itty bitty and witty

As mentioned in the previous post, Studio Visit Magazine, is a new series of artist books. Each volume features approximately 150 artists from all over the country who have been selected by professional curators. I was given a copy of Volume 1 this past spring by Nicole Maloof, as she was one of the artists featured. I was delighted to see a painting by Lisa Costanzo on the cover - I first fancied Lisa's work when I visited her studio in the South End in Boston during the SoWA art walk a few years ago.

Both Nicole and Lisa will be participating in the Teeny Tiny Art Show 3!! Here is a sneak preview...

Shown above: "Is this all we really have in common?" by Nicole Maloof (acrylic and ink on paper 4"x4"); and "Track Drifter #2" by Lisa Costanzo (watercolor, gouache and graphite on paper, 7"x9").

Preview more works by Nicole and Lisa here.

"Turn My Knobs"

The Packages keep coming in as TT3 draws near!! Yesterday, I received works from Abby Glassenberg and Denise Duong!

Abby made eight little birds in all - Three Blue Birds (with teeny tiny hands for feathers!) and Five "Drab" birds in earthy brown and warm grey tones - you can see them here. I love Abby's soft-sculpture, her craftsmanship is AMAZING and her use of pattern and texture to creat various stylized birds is brilliant. I also enjoy reading her blog, "While She Naps".

I also received a package from Denise Duong! I originally came across Denise's work thru Studio Visit, as she was one of approximately 150 artists from across the country featured in the first volume. Denise creates her lyrical mixed media paintings on canvas. She studied at the Chicago Art Institute, and currently lives and works in her resident studio in Oklahoma City.

Three of Denise's pieces are quite special - I was perplexed when I pulled them out of their package to see a tag inviting me to "Turn My Knobs". As I did so, the center panel began to shift revealing more of the image...

How cool is that!? I love the Teeny Tiny Art Show!!

Animal Behavior

The time has come for another preview of things to come in the upcoming Teeny Tiny Art Show 3...

Kelly Vivanco first graced the gallery with her series of birds in the Teeny Tiny Art Show 2. Like their feathered friends, the creatures featured in this small series have much emotional depth while sporting party hats and warm woolen sweaters.

"Serious Knits" (shown above) is my favorite!

Kelly received her BFA in Fine arts from the Laguna College of Art and Design. She currently resides in San Diego, CA. In addition to painting, printmaking and sculpture, Kelly has created a comic called “Patches”.

More of Kelly's paintings can be seen here along with other works from the Teeny Tiny Art Show #3 here.

Tiny and Trim

I am super excited to give you another sneak peak of the upcoming Teeny Tiny Art Show #3 in September! I am in love with the work of artist Elsa Mora, and was elated when she accepted my invitation to exhibit some of her papercuts in the show.


The above piece is called Rain Girl.

"Here is a rain girl carrying some little drops of water in order to keep her personal nature alive. You can see how she walks and holds a plant and animals with her hands at the same time. They are her universe and they go wherever she goes. This papercut is dedicated to all the girls and boys (little ones and grown-ups) who work hard in order to develop their personal worlds. The drops are a symbol of all those little things that we can do everyday in order to keep our imagination and creativity alive."
~ Elsita

shown below: Tree House. More works from the Teeny Tiny Art Show 3 can be seen here.


Elsa was born in Holguin, Cuba. She attended the Professional School of Visual Arts in Camagüey, winning the prestigious Amelia Peláez Art Prize in 1990. In 1992, Mora won the Grand Prize in the First Biennial of Cuban Drawing. Interested in all media including painting, photography, ceramics, porcelain, collage, bronze and mixed-media, she has exhibited in numberous solo and group exhibitions around the world. Her first solo exhibition in the US was in 1998, “The Ego’s Other Dimension”, at the Phyllis Kind Gallery in New York. Other important exhibits include Ejercicios de Silencio at the Carmen Montilla Gallery in Havana in 2000, Vulnerable at Phyllis Kind Gallery in New York in 2001, Proceso de Adaptacion at the Bourbon & Lally Gallery in Montreal in 2002, Elsa Mora at the Havana Galerie in Zurich, Switzerland and Ni el Principio ni el Fin Existen Espacio at 304 Gallery in San Juan Puerto Rico in 2004 and BIRTH at the Phyllis Kind Gallery in 2005. Elsa currently resides in Los Angeles, California.


Above is an image from her solo show at Couturier Gallery. Los Angeles, CA 2007. Each butterfly represents a famous woman.

I am in LOVE with Elsita's work, her ability to express her passions thru beautiful forms and genuine content. If you haven't already, I highly recommend you check out her blog, it is one of my favorites - as it is warm and endearing, a personal glimpse into the life of this multi-talented and loving artist, wife and mother.

Wee Wax Works

Following my previous post explaining encaustics, here's a sneak peak of some more work to be in the upcoming Teeny Tiny Art Show #3...Robin Luciano Beaty and Linda Cordner describe their creative process and fascination with the medium of encaustic.

shown above: Above and Beyond Series by Robin Luciano Beaty (encaustic and mixed-media, 6x6 panels)

"The medium of encaustic; a molten beeswax paint mixed with resin and dry pigments, allows me to escape the confines of everyday artist's techniques and provides me with more exploratory means of expression. Its qualities are sublime and unpredictable, additive and subtractive, translucent and sculptural, which has strongly influenced my departure from realism to abstraction. This ancient technique has become my method of navigating the obscure terrain of imagination and memory." ~ Robin Beaty

shown above: Reaching by Linda Cordner (wax, oil and collage on board, 8x8)

"I am very drawn to wax and its tactile qualities, the smell and viscosity of the medium are very different from other painting techniques. Creating organic forms is a natural extension of wax’s origin. Coming from a background in graphic design, I am drawn to certain color schemes and shapes, the repetition and placement being important to the composition. My paintings are made by layering multiple coats of wax which can completely obscure the under layers at times. I then scrape away areas of the wax to expose the compositions below." ~ Linda Cordner

The Teeny Tiny Art Show #3 opens Friday, September 5th, with an opening reception from 5-8pm.

More previews of the show can be seen here.

Encaustic = Hot Wax Painting

The gallery has been graced with more and more wax works as of late (by the fabulous Liz Tran, Robin Luciano Beaty, Kate Phillips, and Helene Farrar) - and more and more gallery goers are asking me, "What is encaustic!?".

A Brief History of Encaustics:

The ancient Greeks developed encaustic over 2,000 years ago. The word encaustic derives from the Greek word enkaustikos, meaning “to heat” or “to burn”. It is an ancient painting medium that mixes molten wax with dry pigments and resin. Encaustic was used among Greek artists as far back as the 5th century B.C. where it was applied in portraits and panels of mythological painting. Encaustic is impervious to moisture. This main preservation property was instrumental as a way of weatherproofing Greek ships. Later, pigment was added to the wax and encaustic was also used to decorate Greek ships.

In the 1st through 3rd centuries A.D., Greek painters settled in Egypt and adapted the common custom of honoring the dead. It was common to place a portrait of the deceased in the prime of their life or after death over the person’s mummy as a memorial. These mummified portraits, known as the Fayum funeral portraits, are the only surviving encaustic paintings from ancient times. Their fresh color and vibrance attests to the durability and resistance to moisture that wax encompasses.


Encaustic was also used during the Renaissance by Rembrandt, who touted encaustic for portraiture, claiming that it was akin to painting "with liquid flesh." Its fluidity yields an almost animate image, suggesting movement, more living face than mask.



Encaustic has returned from obscurity as modern tools have made the process more practical. Diego Rivera used encaustic in the 1930's on his murals. Jasper Johns is credited with the current renaissance of encaustic fine art with his work that began in the 1950's.

the Redemptive Powers of the Hula Hoop

A box of paintings for the Teeny Tiny Art Show #3 just arrived today from Barbara Poole in Boston. The precious package contained twelve paintings from her series, "The Redemptive Powers of the Hula Hoop".

Barbara explains in her statement: "I was a resident at the artist’s colony Jentel in 2005 when I reacquainted myself with the magical properties of the hula-hoop. No one could actually hula hoop but all remembered a time in childhood when it cam easy. When my fellow residents would first try to hula they were stiff, bashful and dismissive of the action. But I encouraged them to keep trying, all the while snapping photos. As I did so, I noticed that there bodies would relax, they would start to giggle and then laugh and their facial expressions told me that they were remembering their first enthusiastic attempts at hula hooping. Very few people actually achieved mastery, but I got really good at snapping the pictures before the hoop hit the ground and capturing that look of childlike glee or determination on their faces."

"I have turned these moments into little icons, with gold leaf and gems. Paying homage to a time in our lives when our lack of self-awareness made everything possible.

Barbara will be at the opening reception on Friday, September 5th with her camera and hoop in hand!

Three's a Charm...

...The Teeny Tiny Art Show #3 is coming!! The show opens Friday, September 5th with a reception from 5-8pm.

As its predecessors, the exhibition features works by multiple artists measuring less than or equal to 10"x10" and affordably priced from $28 - $400. Exhibiting artists include: Aaron Drew, Raegan Russell, Erin Moran, Bailey Saliwanchik, Nicole Maloof, Samantha Wilcox, Kelly Vivanco, Lisa Costanzo, Liz Tran, Sarah Ogren, Tiffany Torre, Jodie Baehre, Robin Luciano Beaty, Linda Cordner, Denise Duong, Elsa Mora, Stephanie Young, Abby Glassenberg, Abby Williams, Barbara Poole, Adeline Goldminc-Tronzo, Michelle Brusegaard, Maryanne Pernold Young, Anne K. Holt, Leah Murphy, Kim Ferreira, Cindy Rizza, Nancy Grace Horton and Dorothy Imagire.

Click here to preview some of the works in the show. And stay tuned as I will be posting about some of the exhibiting artists in the not too distant future.

*The Teeny Tiny Art Show #3 is a collaboration with The Enormous Tiny Art Show at Nahcotta. One Town, Two Galleries, Tons of Tiny Art!

Robin Luciano Beaty

Robin Beaty just delivered another set of 9 paintings from her ongoing series, Above and Beyond. They are #41 thru #50. Prolific, perhaps? Robin's paintings are so delicious, I could just eat them up with a spoon...

Rabbit/Rabbit/Rabbit

New Paintings by Fleur Palau!

Judith Sowa: A Close Look at Vermeer

As part of our "Midsommer Montage", Three Graces is exhibiting a very special painting by Judith Sowa. A Close Look at Vermeer's Portrait of a Young Woman is grandiose in scale (the canvas measures 66" by 66") and sublime in its execution. The painting pays dual homage to 17th Century Dutch Painting Master Johannes Vermeer and Chuck Close, a leading figure in Contemporary Art since the 1970's.

Portrait of a Young Woman was painted by Jan Vermeer circa 1667, a curious, enigmatic portrait. "This painting-its context still mutual vulnerability and the viewer's look-seeks to convert unrest into trust, apprehension into reassurance, the desire for beauty and perfection into a loving acceptance of what is flawed." (excerpt taken from A Study of Vermeer by Edward A. Snow)

"American artist Chuck Close has been a leading figure in contemporary art since the early 1970s. Best known for the monumental heads he has painted in thousands of tiny airbrush bursts, thumbprints, or looping multi-color brushstrokes, Close has developed a formal analysis and methodological reconfiguration of the human face that have radically changed the definition of modern portraiture. Over the years, Close's works have evolved from harsh black-and-white images to colorful and brightly patterned canvases of an almost abstract painterliness." (Robert Storr, Curator Department of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA)

A Close Look at Vermeer's Portrait of a Young Girl is symbolic to me, as it represents what I love most about the artworld - the ongoing dialogue between past and present; a clever and contemporary expression of a timeless aesthetic.

Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

Our current show, "Little Muses", is an exhibition of paintings by Bailey Saliwanchik, Nicole Maloof and Taylor Haynes -- Three smart and sassy young painters full of sugar and spice and everything nice!




Bailey Saliwanchik hails from the deep woods, swampy fields and blue skiesof Maine, emerging with a belief in plant magic and the enchanted female. Her subjects are borne from a process of intuitive visual construction andcombined interests in contemporary illustration, fashion illustration,classic figurative painting, ancient ideologies, goddess worship andfantastical female characters : gypsies, princesses, witches, mermaids,cowgirls, nuns, dancers queens and mediums. She loves big hair, books byTom Robbins, ambiguous symbolism, gin, curls, and pumpkin muffins. She iscurrently based in Brooklyn, NY.




Nicole Maloof was born in 1983 in Seoul, South Korea. She received her BFA with a concentration in Painting and her BA with a concentration in Chemistry from Boston University in 2006.

"The work currently being shown is the beginning of an ongoing series, "Masked and Anonymous." In this series I am taking a limited stock of characters and incorporating them into various roles and narratives. The narratives are related but not overtly so. Familiar characters play multiple archetypes and so as one moves from piece to piece their identities become more convoluted and harder to predict. Some of the characters are literally wearing masks, but it's the repetition of story that simultaneously reveals more as it lessens predictability. Are they being truthful or simply playing a part? Are they on the side of the good guy or the bad guy? I want to address the question of what identity really is by partially removing it. How much do we on a daily basis use our preconception of identity to judge and compartmentalize individuals? Through anonymity I want to achieve a greater specificity through the loss of assigned archetype. The innocent are suddenly murderesses. The used become the powerful. Patterns adorning women's lingerie become a part of an elegant still life. This allows a more complex individual to be considered. And through this consideration of the individual, the human condition is more properly explored as opposed to simply being stereotyped."




Taylor Haynes hails from Northern New Hampshire. "My love for illustration has lead my exploration of art through painting and graphic design. My equal love and concern for the environment integrates itself into my art and lifestyle. Things I find irresistible: owls, polka-dots in various forms, all sorts of color, environmental activism, floral silhouettes, tea parties, textiles, wallpaper, the word "vintage", day dreams, stripes, dresses and tights, unexpected adventures, bliss-seeking, sunshine, paper shops, blogs, and creating art -of course!"

"Little Muses" will be up thru July 7th. Works from the show can also be seen here!

Michael Santini: Modern Medievalist

How could I have forgotten to blog about this amazing painter!? I recently (sometime in May?) had the pleasure of seeing an exhibition of paintings by Modern Medievalist Michael Santini at Gallery XIV on Thayer Street in Boston's South End - It was LOVE at first sight.

"Santini’s oil paintings are reminiscent of the Medieval Dutch Masters, using the clarity of color and line, subtle symbolism and fine craft of these painters along with his unique personal style and concepts; his stunning masterpieces are striking fascinating. His artworks are allegorical portrayals of the constant spiritual and worldly struggle of good versus evil. His subtle and profound symbolism depicts this concept; the elements and characters in his work exist within a constant, yet ever changing boundary, rearranging themselves in each of his creations. Personal contemplation, hope choice and accountability as well as political and religious strife are consistent themes in his profound works." (Micro Museum, Brooklyn, NY)

Michael Santini received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Salem college in West Virginia in 1968. His artwork has been exhibited for nearly 40 years, with his first international show taking place in Paris, France in 1975. Santini's works are part of premier private collections world wide, he has won numerous awards, accepted many significant commissions, and is widely published. Mr. Santini maintains his painting studio in a restored stone farmhouse in Wisconsin.

THANK YOU Mr. Santini for your modern mastery and your medieval mind. You left me haunted (in a good way!)

shown: "Venus on the half shell explaining the nutritional significance of garlic to Botticelli disguised as a cow" and "Making a profound decision without a safety net while a protestor is being muzzled with a plunger".

Thank you for being so stylish!

New handbags by Becky OH!

While Becky and I were busy sorting out the new bags, the Becky OH! minions were busy making their own marks with the crayons and newsprint I recently put out in the gallery...

Upcoming: "Little Muses"

"Little Muses" featuring works by three intelligent and talented young ladies Bailey Saliwanchik, Nicole Maloof and Taylor Haynes opens next friday, June 13th. The reception is from 5-8pm, if you are in the neighborhood, do stop in and take part in the celebration...

A sneak preview of works from the exhibition can be seen HERE!

New! Waxy Works

I am so excited for some of the new work that has come in as of late! Three Graces welcomes Robin Luciano Beaty, her work is a delicious blend of organic texture, mod form and expressive design.

"The medium of encaustic; a molten beeswax paint mixed with resin and dry pigments, allows me to escape the confines of everyday artist's techniques and provides me with more exploratory means of expression. Its qualities are sublime and unpredictable, additive and subtractive, translucent and sculptural, which has strongly influenced my departure from realism to abstraction. This ancient technique has become my method of navigating the obscure terrain of imagination and memory."

You can view more of Robin's work here and here.

...

Liz Tran has sent some more of her highly anticipated dress paintings. (Liz originally exhibited her paintings at Three Graces this past February in the Teeny Tiny Art Show II.)

You can see more of the paintings Liz sent here and here.

he makes me happy when skies are gray

Yeah! George just finished hanging the new sign I painted a few weeks ago. George has helped me on so many projects here at the gallery and I am so grateful for his friendship and skills. In addition to being a fine friend, he is a fine furniture designer + maker, check out his modern, clean and simple designs at www.georgebeland.com (I designed his website too!) and his furniture is also available here in the gallery.