Commune: Art by the FORM Collective

March 16, 2015 | The University Union Gallery, California State University - Sacramento

I had been seeing posters and flyers for this show around campus for quite sometime now and I finally was able to swing by and check it out. I didn't realize that I knew quite a few of the artists from studio classes of mine and it was really cool to be able to see bits from each person in one collective show, as well as some new work I had never seen before.

Me* and Caiti Chan's Grandmother

There were plenty of awesome pieces throughout, starting with Caiti Chan's Grandmother (straight on picture below) right as you walk in. I absolutely love Cait's expression through her application of paint to create the portrait. There were different mediums on display: some ceramics, some sculpture but mostly 2-D works. Everything was beautifully lit and it was a nice, quiet space amidst the usual loud chaos that is The Union. 

Caiti Chan Grandmother
House paint on paper

Continuing to walk the room, I saw familiar pieces from Mustafa Shaheen, Faith Sponsler and Ashley Young (photos below). Mustafa's portraits are always exciting and his use of color is strategic and fun. Faith's work is captivating and intriguing with her abstraction. Ashley's paintings are always so eloquently done and absolutely beautiful. It was really wonderful to see these works professionally hung, lit and placarded. I remember seeing some of these paintings being worked on in the Art Sculpture lab and the change of environment really makes the work pop! 

Mustafa Shaheen Clair R.
Oil on canvas

Faith Sponsler Passage
Oil on canvas

Ashley Young Untitled
Oil on canvas

There were a couple of pieces that really stood out to me (photos below), people I don't know through classes or works I haven't happened to stumble on in the lab. One was Tavarus Blackmon's Pizzaboy Wants a Slice. The painting was wild, more than a bit psychedelic. Another painting that stuck out to me was Madonna of the Demon Breasts 2 by John Chanthaphone. A compelling piece and I couldn't help but wonder what Madonna of the Demon Breasts 1 looks like.  

Tavarus Blackmon Pizzaboy Wants a Slice
Mixed media on canvas

John Chanthaphone Madonna of the Demon Breasts 2
Mixed media on canvas

The work on display at this show was absolutely impressive. I look forward to seeing more work from each of these artists and hope for incredibly successful futures to all that participated in this collaborative show. Well done!

*yes, that is my favorite sweatshirt...

(more information on the gallery here)

Recycled Art, Recent work by Julia Kropinova

March 11, 2015 | R.W. Witt Gallery, California State University - Sacramento

I happen to have enough time between classes last week to stop by a fellow art student’s show at the R.W. Witt Gallery on campus. I had been a little familiar with her work as I had a class with her last semester and I was intrigued to see what she may have done since then or some of her previous pieces. Julia just so happened to be there and the gallery was empty, so I took advantage of the situation and was able to talk with her and ask question about her works.

Me and artist, Julia Kropinova

Her pieces are mostly mixed media, with a few paintings here and there. She seems to use a lot of boards (snowboards and skateboards), cutting them and reconfiguring them for an interesting “canvas”. Hence the title “Recycled Art”, I believe she finds all of her items at thrift stores or wherever she can; she mentioned to me about getting some of the used boards for free from her snowboarder friends. Each of her pieces has a lot going on – some have overlapping layers of string, objects in every nook and cranny available, even glow in the dark paint (I only know that from Julie handing me a flashlight with a black light bulb in it and telling me to walk around with it). Very intriguing work!

Sailing Skate board ship
Mixed media on skateboard

(*see note below) 

Look up and get lost
Mixed media on canvas

(*see note below) 

Example of the glow paint+blacklight before and after on "Flower Power"
Acrylic on canvas

While the subject matter is very apparent in some pieces and not so apparent in others, her style is consistent throughout. In a few pieces, she involves realistic figures or scenes but always seems to add abstract aspects to create a very exciting image. Her pieces have almost a very surrealistic feel to them. One of my favorites (picture above) had black flower outlines staggered up a canvas with a fun and wild abstract, splatter painted background (I believe it’s called “Flower Power”, as I found from her website here). She also had a more minimalist piece that looked like a black dress wrapped in wire, with a set of pearls attached to the wood panel behind the strung up “dress”. It really stood out amongst the rest of her pieces (picture below) and I felt that it was beautifully done.

(*see note below)

It was really nice to talk to Julia about her work and to get to know her a little better. While Julia’s work is not necessarily my style, I found her process of layering and profuse amounts of detail a quality to pick up on with my own work.

*Note: unfortunately the show had no title cards next to the works and I was only able to find titles for certain pieces via her website. I didn't want to leave these photos out as I believe they are a good representation of the work at her show.

Sean Clute, Applicant for the New Media Art Teaching Position

March 11, 2015 | Kadema Hall, Room 145, California State University - Sacramento

I don't think I have been to a lecture where the room was as packed as it was this day - people sitting on the floor and in the aisle - not an empty seat in the place! Granted, the room is a smaller lecture room but it was pretty cool to see how many people turned up to get more information about the potential new Sac State instructor.

Me and artist, Sean Clute

My first impressions of Sean were that he had awesome, wild hair and sort of reminded me of a Pixar movie character. I was very intrigued to hear what he had to say and learn more about his art as I had looked him up online and spent sometime on his website (here). His work was a mix of different things: part performance/theatre art, part musical performance, part technology, part audience/performer collaboration, etc.; there seemed to be a little bit of everything!

Sean's opening slide

He started at the beginning: when and where he was at when he decided to switch from music to develop and explore new forms of expression. He was very specific with the time and place of this eye-opener: Shabla, Bulgaria, August 8, 1999. It was a beautiful story, involving a solar eclipse, a music festival and Sean playing a guitar solo. With this epiphany, he came to the conclusion that he wanted a new mode of expressing himself, moving away from the old fashioned or typical avenues and exploring a whole new of doing things. He wanted to invent things, he wanted to adapt to new things or obstacles, he wanted to be playful and he wanted to collaborate with others.

Sean talking about "ADAPT"

He eventually used these four points to move into showing off segments of his work; they were appropriately called “INVENT”, “ADAPT”, “PLAY” and “COLLABORATION”. I won’t go into detail on each of these but, overall, each work of his seemed fun, innovative and really made me think about what I could be doing with my work that’s new and different. The only part that made my head explode a tad was when he got into the software he created; while it was intriguing and the programs he made were pretty cool, my brain does not work in the land of computer code.

Sean's closing slide

Overall, Sean and his work seem very fun and I think he would be a great fit for a teaching position in the Art Department. I can see him using his affinity for collaboration and invention boosting students to a new level that they might not have thought to go.

Date Day, 03.08.2015 | Part 3

couchbleachers by Nate Page | Verge Center for the Arts 

What weighs the iron? with Ben Alexy and Justin Marsh | Axis Gallery 

Our last stop for the day was to swing by the Verge Center for the Arts. I had never been there before but had heard some pretty cool things about shows there. The location had little to be desired but the colorful building was pretty cool. It was very quiet in there, with just us and two people at either entrance (Verge at one end and Axis Gallery at the other).

Me at the exhibit

We began at the couchbleachers installation, which - at this point in the day - made me really want to take nap! I liked what the artist said about the work, saying that he wants to create interactive pieces that people can touch, climb on and explore. I wish I could have been to some of the movie nights they had with the exhibit!

I moved pretty quickly through the Axis Gallery and sort of forgot to take some pictures of the works in the show (oops) but the artists Ben Alexy and Justin Marsh had a great display up. I was more drawn to Ben's work (see it here). His works were very large in scale and very impactful as you walked into the room.

I would be interested to see more exhibits at Verge/Axis; they seem to have some really fantastic artists working there and, looking through past shows, some awesome artists that come through there. I've got my eye on that place!

(more information on the Verge Center of the Arts here) 
(more information on the Axis Gallery here)

Date Day, 03.08.2015 | Part 2

The Landscape | Elliott Fouts Gallery

The second stop on our itinerary was the Elliott Fouts Gallery on the corner of P and 19th in Downtown Sacramento. I have visited this gallery a few times before and was excited to be able to bring (drag?) my husband there. I like the landscape and still-life emphasis of their collection and I also like that I can see the pricing for all the pieces - it helps to know that if I want to start collecting some art, how much we have to start saving! While most of the work they have is 2 dimensional (paintings, drawings, etc.) they do have a few ceramic pieces scattered throughout.

Me at the gallery

The current show included a variety of artists all within the landscape subject matter. It was interesting to see each artist's individual technique, paint application and color choices all adjacent to each other. My favorite pieces were the more abstract landscapes with broad brushstrokes and bright color. I was very drawn to Karen Smidth’s work specifically; I felt her pieces were very dynamic and stimulating (see more of her work here). A few of my favorites are in the pictures below.

Karen Smidth Blue
Oil on true gesso board

Karen Smidth North Of SF Bay
Oil on linen

Laurie Winthers  Hazy Day
Acrylic on canvas

Sarah Kreutz Beginning
Oil on panel

After we walked through the exhibit on show, we poked around to view the other works the gallery had displayed. There were some very intricate hyper-realistic works and some fun, pop art influenced paintings mixed in with the more abstract pieces. It was really fun to browse through! A few of my favorites were Gale Hart’s Life Savor, Chuck Seerey’s Interlace 4, John Karl Claes’s Bay View – Evening and Gregory Kondos’s Sacramento, CA By The Summit. 

Gale Hart Life Savor
Paint on canvas

Chuck Seerey Interlace 4
Oil on canvas

John Karl Claes Bay View - Evening
Oil on canvas

Gregory Kondos Sacramento, CA By The Summit, 1964
Oil on linen

There was one that made me giggle quite a bit, Tod Steele’s Roscoe’s Recurring Nightmare (photo below) which shows a dog, with a very scared look on his face, running from 3 vacuums. There is a lot of movement and feeling conveyed in a relatively small composition.

Tod Steele Roscoe's Recurring Nightmare
Acrylic on panel

I got really excited coming across Michael Crandall-Bear’s pieces there at the gallery (see more of his work here). While most of the stock they had were limited edition giclee prints, they had a couple of originals. I feel like I have seen this work before and maybe never stopped to look further, however, this time around, it jumped out at me. I love the simplicity of his pieces, the linear movement of the paint and how crisp and clean his paintings are. I would love to own one of these someday!

Micah Crandall-Bear Nimbus
Ltd. edition giclee

The Elliott Fouts gallery, once again, was a great stop. I find their layout and location fun and they are quite central to good food as well as other galleries. It is one I would recommend to anyone looking to peruse some local art!

(more information on the gallery here)

Date Day, 03.08.2015 | Part 1

Toulouse-Lautrec and La Vie Moderne (Paris, 1880-1910) | Crocker Art Museum

My husband, Nick, and I spent the day visiting local galleries and the Crocker Art Museum. I will break the day up into 3 posts - stay tuned!

I visited the Crocker Art Museum (for what feels like the millionth time) on Sunday, March 8, 2015, with my husband in tow. The current exhibition had to do with turn of the century (1880 to 1910) French modern art, with an emphasis on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s work. It was a very expansive show, taking up the whole changing exhibition hall as well as some of the outward hallways. The mediums displayed were mostly limited to paper and canvas with lots of smaller pieces throughout. I found the variety of pieces very interesting: some were paintings, graphite drawings, pastels, etchings and lithograph prints.  They were very expressive, some were very cartoon-like and the glimpse into the past was intriguing. The subject matter seems to focus on performing arts and theatre scenes. I also noticed a substantial amount of cats throughout the pieces and clowns appeared to be pretty popular back then. Unfortunately, the Crocker requested no photography in the exhibit, so I only have a picture of me at the entrance of the show (below).

Me at the exhibit

While my intention for visiting the Crocker was to view the “La Vie Moderne” exhibit, I had probably way more fun revisiting the works in the permanent collection. Seeing new works are always inspiring, but to revisit art that has been previously motivating is re-energizing. Christopher Brown’s Winter’s Blue Cold, Irving Norman’s pieces (My World and Yours [And The Gods Created the World in their Own Image], Celebration; visit here for more of his works), Raymond Jenning Saunders's Joseph Fitzpatrick was our Teacher and John Yoyogi Fortes’s Runt have always been some of my favorites. 

Me with Christopher Brown's  Winter's Blue Cold
1990-91, Oil on canvas
Crocker Art Museum Purchase, 1991.33

Irving Norman My World and Yours (and the Gods Created the World in their Own Image), 1954
Oil on canvas
Crocker Art Museum Purchase, George and Bea Gibson Fund with contributions from Roger and Carol Berry, Chris and Dana Daubert, Marcy and Mort Friedman, Anne and Malcolm McHenry, Kim Mueller and Robert J. Slobe, and Russ Solomon, 2001.47

Raymond Jennings Saunders Joseph Fitzpatrick was our Teacher, 1991
Mixed media on canvas
Crocker Art Museum Purchase, 1993.11

John Yoyogi Fortes Runt, 2010
Mixed media on canvas
Crocker Art Museum

There were also a few new works that either I had not noticed before or were new additions (most likely the former). There was a fantastic metal piece by Andreas Nottebohm called KNI725 that played an awesome optical illusion and I looked at it for quite some time. Paul Jenkins’s Phenomena Intervening Mantle was very exciting, with paint moving over the canvas as if it were alive. Thom Merrick’s Desert Metamorphosis caught my eye from a distance – the paint drips throughout the painting helped create a sprawling desert scene.

Andreas Nottebohm KNI725, 2005
Aluminum
Crocker Art Museum, gift of Philip M. Lederer, 2006.26

Paul Jenkins Phenomena Intervening Mantle, 2006
Acrylic on canvas
Crocker Art Museum, gift of Suzanne and Paul Jenkins, 2010.57

Thom Merrick  Desert Metamorphosis, 2005
Oil on canvas
Crocker Art Museum, gift of Michael Klein in memory of his parents, Emil and Hedy Klein, 2013.4

I felt that the current exhibition at the Crocker, “La Vie Moderne” was a little lack luster; seeing Toulouse’s work in person was nice but overall, it was easy to move through the display quickly. The items in the permanent collection, I felt, were more substantial and impressive. I have to remember to visit my favorite pieces more often than once a semester! 

(more information on the exhibition here)