Category Archives: Prints

Art prints by Philadeelphia area artists

B&W@TPC

Jessica Barber & Alison Altergott – Making An Impression @ Twenty-Two Gallery

Jessica Barber, Bonifacio, monotype/oil pastels @ Gallery Twenty-Two’s Making An Impression show featuring prints by Jessica Barber & Alison Altergott. Prints is a bit of a misnomer in this show, both artists use printing as part of their process but expand the barriers into writing, drawing, collage and painting. DoN LoVeS this print which looks very much like a Star Trek Ferengi.

DoN asked Jessica if she created this piece in Madrid because it feels so immediate and plein air, as if she set up her plates & inks right there in the cafe. Actually the artist worked from a photo she took while on a trip to Alice’s annual painting retreat in Majorca with friends from the Plastic Club. Jessica said club president, Bob Jackson allowed her to work late at night in the wonderful print shop “down stairs”, allowing her to create these rich, saturated images which she had framed at Liberty Art & Framing with non-glare glass. Immediacy, tension and vitality exude from the paper with a fresh, active style only the rigorous lithograph process produces.

Jessica Barber explained to DoN she uses a new non-toxic form lithographic process using plastic sheets which the artist applies different resists for the ink, Jessica used non-conventional mark-making tools to develop her images including Sharpies, she said, “ink loves the donor”.

Jessica Barber @ the opening of her collaborative show @ Gallery Twenty-Two. Second Friday for people in cars was frustratingly frantic, west Center City traffic was snarled because of the snow and the South Street bridge being out but DoN walked, easily strolling past cars with “Bad Romance” blasting in his iPod; Jessica was stuck on a bus trying to get to her own opening, arriving safely – fashionably late!

Alison Altergott @ Twenty-Two Gallery. DoN asked about the girls in Alison’s prints, old dress patterns from the 50s & 20s because of the resonance of the strong feminine ideal of the home-maker. DoN thought a feminist home-maker is a contradiction in terms but Alison defended the mystique as a commentary on what we’ve lost compared to the way families live now. Alison Altergott combines handwriting, collage, paint and printing to develop these densely signified images about the ideals of growing up.

Alison Altergott, Heartstrings, 1 of 2 prints @ Gallery Twenty-Two.

Photos by DoNBrewerMultimedia Photography.

Red White & Green @ The Plastic Club

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Eileen Eckstein, Balloons, photograph, DoN Brewer, light being (Mama Cass), photograph, Laura Pritchard, Portrait, mixed media, Dorothy Roschen, Red, White and Green, relief tiles and Alan Klawans, Milan, archival pigment print @ The Plastic Club’s Red, White and Green exhibit.

Michael Guinn, 12th Street Still Life, oil.

3rd Honorable Mention Lois Schlachter, My Brother’s Keeper, acrylic, Alden Cole, Good Vibrations, mixed media and Honorable Mention Morris Klein, Love Park, photograph. Juror Rich Harrington has a great eye and excellent taste considering that the theme was ambiguous in that the three title colors had to be used but not exclusively; Harrington chose works who fully met the criteria such as Dorothy Roschen‘s wall sculpture in blatant red, white and green squares for 2nd prize and Peter Petraglia‘s trippy undersea fantasy in a subtle palette for First Prize to Lois Schlachter‘s wildly imaginative abstraction with what seems like millions of colors.

Tracy Landman, Reflections on Stewart, oil, Patricia Wilson-Schmid, Catching the Light, and Lucy Roehm, Radish Trio, color pencil @ The Plastic Club’s Red White & Green exhibit.

The theme is Red, White & Green which one would think should conjure Holiday Cheer but @ The Plastic Club the art is edgy, sarcastic, goth, even scary like Hunter Thompson meets Charles Addams meets Salvador Dali. Some of the work is literal and literate like Roehm’s Radish Trio and some is out and out transcendental like Jake Smith‘s Merry Fish Mess. Above: Anders Hansen, Shiva, ink, graphite & charcoal, First Prize Peter Petraglia, Tubulars, pen & ink, Marie Davis Samohod, Funerary Portrait, mixed media and Karen Frank, Totem and Taboo, Acrylic.

DoN is honored to be exhibited along with such wonderful artists as those in the Plastic Club, their shows are always challenging, pushing the envelop, breaking rules yet there’s no stress, the only expectation is making art. And when the art is all hanging together it feels really good to be an artist rubbing shoulders with some of the best in town. A cool thing about writing this blog is that when DoN took the photos he didn’t know that he was shooting the work of some of his best friends, the Plastic Club uses a number system for labeling, it’s kind of like doing your own blind jury-ing and then finding out you picked only your friends such as Lois, Pat, Mike, Alan, Alden, Eileen, Dorothy, Morris, Anders…

Jake Smith, Merry Fish Mess, acrylic and Theodore J. Amick, Untitled, oil.

Merry Fish Mess, everybody!

Da Vinci Art Alliance – Under $200.00

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Judy Engle @ Da Vinci Art Alliance. If Eileen Tognini says packing tape art is in – then DoN says listen to her! If you can’t afford a Mark Khaisman before his packing tape drawings increase in value, then buy Engles layered clear tape collage @ Da Vinci Art Alliance for under $200.00 – in real life this small piece is 3D and deep, with layers and layers of tiny bits of color. Another great steal-able idea.

Judy Engles, photograph.

DoN LoVeS how DVAA displays art – Judy Engle’s photo paired with DoN’s digital print is so elegant and thoughtful, the pieces really work together. DoN was inspired to print “Autum Oak“, a digital photograph from a few years ago after seeing Amie Potsic‘s tree photos @ Area 919 – the most expensive of DoN‘s Under $200.00 entries is $129.00.

Lilliana Didovic, Alden Cole & Karl Johnson @ Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Under $200 show. The DVAA always has such terrific, fun events, even though it was a snowy night, plenty of artists showed up to party – the board is to be commended on their careful attention to detail and making everyone comfortable and welcome.

Francine Strauss @ Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Under $200.00

Gerard Di Falco, etching @ Da Vinci Art Alliance.

Leon Rainbow @ DVAA – he not only produces these funky paintings, Rainbow provides web design services to the esteemed organization. DoN is grateful for the publicity the links provide, the slide-show of member’s art on the website is cool.

Karen McDonnell & Tony Cortosi collaborate on these stencil & spray-paint images replete with peeling paint, drippy spray, coarse edges and mashed up cultural icons – the Carmen has such a skate punk sneer mixed with Hollywood glamor – Grrrl!.

Karen McDonnell, Tony Cortosi & Ray Costello @ Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Under $200.00 opening party.

Photographer, Bill Myers @ Da Vinci Art Alliance. Bill is also an active member of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia; Myers creates photo montage with clashing images mushed into contextual morphs – incredible.There are some really great art bargains for sale at the Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Under $200.00 show. You can own a David Foss for $100, an Art Ostroff for a Benjamin or so…the Lee Muslin prints are gorgeous, an incredible Dexiang Qian for exactly $200.00!?! The art show itself is amazing – all the participating members really put in memorable, desirable pieces and James Warhola signed his book Uncle Andy’s Cats; he took a moment with each autograph to draw a kitty in the front pages and engaged everyone in a personal way – Warhola signed books for 3 hours! He was still signing books when DoN left.