DoNArTNeWs

Spring Bud, photograph, Jeff Stroud, Galleria Deptford, Deptford Municipal Building, 1011 Cooper St., Deptford, NJ, December 2011.

“I just started to notice how intricate the buds are on the trees as I was passing them by while I was walking, I didn’t realize.  So, I was walking with the camera and as an artist, I thought these are worth taking pictures of, it’s very detailed, there’s a lot of detail that we don’t see on a normal basis.”  Jeff Stroud’s photograph, bathed in natural light from a convenient skylight is at once impressionist and representational, a sense of the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring. “This is actually shot at my home in Magnolia, there’s woods that surround the house and the energy of it, Nature’s always changing.  I was using an 18 to 55mm lens and I just get very close to the shot.”

Jeff Stroud’s photography is part of a group show in the halls of the Deptford Municipal Building in South Jersey, he is represented by eleven photographs.  Jeff brought an extra photograph with him to get help from curator Pauline Jonas in editing and she decided to include them all. The annual photography show brings together work from a diverse group of regional artists that Jonas intuitively pulls together from her wide network of resources. “I met Pauline through the Salem County Arts League, I showed with them a couple years ago, which is all kinds of artists and I met Pauline through them.  People that I know from the Salem County Arts League had show’s here (at Galleria Deptford) and I came to see them.”, said Jeff.  “And then Pauline invited me to be in this show.”

Born With, Jeff Stroud, photograph.  Jeff is a member of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia and will be a featured artist at the group show in Cafe Twelve in early 2012.

Jeff Stroud, Photographer @ Galleria Deptford

December 5 - February 1, 2012 – Reception December 11
Photography by:
Nancy Fogel and Diane Abell of www.dustydogdigital.com, Rona Golfen, Derek Jecxz, Kelly Lynd, Jeff Stroud, Arlene Wilson and her husband, Tony Wilson.  And Design Concepts by David Smith.

Read more about Galleria Deptford at Philly Side Arts.

Read more about Jeff Stroud at Side Arts.

Photographs by DoN Brewer shot exclusively with

Erin Rose-Boyle, This is Not My Home - 3 Rooms 3 Views @ Hopkins House Gallery of Contemporary Art.  The gallery in the park on the beautiful Cooper River provides opportunities for artists to create site specific work like Erin Rose-Boyle’s installation of 3 sculptures occupying their own room.  Rose-Boyle mashes metaphors and memes into evocative constructions of simple materials like paper, foam and tape that speak of home, isolation and self awareness.  DoN asked Erin about the all the feet in her installation? “They’re mine, I made a mold…they ground me.”

Photographs & video by DoNBrewerMultimedia

DoN has been bustling around the studio getting ready for POST, Philadelphia Open Studio Tours 2011.  While painting walls, rearranging furniture and making new works, DoN has been absorbed in implementing suggestions made by Todd Hestand @ The Corzo Center for the Creative Economy.  DoN is improving his social networking by having DoNArTNeWs art blog synergize with the various communications options available like FaceBook (DoNArTNeWs - DoN Brewer Art Review), YouTube (DoNArTNeWs - DoNBrewerMultimedia) and Twitter (@DoNNieBeat58).  By simply consolidating the information on DoN’s homepage, DoNBrewerMultimedia, visitors now see all the options to connect with DoNArTNeWs and DoN’s art work. writing, information, promotions and videos in one place.

The DoNArTNeWs FaceBook fan page has been a particular challenge with interesting rewards.  When DoN posts a blog on DoNArTNeWs or Philly.SideArts, part of the process is “advertising” the story on Facebook, promoting the story on as many relevant art “fan pages” and “group pages” as possible.  The DoNArTNeWs fan page automatically posts a tweet on Twitter and already DoN is trending with new followers.  DoN has a major photography show at the Hopkins House Gallery of Contemporary Art, the FaceBook events feature is an easy way to contact all your “friends” and estimate how many people will actually show up at the event.  Here’s the rub, you may have to contact each page and person individually to “like” your page, or reciprocate your link, or comment on a post.  DoN asked Todd Hestand how much time he spends per day promoting Philly.SideArts on social networks, “About two hours.”

Video will be a big part of future DoNArTNeWs reports making YouTube integral to the whole.  With HD quality video built into most digital cameras and smart phones, it makes sense to take a little time to make a movie, especially now that iMovie is so easy.  DoN has a cache of unseen footage that has been languishing since last Summer when he had to disassemble his video suite due to unforeseen forces.  But with POST forcing a studio clean-up, soon some major stories will include video clips as well as photographs and reviews.

August turned out to be a busy, creative time for DoN, making new work, participating in art shows, published in two art books, Da Vinci Art Alliance Then and Now: 1931 - 2011 (available on Amazon.com) and 175 Years of Reflection, Laurel Hill Cemetery 1836 - 2011 (available in the Laurel Hill Cemetery gift shop, really, there’s a gift shop), well received articles at the Philly.SideArts blog and a record number of page views on DoNArTNeWs.  It is such an honor to be included in two books documenting art history in Philly and to be recognized as “the press” by so many galleries and artists.  Thank you so much to all the fans of DoNArTNeWs, the support and feedback inspires DoN to keep it up.  Look for new and improved DoNArTNeWs and Philly.SideArts stories and if you’re on FaceBook please “like” the fan pages of the organizations you support, these pages are good resources for what’s happening on the art scene in Philly and opportunities for you to participate in our burgeoning creative economy.

Through April 26, 2011 at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, in collaboration with the Da Vinci Art Alliance, presents “Envisioning Shakespeare“ an exhibition of art by 24 members artists relating to the works of William Shakespeare in the lobby of Wilson Hall which houses Rowan’s Pfleeger Theatre.

Artists in the exhibition include:  Bobbie Adams, Betsy Alexander, Rosalind Bloom, Bud Boehringer, DoN Brewer, Alden Cole, Lilliana Didovic, David Foss, Linda Dubin Garfield, Sharri Jerue, Carl Johnson, Ona Kalstein, Marie Keane, Rikard Larma, Carla Lombardi, Karen McDonnell and Anthony Cortosi, Deb Miller and Ray Costello, Liz Nicklus, Patricia O’Halloran, Francine Strauss, Ted Warchal, Carol Wisker, Burnell Yow! 

Click the thumbnails for panoramic views of Envisioning Shakespeare - a Da Vinci Art Alliance Event @ Rowan University, Glassboro NJ.

Envisioning Shakespeare @ Rowan University.  Da Vinci Art Alliance is an 80 year old art gallery cooperative located in South Philly; the expansive show of art gleaned from Shakespeare themed art shows from the past examines images, themes and ideas from Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet and Henry IV, Part 1 by artists working in all types of media.

Lilliana Didovic - Envisioning Shakespeare - a Da Vinci Art Alliance event @ Rowan University.

Carl Johnson@ Envisioning Shakespeare - a Da Vinci Art Alliance event.

DoN Brewer and Mina Smith-Segal - Envisioning Shakespeare - Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Rowan University.

Envisioning Shakespeare - a Da Vinci Art Alliance event @ Rowan University.  Thank you to the great work by the Da Vinci Art Alliance team for installing the exhibition; director Dave Foss, board members Alden Cole and Ted Warchal transported and hung the show in a coherent, flowing retrospective in the handsome lobby of the Pfleeger Theater with each artwork resonating and reinforcing the messages from the works in proximity.  But, Dr. Deb Miller, Da Vinci Art Alliance Board President is the master-mind behind the series which has brought this collection of Philadelphia artists together in a bright, welcoming setting where the art can be seen by theater-goers and students at Rowan University.  The on-going series of theme shows allows artists to interpret Shakespeare in their own styles and media, most recently interpreting A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Black Box Gallery at the Lantern Theater Company.

Lilliana Didovic has participated in each of the Da Vinci Art Alliance Envisioning Shakespeare exhibitions and won First Prize this time for her painting in the Envisioning A Midsummer Night’s Dream (the dreamy blue night scene above).  Lilliana is dedicated to Da Vinci Art Alliance, volunteering her time and creating art even as she worked at achieving her Masters Degree in Psychology from the University of Chicago this Spring.

Nadia Kuntz was thrilled to be exhibiting for the first time with Da Vinci Art Alliance for the Envisioning A Midsummer Night’s Dream art show; Nadia’s construction is a whimsical interpretation of the famous play created with found objects.

Envisioning “A Midsummer Night’s Dream“ @ The Lantern Theater’s Black Box Gallery.  DoN know’s that’s Ted Warchal’s Puck in the middle but he needs help identifying the others, if you know who’s who in any of these photos please comment so credit can be given to the artists.

Envisioning Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Black Box Gallery at Lantern Theater.  See the Da Vinci Art Alliance Facebook page for more photos. Thank you to the Lantern Theater for giving DoN exclusive access to the gallery, normally only theater-goers get to see the art show, the underground gallery has a bohemian vibe synchronizing with the eclectic artist collective’s esthetic, Da Vinci Art Alliance has been invited back for next year’s Shakespeare production.

Photos by DoN.

shot exclusively with Kodak Digital Cameras

The snowy January afternoon of the reception for Photography 30 @ The Perkins Center for the Arts did not deter an avid crowd of photographers and collectors from crowding into the grand rooms and halls hung with a collection of photography gleaned from over 600 entries.  Eighty-three photographs were selected by juror Rick Wright composing a visual symphony of tone, content and clarity with swaths of crisp black and white prints then deliberate interstitial insertion of color. The photo in the center above is by Sarah Bloom literally drawing a crowd, the dramatic self portrait the punctum to Wright’s studium.  The halls are curated by Perkins Center’s Executive Director Alan Willoughby and Associate Curator Philip J. Carroll arrayed the galleries with a masterful curatorial eye for connecting symbolism, narrative and style with elegance befitting the architecture.

Richard Zanoni of Edgewater Park, NJ, The Off Season, digital photo and Brenda Kele of Montclair NJ, Untitled, pigment print @ Photography 30.

Tommy Graef, Who’s Afraid @ Photography 30, Perkins Center for the Arts annual photography competition and exhibition.

Click the thumbnail - DoN’s photo (far right)totally reads from across the grand staircase, yet surprisingly detailed and vivid in the lustrous light flooding through the high window.  Watching visitors examine the photo while sitting on the wide window sill will is a nexus point in DoN’s history as a photographer, a beautiful sweet moment of pride and redemption - like Niki Minaj sings,”...haters you can kill yo’self!“

Ron Brignae of Wilmington, DE, received a Jurors Award for his photo of frozen water and Neil Persh of Monroe Township, NJ, Model 7, inkjet print on exhibition fiber paper, of a dust encrusted typewriter is Dada for real.  Technical virtuosity combined with stream of consciousness story-telling is the hallmark of Photography 30 with a broad range of thought provoking images, techniques and presentation worth contemplating, emulating and imitating.

Alice Grabanier of  Branchberg, NJ, Voyeurism, pigment ink-jet print.

Mark D. Thellmann of Merchantville, NJ,  Ontario Gas Station, archival inkjet print of HDR photo.  Mark told DoN to Google HDR, high-dynamic-range imaging, a process which created an ethereal image impossibly rich with detail, earning him a well deserved award.

Fellow Da Vinci Art Alliance member artist, Ligia Richter of Wynnewood, PA, Izzy by the Window, black and white silver gelatin print.

DoN is grateful for the support of family and friends who braved the snow to celebrate the art show and the artists, it feels so good when an artistic risk like entering a show with slim odds pays off big time.

LoVe

DoN

light beings (Sid & Nancy), digital photograph, 2009, DoN Brewer @ The Perkins Center for the Arts in Moorestown, NJ.  The Photography 30 show is the cover story of the Weekend magazine section of the Philadelphia Inquirer!

DoN uploaded a new group of photographs from his “light being” series to DoNBrewerPhotography.com, click on the slide-show button in the top bar.

Today is a good day!

DoN

Michelle Post @ Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ.

Michelle Post has curated an outstanding exhibition of art lamps with an astonishing array of Philadelphia region artists who each use electric light to enhance their creations and bring them life.  The gallery was dark except for the art lamps, each piece softly illuminating it’s own carefully chosen space, the warm glow of golden shadows around the room is enticing. Michelle Post and Dave Carrow recently exhibited @ Da Vinci Art Alliance, see the photo below, where DoN had the opportunity to meet Michelle and talk about art.

Phil Vinson created each part of this lamp by hand from the carved finial to the metal base, truly a tour de force in craftsmanship, style and design; like a dreamy pod of a luminescent night blooming flower, this lamp is entrancing, drawing gallery goers like moths.  Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

Charmaine Caire @ Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ.

Dave Carrow creates heavy metal, industrial strength art, building lamps of welded chunks of metal like cyber-punk set pieces for the star-ship Serenity.  Carrow’s lamps are large, substantial, ambitious constructions, creating a transmuted modernist environment all on their own with clever connections and thought provoking problem solving.

Alden Cole is showing a cluster of his signature glowing objects, the lamps are more night-light than reading lamp, each subtly changing color, energizing the shadow patterns flowing across the walls.  With his lamps groups together, DoN noticed gallery goers having difficulty not touching the orbs, curiously drawn to the light.

Sarah Stengle - Genius!

Wayne Russell, Streamliner, lamp @ Lighten Up! An invitational lamp exhibition curated by Michelle Post @ Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ.

Lighten Up! has so much more that DoN wants to share but if I were you, I’d take a drive down to Millville and check out the art center, the RRCA is a model of a multi-purpose art space.

“Lighten Up!” curated by artist, Michelle Post, exhibits uniquely constructed lamps sure to “lighten up” your night.  Michelle gave the eleven artists included one stipulation- their lamps must plug into an outlet and actually light up.  Beyond that, artists:  Harry Anderson, Charmaine Caire, Dave Carrow, Alden Cole, Pam Lethbridge, Ted Simon, Michelle Post, Wayne Russell, Eric Schultz, Sarah Stengle, Carole Sivin and Sally Willobee were left to create their illuminated treasures.  The exhibition offers stellar examples of the creativity artists have when looking at ordinary objects many of us take for granted.  Michelle explains, “Rising to the challenge of bursting through and penetrating darkness come artists whose wit and imagination show us not to take life too seriously.   With laughter comes healing, and with illumination comes peace.”

Michelle Post & Dave Carrow @ Da Vinci Art Alliance, Autumn 2010.

Photos by DoN.

Bruce Garrity, Double Boulder in Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, 495 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood, NJ.

Bruce Garrity is a professor at Rutgers Camden and is the curator of the Hopkins House Gallery on the banks of the Cooper River as well as a fine artist and painter in his own right.  His large canvases are atmospheric, the clear, bright colors of the paint telling stories packed with myth and mystery, each painting taking the viewer deep into the artist’s introspection.  The new Crestmont Gallery on Haddon Avenue occupies a grand old house with the first floor now dedicated to art, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and more,  the space looks so elegant with Bruce’s paintings accompanied by beautiful ceramics and cases filled with desirable objects.

Owner Gary is planning exciting exhibitions to coordinate with the car shows, street fairs, art scene and cultural events that have become the calling card of Collingswood.  The Second Saturday art crawl in Collingwood is really fun with fine art, good food and a great small town atmosphere that is optimistic and forward looking with the arts being a driving force.

Bruce Garrity, @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ.

Dr. Deb Miller, a friend and colleague of Garrity’s said his paintings are, “Asian in perspective“, a Zen-like feeling of contemplation and respect for nature is infused in the compositions.

Bruce Garrity, Black Sea Bass @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ.

Photos by DoN.

Roz Bloom, Divided by Seven, mixed media and Bobbie Adams, The Seven Signs, ink @ The Noyes Museum of Art in Hammonton, NJ.

Liz Nicklus, The Mick, mixed media.  Liz mixes media & metaphors with this clever assemblage, a memento mori mashed up with meme Micky Mantle, the narrative vibrates with liveness and death.  Nicklus, a Da Vinci board member is an a accomplished muralist and educator, her determination and drive is inspiring.

Seven, a Da Vinci Art Alliance event @ The Noyes Museum of Art in Hammonton, NJ is a wonderful symbiotic relationship between a contemporary art space looking for work to show and a grass roots community art group of the stature of the South Philly art collective known as Da Vinci.  The significance of the number 7 is explored in a myriad of media in the naturally lit large gallery, the opening night party was attended by board members of Stockton College, Noyes Museum Executive Director Michael Cagno, assistant to the director Brittany McPherson, Da Vinci board members and artists with the comfortable setting buzzing with conversation.

Seven, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Noyes Museum of Art - Rex Sexton, Peter Seidel, Gerald DiFalco.

Alden Cole sandwiched between Carol Wisker’s 3D mixed media sculpture, Yemaya Oqqutte:Goddess of the Seven Seas and Cole’s own epic painting, Burning Men, oil on canvas.

With the success of the Noyes Museum of Art in Hammonton, NJ, Stockton College is planning to expand into a nearby building with enough room for workshops, offices and galleries, Michael Cagno, executive director of Noyes told DoN he hopes to continue the relationship with Da Vinci Art Alliance with future events

Photos by DoN.

Lilliana Didovic, Boat House Row, mixed media with crystals @ The Perkins Center for the Arts presents Through My Window, a Da Vinci Art Alliance Event.  Lilliana is one of the artists who painted the Philly Phanatics which were waving to us from all over the city last summer - Lilliana Didovic & writer Ronnie Norpel’s piece sold at a charity auction for a bundle, Congratulations!

Lilliana’s painting with crystals representing the iconic lights outlining the architecture of the houses glitters in the huge, open gallery at the The Perkins Center for the Arts in Collingswood, NJ.  Didovic’s window on the world finds glamor and glitz among the darkness of the night and the intimidating rushing river; the crystals as LEDs is genius, both forms will send us light far longer than the old incandescent bulbs stretched across the boat houses.  DoN misses the old lights, though, with the hidden narrative of guys climbing high ladders and walking along rooftops to replace light bulbs but the new lights are totally groovy.

Through My Window @ Perkins Center for the Arts.  DoN is honored to have his drawing featured in the catalog for this exciting art venture, the adjunct to the more famous Moorestown art center, is riding the renaissance wave of artistic and cultured lifestyle that is washing down Haddon Avenue with plush restaurants and historic architecture.

Executive Director, Alan Willoughby told DoN that the town has been very supportive offering the building to be renovated into an art space with workshops, galleries and vitality.  As the center goes through it’s first round of renovation, Willoughby sees a positive potential for growth in a small town with a lot of character.  Watch for a review in this week’s Philadelphia Inquirer, Da Vinci Art Alliance board members Dave Foss & Alden Cole were interviewed about their perspective on this unique exhibition.

Perkins Center for the Arts, Collingswood, NJ.

Michael DiPrinzio, mixed media @ Perkins Center for the Arts, Through My Window, A Da Vinci Art Alliance traveling exhibition through November 11th, 2010 with a special event today called Creating the Poem- 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM.  Hurry up, get over there!

Photos by DoN.