Friday, December 14, 2012
Arts for Act: Peter Stilton, Richard Bush and Christina Jarmolin...
Arts for Act: Peter Stilton, Richard Bush and Christina Jarmolin...: This month, ACT Gallery will feature Tampa artist Peter Stilton, Richard Bush and Christina Jarmolinski. Stilton’s, sophisticated whimsica...
Peter Stilton, Richard Bush and Christina Jarmolinski to start the 2013 New Year right!
This month, ACT Gallery will feature Tampa artist Peter Stilton, Richard Bush and Christina Jarmolinski. Stilton’s, sophisticated whimsical chair and bed paintings created in various media, Bush’s digital graphic art drawings and Jarmolinski’s abstracted collage, assemblages that are on the edgy side will be showcased this month to start the new year 2013! Come downtown to view great art and support ACT Gallery and Boutique.
Peter Stilton
Peter Stilton is a Tampa artist who creates sophisticated whimsical
paintings in a variety of themes and media, inspired in part by the “fete”
paintings of rococo France. A full-time artist for three decades
with over 40 solo shows in the US and France, including La Sorbonne, his work
is in private and corporate collections in the US, Europe, and the Middle East.
Honors include work in the state collection of France (Office of the Mayor of
Paris at Hotel de Ville) and in the permanent collection of the Springfield,
MA, Museum of Fine Arts. Peter Stilton’s lyrical style has been described as
linear expressionism with diverse subject matter, including symbolic geometric
abstracts. French art critic Charles Tanguy wrote “the artist’s favorite
Chippendale chair ‘Chip’ is our guide within the poetic universe of its
creator” when the “chair” paintings debuted in Paris in 1995 at the Galerie Art
et Communication. Stilton is writing and illustrating a book for children about
the adventure of two antique Rolls-Royces in a Lewis Carroll chessboard of art
styles and musical encounters. His art
draws the viewer of his work into a world of visual surprises and sophisticated
whimsy. Peter Stilton’s distinguished academic
career (masters in art history and cinema from UCLA and USC) also includes
professorships of art and humanities at colleges and universities in
California, Florida and New York. Currently,
the artist also teaches elementary art to inner city children and paints mostly
in Florida and Maine.
Artist
Statement – “My work is a kaliedoscope of all the places, colors and images I experience. It is a congruence of the past and present
moment with a tangent that points to the future. Figurative or rhythmically abstract, my
paintings reveal a substantive mental world beyond the material prose of
existence. Child-like trust opens the
doors to new vistas and imaginative juxtapositions where images change
dimension and properties in uncharted and delightful ways, such as the pure joy
of color and line, or the Chippendale chairs, Rolls-Royces, pipe organs, and
cellos all enjoying the beach.” ~ Peter Stilton
For more information on Peter Stilton, visit
his website at: www.peterstilton.com
Richard Bush
Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Richard Bush
spent the greater part of his life in St. Petersburg, FL. At 17, he attended the Juilliard School of
Music in New York. Bush graduated in
1968 with a degree in music composition.
In the early 1970’s, he moved to Cape Cod and worked as a pianist,
conductor and composer receiving awards from the National Endowment for the
Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. In
2011, Bush relocated to Fort Myers, pictorial and graphic arts have been ardent
avocations of his. A self-taught
practitioner of drawing, calligraphy and computer graphics led to computer
drawing. Bush creates stylish black and
white computer drawings of the late 1930’s through 1940’s old Hollywood mystery
movies. This body of work is known to
him as “film noir”.
Christina Jarmolinski
An edgy artist
who loves to experiment using found objects, torn papers, gold plate,
newspapers and more, Christina Jarmolinski says her art is not mainstream. Her forte is figurative painting, which she
has abstracted in her collages and assemblages.
Having studied art and languages in Europe, Christina has become
established in the International and US art scene. She has mastered many techniques including sculpture,
ceramics, painting, murals and more. She
worked as a stage designer, adult and children’s art instructor and jewelry
designer.
These exhibits
continue to Wednesday, January 29, 2013.
Arts
for ACT Gallery provides a quality, contemporary exhibition gallery featuring
original art, limited edition prints, giclees, hand-crafted fine crafts, tee
shirts, silver and glass bead jewelry, gourd art, raku, clay, and art cards. It
is a “must see” destination for all art lovers and collectors, providing a
unique opportunity for everyone to learn and enjoy art. Highlighting the art of the current featured
artist, the front gallery, reminiscent of galleries in SoHo, has 12 to 16 foot
high ceilings, distressed brick walls, and warm wooden floors. It is a great
opportunity to meet the featured artists, enjoy some local food and
have a glass of wine, and engage in lively artful repartee.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Abstraction, Realism and Cartoons at ACT Gallery in December 2012
Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, December 7, 2012 from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for December 2012. This month, ACT Gallery will feature abstract multi-dimensional works of Katherine Boren, figurative painter, Ellen Sayet and the works of Doug MacGregor. Abstraction, Realism, and Cartoons will be showcased this month to close the year 2012! Come downtown to view great art and support ACT Gallery and Boutique.
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| "Morning" by Katherine Boren |
Katherine Boren
Originally, from New York, Katherine Boren
studied at New York University and The New School, graduating from the State
University of New York with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture. Her work has
been exhibited at solo, juried, group, and member shows in New York,
California, and Florida.
Her current series of abstract work
experiments with multiple mediums in two dimensions. By focusing on a
monochromatic palette and utilizing a combination of non-traditional and found
materials in unexpected ways, she emphasizes the reflection of light and the
use of various textures, shapes, and different grades of color saturation.
To make
original artwork more accessible to the public as well as to benefit ACT, the
pieces in this exhibit offered at reduced prices for the holiday season.
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| "Handy Apple" by Ellen Sayet |
Ellen Sayet
Ellen
loves to sketch and paint but they took a secondary position between two successful
careers. Now retired, the world of art
has opened up as her primary focus. Self taught with an occasional drawing
class, she enjoys painting realism with “an edge”.
Her
figurative paintings are classic drawings with an inventive and creative side. Most important is producing works of realism
and figurative portraiture in oil and pastel, and capturing the mood,
personality and inner soul of the subjects.
Doug MacGregor
Doug has been a professional cartoonist for over
32 years. Local readers have seen his
creative artwork in The News-Press for over two decades. He is also a local
artist, lecturer and plays a mean blues harmonica. Currently, Doug is Arts in Healthcare Coordinator
for Lee Memorial Health Systems bringing art, music, storytelling and humor to
patients and families in the area.
A 1979 graduate of Syracuse University, Doug
began his cartooning career drawing sports cartoons for the Daily Orange
student newspaper. He holds a Bachelor
of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from Syracuse. In 1980 he moved to Eastern
Connecticut and became editorial cartoonist for the
Norwich Bulletin. In 1988 he moved to Southwest
Florida and became full-time editorial cartoonist for The News-Press until June
of 2011. He has also won several state
and national awards for his cartoons. Doug is a member of both the American Association
of Editorial Cartoonists and
the society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Doug works in a variety of mediums. He uses
watercolor pencils when he creates his cartoons and children’s book
illustrations. Doug also loves to paint in oil and acrylic for charity events
and for leisure. Doug has self-published
a number of children’s books including his most recent, Turtellini, The Turbo-Charge Turtle,
and Rad Hair Day. His Get Creative, Turn On The Bright Side
Of Your Brain is also a popular
favorite among the young and young at heart who need to stay creatve.
Check out Doug’s
website: dougcreates.com
These exhibits
continue to Wednesday, January 2, 2013.
Arts
for ACT Gallery provides a quality, contemporary exhibition gallery featuring
original art, limited edition prints, giclees, hand-crafted fine crafts, tee
shirts, silver and glass bead jewelry, gourd art, raku, clay, and art cards. It
is a “must see” destination for all art lovers and collectors, providing a
unique opportunity for everyone to learn and enjoy art. Highlighting the art of the current featured
artist, the front gallery, reminiscent of galleries in SoHo, has 12 to 16 foot
high ceilings, distressed brick walls, and warm wooden floors. It is a great
opportunity to meet the featured artists, enjoy some local food and
have a glass of wine, and engage in lively artful repartee.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Are you ready to sell your ART at the Downtown Fort Myers Saturday Art Fair?
You have a passion to create and enthusiasm to sell what you create. You have the inventory required to enter a art or craft fair, the physical stamina and support from your family or friends. But are you ready to join a retail art and craft fair? Answer the questions below and see if you are ready to sell your art or craft.
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| Art Display of Brian Christensen |
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| Bill Hofer - a photography vendor |
- You have sold items you hand-created to your friends.
- You have given your hand-made items to family and friends; who in turn said they would buy items from you.
- Your art or craft is well made.
- You have money put aside for entering a fair, usually around $200.00 to $300.00
- You enjoy talking about your art.
- You want to commit your time to producing art and selling it at a fair.
- You have 50 pieces of art or fine crafts or have the time, money and materials to produce them for a fair.
- Friends have commissioned pieces of art or fine crafts from you and you have been able to produce the piece to their satisfaction and by the deadline they ask.
- You can spend 2 to 4 hours at a time, smiling and talking to possible customers.
- You can take some criticism on your product without getting angry, upset or having your feeling hurt.
If you answered YES to 6 or more of these statements:
You are ready to get into an art and fine craft fair.
Download the prospectus now and join us the the November 17th for the
Downtown Fort Myers Saturday Art Fair Click on download the prospectus now.
If you answered NO to 5 or more statements:
Something is holding you back - look at what you answered no to and try to turn it into a YES.
Remember to sell your work, it has to be good quality, you have to be able to make it regularly, you have to want to sell and talk about your work. Buyers must like your works as much as you do.
If you enter an art and fine craft fair and your works are not selling.
- You should look at what the other vendors are producing and selling.
- Look at the quality of your art or fine craft.
- Look at your presentation - presentation of your works is everything! A great presentation will sell even mediocre art or fine craft.
- Make sure that your space is not over crowded, if you made 25 Halloween pumpkin pins - you don't have to place all 25 on the table.
- Think in numbers of 3 or 5....this is a pleasing number and makes for better arrangements.
- If you have fine art - have an assortment of your best hung and have the rest in browse bins.
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| Painted Palm Fronds of Jean Stanish |
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| Jewelry Creations of Anita Coppolino |
ACT Gallery will exhibit Tiite & Kalon Baquero, Jamie Bendola and Tracy Owen-Cullimore in November 2012.
Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, November 2, 2012 from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for November 2012. This month, ACT Gallery will feature “A Quick Recap” a retrospective of culturally significant works from two generations, Artist Tiité Baquero and daughter Kalon Baquero. Father and daughter will transform ACT’s main gallery room into a place of earthy discovery. The exhibit will be a celebration of Nature, Humanity and the Cultural Innovation. In a world of chaos and uncertainty, these two artists will bring hope, confidence, and the vigor necessary to overcome the challenges of a modern day world. Included in this exhibition are the narrative and works of Tiité Baquero’s “Homage to the Orange River Valley, 1982” and “Earth Gallery One, 1990”, histories deeply significant to a critical role for the Arts and to Lee County history itself. Kalon Baquero will revisit her 2005 Data-A installation “Inappreciable Realities and the Words that Surround Them.” Gallery visitors will become discoverers of the minute flora and fauna that constitute the environments that in turn, constitute us. Closer looks at these minute beings reveal an inspiring array of lifestyles, adaptations, and modes of survival that we humans might take great note of in the advancement of our own cultural strategies. Also featured off the main gallery are Jamie Bendola’s mixed media photographic series “Dead People for Sale to Keep People Alive” proceeds benefit FMCancer, Inc. and Tracy Owen-Cullimore brings her impressionistic paintings of people, pets and more in her wonderfully jewel colored palette. Come downtown for great art and support ACT Gallery and Boutique.
Tiité Baquero Artist Statement: “The synthesis of my life’s work has been, to give the arts back something that was lost and something that art never had; meaning and a critical function that contains practical utility. Happily both have been accomplished.”
Tiité Baquero was born
in Bogotá Colombia, South America in 1949.
He became an American citizen in 1996.
He managed to survive to the age of 63 this year and is glad to be able
to exhibit a lifetime of work, representing
a timely contribution to civilization.
Tiité thinks humanity has come to this axis age where the effect of our
technological development and the structure of our cultural context is no
longer sustainable by any measure or can no longer be obscured by the best
creative form of denial. His work is at this time, a viable contribution of
what we can do to evolve and gradually replace one current unsustainable
cultural strategy. His life’s work
dovetails, in the worldwide Peace Marker Project, which is currently making
forward progress to create our specie’s first global work of art. Baquero completed 52 new works, which bring
to the foreground the strength, and maturity of what will be called “Data A”
art, a new art form in the context of life.
A mature art form developed from and because of the work of the
preceding years.
Kalon Lucia Baquero was born in Fort Myers, Florida but raised on the island of Kauai,
Hawaii. Kalon has been traversing the
landscape where art dances in synchrony with life since an early age. Her father, Tiité and nature have been her
teachers, one forever commenting on and exploring the lessons of the other,
always inviting conversation and contemplation on life and art. Her work have been exhibited in Hawaii and
Florida, and recognized by the respective local governments, media outlets, and
a wide range of members in both communities.
Kalon’s Artist Statement: In Kalon’s
mind’s eye, she muses on a new era for the Arts; one in which the ingenuity and
brilliance of creative minds are applied towards devising solutions to the very
real and overwhelming problems that our world currently faces. She made a conscious decision at age 20 to
dedicate her life’s work to the exploration of this possible new era. Kalon had been creating “seed projects”
within the “Data-A Art” of her fathers.
It is her ideal that each of these “seed projects” arouses new
collaborations between art and life, humanity and Nature, you and I and us and
them.
Jamie Bendola, two years ago at 25
years old, went into the emergency room.
The doctors found a large mass of fluid in her stomach that was
surrounding a tumor on the ovary. She diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Two months
later, she went to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida and had a second
staging performed along with a complete abdominal hysterectomy. During this time, she missed a significant
amount of work. If it had not been for financial support from friends she would
have lost her car or been evicted from my apartment. Many young cancer patients
are not as fortunate. This is why Bendola decided to start a non-profit called FMCancer.
FMC MISSION: Provide hope, humor, resources
and grants to help YOUNG ADULTS both FIGHT cancer and SURVIVE the wrath it can
leave behind.
Bendola’s main focus is to provide free
resources and yearly grants to young adults with cancer and survivors. FMC is
an art based non-profit, with the motto "Live Life Outside The
Lines". Her new series entitled "Dead People For Sale To Keep People
Alive," is a creative series of enhanced photography featuring mega-celebrities
that have died. Prints will also be
available.
Tracy Owen
Cullimore paints in both watercolor and oil,
specializing in portraits of animals and people, and she happily does custom
commission work. Tracy is a graduate of
the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she received a Bachelor of
Arts degree in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Art History and Economics. Upon
graduation, she returned to school to pursue formal training in Advertising and
Graphic Design as well as the traditional fine arts.
Tracy is a member and supporter of ACT, the American Impressionists Society, Art League of Fort Myers, The Florida Watercolor Society, The Alliance for the Arts, Fort Myers Beach Art Association, The Portrait and Figure Painters Society of SW Florida and the Sanibel/Captiva Art League. She was a long time acrylic student of the late Gale Bennett as well as Lucy Macherowski. She studied oil with national masters: Rose Frantzen, CW Mundy, Quang Ho and Carolyn Anderson and watercolor under Pat Weaver and Janet Rogers.
Tracy enjoys teaching and helping her student's develop their individual styles.
Cullimore’s
Artist’s Statement “As
an artist, my mission is to record moments in time with a personal perspective,
not a direct reflection as a photograph would replicate. I am not the reporter
with a camera, but the artist with a brush.”~ Tracy Owen Cullimore
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Jamie Golob to donate a portion of her proceeds from workshops at the Lee County Alliance for the Arts to ACT Shelter
Jamie Golob instructor at the Lee County
Alliance for the Arts will donate a portion of her proceeds from her classes
offered Oct 25 – Oct 27, 2012 and Feb 21 – Feb 23, 2013 at the Lee County
Alliance for the Arts to Abuse Counseling and Treatment’s clients, the
survivors of domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking.
Jamie
Golob is happy to collaborate with ACT and bring the arts and community
together to benefit the ACT shelter. Students can register through the Lee
County Alliance for the Arts at www.artinlee.org or by calling
239-939-2787. Prospective students may
view Golob’s works at Arts for ACT Gallery through October 1, 2012, where she
is the featured artist in the main gallery, displaying over 25 works with a
variety of styles and media.
Here
is the description of Golob’s workshop and price
THE
DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE: MIXED MEDIA ACRYLIC PAINTING
Three Class Sessions, Thurs-Sat, 9AM-4PM
Instructor: Jamie L. Golob
JG49 Oct 25 - Oct 27
JG10 Feb 21 - Feb 23
Price: $125 Member/$150 Non-Member
Explore color, texture, collage,
surface design and composition with artist Jamie Golob. Mix wet and dry media;
learn how to combine materials and understand how different materials work
alone and together to discover new and dramatic techniques that cannot be
accomplished with both traditional and alternative materials. Get your creative
mind to think in new ways. Personal direction is emphasized and you will
receive constructive critiques. Beginner through advanced skill levels welcome.
Experience and enthusiasm create an atmosphere of fun and
spontaneity inspiring new directions and discovery through innovative
combinations of design and materials. Layering of textures creates depth
involving line, shape, color and tone in both abstract and representational
subjects. During the course, the class will explore the various supports such
as canvas, illustration board and watercolor paper. Additionally we will be
experimenting with specialized industrial supplies for textures.
Biography:
Jamie Golob earned her BFA
from Eastern Michigan University and has trained privately in the area of Classical
Realism. Her work can be found and has been shown throughout the
states. Jamie pursues her passion as an
award winning artist and teacher instructing art/life-drawing and painting
workshops abroad. Ms. Golob is affiliated with community outreach efforts and
champions fine arts programs in southwest Florida. She is currently the
Education Director for Lee County’s Alliance for the Arts and Co-Executive
Director of the Southern Atelier in Sarasota Florida.
Friday, September 21, 2012
October 2012 brings 4 Talented Female Artists
Anne McCarty’s name was up in
lights as the winner of an Easter coloring contest at age 5. She has taught for 14 years to both children
and adults at the Alliance for the Arts, Art League of Bonita Springs, Visual
Arts Center, Punta Gorda, Pine Island Art Association and other venues. Many
local, state and national shows have given awards to McCarty’s work. Oil,
acrylic, watercolor, drawing and mixed media are part of the repertoire.
Artwork bearing the name McCarty is collected across the nation and
internationally.
McCarty
Artist Statement: “Art
comes from a place beyond other worldly reach.
It controls, contorts, manipulates and when it is done, no one is the
same. We are transported there through
the images. Wild, calm, reverent, irreverent, it matters not. All that matters is the journey. Things seen, yet unseen, unfold under the
artists hand and before the viewers’ eyes.
Both are enriched by the experience.
Where does this force come from and where does it lead us, we don’t
know. All we know is we must follow its
beck and call. This is a call to the
artist to express what needs expression.
A color, a glance, a line, a form, all has its’ place in art. Personal, yet universal, understood, yet
mystifying, this is art.” ~ Anne McCarty
Terry Lynn Spry’s
paintings have been exhibited in national and local juried art exhibitions. Her work can be found in private collections
across the country. Terry graduated from
the Phoenix Institute of Technology with a degree in production art and went on
to study with Nina Connor. Her desire to
pass on her passion and love for the arts lead her to begin teaching at the
Alliance of the Arts. She considers
painting to be “better than chocolate and kinda like breathing you just don’t
want to stop.”
Judy Quest produces softy muted, ethereal works in
oil and pastel in a wide range of natural subjects, all cast in a pearly sheen
that adds a romantic feeling to her sunsets, figures, seascapes, landscapes,
flowers, foliage and wildlife. The
artist layers, blends, and juxtaposes colors, and through these methods, the
saturated surface seems to glow with pigments.
There is always a sense of movement stilled in the depth of many subtle
colors. Her female figures often the
subject of her artwork are caught out of time, frozen in a moment of kinetic
energy. Judy’s dreamlike snapshots of
Floridian landscape and female figures engender a uniquely feminine pastoral
sensibility. Luminous, omnipresent, and
charmingly embellished with details worth exploring, Quest’s work achieves a
painterly quality all her own.
Pam Peters’ artwork is a celebration of life and nature. The most
recent works, Portraits of the Earth & Portraits of Peru, are mixed media
presentations of original photography printed on watercolor paper and enhanced
with watercolor paint.
Peters’ Art
Statement
– “I believe that my art provides a window in time that we look through
together to simultaneously share the emotional experience evoked by my
work. I use various media, primarily
watercolor, because I love the movement of water and paint across the surface
of the paper. The fluidity and
transparency of the medium matches the rhythm and visual impact of the patterns
that nature creates and that I am reflecting in my work.” ~ Pam Peters
These exhibits
continue through Monday, October 30, 2012.
Join ACT Gallery on October 5th from 6 to 10 pm at Art Walk...talk with the artists and enjoy the great ART! Remember Buy ART at ACT and Save or Change a LIFE!
Happy Halloween!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Arts for Act: September Artists bring Classical Painting, Abstra...
Arts for Act: September Artists bring Classical Painting, Abstra...: Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, September 7, 2012 from 6 to 10 pm for the openi...
September Artists bring Classical Painting, Abstraction and Collage
Arts for ACT Gallery's Boutique will be featured in the Davis Art Center's Fashion Show on September 7th during Art Walk starting at 7 pm. Come down and see the great fashion items available at our boutique.
Jamie
Golob
earned her BFA from Eastern Michigan University and has trained privately in
the area of Classical Realism. Her work can be found and has been shown
throughout the states. Jamie pursues her passion as an award winning
artist and teacher instructing art/life-drawing and painting workshops abroad.
Ms. Golob is affiliated with community outreach efforts and champions fine arts
programs in southwest Florida. She is currently the Education Director for Lee
County’s Alliance for the Arts and Co-Executive Director of the Southern
Atelier in Sarasota Florida.
Jamie
Golob Artist Statement:
“My
work is inspired by my impressions of life- the good the bad and the ugly. As I
continue to grow not only as a person but as an artist I find myself seeing
more and more that in one way or another - everything is connected. I have this
sense of urgency in trying to define and understand the world and people around
me. There are times that I feel as though being able to express myself through
my painting is my only true way of reaching out and belonging to something
bigger and complete. I view the arts as a place where all people come together,
even if for just one instant, not for any other reason than the simple joy and
appreciation of beauty and expression. We may all find something different for
ourselves from the very same piece. The greatest thing of all is that beauty in
art can be so many things, a certain color or fleeting brush stroke can bring
back a memory, a thought, an image of childhood. Sometimes the best memories
are even the sad ones. Sad for a while but happy in that they simply must be.
Some of my work has a definite subject matter and at times is more abstract in
thought- but always expressive. When I paint it is my time to let out my
interpretations of what I've seen and have experienced. I find a definite
connection between positive and negative in life and so in my art as well. It's
the spirit of life that I wish to capture. Happy compliments sorrow just as
blue does orange. Turbulent times and days of rest stumble across our paths
like multi dimensional textures and sheens of brilliance or opalescence. It's
the variety in life and art that ultimately give it harmony. This is something
I've purposely sought to include. I find that, as many, I am at times a person
of habit. Repetition and a hint of consistency, I feel often, keep me sane. I
use patterns and color literally in my work to function as the underlying stability
of any situation we may be faced with in life. Sometimes, when life is being
particularly tough, this can be our salvation. My hope is that it in my
reaching out with every piece I will find common ground with many who can share
in my love.” ~ Jamie Golob
Troy
Thomas a local artist based in Fort Myers, has been dabbling in art
since he was a child. However, it wasn’t until after returning from a
combat mission to Iraq in 2004 that he got serious about creating paintings and
other art. Troy moved to Southwest Florida in 2005 and immediately
started getting involved in the local art scene. He often experiments in
other genres of art, but his main passion lies in paintings. Many of his
works include vibrant colors. His current series of
paintings are heavily influenced by geometric abstraction.
Dale Weber's found object assemblages and collages reflect his
interest in the eastern aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi combined with his personal view
of reincarnation. Since all matter is energy, he feels the inanimate is also
destined to lead subsequent lives. He senses that hidden purpose of each bit of
refuse he finds and cultivates its new growth. When asked about his process, he
replies, "If I listen carefully the relic will speak not of its past but
of its possibilities." Under his guidance, its previous life disappears as
it takes on a new role. When dissimilar pieces are enjoined in
conversation, individual contexts disappear creating new meanings. Sometimes
philosophical; sometimes whimsical; always uniquely different.
September Art Exhibits continue through Monday, October 1, 2012.
Remember ~ Buy at ACT and Save or Change a LIFE!
Friday, May 11, 2012
June at Arts for ACT Gallery
JoAnne Bedient, Charlie Brown, Andy Browne, Lalita Cofer, Katie Gardenia, Kim Hambor, Charles Lister, Barbara Murdoch, Carole Nasters, Rod Busch, Joan Roberts, Susan Sadler,Sarah Kiser, Connie Sebring, Ron Sebring, Christina Wyatt and Steve Bufter from Sanibel's Tower Gallery will be displaying their works in the main gallery salon. These creative artists will come together to share this special exhibit with Fort Myers residents and tourists and to celebrate the fine arts! Expect to see eclectic paintings on wood and wood carvings, acrylic and oil paintings, watercolors, paintings painted with paper, hand-sculpted fantasy art dolls, whimsical magical and endearing mermaids, adornments, raku fired clay, Gyotaku, the Japanese art of fish painting, photography, paintings in the surrealism style, fused glass artistry and more.
Gael Collar will be exhibiting "Cues from Picasso's Cubism" off the main gallery in the white gallery room. She works in mostly acrylics, but does portraits and sketches in other mediums as well. Gael studied art in New York, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and now in Florida, where she continues to train in workshops and classes. She has many varieties of styles, and is always trying new methods to attain higher levels of understanding in what she feels is right for her. Often she mixes old and new works together to demonstrate her thinking and changes over the years. Now Gael is taking "Cues from Picasso's Cubism" for this exhibit.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Jeffrey Scott Lewis, "As I AM" ~ Photography of Marvin Weiner and Dog DIVA Charlene Ewen
Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, April 6, 2012 from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for April 2012. This month, ACT Gallery will feature local artist and designer Jeffery Scott Lewis in the main gallery. Also exhibiting this month, in the office gallery is Dog Art Diva artist, Charlene Ewen. The photography of Marvin Weiner will be exhibited in the middle gallery room. Three creative exhibits you will not want to miss!
Jeffrey Scott Lewis was recently featured in Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs new “Culture Builds Florida” campaign, Jeffrey Scott is known as an artist with a message. Using characteristically bold color palettes and abstract compositions, Lewis attempts to convey messages through emotional responses to color, line, texture and scale. Always experimenting and pushing boundaries, his newest series explores self-acceptance and the process of shedding layers of false identity in pursuit of the love of self and the sense of relief that is experienced in that discovery. Abstraction in photography is something new for the artist, known primarily for mixed media painting and sculpture.
"I am not a photographer" states artist Jeffrey Scott Lewis in regards to his new body of work, "As I Am". "I have always been a mixed media artist incorporating various media into most of my work", he explains. "This series is no different. Just because the final result is a photographic print, does not make me a photographer. The works incorporate body painting, elements of performance, digital technology, and photography." continues the artist. "As I Am" celebrates self-acceptance and the process of learning to love oneself. "Being who we were born to be and learning to love ourselves for who we truly are is one of life's most challenging issues." says Lewis. "Family pressures, societal influences and prejudices all influence who we become as we all want to be accepted. Overcoming those influences in the process of becoming our true selves is the key to reaching our potential and ultimately our happiness. Acceptance may be comforting, but it does not assure happiness. Only when we learn to accept ourselves can we be truly happy." says the artist about the abstract images.
Though the works are predominately abstract, they convey a sense of freedom, release, and individuality through the use of color, implied motion, and brief glimpses of raw skin. They are meant to make one feel free, to see what one sees, and hopefully to find their own passion in mine.
Charlene Ewen really can’t remember when she was not creating something, painting, crafts, jewelry, ceramics, you name it she tried it! As a child going through so many coloring books and crayon boxes. She was the kid who “did” stay inside the lines in fact she would actually create shading around the edges and use more than one color crayon in a space. Her biggest fan was her Dad who spent weekends driving Charlene to Downtown Chicago so she could attend the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Academy of Fine Arts for art classes. Her favorite place was the Field Museum and the animal displays, she was never without a sketchbook and her love of animals grew over the years.
Ewen enjoyed a career in lithograph printing when everything done by hand and with an artist eye, specializing in color correction of film for the printing press. Her hands are always doing something creative. Charlene was an artist for Pelicans in Paradise Gala and Auction, Annual Island Celebration of the Arts and others. For the last 19 years, she enjoyed showing her dogs in Conformation showing. It is there that Charlene was inspired to start painting again, this time it was not just paint but mixed media that gave her inspiration to create one of a kind art using her favorite subject “Animals”, especially dogs and cats.
Her dog “Leo” who is a Cesky Terrier is her MUSE and is always at her side while she is working in the studio. Charlene says, “I’ve found once you are used to a creative life, an ordinary life is blank and plain.” Come see Charlene’s wonderful array of animals!
Marvin Weiner is a retired teacher, principal,and area superintendent from the Miami Dade County School System. Upon retiring, he began visiting many parts of the United States, as well as, taking various trips abroad. Thus began his interest in photography as a hobby, and, ultimately, as a second profession. As he states, “His photography is a means of interpreting the beauty, history and moments in time for the purpose of sharing this pure joy with others.” He has shown his photography, as well as, participated in art festivals where his work has won awards. He spent several years as a managing partner at Harbour View Gallery in Cape Coral, Florida. As a means of artistic expression, he chooses to photograph a variety of subject matter while utilizing various techniques and digital manipulations. Although Marv is basically self taught, he continues to improve his skills through participation in a variety of photography and Photoshop courses.
He is a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and the Lee County Alliance for the Arts.
These exhibits continue through Monday, April 30, 2012.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Meet Hooper, Rothaker and Freidus at ACT Gallery on Friday, March 2 from 6 to 9 pm
Mary-Louise Biasotti Hooper calls herself a slightly expressionistic international artist, due to the influence of Pissarro and Cezanne. Her process of under-painting in opposite colors and using knife techniques for the final layer while scrumbling is unique and offers the viewer true, clear colors, which add to the intrinsic value of each piece. Hooper, a prize-winning artist paints seascapes, landscapes, cityscapes and still life. Her purpose is to bring viewers a moment of respite and beauty by taking them to the place she portrays. She paints calming nature scenes with an ability to convert deep feelings to her canvas. Her works have been seen in Florence, Italy, Michigan, California, North Carolina, Kansas, Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Florida. Born in Greenwich Village, New York City, to an immigrant family, the art shows in Washington Square Park inspired her desire to paint. Since art was not encouraged as a way to make a living, Hooper earned three degrees in the field of Education. Art was a self-taught hobby until she earned two art degrees. Today, she produces markets and sells art, as well as teaches, giving demonstrations and delivers art presentations and speeches. Hooper lives in Venice, Florida and is presently a member of the International Fulbright Arts Task Force, the Venice Art Center and the Oil Painters of America.
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| "Sunset on the Sea" by Mary-Louise Biasotti Hooper |
Michelle Rothaker was fortunate to have the opportunity to make a living as a ceramic’s artist, after graduating with a BFA from Middle Tennessee State University. Then her journey led her to graphic design and papermaking. Along the way, she took a yearlong trip on a sailboat and landed in Fort Myers, Florida in 2002. Her ideas for her art come from watching her surroundings. Living in Nashville, Tennessee influenced floral and plant designs. Bright, bold colors began to appear after sailing to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Jamaica and settling in Fort Myers. Rothaker is currently fascinated with the many birds and animals living in Florida. Her artwork is created using a multi-step process. First, she makes the paper that is the background, with paper fibers, tea, feathers and coffee to allow for a variety of textures. Her hand-painted images, cut paper and natural elements are carefully composed to complete the artwork piece. The hand-made materials are carefully coordinated in a way that brings all the design elements into harmony. Once this process is finished, each completed design is mounted on a background specifically chosen to compliment the arrangement in color, texture and mood of the piece.
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| "Soaring Eagle" By Michelle Rothaker |
Lisa Freidus, is the creator of Whimsical Mixed Media Collages, Monotypes and Impressionistic Watercolor and Acrylics from Cape Coral, Florida. Her art reminds people of the inner joy and hope to achieve this through her love of color, choice of subject matter, and the light in her paintings. Freidus creates landscapes, seascapes and architectural edifices from her own photographs and whimsical places from her imagination. She sets out to create a painting long before paint and brush touch canvas. Ideas come from many places and at all hours of the night. Her greatest satisfaction comes when one of her pieces reaches out to another in a positive way. Their reaction stimulates her creativity. Freidus’ houses, sailboats, trees and beach umbrellas are slightly off-balance and often extend beyond the confines of the canvas creating the whimsy in her pieces. Her work is unique in an edgy, creative sort of way. Lisa is a “multi-mediaist” whose collages are comprised of wood, canvas, paper and acrylic. Her husband cuts the wood with a router or skill saw after Lisa draws the pattern, and the paper sometimes comes from Thailand or Japan, sometimes is papyrus, and occasionally is just plain old wallpaper in the manner of Matisse. Interiors are an important component for Freidus, giving her the opportunity for more detail in these works.
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| "Summer Vacation" by Lisa Freidus |
These exhibits continue through Monday, April 2, 2012.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
"MOJO Hands" opening February 3rd at Art Walk Fort Myers
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| Photograph by George Mitchell |
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| The painting by Lennie Jones |
Arts for ACT Gallery is pleased to present "MOJO HANDS' Opening Friday, February 3rd, from 6 to 10pm. This visionary celebration of America's musical heritage featuring paintings by primitive folk artist, Lennie Jones and the photography of pioneering Blues Historian, George Mitchell. Jones has painted his rendition of several of Mitchell's blues photographs.
Lennie Jones is an outsider artist, a primitive self-taught painter of the holistic Blues experience as he envisions and experienced it. As a young boy, his South Louisiana father instilled in me a deep love of Blues music, drawing pictures, and endless swampy wilderness. His mother was also a talented artistic influence. These positive connections luckily cradled him through a very troubled youth, and have remained yet the most powerful motivations in his adulthood. After his father left, the bulk of his youthful years were heavily influenced by a wonderful vibrant one-eyed Southern African-American woman aptly named “Tex.” She was a substitute for his mother, who was constantly away pursuing other ventures. Tex has a boisterous an’ soulful love of Blues, God, booze and fishin’... all of which became very important to him as well.
As a traveling blues musician, gigging in New York City in March, 1968, he met and heard the incredible Albert King. His unique combination of incomparable power, heartfelt pain, passionate subtlety and compelling musicianship moved Lennie's soul like no music ever had before or since...Opening for the original Canned Heat,shakin’ hands with Muddy Waters, Bill Monroe, Bill Graham, seein’ the immortal Jimmy Reed and giggin’ for Zappa further solidified his love of playing, hearing and living the Blues.
Unfortunately, years of continued professional playing resulted in a habitual wrestling match with his alcohol demons, and repeated brushes with the law. As often lamented by blues men, “when you let the Devil ride, he wanna drive.” This struggle culminated with his final arrest following a late night gig in a rural Southern enclave in March, 1980. Police roughed me up, which I fully deserved. Thrown into a tiny dark jail, I was chained to an unfortunate black convict who had murdered his wife that very night with a knife. Early the next morning, the Lennie and the other convict were paraded barefoot through several blocks of a small town and presented to a hard-time judge. This was his very own Crossroads, and he never drank alcohol again. Possibly the best night and finest morning of his entire life.
Only a few years later, miraculously overlooking my “shady” past and welcoming my unique wilderness skills, I was hired by the Federal government as a Ranger in the remote Florida Everglades. There I wandered for over twenty years, working alone and chasing poachers, renegade ‘gators, smugglers and other wonderful characters. For many years, I have thrived in the mysterious and primitive wilderness, happy, healthy and blessed with a timeless source of spiritual inspiration to my art and soul...An’ the music never left him!
After retiring from the federal government, Lennie picked up a paint brush and started painting his passion. Painting his beloved Blues musicians and instruments. He works primarily with acrylic paint on linen canvas, as well as occasional works on driftwood that he has discovered deep in the Everglades. Lennie’s subjects generally revolve around Southern blues & roots music themes, and his creations are colorful, soulful & singularly unique. Lennie’s completed works have included Festival & Event Posters, CD Covers, Magazine & Media, Prints & Portraits and he has received a wide variety of appreciative testimonials & accolades.
George
Mitchell has been making serious photographs since his senior year in high
school, when he began photographing traditional blues artists he located or
visited with a Kodak Instamatic camera. He began making more professional
photographs in 1967, when the University of Minnesota School of Mass
Communication and Journalism lent him a camera, and his wife and he went to
Mississippi for the summer to record, photograph, and interview traditional
blues musicians. This trip resulted in a
master of arts paper and also his first book, Blow My Blues Away,
published by Louisiana State University Press.
For several years in the late 1960's and early 1970's, he was a reporter
in Columbus, Georgia. Under the tutelage
of the photographers at the Columbus Ledger, he took the photographs which
appeared with his stories. At the
Columbus Times, he was a reporter, a photographer, and later executive
editor. During that period, he produced
his second book of photographs and text, I'm Somebody Important. He then
decided to become a photography teacher, and returned to the University of
Minnesota where he studied photography teaching in both the journalism and art
departments. He taught photography in
Atlanta at four high schools for a total of 25 years. He also authored five more books of
photographs and interviews.
There have
been several solo exhibitions of his photographs over the years, including
three in Atlanta; one in Columbus, Georgia (a number of his photographs are in
the permanent collection of the Columbus Museum of Art); Sacramento,
California; Utrecht, Holland; and Fort Myers.
Mitchell,
who spent his first two years in Fort Myers, before moving to Atlanta, has
returned to Fort Myers, where he continues to photograph for exhibition and
publication.
BOOKS BY GEORGE MITCHELL
(All are books of
photographs, most with text as well, both by Mitchell)
This collaboration of Jones and Mitchell is not to be missed. Jones will have all new works and many of Mitchell's photographs have never been seen in this area.
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