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

at

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

at

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

Mark Ryden -- Happy Birthday -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Happy Birthday Mark Ryden. Born January 20th 1963 in Medford, Oregon. 
Mark was raised in Southern California and now resides in LA. Mark has seen his star rise the past fifteen years, from relative obscurity to top selling artist commanding huge prices for his work. I have gushed about Mark on this blog before, you can find my post about him HERE.

A great quote attributed to Mark;
“There is a very dark and painful side to life, but that is natural. People in our culture think they shouldn’t ever be unhappy. They think being unhappy is unnatural. They try and make it go away. They take pills or they go to therapy to “fix” themselves. They blame themselves or others for their suffering. We need to understand that sadness is as much a part of this life as joy. It would be easy to just get bitter and cold while focusing on the dark side, but there is also an amazing, wonderful side of life. If you look for it, there is true magic all around us. Maybe that sounds trite to the hardened self-protective modern ego, but there is magic in this miraculous life. If you open yourself, you do make yourself vulnerable to pain but the deeper pain you experience, the deeper joy you can have.”
Please visit these two Mark Ryden websites for more;
Mark Ryden website
Wondertoonel website 

"All Locals" Show Opening at Bear and Bird -- Saturday Night -- posted by Florida Fine Art

Be There Be Square - Local's Only Art Show
Saturday, January 15th from 6 - 10pm at Bear and Bird

For Show Information and Directions - www.bearandbird.com
For info on being a part of our next "All Locals Welcome" art visit www.tatescomics.com/localartists!

Call to Artists -- All-Media Juried Biennial 2011 -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood - All-Media Juried Biennial 2011
Entry deadline: Jan. 31, 2011

Exhibition runs: April 30 – June 5, 2011

All artists residing in the state of Florida are invited to submit entries for the Art and Culture Center’s All-Media Juried Biennial 2011.

Original paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photography, video, computer-generated images, performance, and site-specific installations will be considered.
Awards

Cash awards totaling $4,000 will be distributed as follows:
$2,000 Best in Show
$1,000 First Place
$600 Second Place
$400 Third Place

To find Guidelines and Entry Form follow this link

Art and Culture Center of Hollywood website

John Singer Sargent -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

John Singer Sargent  (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925)

John Singer Sargent was a working man's artist, never concerning himself with what his critics called his anachronous state.  John wanted to sell paintings, not push boundaries, and he became the premier portrait artist of his time.  His supporters and clients were the important people of the day.  He completed hundreds of portraits for European Royalty, US Presidents, Generals and Business Tycoons. 

Salvador Dalí Museum Grand Opening -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Grand Opening of the New Salvador Dalí Museum
1 - 11 - 11 at 11am Saint Petersburg, Florida

The Maestro himself would love what is going on this week in St. Petersburg, Florida.  This Tuesday the man who focused his art on Metamorphosis will see a great transformation take place to the largest collection of his artwork outside Spain.  The new Dali Museum will open just blocks away from the museum space that had held his artwork for years.  The museum and the city of St. Pete have created a spectacle opening worthy of the artist and his work.

Billed as a "surreal procession" the festivites start at the old museum at 1000 Third St. S., at 9:30 a.m. and concluding at the new museum, located eight blocks north at One Dalí Blvd.  The procession will include VIP guests and dignitaries, entertainers, models and musicians, plus the Krewe of the Knights of Sant’ Yago and a Dalí look alike in a horse and carriage.  The entertainment continues at the new Dalí Museum, starting with a 30-second Horn Fanfare by the Florida Orchestra Brass Quintet.

A dedication program and a ribbon cutting ceremony led by the King and Queen of Spain’s youngest daughter, S.A.R. la Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, begins at 11 a.m. The ceremony will conclude at noon and mark the beginning of a new era for the Dalí.


More after the Fold

University of Miami's Beaux Arts Festival This Weekend! -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The 60th Annual Beaux Arts' Festival of Art will take place January 8th and 9th, 2011 on the grounds of University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.  The festival is open each day from 10 AM to 5 PM.

I have grown tired of most outdoor art festivals that take place in South Florida.  The crowds and the exhibitors, quite frankly, are not interested in art anymore.  Most of the time the crowds are just out to walk their dogs and be "seen" and the exhibitors have become more about crafts and home wares then real art. What makes this event stand out from the other outdoor art festivals is the quality of work.  The show is juried and the prize money is significant enough to attract the highly skilled artist.  Another bonus to this show along with it being free to the public is that the Lowe Museum itself is open and free.

This year's event of the region's oldest juried fine art show boasts over 240 artists from 30 states, Canada, and Israel and working in 10 distinct mediums. GL

 Beaux Arts Festival website

Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville picks new Director -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

MOCA Jacksonville chooses Monterey Museum of Art chief curator as its new director.
Marcelle Polednik, chief curator of the Monterey Museum of Art in Monterey, Calif., has been hired as the new director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville.  Polednik, 33, begins her new job Feb. 21.

She replaces Deborah Broder, who resigned in September to take a position with the Baltimore Symphony.

Her goals for MOCA Jacksonville are to expand the relationship with UNF, attract ambitious exhibits, build the permanent collection and bring financial stability to the museum.  Eventually, she said, "... MOCA Jacksonville will undoubtedly emerge as a singular and significant member of the regional and national arts community."

The MOCA in Jacksonville has had some serious financial trouble in the past.  I think the pick of such a young new director along with the partnership to the University is going to be interesting to watch.  The museum should be a vital part of Jacksonville and the downtown revitalization that is taking place.  GL

The Florida-Times Union Article about the New Director

Museum in Winter Park to showcase Tiffany glass works -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The last major art works from the estate of American artist Louis Comfort Tiffany will go on permanent display for the first time in February at Florida's Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art.

From Reuters Life! -- A new 6,000-square-foot gallery at the Winter Park museum will be opened on February 19, nearly 54 years after a fire destroyed Laurelton Hall, the turn-of-the-century New York home of Tiffany, who was best known for his leaded glass works.

The gallery will house the surviving components of the estate, including the reassembled Daffodil Terrace, an outdoor room marked by eight 11-foot (3.4 meter) marble columns topped with wreaths of glass flowers and covered by a cedar, tile and glass ceiling.

"Laurelton Hall was not simply another house that he did," said Laurence J. Ruggiero, the director of the museum. "Tiffany saw this as a statement about art and philosophy and an attitude about life."

Over the past five years, the museum has been developing the new gallery designed to display Tiffany's remaining large-scale works in a manner that suggests their placement at his estate, as well as his love of natural beauty and his style of blurring the line between indoors and outdoors.  The gallery will also include 250 objects from or related to the estate.

The Morse Museum also houses the Tiffany Chapel, a Byzantine-inspired interior created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and an extensive collection of Tiffany pottery, jewelry, ecclesiastical works and lead-line drawings which served as patterns for his glass works.  There are also thousands of photographs and business records from his studio. GL

Link to Reuters Article 

St. Petersburg Times -- Spending on Arts Pays Off -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Spending on arts pays off with big bucks in St. Petersburg, study says -- St. Petersburg Times

"St. Petersburg's USF economic impact study is the first one that tried to quantify what the arts and cultural institutions actually do for the economy", said Elizabeth Brinklow, the city's cultural affairs manager.  The study "answers a lot of questions", said council member Jeff Danner. "The arts really are a job generator and an economic engine."  "When you think about why businesses move here or why educated and successful people move to a community, arts plays a big role in that", St. Petersburg council member Karl Nurse said. "It has been interesting to watch to see the evolution of how people appreciate the arts."


The study reinforces that view. It was requested by John Collins, the chairman of St. Petersburg's volunteer Arts Advisory Committee. It was prepared by Maria Luisa Corton, an economics professor, who surveyed 32 arts and cultural organizations, which included the Children's Museum Great Explorations, the St. Petersburg Museum of History, the Dali, and businesses such as art galleries, including one owned by Council Chairwoman, Leslie Curran.

The study concluded that the respondents spent $16 million on wages, rent and marketing activities, while generating $26 million in revenue. GL

St. Petersburg Times Article

FAB! awarded $150,000 from the Knight Foundation - posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Funding Arts Broward awarded $150,000 from the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. 

Funding Arts Broward, Inc. (FAB!) is a non-profit arts organization committed to preserving and cultivating the arts in Broward County, Florida. FAB! was formed in response to the need for private financial support following drastic government budget cuts in the arts.  With this grant, FAB will establish the "Knight New Work Awards" which they believe will be a catalyst for Broward County cultural presenters to innovate, to invest in the professional development of their creative personnel, to purchase necessary equipment, to collaborate with guest artists, and more.

This year the Knight Foundation awarded $3.8 million in grants in South Florida as part of the Knight Arts Challenge but only three in Broward; the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood ($25,000), FAB! ($150,000) and William Stewart's Rhythm of Africa Music Program ($25,000). FAB!'s grant was among the largest for this program. This is a testament to the leadership of FAB! and the work they have done in the community.

FAB! is a great organization, with some family ties, that has stepped up to try and fill the gaps created by budget cuts and lack of public moneys for the arts.  The problems facing arts organizations are going to have to be solved by passionate people coming together with fresh ideas.  FAB! has taken the lead and it is great they are getting the recognition they deserve.  GL


Sun Sentinel Article about the Grant
FAB! website