DoNArTNeWs

Charles Cushing @ Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Festival, mid September 2010.

The Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Festival attracts artists and collectors to the famous park in Center City, the perimeter lined with white tents each artist displaying their collection in the late Summer heat.  DoN talked with Philly favorite, fine artist Charles Cushing about the large scale painting attracting crowds to his booth - he worked on the oil painting over several months creating a nose-bleed view of the ball park all the way down town.

The Philly Fall art scene explodes this weekend with Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, Photography 2010 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia Images @ The Plastic Club and DoN Brewer’s one-person show, Dark Matter, @ Bonte’s Cafe, 17th & Sansom Sts., a Photographic Society of Philadelphia event- this is the weekend to plan your art crawl carefully to experience the unique, open, accessible art world embedded in Philadelphia culture.  And the Phillies clinch fourth straight playoff berth - Go Phillies!

Photo by DoN, 2010.

Kodak Digital Cameras

Pat Wilson-Schmid works at being an artist full time, a tireless volunteer, and art advocate; the Philadelphia Sketch Club relies on Pat because she always makes the extra effort to keep the team on task.

Edna Santiago told DoN the painting is an uncle who moved to Philly to raise his family, she said he would be proud to know his visage is being shown in City Hall.  The acrylic on plastic painting is unique, confounding and bold, the narrative takes us to a time and place that is old Philadelphia yet very contemporary and urban, the passages of dark and light are deeply moving.  Chicken Louis, acrylic on plexiglass, Edna Santiago.

Piety Choi, Manna, mixed media on canvas.  The splashy painting paired with the intensely decorative tile work mixes time lines, metaphors and ideas on what is beautiful in contemporary culture.  Choi continues to surprise, inspire and challenge the Philly art-erati to step up their game, her works continuously win awards and draw people together to talk.

 P.J. Foster, Unexpected Journey, acrylic & egg shell @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club Member Exhibition @ Art in City Hall.

Art in City Hall featuring the Philadelphia Sketch Club’s 150 Anniversary members show is the oldest art club in America’s first show at the world famous City Hall and it’s 20 year old public art in City Hall program.  The shown is immense with hundreds of art works by many of Philly’s best artists.

Photos by DoN.

Hello my little DoNsters, the Haus of DoN, DoNBrewerMultimedia, is slowly rising from the muck of the economic melt-down of 2010 like a lotus with petals opening onto a new season of art and culture.  DoN is so grateful to the Center for Emerging Visual Artists and the Coffee Bar for the extended exhibition of his photo series titled “light beings” through the end of August, 2010. 

As reiki energy would have it, the Photographic Society of Philadelphia’s long running series of solo member exhibitions @ Bonte’s Café, 17^th & Sansom Streets is hosting DoN Brewer’s “Dark Matter” a collection of images gleaned from the on-going 16 x 20″ show @ the other PSoP venue @ 9^th & Walnut Streets and photographs from the “light beings” series.  The exhibition is being installed Thursday, September 9^th, 2010 @ 4:00 PM, it is so cool to continue to show DoN’s art in the heart of Center City.  Thank You so much to PSoP for their confidence end enthusiasm.

light being (Dennis), digital photograph, 2010, DoN Brewer @ Bonte’s Cafe, 17th & Samsom Sts.

From Downtown Center City to Bartram’s Garden in West Philly, Friday, September 10^th, 2010 @ 6:00 pm at the Bartram’s Garden Gallery, the Da Vinci Art Alliance is hosting, “What’s the Buzz?”, a DVAA Members Event based on bees; Bartram’s Garden is now cultivating bees and it’s the Honey Festival, too.  Mmmm.  DoN will be gallery-sitting Saturday, September 11^th, 2010, 10:00 AM - 2:00PM in the delightful art space in the oldest barn in Philly, stop in for a curated tour by artists participating in the weekend-long show.

Pemberton Street Garden, digital photograph, 2010, DoN Brewer @ Bartram’s Garden Gallery, September 10th - 12th, 2010.

Later that evening DoN will be at the opening of “Through My Window“, a Da Vinci Art Alliance event at The Perkins Art Center in Collingswood, NJ.  The group show’s only caveat was include an old window, each artist visualizing their own view of reality into a work of art - the show has been exhibited at Smile Gallery in Center City Philly and the Renaissance Riverfront Center for the Arts in Millville, NJ. 

DoN Brewer & “Vue de la 22 Rue Rambuteau“. colored pencil drawing.

Sunday, September 12^th, 2010 @ 2:00 PM DoN will join the party for the Absolutely Abstract 2010 juried exhibition at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, it is such an honor to have abstract landscape photograph from the “light beings” series included in the exclusive art collection for the third year in a row.  Read more about the exhibit @ DoNArTNeWs.

li

light beings (Sid & Nancy), digital photograph, DoN Brewer @ The Philadephia Sketch Club’s Absolutely Abstract 2010.

DoN’s blog, DoNArTNeWs, continues to grow in popularity with a DoN’s eye view of the gallery scene in Philly.  Thank you to all the artists who share their work, their stories and their passions with DoN; creating a narrative of the warren of alleys in the Philly art world is fun and frustrating with so many exciting and inspiring events to participate in and attend. 

This Fall, DoN is included in the Art Ability art show at Bryn Mawr Rehab Center in Paoli, the huge exhibit of hundreds from artists from all over the world is a juried exhibition of art by works by people living with disabilities.  DoN is also helping to brand Vision for Equality, Inc , designing custom SEO code, resulting in the non-profit organization, which advocates for and monitors people with intellectual disabilities, a page one ranking in Google!  DoN is also writing blog posts for NUVISIONS for Disabled Artists and Diversified Art blog is featuring DoN’s “light being (Mary)” on their gallery page.  DoN also posts stories on PhillySideArts , QBN and is the Reporting Secretary for the Vitruvian Quarterly art newsletter for the Da Vinci Art Alliance.

light being (Walt), digital photograph, DoN Brewer @ Art Ability this fall.

For now, my lovely DoNsters - the Haus of DoN has withstood the attack of the latest distortion wave in the time space continuum, with super-friends at CFEVA, Da Vinci Art Alliance, The Plastic Club, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, PANMA and The Philadelphia Council for Community Advancement helping DoN survive the money bomb of the Great Recession.  With the LoVe and support DoN feels from comrades & cohorts, making art, communicating visions, telling stories and realizing dreams is now back in fine focus.

Thank you President Obama and Mayor Nutter, without your programs and plans for the people, the Haus of DoN would have collapsed like a house of cards; DoN has been dealt an exciting second hand and has big plans for the future in Philly.

LoVe

DoN

John Williams, Mountain Big Top, acrylic, ink, flashe on panel, Best in Show Absolutely Abstract 2010 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Click the thumb-nail below for a closer look.

The selection of ninety-eight art works by jurors David Foss and Michael Gallagher for The Philadelphia Sketch Club’s Absolutely Abstract 2010 exhibit is engaging, exciting and challenging.  The range of interpretations runs through almost any media you can think of - Kyle Margiotta’s, Ribbon, pencil drawing takes basic materials and elevates them to an alternate reality, Rik Viola’s painting is a triumph in context and Mina Smith-Segal suggests surrealism, impressionism, brutalism, naive primitive-ism…all modern and contemporary styles but stretching the envelop of the popular view of abstraction.

DoN Brewer, light beings (Sid & Nancy), digital photograph, archival ink-jet print, 2008.  This is the third consecutive year DoN Brewer’s photographs have been included in the Philadelphia Sketch Club’s annual Absolutely Abstract show, this year’s piece is named after the tragic punk lovers Sid Vicious & Nancy Spungen who he once saw shopping in Fiorucci’s in NYC in the 70s.

Rodney Miller, Ring Droppings, digital print on canvas.  Fall under the spell of the fractal-like inter-twined rings in Miller’s ultra-trippy contemplation on color, shape and depth of field - go see the real thing at The Philadelphia Sketch Club on the Avenue of the Artists, Camac Street in Center City Philadelphia.

Photos by DoN.

Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Carly Valentine’s black and white photography looked gorgeous mounted on the historic walls of the venerable Philadelphia Sketch Club Gallery on Camac Street.  Four times a year the club hosts the grads of AI to show their work in the gallery with a gala party; a great reason to dress up and have a drink.  Valentine’s deeply narrative work, mostly self portraits, nod to modern art with Magritte-like compositions, beaux arts frames and costumes from another era.  The rich blacks, creamy ecru and dreamy metaphors filled books, the walls over the fire place and the entire “winners wall” of the gallery.  Carly was unaware of the historic significance of exhibiting in America’s oldest art club, her grandmother, DoN’s good friend Jeannette Walsh, was long time president of the Regional Art Association in Clementon, NJ (the foundation of DoN’s art career), who was a fine artist in her own right, as well as a blue grass musician and entertainer.  Jean would be so proud to know Carly is excelling not just in fine art and photography but in being a really nice person, a trait no school can ever teach.

Gabriela Girova @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

John Moore’s painterly photographs combine natural elements with ethereal industrial constructs creeping into the composition.  The grad show at PSC was very gratifying with a focus on business, including business cards, book arts, web sites and unique presentation for their photography, information useful for art students emerging into a competitive market.  DoN appreciated that Moore bucked the trend and “forgot” his cards, DoN wrote his name on another grad’s card.  The graduates had a crash course in installing a show at The Sketch Club which concurrently has Phillustration 2010 running, they had to take down a complete show, install a new one, then re-hang the first show in the same order - welcome to the art world!

Tamara Brown

Tamara Brown’s carved books with photo emulsion images inside the books are fabulously evocative and transmogrifying, combining text and technique in a unique mash up.  LoVe iT!

Susan Barnes, North End Dunes, oil.

The Annual Members Exhibition of the Philadelphia Sketch Club at Newman Galleries on Walnut Street is a wonderful introduction to the many fine artists who belong to America’s oldest art club.  The swirly mix of styles, techniques and ideas is evocative of the Philly art community in microcosm; the mezzanine and third floor gallery holds a heady mix of contemporary art by masters, newbies, wannabes of all ages celebrating the first decade of the 21st Century.

Edna Santiago, Museum Stroll, acrylic on plexiglass.

 Garth Herrick, Red Barn, 11:00 AM at Beaver Farm and Donald Meyer, Study (Structure) Hosta Series, egg tempera.

Linda Townshend, Holstein, oil on canvas.

Karen McDonnell, Wisdom, mixed media.  Karen  e-mails DoN phone pics of stickers of this little guy in public spaces, her contribution to the Philly art scene by introducing graffiti style into the mix of traditional media is like when photography put it’s foot in the door.  The silver spray paint gives a glamorous luster to the surface of the canvas as if dressed up for the special day when all the artists show their best work.

The 2010 Members Exhibition of The Philadelphia Sketch Club @ Newman Galleries with 156 works by as many Philadelphia area fine artists runs through 6/9/2010.

Photos by DoNBrewerPhotography.

While Alan Klawans, the Exhibitions Chair of The Plastic Club, awarded honors for the excellent Black & White show, DoN observed sunlight creeping across Vetiado # 48, a mixed media painting by Louisa Velben.  The painting glittered as if diamonds are embedded in the surface but the illusion was shiny paint bubbles in the thickly painted and swirled liquid.

Pulled From The Darkness, Erik Melendez, charcoal.

Karl Richard Olsen, Portrait, graphite. Bill Meyers, of PSoP, volunteer posed at the Plastic Club, the likeness is striking yet loose and free.

Rebecca Miller, Overrripe: Compost 3, graphite.  Miller is completing the Master program @ PAFA, studying with the extraordinary Scott Noel; this piece was created by drawing on gessoed board, draw with graphite, layer watered gesso over the drawing, let dry, draw some more…the result is an award winning drawing.  Miller also took home a prize the same day from The Philadelphia Sketch Club for an oil painting.  Seeing young new talent emerging from local art schools with the skill of masters participating in the grass roots arts movement in Philly is extremely satisfying.

Alden Cole, Dancing in the Dark, pencil and Leroy Fornoy, Night Bus, oil.  Pairing these two graphic pieces is genius - Cole’s trippy Starlings dance ecstatically and Fornoy’s painting has a Manga skate-punk nihilist vibe.

One of the great aspects of this show is the variety of media displayed, now that photography is accepted in  the art circles as a legitimate art form, many Photographic Society of Philadelphia members have the opportunity to show with their work along side traditional media - some photographers even entered paintings!

Arthur Ostroff, Floreal Ancienne, ink jet print.

Riikka Salo, Windows to Spruce, photograph.

Lois Schlachter, Exhibitions Chair of The Philadelphia Sketch Club, and Alan Klawans, Exhibitions Chair of The Plastic Club, at the Black & White Show.  The Philadelphia Sketch Club opened their 147th Annual Exhibitions of Small Oil Paintings the same afternoon - between the two art clubs there are over 300 new art works by contemporary Philadelphia area artists to see.  The juxtaposition of two strong theme shows is visually and psychologically invigorating, one show is limited to size and medium, the other limited to no color, the problem-solving and creativity of the artists is inspiring, entertaining and lucid.

Photography by DoNBrewerPhotography.

James Dean Erickson, Portrait of Douglass Carr, oil on board.  The model in cap & hoddie can be found wheel-chair bound outside St. John’s, a diabetic, a friend recommended the artist invite him into the studio to pose at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.  James relayed to DoN, “Portraiture can be a vehicle for therapy, highlights the dignity of the individual, and be a channel for excitement and energy.”

Rachel Constantine, Fifteen, oil.  The title says it all.

Richard Coach, The Fish of Delos.

Like time traveling to a lost and ancient city, this painting could be anywhere in time and space.  Seething with hunger for life, referencing work, culture, taste, serving up skills acquired with trial & error, the exquisite painting and substantial frame is right here in Philly in America’s oldest art club, the Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Kyle Margiotta, Blow, oil.  This would be a great picture for a house with kids, imagine how this masterful painting would elevate the taste of growing minds, simple mark-making telling long stories playing out like fairytales, set in the real world, incredulous expressions speaking volumes.

Mark Brough Goodson, Tom Csaszar/Eye of the Critic and Neysa Grassi/Eye of the Critic.

The pair of pairs of eyes, attractive and expressive, are superb examples of how small paintings capture moments in time, filled with emotions, thought and empathy in a medium which will last for centuries.  Hundreds of years from now the oil paintings being produced now will still transmit stories from our time, the present, to the future, their past.

DoN overheard a man say, “Why don’t they say where these places are?”  DoN pointed out the title does name a place, “Snow Melt, Sand Island“, by Sandra Corpora, it just doesn’t give GPS coordinates.  The man asked DoN what he liked about the painting? “The restraint of using the one thick pure white stroke of paint to represent the most distant point in the painting.”  He looked hard @ DoN & disappeared into the crowd.

147th Annual Exhibition of Small Oil Paintings is through April 24th with 170 of the best oil paintings in the city hanging together, continuing a long history of excellence in contemporary oil painting.

DoN Brewer @ his artist reception.  All event photos by Peter Prusinowski.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists hosted an artist reception for DoN Brewer and the Philadelphia Art-erati turned out in full force - friends & colleagues from the past, present & future converged on the Coffee Bar @ 17th & Locust to support DoN’s explorations into photography.  Amie Potsic of CFEVA (& fellow photographer) and Ann Koivunen worked with the Coffee Bar to have a POST (Philadelphia Open Studio Tours) artist show in their recently remodeled cafe - the buttery walls and excellent lighting is so satisfying and easy on the eyes the photos have never looked better - and out of 30 artists the team presented, they picked DoN.  What an incredible honor & pleasure to represent Philadelphia Artists in the venerable Warwick Hotel, a landmark & planetary crossroad; DoN overheard languages from all over the world, it is so gratifying to have the work stand on it’s own, this being the largest collection of DoN’s “light being” series to date.

Muralist David Guinn, his Dad & Plastic Club former President Mike Guinn, the back of Ted Warschal’s head, Cynthia Arkin (manager of The Plastic Club website), UArts’ Regina Barthmeier, DoN, Ona Kalstein and Rob Stauffer (Rob mounted, matted and framed most of the show, his outstanding presentation skills enhances the work immeasurably) @ the Artist Reception for “light beings“.

Enhabitues of the Philly art scene, Regina & Lisa lounge below light being (Thelma) @ the artist reception for DoN Brewer’s light beings show @ The Coffee Bar - these intrepid art crawlers have been extremely supportive of DoN’s career and have been present at almost every art event important to his reputation.  Having friends be there when you need them is so important to an artists ego - Merci!

Ann Koivunen of The Center for Emerging Visual Artists manages the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours submissions (going on now) and took DoN’s feeble attempt at image size accuracy and created the terrific transparent labels, a beautiful bio book and documentation - Thank you Ann for your patience!

light being (Leo Seeger), DoN Brewer @ The Coffee Bar, The Radisson Warwick Hotel through July 2010.  This image has appeared in several art shows from the Philadelphia Sketch Club’s Absolutely Abstract Show to The University of Princeton Medical Center’s ArtFirst show to The Beauty Shop Cafe @ 20th & Fitzwater - DoN LoVeS it when people start seeing “light beings” in the wild.

Thanks to Shoshana Aron, Alden Cole & Les Howard for helping hang the show, Rob Stauffer for framing and the Center for Emerging Visual Artists for their tireless support of artists in Philadelphia.  DoN will be announcing an artist talk date soon.

Special thanks to Peter Prusinowski for photographing the event and his support and friendship, it’s such a good feeling to be recognized as an artist by peers - Philadelphia XOXO.