Art Events: Birds on the Brain in New York and Massachusetts
61nm Patterns of Flight II, Norma Minkowitz, stitched, drawn, collage, pen and ink on paper, 20 x 14.75″, 2015
Perhaps it’s in the air — or are three avian-themed art exhibitions in one season a mere coincidence? In any event, there are three very different takes on a popular theme for viewers to sample. At the Shirley Fiterman Art Center, 81 Barclay Street, New York, NY, 10007 is The Conference of the Birds, curated by painter Brenda Zlamany. The Conference of the Birds, is based on a poem composed in the 12th century by the Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar, about an epic, mystical quest narrative in which hundreds of birds embark on a perilous journey in search of a king called the Simurgh, who can right the wrongs in their world. Attar’s poem can be seen as a metaphor for the often perilous journey of self-discovery that artists face. This metaphor and the rich imagery of birds in the poem are the gravitational glue that brings together a diverse group of works for this exhibition, which features 36 artists. Among those included are Lesley Dill and Norma Minkowitz, who is exhibiting works from her new Patterns of Flight Series, which combines detailed drawings, collage and stitching. The Gallery, located at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 to 6 p.m. For more information, go to: http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/sfac/.
The Gathering by Norma Minkowitz
mixed media, 2016
At the Katonah Museum of Art through June 19th, is theThe Nest, an exhibition of art in nature, which provides an unexpected lens through which to observe the fascinating parallels between human and animal behavior, raising timely questions about the survival of birds and their habitats in our increasingly fragile ecological world The Katonah Museum of Art is at 134 Jay Street/Route 22, Katonah, New York, and is closed on Mondays http://www.katonahmuseum.org/exhibitions/TheNest/. Baby Birds: An Artist Looks into the Nest is at Mass Audubon in Lincoln, Massachusetts now through September 18th. The featured artist, Julie Zickefoose, is an author, artist and naturalist in addition to being a wildlife rehabilitator. She works in a variety of mediums, though primarily watercolors, leaving the viewer with the sense that connectivity is important to all of us. Also on exhibit at Mass Audubon is Classic American Bird Carving: An Introduction. The Museum is located on a 121-acre wildlife sanctuary and has a collection of engravings and lithographs by John James Audubon and related works by many other artists including sculptor Larry Barth, Charly Harper and 100 prints from his Endangered Species series that were donated by Andy Warhol. The Museum of American Bird Art is at 963 Washington Street, Canton, MA 02021;781-821-8853; http://www.massaudubon.org/learn/museum-of-american-bird-art/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/baby-birds-an-artist-looks-into-the-nest-watercolors-by-julie-zickefoose.
art on paper preview: Norma Minkowitz
60,61nm Patterns of Flight I, Norma Minkowitz, stitched, drawn, collage, pen and ink on paper, 20 x 14.75″, each, 2015. Photo by Tom Grotta
For the second year in a row, browngrotta arts will participate in the art on paper art fair at Pier 36 in New York City http://thepaperfair.com/ny will run from March 2nd through the 6th. Among the works we will have in our booth are Norma Minkowitz’s detailed, stitched drawings on paper,
Patterns of Flight 3, Norma Minkowitz, stitch drawing, collage, 17”x 47”, 2016. Photo by Tom Grotta
Patterns of Flight 1 and 2. Minkowitz was inspired by images of the velocimetry of bird flight from the University of Montana’s Flight Laboratory http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/science/04birds.html — an area of scientific and artistic study since at least Leonardo DaVinci. Minkowitz has re-envisioned the air velocity marks a flurry of stitches, with striking results.
Patterns of Flight 1, Norma Minkowitz, stitch drawing, collage, 25” x 30”, 2016. Photo by Tom Grotta
Art Out and About: Exhibitions Across the US
Coast-to-coast cultural opportunities to enjoy in August and through to November.
Traced Memories by Adela Akers, photo by Tom Grotta
San Francisco, California
Adela Akers: Traced Memories, Artist-in-Residence
Through August 31st
Wednesdays–Sundays, 1–5 pm, plus Friday nights until 8:45 pm
Artist Reception: Friday, August 29, 6–8:30 p.m.
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco de Young/Legion of Honor
Golden Gate Park
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
San Francisco, California
https://deyoung.famsf.org/programs/artist-studio/august-artist-residence-adela-akers-traced-memories
Textile artist Adela Akers has moved her studio to the de Young for a month. Visitors to the new studio will learn how each choice in her art-making process contributes to the unique character and quality of her work. Throughout her residency, Akers will invite visitors to engage in hands-on activities that explore her creative process—from inspiration and research to preparation of the materials she has selected to convey her concept to creation and final presentation of the finished artworks. Akers’s work has been influenced and informed by pre-Columbian textiles and, most recently, paintings by women of the Mbuti people of the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Journeying from one point to another has been a physical and transformative reality in her life, increasing her self-confidence and expanding her vision of the world. Akers feels fortunate to have made these geographical voyages and to have experienced country living’s broad horizons and quiet strength, the power of nature and the palpitating rhythm of cities.
Athena by Nancy Koenigsberg, photo by Tom Grotta
Brockton, Massachusetts
Game Changers: Fiber Art Masters and Innovators
Through November 23rd
Fuller Craft Museum
455 Oak Street
Brockton, MA
http://fullercraft.org/press/game-changers-fiber-art-masters-and-innovators/
“Game changers” are artists, past and present, who continuously revisit traditional techniques and materials while developing revolutionary approaches in the realm of fiber art. Every work in the exhibition was chosen to showcase the individual practice of each invited artist. These creators epitomize the dynamism and fluidity of work in fiber. Artists featured in the exhibition include: Olga de Amaral, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Mary Bero, Nancy Moore Bess, Archie Brennan, John Cardin, Lia Cook, John Garrett, Jan Hopkins, Mary Lee Hu, Lissa Hunter, Diane Itter, Michael James, Naomi Kobayashi, Nancy Koenigsberg, Gyongy Laky, Chunghie Lee, Kari Lonning, Susan Martin Maffei, John McQueen, Norma Minkowitz, Michael F. Rohde, Ed Rossbach and Kay Sekimachi.
Midland Museum Forming: The Synergy Between Basketry and Sculpture, photo by Jennifer Falck Linssen
Midland, Michigan
Forming: The Synergy Between Basketry and Sculpture
Through September 7th
Alden B. Dow Museum
Midland Center for the Arts
1801 West Saint Andrews Road
Midland, Michigan
http://www.mcfta.org/ab-dow-museum-announces-summer-exhibitions-press-release/
The works by eight artists featured in Forming: The Synergy Between Basketry and Sculpture, including Jennifer Falck Linssen, were designed and executed as alternative approaches to sculptural form, in which the line dissolves between traditional basketry and contemporary sculpture. A selection of artists from across America inquisitively open our eyes to new alternatives in basketry and fiber-based sculptural form. The craftsmanship is superb, the creative and technical finesse is complex while the vision is beyond today yet with inspiration from long-revered fiber traditions.
Midland, Michigan
Modern Twist: Contemporary Japanese Bamboo Art
Cocoon by Jiro Yonezawa, photo by Tom Grotta
Through September 7th
Alden B. Dow Museum
Midlands Center for the Arts
1801 West Saint Andrews Road
Midland, Michigan
http://www.mcfta.org/ab-dow-museum-announces-summer-exhibitions-press-release/
Bamboo is a quintessential part of Japanese culture, shaping the country’s social, artistic, and spiritual landscape. Although bamboo is a prolific natural resource, it is a challenging artistic medium. There are fewer than 100 professional bamboo artists in Japan today. Mastering the art form requires decades of meticulous practice while learning how to harvest, split, and plait the bamboo. Modern Twist brings 38 exceptional works by 17 artists, including Jiro Yonezawa, to U.S. audiences, celebrating the artists who have helped to redefine a traditional craft as a modern genre, inventing unexpected new forms and pushing the medium to groundbreaking levels of conceptual, technical, and artistic ingenuity.
29ww EB mixed editions #12, Wendy Wahl, Encylodpedia Britanica pages, poplar frame, 24″ x 32″ x 1.5″, 2011
photo by Tom Grotta
Jamestown, Rhode Island
PAPER-MADE
Through August 30th
Wed. – Sat. 10am – 2pm
Jamestown Arts Center
18 Valley Street
Jamestown, Rhode Island
http://www.jamestownartcenter.org/exhibitions
Paper art is emerging as a global phenomenon. PAPER-MADE explores paper’s transformation from an everyday object into an exquisite three dimensional sculptural artwork. The exhibit’s title PAPER-MADE is a reference to Marcel Duchamp’s concept of the “ready-made,” since paper is an everyday object. The alchemic transformation from simple paper to art highlights the artist’s creativity and demonstrates the limitless potential of the art form. Eighteen showcased artists, including Wendy Wahl, explore this material’s ephemeral nature and beauty. Each artist explores different qualities of paper, from hand-made paper and paper string, to site-specific installation made of book pages, from Korean joomchi paper to found lottery tickets and archival photographs.
Objects of Desire Gift Guide: Part Two — Spheres of Influence
A selection of rounds, orbs, spheres and circles in different sizes made from a myriad of materials, including paper, safety pins and silk.
2) SMALL WILLOW BOWL, Dail Behennah
white willow, silver-plated pins, 9″ x 9″ x 9″, 2007
3) A BEGINNING, Kyoko Kumai
stainless steel filaments, 7” x 7” x 7”, 2007
4) AIR, Christine Joy
Rocky Mountain Maple with encaustic finish, 9.84″ x 9.84″ x 9.84″, 2012
5) REVOLVING SIX ELEMENTS KYOUGI, Noriko Takamiya,
hinoki inner thin splint, 6″ x 6.75″ x 6″, 2012
6) BLUE SPOOLS SCULPTURE, Axel Russmeyer
bobbins, wood, copper wire,, 4″ x 10″ x 10″, 2008
7) GOLDEN CRATER, Norma Minkowitz
mixed media, 18″ x 18″ x 18″, 2009
8) EUCALYPTUS BARK POD IN WOOD FRAME I Valerie Pragnell,
eucalyptus bark, clay and bees wax in wood frame, 19″ x 15.5″ x 16″, 2001
9) SILVER SPHERE,Tamiko Kawata
saftey pins,14″ x 14″ x 14″, 2004
10) WARP IKAT SPIRAL, Ed Rossbach
3’ X 9’, 1962
11) HOMMAGE Á ROTHKO, Mariette Rousseau-Vermette
wool, 87″ x 84.5″, 1979
12) PODROZ (Journey) from the Kolodia series, Agnieszka Ruszczynska-Szafranska
linen, sisal, wool, 60″ x 56″, 1986
Objects of Desire Gift Guide: First Up, Gilt-y Pleasures
Watch the eyes of those on your gift list sparkle, when you choose one of these glimmering sculptures or wall works by artists from the US and abroad.
Pulguk-Sa,
Kyong-Ju
Glen Kaufman
silk damask, silver leaf; screenprint, impressed metal leaf, 48” x 24” x 1” 1990
3 Gold Bowl, Jin-Sook So, steel mesh, painted, and electroplated gold, silver leaf
2.75″ x 6″ x 6.25″, 2005
4 Untitled #8-5, Jan Buckman, waxed linen and gold leaf, 8″ x 3.375″ x 2″, 1995
6 The Golden Child, Norma Minkowitz, fiber, mixed media 12″ x 11″ x 8″, 2009
7 Reflected Haze
Lewis Knauss
woven, knotted hemp, linen, acrylic paint, 20.5″ x 20.5″ x 2.5″, 2010
8 En Face
Agneta Hobin
mica and steel
70” x 48”, 2007
9 Copper, Tin Sculpture
Axel Russmeyer
copper, tin, stainless steel, hemp
17″ x 17″ x 17″
2007
November 26th: Our Online Exhibition Opens With an Offer for CyberMonday
On Monday, November 26th, browngrotta arts will present an online version of our 25th anniversary exhibition,Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture at browngrotta.com. The comprehensive exhibition highlights browngrotta arts’ 25 years promoting international contemporary art. Viewers can click on any image in the online exhibition to reach a page with more information about the artists and their work.
“Some works in Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture reflect the early days of contemporary textile art and sculpture movement,” says Tom Grotta, founder and co-curator at browngrotta arts. “There are also current works by both established and emerging artists, which provide an indication of where the movement is now and where it may be headed.”
Since Monday the 26th is CyberMonday this year, sales of art, books, catalogs, videos or dvds placed online or by telephone that day will be discounted 10% (excluding tax and shipping). In addition, bga will make a donation to the International Child Art Foundation for each sale made from November 24th through December 31, 2012. Visit browngrotta.com. For more information call Tom at 203.834.0623 or email us at art@browngrotta.com.
Upcoming: Events at SOFA New York this Week
Lectures, artist booth visits and more. This week’s events include:
Sue Lawty, John McQueen and Norma Mnkowitz
April 19th
Opening – SOFA NY
VIP Cardholders Preview 5:00 – 9:00 pm Invitation Only
Public Preview Gala* 7:00 – 9:00 pm $100.00
* Available online in advance and at the door beginning at 5:30 pm
Park Avenue Armory
browngrotta arts: 25 at 25 at SOFA NY
browngrotta arts booth 208
April 20th
1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Artist booth visit
John McQueen
browngrotta arts booth 208
Detail of BODY LANGUAGE, by John McQueen
Meet with fiber artist and basketmaker John McQueen.
McQueen is one of 25 artists highlighted this year by
browngrotta arts.
2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Lecture
Sue Lawty – rock-linen-lead
browngrotta arts booth 208
Sue Lawty working on a stone drawing
Lawty charts the journey of her understated and abstract works which are strongly influenced by a comprehensive engagement with remote landscape, geology and the passage of time. Seeking “an essential stillness,” Lawty’s constructed pieces and drawings in two and three dimensions explore repetition and interval in raffia, hemp, linen, lead, stone or shadow.
4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Booksigning
Sue Lawty
browngrotta arts booth 208
Fiber and mixed media artist Sue Lawty will sign copies of her book, SUE LAWTY: rock-raphia-linen-lead.
April 21st
1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Artist booth visit Norma Minkowitz
browngrotta arts booth 208
Detail of Remembrance by Norma Minkowitz
Meet with fiber and mixed media artist Norma Minkowitz.
Minkowitz is one of 25 artists highlighted this year by
browngrotta arts.
25 at 25 at SOFA NY Countdown: Norma Minkowitz
COMPOUND Detail by Norma Minkowitz, photo by Tom Grotta
Norma Minkowitz is one of the 25 artists whose work browngrotta arts will highlight at SOFA NY. Among the works by Minkowitz that will be displayed is Compound, which illustrates the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Her inspiration for the piece was unexpected, she explains.
45nm Compound, Norma Minkowitz, mixed media, 70″ x 54.75″ x 1.5″, 2011, photo by Tom Grotta
“I was already working on a wall piece, starting in a spontaneous, unplanned manner arranging lines and subtle patterns, until I had a feeling of the direction it would take. Suddenly the linear image took on the apparition of an aerial view of Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan that I had recently read about and viewed in a newspaper article. The aerial view of the compound became both a replica of the actual space as well as an imaginary vision that I had.” Minkowitz is a National Endowment of the Arts grant recipient, a Fellow of the American Craft Council and a James Renwick Alliance Master of the Medium. The Alliance describes her as a sculptor, who ” has transformed the traditionally feminine art of crochet into a medium for figurative sculpture. The transparent openness of the crochet allows her to draw in three dimensions to reflect the psychological ideas beneath the surface.” Minkowitz’ work is included in numerous permanaent museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York; De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.
News Flash: Artists Get Good Press
Over the last few months, the artists browngrotta arts represents have received mentions and more from the press, print and online. The November/December issue of Craft from the UK, included an image of Sounding by Lawrence LaBianca and Donald Fortescue in, “Craft’s quick fix,” by Glenn Adamson, which discusses the use of the humble cable tie by contemporary artists.
Lawrence LaBianca in the Aspen Sojourner
Then, in its Holiday issue, Aspen Sojourner printed a lengthy piece about LaBianca’s artist-in-residency at Anderson Ranch, “Ranch Hands: A day in the life of an Anderson Ranch artist-in-resident,” by Hilary Stunda http://softarchive.net/blogs/d3pz4i/aspen_sojourner_usa_holiday.882867.html.
Surface Design Winter 2012
The Winter 2012 of Surface Design,devoted four pages to Kyomi Iwata’s new work in kibisio, a by-product of silk spinning production in Japan, previously considered a waste material http://www.surfacedesign.org/publications/sda-journal. The same issue reviewed New York Fiber in the 21st Century at Lehman College Gallery and featured Tom’s photo of Norma Minkowitz’s King of the Hill and referenced Nancy Koenigsberg’s Light and Tempest, as “challeng[ing] the idea of flatness vs. sculptural, a middle ground that fiber works can uniquely occupy.”
Dail Behennah Grid Dish, 40:40 Forty Objects for Forty Years
The UK’s Craft Council included Dail Behennah’s Grid Dish as one of its 40:40/Forty Objects for Forty Years. You can see all 40 objects at: http://onviewonline.craftscouncil.org.uk/4040/.
Korean Foundation Newsletter 12 2011
The December 2011 issue of the Korea Foundation Newsletter featured a profile of Jin-Sook So in conjunction with coverage of the exhibition of Swedish craft art that she curated in Seoul late last year http://newsletter.kf.or.kr/news/news_201112/eng/sub_02.html. In the piece, “Encounter of Swedish Crafts and Korean Sensibilities; Textile Artist Jin-Sook So’s Views of Contemporary” So explains how Sweden and Korea influence her work. “I’ve lived in Sweden for 30 years and have traveled all over the world to create works and hold exhibitions, but my roots remain in Korea. Although I didn’t intend it to be, Korea and Korean sentiments have served as the spirit and inspiration that have motivated me. As time went by, it became even more evident, and I believe they will remain the roots of my work in the future.”
New York Spaces October 2011
So’s work of steel mesh, Untitled, was also included in the “Art Now” column of New York Spaces last October.
Textile Forum December 2011
Photos of work by three artists represented by browngrotta arts were featured in the December 2011 issue if the ETN textileforum. These included shots of Merja Winquist’s, Winter Garden, her large, on-site installation at the Sofia Paper Art Fest in Bulgaria, Anda Klancic’s lighted work, Aura FM, at the 2011 Como Miniartextil exhibition in Italy and Grethe Sorenson preparing for her Traces of Light exhibition at the Round Tower in Copenhagen, Denmark through March 11, 2012.
The Gathering and Patterns of Flight, Norma Minkowitz, mixed media, 2016, photo by Tom Grotta
Next month, browngrotta arts will present an eye-catching installation from Norma Minkowitz‘ series, The Gathering in it Booth 921 at SOFA Chicago (November 3-6). Minkowitz is known for intricate pen-and-ink drawings, collages, crocheted wall works and three-dimensional mixed media sculptures. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut (where t s currently on display in the exhibition, SHE: Images of Female Power from the Permanent Collection, through April 2, 2017). The Gathering at SOFA will combine three-dimensional, life-sized birds, rendered in stiffened, crocheted linen, and gut with pen-and-inked detail with meticulously stitched drawings of bird flight, captured at high speed.
Patterns of light Detail
The artist’s new multimedia work, Are We the Same?, will also be on view in one of SOFA’s public spaces. Minkowitz will attend the opening of SOFA on Thursday evening and will speak about her work as one of three artists in the panel, Fiber Art in Three Dimensions: A History and Discussion of Fiber Art Off the Wall at 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Lecture Room B on Friday November 4th at the Navy Pier. At 2 p.m., on Friday, Minkowitz will be at browngrotta arts Booth 921 for an Artist Q&A. For more information, visit: http://www.sofaexpo.com.