Behold America at MCASD, La Jolla

Behold, America!: Art of the United States from Three San Diego Museums, Sep 16, 2012 through Feb 10, 2013 at MCASD La Jolla

This exhibition is an exhibition put together from all of the permanent collections of The San Diego Museum of Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and Timken Museum of Art  but only the show at MCASD is already open. The others follow in November. I was most impressed with the contemporary works in the show and by the large amount of works that were on display by San Diego Artists including many SD Art Prize recipients. There is a rather strange combination of old master type landscapes either by American artist painting abroad or world wide artists painting American scenes which are sprinkled throughout the exhibition space. This was better than having them all segregated in their own section. If the curator made connections to the works near by, there was no visible explanation of what it was.  It was nice to notice that many of the contemporary works were actually from the SD Museum of Art collection.

Did the show hold together? Not very strongly but it was still a delight to see so many great works of art here in San Diego. And after all, Behold America is a fairly lose way to organize an exhibition. The categories of Frontiers,(landscapes) Figures (portraits), and Forms (still lives) is an excuse to gather the works but at least we get a chance to see these institution talking to each other and bringing works together that have not been shown together before. Huge Davies recently stated that the economy has dictated that they do less expensive show like those that are local and do not entail large insurance premiums.  Once we see all three shows, it will be interesting to take a revised view.

Albert Bierstadt

Alfred Jarr

Ann Hamilton felt boots as part of this installation below

Ann Hamilton presented a room with glass slides on the walls and a glass floor covering glass. A the far end was an embedded video of a mouth receiving a stream of water

Christ drawing

Deborah Butterfield

Iana Quesnel (SD Art Prize)

James Drakes

Paul Kos, Guadalupe Bell, 1989, bronze bell, steel, phosphorescent pigment and strobe light. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Museum purchase with contributions from the Awards in the Visual Arts program. © Paul Kos 1989.

There was this huge bell and when a visitor rang it, beside the bang of the clapper, you saw a split second image of the Madonna of Guadalupe in a slight blue that looked like an after image.

Always wonderful to see this James Irwin piece and it has been refreshed and you see all three glassless windows in this show.

One of my all time favorites is Milton Avery with these pale but charmingly potent works

Vito Acconci's works start flat on the ground. We were so fortunate to find adventurous visitors that made it come alive.

This is my star shot..amazing what a simple cell phone cam can do!

Einar and Jamex de la Torre (Baja map - SD Art Prize)

Ruben Ortiz Torres (SD Art Prize)

Tim Craighead at RB Strevenson

Tim Craighead,

R.B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, CA

Article  by Cathy Breslaw
Showing until Oct 27

Tim Craighead’s exhibition at R.B. Stevenson Gallery is a group of thirteen works – nine on linen and four framed works on paper. Craighead uses a combination of oil, alkyd, casein, ink and graphite to create paintings that sit somewhere within the spectrum of both abstraction and representation.  The color palette is decidedly organic and derived from the natural environment. He has a painterly style that also strongly references drawing and mark-making and there is special attention played to thebackground surfaces revealing the artist’s love of painting and the exploration of glazing and layering with an array of color values and tones. Within each work, the viewer may find what seem to be small areas of energy patterns created with brush and line as well as geometric structural shapes and realistically rendered drawings of plant-like forms. Craighead appears to be studying the relationships between geometry and the natural world and we as viewers are witnesses to his ongoing explorations.

"Dos Mundos"

oil, alkyd & casein on linen

72 x 60 in

2005 - 2009

"Totem"

oil, alkyd & casein on linen

72 x 60 in

2006

Cathy Breslaw is a southern California visual artist, writer and lecturer who has had over 25 solo exhibitions, and 50 group exhibitions across the country at museums, art centers, college and university galleries and commercial galleries. Her work can be found in many private and corporate collections. Her work and writing can be seen at:
www.cathylbreslaw.com
www.artfullifebycathy.blogspot.com
cathybreslaw@roadrunner.com

Art San Diego: New City Art Fair

SDVAN Art Booth at the Fair featuring SD Art Prize

San Diego Art Prize 2012 Booth #C19 at New Art City: Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair: September 6-9 featuring Jeffery Laudenslager with emerging artist Deanne Sabeck , Arline Fisch with emerging artist Vincent Robles, VIP Opening night Thursday Sept 6 from 7 to 9 pm, $65 online, $75 at door . Hours: Fri and Sat, Sept 7/8 from noon to 7 pm, Sun, Sept 9 from noon to 5 pm $10 - $25 ( Balboa Park Activity Center, 2145 Park Boulevard, San Diego 92101).More info: Patricia Frischer 760.943.0148.

Local Galleries at the fair: Scott White Contemporary, R.B. Stevenson Gallery, Quint Contemporary Art, Susan Street Fine Art, Meyer Fine Art, McNabb Martin Contemporary Art, Salazar Contemporary and Modern Art, Tasende Gallery, Beyond the Borders, Sergott Caroff Art Alliance, CJ Gallery.

San Diego Art Prize 2012 at Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair., Sept 6-9, 2012. This year the fair was at the Balboa Park Activity Center and it was hot, hot, hot. The temperature was killer but the art was also a high standard and really represented San Diego in a way that made us all proud. It is nice to show the international community that San Diego can hold its own in the marketplace. We understand over 10,000 people attend which is 20% higher than previous years. Our thanks go to the 24 volunteers and the four artists Arline Fisch with emerging artist Vincent Robles  and Jeffery Laudenslager with emerging artist Deanne Sabeck  plus Melissa Au who shows her stunning portraits of the artists along with a slide show of them in their studios. 

I am so sorry that I don't have captions for all these works below. I apologize to the dealers and the artists. This was a quick walk through of the art that caught my eye, but I was near heat exhaustion when I recorded these art works at the end of the fair.

Sabeck and Laudenslager Peep Show Exterior

Peep Show Interior

Sabeck painting with light and Laudenslager kenitic scultpures

Arline Fisch jewelry and Mobil, Vincent Robles sculpture

Former Art Prize recipients de la Torres brothers at Beyond the Border Gallery

Gail Roberts oil painting former SD Art Prize recipient

Part of the Chinese booth. This small plate was prized at $500,000

More Chinese ceramic art

Gerrit Greve large portrait painting

Two works from Quint Contemporary

Featured artist Wally Gilbert from CJ Gallery in SD

Part of the furniture display sponsored by SDSU

Filner, DeMaio debate on arts and culture and the economic future

Congratulations to John Eger, Paige Simpson with the San Diego Innovation Alliance and co-sponsored KPBS who arranged this debate at the Museum of Photography in Balboa Park. Watch and make your own decision.

Read the article about the debate on the KPBS website. Paige was able to announce the Innovation Incubator grant just awarded to SD from the National Science Foundation. This will be STEAM project (Science Technology, Engineering, ART and Math) and is one of the first in the nation!!!

SD Art Prize 2012 at Art San Diego Fair

San Diego Art Prize 2012 Booth #C19 
at New Art City: Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair 
September 6-9 
featuring Jeffery Laudenslager with emerging artist Deanne Sabeck
Arline Fisch with emerging artist Vincent Robles,  
VIP Opening night Thursday Sept 6 from 7 to 9 pm, $65 online, $75 at door. Hours: Fri and Sat, Sept 7/8 from noon to 7 pm, Sun, Sept 9 from noon to 5 pm $10 - $25
Balboa Park Activity Center, 2145 Park Boulevard, San Diego 92101). 
More info: Patricia Frischer 760.943.0148.

Local Galleries at the fair: Scott White Contemporary, R.B. Stevenson Gallery, Quint Contemporary Art, Susan Street Fine Art, Meyer Fine Art, McNabb Martin Contemporary Art, Salazar Contemporary and Modern Art, Tasende Gallery, Beyond the Borders, Sergott Caroff Art Alliance, CJ Gallery.

Art Spaces for Art Places

SDVAN was invited to attend a meeting with Victoria Hamilton, director of the SD Commission for Arts and Culture, to discuss a more successful way to obtain an Art Place grant. The previous year, San Diego organizations submitted a joint grant application which was not successful.

ArtPlace is a collaboration of ten leading national and regional foundations, eight federal agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, and six of the nation’s largest banks to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S. Participating foundations include Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation and an anonymous donor. Funds committed to ArtPlace are overseen by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, a nonprofit lender and financial consulting organization. ArtPlace is also supported by a $12 million loan fund capitalized by six major financial institutions We have been fortunate to have Carole Colleta, president, Art Place attend meetings in SD. And she will be again a participant at the Culture of Innovation global forum (more info below) Letter of inquiry open on  Sept 4, and close Nov 1. On Jan 2, 2013 finalists are  announced and grants on awarded in June 2013. Applications are due Nov 1

This year it was decided that individual organizations should be encourage to apply separately and the commission would try to supply help in terms of professional editing. The groups applying will also communicate with each other and make sure that any cross over is considered as a collaboration in hopes of making both applications stronger

Art Spaces who might apply include but are not limited to:

 David Malmuth with partner Pete Garcia through  I.D.E.A has placed a flag in the earth by acquiring a space between 13^th and 14^th and F and G for $1 a year for 2 years. This will be a great place for pop up events, art labs and artists installation. David is also behind the Culture of Innovation global forum held in Balboa Park Sept 5/6. Partnering with the Urban Land Institute (SD/TJ branch) and the Aspen Institute, the program will consist of keynote addresses, plenary sessions, in-depth discussions in small groups, workshops, artistic and cultural events, and the showcasing of creative and innovative experiences at the intersection of technology, culture, and business. It will close with a visit to the New Art City Art San Diego Fair for the VIP opening reception.

Lynn Susholtz’s Art Produce Gallery now includes the new garden and stage as she continues her innovative programming.  The gallery is being reconfigured into a larger gallery space adjacent to what will become a new Swoon Dessert Bar at Art Produce. The garden is open every Thursday from 4-6 pm.

Cheryl Nichel and Ruby Cougler from Space4Art  are looking for funding for new classroom in the short term and will be looking for an entire new space eventually. They want to stay in East Village if possible, and so the connection to I.D.E.A might make for a great collaboration.

Leticia Gomez Franco helped us understand more about Front in San Ysidro part of Casa Familiar, where emerging women artists are about to start on a repurposing bus project to use as a traveling art lab. Working with USCD Calit2 and their giant multiple video screens is one of their big advantages, bringing communication into the community and the community into the university.

Justin Hudnall of So Say All of Us is now working on East County rejuvenation and concentrating on programming geared for new population of first time home owners. So Say All of Us is bringing Arab American Film Festival to Santee, working with local historical societies and publishing stories about The Far East AKA El Cajon with the help of the Catalyst grant from the SD Foundation.

There are many other organizations that should be encourage to apply including Alan Ziter from  The NTC Foundation (where are meeting was held) whose goal is to build an art community, David White and Agitprop and Zack Nielsen from Sezio.

For an example of a successful program we were guided to check out Intersection Art Five M in SF Founded in the early 1960’s and incorporated in 1965, Intersection for the Arts cultivates inclusiveness, builds community, and inspires social change through art.

The commission itself does give out grants in this same area Creative Community grants from Commission of Arts and Culture .

Athenaeum's 21st Annual Juried Show

Athenaeum's 21st Annual Juried Show
Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

1008 Wall St, La Jolla,  92037

More info: Katie Walders 858.454.5872

Ben Strauss-Malcolm, Director of the Quint Gallery, and Jill Dawsey, Associate Curator for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, served as the Athenaeum's 21st Annual Juried Exhibition's jurors. The Athenaeum received over two hundred submissions for this year's exhibition. It was interesting to note that many of the sculptures got honorable mentions and this is due mainly to the preferences of the jurors. Of course, every year is different depending on the works submitted and the jurors who make the choices. We were thrilled that Vince Robles who is Arline Fisch's selection of emerging artist for the SD Art Prize was the first place winner this year. 

Mathew Mahoney, a fur coat with place for a face, but a tail on the reverse side. You can see a peek of the second Vince Robles work in the background. This work was also featured at Susan Street Fine art where the New Contemporaries exhibition was held in June/July. That show was all the nominated artists for the emerging artist category of the SD Art Prize 2012

Vince Robles (first place)

Bijan Dowletshahi small squares of fabric nailed to surface.

Dan Adams

Larry Caveney...Naked man dancing series

Marie Najera - silver plate repurposed

Marilyn Mitchell - on of our Art Meets Fashion team members.

Mikey Eastman - strange box of metal filings like a tester for etch a sketch

The Art of Sound in San Diego

The Art of Sound in San Diego included interactive sonic sculpture and installations, stage performances and pop up gallery performances, listening stations and video installation. The Art of Sound in San Diego Presented by  Open Arts Collective at Space 4 Art Sat. August 25, 6-9 pm. (325 15th St, SD 92101) More info: Cara Mia Ciasulli  619.309.8537

John Chalmers

John Chalmers

Triadic Transformations
Digital Prints Based on Xenharmonic Music Theory. These works depict the melodic and harmonic transformations of musical scales based on triads, Mediants, and Dominants as the tuning of their constructing intervals changes over the span of an octave.

Jason Ponce

Jason Ponce,  Primal Screen

Primal Screen is an interactive multimedia experience that offers no content other than what the visitors provide. It presents a series of brief but intimate encounters with the inner lives of the friends and strangers that surround us, encapsulated in a single moment of expression, vulnerability and catharsis. Visitors are encouraged to contribute to the work by recording a scream according to the instructions found in the recording area. The scream itself can be one of happiness or frustration, joy or anger, tension or release. Recorded screams are played back in random order in the viewing area.

Cooper Baker

Cooper Baker, Ringtones
Ringtones is an interactive sound sculpture that generates algorithmic music based on any ten digit number dialed by a participant. Ten digits equates to ten billion unique phone numbers which means the phone is capable of creating ten billion unique pieces of music. The phone's original circuitry was modified and a microcontroller was grafted into useful parts such as the keypad, hook, indicator light, and speaker. The microcontroller senses the state of the earpiece, waits for a phone number, then configures and plays the synthesis algorithm to create a piece of music.

Berglind Tómasdóttir

Also of note on view: Joe Monzo Tonescape  Berglind TómasdóttirThe Origin Of Things explores cultural roots and heritage.

All photos by Cara Mia Ciasulli except John Chalmers which is produced by the artist.