DoNArTNeWs

The WINTER EXHIBITION brings together three artists of exceptional talent:

MARLISE M. TKACZUK, whose bold, imaginative and at times wickedly humorous silkscreens document her observations of the world…and have led to her being one of the top-selling artists in OFF THE WALL’s 32-history (for no little reason);

ELI VANDENBERG, who, with a brand-new collection of ink drawings, continues his riveting “Objectifying Identity” series…a body of work we first encountered over the summer as part of IDENTITY; and,

DANA MCELROY, who has created her first-ever 3-D installation for this show after setting our community on its collective ear with her large photographs of hand-constructed dioramas in IDENTITY (with an encore in the just-closed DEJA VU).

As you know, our Opening Receptions are never stuffy affairs.  They are great ways to spend a Thursday night out, have drinks with friends, sample some light fare (especially if you haven’t had dinner yet), ENJOY THE ART and MEET THE ARTISTS!

If you’re coming later than 10, don’t worry.  You may miss the artists, but we will be there and the 22 pieces in this showing will be waiting for you.  At least they will be through Friday, March 4.

Togo Travalia

Deja Vu - 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s.  DoN missed the opening party for Deja Vu but art friends reported the place was packed with artists and friends celebrating the amazing collection of art gleaned from the many submissions.  Off the Wall has a long art history in Philly and being included in the group show, especially with such esteemed  jurors, is a real honor.  When lola & DoN sipped cocktails at the bar, a feeling of pride and accomplishment surges through his system, even the Jack neat doesn’t quell the vibration.  Having photographs hang next to Rick Wright, Bonnie Schorske, Ed Snyder…feels so validating.  Entering art competitions is like buying lottery tickets, you can’t win unless you play.

Yeoun Lee, Marion Lioppo…Bill Myers’ phot0 collage is totally Dada, Rick Wright corners anthropomorphism in household objects, Erin Lynn O’Connor tackles surrealism - the show is really trippy.  Deja Vu - 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s.

Deja Vu - 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s.

Deja Vu - 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s.

Thank you so much to the team at Dirty Franks, Jody & Togo, for maintaining this long tradition of art competition, friendship and networking which offers Philadelphians a glimpse into the best of the local art scene, artists a groovy venue and quality that many times foreshadows art trends -  with cocktails!

Deja Vu - 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s.   DoN is honored to be represented in this show, the requirements were stringent and the jury big league. the opening party is Thursday, December 2th, 2010, 7 - 9:00 PM.

DoN Brewer, I Was Here, digital photograph, inkjet print @ Deja Vu - 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery.

Arists ask DoN about art show opportunities frequently, here are some heady themes to get your creative juices flowing:

Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Franks - Call for Entries for DEJA VU: ART AND MEMORY, our upcoming Sixth Annual Juried Exhibition:

Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Franks - Call for Entries for DEJA VU: ART AND MEMORY, our upcoming Sixth Annual Juried Exhibition

Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Franks - Call for Entries for DEJA VU: ART AND MEMORY, our upcoming Sixth Annual Juried Exhibition Prospectus

Da Vinci Art Alliance

Picturing

The Decameron

An awards exhibition of Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Galleryfeaturing art inspired by International Opera Theater’s new  production of Boccaccio’s Decameron

Picturing the Decameron Da Vinci Art Alliance Prospectus

 For artists interested in participating in the November Da Vinci @ Smile show based on our collaboration with International Opera Theater’s production of Boccaccio’s Decameron (prospectus attached), here’s a list of the scenes Karen Saillant will feature (with references to the day, story numbers in the book):

Prologue, Florence, Calandrino
I, 1:  Ciappelletto di Prato - evil notary
IX, 1:  Federigo and his Falcon - poor knight
VIII, 3:  Maso del Saggio and the Enchantment of Calandrino - lapidary
IV, 1:  Ghismunda and the Heart in a Goblet - princess of Salerno
IX, 2:  The Habit of Mother Usimbalda
V, 8:  The Wedding of Nastagio degli Onesti
X, 10:  Griselda and the Marquis of Saluzzo
Postlude, Calandrino

Please note:  you can submit up to 3 entries; depending on the number of entries received, we will do our best to install all works.

Decamero

world premiere

Based on Decamerone by Giovanni Boccaccio

Music: Efrain Amaya, Michael Djupstrom, Daniel Shapiro,

Adam Silverman, Tony Solitro, Thomas Whitman, Ya- Jhu Yang,

Libretto: Karen Saillant

Italian Translation: Tommaso Sabbatini

November 12 and 13 at 8 PM

November 14 at 3 PM

The Prince Music Theater

ACT I Prologue;

Calandrino (who comes out of his giant costume, which consists of large pieces of fabric with scribbling all over them) speaks to the audience about The Plague and implores all of the individuals sitting in front of him to leave the premises immediately because The Plague is killing everyone!! (Gavoccioli-the name of the large boils that appear on the body as a result of The Plague)

Calandrino narrates in English

·         First Day: First Story- Thomas Whitman, composer
The scoundrel Ser Cepperello manages to pass himself off as a virtuous man during his last confession. After his death, he is remembered as Saint Ciappelletto and people pray to him for favors and believe him capable of performing miracles.

Calandrino narrates in English

·         Fifth Day: Ninth Tale
A young gentleman by the name of Federigo falls in love with a beautiful lady named Monna Giovanna. He spends large amounts of money trying to gain her attention but she remains indifferent to his love. Eventually he loses everything and is forced to live in poverty in a little farm with only his beloved pet falcon for company. Meanwhile Monna Giovanna’s husband dies and her son falls very ill. The sick child asks his mother to get him Federigo’s falcon. She goes to visit Federigo to ask for the falcon. As she arrives at Federigo’s house, he is very distressed to see her and not having any food in the house to offer her  and not knowing the cause of her visit, Federigo kills his falcon and makes it into a meal for his beloved lady. After dinner Monna Giovanna reveals the reason for her visit. Federigo is devastated that he cannot help her and she has to leave empty-handed. Monna Giovanna’s son dies. After a period of mourning, Monna Giovanna, who is rich and still young and beautiful, rewards Federigo’s loyalty by marrying him.

Calandrino narrates in English.

·         Eighth Day, Third Story

Calandrino overhears the lapidary, Maso del Saggio, talking to himself about a place where mountains are made of parmesan cheese and vines are hanging with sausages. Calandrino is enchanted with the idea of visiting this place and is especially determined when he learns about the stone called The Heliotrope that it will make him invisible. He shares the story of the heliotrope with his friends Buffalmacco and Bruno and they continue the ruse as they pellet him with stones all the way home from The Mungone River.

Calandrino narrates in English

·         Fourth Day, First TaleTancredi, Prince of Salerno and father of Ghismunda, slays his daughter’s lover, Guiscardo, and sends her the heart of her lover in a golden cup: Chismunda pours upon it a poisonous distillation, which she drinks and dies.

ACT I

Ninth Day, Second Tale
An abbess rises in haste and in the dark, with intent to surprise an accused nun in bed with her lover: thinking to put on her veil, she puts on instead the breeches of a priest that she has with her. The nun, after pointing out her abbess’s head covering, is acquitted by the abbess. The abbess extols the virtues of love and thenceforth allows all members of the order to find it easier to meet with those interactions which bring them to greater love.

Calandrino narrates in English

Fifth Day: Eighth Story
Wealthy Nastagio degli Onest is in love with a lady of noble lineage who despises him. Discouraged, Nastagio leaves town and, in the wilderness, witnesses the frightening scene of a young woman who is chased down by a knight and murdered by having her back slit open and all of her organs pulled out of her and throw to wild dogs. The knight explains to Nastagio that they are both souls in torment, doomed to repeat the scene for years. The deed is part of his punishment for his having committed suicide in despair at being rejected by the lady. The lady in turn is punished for her pride and cruelty in rejecting the love of the knight. Nastagio has the idea of making arrangements to have his beloved witness the scene. Once she sees the naked woman murdered for her cruel and cold heart, she changes her mind about Nastagio and agrees to be his wife.

Calandrino narrates in English

·         Tenth Day: Tenth Story
The nobleman Gualtieri marries Griselda, a peasant woman. At first he treats her well but then decides to test her obedience. He speaks to her abusively and takes away their two infant children, suggesting to her that they are to be killed (in reality, they are taken to Bologna and raised by friends). Griselda bears this with patience. Her husband then expresses his wish to divorce Griselda and sends her back to her father’s peasant house. Pretending to be making arrangements for his new wedding, Gualtieri calls back Griselda and orders her to take care of all the preparations, including the welcoming of the new bride and her brother. Putting up with it all, Griselda obeys and graciously receives the beautiful young woman. Gualtieri then reveals the truth and announces that the supposed bride and her brother are really their own children, now nineteen and twenty years old. Griselda is congratulated on her heroic patience and obedience and welcomed back as the lady of the home.

Prologue: Calandrino returns to book, admonishing everyone to be attentive and leave town as quickly as possible.

Main Issues of Decameron Opera:

• Main colors will be red, black and white (but Artist should not limit themselves to these colors if they do not want to.
• literal and symbolic meaning of The Plague
• The Plague as symbol for the healing that can take place after a great tragedy
• Condition and direction of society in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance and as it speaks to us today
• SYMBOLS:
• Apple, its seeds, especially the center of the apple, known as the pentacle
• Blood Stone: Heliotrope, known as the bloodstone.
• Land of Bengodi (similar to idyllic land of Cockaigne )
• Stories as “mirrors” of vices and virtues
  
• literature as medicine for healing society
• costumes modern, with taste of Middle Ages
• emergence of playful, light-hearted, human, and humane view of life after a great traged-
• critique of human vices marked by understanding and humor rather than heavy moralizing.
• hypocrisy of religious and moral authorities; superstitions and the gullibility of people.
• Beauty, pleasure, love, laughter and play as privileged values
• carpe diem ethos of work
• mixing of people from different social levels and classes;
  
• more egalitarian society where merit is based on actions and character,rather than birth or inherited wealth

Both of these long running art spaces have track records for attendance, participation and recognition in Philadelphia - support your local art galleries by entering the shows, visiting the galleries and volunteering to help produce these events.  Thanks to Dr. Deb Miller of DVAA and Jody Sweitzer @ Dirty Franks for their efforts!

Center for Emerging Visual Artists

 Artist, Career Development Program Fellowship

Organization: The Center for Emerging Visual Artists

Job Categories:Curatorial, Education, Marketing & Public Relations, Philadelphia County (PA), Artist Development & Residencies, Foundations/Fellowships, Visual Arts

Free two-year fellowship in the Career Development Program at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists. The Center for Emerging Visual Artists strives to provide the essential support services and programs emerging artists need to build sustainable careers. Our Career Development Program Fellowship offers a select group of talented artists the following: a two-year fellowship period and lifelong alumni affiliation, group exhibitions around the region and beyond, a three person show in the second year of the fellowship, professional development workshops, mentorship, community, volunteer opportunities, individual career counseling, and alumni solo exhibitions and travel grants.

To Apply:Eligibility requirements include the following: Applicants cannot be full-time students. Applicants must live within 100 miles of CFEVA (all of New York City and boroughs included). Applicants cannot have a contractual agreement with a commercial gallery or gallery representation. For the online application and further eligibility requirements, go to http://www.cfeva.org/cfeva_programs_career.aspx  For more information, contact Amie Potsic, Director of the Career Development Program at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, 1521 Locust Street, Lower Level, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-546-7775 x 12, amie@cfeva.org, www.cfeva.org.

Deadline: 11/01/2010

Good Luck!

LoVe

DoN

Rich Harrington, fine artist, illustration professor & Philadelphia Sketch Club board member is just one of the local art activists featured in Midsummer Invitational @ Off The Wall Gallery, 13th & Pine Streets.  Harrington’s paintings of rusting hulks of old cars and trucks are indefineable: part landscape, part still life and part portrait, the paintings are loaded with secret narratives and unanswered questions.  Harrington is a driving force@ PSC, always prepared to problem solve, take on projects and promote other artists - just ask his students, they love him.

Morris Klein is VP of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia and organizes ongoing art show at the Bonte Cafes in Center City, his style of photography is hyper-realistic with enhanced color and edges.  Getting photographers to participate in ongoing events is like herding cats, Morris is always even keeled and fair without being condescending - guys like Morris make such clubs like PSoP last hundreds of years.

Michelle Anne Clements @ Off the Wall in Dirty Franks - curator & gallerist Jody told DoN that Clements is donating a portion of the proceeds of her drawings of coral to Gulf relief.  The alien forms are wonderfully rendered drawings of different kinds of corals, the simple black and white drawings, beautifully presented, pay homage to the complexity of the simple and vital life form.

The Midsummer Invitational @ Off the Wall Gallery includes: Michelle Anne Clements, Rebecca Cross. Rich Harrington, Morris Klein, Kelly A. Kozma, Don McPartland, Karen Rodewald, Peter Smyth, Michael B. Tantaros & Lauren Westenhiser through October.

Dog by Karen McDonnell & Anthony Cortosi perfectly encapsulates the theme of this groundbreaking, historic art show curated by Jody Schweitzer of Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Franks Bar on the corner of 13th & Pine Streets, bringing together artists from the dual art clubs, The Plastic Club & The Philadelphia Sketch Club on the historic Avenue of the Artists - a painting of a three-legged dog created in collaboration by an opposite sex couple.  The formally all female Plastic Club and the formally all male Philadelphia Sketch Club have been co-existing on the same block for decades - the Sketch Club is celebrating it’s 150th anniversary this year with a stunning array of historic art shows & the Plastic Club is nearly 100 - both clubs integrated sexes in 1991, since then Camac Street has become a fantastic haven for artists to work and learn side by side, the competition raising the bar for quality, prestige and creativity for everyone.  Alan Klawans, the exhibitions chair @ The Plastic Club, told DoN participation in art shows is up 300%; the current Small Oils Show @ PSC has 170 paintings, you couldn’t squeeze another piece in if you wanted to.

Karen & Anthony, create all of their art together: drawing, cutting, spraying, dumpster-diving, brain-storming…resulting in iconic imagery resonating with vibrant contemporary urban life.  Their work is proof men & women can work together in partnership, even if the result is like walking on three legs to get there.

The showcase @ Off the Wall Gallery with Dorothy Roschen, Cara Kendric and more, many of the artists are members of both clubs.

Mina Smith-Segal @ An Offering on Camac.  Mina won an award Saturday for a painting she created for the Lantern Theater Company’s Henry IV, Part 1 production, another art collaboration between the Da Vinci Art Alliance of South Philly and the St. Steven’s Theater in Center City - it’s art synergy, baby!

Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler is getting terrific buzz for her jazzy paintings of couples dancing; every show they’re in is instantly energized by the bold color and confidant brushwork, capturing the attention of the viewer like watching a really good-looking couple dancing deep in the groove of the music in a smokey dive with a great juke-box.

An Offering on Camac @ Dirty Franks is the perfect third leg for an art crawl; after trying to absorb over 300 fantastic new art works on view between the two clubs current shows, a stiff drink is in order.  What do you call a one-eyed, three-legged dog?  Lucky.

Wednesday evening @ The Plastic Club, Anders Hanson hosted a lively discussion of how artists should price their art.  Many familiar faces were present in the Tea Room, all with the same concerns - how do artists price their work.  Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Frank’s curator Jody Sweitzer shared lots of good advice from deciding how much you should pay yourself to pricing works in a range that is reasonable yet profitable.  Ben Cohen shared a great idea from his last one person show - he priced figure studies done in workshops at really low prices with a raffle coupon attached for one of his framed paintings valued at around $300.  Ben found that people bought more than one drawing with hopes of winning one of his paintings and he earned enough to cover the “loss” of the painting and generated good will.  Other ideas included pricing by the square inch (Francis Tucker, the great painter and teacher does this - he charges $5 per square inch, you do the math), keeping track of hours and material costs, not giving away work to friends, no undercutting yourself when a client asks the price, keeping your price consistent (don’t price it one way for New York and another for Philly), think like a business person and pick up on buying cues, be present at your openings and follow up, follow up, follow up.  On a recent show on PBS called Craft in America, one of the artists said to not count on your gallery to promote your work and keep your own mailing lists (snail & e-mail).

Jody visits artist studios to learn more about the artist and their body of work, picks works she feels will sell, learns the background of the work, techniques, materials, style…so when a patron asks she’s armed with info to share.  Off the Wall has a terrific sales record and does great promotion with posters, cards and parties.  Rick Wright shared that he has a range of product priced from very low for his famous cell phone photos (phone-to-grams) to higher end large scale works.  By selling some works cheap he makes friends and collectors who return and often buy more.

Sweitzer recommended the book “How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul” by Caroll Michels.  DoN recommends “I’d Rather be in the Studio” by Alyson Stanfield and “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron.  As a former sales manager, DoN has a few tips: watch for buying cues (how much is it?, how did you make it?, how long did it take?…)  Use the acronym QRISP - quality, reputation, innovation, style and price.  Notice price is last not first - don’t spend your collectors money for them, after all, you don’t know how much they have to spend.  In this feverish economy, it’s important to remain thick skinned, engage your customers, pick up on cues, have a story to tell, value yourself and stick to your price.

DoN’s photo does no justice to Rick Wright’s pristine photographs of hair balls shot against a stark white background now on display at Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Frank’s Bar. The first time DoN saw Wright’s compositions at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists he got kind of pissed off - is this what the competition in the art world is?  WTF are a bunch of hair balls doing in an art gallery?  And then they showed up in Dirty Frank’s Mid-Summer show and over drinks Rick explained the origins of the anamorphic fibrous images - a person who used to be in Wright’s life had Trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder manifested in hair pulling, twirling and twisting their hair into knots to be left sitting on tables, dressers, the mantle…It turns out the creepy little hair balls have a poignant back-story while transmitting secret messages.

The gorgeous flower photos by A. Celeste Hardester are simultaneously decorative and technical, impeccably presented and meticulously composed, botanical yet romantic.  Flowers are thought to emanate energy associated with particular stars; Hardester’s photos capture the star power of flowers.

The salon style hanging @ Off the Wall allows a good number of works to be shown in a limited space; Mid-Summer @ OTW was curated by Jody Schweitzer, hand picking pieces from the studios of former OTW award winners including Robert Bohne, Bob Jackson, Debbie Bonacci, Annette Saggiomo, Avalon Clare, Susan Stromquist, A. Celeste Hardester and Rick Wright.  Through October 2, 2009.