Sunday, December 24, 2017

Holiday Cheer and Wishing you the Joys of the Season


Sometimes it is just good to take a big deep breath, forget your worries and have some fun. And if you can't do that at the end of the year...during the holiday season, than you are just sad! So make sure that you have plenty of cheer in your life, share your love, and spread as much happiness as possible. 

Our SDVAN holiday potluck exchange was so much fun. Lots of items found new homes and a few too many items found my stomach!  Lots of sweets this year, but what the hey!




Reclaimed broken bits of jewelry got a new life as our mistletoe as there is never enough kissing. 


Managed to snap this shot of Ralyn Wolfstein's caviar egg salad before it was devoured. 




Arthur Flick produced a night in his garden of sharing and caring. Here he is with Kaz Maslanka


Patricia (not me!) entertained us with this stunning shadow dance


Joe Monzo


Melinda Resende with the terrific keyboard player


Kira Corser brought her Peace and Freedom Posts and Silk Tapestries


Fabulously cute dancers at the Encinitas Friends of the Arts Membership appreciation party





The Christmas tree at Liberty Station supplied by the NTC Foundation. 




Ellen Speert and Paul Henry invited friends to a labyrinth walk at their Center for Creative Renewals



Darwin models some of the hats we sent as presents to relatives this year. 



Janine Free caught my holiday spirit


Sunday, December 17, 2017

End of Year NCAN Arts and Economic Summit Take Aways

By Patricia Frischer


I spent a good part of this year arranging for a North County Arts Network Arts and Economic Summit. It was held in October while I was away in London. So it has taken me some time to review all the presentations, watch the videos and digest the information. I think this is a fitting time to summarize what I learned even though I was a long distance away. These following three take aways, I think, touch the heart of this event.

·       Arts and Culture is Not Just Food for the Soul. It is Food for the Table
·       Arts and Culture is Small Investment for a Large Return
·       Arts and Culture is no longer a charity: It is an economic industry generating approx. $1.1 billion in revenues for San Diego County.

These three succinct statements can be the cornerstone of convincing the community at large, particularly the business section, that supporting the arts is a vital part of the health of the our society, economically and luckily for us all, emotionally as well as many of us know.  

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Industry
Recognize that if you want a creative workforce, you need to support arts education.
Help create a cultural community to attract the best talent.
Support the arts with sponsorships, grants and discounts 
Indulge in the arts by attending art events and encouraging your work force to do the same.

Civic Organization
Make sure you have a staff arts employee
Campaign for % for the arts programs
Facilitate connection between the business community and the arts community
Support the arts with funding which encourage collaborations

Arts Organization and Artist
Stop thinking of yourselves as victims and looking for hand outs.  
Realize you are part of the economic fabric of the community.
Join together to promote the arts and for advocacy issues. You are always stronger together than apart.
Vote and campaign for government candidate that support the arts


As an artist, I am especially concerned with making sure that art products contribute well to certain criteria set out by Americans for the Arts. By thinking about these sets of issues of Aesthetic Perspecitve, you have a better chance of getting grants and creating work that will be seen and appreciated. Here are the Attributes for Excellence in Art for Change.

Communal meaning -  The creative work facilitates collective meaning that transcends individual perspective and experience.

Commitment -  Creative processes and products embody conviction to the cause espoused through the work.

Disruption - Art challenges what is by exposing what has been hidden, posing new ways of being, and modeling new forms of action

Cultural integrity - The creative work demonstrates integrity and ethical use of material with specific cultural origins and context.

Emotional experience -  Arts for Change facilitates a productive movement between “heart space”—the emotional experience that art evokes— and the “head space” of civic or social issues.

Sensory Experience - Vivid sensations deepen the experience of the creative work and heighten the power of its messages and the potential for change.

Risk taking - Creative work assumes risk by subverting dominant norms, values, narratives, standards, or aesthetics.

Openness - The creative work deepens impact by remaining open, fluid, transparent, subject to influence, and able to hold contradiction

Coherence - Strong ideas expressed with clarity advance both artistic and social purposes.

Resourcefulness - Imaginative use of available resources drives artistic innovation and demonstrates responsible social and environmental practice

Stickiness - The creative work achieves sustained resonance, impact, or value.


Finally, we don’t create art to hid it under the bed or in the closet. We are no where unless we have a audience and so to our dear public:

Give generously to non-profit arts organizations,  like San Diego Visual Arts Network,  which promotes the visual arts region wide.
Attend receptions, drink copiously and BUY MORE ART

Friday, November 17, 2017

SDVAN Giving Tuesday





Every year we remind out supporters about the Better Giving Campaign Giving Tuesday. We appreciate their cash donations, but this year we decided to offer the opportunity to support San Diego Visual Arts Network to a selected artist. We gave Cheryl Sorg the remit to incorporate the Giving Tuesday Logo into a specially designed art work that we could use on our website and emails to promote the day. Ms. Sorg uses a special paper that changes color from different angles. So when photographed from different viewpoints it appears to be a whole new work of art. We made a selection of these to create a banner for our site.

We give back to our supporters every year with a no fee accessory exchange party. This year we have invite Cheryl Sorg to showcase her works of art at that party. So the effort she made for us will do double duty! We hope that the coverage we give to her along with our thanks will be of benefit to her. We certainly believe by having an original work of art created especially for our campaign, we are getting a great benefit from her. 


Our great thanks to Cheryl Sorg.


Our Giving Tuesday campaign this year is on TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28TH. We appreciate our supporters and their cash donations. Donate to SDVAN online, by phone or by post.. Those of you who can give $25 of more will be listed on the permanent sponsor page.Thank you so much for your tax deductible donation. Our 2017 Support page is now online….make sure your name is on it and remember SDVAN in your annual end of the year giving.

OMA: Maruyama, Undocumenta, Brooks, Dieter, San Roman, Crump

By Patricia Frischer

October 7, 2017–February 18, 2018

Wendy Maruyama was one of the SDVAN SD Art Prize recipients in 2015 and it is gratifying to see this wonderful display of her work so dramatically presented at OMA. This sensitive homage to wildlife is moving and respectful.  






September 23, 2017–January 28, 2018


UnDocumenta is part of  Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA and the title is a play on the big semi-annual exhibition in Germany called Documenta, but in this case referring to undocumented refugees from across the border. The artists included are: Claudia Cano (in disguise as a cleaning lady), Teresita De La Torre (wearing a found immigrant shirt for a whole year) , Ana Teresa Fernández (painting out the border wall), Dominic Paul Miller (perforated drawings), Omar Pimienta (giant inflated Statue of Liberty and a recreated passport office to Colonia Libertad, Marcos Ramírez (ERRE) ( the faux border wall that replaces the façade of the museum).

It is important to acknowledge those who funded this show. The lead sponsors: Ving and Valya Simpson, supporting sponsor Fenner Milton and program sponsors Larry and Debra Poteet

Alessandra Moctezuma, the curator,  will be working on programming for the exhibition as part of her sabbatical from San Diego Mesa College. Bilingual Spanish/English guided tours, public lectures and artist talks, and a tour of artists’ studios in Tijuana are among the programming in development.

Programs Related To This Exhibition
Nov Sun 19  Bilingual Guided Gallery Tours Of Undocumenta 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Dec Sat 2  Embroidery As A Form Of Resistance 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Marcus Ramirez 'Erre'



October 21, 2017–March 18, 2018

It is always wonderful to discover a new artist and we are blessed in San Diego to have so many. I found this more traditional work to be surprisingly inviting and compelling.  




October 21, 2017–March 18, 2018

So many textures and patterns, Dieter is obviously enjoying herself immensely and that is translated to her audience. All three of these smaller rooms were so well curated and displayed and it was a pleasure to see the artwork focused in a new way. 



October 21, 2017–March 18, 2018

A terrific work from Julia San Roman was the star of her show and should be snapped up by a collector. But one can only realize its strength by understanding the other works that surround and support it. 



August 26, 2017–February 18, 2018

A little cute goes a long way, that is why I gravitated to the naughty room where I found this wonderful Japanese pillow book inspired erotic painting.  Mr. Crump, we like your Hyde side.  







Friday, November 3, 2017

London Post Script 2017

On the  last two days of our London trip I finally started to discover some very local art delights just minutes away from our ABNB flat. Yes, the fall has arrived and the leaves are changing and tingle of cool air is coming. But I was so pleased to see such wonderful art just a stone's through from our front door. For all of you are considering visiting, don't forget to discover Bermondsey...and that includes my  London friends!






This was a tale of the future apocalypse but set in World War 1 and 2.  I loved the disappearance of heads and the appearance of the wonderful circle/spheres as a mystery element of hope. 






The exhibition was on the top floor of a private home up a set of lovely wood stairs. The work was a mix of variations on clothes and accessories from a frock made from old bicycle tires to the rough wool of a sheep. We have seen recycled fashion before, but I think it was the hand wrought details of this work that was so poignant.   






The second part of the show has some charming rabbit themed works which I am including for my good friend Irene de Watteville. In fact the hats above would suit her so well. And how could i not include a gallery cat for Michelle Kurtis Cole!







Tucked into an old industrial park was a huge space, so was a perfect showroom for Nicola Tyson. I loved these small drawings and her full life sized figures were stellar. The space and the connect Tannery Gallery/Project has artist studios and a public drawing room










Tannery Projects Appropriated Sunlight: Ralph Anderson and Nancy Milner

From this group show I choose two artist, Ralph Anderson shaped strokes were painted red on the reverse and so the wall glowed around the cut out and around the outer edges.  These rounded free works made a nice contract the Nancy Milner's color field stripes with the out of focus change over. Both of these artists' works are completely flat. 

Ralph Anderson

Ralph Anderson

Ralph Anderson (detail0

Nancy Milner

Nancy Milner




We were turned on to this meditation center by Richard and Victoria Nathanson although they live all the way on the other side of London in Putney. 
Richard Nathans on is an exclusive private art dealer who just curated an exhibition in New York on Modigliani Unmasked | Drawings From The Paul Alexandre Collection And Other Works.  Read his essay: What I Am Searching For