Susannah Coffey at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects


Susanna Coffey – Elemental

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. 

http://www.shfap.com/

“For the Love of Art” Exhibition at Austin Art Space

Love Of Art evite

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.

 

 

AVAA Member Show Continues

33rd AVAA Member Show

Partially showing, center, behind the guy’s head — my painting:
“Yellowstone”
Oil on canvas
16″ x 12″
© 2009 Marilyn Fenn

The opening for the 33rd Annual AVAA Members Show had an great turnout tonight! It was crowded by the time we arrived, shortly after 7pm, and just kept getting more crowded while we were there. Hard to see the art, though, with so many people there. 🙂

The show continues through August 7th at Studio2 Gallery, 1700 S. Lamar, Suite 318, in the South Lamar Business Park. Hope you can get by before it closes. There’s lots of wonderful work there.

Looking Back at 2008

Looking Back at 2008

This is that time of year when I think it’s natural for us to look back and see what we accomplished (so we’ll know what to focus on next year, and what to pat ourselves on the back for). This has been a really good year for me, artwise, and I think–even with this sucky economy–it’s only going to get better. Call it faith, call it hope, call it what you will. It’s a great feeling that has eluded me for far too long, so I hope to hang on to this feeling.

PAINTINGS

This year I painted about 50 paintings — which for me is a lot, as I also freelance as a designer/illustrator, and my clients have kept me very busy for the past few years!

SUCCESSION SERIES – 20 PAINTINGS

I began the year with the small 12″x12″ succession paintings, in oil (back to my old favorite), in which each new painting evolves from the edge of the previous painting. These 20 paintings constitute one large–60″x48″–piece, which you can see here. You can read about the 7-month process beginning here (all links in this post open in the same new window or tab).

MORE ABSTRACT OIL PAINTINGS – 5 PAINTINGS

A few pieces I painted for the succession series didn’t make the cut, but may go into another multi-panel series. I also did another 24″x24″ oil painting, which was a bit of an experiment, though I’m thinking of working on it some more — there are a few areas I feel I’ve never resolved to my satisfaction. Also began about 3-4 other related works.

ACRYLIC PAINTINGS FOR 5×7 SHOW – 2 PAINTINGS

In May, I did a couple of 5″x7″ acrylic paintings to donate to the 5×7 Show at the Arthouse, seen above. 

ENCAUSTIC ABSTRACTS – 10 PAINTINGS

Just before I finished the Succession series in July, I whipped out the ten blue encaustic paintings, some of which are here.

ACRYLIC ABSTRACTS – 11 PAINTINGS

At this point, I still wanted to paint fast, as one does with encaustic, but with more control, as with oil paint. So I started working on a 36″x36″ canvas in acrylic. Yowza! It felt great! I was very energized by the speedy process, and pretty happy with the result. So I did eight more over the next few weeks, and two more within the next couple of months. Woo-hoo! And there are actually several more that I’ve started but haven’t completed yet.

PAINTINGS ON THE TRAIN (IN VAIN) – 5 PAINTINGS

Well, I tried to do five little (6″x6″ and 5″x7″) paintings on the train to LA, which I am reworking now that I’m back on steady land. Here is the first one completed.

 

2008 Exhibits

EXHIBITIONS

    • I began this year working with four other Austin artists to prepare for a group show we had planned for October in Fort Worth. If you’ve done a show, you know how this goes. We met monthly, we had to figure the dimensions of the gallery space, how many paintings of what size would fit and look good in the space, how our diverse works could be made to look good together, and come up with not just our paintings for the show, but also postcards, press releases, statements, resumes, price lists, guestbook, images, etc. It is a great idea to start a year ahead of time when you’re planning a large show like this. We did well in our planning and execution; the show looked great, and the only downside was that the date of our opening coincided with the largest to date drop in the stock market. So here’s my list of exhibitions for the year:

    • 5×7 2008 AT THE ARTHOUSE

The 5×7 show at the Arthouse had a happening opening in May (view pics here).

    • TEXAS KAOS/NETROOTS NATION AFTER PARTY AND ART EXHIBIT

I was invited to participate in the Texas Kaos/Netroots Nation After Party and Art Exhibit at Bay6 Gallery and Studios–political art for a political conference. My pieces went over very well with the Netroots Nation crowd. You can view pics of the opening here.

    • TEXAS WAX EXHIBIT AT JERRY’S ARTARAMA

In August, I showed many of my ten new encaustics works in a show of Texas Wax Artists at Jerry’s Artarama.

    • REAL AND IMAGINED GROUP SHOW AT FWCAC

For the month of October, the Real and Imagined show mentioned above was on display at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in Ft. Worth. Pics here.

    • AVAA 2D WORKS AT ABIA

Also in October, one of my new acrylic paintings was selected to be in the AVAA 2D Works Exhibit at ABIA (Austin-Bergstrom International Airport). It will continue to be on display until the end of January 2009.

    • FUSED EXPRESSIONS AT BAY6 GALLERY AND STUDIOS

View the pics of the November opening of works by Texas Wax artists here.

    • 7th ANNUAL EAST AUSTIN STUDIO TOUR

My last show of the year, the East Austin Studio Tour, during which I open my home and studio for art lovers to view my art…me and 200 other artists on the East side of town, that is. You can see pics of my open house here.

ART SHOWS ATTENDED

Looks like a lot; feels like too little.

  • Austin Art Start and Metrohouse: Artist Talk by Andrew Long, Steven Dubov, Roi James
  • “20 To Watch” at Austin Museum of Art
  • “Double Identity: Works by Andrew Long and Michael Long” at the Dougherty Arts Center
  • “Fresh Hell” by Susannah Blanton at Bay6 Gallery and Studios
  • “Big Head” Liz Penniman and Sharon Kyle Kuhn at Bay6 Gallery and Studios
  • “Phoenix: Rising from the Ashes” at Studio2 Gallery
  • “Marcel Duchamp Redux” at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
  • “On the Enlightened Path: Jain Art from India” at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
  • “Ruth Weisberg: Guido Cagnacci and the Resonant Image” at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
  • “Under the Influence: Art-Inspired Art” at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
  • “The Art of War: American Posters from World War I and World War II” at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
  • “Cut: Makings of Removal” at the Vincent Price Museum, East Los Angeles College
  • “Oranges and Sardines” at the Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
  • “Gouge: The Modern Woodcut 1870 to Now” at the Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
  • Aaron Curry at the Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

OTHER

  • Sold more original paintings than during any previous year(!)
  • Helped organize group show “Real and Imagined”
  • Designed and printed postcard for “Real and Imagined”
  • Designed and printed several new business cards
  • Joined Texas Wax Austin group of very cool encaustic artists
  • Organized my art “brag book”
  • Rewrote my artist statement and bio…twice
  • Updated my website on a regular basis; redesigned it a little. Streamlined it a bit.
  • Added a News Archive to my website.
  • Created an Etsy shop for some of my paintings (now closed).
  • Compiled my two art blogs into one, and renamed them (this one).
  • Added a billion networking gizmos to my blog; still evaluating which ones to keep.
  • Joined Facebook and Twitter.

“Real and Imagined” Opening at Fort Worth Community Art Center

Five Austin Painters Show in Fort Worth

Five Austin Painters Show in Fort Worth

Jill Alo, Kathleen Claps, Linda Anderson, Bill Wahlgren and I had a big show at the Fort Worth Community Art Center on October 3rd (the day the Dow fell 777 points!).  A lot of people came for the opening, though perhaps not as many as we had expected.  But the place was pretty active all evening, and we had many great conversations with quite a few art lovers.   View a few pictures below that I was able to snap during the few slow times.

Real and Imagined at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 19, 2008

Contact: Marilyn Fenn

Real and Imagined Art Show in Fort Worth

AUSTIN ROAD SHOW

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

Five Austin artists take their show on the road, proposing five distinctive views of the weirdness of both life and the imagination. “Real and Imagined” will appear at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center from October 3rd, through October 29th, with an evening reception on Friday, October 3rd, 6:00 – 9:00 pm.

Continue reading “Real and Imagined at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center”

Netroots Nation Art Exhibit Saturday, July 19th

texas_kaosBlogging from the Right Side of the Brain Art Exhibit

Texas Kaos Presents Netroots Nation After Party and Art Exhibit

Hosted by Bay6 Gallery and Studios

Reception:
Saturday July 19th
7:00PM to 10:00PM
5305 Bolm Rd Bay6 Austin TX.

As the Netroots Nation conference winds to a close Saturday evening, we invite you to join us and Bloggers from across the nation at Bay6 Studios to ‘Kick Back and Kick it Up before We Kick ‘Em Out!’

Sponsored and hosted by Texas Kaos and Bay6 Gallery and located five minutes from the Austin Convention Center in East Austin, the event will feature music, food, drink and present a group art exhibition “Blogging from the Right Side of the Brain” featuring work by Texas artists Marilyn Fenn, Daphne Holland, Jack Howe, Darvin Jones, Mindy Kober, Sharon Kyle-Kuhn and Brooke Wilton.

For more information and direction see www.texaskaos.com, www.bay6studios.com

5×7 Art Splurge at the Arthouse 2008

5×7 Art Splurge at the Arthouse 2008

Artists’ Preview

Every year, the Arthouse at the Jones Center holds a 5×7 Show, in which hundreds of 5″x7″ paintings donated by local artists are for sale for $100.00 each. The paintings are displayed anonymously – the artist’s name is revealed only after the work is purchased.

View some of the pictures I took at the opening in the thumbnail gallery below – some are shots of some of my favorite paintings from other artists (should any of these be your paintings, I’d love to hear from you and give proper attribution, and should you want a copy of my pic of your art, I’ll be happy to send you one):

Arthouse 5×7 Show

5x7 2008 - My Paintings

This week’s paintings are two 5×7’s that were donated to the Arthouse at the Jones Center.

The Art Splurge and Exhibition begins on May 17th, with an opening from 7:30 – 10pm.