Category Archives: Paintings Philadelphia

oils, acrylics, watercolor, mixed media, ink, philadelphia

Absolutely Abstract 2011 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club, DoNArTNeWs Interview PSC President Bill Patterson

HD Video – watch in full screen mode – DoN

Video by DoNBrewerMultimedia

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club – Marion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie

Kim Martin Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - Marion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic ClubMarion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie

Kim Martin, Painting #2, oil.

Karl Olsen Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - Marion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie

Karl Olsen , Quilt, oil , Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic ClubMarion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie.

Marion Loippo Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - Marion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie

Marion Loippo, Swim in the Lake, silk & velvet, Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic ClubMarion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie.

Jane J. Wilkie Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - Marion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie

Jane J. Wilkie , Velvet Quilt, fabric & grapevines, Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic ClubMarion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie

Jane J. Wilkie Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - Marion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie

Marion Loippo, Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic ClubMarion Loippo, Kim Martin, Karl Olsen & Jane J. Wilkie.

The Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club exhibits members work chosen @ random from a sign up sheet, the synchronicity of the current show with Karl & Kim, Marion & JJ is fortuitous.  Painting and fabric art meld with Karl Olsen‘s expressionist paintings, Kim Martin‘s strident drawings, Marion Loippo‘s abstractions on silk and JJ Wilkie‘s bold quilts as if a gallery curator selected the art for the show.  Check out all the artist links in this blog post, they all have portfolio websites but Marion Loippo has a cool YouTube video!

 

Photos by DoN.

 

Steve Iwanczuk & Kyle Margiotta . . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery

Kyle Margiotta . . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery

Kyle Margiotta . . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery.

Kyle Margiotta‘s paintings draw you in with exquisite technique and metaphysical content; faces emerge from the mist, beautiful women wade through pools of red, metaphorical flowers like bleeding hearts creating an intensely personal experience.  DoN has watched Kyle draw in the Philadelphia Sketch Club‘s workshops, his depth of knowledge, skill with tools (his pencil lines are extremely fine) and focus is an inspiration to those who share the studio with him.  Margiotta’s paintings are illustrative but decorative, even though the subject is deep, the style, color and presentation are desirable.

Kyle Margiotta . . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery

Kyle Margiotta . . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery.

Kyle Margiotta . . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery

Kyle Margiotta . . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery.

Steve Iwanczuk. . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery

Steve Iwanczuk. . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery.

Steve Iwanczuk is the Exhibitions Chair at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, for his own show in the venerable Stewart Room (members are chosen to show @ random), he has selected a group of drawings and photographs that are sleek, shiny, mercurially metallic and sexy.  The detail is intense, the pencil marks stream of conscience-like flow are surreal and fluid, each drawing a dream of it’s own but his photos are sensual contrasts of light and dark, shiny and smooth, real and unreal, Steve’s photography is recognizable as a style all his own.

Steve Iwanczuk. . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery

Steve Iwanczuk. . . empirical, real, metaphysical @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Stewart Room Gallery.

 

Photos by DoN.

Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Bonnie MacAllister Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Bonnie MacAllister, Members’ Choice Art Show @ The Plastic Club.  Bonnie MacAllister‘s tiny mixed media, Revery, is subtle yet slyly glamorous with gold dust illuminating the feminine figure, the piece softy glowing in it’s own light.  Bonnie’s blog is very cool describing all the wonderful projects she’s working on; she’s a world traveler, grant winner and educator with a fine eye, thoughtful manner and socially conscious personality – a DoN must read!  Coming soon – Bonnie MacAllister, The Dressing Room, Green Light Arts, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe @ The Plastic Club, 247 S. Camac Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107.  Show runs Sept. 3*, 4, 7, 10, 11, 14, and 17, 7 p.m. *followed by artist reception
Here is the link to tickets:
http://bonnie-macallister.blogspot.com/2011/07/play-dressing-room_31.html

This is the link to the press release:http://bonnie-macallister.blogspot.com/2011/07/play-dressing-room.html

BONNIE MacALLISTER: Play: The Dressing Room

Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Members’ Choice Art Show @ The Plastic Club.  Patricia Wilson-Schmid, Celebration, acrylic, Laura Pritchard, The Donors, batik on silk, Karen Frank, Strongman and Ballerina, mixed media, Theodore Amick, Jibber Jabber, watercolor and Bob Jackson, Mrs. Wildfowl and Tea, junk and stuff.

Sy Hakim Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Sy Hakim,  Members’ Choice Art Show @ The Plastic ClubSy Hakim’s large landscape painting, Formations – Daylight, describes a beautiful yet challenging world, the small figure seems huddled against the power of the landscape, the outcroppings hang high above his head, a daunting climb but a great view from the top.

Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Members’ Choice Art Show @ The Plastic Club: Lois Schlachter, Guarding the Kingdom, giclee and Sixty, giclee, DoN Brewer, Iris of the Storm and Amy, Amy, Amy, digital photographs, archival ink prints and Mervyn Klein, Karate, collage.  Lois and DoN have been friends for years and Mervyn & DoN had a show together in the Downstairs Gallery earlier this year; the tones of this grouping are balanced and vibrant, there are tableau’s throughout the gallery where works speak to each other through color, technique and theme.  DoN priced his work at $4.3 trillion and $3.2 trillion respectively hoping to save the economy but the guide says NFS, oh well.

Bill Myers Plastic Club

Bill Myers @ The Plastic Club.

Bill Myers photography is confounding yet simple; his Photoshop collages fool the eye when the artist mashes his own photography with found images, morphing the pictures into something different yet familiar.  Scary Scenario, photo collage, looks authentic with deep blacks and dark shadows but look closer and the foreground figure becomes impossible, the girl in the phone booth has two umbrellas, huh? – Bill Myers is good at that, that “huh?” moment.

Sy Hakim Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Sy Hakim, The Cave-Night, oil, Members’ Choice Art Show @ The Plastic Club.

An art patroness becomes part of the art in the Shiekman Studio upstairs at the Plastic Club, her Summer dress extending the scene magically onto her person.  The art flanking Hakim’s painting is by Gail Zelikovsky, Rock Garden, painted silk and Rock Garden with Waterfall, painted silk.

Sy Hakim Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Sy Hakim, The Cave-Night, oil, Members’ Choice Art Show @ The Plastic Club.

Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler @ The Plastic Club

Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler @ The Plastic Club‘s Member’s Choice Art ShowSibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler‘s action paintings are not just fast in painting style like an abstract expressionist but the quickly painted figures are always moving, dancing, prancing – Ringa-Ringa-Reia, gouache & charcoal, is a joyful work of art.

Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Members’ Choice Art Show @ The Plastic Club.

Ted Gutswa Members’ Choice @ The Plastic Club

Ted GutswaMembers’ Choice Art Show @ The Plastic ClubTed Gutswa‘s charcoal drawings, Spring Mist & Sweeping Dream, explains all about what it means to be a member of the Plastic Club, simple materials, uninhibited application and beautiful presentation, raising the combined whole to a level higher than it’s minimalist components.  The Member’s Choice show at the Plastic Club represents each artist’s best work, the sum of it’s parts is elevated even more by the quality, style and variety of the work in proximity.  Downstairs Gallery at the Plastic Club is a lovely space featuring Kim Martin. Karl Olsen, Marion Loippo and Jane Wilkie; DoN will post some images and comments soon.

 

Photos by DoN.

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty, Works in Watercolor @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe, Mt. Airy

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe.

Bananas and Oranges, watercolor.

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe

Ranunculus Bud and Budding Alyssum, watercolor by Lauren Sweeney.

Lauren Sweeney said, “This is a show I decided to include just watercolors that predominantly included what I call natures bounty: fruits, vegetables, shells from the sea and some of the man made objects.  Because it’s sort of a unique opportunity for me to focus more than I have for shows in the past trying to show a little of the diversity that I’ve done.  But, this is twenty paintings, so, it’s a lot of work.  The way this show came about is that they have a curator that goes around including Post Open Studio Tours and she liked my work and asked me on the spot if I would want to do a show here.  She’s the one that arranges the show, goes to the art openings…what she did was go through the POST listings and see which artists looked good to her and then she went around to them.  She invited me out here (Mt. Airy) to see this place and I love it, this space makes all art glow.  It’s a really good space and it allows you to really see the art.  It’s a restaurant so normally you can only see it when they’re open but tonight we’re having the first art reception.”  Lauren Sweeney said she got free publicity through a free networking service called Patch, check it out.  The website gives info and what’s going on in different Philly neighborhoods but it doesn’t exist in Center City yet.

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe.

Geechee Girl Rice Cafe is operated by five sisters, DoN talked with chef/owner Val Erwin about art being part of Geechee Girl Rice Cafe‘s business plan, “We do regular shows of artists. I have somebody on my staff that curates them, works with the artists and hangs the shows.”  Does art draw customers?  “Well, in the most ideal situation, yes.  I mean, that isn’t why we started it but hopefully it does.”

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe

Lauren Sweeney, Natures Bounty @ Geechee Girl Rice Cafe.

Lauren explained to DoN, “I decided early on to use existing work and create new work focused on nature, the tomato painting I started at the Fitler Square Art Fair, while I was there.  This has been a great opportunity for me to expand into this neighborhood.  I’ve met some of the gallery owners, there are all kinds and it’s been a real motivating factor.  The show is two months long and runs through the end of August.”

Geechee Girl Rice CafeThis weekend’s specials:

  • Corn chowder
  • Geechee Girl house salad with herb toasted brie, candied pecans and fresh peaches
  • Fried okra & jalapenos w/ herb sour cream sauce
  • Roasted marinated beets garnished with Lancaster County goat cheese
  • Geechee Girl crabcakes with herb sour cream sauce.  Jasmine rice and Asian slaw
  • Chicken gumbo garnished with Carolina gold rice.  Served with sauteed greens
  • Individual peach cobbler served warm and topped with vanilla ice cream.

Brunch specials

  • Peach lemonade: lemonade topped with fresh peach nectar
  • Orange-currant scones with white icing
  • Geechee Girl crabcakes w/ herb sour cream sauce.  Jasmine rice and heirloom tomato salad
  • Grits souffle with oven roasted tomatoes.  Thick sliced bacon and herb scrambled eggs
  • Buttermilk pancakes with peaches and whipped cream

    World’s best fried chicken every Wednesday this summer.  Get there early ’cause when it’s gone, it’s gone!

 

Photos by DoN.