48th Annual Coconut Grove Art Festival -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

48th Annual Coconut Grove Art Festival

February 19th - 21st, 2011 

Coconut Grove, Miami Florida

I know I have written about how I dislike most of the art festivals that occur in South Florida, this one is different.  Voted one of the best outdoor art festivals every year, Coconut Grove offers a spectacular exhibition.  Hundreds of fine artist line the streets with their artwork.  Each artist takes a small tent and sets up shop showing all original work.  The show is juried so the quality is strong and the reputation of the festival pulls artists from around the world.  Many world class artists with big followings have shown and still show at this event.  Clyde Butcher was an exhibitor until recently and James Gibson, the famous Highwayman, never misses Coconut Grove. 

My advice for your enjoyment is to have a plan.  Map out where the festival starts and ends and try to park as close as possible to an entrance.  To get up close, in classic Miami fashion, you can find neighbors willing to let you park in their yards for a small fee.  Most important, if you really want to see the art and talk to the artists, Go Early!  By noon the crowds are so great that you will have a hard time getting close to the tents to see the work.  It also can get really hot by midday.  I make sure I arrive by 10am.  That gives me 2 hours to walk the festival, talk to the artists and even go back to any work I want to see again.  Make sure you check out the Church Art Festival that takes place along side of the main festival. After you have seen everything make your way over to Myers Park for some festival food!  Now is the time to find a place in the grass, get a drink or two and enjoy the afternoon.  There is usually a musical act on the main stage to enjoy and the people watching is pure entertainment.  The weather will be spectacular this weekend, perfect for the festival.

Another idea, and one my parents did for years, is to make a weekend out of it.  Get a room at the Mayfair or Ritz Carlton, both just a block from the festival.  That way you can see the festival at your leisure, check out the Miami Boat Show that is also taking place and at night find a little restaurant in the Grove.  Very Romantic!

The Coconut Grove Art Festival website with Map

Lost/Found -- Francie Bishop Good at David Castillo -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

 

LOST/FOUND

Francie Bishop Good

 February 12 - March 5, 2011

Reception Saturday, February 12, 6-9 pm

from the invitation;

David Castillo Gallery is proud to present Lost/Found, Francie Bishop Good's first solo exhibition at the gallery.

In a new series of photographs taken during trips to various women's recovery centers and domestic settings throughout the US, Francie Bishop Good examines the infinite conditions and possibilities of human identity and emotion in her subjects and the worlds they inhabit. Sometimes these worlds are of a psychological limbo and other times, Bishop Good captures a direct visual truth. Against the assorted backdrops of faded wallpaper, weatherworn city walls and stark living rooms, the artist's subjects are caught in moments of quiet contemplation, sometimes transitional desperation.

Bishop Good unfurls women's experience in her photographs, revealing her subjects' anger from life's tempest, forgiveness, desire, and aggression. Her work presents people that are both aware of and indifferent to their relationship with the camera's lens. The artist captures the intimate moments that reflect the intersection of a public and private persona, revealing the binary nature of identity. Known for her psychological portraits of women and children, Bishop Good's photographs reveal the subtle nuances of the human drama by examining the hidden feelings that belong to the realm of self-awareness.

Francie Bishop Good lives and works in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Her work has been the subject of solo and group museum exhibitions in the US and Europe. Bishop Good's work has been reviewed in Art in America, ARTnews, and The Miami Herald among others. She was awarded a 2011 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists and this summer will be included in the Consortium's exhibition at Florida International University's Frost Museum of Art.

David Castillo Gallery website

Francie Bishop Good website

Purvis Young -- Happy Birthday -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Purvis Young  (February 4th 1943 - April 20th 2010)

Purvis was born in Liberty City, Miami.  One of Miami's most celebrated artists Purvis is now shown in museums and gallery's around the world.   Being well known seemed to really please Purvis.  He also really enjoyed attention, something I  have found rare in most artists.  At gallery openings Purvis would have a line of people all day waiting to speak to him and he never seemed to tire of the conversation.  He would take great delight in pointing out that some of the most famous artists work and his occupied the same museum space.  

Purvis the artist was pure.  The work was created without filter, it flowed from Purvs naturally without editing.  He worked fast and spontaneous and over the years he developed a language of symbols so he could express his thoughts and feelings without judgment.  This stream of consciousness process that he created was fascinating to watch.  The way he held a brush and the way he pushed the paint around always reminded me of the master calligraphers in Japan.  There was an elegance to it.  

Its still hard to write about Purvis, he would have been 68 today. 

I have a website that has some great information about Purvis and a library of some of his paintings.  There is a nice collection of some of the more important articles written about Purvis, a page with all the video I can find on Purivs and even a list with links to all the Museums Purivs' work is show.   I will put some page links below to direct you to the specific pages.

The video above is from 2006 titled "Purvis of Overtown."  A wonderful documentary about Purvis, his work and his beloved Overtown, Miami.  GL

My Purvis Young Website

Purvis Young Videos

Purvis Young Newspaper Articles
My First Blog Post about Purvis

Three Artists/One Model -- Opening Feb 5th -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

LONG POSE

Three Artists - One Model - A Skylight

Aida Fry/Jussi Poyhonen/Paula Rubino

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Mary Woerner Fine Arts - West Palm Beach

February 5th - March 5th

Mary Woerner has a wonderful gallery and she puts on top quality shows.  This one is not to be missed!  I love the idea of three artists working with one model and showing the work together.  Aida Fry is one of my favorite painters, she has strong figurative work and is an expert on color.  I represented her work for years in my galleries.  I am also lucky enough to be her nephew!  GL

Mary Woerner Gallery website

"Visions of the Gulf" by Christopher Still at The Appleton Museum of Art -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

"Visions of the Gulf" by Christopher Stills

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The Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala

January 22 - March 20, 2011

The great Florida artist Christopher Still is showcasing 40 paintings at the Appleton.  It was the Gulf oil spill disaster that prompted this gifted artist into action.  Inspired by what he saw as "key moment in Florida’s history right now" the Florida Artist Hall of Fame painter spent most of 2010 painting from the Panhandle to the Keys.  “The best way to make people concerned about the Gulf is to share with them how beautiful it is,” Still says.

Now a resident of Tarpon Springs, Still was born and raised in Clearwater a few miles to the south.

“I had gone up to Apalachicola out of concern over what may happen with the oil spill,” he says. Eventually, he adds, the experience “led to a conversation with the museum over wouldn’t it be great to celebrate how beautiful the Gulf is.”
A celebration of this sort requires scenes of the Gulf before BP; and Still provides plenty, including haunting sunsets from Caladesi and Honeymoon islands off the Dunedin coast, a study of lobster and coral beneath the waves, the fine kitchen details — right down to a child’s drawing held to the refrigerator door by magnets — that spill off the canvas in “A Florida Feast.”
The premier piece is “And My Father Before Me” (Pictured above) depicting generations of oystering on Apalachicola Bay. Up in a corner, virtually unseen, are a pair of jets from Eglin Air Force Base, one of the few escapes, Still says, from the generational occupation.

“I was coming across the bay and I saw this family oystering,” he says. “I realized I was looking at something historic.
“What started out as a short trip turned into me moving up there for a while and now a major exhibit,” Still adds.

If you are unfamiliar with Christopher Still's work please visit his personal website.  Christopher is a true Florida treasure.


Ocala.com Article written by Rick Allen about the Exhibition
Appleton Museum website
Christopher Still website