Category Archives: Paintings Philadelphia

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

Claire Alta Elliott – New Works @ The Beauty Shop Cafe

Claire Alta Elliot

Claire Alta Elliott‘s one person show at the Beauty Shop Cafe is like a trip to the woods with drippy, trippy oils painted thick and loose into verdant landscapes which pop beautifully off the new citrus colored walls of the popular coffee shop.  The big windows really sell the art as you stroll by or drive down Fitzwater Street; The Beauty Shop just celebrated their 2nd anniversary, offering a great opportunity for many local artists to have an art show of their own.

Claire Alta Elliot

Claire Alta Elliott is a blogger, too – the painter likes spreading her imagery over the Internet, tracking her progress in a disciplined yet cheery manner.  Recently, DoN was discussing how American it is to be a multimedia artist with Dexiang Qian, former director of The Fine Arts Academy of Guangzhou – he was surprised at how many artists work in a wide spectrum of media from drawing and painting to photography and web design.  Qian explained, via his translator, that in China and many other countries that art is a discipline dedicated to a particular media like painting.  Claire Alta Elliott epitomizes the fresh, new, young generation of American artist, armed with a plan, a path, the savvy, attitude and talent to be recognized as a fine artist and taste-maker.  Surprisingly, this is Elliott’s first show considering the sophistication and depth of the art; thanks to The Beauty Shop Cafe for continuing to promote exciting new talent.

Legacy of Leonardo @ Da Vinci Art Alliance

Legacy of Leonardo

Dexiang Qian, Gold Medal award winner.

The Legacy of Leonardo

Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Annual Members Exhibition 2009 is a multi-media exhibition open to all current Da Vinci members, featuring works inspired by the life, art, and science of Leonardo da Vinci.

July 8-29, 2009
Gallery Hours:  Wed 6-8 pm, Sat-Sun noon-5 pm
The awards for the Legacy of Leonardo were as follows:

Da Vinci Gold Medal for Best in Show:  Dexiang Qian, Dinner, Bread, and Tea

Silver Medal, 2nd Prize:  Gerard di Falco, Camera Non-Obscura:  Clarity

Copper Medal, 3rd Prize:  Burnell Yow!, Mona Squared

Honorable Mention:  DoN Brewer, Self-Portrait

Honorable Mention:  Carol Wisker, Urban Machine I

Legacy of Leonardo

Mina Smith-Segal with her watercolor painting, In Gratitude to Leonardo Da Vinci @ The Da Vinci Art Alliance.

Legacy of Leonardo

Rachel Citrino‘s digital prints, Vanishing Point, for The Legacy of Leonardo exhibit.

Legacy of Leonardo

DoN Brewer with his Self Portrait in charcoal and chalk on paper.  Photo by Morris Klein.

Legacy of Leonardo

Michael DiPrinzio, Untitled, mixed media.

Legacy of Leonardo

David Foss, Model for Flight, mixed media and wax and Mickie Rosen, Seeds of Flight, photage.

Legacy of Leonardo

Mona, Mona, Mona – clockwise, Mickie Rosen, My Mona Lisa, photage, Karen McDonnell & Tony Cortosi stencil & spray paint, Ona Kalstein, Mona by Ona, ink, pencil on vellum, Jed Williams, L.D.V. by J.W., acrylic & collage on paper.

The board of directors of the Da Vinci Art Alliance continues to promote exciting opportunities for alliance artists to create original works based on a theme such as Envisioning Othello, Envisioning Romeo and Juliet, Art in Bartram’s Garden, Photo Synthesis and more – upcoming programs include Heroines and Harlots: Women in History, an open juried awards exhibition at Da Vinci Art Alliance of art depicting the female personage in history, literature, and religion 9-27 September 2009, Opening Awards Reception: Saturday, September 12, 6-9 pm and “Little Show of Horrors: Carnivorous Plants and the Inspiration of Darwin” a multi-media exhibition open to all current Da Vinci members featuring artworks inspired by carnivorous plants and their explication by Charles Darwin, 14-23 August 2009.

The Plastic Club – Workshop Show

Plastic Club Workshop Show

Kim Martin @ The Plastic Club.  Kim leads an early morning workshop on Tuesdays at the club featuring extended poses.  The result is magnificent works like this portrait of Bob Jackson; Martin’s exuberant use of color and expressive gesture is fun to be around.

Plastic Club Workshop Show

Glenn Benge, Reclining Figure, chalk @ The Plastic Club.

Plastic Club Workshop Show

 Workshop show @ The Plastic Club.  The venue is one of the few accepting all work which is then juried.

Plastic Club Workshop Show

Correction – the show is down.  Next – Models as Artists.

Joroko & Yow! – Intuitive Bricolage @ Smile Gallery

Burnell Yow! Dolls of the Apocalypse

 

Burnell Yow! Dolls of the Apocalypse

Burnell Yow!, “Dolls of the Apocalypse“, Smile Gallery.

Burnell Yow! Dolls of the Apocalypse

Burnell Yow!, “Mummy Barbie“.

Exquisite Corpse

B. Yow!, L. Parkes, D. Walters, “Exquisite Corpse #33“, giclee print, 20″ x 16”

Joroko

Joroko,”March On“, mixed media.

Joroko

Joroko, “Subtext“, mixed media.

Bricolage, pronounced /ˌbriːkoʊˈlɑːʒ/, /ˌbrɪkoʊˈlɑːʒ/ is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts and literature, to refer to the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things which happen to be available, or a work created by such a process. The term is borrowed from the French word bricolage, from the verb bricoler – the core meaning in French being, “fiddle, tinker” and, by extension, “make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are to hand (regardless of their original purpose).”

A person who engages in bricolage is a bricoleur.

Thank you Wikipedia!

Burnell’s dolls are totemic, shamanistic, zen-like, beatific, clever, ironic, dystopian creations repurposing objet trouve and doll parts.  The digital “exquisite corpse” prints are a great stealable idea – so po-mo.

Joroko‘s goth skeletons populating bombed out surfaces, dancing and cavorting with stars, stripes, crosses and words perfectly counterpoints the odd dolls – somehow the energy of the room becomes a bad boy’s fantasy world of stealing your sister’s dolls and ripping the heads off and drawing war scenes with explosions, craters and bodies.  Dr. Deb Miller curated the show – deep.

The Cafe Artists @ Galleria Deptford

As fate would have it, the curator of Galleria Deptford saw DoN‘s work @ Alden Cole‘s gallery – light being (Larry Angel) – and loved it.  Pauline Jonas invited DoN to the Deptford Municipal Building to discuss showing art in their space; public spaces such as the lobby and wide halls with long walls are equipped with a professional hanging system and lighting which easily displaying various sized work.  The current exhibit is by The Cafe Artists. the fate part is Deptford is DoN‘s home town, graduating from Deptford High School with a Most Artistic award in 1971.

Tony Parisi

Tony Parisi @ Galleria Deptford.

Currently the gallery is showing a group show by the Cafe ArtistsGrace Arden, Simone Avitello, Carol Goneau, Brielle Herquet, Kimberly Huth, Jeanne Jablonski, Karen S. Moore, Jan Narducci, Tony Parisi, Diane Paul, Kathryn Roberson, Jack Tanier, Bonnie Williams and Penny Wise.

The Cafe Artists

Diane Paul & Brielle Herquet of The Cafe Artists @ Galleria Deptford.

Art in public spaces not only reinforces the state of cultural development in a community it serves as metaphor for what the community is seeing, being and living.  Artists groups such as the Cafe Artists, who meet monthly at the Deptford Barnes & Noble, invigorate the comunity through visual art.

Jack Tanier

Jack Tanier, Four Seasons, Fall, oil.

The Cafe Artists honored one of their own recently departed member, Jack Tanier, with a show of his works; impressionistic landscapes strewn with the rubble of human encroachment on the environment or the earth reclaining it’s own.  The art in the lobby is show on easles which can be moved to accomodate Court House crowds, then moved back into place; it’s so beautiful that an artist get’s to be remembered and cherished for lifetime achievement and dedication to art.

Jack Tanier

Jack Tanier paintings outside the courtroom of the Deptford Municipal Building.

The Galleria Deptford, 1011 Cooper Street, Deptford, NJ – DoN‘s show is in December!