Nilda Comas - Art News and Classes - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

  Nilda Comas

 

Nilda Comas is a world class artist and I am lucky to call her a friend.  We have collaborated on several shows over the years, produced a book of her work and I have visited her at her studio in Italy.  In fact one of my top five all time art experiences was my visit to the bronze foundry and marble studio she works with in Pietrasanta Italy.  I strongly suggest, if you have the chance, to make it over to one of Nilda's workshops, it will change your life!  She hold workshops in Fort Luaderdale, Italy and Puerto Rico.  Oh and she is great with kids and holds fun classes for young artists. 

 

Nilda sends an "art news update"via email from time to time and will begin posting them on the blog.  I have just cut and pasted the whole email below.  There are lots of links at the bottom if you wish to contact Nilda and find out more about her workshops.  Nilda is working on some big important projects as you will read and I look forward to seeing the new work.  

 

Nilda will be the next artist I interview for my "Artist Spotlight" so look for that soon!  GL

 

We welcome Fall!

Six students will attend "Living Among The Artists Workshop" for two weeks

In Pietrasanta Italy during the first two weeks in October.

Photo of Italy workshop

 

Already taking reservations for Italy Spring workshop. Please sign up early!

nildamcomas@yahoo.com               954-298-3621

---

ANNOUNCING 3-DAY

DRAWING THE HORSE WORKSHOP

NOVEMBER 22,23,24

Learn DRAWING:

• techniques
• anatomy
• perspective
• blocking-in
• shading

Emphasizing the study of the horse in Art

Location: Palm Beach County at a Polo Pony Farm "hands on" with live horses

....as our models

Lunch included RSVP please!!

$300.00 or $125.00 Per Day

nildamcomas@yahoo.com               954-298-3621

Much more news after the break...

The Knight Arts Discussion on NEA Grants - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Knight Arts is sponsoring a discussion on how to successfully apply for NEA art grants.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

5:00 p.m. - Conversation to begin promptly  at 5:30 p.m.           

The Little Haiti Cultural Center

212-260 NE 59th Street Miami, FL 33137

Parking: Complimentary parking will be available in the lot across from the Little Haiti Cultural Center

Link to Online Registration here

Knight Arts website here

New Local TV Series Showcases Art In Our Backyard and Across the Nation - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

New Local TV Series Showcases Art In Our Backyard and Across the Nation

 

ORLANDO, Sept. 24, 2013 -- A new weekly local television series debuts next month on WUCF TV, Central Florida's PBS station, highlighting arts and culture from our community and across the country.

"WUCF Artisodes" premieres Thursday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m. with new episodes every week. The series is a partnership among 28 PBS member stations in different states with each half-hour episode featuring four to six stories from the performing and visual arts to every genre in between.

In addition to arts profiles from PBS stations around the country, each episode of "WUCF Artisodes" also will feature local stories, highlighting special arts initiatives or artists from Central Florida and a calendar of local events.

"Showcasing our dynamic arts and culture scene is part of WUCF TV's mission to inspire and entertain our audience," said Polly Anderson, WUCF TV's Executive Director. "We want to shine a spotlight on the great work that artists in our community are doing and give our viewers a front-row seat to the arts from coast to coast."

Next month's premiere will feature Orlando storyboard artist Mark Simon, whose work ranges from the recent horror film "You're Next" to national television shows and comic books, and upcoming events across Central Florida.

Other upcoming stories include a Spanish-inspired art gallery in Sacramento, Ca.; one Ohio man's journey to perfect the ancient art of papermaking; a look inside local digital media 3D animation and projection mapping company Ninjaneer Studios; an interview with the cast of the satirical sketch comedy television show "Portlandia;" and a feature on the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park's performance of Sir Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time as part of local efforts to commemorate Kristallnacht’s 75^th anniversary later this year.

And beginning next month, viewers can visit the show’s new website with exclusive videos, a local arts calendar and the chance to submit story ideas for future episodes at http://wucftv.org/artisodes.

"Video of the Week" - The Power of Art - Rembrandt - by Florida Fine Art Blog

The Power Of Art: 3/8 - Rembrandt (BBC Series)

In keeping with the last post of the Rembrandt show at FSU I thought of a great art series I had seen years ago.  A quick search and I found it all posted on YouTube. Taken from a series Simon Schama did for the BBC back in 2006.  Mr Schama, a noted Art historian, chose eight artists in this series that tries to explain the need for and power of art through the ages.  The eight artists in order are; Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko.  This video is part 3 of 8 and focusses on Rembrandt.  In it we learn how Rembrandt bucked the tone and esthetic of the day, often to great cost to the artist.  With few exceptions, the artists that truly challenge the establishment and shine a light on the hypocrisy of their day are marginalized and ridiculed.   The appreciation for their work however grows as the establishments influence fades.   Until one day the only record of the lost ruling class is in the world famous artists depictions.  Time it seems  gives the artist the last word.  GL

FSU displays Rembrandt etchings - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

 

"Self Portrait Wearing a Soft Cap," Rembrandt van Rijn,

 etching, ca. 1634 / COURTESY FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

A Fortnight of Rembrandt: Selected Etchings from the Mower Collection

Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts

Sept. 20 through Oct. 6

From the Herald Tribune

Original etchings by the 17th century Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn are on display at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts in Tallahassee during a special two-week exhibition that is free and open to the public.

More than 60 etchings are on loan from philanthropists Drs. Tobia and Morton Mower of Baltimore who will visit campus, along with their curator, Aaron Young, for related events at the museum.

"A Fortnight of Rembrandt: Selected Etchings from the Mower Collection" opens Sept. 20, and will be on display through Oct. 6.

"Tobia and I are delighted to share our collection with FSU so that others can appreciate Rembrandt's unparalleled artistic talent and unique ability to capture the lives and times of his era," said Morton Mower.

"Rembrandt is a thrilling prospect. Works by this 17th century artist have become part of our visual lexicon in high art as well as popular culture," said Allys Palladino-Craig, director of the Museum of Fine Arts. "His prints of the mighty and the humble, of landscapes and mythological scenes, of Bible stories and character studies are all represented in the remarkable Mower Collection."
Additional Rembrandt works to be shown at the museum include "The Raising of Lazarus," "Christ Preaching" and "The Descent from the Cross."

The Mowers have loaned works from their personal collection to a number of universities. The Office of the Vice President for Research is sponsoring the exhibition at Florida State's Museum of Fine Arts.

The Museum of Fine Arts will host educational activities and workshops with FSU students and local K-12 students in conjunction with the Rembrandt exhibition.

Museum hours during the exhibition are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended hours until 7 p.m. on Thursdays; 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

The museum is the east wing of the Fine Arts Building at 530 W. Call St., Tallahassee. (850) 644-6836

 

Contemporary Kōgei Styles in Japan - Morikami Museum - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Contemporary Kōgei Styles in Japan
 
October 8, 2013 - February 23, 2014

This exhibition brings together approximately 90 Kōgei-style artworks comprising ceramics, textiles, dolls, and works of metal, lacquer, wood, bamboo, and glass created by 40 of Japan’s most influential and leading Kōgei artists of international renown. The exhibit is organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ministry of  Foreign Affairs, Consulate General of Japan in Miami and Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens with special collaboration from the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, All Nippon Airways Co., LTD., and Stella M. Holmes.

Morikami Museum website here

Smithsonian Museum Day - Free Admission to Local Museums - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Museum Day 
Saturday 9/28/2013

In the spirit of Smithsonian Museums, who offer free admission everyday, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket... for free. 

Museum Day info here 
Map of Participating Museums here

Perez Art Museum Miami launches African-American art collection with Knight funds - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Faith Ringgold’s Black Light Series #1: Big Black (1967), now a part of the 

Perez Art Museum Miami’s permanent collection. 

Photo credit: nmwa.org

Perez Art Museum Miami launches African-American art collection 

with Knight funds

When it opens on the Miami waterfront in December, the Perez Art Museum Miami will have a collection devoted to contemporary African-American art, thanks to a $1 million gift from Knight Foundation and real estate developer and art collector Jorge M. Perez, the Miami Herald reported. For Knight, the funding is a way to ensure the new museum both reflects and engages the community that surrounds it.

“Diversity is one of our great assets. Collections that reflect the range of our cultures might challenge us; but if it’s great art, it will not only inspire us, it will connect us to one another and to our Miami home,” Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation’s president, said of the gift...

In 2007, Knight Foundation also provided a $10 million endowment grant to PAMM, to ensure that 40,000 Miami-Dade students will enjoy the collection annually.

The collection of African-American contemporary art is so far unnamed.

“We believe that there are likeminded patrons out there who believe in the idea of this fund allowing the museum to create a more diverse collection and because of that, we’ve chosen not to name the fund based upon our gift,” Dennis Scholl, Knight Foundation’s vice president/arts told the Herald. “We want to give somebody else the chance to step up and take advantage of that opportunity.”

Perez Art Museum Miami website found here
Knights Arts found here

Glatken's as Illustrator - Coral Springs Museum of Art - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

 

William Glackens' drawing "Far From the Fresh Air Farm: the Crowded City Street, 

with Its Dangers and Temptations, is a Pitiful Makeshift Playground for Children"

Glatken's as Illustrator - Coral Springs Museum of Art
Sept 7 to Nov 9 2013

Glackens's graphic body of work was both varied and multi-purpose. He was equally adept in charcoal, pen-and-ink, watercolor, and etching, which he notoriously loathed and found frustrating. Glackens's line was charged with meaning and purpose, conveying human emotion and state of mind. His crowd scenes are never monolithic, but an assemblage of very personal vignettes.

By 1919, his career as an illustrator came to a sudden halt. His abandonment of this particular discipline was most likely due to the unstoppable advancements made in the field of photography. By 1901, the medium of photography became available to the mass-market with the introduction of the Kodak Brownie. To Glackens, this advent was both friend and foe; while it closed one door, it opened another.

All of the works of art in Glackens as Illustrator have been selected from the Glackens estate of over 500 works given to the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University in 1990 by his son, Ira Glackens. The exhibition includes three of his most admired large-format illustrations: Curb Exchange, No.3, 1907-1910, Far from the Fresh Air Farm, 1911, and Christmas Shoppers, Madison Square, 1912.

Coral Springs Museum show info here

Francesco LoCastro at Hollywood Art and Cultural Center - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Image: Francesco Lo Castro, Title- Ubicomp Everyware Medium- Acrylic, silkscreen, spray paint and 

layered epoxy resin on MDF (medium density fiberboard) Size- 36” diameter Year- 2012

 

Francesco LoCastro: Advent

Hollywood Art and Cultural Center  

Italian-born Francesco LoCastro grew up in Germany and has been active in the South Florida art scene for more than a decade. His work has an international audience and widespread appeal. For this exhibition the artist delves further into his Geometry series with a new body of mixed-media work and video animation. In these latest pieces, LoCastro employs unorthodox painting techniques that involve the intricate layering of pigment and resin to achieve a heightened sense of dimension and depth.

What at first glance appears to be the result of countless hours spent with graphic design software is revealed at closer examination to be meticulously handcrafted combinations of acrylic, spray paint, epoxy resin and even gold leaf applied on wood.

These colorful compositions depict a kaleidoscopic vision, dense with movement and a combination of explosiveness and strict order, vibrancy and dreaminess, power and release. The accompanying video animations explore a further imagining (expansion) of the paintings as three-dimensional environments. Feeling frenetic and alive, LoCastro’s bright and shifting allegorical architectures present fleeting moments of harmony and dissonance as an immersive experience.





Hollywood Art and Cultural Center website found here
Francesco LoCastro website found here

 

The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood - Instagram artists show - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

 

Image by Kevin Arrow this weeks winner.

#acchfocus

The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood is pleased to announce an exciting
opportunity to win a solo exhibition in our Focus South Florida: project room gallery. Artists from within the state of Florida are invited to submit Instagram shots of their work (in any medium) every week of the year beginning September 1, 2013. Each week, a winning artist will be selected by the Center’s Curator of Exhibitions and staff. That week’s Instagram selected will be prominently featured on the Center’s website, for one week and then be included in an online gallery of all winners thus far.

September 1, 2014, one lucky Instagrammer will be awarded a solo show in the Center’s project room during the 2015 All Media Juried Biennial! Artists are allowed to submit one image per week for an unlimited number of times until they win. Once named as a weekly winner, the artist will be in the running for the solo exhibition award and will not be eligible as a weekly winner for a second time.

Works depicted in the Instagram can be in any media (photography, painting, drawing, digital media, sculpture, installation, video etc.)…and should be representative of the type of work the winning artist plans to show if awarded this unique opportunity. All 52 images of the year’s winners will be displayed in a small format print in the Center’s new artist showcase The Landing, concurrent with the 2015 Biennial!

The Instagram #acchfocus winner for this week is Kevin Arrow.

To enter, tag your photos on Instagram with #acchfocus, and be sure to follow follow the Center on Instagram at ArtCenterHollywood.

Click here for more information.

 

Cornell Fine Arts Museum - Panel Discussion - Nazi Looted Art: Unfinished Business - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Cornell Fine Arts website found here

Perez Art Museum of Miami Shaping Up - by Florida Fine Art Blog

The new Pérez Art Museum Miami in Museum Park - Rendered Image

© Herzog & de Meuron

 

Pérez Art Museum Miami. View from Watson Island. - Current View

Photo by Daniel Azoulay photography

 

 

The new museum is really shaping up and on scheduled to be opened this December.  I can't wait! 

 

The Miami New Times recently got a tour of the building and have a great article with loads of new information found here

 

Also I received an invitation to a talk next Friday (20th);

 

Event Description -

In conjunction with DWNTWN Art Days, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) Director Thomas Collins and former Director Terence Riley will discuss the unique aspects of the new museum’s architecture. Scheduled to open in downtown Miami's Museum Park this December, the new PAMM was designed by internationally-acclaimed architects Herzog & de Meuron in response to Miami's unique environment, and as a model for progressive, and sustainable, museum design.

 

Date and Time: 

09/20/2013
6:00pm

Location: 

Adrienne Arsht Center (Ziff Ballet Opera House - Peacock Foundation Studio)
1300 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, FL 33132
Parking: Lot C (fees apply)

Contact: 

education@pamm.org
786 345 5643

 

Seating is limited (first come, first seated)

 

PAMM website found here

 

WSJ - Takashi Murakami's Gallery Ventures Out - Posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

 

Takashi Murakami, DOB & Me: On the Red Mound of the Dead, 2013 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board, 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in.; Yoshitomo Nara, Miss Spring, 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 89 3/8 x 71 5/8 in. Courtesy of Blum & Poe

Takashi Murakami's Gallery Ventures Out 

Wall Street Journal

By CLAIRE MARTIN

 IN 1999, A PAIR OF YOUNG GALLERISTS named Tim Blum and Jeff Poe applied for a solo booth at the prestigious Art Basel fair in Switzerland. Their plan was to debut the work of a Japanese artist and friend whose sculptures and paintings blended anime, pop and classical painting—the likes of which the art establishment had yet to see. When they arrived at the fair, the art world was flabbergasted. Many saw the pieces as fluff and some thought Blum and Poe were "out of our minds, like insane, strange, deluded idiots," Blum says. Still, they sold everything. And as public understanding of the art grew, their careers took off alongside that of the artist they had helped launch: Takashi Murakami.

Read the whole article here

Broward Cultural Division Offers Business Plan Clinic and Workshop for Artists, 6/22 - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Broward Cultural Division Offers Business Plan Clinic and Workshop for Artists, 6/22

Broward Cultural Division, and the Florida Small Business Development Center in Broward, and the South Florida Regional Planning Council will offer an informational business plan clinic and workshop to assist artists and creative entrepreneurs on Saturday, June 22, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at ArtServe, 1350 E. Sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale.

The Business Plan Clinic guides participants through preparation of a simple business plan, an essential tool for any artist. In addition, participants will learn how to effectively work with lenders to obtain financial support. The workshop will be facilitated by Rafael Cruz, regional director with the Small Business Development Center and Cheryl Cook, economic development specialist with the South Florida Regional Planning Council. Participants will have the opportunity to network with past alumni of the Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute.

In addition, Katerina Wagner, founder and principal of Miami Art Scene will present a lecture onDeveloping a Brand for the Artist. Miami Art Scene is a boutique art consulting, promotion and publicity firm specializing in the marketing, branding and representation of contemporary artists. Katerina was an exhibiting artist for over a decade where she learned the business aspects of art. She also worked within the advertising industry for many years, which led her to eventually merge her experience in media, public relations, marketing and social networking with her art and design industry background, establishing herself as a social media specialist, art manager, publicist and curator. She is a member of the Boca Raton Museum of Art Artist's Guild, ARTCENTER/South Florida, the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Broward Art Guild, and the Wynwood Arts District Association.

Attendance at the workshop is highly recommended for artists and alumni of the Artists as an Entrepreneur Institute. There is no fee for this workshop, however, seating is limited, RSVP is required.
For additional information, contact James Shermer, grants administrator, Broward Cultural Division at 954-357-7502.

 

Florida Highwaymen exhibit opens at MOAS - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Florida Highwaymen exhibit opens at MOAS
News-JournalOnline.com
By Rick de Yampert 
The exhibit “Highwaymen: African-American Folk Artists of Florida” opened this week at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach, and will be on display through late fall.

Today the works of these 26 artists — dubbed the Florida Highwaymen — are featured in museums, while enthusiastic art collectors have paid $5,000 and more for individual paintings.

From the early 1950s through the 1980s, a number of African-American artists would paint Florida landscapes on cheap Upson board, then on weekends they would travel up and down Interstate 95 and State Road A1A to sell their works.

Those artists would sell their Edenic scenes of wave-swept beaches, wind-swept palms beneath dramatic cloudscapes, serene sunsets and moonlit marshes to hotels, offices, businesses and individuals for around $25 a piece.

The artists didn't gain much acclaim until the early 1990s, when the established art world seemed to suddenly discover “outsider art” — art created outside of mainstream circles.

The MOAS exhibit includes works by S.M. Wells, Charles Walker and brothers Harold and Sam Newton.

Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach website found here

Call for candidates for new art residence at the Art Center/South Florida - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Call for candidates for new art residence at the Art Center/South Florida

Situated in the heart of South Beach on Lincoln Road, the new idea for an artists’ residence, proposed by the Art Center/ South Florida, is providing 38 separate workshops for artists working in the field of visual arts. Work by the artists is to be shown in workshops ranging in size from 16 to 84m², for a period of between six months and two years. 

For its new residency programme, the Art Center is looking for artists committed to innovation and experimentation, who want to develop their careers both from an artistic and a professional point of view, and who have an interest in contributing to the local, national, and international artist community. With a constant flow of visitors, the Art Center regularly organizes open exhibitions for the public.

Across its workshops, the center is also proposing opportunities for artists wishing to engage with art enthusiasts and collectors, as well as an intercultural exchange between artists based in South Florida, and the public. The first deadline for artists who want to apply to the programme is 30th September 2013. They can also apply at a later stage, before 31st January 2014, and again before 31st May 2014.

The call for candidates is open to professional artists working in the United States and abroad, who are not currently taking an academic course. The applications are examined by a committee composed of five renowned figures on the international art scene. Students are selected for the quality and value of their work, their potential, and for their ability to contribute to the residency’s broader community.

This looks like a great opportunity.  I have been going to exhibitions at the Art Center for decades now and many of my favorite local artists have shown here.  Always worth a look when your in Miami Beach and located on famous Lincoln Road.  GL

Art Center/South Florida website found here

Purvis Young: Works from the Collection - Boca Raton Museum of Art - by Florida Fine Art Blog

 

 

Purvis Young: Works from the Collection

July 27 - September 22, 2013

 

Boca did a fantastic show of Purvis’ work several years ago.  The current show is, well, hard to understand. 

 

The Bad - The first problem is the location.  I know the floor plan of that museum like the back of my hand, but after walking the whole museum, both floors, I could not find any of Purvis’ work.  Was the show over?  I eventually had to ask the woman at the front desk for directions.  They seemed to agree that the paintings were hard to find.  Purvis' work is under the main stairway, kind of an after thought or overflow space.  

 

more after the break

Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art Rising - posted by Florida Fine Art Gallery

Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art Rising

By Eileen Zaffiro-Kean eileen.zaffiro-kean@news-jrnl.com
The Daytona Beach News Journal

The museum will salute the Florida cracker architectural style and include a 50-foot peak in the main gallery, as well as meticulous landscaping around the building and retention ponds that will be dominated by plants indigenous to Florida.

The grand opening will cap a 20-year journey for Cici and Hyatt Brown, who donated the paintings along with $13 million for construction and another $2 million for what’s hoped to become an $8 million operations and maintenance endowment.

Hyatt Brown is board chairman of Daytona Beach-based Brown & Brown insurance agencies and an honorary trustee for the museum. Cici Brown is a member of the museum’s Board of Trustees and a past volunteer there.

The Browns started in the mid-1990s with the purchase of an 1839 painting of the gates of St. Augustine with no plan to amass so many other works – some of which are the only visual records of things in Florida that disappeared before photography was developed.

They decided several years ago to donate the multi-million-dollar collection, but found themselves on another winding road as they tried to find the right property for a new museum. Eventually, they settled on the site that’s just north of the Museum of Arts & Sciences.

“It is exciting to see the walls going up,” said Cici Brown. “It feels really good, but I’m not jumping up and down because I know we’ve got a long way to go.”

Brown said she’s very happy with the way things are going, and her main concern is that everything is done well, not quickly.

“It’s fun. We’re having a good time,” she said. “We’ll be patient.”

Whole Article found here