Oh, how I wish I could see this show! Susannah Coffey was a professor at my alma mater, and I came this close > || to taking a class with her. It was Figure in the Landscape at Oxbow summer art camp, and she was to co-teach it with Dan Gustin, another great professor, but he showed, and she didn’t.
I did attend at least one self-portrait show of hers during my years in Chicago, and it was amazing. You can see her self-portraits here: http://www.susannacoffey.com/?cat=3
“Steve Locke wrote (from the show’s page below) that, “Coffey is painting a new kind of space… She is painting the interference, the attitudes, the obfuscations between the understanding of the self.“”
If you’re in NY, I hope you get to see the show. If you’re not, some night, indulge in a little sumpin’ and stare at her paintings online.
The East Austin Studio Tour is one of my favorite events of the year. Some years, I open my studio to the public, and other years I don’t. In the years when I open my studio, it’s great to see visitors’ reactions to my own work, to meet new people, visit with friends who come by and sell a little work.
During the years when I take a break from opening my studio, like this year, it is fantastic to be able to get out and see so much good art in just two weekends, all on my side of town. I love it all, whether it’s visiting individual artists’ studios, group studios, or galleries. I particularly enjoy just seeing — in the paint, if you will — the great variety of excellent work, but it’s also wonderful to meet artists who are new to me, and chat with old friends.
1960 Isetta at The Art Post EAST 2014
Last weekend, my husband and I got an early start on day one at The Art Post, a great rambling Quonset hut type compound on East Cesar Chavez. The first thing we came across was a very tall guy climbing out of a very tiny red 1960 Isetta — a 4-wheeled car that opens on the front — with the steering wheel attached to that front door! Very cool.
We continued on to a string of small studios to our left, which contained wonderful oil portraits by Sara Vanderbeek, including one of Chuck Close that I absolutely love; some very fun drawings by Carolina Villareal (be sure to read some of the text or titles on her drawings); and ocean paintings covered with painted plexiglass for a different experience by Lucy MacQueen.
I go to the Art Post mainly to see what Court Lurie has been up to lately, and of course, she never disappoints. I always enjoy her paintings, and I loved seeing her new prints, which truly spoke to me. But dang me, I forgot to take pictures! So check out her site, the EAST site, or the Art Post website to see some of her work.
I’ve included a slideshow below of all the non-fuzzy pictures that I remembered to take while I was there. I didn’t manage to snap pics of all the artists’ work, nor did I even manage to get to see the work or the studios of all the artists (don’t ask me why; I certainly meant to), but of those I saw, here are a few at the Art Post that I highly recommend checking out (visit the Art Post website or the EAST site to see who I missed; you might not want to miss them!):
Tina Schweiger at The Art Post EAST 2014
Tina Schweiger — love her multi-part paintings!
Kristy Darnell Battani
Kristy Darnell Battani — large and small encaustics and some very cool large works made from the pages of books.
Kelsey Jenkinson
Kelsey Jenkinson — very beautifully rendered paintings of bees and other living creatures, and she’s a real sweetheart, too.
Scott Saunders
Scott Saunders — gorgeous, intricate, complex-yet-simple(!) sculptures made of thin wood and other materials, with a tech edge to them.
Foster Talge at The Art Post EAST 2014
Foster Talge — his constructed trees need to be experienced!!! I simply love this new one, a willow-like tree sculpture made with lots and lots of hanging chains.
Jason Webb
Jason Webb — exquisitely drawn acrylic paintings of collections of things and the detritus of modern city life. Plus, he had some great beer on offer last weekend.
Nimer Aleck II at The Art Post EAST 2014
Nimer Aleck II — OK, I’m into tools, so his hand-made hammers really fascinated me: huge hammers, tiny hammers, double-headed hammers, hammer-chuks, a collection of hammers with longer and longer handles.
Paul Clarence Oglesby Jr and Casey Warr at The Art Post EAST 2014
Paul Clarence Oglesby, Jr. — very cool, totemic white sculptures in the courtyards.
We also made it to Pump Project, Canopy, and Blue Genie on Saturday, all of which I recommend. On Sunday, we had only a couple hours, so we squeezed in Flatbed Press, which was awesome, Tiny Park Gallery, and the UP Collective. I hope to blog on these later. I forgot how long it takes to write these posts!
This weekend, we hope to make it a lot of individual studios of painters, and to some of the artists at the group studios that we missed.
And if you’d like to see all the photos I shot at EAST 2013 so far, here’s a link to a gallery of all the images: EAST-2013.
I tried to make to out to the West Austin Studio Tour this year, and unfortunately, this is as far as I got. One gallery, one show, and I had gone to this gallery for the specific purpose of buying a Catalog for WEST. So I figured, while we’re here, let’s see the show.
Here it is: photos with sparkles and stuff, styrofoam towers, lawn furniture and, my favorite, a hand-built geodesic dome complete with bejeweled wasp nests. I was most intrigued by the fact that the panels in the dome were irregularly shaped pentagons and hexagons. That must have been a bear to figure all the wonky angles and construct!
Anyway, I lament the fact that I missed all the painters, esp. the non-objective ones, but there weren’t too many of them anyway….
Today my friend Jill and I spent about 5 hours visiting all the painting studios (and more) at Pump Project, Pump Project Satellite, and the Bolm Road complex (which includes Big Medium, Pigoata Studios, and Bay6 Gallery and Studios). What an amazing amount of wonderful art, and as always, it’s so fun to see old friends and meet new ones.
Specifically, here are links to the studios we visited:
*Artist images: I tried to identify the artist whose work is in the photos, but not all paintings had artist info cards. Feel free to let me know if something needs to be corrected.
Paintings by Marilyn Fenn and ceramics by Michael Merritt
The 4th Annual GROW Forth! art exhibition and fund-raiser for Urban Patchwork was a great success and a lot of fun. A lot of art got sold; I had four pieces that found new homes. 🙂 Thanks to everyone who came out; to everyone who helped with the preparations, the event, the setup and breakdown; to the other artists, who made hanging the show and viewing the show so much fun; and thanks especially to Anne Woods for her masterful organizing of this amazing one-night event!
P.S. To Paige Hill and all the farmers of Urban Patchwork — thanks for the delicious organic veggies!
Fine print: no animals or vegetables were harmed and no production babies were born during the production of this event (that I know of); we did, however, have one doggie heart attack, one head wound, and one appendicitis! And one tiny painting slightly damaged.
I really enjoyed painting this new work of three artichokes in three stages of growth as seen in an urban food forest. It’s my first return to acrylics on canvas in 4 years, and — as seems to happen so often when I switch mediums — the change causes some unexpected and delightful creative things to occur. I’m quite pleased with the result. 🙂
This painting will be part of my work at the one-night-only 4th Annual GROW Forth! art show benefiting Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms here in Austin, happening this Saturday.
More info on the show is available on the Facebook Event page. I will be showing with five other Austin artists: metal sculptor Anne Woods, photographer and painter Ann Woodall, painter Pat Strong, ceramic artist Michael Merritt, and mixed media artist Stephanie Rubiano. Come join us!
Saturday night, July 21st
8pm until midnight
at 907 East 54th Street
Austin, TX, 78751
I will be one of six artists showing our work for the one night only 4th Annual GROW Forth! art show. Also showing will be metal sculptor Anne Woods, photographer and painter Ann Woodall, painter Pat Strong, ceramic artist Michael Merritt, and mixed media artist Stephanie Rubiano.
A portion of the proceeds from this show will benefit Urban Patchwork, an Austin-based non-profit urban farm. Dripping Springs Vodka has graciously offered to sponsor our show.
I will be the guest artist at Austin Art Space during the “For the Love of Art” exhibition, which will be on view for most of the month of February. 🙂 I will be showing ten of my latest abstract paintings—all new work that has been created since late last fall.
I invite you to come out for the opening. I will be there on Feb. 9th, 6-8pm, Austin Art Space. If you’d like to meet me there during gallery hours on another day, just let me know.
The 5×7 show at the Arthouse is open through June 12th, sooooo you still have a shot at picking up some wonderful small art.
Crowds checking out some of the art
I did not end up going to the ArtSplurge (the first night opening when the art is initially revealed and available for sale), but the Art Social on the second night was great! There was pizza and beer, good live music and lots of friends, and a gazillion wonderful 5×7 paintings and sculptures!
Some of the old building preserved
The renovations at the Arthouse are excellent, allowing for much more exhibition space. The beauty of the old building has been preserved while also injecting some gorgeous contemporary design elements. I really love the modern variation of glass block windows.
And see some of the gorgeous art on that’s still on view at the Arthouse here (my two paintings are among this group of pictures; can you find them?): Art Openings: 5×7 Show 2011 Opening.
The 5×7 annual fundraiser, art sale, and exhibition benefiting the Arthouse at the Jones Center opens tomorrow night with the Art Splurge, where you will have your first chance to purchase artwork from among 1,000s of original 5×7-inch works of art by emerging and established contemporary artists.
I will have two pieces in the show, part of a new series of small paintings. (I will unveil the series sometime after the ArtSplurge and ArtSocial have passed, as all works are supposed to remain anonymous until they are sold).
This is a really exciting event. Patrons can preview the art for about an hour and decide on the pieces they want to purchase; then at a certain hour, a horn is blown and it’s a fun scramble for the patrons to grab their chosen works of art.
Or come out to the 5×7 Art Social on Friday night to schmooze with the artists, where you will have your second chance to pick up a 5×7 work of art. There will be food, drinks, and music both nights. Hope to see you there!
Controversy at the Arthouse
The conversation Friday night (and possibly Thursday night, too) should be pretty lively, due to the controversy created earlier this year because of the decision by the Arthouse to dismiss their only curator, Elizabeth Dunbar—for financial reasons (after having spent $6.6 million on their year-long renovation and expansion). Some of the artwork in the 5×7 show is a direct response to this controversy, and you may even see some blank boards in protest of the decision to eliminate Dunbar’s position.
If you’d like to read up on all the details of the controversy, there are several excellent articles online:
Wendy Vogel, the editor of “might be good,” weighs in on Austin’s art implosion
A fascinating conversation between the duo Rachel Cook (in curatorial studies at Bard) and Claire Ruud (in business school at Yale) about the Arthouse situation and the environment in which artists and curators operate today: Arthouse: The Dilemma of Authenticity and Visibility
2011 5×7 Art Splurge