Closing Reception August 27th

23 Aug

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As Election Day 2016 draws near, popUp Gallery is proud to present a group of artists whose work explores many of the issues that will confront our next President and Congress. Throughout history, artists have depicted the events of their times with courage and graphic clarity. The work in this show is charged with powerful messages that illustrate the passions of each artist and challenge us to consider the implications – and unintended consequences – of our actions upon the world we live in and the lives with whom we share it. As you go to the polls on November 8, look beyond the personalities and think about the policies – be careful what you vote for.

August 27th, 2016, 6:00 to 9:00 PM CLOSING RECEPTION with Live Music by Jazz and Blues musician Jenny Reed

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Participating Artists

Carlo Abruzzese

AlamedaDemogr

Alameda County Demographics

Artist Statement:

My art integrates the disparate worlds of fine art and quantitative information, creating images that encourage the viewer to re-interpret the world around us.  I explore pages of data that now fill the public realm relating to demographics, religion, ethnic backgrounds, immigration– topics that often define us– and recompose these statistics into works of fine art.

I use simple materials (acrylic paint, graphite pencils, rulers and drafting film) to create complex, information-rich art. My process is labor intensive. Instead of using a computer to generate layouts and designs, I sort through the numbers and graphs, collate information, sketch out designs, and then draft and paint. This allows me to digest the information; the final product not only accurately describes the quantities, but the qualities of the new ‘map’ I have created.

My background as an architect has greatly influenced how I approach art. An architect takes information and translates it into built form. The intent is to make a functional, beautiful object. My art uses this same process, creating images that evoke discourse and insight into our society.

Gabriele Bungardt

Text

‘Limited Intelligence’ – Detail

Artist Statement:

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” James Madison – from the New York Packet 1788

Growing up in post war Germany, I am sensitive to the rise of populist leaders. Fascist tendencies can slowly undermine a democracy in a time of world wide turmoil and fear. History has shown that charismatic populist leaders can lead to disaster by exploiting fear, spreading lies and bullying opponents.

America may be resistant to a total closing down of its democratic society, but the process of erosion needs to be recognized. Generating scapegoats (Muslims, Immigrants), and run amok internal surveillance systems; threatening journalists, activists and whistle blowers with detention; influencing the judicial system by nominating activist judges; elevating presidential powers, and eroding voting rights are just some of the staples in the fascist work book.

Mark Bryan

The Trump-o-Matic

‘Alameda Demographics’ by Carlo Abruzzese

Artist Statement:

People often ask me, “Where does this stuff come from?” ……always a good question……but not so simple to answer. Certainly my life experience, personality and inclinations all contribute to my choices of what to paint, however, I still find the creative process mysterious.

“You may not be interested in war but war is interested in you” Leon Trotsky

Although turning inward is my first instinct and love, I can’t always stay inside my head and ignore what’s going on in the world. When the circus turns especially ugly or when I get a good idea, I feel the need and responsibility to make some kind of comment. Humor and satire have been my way to deal with serious topics which are often too grim to portray directly. There is always some satisfaction for me in pointing out the absurdities of human behavior and making fun of the villains of the day. I don’t know if this kind of work has any effect on the situation, but at least it has a therapeutic value for me and others of like mind. Many times I’ve heard “thanks for painting a picture of how I feel”. That’s good enough for me.

Mi’Chelle Fredrick

MountRushmore_s

Artist Statement:

In past elections, I have sometimes been frustrated, sometimes disappointed, occasionally angry, but I’ve never felt the level of anxiety I’m feeling this year. Fear is a powerful force. We can let it silence us or allow it to motivate us. The choice is ours – so far.

Experience has taught me not to wait silently for somebody to fix things, so I have chosen to let fear push me out of my safe corner, find causes I’m willing to fight for, and vote for candidates who support my causes. It’s hard to pick just one wrong that needs righting, but human rights might be a good place to start. If we can reach the understanding that, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, and a host of other demographic identifiers, we are all human, that would be a good first step.

As a woman who has spent most of my life working in male-dominated fields, personal experience tells me that gender bias still has a very real impact on the lives, liberty and happiness of women and girls around the world. Perhaps Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress in 1916, said it best: “We’re half the people; we should be half the Congress.”

Fast forward 100 years, women still occupy only about 20 percent of elected offices in this country and even fewer high-level appointed positions. We can do better than that.

Mark Harris

I too am America

‘I too am America’ by Mark Harris

Artist Statement:

“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

I began this series in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, MO. It is a cathartic response to the recent surge of murders of unarmed African American men by police in the United States. These events forced me to examine my own ideas about “post–racial” America and its promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for all. After this examination I found myself with two choices: stay ignorant, and believe the illusion that America is and always has been great and democratic; or do some research and discover the ugly truth about the history of white supremacy and institutionalized racism at the roots of American society. This body of work explores the continued effects of that legacy today. It is meant to challenge us as citizens to cultivate discussion, civic engagement and action.

Ken Kalman

M-16

‘M-16’ by Ken Kalman

Artist Statement:

Humans are territorial creatures with a strong need for self-preservation. We are also storytellers and historians who map and catalogue geographic, political, and real estate boundaries. The fact that maps tell only a temporary tale is what makes them most interesting to me.

Modern weapons have evolved from the simplest tools of early man, and many of them are stunning examples of fine machinery and craftsmanship. My interest in guns and maps come from a study in military history, a respect for human invention and an occasional glimpse of morality.

The guns I make are covered with paper maps (vintage and contemporary) and these maps reflect something of the time, place and purpose of the gun. The connections between the map and the gun range from geography alone to the civilizations, tribes and populations that were destroyed by that particular weapon.

The sculptures are made of aluminum sheet and rods, rivets, screws, and paper. They are non-functioning and include rifles, semi automatic guns, and pistols.

Michael Kerbow

The Gorgon Stare

‘The Gorgon Stare’ by Michael Kerbow, Oil on canvas, 38″x48″

Artist Statement:

My art explores the way in which we engage with our surroundings and the possible consequences our actions have upon the world in which we live. Through my work I attempt to question the rationale of our choices, and try to reveal the dichotomy that may exist between what we desire and what we manifest. Recently my work has focused upon the mechanisms that power our society and examines how they may influence the construct for a possible future.

Mark Martin

One Worker

‘One Worker’ by Mark Martin

Artist Statement:

Born in rural Wisconsin, I worked the fields of the family farm until I was old enough to hire out to local farmers and big agricultural companies.  I’ve worked in heavy industry including an iron foundry.  Since then I’ve had many day jobs, but have always made art with my heart, mind, and hands.

While working to promote the Occupy movement, I was involved in banner and sticker making.  I realized from this experience that I wanted direct contact with social issues in my studio practice, so for the last five years I have been joyfully making art on issues of social justice and past movement heroes.

I work to bring people together with fairly non-confrontational art that helps people explore and question our society. I make this work because I believe art has a strong role to play in shaping our society and culture.

John Rogers

7-11Detail

Artist Statement:

The Grey Invaders series of dioramas riffs on the perceived safety of convenience culture, and the increasingly blurry zone between global turmoil and domestic peace. Using various ubiquitous locations, such as the gas station and convenience store, and painstakingly replicating traffic zones, trees, signage, Rogers overlays the menace of overt control upon what we take for granted. He further convolutes the scenes with military figures from various stages in history, critically investigating our own legacy of invasion and salvation. The figures, both civilian and military, are caught in very human acts, flirting with the ladies and them flirting back, sipping on a MegaGulp, scanning the crowd… and this draws us in to the tiny drama as well, stirring the tension between veracity and the absurd.
   Five of the seven pieces in the series were conceived and executed before the fall of the Twin Towers. At that time it was a meditation on our involvement in foreign affairs, and the divide between the violent repercussions resulting from this oft thinly-veiled imperialism, and the plodding comfort of privileged North America. After the Fall, it became a foreshadowing of our militarization, our “Endocolonization”, as brilliant French philosopher Paul Virilio puts it — further domestication of the flock…  Never was it wishful thinking, and never more so than now.

Brian Singer

brian_singer_someguy_economy_guns_pair_1000

Artist Statement:

My mixed-media pieces are created from flyers stapled to telephone poles (lost dog, garage sale, etc.). After years of weather, these community billboards become a rusting graveyard of events past. I remove the paper scraps and re-assemble them into graphic structures inlaid with chaotic bits of image, typography, and rust.

Most of the larger scale projects I create are a direct reaction to either personal or shared events. The feeling of isolation created by the internet led to The 1000 Journals Project, a shared artifact network connecting strangers the world over. The rhetoric about what’s good or bad for the economy led to my questioning why we’re not talking about what’s good or bad for people instead. I seek to make people think, consider, and even question their preconceived beliefs.

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Mark your calendar for this year’s show at PopUp Gallery

14 Apr

With one of the most unique elections in our history in the making, artists are motivated by current events to reflect the mood of the country in their work. PopUp Gallery is showing some of California’s most engaging political artists.

Register to vote and take an interest!

Opening Reception August 6, 2016 from 6pm to 9pm

Stay tuned for more information on our artists

Thanks Everybody for a Great Reception

28 Sep

PopUp Gallery wanted to let you know how gratifying it was to see so many of you at our receptions.We hope all of you were enjoying the wonderful group of artists we put together for this spectacular show.

Please stay tuned for future shows. We will be back in 2016.

Gallery1 Gallery6

For more information on our artists and their contribution to this show click on their photo on the right or scroll down to the previous posting.

‘Shadows’ starts August 14th to September 11th, 2015

25 Jun

popUp Gallery returns to the Bay Area art scene with an exciting new exhibition entitled – “Shadows”. This show features eight local artists whose work represents bold interpretations of the theme. Going well past literal depictions of light and shadow, the work leads viewers from shadows in nature and richly layered sculptures to mysterious abstracts and the precarious world of those who live in the shadows.

Opening reception is Friday August 14, 2015 during the 2nd Friday Estuary Art Walk in Alameda.

Participating Artists:

IMG_1828 loresCarole Jeung – Photography

Artist Statement
I use photography as a way of keeping notes, to capture a thought as it occurs and to record a moment that I see. I photograph shadows, patterns, and textures as I come upon them, usually with my phone. When I catch my observations in this way, it feels like a fleeting moment becomes an eternal one.
It’s also a way of gathering evidence that these things exist in real life. I’m not interested in processing or manipulating the photographic image, so I do not crop or alter the image after the photo has been taken. My favorite cameras are instant ones, where the printed image is immediately in hand; there’s a collaboration between my eye and the camera that produces an image that is both direct and oftentimes surprising.

Gherardi_Unwound_webDanielle Gherardi – Ink and Mixed Media

Artists Statement
Is there a fine line between protection and confinement? Do the words “apron” and “cape” conjure gender? Can one form stand as a symbol for antithetical ideas? In the process of creating sculpture, drawing and collage, I attempt to balance self-posed questions such as these with strong intuitive impulses. A sculpture comes together for me in much the same way as a collage. I respond to certain materials or shapes, juxtaposing them until they suggest a new idea within a thematic framework. Drawings and collage provide a more immediate, experimental arena to play with ideas, both leading up to and being informed by the sculpture.
For many years I have explored themes of protection, confinement, and erosion of concrete boundaries through an often formalist, architectural language. More recently, this architectural language has “moved inside”, and expanded to domestic materials and symbols. This new sculpture is born of the easily accessible flotsam and jetsam of a household; broken furniture, stainless scrubbers, and heavy-duty foil become the basis for creating forms that more directly relate to the human body, its vulnerabilities and strengths.

Davis.MarsFlora Davis – Sculpture

Artist Statement
Metal is my canvas. Like a Zen alchemist, I work the surface, creating patinas through the application of an eclectic mix of chemicals and compounds on copper, brass, aluminum and steel. Through multiple applications I strive to achieve an amazing range of patterns, textures and colors. My inspiration is nature: whether it is earthy and textural or lyrical and rhythmic. This combination of man-made and natural, results in a balance between strength and softness, nature and industry. My artistic process is an ongoing exploration of certainty, versus not knowing, controlling, versus letting go. Instead of relying on a sketch, I establish an intuitive connection with the materials as I work with them. This process allows ideas to gradually evolve and change, as the metal is cut, bent, shaped, and textured. It is an intimate process, both playful and challenging.

Bungardt_Homeless_webGabriele Bungardt – Painting

Artist Statement
My paintings often depict the daily struggle that fills the lives of men and women across this country. Emotional interactions and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships are at the core of my work. The subtle nuances of body language convey many meanings, and it is this ambiguity that I find most interesting. Although I create my own stories, I prefer to leave viewers enough room to interpret the scenes from their point of view.

IMG_2451Kathryn Keller – Sculpture

Artist Statement
Like any accomplishment in life, I believe that how it is achieved is just as important as the achievement itself. So whenever I look at my art, not only do I appreciate the finished piece, but also the route I took to get there. Anytime I want to look back on the process of creating a given work of art, it’s all right there for me to recall and appreciate.
I am and have always been a painter. When I had the recent opportunity to explore sculpture in various media, a whole new world that I took to immediately opened up. To see my art in 3D. As an interior designer I had always drawn in 2D while visualizing the 3D, and here I had it in my hands. These metal sculptures came out of a prototype of a wall piece that was turned on it’s side at the end of one working day, and I saw “it”, the idea grew to the 7’ and above you see today. They are abstract and in that one can delight in the light and shadows, the hard and the soft, while at the same time visualize; trees, buildings, fog, water, etc., and it’s like.

coastal tree 9 copyLinda Colnett – Digital Art

Artist Statement
Growing up on the South Plains of Texas where a tree is a rare sight indeed, I developed a great respect and a good deal of awe upon encountering a tree. Much of my body of work has been devoted to images of trees. Versatility and experimentation have formed my work over the years. Utilizing paint, mixed media, sculpture and computer technology to create works, I have also developed large and smallscaled installations. Fascinated by texture, my work often assumes an organic quality. I am inspired by the general human condition, including issues related to ecology, spirituality, gender, race, cross-cultural connections, and geopolitical power struggles. Despite the seeming gravity of some of these subjects, I attempt to render my work in ways that invite interest through beauty and humor.

MIChelle_art_webMi’Chelle Fredrick – Drawing

Artist Statement
I am known, primarily, for my graphite drawings although I often work in watercolor and pastel, sometimes combining these mediums. My work is typically representational and highly detailed in character.
Most of my work is created in the additive process, using layers and layers of lines or color to build images. For the “Shadows” exhibition, I chose to work in the reductive or subtractive method, where much of the drawing is done with an eraser instead of a pencil. This method forces me to think not in terms of building an image with lines, but rather with values, pulling objects out of the background by identifying their highlights and shadows. I begin with a background “wash” of graphite powder on Dura-Lar, and the images are then lifted out of the background using erasers, adding and subtracting until the image emerges from the shadows.

ct_davenportlanding2Sirima Sataman – Wood Print

Artist Statement
Everything that exists along the ocean’s edge is affected by the conjunction of two vital forces –  land and water. The stark portraits of gnarled trees along the edge of the northern California coast are iconic representations of relationships. Erosional forces are at work – creating similarities and differences. The absence of color accentuates the beauty of their sculptural form. Revealed is the essential nature and substance of wood worn away by the action of prevailing coastal winds, water, and sun.

popUp gallery at autobody fine art, 1517 Park Street, Alameda, CA 94501

Closing Reception of “In Other Words” August 8, 2014

3 Aug

OpeningReceptionPopUp Gallery Opening Reception was a hit.

See Nanette Deetz‘s Article in the Mercury News, Alameda Journal and other local publications.

Our closing reception August 8, 6PM to 9PM will feature live music by Jazz and Blues Musician:

Jenny Reed

 L.A. Weekly says: “Jenny Reed offers new life to the blues with fresh vital originality

popUp Gallery, 1517 Park Street, Alameda

Scroll down for more information  

Last Chance to see ‘In Other Words’ August 8, 2014

30 Jul

Come celebrate popUp Gallery’s second anniversary with an intriguing exhibition of words and pictures, music and poetry by twelve Bay Area artists whose imagery is infused with stories.

Poet ‘Éclat’ aka Mark Lynch will make a special appearance at our closing reception August 8, 6pm to 9pm.
Mark Lynch engages and writes about people in real time, producing a personal, poetic metaphor of his subject’s essence, with a collection of pieces resulting by the end of the event.

And for your listening pleasure, live music by Blues, Soul musician: Jenny Reed
Jazz, Blues & Original selections

Our new show, “In Other Words”, tells stories about personal journeys and cherished memories through private musings, poetry and prose, and fragments of familiar novels. This is visual storytelling at its very best, providing tangible evidence that the magic of language still exists in a splendid variety of patterns and forms that evoke deep emotions and vivid imagery, reminding us of our collective past or perhaps offering a glimpse into the future. Our show will inspire you, surprise you and entertain you.

1517 Park Street, Alameda, California

Meet our artists

Companion to California

Companion to California

Adam Donnelly – Pinhole Photography http://www.adonnelly.com

 Artist Statement
My work is rooted in pinhole photography – a historic process that predates the medium itself and essentially stands as the first technological iteration of photography as a whole. I build the cameras myself which creates a tactical connection to my materials. As objects, the cameras are both sculptural and functional and I look to the materials I use during the camera building process to inspire a photograph and create a dialogue between camera and image.

For my Visual Literacy series I create pinhole cameras from recycled books. The vocabulary of our visual imaginations is comprised of imagery that we take in throughout the course of our lives. When reading, the mind utilizes this vocabulary to form a visual narrative based on the text that the eye is consuming. This intangible narrative can only be “seen” by the reader. I am presenting my own visual translation of specific texts by using books as cameras.

Moby Dick, Ahab

Moby Dick, Ahab

Bill Ford – Illustrations, Drawing  http://hermanandfyodor.tumblr.com/

 Artist Statement
Dostoyevsky and Melville were speculators in the markets of the Sublime. In their storytelling, they open high and then knock it all down where they can pick things up at a discount, cover their short and take a nice spread. In these drawings I endeavor to short their short. And slip through a back door to the Sublime. Rather than illustration, I think of them as Abstract Expressionism with figures.

I had a career in advertising and another in software design. Since the second grade, when the art teacher showed me Lautrec’s At the Moulin Rouge and I thought I could do something like that, I have been drawn to the flame of art over and over again. I have been drawn to Giotto and Durer, to Caravaggio and Velasquez, to Rembrandt and Piranesi, to Van Gogh and Picasso, to Franz Kline and de Kooning, to Jackson Pollock, to Winsor McCay and George Herriman. I have been drawn to an economy of means, to a density of line and a heavy virtual mass, to psychological presence and multiple scales of interest, to encapsulated forms with uncertain edges, to things that seem to take over my pencil and live a life of their own. To things that go bump in the night.

CD Cover

CD Cover

Colin Herrick – Limited Edition Music Label  http://timereleasedsound.com/

 Artist Statement
I have been making art constantly for more than 30 years now. Having spent many years working in the printmaking field, and working on larger print/photo media wall works, I stumbled into the business that I am now in through both my love of music, and my love of the beautifully packaged product. I had always sought out and bought musical releases that came in some sort of artistically produced package, but it wasn’t until 2011 that I thought about starting doing this myself. I only wish I had thought to do this 20 years ago, when all music came in a package of some sort!

Founded in 2011, Time Released Sound is a lovingly hand made, limited edition release music label that is as much an art project as it is a musical outlet. Focusing primarily on classically infused and folk based ambient and electroacoustic sounds by the artists we know, love and admire, we will be striving at all times to produce visuals and packaging for these fine releases that are as original and uniquely beautiful as the music itself.

We here at TRS are trying our best to keep the beauty of physically packaged music alive..but we need your help, please! Think twice before illegally downloading music….support the few independent music stores that are still in existence…and above all enjoy the feel of the music in your hands, as well as in your ears!!

Lorenzo_2

Dara Lorenzo – Printmaking  http://www.daralorenzo.com

Artist Statement
There are windows into people’s lives that we often do not look through. People have connections with history and time. We all have roots and pasts. People embark upon adventures, and create personal narratives.
In this body of work I was trying to create a narrative about close surroundings and relationships, the stories that we just can’t ignore. I wanted to project a visual timeline about recent experiences involving my present circumstances. Comparatively I became interested in lineages and stories by fumbling through old pictures and albums. These are usually the albums of our lives, photographs of people and places that we are close to and love. It made me wonder more about the people of the past, and trying to understand a connection between our lives.
We all use collage as a function to form connections and storyboard visually. Collaging my present experiences with my immediate family and friends is, in a way an effort to bring us closer, to understand more. It is an exploration of a history.
The work uses photographic investigation as well as collage and printmaking processes to create an overlapping and layering of memories and stories. These compositions have narratives about people and places. I started my investigation thinking about how people interact through mark making and messages in the sidewalks and facades in the cities that we dwell in. That idea pushed me into a more internal place that is about story- tellers and the narrative of the individual.

Book Necklace

Book Necklace

Elizabeth Ashcroft – Jewelry, Sculpture  http://www.artbyashcroft.com

Artist Statement

The “Dissected Library” – that’s how I think of my ongoing series of altered, or repurposed, books.

I find the literal board-paper-thread-glue-ink-word essence of the book to be the ideal platform for exploring the boundaries of my creative expression and intuition. The duality of the book as both a visual object and a conduit for ideas is a source of constant inspiration. There is something deeply satisfying about physically carving into the depth of a book; about taking an existing work of art and giving it a new context; about bringing together found words and images from disparate sources to orchestrate a new creative relationship.

New Yorker 1

New Yorker 1

 Gabriele Bungardt – Painting  http://www.gabrielebungardt.com

Artist Statement

My Still Life paintings are about recording the everyday objects that make up most of the narrative of life. They are the pages of my own journal, a testament to daily routines and meditations, with each scene representing a piece of the continuing story.

I’m often more interested in the shadows than the object, because the presence of the shadow (often overstated in my paintings) represents the light I crave so much, and which, to me, is equivalent to happiness. Light inspires my still lifes and its depiction in my artwork is a form of homage to California and the lightness of being and positive attitudes that are a reflection of a culture that takes its essence from the presence of light.

 

Waves (Detail)

Waves (Detail)

Jan Dove – Book Art  http://www.jandove.com

Artist Statement

Artist Books are visual art that finds its expression in the form of books, sometimes incorporating text, sometimes without text. Artist Books can dwell in the realm of the narrative, but they don’t have to.The forms of “the book” are numerous, especially when you consider them historically – clay tablet accounts, scrolls, folded papyrus, manuscripts written on skin, and collections of printed pages. I consider stories recorded on obelisks and in stained glass to be types of “the book” for the non-reader.
I like to test the boundaries of the book form, trying to make the form of my books relate more to the content of the book than to the traditional Western book form. Many of my books incorporate line drawings of the human figure.
I draw the figures directly into the computer and usually composite them with my digital photographs. I enjoy combining the newest technologies with the old and with the mark of the individual hand. The content of my books is about the things I am thinking about; usually the planet that I love (such as it is) and the people who inhabit that environment, such as they are.

Chicago Mfg Memories

Chicago Mfg Memories

Leah Virsik – Book Art  http://www.leahvirsik.com

Artist Statement
The challenge to look at things in alternate ways fuels my work. My preoccupation with reuse is entwined in my familial roots. As a child, I remember a quilt frame my dad made for my mom that took up our entire living room. His grandmother taught him to quilt using old clothing. My mom taught me how to sew. Now, I create collages and paint papers that I tear up. In the process, paper scraps land on my studio floor and come alive with vivid personal memory and speak of pure potentiality. I can’t bear to throw them away. Inspired by Richard Serra’s Verb List, I use alternate ways to connect, stack or sew these scraps together. My work includes remnants of torn personal journal entries that hint at a desire to expose myself. The process feels like a personal excavation.

As I combine these fragments of my life, I concurrently explore the larger themes of value and abundance. My art and life converge as the paper stacks in my studio mirror the piles of paper in my office. Yet my artwork shows commitment and a focused effort of layering seemingly disparate fragments to create work larger than myself.

Fin

Fin

Mary Wings – Drawings, Visual Storytelling

 Artist Statement
Illustrations for an Untold Story:
I had a wonderful idea for a novel
(I thought)
a lightweight detective novel
based in the small community of San Miguel de Allende.
I wanted the illustrations to reflect a Mexican sensibility
in color, tone and symbolism, echoing
velvet paintings, lottery cards, holy cards….
I succeed far better with the illustrations than with the writing.
I couldn’t find a title.
The images kept coming.
I find it hard to sit down at the computer. My leg falls asleep.
I was worried that people in San Miguel might recognize themselves in the story.
The easel with the black paper beckoned and beckoned.
My friends liked the paintings very much. Some laughed in a nice way.
That was pleasing.
Everyone likes to fantasize about the meaning of the paintings/cards that I presented.
And so I present them to you.
Make of them what you will.
And if the shoe fits, enjoy.

DSC_0906

Mi’Chelle Fredrick – Drawing  http://popupautobodygallery.com

Artist Statement
I am often asked what comes first, the words or the pictures. It depends. Sometimes a phrase haunts me until I’m inspired to illustrate it. Sometimes the image suggests the words. Often words and images burst to the surface simultaneously and I find myself madly scribbling phrases along the margins of the painting or drawing thatI’m working on.
As a child, I was a voracious reader. I lacked the skill then to illustrate what I read, but I created detailed scenes in my mind page after page. My mental images were often so vivid that I could recall them years later. Even now, if a movie is made from a book I’ve read, the sets and characters rarely live up to my imagined scenes.
For me, words and images are inextricably linked. Many of my drawings have poems to accompany them, but the poetry is often too personal to be shared. I continue to seek ways to merge my writings with my visual arts.

SPECIAL GUEST:

 Éclat, aka Mark Lynch – Poetry at the closing reception August 8.

http://www.eclat.name

The discreet and charming Éclat engages you as a caricaturist would.
But instead of drawing a portrait, Eclat composes an original poem about your personality and immediately prints and presents the poem to you on Éclat’s custom stationary, suitable for framing.

Chat with Éclat as you would with any other guest.
While you converse, Éclat composes a unique work of art…about you.
Éclat writes it, reads it to you and gives you a beautifully printed copy to keep.
Each guest who talks with Eclat departs with their own original creation in hand.

Don’t miss the Art Event of the Season!

6 Apr

Combined Card copyFor the recent article about this show by Nanette Deetz click here

Both galleries are celebrating with a special Artist Reception

April 11, 2014, 6PM to 9PM 

Don’t miss your chance of getting Free Art.  Artist Dickson Schneider
will set up his legendary
FREE ART CART in front of popUp gallery
and give away many original art pieces.

 

popUp Gallery, 1517 Park Street, Alameda 
Gray Loft Gallery, 2889 Ford Street, Oakland
Scroll down for more information

Meet our Artists:

Dickson Schneider – Free Art

Free Art from Dickson Schneider

Free Art from Dickson Schneider

As a special treat artist Dickson Schneider will set up his legendary FREE ART CART in front of popUp gallery.
“For the past three years I have been giving away art at the Oakland Art Murmur, and at Art Basel Miami Beach. Giving art away has become the center of my art practice. More and more, I want to create and engage art communities through unofficial channels.” Dickson Schneider

Flavia Krasilchik

Sculpture

Sculpture

Artist Statement

“Waking in the Alameda morning, no matter the season, I marvel at the beauty of birds across the bay through my bedroom window – sandpipers in the mudflat, egrets rising and then later, as the sun sets, herons in their slow evening ballet, pelicans and mallards streaking the orange sky. This is my inspiration. Clay transforms my memories.”

Lisa Jacobs

Sculpture

Sculpture

Artist Statement

“I am thrilled creating ambiguous, archetypal and timeless forms that can transport the viewer. The visual and tactile experience of interacting with repetitively carved holes in a ceramic surface is fascinating. I am also intrigued with creating an enchanting environment through cast patterns of light and shadow. A love of ocean life and creatures informs my art work as does my obsession with drawing mandala designs. This affinity for ocean creatures began while I was a young girl growing up in a beach town where I collected starfish, sea urchins, shells and sand dollars. In later years I learned to surf and became entranced with the 1862 published atlas by Ernest Haeckel of single cell free-swimming protozoa called radiolarians. His detailed drawings were similar in nature to the mandala designs I have drawn my whole life. Sea life and nature have been the inspiration for my ceramic luminaries, pottery, sculpture and jewelry. I have been lead to create symbolic shapes incorporating holes and carving that have reference to sea creatures, bones, skeletons, spiders, flowers and other elements of nature. I want my mysterious specimens to resonate and communicate with ancient and modern worlds alike and stimulate the viewers imagination.”

Mark Taylor

Printmaking

Printmaking

Artist Statement

“I rob from the graveyard of pop culture and splice together new creations (screen prints, sculptures, videos and collages) that feed off the history of cherished objects. I excavate, reuse and reanimate pop artifacts in service of a personal narrative. Set inside an increasingly virtual, digital universe cluttered with the remains of material culture, my work explores how possessions can also possess.”

Marya Wintroub

Drawing

Drawing

Artist Statement

I am fascinated by nature and the human condition-both real and rendered. In combining representations of both, a narrative is suggested. With the purity of graphite on paper, nothing detracts from the creative process and the new reality that results. I love working in series so that the images can recall myths and tell stories. Some time ago, I fulfilled a life long dream of traveling to the Galapagos, and these series depict the strong impact the land and its creatures had on me. I have always defined myself by my art,and, as such, my work is a celebration of life and all of its complexities.”

Mi’Chelle Fredrick

Drawing, Painting

Drawing, Painting

Artist Statement

“I grew up on a small farm in Wisconsin. Raised by parents who practiced conservation long before people talked about eco-systems and biospheres, I learned to cherish the Wisconsin woodlands and their wild inhabitants. My earliest drawings were of the land I knew and natural themes are recurrent in my work. Maybe it was the ghost of John Muir, whose childhood home was a few miles from mine, or Aldo Leopold, whose journals about his farm along the Wisconsin River spoke so eloquently of the interconnectedness of land the and the life it supports; voices spoke to me as I roamed the meadows and hillsides and I still practice lessons I learned then about stewardship of the earth and its wild and natural resources.

With all that we now know about the fragile interdependence of nature and the impact of demands humans force upon it, people who dismiss the extinction of species after species as inevitable and insignificant outrage me. Consider, for example, the honeybee. Each tiny bee may seem insignificant, yet honeybees are responsible for pollination of approximately 75% of the world’s food crops. The honeybee has a profound effect on the food supply of over 7 billion people.

Pernilla Persson

Photography

Photography

Artist Statement

“I focus my camera on colorful flowers in various outdoor settings. I use simple ambient backgrounds; set out of focus where I can emphasize color combinations, shapes, forms and texture, to create an abstract feeling of an unexpected space for the viewer to identify. On the other hand, in the series ‘String of Life’ I explore the digital medium where I have combined my knowledge of darkroom printing and Photoshop skills; a result  that might be similar to an alternative process photograph or an ultra modern high tech image.

Shari De Boer

Printmaking; Painting

Printmaking; Painting

Artist Statement

“In my artwork I create small views of a quiet world. I enjoy the close-up observation of plant life and objects and seek out beauty in everyday life. It seems as if I’ve always been drawing flowers and plants but I really haven’t. While growing up my family had a wholesale nursery business next to our home. The nursery was my early playground and later my workplace. I spent endless hours in the nursery and our sheltered backyard, but I took for granted the beauty of the shrubs and trees that surrounded me. It wasn’t until I was an adult, working as an architect and beginning to paint in watercolor that I consciously began to observe and depict the grace of plant forms and structure. Over the years I have broadened my artwork to include abstraction, surrealist imagery and illustration, but I continually find myself returning to nature for both subject matter and inspiration.”

Stephen Namara

Painting

Painting

Artist Statement

“Not only do I find it hard to find the appropriate words to describe one’s own work .But I also prefer to let my work speak for itself. I might  add though, that if you believe culture is political, then my landscapes are political pictures. But with more than one interpretation. They are not painted to give answers, nor ask questions but raise awareness of the complexity of  good and evil in a morally conscious viewer.”

Susan Revier

Sculpture

Sculpture

Artist Statement

“Kindred Spirits” has been evolving since 2011. Originally this work was a field of whimsical boughs posing as humans suggesting many strengths and frailties. Some were dancing and some were sulking. Some were just happy to be alive. Do they not grow and die as people do, dealing with the outcome of a seed that started to grow and then inevitably die?  People sometimes bring up the subject, “But what about the heads?” I have fought the idea of heads from the beginning and said, “No, they are complete as they are”. The boughs since then have moved into smaller families and clanships …with some members developing regalia.

2nd Friday Art Walk in Alameda and Jingletown, Oakland

PopUp Gallery is part of the Estuary Art Walk

PopUp Gallery is part of the Estuary Art Walk

popUp Gallery is an independent gallery operating within Alameda’s Autobody Fine Art Gallery space.

Opening Reception November 8, 2013

28 Sep

“Abundance”,

popUp Gallery’s latest show, overflows with extravagant imagery.

The work in this exhibition offers widely differing views on the theme, including fantastic scenes of adventures with donuts, strangely wonderful pastries, and paintings inspired by infinitely elegant microscopic organisms. But there are also maps that chart the global vastness of self-indulgence and haunting reminders of those who do not share in the wealth – those for whom abundance is just a dream and hunger is their reality.  These artists pose questions about how – and, perhaps more importantly, by whom – “abundance” is defined.

Opening Reception: November 8, 2013, 6pm to 9pm, during second Friday Estuary Art Walk

Second Reception November 23, 2013, 4pm to 7pm

Closing Reception December 8, 2013, 6pm to 9pm

And open by appointment

1517 Park Street, Alameda, California

Exhibiting Artists

Gabriele Bungardt

Bungardt_Abundance_mRecent studies suggest that power and wealth may adversely affect one’s ability to feel empathy. The paintings of Gabriele Bungardt explore that theme as it relates to everyday encounters. Poverty and prosperity share the same street corner as if in some kind of co-dependent relationship. As this scene plays out daily on city streets, it is often surprising to see who lends a helping hand and who does not.

Mi’Chelle Fredrick

CIMG8146Mi’Chelle Fredrick’s mixed media drawings are lushly rendered with delicate detail. A combination of graphite, colored pencil and watercolor give her work a soft, dreamy quality. And though her somewhat surreal and strangely delicious-looking “Landmarks in Pastry” may hint of the excess that surrounds us, they will still leave you wanting dessert.

Eric Joyner

jungletrekabund   conan EJ_mAlbum Cover by Eric Joyner for ‘ Ben Folds Five’

The deliciously lush settings of Eric Joyner’s paintings are the epitome of abundance and a treat for the senses all by themselves. That they are also inhabited by adventurous, exquisitely detailed robots and their nemeses, giant, mouth-watering donuts, is – pun intended – the icing on the cake. This delightfully odd pairing of characters appears in many of Mr. Joyner’s paintings.

Michael Kerbow

Meat Map 1, 90"x60"

Meat Map 1, 90″x60″

In a series of masterfully detailed, disturbingly beautiful paintings and sculptures, collectively called “Topography”, Mr. Kerbow presents imagery that encourages us to question our actions and consider the impact that our personal choices may have on the world around us. Exploitation of riches or abundant resources to fulfill short-term desires may have unintended and potentially irreversible long-term consequences.

Hap Leonard

Spawn

Spawn

We see them around town sporting “FREE” signs, hoping for new homes –voluptuous chairs losing their stuffing, sofas with sagging cushions, their once elegant fabrics now faded like the memories of the good times they witnessed. Hap Leonard captures their last moments in portraits charged with emotion and filled with untold stories. Though these cast-offs are evidence of our throwaway mentality, they remind us of the fullness of the lives they shared.

Michelle Mansour

As If Each Were The First, 42"x60"

As If Each Were The First, 42″x60″

Michelle Mansour’s richly layered paintings take us through the microscope into a world at once familiar and foreign. Her works speak of the fullness of life and the infinite paths physical and metaphysical journeys may take. Ms. Mansour’s interest in science comes from a family of science and health practitioners. She says of her recent paintings, “The tensions between the scientific & the spiritual, the corporeal & the ethereal are what drive the work.”

art walk map REVISED 100513PopUp Gallery is open in November and December during Second Friday Art Walk from 6 to 9 pm

All New Show at PopUp closes August 9. Don’t miss it!

19 Jun

popUp Gallery celebrates its first anniversary with another fascinating exhibition, inviting you to get up close and personal with the work of eight Bay Area artists.This highly anticipated collection is a feast for the senses, exciting not only the visual and tactile reflexes, but also delving into the intangible world of intimacy, emotion and personal relationships.

Closing Reception: August 9, 2013, 6pm to 9pm, during second Friday Estuary Art Walk

1517 Park Street, Alameda, California

photo 3 IMAG0896

Meet the Artists:

Estelle Akamine

estelleArt_webEstelle Akamine’s woven fiber sculptures beg to be touched. It’s difficult not to. Using recycled materials, Ms. Akamine breaks down cast offs to their elemental parts and creates entirely new art forms from them. She speaks of “designing beauty from the unlikely”, and in her work these unlikely materials spring to life again in sculptures of impressive size and complexity. Her plaited and woven sculptures – some as large as 6 and 7 feet – are not to be missed.

Gabriele Bungardt

DotCom_webIn Gabriele Bungardt’s new series -beneath the surface-, her larger than life subjects appear in complex, emotionally charged scenes like performers in a play. We may have missed the opening act, but we are compelled to imagine the ending. As we stand face to face with these characters, we are drawn into their worlds. They command our attention with an inviting glance, or an icy stare and, at times, with an intensity that forces us to look away so as not to intrude in a private moment. They are strangers to us, yet we seem to know who they are.

Mi’Chelle Fredrick

FaceMi’Chelle Fredrick new work explores the senses of sight, sound and touch in her graphite drawings. The viewer is witness to scenes inhabited by figures filled with emotion. We can almost read their private thoughts and yearnings. There is an intimacy about these figures, yet they project a coolness and distance that sets them apart in their own worlds of passion, reflection, anticipation and, perhaps, anxiety.

Dolores R Gray

Drg-jospehineDolores R. Gray’s intriguing dioramas offer a very up close and personal glimpse into her own memories of family, revealing “hidden secrets, wishes or dreams.” In her beautifully crafted work, Ms. Gray manipulates photographs to create familiar scenes – some remembered, some imagined – inviting viewers to “reimagine themselves within the narrative constructs and contemplate the secrets they conceal and reveal.”

Carrie Ann Plank

Plank_Ecliptic_webUtilizing lithography, etching, or woodcut as a base, Carrie Ann Plank constructs richly layered prints that offer the viewer tantalizing bits of imagery and information. The scenes she creates contain familiar references, yet they take us to unexpected places. Beyond deceptively simple surfaces is a wealth of information. Ms. Plank says, “There is beauty in charts, graphs, and other visual detritus that accumulates. My goal is for this informational detritus to take on new roles based on contexts and juxtapositions.”

Stephanie Rigsby

modern milkmaidThe art of photography has changed so dramatically in recent years that most viewers no longer know what is real and what isn’t. Photographs by Stephanie Rigsby are, indeed, the real thing. She does not digitally alter her work. She relies on her keen observation skills and a masterful eye to show us what exists beyond the surface. Sometimes it is the flicker of light, sometimes a reflection there for just an instant, then gone. It is these captured moments that lend a surreal and mysterious quality to Ms. Rigsby’s photographs.

Nikki Schrager

Curtains - 15-BNikki Schrager studies the subtle shifts of sunlight as the seasons pass her studio window capturing the warmth of the summer sun and the subdued light of winter. In her series of photographs that record the ebb and flow of light and the magical patterns it creates, Ms. Schrager is as much choreographer as photographer. The movement of light and shadow in her work suggests the elegance of modern dance with its complex rhythms and changing tempos.

Maya Whitner

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAt first glance, Maya Whitner’s sculptures appear to be undulating organisms – maybe plants, maybe creatures. Upon closer inspection the viewer finds that hundreds of nails have been meticulously arranged to give the illusion of soft, organic forms. Her work is truly a sensory experience. Ms. Whitner draws upon a background ranging from classical music to biology to sheet metal fabrication as she artfully integrates the sensual quality of music and the mystery of nature in the permanence of metal.

Visit Alameda Artists at East Bay Open Studios

25 May

PopUp Gallery and Autobody Fine Art is teaming up to showcase 8 fabulous artists during 

Pro Arts East Bay Open Studios

A great opportunity for art fans of all ages to visit Alameda artists in their studios, experience the incredible creativity of the East Bay Area and purchase work directly from local artists. Over 400 hundred East Bay artists will participate – 22 in Alameda alone – opening their studios to art lovers across the East Bay.

Since 1979, this event remains the largest art event in the region and draws an annual audience over 60,000!

SHOW DATES: June 1-2 & June 8-9, 2013, 11AM-6PM

Artist Reception: June 14, during Estuary Art Attack every second Friday of the month, 6PM  to 9PM

East Bay Catalogs and Artist Maps available at the gallery

Banner_Web copy

More Alameda Artists:Postcard_Front_s_revised    More Information at proartsgallery.org

Exhibition March/ April 2013

10 Feb

CITY_LIVE

Urban Visions by Eight Bay Area Artists

Our show has been extended by popular demand

Additional Artist receptions:

Friday, April 5, 6pm to 9pm

Friday, April 12, 6pm to 9pm

Also open by appointment

Featured Artists:

Sherrod Blankner Paintings

BlanknerAlamedaPoint_web

Artist Statement

Sherrod Blankner paints urban scenes to express her empathy for the landscape around her. She is deeply attached to places she has lived and creates artwork to capture the mood of certain familiar scenes. Her series “Alameda” was inspired by an unexpected trip to the Alameda Air Station on a cold, rainy January day, for a birthday party. In the midst of hurrying to one of the hangers, Ms. Blankner was struck by the beauty of the sun shining on the old navy buildings after the rain in the pale winter light. The grand scale of the buildings and the leftover shipyard speaks of a different, World War II era, that still lingers in the airstrip.
 

Gabriele Bungardt Paintings

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Artist Statement

Gabriele Bungardt describes the world as she sees it, the people, animals and objects who inhabit this world and the situations that they find themselves in, through paint. In her artwork the manipulation of paint as a material that can hold a narrative is essential. Broad brushstrokes suffused with energy and intent cover the canvas building complicated social scenarios and intimate still-life commentary with consummate skill and complete sincerity.
 
Her artwork focuses on contemporary life viewed through that most historic of lenses, painting. Whilst remaining relaxed and painterly her images bring objects and relationships encountered routinely into sharp focus as they become meditations on social and economic values. Her treatment of light suffuses the paintings, drawing attention to minute detail and rendering figures, both isolated and in groups, through the interplay of light and shadow as it wraps around subject and environment. Although her subjects are, for the most part, humble and unassuming, the physical pleasure and tactile sensibility associated with the act of painting is essential to her artwork.
 

Mi’Chelle Fredrick Drawings, Paintings

FredrickPainting_web

Artist Statement

 Graphite and watercolor are my primary mediums. I typically use them as separate mediums. Recently I have begun to explore techniques that blend the two mediums in a single image. Introducing a spark of color within a graphite drawing seems to add a slightly surreal dimension to the work.
 
For this exhibit, I have created a series of drawings called “Through the Window – City Stories”. These drawings offer a glimpse into the lives of people we might find in any urban setting.  My imaginary city dwellers represent the invisible poor as well as those living in luxury – each existing behind a protective facade in a world we usually cannot enter without their permission. They are people we might pass on any sidewalk or see through any window. They are strangers, yet their stories are somehow familiar.
 
Chris Johnson Video, Photography

qb_popimage

Chris Johnson’s Questionbridge Project has been shown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and in Museums across the Nation.

Artist Statement

The Question Bridge project emerged when, in 1996 I was commissioned by the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego to produce a video piece dealing in some way with race as part of a multi-media exhibition.
 
The result was a very rough experimental project that tried to show how different familiar concepts like “race” look from within a racial group when compared to the view from without.
I think of Question Bridge as essentially a process based upon a few basic principles:
– First, consider the significant divisions that exist within a clearly defined demographic;
– Next, create a setting where both sides feel safe to express sincere questions they have for the other, and then, in a similar way, give the other side an opportunity to express relevant answers to those questions.
 
Black people who live their lives in working-class inner-city neighborhoods, have very different views of the world and themselves, than do those who spend all of their time in white-dominated parts of our culture.
At a time when children are killing children in the black community, whose job is it to nurture these children? This is just one example of the important and penetrating questions and answers. The process of looking inward to find long-held but perhaps unexpressed questions, or to finally voice answers to questions and assumptions that they have lived under for years has made this project possible.
 

Rob Nehring Metal Sculpture

NehringCellist_web

Artist Statement

Rob Nehring received his BFA from the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin in Inter-arts that included theatre, dance and sculpture.  After professionally dancing for 17 years and 18 years in the candy business, he dropped everything to take a class at The Crucible. 
An accomplished artist, Rob’s sculptures are in galleries and part of private collections throughout the US.   Rob began at the Crucible as a volunteer in 2002 and now serves as the organization’s Adult Program Director.
 

Fortune Sitole Mixed Media

Sitole_web

Artist Statement

I want to foster an awareness of the conditions suffered by South Africans, who create makeshift shelters by optimizing outside space and leftover materials – metal, tires, stones, etc., whatever they can find to build their homes.
Fashioning my work as homage to my ancestors, family and community, these pieces are a reminder of the day-to-day life in black South African townships. But shanties exist throughout the world and my art actually tells a story of the universality of poverty.
 
The characters in my scenes are about communities who have overcome adversity and have progressed into the 21st century. Complex dimensions allow a peek down streets at women washing clothes, children playing, girls braiding hair and wandering drunken fathers. Pictures of everyday events, ironically set against the backdrop of vivid dawns and dusks, reflect the darker issues of economic enslavement, discrimination, poverty and hardships.
Shanties are slowly disappearing from South Africa’s landscape. Redevelopment and investment begin to paint a brighter picture for the future of South Africans, an encouraging example for the people of the world who are experiencing poverty today.
 

Avi Stachenfeld Photography

StachenfeldANTICIPATING_web

Artist Statement

Relatively new to photography, and only recently moving from ‘nature’ to ‘people’, Avi Stachenfeld takes photographs in a way that dignifies the subject and rarely proclaims either the presence or the point of view of the photographer except in the broadest definition of humanism: a man heading home after a day’s work; teens gathering after school in the subway; young Chassids walking in single line; a young woman waiting for a night train; a guard near Ground Zero riding the escalator; a young girl curious about the stranger with the camera.
 
Mr. Stachenfeld approaches photography with a painterly eye, the expressive gesture  manifesting itself as he captures the calm within the more dynamic environment.  These works are beautifully composed with a restraint and appreciation of scale that is not always evident in photography.  Each is a moment within a moment, a passion subsumed, a question left unasked.  Mr. Stachenfeld uses this strength of composition to locate content within the human drama.   An old man…a young artist.  We look forward to his new work.
 

Mark Zaffron Print Making

Zaffron_Laws of Variation_Etching_20x16_web

Artist Statement

 I find that making art is about satisfying a series of curiosities–visual, technical, and intellectual.  I enjoy the challenge of giving visual and physical form to what was once an abstract notion.
Thematically, my work is concerned with a long-held fascination with evolution as it applies to human environments.  With the neighborhoods surrounding my studio as subject, the work examines adaptation, mutation, and the influence of a specific environment on the people and infrastructure.
The images are composed of many layers of information that offer a great deal of visual complexity with which to experiment.  Similarly, I explore numerous ideas borrowed from diverse fields of inquiry–particle physics, abstract mathematics, economics, anthropology, etc.  These generate contextual layers to create a conceptual complexity that is central to the work.
 
Mark Zaffron is Founder and Director of the Center for Research, Art, Technology & Education (The CRATE), a non-profit printmaking studio in Oakland.
Zaffron has taught Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute and the Academy of Art University.  He has been a visiting artist at numerous institutions including Cooper Union, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University, The Corcoran, The Museo Nacional in Buenos Aires, and the Galilee Intaglio Studio in Israel.
His work has been prominently featured at venues such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Plains Art Museum, Barret House Galleries in New York, Triton Art Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artist’s Gallery.
 
 
The gallery also showcases a Creative Collaboration between
Avi Stachenfeld, photographer and Gabriele Bungardt, painter
 
avi_bungardt_exit
 
An intriguing collaboration between Ms. Bungardt and Mr. Stachenfeld offers a rare opportunity to experience different interpretations of the same scene by these two artists. Subjects carefully caught and held in suspended animation by Mr. Stachenfeld seem to have been reanimated in Ms. Bungardt’s paintings. It is as if figures captured by the photographer come to life in the paintings, drawing the viewer into the action.
 
 
 

Exhibition November 2012

21 Sep

EVERY_BODY

Eleven Bay Area artists present their interpretations of the human figure exploring not only its endlessly beautiful geometry but extending their reach beyond the figure into concepts of self-image, the rhythms of daily life, and spiritual essence – who we are as well as what we are. This exciting collection of paintings, drawings, photography and sculptures celebrates the beauty and diversity of “everybody”.

Opening Reception Friday, November 9, 2012 from 6 to 9 p.m.

 Additional receptions:

Saturday, November 24, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Friday, December 7, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Also open by appointment

Featured Artists:

Rob Anderson, Drawings

Artist Statement

The drawings are in charcoal pencil on handmade paper with occasional touches of charcoal white.  They are of sculptures from the Great Altar at Pergamon, now housed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. I worked on the project on-site in the museum for several months over a period of three years. The Great Frieze depicts the battle between the Olympic gods and the giants for control of the world (Gigantomachy) and represents the gods’ moment of victory. It is the “mother of all battles” in Greek mythology and art.  The smaller frieze, represented by the Attendants of Telephos, tells the life of Telephos, the mythical founder of Pergamon. Standing with the sculptures, drawing day after day for several hours at a time, I discovered their power.

http://www.robandersonstudio.com

Gabriele Bungardt, Acrylic on Canvas

Artist Statement

Inspired by events in the news – the faltering economy, the Occupy Movement, the 99% –  my “American Working Man” Series depicts the daily struggle for survival that fills the lives of men and women across this country. Everyday tasks, like the backdrops in my paintings, loom larger than life, overshadowing the figures whose strength and determination is still evident though their burdens are heavy. These are the everyday heroes who scratch out a living and hope their paychecks will stretch far enough to cover the basics. Beyond these exhausted faces, we see the families who depend on them; we imagine their dreams and share in their hopes for a better future.

http://www.gabrielebungardt.com

Mi’Chelle Fredrick, Drawings, Colored Pencil and Watercolors

Artist Statement

For as long as I can remember, I have looked at my surroundings as if sizing them up for a role in a drawing or painting – examining textures, analyzing shapes, watching colors change with shifting light and shadow. Drawing is the foundation for my creative work and influences my approach to painting and photography. An extensive background in architectural rendering and technical drawing brings detail to my work.

The human figure presents unique challenges. The body is an exquisite container for all that makes us who we are. It holds our memories and our dreams in a delicate balance of strength and frailty. To convey not only a likeness, to reveal something of the person beyond the surface and create a relationship between the viewer and the subject is the challenge for me.

http://www.frankbettecenter.org/artist-galleries/artist_michelle_fredick.html

Bob Giles, Photography

Artist Statement

Photography for me has always been informed by the history of painting as well as the classic style of vintage photographers.
I’ve concentrated on the realm of black and white photography but have
often toned my prints with sepia or selenium to get secondary tones beyond the basic black and white.

My subject matter has often been documenting the sculptures of the Victorian era cemeteries of the United States and Europe. The idea of photography as a way of preserving an art form that is rapidly disappearing through age or vandalism strongly appeals to me. I seek out the mythological angel figures which for me are symbols of hope and a desire to connect to the spiritual world.

http://bobgilesart.com

Irene Hendrick, Acrylic on Canvas and Limited Edition Prints

Artist Statement

Irene’s paintings originate partly from historical and old photographs and stories told to her by her mother of post-war time England.  Although many of the characters in her paintings are of a certain era, Irene brings to them a modern sensibility by isolating them from their “space” and placing them into a different scene, thus creating a new visual narrative.

She purposely leaves the characters faces vague in order to keep within the memories of past stories, while at the same time allowing the viewer to insert his or her own narratives into the scene.

Irene was born in England and has made her home in San Francisco for the past several years.  Her collectors come from across the globe and her work has been featured in numerous solo and group shows.

http://irenehendrick.com

Diane Komater, Wire Sculptures  

I call myself a Wireist. I make 3 dimensional sculptures, mostly figurative, using various gauges of annealed steel wire. I literally “draw in the air”. I started using this wire when I lived in Los Angeles and was making jewelry that was featured in a few galleries around LA, San Francisco and Japan. I was invited to participate in a figurative show at one of the galleries representing me. I made a couple of 7 foot long figures using my wire and detailing them with primary color glass marbles. This intrigued me very much and soon I was making wire people anywhere from 3 feet to 10 feet tall.
I am inspired by mostly everything; movies, artists, the landscape, comedians, children…with a special interest in graphic novels. I love Robert Crumb for his amazing renderings and his sense of humor. Charles Burns is another favorite of mine.
I have been working with wire for 26 years and the possible imagery is endless, like doodling.

http://www.wireist.com

Suzanne Lacke, Oil on Canvas  

Artist’s Statement:

I have been able to engage a love of paint, texture and color through a series of paintings of dresses which I find in thrift stores, hang on the wall and render with light coming on them from the side.  As I am painting, a life comes into the empty dress as if there were a person inside, a person who lives on in the dress although the original wearer is anonymous and gone.

The dress covers and reveals the skin beneath which just covers the heart, the nerves and the soul.  We use them to pretend, to put on a face, to prepare for going to a particular place.  Once they were objects for “dress-up” . In the end they are a self portrait as all paintings are.

http://www.suzannelacke.com

Judy Miller, Ceramic & Darjit Sculptures

Artist Statement

Creating art has been a driving force in my life for the past 30 years. Although sculpture is my first love, I believe that creativity is actually what drives my work. I love the creative process, exploring something new in a different way. I seem to never run out of ideas and never cease finding new art forms to explore. Therefore my various series have a widely different feel to them using different media and subject matter in a variety of ways. These differences excite me, and I hope I never tire of opening a new door.

www.Judymillerarts.com

Stephen Namara, Watercolor or Dry Pigment on Paper

Artist Statement

Not only do I find it hard to find the appropriate words to describe one’s own work, but I also prefer to let my work speak for itself. I have always felt that it makes no difference what you draw or paint as long as you paint or draw well.

However, if it necessary to speak out, I might say that specifically, my subject matter is the human nude, despite the general impression that “no one paints the figure anymore”.

They are some of us that have never abandoned the time-honored human body as an image for picture making.

Does my work satisfy the needs of those who look hopefully to the artist to throw some clarifying beam on the existential maelstrom, which surrounds us?

You be the judge.

http://stephennamara.com

Dickson Schneider, Oil on PVC Panels 

Artist Statement

Texas born painter Dickson Schneider lives and works in Alameda, California. He teaches Painting and Art at California State University East Bay. His eclectic attitude to art has lead him to traditional media, video, digital prints and writing. His current work applies high realist technique to emphasize the unlikely reality found in fashion advertising. Oil painting on PVC panels offers the richness of the traditional with post modern materials.

In the current work, models are placed in fine art contexts (the art gallery/museum). Thus a super-model drifts past the crucified Christ while showing off her beautiful handbag.

The paintings create a deliberate cognitive dissonance between real/unreal and desire/humor.

http://dicksonschneider.com

Darcy J. Sears, Clay Sculptures

Artist Statement

Life is clay; clay is life.   Darcy Sears is an artist whose work is driven by the need to mold life from clay.

Darcy’s work expresses the spiritual, historical and inevitable relationship between the human form and clay.  She feels that there is an inescapable cycle of life, through the earth, spirit, air and back again.  Years from now when this artist is forgotten and the sculpture gone back to the earth, a new artist will use the same earth to create a new sculpture in a new millennium.

The evolution of her work has ranged from realistic to whimsical, classical to abstract.  Clay knows no boundaries or limits.

http://www.djsears.com

Exhibition July 2012

23 May

STILL LIFE

– A New Point of View –

7 Bay Area Artists show their latest work during the month of July 2012

Painting, Photography, Steel Sculpture, Glass Sculpture

Gallery Reception July 13, 6 to 9 pm

Sue Averell

Acrylic Painting

http://www.sueaverell.com

Artist Statement:

I approach my Botanical series of works differently than the other subjects I paint. Unlike my Urban Landscape series where the composition and color is meticulously planned, my botanical series allows me the freedom to explore form and content in a more abstract way. The content is always the same; floral shapes, leaves, stems and a clear vase. With all this decided and deliberately sketched with marker on my orange primed canvas, my mind is free to explore the paint application. A good painting session is where I like the result, a great session is where I discover a new way of making a mark with paint or a different color story unfolds before me. The difficult part is recognizing that something is different and incorporating it into the subject. After this new way of making a mark is practiced I often incorporate it into my Urban Landscape series. By experimenting with my technique I am challenged to grow as an artist and that growth inspires me to continue.

Gabriele Bungardt:

Acrylic on Canvas

http://www.gabrielebungardt.com

Artist Statement:

I’m more interested in the shadows than the object, because the presence of the shadow (often overstated in my paintings) represents the light I crave so much, and which to me is equivalent to happiness. Light inspires my still lives and its’ depiction in my artwork is a form of homage to California and the lightness of being and positive attitudes that are a reflection of a culture that takes its essence from the presence of light.

Ken Draizen

Steel Sculpture

http://www.icsteel.net

Mi’Chelle Fredrick:

Graphite and Watercolors

http://www.popupautobodygallery.com

Artist Statement:

For me, it’s all about the details. Whether I’m working outdoors on a landscape or in my studio on a still life, my focus is on the details that make each object come to life on the page or canvas. I am fascinated by textures. It’s a challenge to convey the smoothness of a polished stone or the roughness of tree bark in a medium such as graphite. I enjoy that kind of challenge. I want the viewer to not only see the object as I saw it, but to get the feel of it as well.

Dan Granett

Photography

Artist Statement

Photography is an art and a science. Straddling both for over 5 decades gives me a perspective that welcomes technical breakthroughs in optics and software that “cheat nature” out of what we naively thought were limits to her laws.  Some of my photos are software derived composites of many focal plane slices of small subjects that could not be captured with such clarity otherwise. Extending my senses turns me on.  An amplifier that converts the ultrasonic voices of insects into human audible sounds, a visualizer of the normally invisible electromagnetic fields we are swimming in, – if it takes gadgets to extract some beauty out of the vast sea of energy and particles that is our reality, that’s just fine.

Chris Tedesco

Glass Art

http://www.tedescoglass.com

Artist Statement:

“In my work, glass is transformed into three dimensional paintings of light and color. Complicated techniques used in the making of these pieces fade away as the presence of the artwork makes itself felt. The intention of my work is to create an environment for the viewer- a place where one feels encouraged to ponder and reflect.”

Elizabeth Zanzinger

Oil Painting

http://www.ezanzinger.com

Artist Statement:

Elizabeth Zanzinger is an emerging artist from the San Francisco Bay Area. The developing theme in Elizabeth’s work explores the relationship between humanity and nature. Both are consuming forces in daily life, whether through technological advances or the inevitable decay of all things.  She views the life of an artist as a journey through continually evolving processes, whether the focus is technical or conceptual. She explores the beauty in that journey, the process, and the rendered material form with all of the work she creates.