opening reception on September 12, from 5 – 7:30 pm. Artist talk begins at 5 pm with a reception immediately following.
Mending a Reflectionaddresses the connection between culture, mass media and personal identity through the eyes of one central female figure. Through her self-portraiture, Heffernan investigates what she calls the “shared collective unconscious,” exploring the historical narratives and subliminal imagery that work to shape who we are and how we perceive the world around us.
Self Portrait with Daughters, Julie Heffernan
In 2019, Heffernan revised many of her self-portraits, including Self-Portrait with Daughters, Self-Portrait After Galilee, Self-Portrait with Shipwreck, Self-Portrait as Wrangler, Self-Portrait as Two-Headed Princess, and Self Portrait as Hothead. These newly updated paintings will be exhibited for the first time publicly in Mending a Reflection.
Heffernan’s paintings help us understand how media can influence our behavior and manipulate our perspective. In her large-scale vibrant works, she pays homage to many powerful women by including them in her portraits. Taking inspiration from women activists like Anita Hill and Tarana Burke, Heffernan confronts this bias by presenting what she calls a “different sort of self-portrait,” one full of female spirit, “giving voices to women who have been silenced for too many years by the dominant culture.”
Self Portrait as Wrangler, Julie Heffernan
ABOUT JULIE HEFFERNAN Julie Heffernan has been exhibiting her paintings nationally and internationally since 1988 and is represented by Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco. She has had numerous solo exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe, including at PPOW in NYC entitled Hunter Gatherer (2019); the Crocker Art Museum, Palmer Art Museum and Michael Haas Gallery in Berlin; and a museum show entitled When The Water Rises originating at the LSU Museum of Art in Baton Rouge and traveling to museums in California, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas through 2019. She has participated in numerous group shows at major galleries and museums including the Museum für Moderne Kunst, in Bremen, Germany; Me Museum, Olbricht Collection in Berlin; the Palazzo Reale in Milan, Italy; and in Environmental Impact exhibition traveling to 12 museums throughout the United States.
Heffernan is the recipient of such prestigious grants as the NEA, NYFA and Fulbright, as well as a PS1 Artist-in-Residence, and her work has been reviewed by major newspapers and magazines including The New York Times and The New Yorker. Her work is in numerous museums throughout the country including the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond, VA. She is a Professor of Fine Arts at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
ABOUT ROWAN UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY Rowan University Art Gallery serves as a premier cultural destination for South Jersey, the Rowan community, and surrounding region. Our mission is to provide a platform for discourse on best practices in contemporary art by professional artists, curators, and scholars through the presentation of interdisciplinary art exhibitions, panel discussions, guest curatorial projects, and other public programming.
The Gallery has a history of programming that recognizes the achievements of women in the visual arts. Important past group exhibitions include The Sister Chapel: An Essential Feminist Collaboration (2016) and Groundbreaking: The Women of the Sylvia Sleigh Collection (2011). The gallery also hosted Better Than Ever: Women Figurative Artists of the ’70s Co-ops (2009), a traveling exhibition that was curated by Sharyn Finnegan, Between the Threads: A Feminist Guide to the Domestic (2016), and Enamored Armor (2018). Solo exhibitions have included Beverly Semmes (2011), Joyce Kozloff (2014), Jeanie Jaffe (2015), Diane Burko (2018), and Ebony G. Patterson (2019).
Support for programming at Rowan University Art Gallery is also made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information please visit: rowan.edu/artgallery
Public parking is available in the Mick Drive Parking Garage across the street from the gallery. Admission to the gallery, lecture, and reception is free and open to the public.
Thank you to Chelsea Markowitz for the content of this post.
LikeDoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on facebook
Nature’s Daughters: Solo Art Exhibition and Networking,
Jessica Libor, Da Vinci Art Alliance
Jessica Libor, Da Vinci Art Alliance
Enjoy original artwork and creative networking at this unique event. See Jessica Libor’s new pieces in her solo exhibition “Nature’s Daughters,” on view for one night only at the Da Vinci Art Alliance on Wednesday, September 4th from 5-8pm. Celebrate women with Jessica’s art and also with networking expert Jennifer Lynn Robinson. Men are also welcome to attend!
“I want to show the glamour of nature. Whenever I am outdoors in the wild, I feel the most beautiful and free. I don’t think I am alone in this experience. What I wanted to do was show this feeling visually. I want people to be swept away in a gorgeous fantasy of the absolute magic that nature weaves sometimes. I painted women because it felt like a natural expression of nature—like the earth, the feminine can have many sides to it, can bring forth new life, and often express their beauty by decorating themselves…something I am interested in drawing a correlation with.”
Jessica Libor graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2014 and has been painting, curating and writing since. Find out more at www.jessicalibor.com.
At 7 PM, Jessica will say a few words about the artwork, and Jennifer Lynn Robinson, Esquire of Purposeful Networking will provide her 5 best tips for women to network more strategically. You will also be able to ask Jennifer your networking questions one on one. Find out more at https://www.purposefulnetworking.com/.
There will be light bites and drinks provided. This event is free for all and open to the public! Registration is encouraged.
Elaine M. Erne, Lanie Doll and Friends, Drawings and Prints, House Gallery
Lanie Doll, graphite pencil on paper, 72″ x 126″
HOUSE Gallery, 1816 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Through June 30th
Artist Talk Sunday June 23rd, 4:00 – 7:00 pm followed by potluck.
The Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animals is a continuing series of prints and large graphite drawings of Lanie Doll and her friends that represent individuals and their emotional relationships with themselves and others. In recurring distressful situations, people often become like dolls, putting forward a cheerful personae no matter what is happening. The dolls encapsulate the personality of an individual and allows me to explore the inner workings of painful relationships without being immersed in the reality of difficult interactions. Although there is a playful side, the underlining theme is fear, cruelty, isolation, and survival. Though the situations represented are far from real, no stuffed animals were hurt in the making of the work, they capture the aura that surround people who on the outside appear happy while actually experiencing deep sorrow, loneliness, and tension in their daily lives.
ABOUT E. M. Erne
E. M. Erne, co-founder and co-director of Star Wheel Printers, received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and a MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Erne’s drawings and prints have been featured in numerous invitational and juried national exhibitions. Erne has had six solo exhibitions in the past ten years: ‘Mr. Bunny Misses His Friends’, Nexus, Foundation for Today’s Arts, Philadelphia PA; ‘E. M. Erne: Drawing and Prints’, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ; ‘Mr. Bunny and Friends’, Nexus, Foundation for Today’s Arts, Philadelphia PA; ‘The Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animals’, BahdeeBahdu Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; a ‘Wind Challenge Exhibition’, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA; and a ‘Community Gallery Solo Exhibition’, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA. Erne is a recipient of a Dene M. Louchheim Faculty Fellowship, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA, and a Career Development Fellowship with The Center for Emerging Visual Artist, Philadelphia, PA. Erne was one of 25 artists selected by the Center of Emerging Visual Artist to represent them in their 25th Year Anniversary Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2015 Erne won the Jane Friend Purchase Award in the Brand Associates’ 43rd Annual Works On Paper National Juried Exhibition in Glendale, CA. She is currently on the faculty at Drexel University, Moore College of Art and Design, and the Fleisher Art Memorial all in Philadelphia, PA.
Location: 1816 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Hours: by appointment
Michelle Marcuse, Co Director, HOUSE Gallery, 1816 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125, 215-901-7190
Suitable Arrangements: time and place, Gail Kolflat, 38 x 48 inches oil/acrylic
Reminiscent of a shadow box with 4 overlapping layers, beyond the pink liatris and blue hydrangea in the foreground, this painting presents a couple of women actively engaged in floral design activity and conversation during an evening session of flower arranging. Behind them a woman works on her creation, and in the distance through the window, cars are parked under a darkening sky – the mode of transportation for the aficionados.
Melding The Collegiate: lessons learned, Gail Kolflat, 46 x 40 inches oil / acrylic
College life! Students between classes mingle and walk on campus grounds, with a stately school building behind them. In this painting, there’s a clear dialogue between abstract and representational elements, forming the body of the composition.
Life and the Progression of Human Bonds : birth and demise, diptych 38 x 96 inches (when flat) oil/acrylic, Gail Kolflat
This is a poignant painting that highlights the maternal bond of a mother and her new daughter, and the daughter’s compassion and sorrow after the death of her mother years later. Raw human emotions transpired from two of life’s most significant events, combine and contrast making this a powerful piece.
Exciting colors and engaging themes draw viewers into the vibrant paintings of regional artist Gail Kolflat. Eye-catching, and invigorating, this one-person exhibition touches on themes of social commentary, with an emphasis on compositions featuring people involved in assorted activities and events, such as: a concert in a park, a flower arrangement class, commuters on a train, students at a university, or a lakeside interlude. Kolflat’s interpretation of Americana and genre painting is contemporary, and uniquely fresh, with distinctive hues and a stylish manner of presentation. A number of works are multi-panel, large format compositions and several have irregular shaped borders. All are painted in oil and acrylic on canvas.
“In a sense these works portray America in positive and refreshing tones that are so rare in contemporary art. It’s America at play, and it is a significant facet of our culture as is violence and drug abuse. Kolflat’s work stands alongside those artists who came before who have portrayed a segment of a population, one that describes a particular time and place. Like Impressionists with their sun dazzled boating scenes and picnics, Kolflat’s people at play describe an innocence in America that still exists.” Marilyn J Fox
Gail Kolflat is a notable east coast artist, who returned to the exhibition arena in 2013 after taking a fifteen year break while raising her daughters. She has long, strong exhibition history, and currently serves as the Membership Chairperson for the New York City Chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art.
Midsummer Trilogy : sorting through waves of circumstance, irregular perimeter 147 x 74 inches oil/acrylic, Gail Kolflat
This piece represents two anticipatory gatherings, one of several girl friends primping and chatting, the other of male friends casually relaxing and enjoying refreshments, and finally center stage, a melding of the highlighted parties into respective pairings. The idea behind the creation of this piece flowed from a series of optimistic possibilities related to young graduates in my orbit, their coteries, encouraging news from professionals, and the glow of a positive mindset.
Artist Statement: Gail Kolflat
As an artist I find it compelling to create compositions of human society. My paintings are a recording of people today, living in our world, partaking in experiences, culture and lifestyles common to us all. Painted over a period of months, my compositions evolve much on their own. A spontaneous abstract footprint initiates every work. It is intertwined with figurative representations derived from sketches and photographs used as sources for the primary layout of a painting. The sources are then disregarded, as I prefer to improvise from that point onward, relying on a continuing interaction of realistic and abstract principles. Using human forms, objects, landscapes, and buildings, I invite the viewer into a world he/she can recognize, understand and share – as if at the scene, participating in an event, or surmising a situation. The abstract elements “free the viewer from the monotony and predictability of a too real vision.” My work consists of singular or multi-panel assemblages, executed with a broad use of color. Color is of great significance, appealing to emotions and mood. I allow myself to use any pigments that seem appropriate for a painting; instinct derived from experience. Observing and delving into the interplay of shapes, textures and colors is what drew me into the visual arts. I focus on groupings of people – who they are, where they are, why they are there, the ambiance surrounding them collectively as well as individually. Tapestries, textiles, Art Nouveau, modern abstract painting, Impressionism, the human condition and numerous venues in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City continue to serve as inspiration for my work. The greatest contributing factor to the development of my art is a need to create.
Entertainment and Amusement: summer fare, summer fair, 82 x 59 inches, triptych, oil/acrylic, Gail Kolflat
Thank you to Gail Kolflat for the content of this post.
LikeDoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on facebook
