Fredric Hope: Silent Storytellers at William D. Cannon Art Gallery

by Patricia Frischer

On a day I was glad for the rain as it reduced my fear of fires, I got a special treat. I braved the weather to see the new  Fredric Hope: Silent Storytellers exhibition at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery  and I found HOPE.. That is what really good art can do for you.

I knew nothing about this artist, but found out that his influences were Giorgio Morandi and  Wayne Thiebaud, two of my favorites. You can clearly see these artists in works that are well-crafted and studiously observed. Hope has a unique perspective. They are southern California shoresscapes, but there is a surreal element to the works and some very modern twists. 

Although he was a commercial designer for Disney and Universal, he shifted to teaching and that gloss that results from the commercial world is not interfering with a sort of purity of vision you see in these compositions. There is a area for creation in the new layout of the Cannon Gallery to honor this artists dedication to his teaching. 

Fredric Hope: Silent Storytellers at William D. Cannon Art Gallery
February 7 through June 28
Reception Feb 22, 3 to 6 pm
Opening Times: Tues - Sat 12 - 5 p.m.

Hello, Dollies! Paper Doll-Making at Front Porch Gallery in Carlsbad

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

 A great start on a doll at the Artful Paper Doll Workshop on January 30^th.

 

I hadn’t been to Front Porch Gallery in a long time, but the idea of making paper dolls using colorful papers, fabrics, trinkets, and any interesting bits and pieces the Gallery had or you wanted to bring from home was appealing… especially since it was taking place during a big event: the annual Gallery Takeover by folks whose artworks were created at FPG workshops during the past year.

 Tiny Creative Habits.

More from the Gallery Takeover.

And an environmental piece.

“Creative thinking is part of being human,” said Gallery Director Cathy Carey. “Art is not a luxury; it’s a basic human need. Art practices promote healing, well-being, and even longevity, and they’re even more fun when you can do them in a social setting, like here in the gallery.”

Just walking in the door was an inspiration. And for someone like me, more used to putting words together than actual artworks, it was inspirational to see what others in the workshop were creating from the tables full of multicolored papers, ribbons, stickers, scraps of fabric and assorted doodads… plus of course their own imaginations.

Surprise.

Different.

Two Dolls, from one doll-maker.

The friendly staff were always ready to help when help was needed. I’d brought a few of my own bits and pieces, and I’ve had some experience with collage, but doll-making was a whole new world. So I definitely needed help, and Teaching Artist Robin Barrett was full of suggestions I’d never have come up with on my own…even the most efficient ways of cutting and pasting.

The Writer’s Doll.

There’s something for everyone at Front Porch Gallery, and all workshops and events are free of charge. Try to come while the Gallery Takeover is still on view. You’ve seen only a teeny bit of it here, and it closes March 13^th.

I’m closing with two images of a two-sided doll: one side a Gardener, the other a Glamour Girl--all this done in two hours!     

Two-Sided Doll 1. 

Two-Sided Doll 2.

 

And these last few words: What a great way to spend a couple of hours!

Whenever you’re here, you’ll be happy you came.

Front Porch Gallery
2903 Carlsbad Blvd.  Carlsbad, CA 92008
Phone: 760-795-6120
Hours: Wednesday-Friday, 11am-5 pm.  Saturday: 11-4. 

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Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

 

The Half-Life of Marie Curie and The Art of Dr. Beata Mierzwa at New Village Arts

 by Patricia Frischer

Dr. Beata Mierzwa

At the play The Half-Life of Marie Curie, I learned a lot about Marie Curie that I did not know in the angst filled performance by Rachael VanWormer, which was delightfully countered by Leigh Scarritt as Hertha Ayrton, the engineer and suffragette. Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize TWICE and in two different scientific fields. She had an affair at a time that women simply could not do what men did without being labeled a harlot. I learned to see how “half life” can refer to a change in elemental make-up, a change in life direction and even as a concept of a further life after death.  The play Half-Life of Marie Curie at New Village Arts until March 9 does this all in one act of 70 minutes.

I was mesmerized by Leigh Scarritt who controlled the stage with her sidesways glances and moveable face. I knew nothing of Hertha Ayrton, but she is now seared in my memory and this role was made for Scarritt. A minimal stage with terrific lighting affects was the most visually artistic part of the experience besides the display by Dr. Beata Mierzwa in the lobby. 

I was moved by the notes in the playbill: 

Kym Pappas Director’s Notes:
"This is for the women. You who are strong. Resilient. You who combine courage and compassion. Thank you. This is for you. The Fearless. This is for the Mothers. For the Grandmothers. For the teachers. You who are sanctuary. This is for you. For the warriors. The ones who are deemed loud…assertive…demanding. Thank you. This is for you. This is for the poets. For the ones who speak…for the ones who dance…for the bitches and the witches too. Thank you. This is for the geniuses. For the girls who struggle in math class and the ones who excel. This is for you. This is for the ones who travel, who carve a path for all to follow. For the ones who strut. The ones whose laughter could heal a nation. The ones who love the animals. This is for you. This is for the ones who write the words and speak the words and sing the words too. Thank you. This is for the ones who feel like they just cannot anymore. Those who carry the dark. This is for you. This is for the ones who show up, who bring the light. This is for you. Thank you. This is for the women. For all of the ways we show up in the world, for all of the ways we get each other through. Thank you"

 Rachael VanWormer as the  scientist Marie Curie 

Leigh Scarritt as Hertha Ayrton, the engineer and suffragette.

A wonderful drunk moment in the performance

Special lighting by Curtis Mueller

Dr. Beata Mierzwa is a molecular biologist working on division of animal cells. Her works of art are based on this subject and her goal is to help communicate science in a different way. She uses fundamental scientific aspects to create drawings for both scientists and non-scientists to discover the beauty in fundamental biological principles. Her works for this show are printed and presented in rich color and a reflective surface. On display is also one of her fashion designs…fabric and jewelry as well as a digital game Microscopya. 

Dr. Beata Mierzwa

Dr. Beata Mierzwa

Dr. Beata Mierzwa

Dr. Beata Mierzwa

Dr. Beata Mierzwa

The Half-Life of Marie Curie
Ray Charles Stage in the Conrad Prebys Theatre at the Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center
Jan 24-Feb 23, 2025
Written By Lauren Gunderson
Directed By Kym Pappas
2787 State Street, Carlsbad, CA 92008
760-433-3245

Form and Shadow with furniture by Paul Henry at PHES Gallery

by Patricia Frischer

Paul Henry

Sometimes I think that Paul Henry is one of the best kept secrets in San Diego, but then I realize how famous he is for his amazing furniture designs since he has been here so long and knows everybody who knows anybody. The wide breath of knowledge extends beyond the history and skill of woodcraft. He listens to people, to their stories and concerns. The opening of PHES  (Paul Henry and Ellen Speert) Gallery gives him ample opportunity to expand those conversations.

And I truly believe those conversation exist between his furniture pieces, maybe not during that day but after 7pm when no one is around. I can see Paris, 1755 speaking down to Baltimore, 1810 and Vienna,1814 confiding to New York,1825. You see, many of his pieces are titled to reflect the originals of their inspiration. Henry delights in drawers and you can imagine those flapping well into the night. Not that they would have any complaints about their construction. It is impeccable, even when amazingly complicated.

In this show you also get a chance to see a collaboration between Paul Henry and his wife Ellen Speert. The cabinets doors, decorated with fret work from an old guitar, open to reveal a lovely little cloud painting on the background panel. Henry has been collecting bits and pieces of veneers and old parts of instruments and antique furniture, even rare wood and he upcycles those into modern works that cry out to their histories.

The Form and Shadow part of the show really references the black, white and shades of grey works that are on the walls of PHES.  Lisa Croner’s works is  subtle and seems to shimmer with silver hues. Lisa Archilla photographs have that look of a gelatin silver print*. They are dry mounted on metal, but none of the metal shows through. Instead, I think, it is just the contrast of the dark and light that give these beautiful works their exception quality. Rin Colabucci gives us starker images but they are still delightfully playful.

 *gelatin silver prints are black-and-white photographs made using a light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts and gelatin.

Paul Henry (detail)

 

Paul Henry

Paul Henry

Paul Henry with cloudscape by Ellen Speert 

Paul Henry

Lisa Croner

Lisa Croner

Lisa Archilla

Lisa Archilla

Lisa Archilla

Rin Colabucci

Rin Colabucci

Form and Shadow
PHES Gallery
Until March 9, 2025
PLEASE NOTE: The Gallery will be closed February 13 through 23 for Spring Break.
2633 State St, Carlsbad, CA 92008 
paul@paulhenryfurniture.com (760) 696-3022
Thursday – Saturday
2 p.m.-7 p.m. and by appointment

Healing Art + Creative Opportunities at ICA North’s CU Saturday

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

Artist Ethan Chan, in silent performance with TV and Table.
(He usually ate alone, but would set the table for
others in order to feel less lonely.)

Saturday may be date night for some people but Saturday late afternoon-into-evening is often date time for art-lovers on the five-acre ICA North campus in Encinitas or inside their spacious ICA Central gallery in Balboa Park.

On January 18^th, San Diegans of all ages came together in Encinitas to view new exhibits by ICA’s two 2024 artists-in-residence and have a chance to create their own artworks too. The theme was healing: In the upper gallery, Ethan Chan, an Asian American, displayed his sense of loneliness and isolation--intensified during the pandemic--in an hour-long silent solo performance. What was totally engaging to viewers was his love of kitsch: plastic sauce packets he turned into a comfort-food-laden table, and a wearable, wall-mounted Packet Jacket depicting the uniform worn by archetypal American heroes.

Packet Jacket.

The Sin Ti Series by David Peña.

These are lyrics from “Sin Ti” (“Without You”), a 1947 song by Los Panchos that brings David Peña back to the music he used to hear at the home of his beloved grandparents, who are no longer alive. These ten pieces are cyanotypes, which use sunlight to fix impressions of physical objects onto paper or, as here, onto canvas, assuaging the artist’s grief by recreating the past. 

English translation:     
“Without you
I will never be able to live
And to think that never again
You will be by my side.”

 On CU Saturdays, there are opportunities for visitors of all ages to get creative, with as much help or advice from ICA staff as they need.

 

ICA member Carrie Elwin, one of many eager participants:
 “I come here to craft,” she said. “I’m the perfect crafting freelance creative!”

The next CU Saturday will be February 15, 4-7 p.m., at ICA Central. 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. 

Will you be there?

Plan your visit to the  ICA   

Ethan Chan & David Peña: Heavy as Ghosts.
ICA San Diego / North (Encinitas)
Saturday, January 18, 2025 - Sunday, July 27, 2025
Thursday–Sunday 12:00 to 5:00 pm
Monday–Wednesday Closed 

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

Revisiting Quilt Visions 2024 at Visions Museum of Textile Art

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.  

 

Soul Spies, by Candi Lennox, St. Augustine, Florida. (Emerging Artist Award)
“They are referred to as the window of the soul, and I have relied on the eyes
to tell me the story of my fellow humans during our masking season,”
the artist wrote.

If you missed seeing Quilt Visions 2024, Visions Museum of Textile Art’s 25th international juried art quilt exhibition that closed at the end of December, here are a few of the extraordinary pieces that were on view, each of them an award-winner.

Winter Trees-A Glimmer of Light, by Shin-Hee Chin, McPherson, Kansas.
(SAQA Award, selected by the jurors for art that is compelling, dynamic, and progressive.)
Materials: Recycled blanket, cotton, linen, polyester threads.
Technique: Hand stitching, random weave and stitch.

This was the most amazing piece in the exhibition: it looked like an impressionist painting!  

Emerald Gardens, by Mel Beach, San Jose, California.
(Quilts Japan Award,awarded by Japan Handicrafts Instructors
and Nihon Vogue.)
Materials: Evolon non-woven fiber, liquid acrylic fabric paints,
hand-carved block prints,ink pad, assortment of threads,
dimensional fabric paint, “and a few sequins for bling factor.”  
Technique: Faux dyeing, block printing, free-motion quilting,
hand embroidery. “Each transformation is both meditative and fun.”

Reunity, 2024, by Phil Jones, Morrison, Colorado.(President’s Award)
“I am deeply concerned by the ugly, divisive environment in our current
world state of affairs…Reunity is a spiritual compass--
beaconing towards unity, totality, wholeness, and inclusion.”

Milltown Bus Stop, 2023, by Maggie Dillon, Sarasota, Florida.
(Award for Realism)
Technique: Raw edge machine applique, free motion machine quilting.

There will be much more to see at Visions in 2025. We haven’t had a chance to visit the current exhibits that opened January 11^th but there are five of them, four of which will be on view through April 26^th. Here are two fine examples:

 

From Beaded Echoes: Reflecting the Fragility of Life: La Garza (Heron) by Isa Guadalupe.

From Rocks, Water, and Reflections: Valley View Yosemite by Sandra Mollon.

If you want to see more, check out Current Exhibitions - Visions Museum of Textile Art .  But it’s a far better thing to see Visions in person.

Visions Museum ofTextile Arts
2825 Dewey Rd. Suite 100 in Liberty Station. Free admission.
HOURS: Wednesday/Thursday, 10 am-2 pm. Friday/Saturday, 10-4.
Phone: 619-546-4872

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net