Friend Friday!

I managed to catch a bunch of friends' shows yesterday...they all come down after this coming weekend so hurry if you'd like to see them too!

Eileen Neff at Bridgette Mayer
Wow is all I can say! A great show! I love her imaginative and playful work.

Weird shot in the video room (I'm trying to be like Eileen I guess!)

I never saw so many red dots at once...go Eileen!

David Wilson's show at Rodger LaPelle Galleries.

That's Rodger gesturing. Talking with him is always a lot of fun! 

Friend Sarah Barr momentarily becomes part of "The Incident on Pine Street."

Lorraine Riesenbach and I in front of Diane Feissel's lovely work at Artists' House Gallery!

Susan O'Reilly had several strong pieces at AH as well.
I especially liked this one, entitled "When Turquoise Was New."

Lotsa Art Openings!

Wow, there were a lot of art openings last weekend! This is typical for Philadelphia which has a tradition of "First Fridays", the first Friday of every month being when most galleries tend to open their exhibitions. It can be a lot of fun, and it's a handy way to take in a lot of openings in one evening, but First Friday is not really the best day for the serious viewing of art. There's an almost carnivale flavor to FF, crowds of good times or bust people swarming in and out of the galleries and up and down the streets...it's more  party than arty. Fortunately some galleries, including my own, have an additional reception on that first Sunday which is still festive but less frenetic. You can actually see the art instead of peering around clumps of determined celebrators, and talk with the artists instead of shouting banal congratulations to them over the roar of the crowd. Anyway...

Me in front of my four pieces in the Still Life Invitational at Artists' House Gallery

I ran into a whole bunch of other artists also showing

Yet more artist friends hanging out in the great art-filled atmosphere

Richard Rosenfeld stopped by, and he gave my work the thumbs up..woo hoo!

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Actually at The Rosenfeld Gallery around the corner my friend Tremain Smith was showing her work

More friends in a gallery clinch

My young friend Hazel was inspired by all the art she was seeing

Ken Hamilton and Fred Danziger are showing together at Rodger LaPelle Galleries

I also went to a thought-provoking  multi-media exhibit called It's Your Funeral at Pterodactyl

                                          
                         
     This is artist and co-curator Dr. K. Malcolm Richards introducing the work at the reception on Saturday. There's something for every taste in Philly, from the mundane to the macabre!

Friend Friday!

Friend Friday is here again.
In fact, my friends have been so darn busy this last few weeks that I am probably leaving out somebody very dear to me...I just can't keep up!
Above is a picture of Mineko Yoshida and Dianne Morrow, both dear friends from art school who happen to be showing work in the same exhibit! In fact, by chance their work is exhibited side by side, so here they are, glimpsed in front of their work: how convenient is that?
New Faces 2010
June 2 to June 27, 2010
Artists House Gallery
57 North Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 923-8440 Wed - Sun 12-5 PM or by appointment
I also know several other people in the show including Jo-Ann Osnoe, Kathy Hayden and Susan O'Reilly. It's really a beautiful, varied showcase of new talent, well worth a special trip if you are anywhere in the area. And I haven't seen so many red dots in a long time, a beautiful sign of the economic recovery? ;-)



Here are two more friends exhibiting in another group show: Pam McLean-Parker and Sarah Barr. Both talented photographers, they are exhibiting in an alumni show at their alma mater. (As photographers I hope they'll be understanding of my using this arty shot!)
Alumnae Artists: The Reunion Years
June 5-August 26, 2010
Lawrence Gallery
Rosemont College
1400 Montgomery Avenue
Rosemont, PA 19010




Victoria Donohoe (center) a well-known art critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer was also on hand during the reception to receive an award. A Rosemont alumnus from the class of 1950, Ms.Donohoe was honored with several speeches and a presentation. On the left is Rosemont College president Sharon Hirsch lauding Ms. Donohoe's achievements (Lawrence Gallery curator Pat Nugent on the far right.) I really enjoyed meeting and speaking with Ms.Donohoe for the first time. As an art critic, she has reviewed my own work on several occasions, once very favorably and once not so much...LOL! But c'est la vie, she calls them as she sees them (and she has great sartorial flair, something I had heard but never before seen...wow! How I'd love to paint her in that gorgeous red suit!)



Last but not least, here is my friend Marianne Mitchell, with artist Pam Taggart and myself at the opening of a show Marianne curated at Historic Yellow Springs.
Landscape Into Abstraction
Opening Reception: Sunday June 6
Exhibition: June 1-19, Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m
Lincoln Building 1st Floor.
Historic Yellow Springs
Chester Springs, PA 19425 610-827-7414
Marianne Mitchell, curator of this exhibit, presents artwork from artists who derive inspiration from landscape, capturing imagery through emotionally intuitive expression and communicating the essence of “place” with a uniquely personal vision.
I was very pleased to be included in the group of wonderful artists Marianne selected, although I definitely was on the outer edge of the continuum of style. Other friends and aquaintances in the show include Stuart Shils, Bill Scott, Elaine Lisle and Justin Snow.

Preparing

FRAMING
is not a favorite task for most artists, but it is necessary. Oddly, people have very strong and conflicting opinions about frames, all people with good taste even, so you just never know.

When I started showing in New York my gallery director came on very strong for her preference for a slim, plain wood, surround...what's known sometimes as a Chelsea frame: shadowbox sleek and contemporary. I strove to come up to specs (this was New York after all!) but due to some time pressures I had to send in a few pieces in my husband Paul's handmade and hand-gilded frames. The gallery director grudgingly allowed a couple of those frames in the mix but let me know it was on sufferance. Then a well-known collector bought one of my pieces in a Chelsea frame but requested that it be re-framed in a gilded frame like another of my pieces he'd seen in the show! After that my gallery director eased up on the Chelsea frame requirements. In fact, she eventually began praising and requesting the simple gilded frames!

On the other hand, I recently sold a piece in a gilt frame but only closed the sale after I promised to re-frame it, this time in basic black (a hot trend in the Philly art world.) So, think before you sneer: when it comes to framing all bets are off! :-)

These paintings are being prepped for various small works exhibits: the three smallest pieces will be at Artists' House Gallery (57 N 2nd Street,Philadelphia) and the reception is this Sunday, Dec 6, 1-4. Hope to see you there!

Friend Friday

Several friends of mine have been busy recently, and I thought I'd boast a little about their achievements. Above you see my friend Katie, also known as Dr. Katharine Beals, who just had a book come out two weeks ago. Since I've watched the whole book birthing process from idea to drafts to re-writes to actual published volume I feel like a proud auntie. The book is called Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World and is published by Shambhala books. Congratulations my friend!



Beth Randall is an old friend with whom I had lost touch till she showed up taking one of my classes at the Main Line Art Center a year or so ago. What a pleasure to renew our acquaintance, and to watch Beth's prodigious talent flowering. Not that I had much to do with it, but nonetheless I was very proud to attend the reception of her very first solo show a couple of weeks ago: the work looks great! If you live on the main line you really should stop in and take a look:
Oil Paintings by Beth Randall
Oct. 2 -- Nov. 1, 2009
Milkboy Coffee
824 West Lancaster Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA



Blush Roses, Frances Galante, oil on linen, 12 x 19

My friend Frances Galante is having a one-person show too, in Old City Philadelphia. I unfortunately missed the opening reception but I went to see the show last week. The work has a beautiful clarity and freshness that speaks straight to the heart!
Recent Work
September 30 to November 1, 2009
Artists' House Gallery
57 North Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Giorgio Morandi (Italian, 1890–1964)
Still Life (Natura morta), 1956
Oil on canvas; 9 7/8 x 13 7/8 in. (25.2 x 35.2 cm)
Yale University Art Gallery

MORANDI at the MET
Just back tonight from seeing the Giorgio Morandi exhibit at the Met. The show had a curiously dim, unassuming air, consistent with Morandi's reputation as a modest (and dusty) man, but in many ways the exhibit absolutely exceeded my expectations. At one point I became aware that I was faintly whimpering with some barely suppressed emotion...and I only realized it because some other show-goer gave me an alarmed look and stepped away smartly! ;-) Oh well. I wandered through the show several times (eventually the friends I was with got bored and went on ahead to lunch) and I would have happily stayed longer.

But we were due in Chelsea to drop off some paintings for the December group show at Sherry French Gallery. I felt a little dizzy later, sitting in Sherry's, discussing show cards and inventory numbers...as though I had just sledded top speed down a high mountain.



Nancy Bea Miller, Creamer, Cake, Coffee, 2008,
oil on canvas laid to board, 9 x 12 inches

MINIMALIST BERRY
Minimalism is the theme today at Photo Friday and I thought I'd join in. It's been a while since I last participated. I've been very busy preparing for my one person show in New York: it is called Still Moments and it opens next week on June 7th. (If you're in New York then, please stop by the Sherry French Gallery and say Hi!) I finally got the paintings delivered a few days ago, and feel like I can finally catch my breath and relax a little for the first time in months.

I took this photo of a still-life set-up I was working on, afraid that the berry would rot before I finished the painting and I wouldn't be able to find a stand-in. However, I got the painting done before that happened, and was wondering what to do with the shot. Thank you Illustration Friday!

EVENING GLOW ON THE HUDSON RIVER

I, the merest speck,
peer through a small glass eye, see
the large world glowing.

Yesterday was the artist's reception for a show I am currently in at Sherry French Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. A beautiful day and here is the stunning view from the gallery's windows. For more info on that show, click here.