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.

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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.

BIRDS!

Suspense and shock beyond anything you have seen or imagined!






Rather, charm and whimsy - Birds have taken over Three Graces! Our feathered friends are perched throughout in the form of acrylic, clay, soft-sculpture and wax...

"Options Abound" by Robin Luciano Beaty (encaustic and mixed-media)


details of handbags by Becky OH!

Soft Sculpture by Abby Glassenberg........"Birds on a Red Line" by Tiffany Torre (oil on wool)

"Blue Vermont Dusk" by Rachel Paxton (acrylic on canvas)

"Curious Bird" by Stephanie Young (terracotta)

Bird tile and free standing Birds by Leah Murphy

"Dream of Flying" by Johanna Finnegan-Topitzer (scultural book)

sculptural bird pendant by Erin Moran (clay/sterling silver)

shiao-ping wang: new paintings

Last night was the opening reception for a beautiful exhibiton of new paintings by Shiao-Ping Wang and sculpture by M. Turner. The gallery was pleasantly packed with friends, family, artists and art enthusiasts alike. It was also pleasure to see many of my old, errhhh, former professors from UNH!

The show will be up thru June 9th, in the meantime, you can also take a look at the works from the show HERE.

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Shiao-Ping was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the United States in 1981. She studied both Western art and Chinese art in New York and earned a MFA degree from Queens College, City University of New York. She works both abstractly and from observation in various painting media. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US and China. She has taught painting and drawing in various colleges including the University of New Hampshire. In 2007 Shiao-Ping won a Fellowship at Vermont Studio Center.

"I am most interested in growth and change when I make art. I find patterns fascinating: when a few shapes accumulate in large numbers the appearance and energy of the image becomes wholly different.More often than not the gathering (or “swarming”) of shapes develops intuitively without planned organizations on my part. However, nature often emerges in my work through the movements and textures I see in the environment around me. The layers of paint and material I use generate the physical change in the process that is very interesting to observe, just like the change of seasons.I see a color either “float” or “sink” on the flat surface of the canvas, always moving and changing in many directions. For this reason I use acrylic paint and a vinyl paint, called Flashe, to obtain both glossy (acrylic) and matte (Flashe) surfaces for a vision that is constantly changing."

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Melissa earned a MFA degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in MI and has taught at Mass Art and most recently Sanctuary Arts in Eliot, ME.

"In making art, as in any language, we strive to find a way to understand our environment and to connect through our experience. Interpretation becomes the focus of an idea. Through inquiry, series of conflicts arise and choices are made that dictate formal result. But resolution is difficult when endless other options lie as unused raw material. I do not set out to produce a particular piece. With the accumulation of coils, I draw these shapes in three dimensions. It is from within the ongoing process of examination and drawing that the art object truly emerges. It is the rare and exquisite result of an intense interaction with one’s deepest interests."

Money doesn't grow on trees?

Last night I installed a window display at G.Wilikers for the Buy Local program. The theme of the display is "Plant your money locally and watch it grow." I had a lot of fun creating a kid friendly environment and props, including a giant 4 foot flower with leaves made out of dollar bills (faux dollar bills from the toy store, of course!). It took the physical strength of Jody (the owner of G.Wilikers) and her daughter Zoe to stuff the portly teady into the Buy Local t-shirt - perhaps I should have gotten him a bigger size! The display will be up for the entire month of May in an effort to further educate our community about the Buy Local program and the importance of spending their money at local independent businesses as it strengthens the local economy and sense of community and reduces harsh impact on the environment. Check it out!

Tanya Zaryski

I just received a package containting an amazing assortment of hand painted hand blown works by glass goddess Tanya Zaryski! I first fell in love with Tanya's work while vacationing in Woodstock, VT this past winter.


Here's a snipit from her artist statement:

"I have always considered myself an image-maker, and a decorator of surfaces. Attracted to the highly colored and densely populated surfaces of folk art images, textile designs, and ancient enamelled glass ware, I have striven to create the same "look" but in the context of my own experiences. Rows of town houses replace traditional abstract borders, and familiar faces stand in for figures of mythology."

In many of the pieces, Tanya has added remnants of spoken/written words (the "Speak" series). "Some faces utter words, distorted by molten glass overlaid in the comic-like speech bubbles, others speak in images. Bits of conversation, nonsense words and poems are painted deep within the glass."

Tanya began her art training at the University of Toronto, studying art history, painting, drawing and sculpture, before discovering glass blowing at Sheridan College. She completed three years working as an artist-in-residence at the Harbourfront Glass Studio in Toronto. She currently lives with her partner Mark Lewis, and their young son on a farm in the Beaver Valley near Georgian Bay (Canada). After 18 months of renovating, they have completed work on their century barn, creating a functioning hot glass studio and gallery space (Beaver Valley Glassworks).

More of the works that are now available at Three Graces can be seen here.

Shiao-Ping Wang: New Paintings

The postcards just arrived for the next show! "Shiao-Ping Wang: New Paintings" opens next Friday, May 9th! A sneak preview of some of the new works can be seen here.

New Hampshire Folk Festival & Jazzmouth

My love for this little city by the sea grew stronger this weekend with the celebration of the New Hampshire Folk Festival and Jazzmouth!

I am a proud member of the "Buy Local" program here in Portsmouth. The Seacoast Buy Local campaign highlights the connection between shopping at locally owned, independent businesses and retaining our community's distinctive character. Cuzin' Richard invited us to have a table at the Folk Festival. Bob and I represented; we had many interesting conversations with people regarding the importance of buying local as it is better for our community, our economy and the environment.

The Folk Fest was held at the South Church on State Street and featured three great perfomers: Antje Duvekot, Cormac McCarthy and the Jake Armerding Band.

After the concert we headed over to the Press Room to catch the tail end of an amazing performance by Jazz great Sheila Jordan with the Harvey Diamond Trio.