A rare screening of the award-winning documentary “Crows of the Desert:” will be shown as part of Levon Parian’s “Lost Memories” exhibition in the Central Library Auditorium.

ARPA Film Festival, Armenian Promise Institute UCLA and Glendale Central Library have partnered to screen the award-winning documentary, Crows of the Desert: A Hero’s Journey through the Armenian Genocide, followed by a discussion with director/producer Marta Houske, executive director Paul Turpanjian and artist/editor Levon Parian, moderated by Helen Makhdoumian PhD of the Armenian Promise Institute.

The screening will take place on Wednesday, December 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture’s Central Library Auditorium, 222 East Harvard Street. Admission is free. Library visitors receive 3 hours complimentary parking across the street in The Market Place multi-storey car park with validation at the service desk. “

Crows of the Desert: A Hero’s Journey through the Armenian Genocide is a documentary film based on the memoirs of Levon Yotnakhparian. It’s the incredible true story of one man’s valiant struggle not only to stay alive, but to help save his Armenian survivors from extinction in one of the first genocides of the 20th century.

World War I raged in the Middle East as Britain’s Lawrence of Arabia fought alongside the Arabs against the Ottoman Empire. Caught in the chaos, Levon narrowly escaped with his own life time and time again. Risking extreme dangers, he returned to this dangerous realm to lead a small expeditionary force to rescue the scattered, destitute survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Along the way, rescuers risked their lives countless times, endured unimaginable hardships, and encountered some of the 20th century’s most iconic figures. History shows how people from different cultures and faiths have come out to help the Armenian refugees.

Exceptionally rare film and photographs, as well as recently rediscovered documents, have been brought together from archives around the world to reveal the terror and heroism in this incredible story that took place in the Syrian desert a century ago.

The documentary screening will be shown alongside Levon Parian’s “Lost Memories”. Exhibition currently on view at the ReflectSpace Gallery in the Central Library. The event was made possible by AFFMA, the Arpa Foundation for Film and Arts Sponsorship, and is co-sponsored by the Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA.

The ReflectSpace Gallery is an inclusive exhibition gallery dedicated to researching and reflecting on major human atrocities, genocides, civil rights abuses, and other social injustices. ReflectSpace is an immersive concept and hybrid space that is both experiential and informative, using art, technology and interactive media to reflect on the past and present of Glendale’s communal fabric and to question current global human rights issues. The ReflectSpace Gallery is supported in part by the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Trust. ReflectSpace is housed at Glendale Central Library and online.

Founded in 1907, the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Department includes eight neighborhood libraries, including the Brand Library & Art Center, a regional library for fine arts and music, and a performance venue built in the historic mansion of Glendale pioneer Leslie C. Brand 1904, and the Central Library, a 93,000-square-foot center for individuals and groups to come together, collaborate, and create. The department also acts as the main liaison with the Glendale Arts and Culture Commission, which works to continually transform Glendale into an ever-evolving arts destination. For more information, visit the website or call Library, Arts & Culture at 818-548-2021 or email [email protected].

Glendale is the fourth largest city in Los Angeles County and is also known as the “Jewel City”. With a population of more than 200,000, Glendale is a thriving, cosmopolitan city rich in history and cultural diversity, boasting nearly 50 public parks and easy access to a municipal airport. It is home to a vibrant business community with major corporations in healthcare, entertainment, manufacturing, retail and banking.

Cog•nate Collective, ‘Tianquiztli: Portraits of the Market as Portal’

visual art
Cog•nate Collective’s new exhibit at ICA San Diego’s North Campus in Encinitas is part of an ongoing work by the artist duo. “Portraits of the Market as Portal” examines street markets, cross-border communities and the trade in objects.

Tianquiztli is the indigenous Aztec/Mexican origin of “Tianguis”, the open air markets in Mexico. But Cog•nate Collective also wanted to tie their work to another use of the term Tianquiztli, the constellation of the Pleiades.

Cog•nate Collective is a long-standing collaboration between artists Misael Diaz and Amy Sanchez Arteaga, recipients of the 2022 San Diego Art Prize. Her works can also currently be seen in the art prize exhibition in the art gallery of the central library.

After an artist talk at 6:30pm, music will be provided by youth producer/artist Armaan Damani.

Details: On view through January 29, 2023. Reception and Artist Talk 5:30-9 p.m. Saturday, November 19, 2022. Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego: North Campus, 1550 S El Camino Real, Encinitas. Free.

LITVAKdance Fall 2022 Performance

Dance
San Diego contemporary dance company LITVAKdance will perform five works by different choreographers for their fall concert.

The pieces are: Issa Hourani’s All I Left You, which draws on Hourani’s Middle Eastern and Mexican roots and the social and religious rituals and practices of Middle Eastern culture; Ronen Izhaki of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance will premiere a new piece, Each Grain of Rice, about everyone having their own story; and Rebecca Margolick’s work Bayit weaves Yiddish folk dance with contemporary movement.

WHYTEBERG (Gracie Whyte and Laura Berg) is a performance duo from LA. ‘I Hear Everyone You Know Is More Relevant Than Anyone I Know’ is an amazing title and this work premiered earlier this year with LITVAKdance’s ‘Dancing Outdoors’ programme. And the piece “We Find Home” by LITVAK founder Sadie Weinberg, which premiered at LITVAK’s debut in 2018, is about the longing for home.

The performances are accompanied by live music from Kristopher Apple, Pete Polansky and Joe McNalley.

Note: Masks are compulsory for the performance on Sunday at 5 p.m. For other performances, masks are optional.

Details: 4pm and 7pm Saturday, November 19; and 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday, November 20, 2022. San Dieguito Academy, 800 Santa Fe Dr., Encinitas. $15-$25.

Bocón Arts: “Mía: All Mine”

theatre
Local theater organization Bocón Arts was founded in 2013 to bring collaborative works of different voices to the stage for all ages.

Mía: All Mine is a bilingual play written in Spanish by Amaranta Leyva and translated into English by Carmen Rivera – part of a bi-national translation residency at the now-defunct Lark Play Development Center.

The play follows an 8-year-old girl, Mía (played by Vanessa Flores Cabrera), as she struggles with the trauma of domestic violence. It’s a disturbing story, but told in a way that’s accessible — but not watered down — to younger audiences and families. “Don’t be afraid, moms, dads. Sit down with your children and watch Mía,” the company urges. It is directed by Daniel Jáquez of TuYo Theater and this is the US premiere.

Details: On stage through November 20, 2022. Remaining Spanish language shows are on Friday November 18 at 7pm; 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19; and 5:30 p.m. Sunday, November 20. The remaining English language shows are on Saturday 19 November at 5:30pm and Sunday 20 November at 2:00pm. Woodbury University School of Architecture, 2212 Main St., Barrio Logan. $10-$20.

A journey into the folk and traditional music of Iran

music

The Music Department of UC San Diego hosts a performance by Persian brass band Khosrow Soltani and Iranian percussionist Mohammad Ghavihelm. The instrumentalists, who have been playing together since they were young, will explore folk music from Iran using traditional instruments.

This performance is at UCSD’s Conrad Prebys Music Center in the Experimental Theater. The building is convenient to both the Blue Line Trolley and the Gilman Parking Structure, which has toll booths ($2 an hour on weekends). The concert is free for UCSD students, faculty and staff.

Details: Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 7 p.m. Conrad Preby’s Music Center, 9500 Gilman Dr., UC San Diego. $0-$25.

Payare performs ‘Brahms’ Symphony No. 1′

music
Brahms’ “Symphony No. 1” is a dramatic work with a particularly beautiful and emotional second movement. Pianist Marc-André Hamelin will accompany the symphony with Franz Liszt’s mesmerizing Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major.

They open the concert with Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”, one of my favorite pieces – slow and atmospheric, with an unbelievably long, energetic build-up.

Rafael Payare will conduct the San Diego Symphony in two performances at two different venues this weekend, one indoors and one outdoors.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 17 at The Shell (222 Marina Park Way, downtown, $25-108) and 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 18 at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido (340 N. Escondido Blvd. , Escondido, $25-$70).

More weekend art events to report on

Here is KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando’s look at the La Jolla Playhouse production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Personally, I rewound and rewatched the excised paper doll explainer segment multiple times. Performances this weekend are Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm and Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm. On stage until December 11th.

Pop Smoke: A Veteran Art Exhibition curator Amber Zora joined KPBS Midday Edition last week to talk about the exhibition, veteran art and more. You can listen to the interview here. The Oceanside Museum of Art is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with extended hours until Friday at 8:00 p.m. On view until January 15, 2023.

For more art events or to submit your own, visit the KPBS/Arts calendar here. You can also check out our special Winter holiday offers here. And be sure to sign up for mine weekly KPBS/Arts newsletter here.

Most people will be surprised when they hear that a student has entered his college master’s house once — let alone four times. But Sir Richard Heaton, the Headmaster of Robinson College (the red brick term for ‘masters’) has made this possible by generously opening his Headmasters’ Box to a variety of events over the past year. From composing poetry from cut-out words on his patio to enjoying a cheese and wine evening in the dining room, the highlight of each event was viewing the impressive art collection that adorns his home.

“I don’t feel remotely exploitative or elitist playing in this market.”

Sir Richard tells me the first real work of art he ‘purchased commercially’ was when ‘there was a pop-up show called Affordable Scottish Art’ while he was performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. He vividly recounts “many colorful Glasgow paintings” from which he chose his first piece. But it wasn’t until he brought it home and his mother remarked, “You’re going to be an art collector,” that this one-time purchase turned into a lifelong habit. He claims he “didn’t really think anything of it at the time. But she was right. I’ve always wanted to surround myself with images. And I’ve always enjoyed the process of selecting and buying and talking to artists.”

It is this process of discovery and interaction that draws Sir Richard most into the world of art. He states that he is “not a collector in the frieze art sense of the word” – referring to the huge and expensive frieze art fairs in London. Although he likes going to the Frieze to “look around as a fascinated tourist”, he prefers to find his pieces from individual artists. He explains that collecting art can be an “extraordinary world of wealthy individuals”; and investments; and hedging; and all sorts of things I’m just not particularly interested in. And I can’t afford to be interested in it,” he jokes. For him, “One of the instigators of the charge of elitism is that when you buy contemporary work, you’re either making high-end purchases.” Sir Richard argues the other case is when “you are buying directly from artists”. He claims, “If they sell something early in their career, that’s a pretty good thing. So I don’t feel remotely exploitative or elitist playing in this market. I have no excuse for that.”

But for some, the elitism goes beyond the cost. The experience of art is elitist, with many feeling self-conscious that they are expected to read and respond to pieces in a certain way. However, the overseer insists that “people don’t need to be taught to respond to colors and shapes, emotions and moods.” When he opens his collection to guests, he explains: “I enjoy that people enjoy the works in my collection. Everyone reacts in some way. And I don’t think there’s one right way to look at a painting.” Insisting that art doesn’t have to be snobby, he jokes about how he paints in his office “pretty much into shapes on that end and people on that end organized. Nothing particularly sophisticated happens there.”

“It has more voices. It’s like a choir”

For him, “One of the beautiful things about art is that it rewards any level of commitment.” He fixes his gaze on one of my favorite pieces in the room and explains that he enjoys “listening to artists talking about their art, more than I enjoy talking about art myself”. He tells me how the artist behind this “underwaterjPlay was “grown up in Tehran” and tries to reclaim her memory of what cinemas looked like in her city. So they can equally “react to it as a blue painting” or, perhaps more profoundly, “as an evocation of memory”. Ultimately, he believes that “art – and the creation of artworks – inspires people,” and goes on to explain that he is a trustee of the Koestler Trust, which “encourages the creation of art by people in prison.”

As we move from the office to the tour of the lodge itself, there is a clear effort to curate a bold collection, not only featuring diverse pieces, but by diverse artists. From the urinal he tells me he plans to make the centerpiece of his “gallery room” to the stunning “You Too Can Touch the Moon” photo by Tejal Shah, there’s something for everyone. He explains that “Art that is representational is a really interesting subject for me. A bit like hanging out with friends.” Sir Richard tells me how “I once looked at my collection and realized it was 75% male or that I had a lot of Indian art”, but “I had no British Asian art”. He encourages people to push themselves to “diversify” their perspectives and broaden their horizons. Not only has the principal of Robinson College enjoyed the process of diversification, he says his “collection is more interesting” because “it has more voices. It’s like a choir.”

KINETICS preview

The Baton Rouge Gallery, 1515 Dalrymple Drive, is previewing the more than 30 artist member works up for auction at its annual KINETICS fundraiser on Friday, November 11, which will also feature live music by Karma and the Killjoys becomes. Tickets are also available for $50 for gallery members and $60 for non-members. Visit batonrougegallery.org/kinetics.

Malaika favorite at Southern

Southern University’s Visual Arts Gallery at Frank Hadyn Hall on campus is showing “Malaika Favorite: Faces and Spaces” through Friday, December 9th. The opening hours are Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call (225) 771-4109 or email [email protected] or [email protected].

art market

The next Baton Rouge Art Market will be on Saturday, November 5th from 8am to 12pm on Fifth Street and Main Street downtown. Visit artsbr.org for more information.

Symphonic Week

The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra is hosting a symphony week Sunday-Thursday, November 6-10, with five free lunchtime concerts on November 6th at the Perkins Rowe Center Fountain, November 7th at the Main Street Market and November 7th at the Pennington Biomedical Center cafeteria. 8, Main Library on Goodwood on November 9th and the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center on November 10th. Visit brso.org for more information.

Toddler Thursday

The LSU Museum of Art at the Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St., is hosting Toddler Thursday: Fall into the Elements of Design for children as young as 5 years old on Thursday, November 3 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m and younger, accompanied by a chaperone Admission is $5 per child and free for chaperones. For more information, call (225) 389-7200 or visit lsumoa.org.

pouty fish

Tickets for TheaterWorksUSA’s traveling children’s musical “The Pout Pout Fish” go on sale Sunday, November 13 at 2:00 p.m. at the Manship Theater at the Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St. 344-0334 or visit manshiptheatre.org.

approval period

The application deadline for the Everett G. Powers Fund for Creativity Award has been extended to Friday, November 18th. Established by the former CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge to mark the council’s 50th anniversary, the grant is awarded annually to support new projects by focusing on creativity and artistic excellence. Visit artsbr.org for more information.

Growing up in Bridgeport, Ohio, Jessica Wojtasek attended a children’s art class at Ohio University Eastern, also located in Belmont County.

The precocious 10-year-old was particularly fond of painting city scenes with water-miscible oil paints.

“I grew up in the middle of nowhere and cities just seemed to thrive,” Wojtasek recalls.

Visual arts:Imaginative works in the art exhibition “The Earth is Us” deal with consumption, ecology and the environment

Wojtasek received a scholarship and graduated from Columbus College of Art & Design. The 36-year-old Columbus resident is still in love with cities, especially the one she lives in.

17 works by Jessica Wojtasek on display

A selection of 17 of her cityscapes – all featuring Columbus neighborhoods – can be seen in Between the Lines: Midwest Cityscapes at studios at the High Gallery in the Short North.

In these vibrant paintings large and small, Wojtasek has captured street scenes and businesses in Short North, Downtown Columbus, German Village, and Clintonville. Most of the paintings are night scenes, many of which capture streets and sidewalks glittering after a gentle rain.

“I like the reflections. It seems to make the scenes more dynamic and interesting. I like how the lights play in the shadows,” said Wojtasek.

Iconic locations in Galt, Hespeler and Preston can be found in stacks of prints by a local artist.

Joe Forte is a visual artist who uses ink to create black and white images of landmarks in Cambridge and cities in other countries around the world. Sometimes he also deals with abstract painting.

“My belief is if you do it, do it because you love it,” said Forte, who began his artistic career in 1988.

Forte has been drawing all his life, but before becoming an artist he worked in the food industry for 28 years. Forte started at Loblaws at the age of 15, bought the family grocery store from his father in 1964 and reopened it in 1966. Over time it grew from a grocery store to a record and book store in 1975.

“I had an open-air fruit market on Highway 24 and a market in Preston. Most of my art was painting signs,” Forte said.

“I’m also good at writing, I make a kind of art statement with my writing.”

In 1980 he closed the shop and began drawing in 1986. In the late 80’s and early 90’s Forte created up to 60 drawings from various locations around Cambridge. Residents would recognize some of the footprints, including the former Canadian Post Office on Dickson Street or the Central Presbyterian Church, but also historic homes and giant trees found in West Galt.

“The streets were so lined with trees that the sun couldn’t get in, but now when you go up there, none of the big trees are left,” Forte said of a place he visited as a kid.

In Forte’s prints one often sees three birds flying in the distance, representing the Holy Trinity. Other birds are sometimes added to represent deceased family members.

“This is my father’s home when he was a little boy, in Villa Massa, Italy,” Forte said, describing a print he made while traveling in Europe.

In addition to Cambridge and Europe, Forte drew inspiration from the United States and made frequent trips to Key West, Florida and New York City. In three-month assignments, Forte sat in these cities 15 hours a day, seven days a week, drawing 20 pieces.

“If you’re in Paris or New York or in Key West, you get really, really badly harassed, especially in New York,” Forte said, calculating between 3,000 and 4,000 would walk past him in 10 hours.

“The thing is, you want to sit somewhere with a lot of traffic because that’s how you make money.”

New York is also where Forte met celebrities like James Gandolfini and comedian Jim Carey while he was drawing. According to Forte, Carey is also an artist and goes by the alias Freedom From Concern, or FFC. Forte spent a week at Carey’s studio producing a custom piece.

“This is Jim Carey’s studio and this is where Jim sits and paints his painting, which is quite large,” Forte said of the piece, which Carey bought the original and a watercolor of.

Forte’s annual pilgrimage to the United States ended eight years ago. The pandemic and medical procedures delayed Forte’s return to the country, but it didn’t stop him.

“Thank god for COVID because I wouldn’t have been smart enough to stop and even smell the roses, I would have just tried to shake it off,” Forte said. “Between not going to the States and being hit by COVID, we were stuck at home for two years. That was healing time.”

Forte doesn’t make much art these days. He is focused on his family and values ​​the time he has with them.

“My children and my grandchildren are the most important things in my life.”

Over 2,000 artworks and 18 books later, Forte doesn’t know what to do with it. Some of his work is in storage while others can be found at Galtview Restaurant and Monigram Coffee Shop. More of Forte’s work can be seen on his website.

At the inaugural edition of Frieze Seoul last month, the longest lines at the fair were not for the contemporary art on offer, but for the galleries exhibiting at Frieze Masters. This flourishing of older art — “perfectly polished gems amidst a sea of ​​diamonds in the rough,” as Frieze Masters director Nathan Clements-Gillespie described it — captivated Korean audiences. However, their curiosity and enthusiasm didn’t translate into a spending spree, traders say.

This discrepancy between critical acclaim and commercial success has haunted the graceful paces of Frieze Masters from the start. The event was conceived as a re-launch of the Encyclopedic Art Fair, an exhibition of selected works representing the arc of civilization from Antiquity and the Middle Ages to the Old Masters through the late 20th century. Organizers and exhibitors worked to entice contemporary art collectors to open their eyes to the rich spectrum of art that was once contemporary. As the London fair prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary, there hasn’t been a dip in ambition, but the changing exhibitor roster and the evolving types of art they bring reveal the reality that Frieze Masters hasn’t all sold well.

One veteran exhibitor who has stuck to its original conception over the decade is medieval art specialist Sam Fogg. “We’ve always done well here,” he says. “It is without a doubt our best trade fair in the world. You’re more likely to see American museum curators in Maastricht, but if you want to meet someone you didn’t know existed, Frieze Masters is the place to be. It’s a hackneyed statement, but this is where you’re most likely to find crossover customers.” For the first edition, for example, two artists featured at Frieze London traversed Regent’s Park buying paintings and sculptures. In 2019, he sold a 13th-century life-size Christ sculpture: “Not what you would sell to a private collector.”

Fogg is preferred because the raw emotion, clean lines and bold colors of so much medieval art appeal to modern sensibilities – it also pairs well with minimalist and abstract pieces. Classic Antiques dealers have a similar advantage. Rupert Wace, for example, had been selling to contemporary art collectors long before his stone Mesopotamian duck weights flew off his stand at the first Frieze Masters. In 2012 he was the only specialist exhibitor in this area. Now there are five, including newcomer Charles Ede. Ariadne Galleries, for example, have put on spectacular exhibitions of museum-quality material and have been rewarded with significant sales. Now, Carlton Rochell Asian Art joins the fray by bringing a classic figure of a Bodhisattva in gray slate from the third/fourth century Gandhara in what is now Pakistan.

For similar reasons, Johnny van Haeften is drawn to the almost naive genre scenes of the Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder. J. from the early 17th century, stories of everyday life full of incidental details. A great rediscovery was sold to a collector flying in from New York after seeing a reproduction in this newspaper. Such a painting could have been found anywhere, but both Van Haeften and Salomon Lilian have sold all but one Dutch or Flemish painting here every year, often to new buyers in the industry who also collect contemporary art. “There are 45- or 50-year-olds entering the Old Masters market, but you have to be aware of changing tastes,” warns Salomon Lilian’s Boedy Lilian. This year De Jonckheere flourishes with three round panels by Pieter Brueghel the Younger depicting the seasons.

Gold-framed Old Master paintings and intricate bronze and marble sculptures present more of a challenge, especially since there are no accompanying auctions in London that attract international collectors. While Clements-Gillespie points out that the ratio between dealers offering modern art and older art has remained constant at around 60:40, the statistic does not reflect how exhibitors offering both fared in the 19th or 20th . In 2012, for example, Robilant + Voena presented Italian view paintings from the 18th century and only two masters from the 20th century. Over the years, this dynamic has reversed. Their “crossover”, according to Edmondo di Robilant, is that customers of old masters are now buying modern art.

At Agnews it’s a similar scenario that will feature a dash of Old Masters while focusing on works like The White Door (1888), the first of Vilhelm Hammershøi’s eerily empty interiors. “Over the years we’ve figured out what works,” says drawing dealer Stephen Ongpin. “Most of what we are now bringing with us dates from the 19th and 20th centuries, but when we do a thematic hanging, such as when buying Tiepolo drawings, that also worked very well.” For Andreas Pampoulides from the Sculpture and Painting Gallery Lullo Pampoulides “All pre-19th century art has to be strong – cruel or sexy. It’s about telling work with good stories.”

Storytelling is key to bringing the old or unknown to new audiences. This is emphasized this year by the Frieze Masters initiative Stand Out: Global Exchange, for which Luke Syson, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, has highlighted art objects of all media (or in the case of Axel Vervoordt, in the case of Axel Vervoordt, the whole booth). “Global encounter is embedded in textiles, ceramics and metalwork, unlike in paintings and drawings,” he says. “It’s hard to think of a more compelling story than the way they interact as objects are created.”

Textile designs are reflected in armor (Peter Finer), while the gold and silver vessels of Tang Dynasty (618-907) China in Gisèle Croës reflect Central Asian influences. Amir Mohtashemi presents Chinese and Iznik ceramics made specifically for the Indian and Islamic markets, as well as 19th-century Indian Company School paintings commissioned by Europeans as records of local flora and fauna.

This fair has always cleverly positioned all of its exhibits, regardless of their medium, as art with a capital A. The other A-word – antiques – is probably not even whispered in the organiser’s office, although, as Clements-Gillespie admits with a smile, the event has become an arts and antiques fair in all but name. Even furniture that was once forbidden is now allowed – on pedestals, of course. Dealer Richard Nagy, for example, promises a total work of art of the art and design of the Vienna Secession. For Frieze visitors and exhibitors, the decorative has been taken out of the decorative arts.

12-16 October, fries.com

The Orcas Center and the San Juan Islands Agriculture Guild kick off the popular annual Orcas Farm Tours (October 1 & 2) with the Island Bounty Opening Party on Friday, September 30th^that the Orcas Center. Islanders and visitors are invited to enjoy and honor the arts, food and farms essential to our island’s heritage and culture. This free event is open to all ages and features pop-up options for local food and drink.

As the opening reception for the Island Bounty exhibition, 36 artists and craftspeople from the Orcas, Lopez and San Juan Islands were invited to present their paintings, fiber and woodwork, sculpture, printmaking, metalwork and award-winning food products and wine and cider, all of which use materials grown on the island or depict agricultural landscapes of the island. Special features include demonstrations of yarn spinning, basket weaving, floral arrangements, herbal medicine and the sale of locally brewed wines, ciders and spirits.

The art exhibit runs through November 15 at the Orcas Center.

To find out more about the Farm Tours taking place October 1-2, see www.farmtourssanjuans.com.

From the use of native plants, to historic barns and early settler farming, to today’s innovative climate-friendly farming practices and quality food products, the inaugural Island Bounty event showcases the heritage and future of island plants and agriculture. Supporting local arts, food, and farms strengthens and enriches our community in many ways that benefit San Juans today and tomorrow.

Explore the countryside on Saturdays and Sundays, when farmers open their fields, orchards, market gardens — and ice cream parlors or pumpkin patches — to guests of all ages. Whether you’re curious or already committed to supporting local food, there’s something for everyone to discover and enjoy at Farm Tours.

Island Bounty is the result of a new collaboration between arts and farming organizations who share a common goal of building a thriving local community.

Support for the exhibition, which runs until November 15th^thcomes from the Orcas Center Visual Arts Committee, the San Juan Makers Guild, the San Juan Islands Conservation District, and the San Juan County LTAC Scholarship Program.

Visit the Agricultural Guild and their important work in building a sustainable food system at www.sjiagguild.com.

Information about the Orcas Center can be found at www.orcascenter.org.

The San Juan Makers Guild community platform is located at www.sanjuanmakersguild.com. And the statewide Conservation District can be found at www.sanjuanislandscd.org.

The world of fine art can be cutthroat – especially for the artists who make it possible. Supermodel Heidi Klum says it about fashion, but it also applies to fine art: “One day you’re in, the next day you’re out.” For color field painter Sherron Francis, that was at least partially the case.

Francis ran with the abstract art heavyweights of the 1970s and endeared himself to second-generation abstract expressionists such as Dan Christensen and Larry Poons. Her work has been exhibited by André Emmerich and Tibor de Nagy, and her paintings have been included in notable collections of artist Helen Frankenthaler and critic Clement Greenberg. Press praised her ethereal abstractions, which retain a special soulful essence through their abandonment of form. Gradually, however, galleries began to ditch artists who didn’t quite qualify as blue chip, avant-garde art dominated the headlines, and Francis was under pressure to adapt to new styles or aggressively market their work to new gallery owners. Instead, she simply retired from the game, leaving Manhattan and retiring to a remote corner of Long Island, where she spent her summers. As a result, many of her artist friends lost touch, and her work — absent from art history textbooks — became a phantom presence.

Presented by Lincoln Glenn Gallery, “Sherron Francis: A Retrospective” marks a new chapter in the artist’s career. A reintroduction to Francis’ work, the exhibition presents 22 paintings created between the 1970s and 1980s, at the height of her career. This is the artist’s first solo show in almost 40 years and is exemplary of the gallery’s programming.

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WHAT: Sherron Francis: A Retrospective

WHEN: September 10 – October 23, 2022

WHERE: LINCOLN GLENN, 126 Larchmont Avenue, Larchmont, New York 10538, [email protected]

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Lincoln Glenn, led by Douglas Gold and Eli Sterngass, experts in the field of American art, opened their doors in Larchmont, NY earlier this year. The gallery’s listing focuses on American art from the 19th century to the present, with a particular emphasis on reviving and exploring “the careers of artists who worked between the 1950s and 1970s who made significant contributions to art history, but whose names may be.” have been forgotten by time.” Francis is the perfect example of an artist who received critical acclaim at the height of her career but fell out of public view, making her an ideal candidate for representation at Lincoln Glenn. Many important abstractionists are finally receiving the attention they deserve for their place in art history (like Lynne Drexler and Elaine de Kooning), and Sherron Francis should be no exception.

Francis is a unique artist indeed – in the late 1970’s and 1980’s she supplemented her income as an artist by running her own commercial fishing boat. This endeavor freed her from relying on the sale of artworks as her sole source of income, and she was able to set her own hours, be her own boss, and shed the rigidity that comes with working for someone else. While many artists feel intensely strained to create specific styles so they can make sales, which can lead to a style drawer, this has never been an issue for Francis.

Although initially drawn to figurative painting, Francis loved abstraction and sought to expand its intrinsic possibilities. She first ventured into the world of abstraction because it was expensive to find models for her; She saw abstraction in many different forms on the New York art scene and inspired them to abandon figuration. Her preferred medium was water-based paint applied to unstretched canvas – she spread out a large canvas on the floor and used squeegees of different sizes to move the paint across the surface. Her goal was to “draw with color” and allow movement to guide the composition. The result was soothing, celestial forms that avoid being derivative of earlier abstractionists and embrace an individual style that is inherent in Francis’ work. “cosa‘, 1972, is one of those early abstractions whose lavender tones exude an air of calm. Her first solo exhibition was at André Emmerich’s in 1973, and she was featured at the Whitney Biennial that same year.

In the late 1970s, Francis began incorporating commercial insulating gravel into her paintings, mixing pieces with paint and applying them to a canvas. This effect created a crusty look and texture, adding an element of depth and tactility to her work. “Red tip“, 1979, shows how the gravel combines with the pigment to create a three-dimensionality and literally takes the paint off the canvas.

Francis was an art teacher at Ridgewood School of Art and Design and Cooper Union until 1985 and continued to exhibit her work through the ’80s and ’90s. When the artist loft she had lived in for decades, which served as a meeting place for her colleagues, was sold to New York University around the turn of the century, she took this as a sign that her time in the New York art world had come to an end. She moved permanently to her North Fork, Long Island retreat and opened an antique shop called Small Holdings Farm, which is still in operation today. Sherron Francis is someone who follows her passions and lets her heart dictate how she spends her time. Whether that means spending an afternoon fishing, experimenting with new artistic techniques, or browsing through antique wares, she’s bound to pursue something that interests her.

Welcome to Art Angle, an Artnet News podcast that delves into the places where the art world meets the real world and brings down to earth the biggest story of each week. Join us each week for an in-depth look at what matters most in museums, the art market and more, with contributions from our own writers and editors, as well as from artists, curators and other top experts in the field.

When visitors see the new Wolfgang Tillmans retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, the first thing they will probably notice is that only a few paintings are presented in a frame. Most are instead stapled or glued directly to the wall; Adorning almost every service in the six-story museum, they are arranged in groups rather than in rows, much like constellations in the night sky. And that’s an analogy the 54-year-old artist might appreciate himself, given his abiding love of space. “Astronomy,” he once said, “was my visual introduction to seeing.”

A cosmological awe permeates “To Look Without fear,” as MoMA’s exhibition is called—though Tillmans’ themes are often quite mundane. More than 300 photographs of the artist are included, spanning his career spanning nearly four decades, from his experimentation with a photocopier as a student in Germany in the late 1980s and his editorial efforts for index and I WOULD magazines in London and New York in the 90s to his darkroom abstractions of the early 2000s and beyond.

But Tillmans’ practice has always resisted strict taxonomization, and that’s true here, too; what can be seen is not a series of individual works, but a kind of diary journey through the life of the artist: his friends, his lovers; his work, his play; his experience of losing and living with HIV and his constant reflection on what it means to interpret it all through the technology of photography. No lens-based artist revels in the simple depths of the medium quite like him.

From now until January 1st next year, To look without fear an expansive, year-long presentation that rightfully places Tillmans as one of today’s most important working artists. Prior to the show’s opening, Artnet News’ Taylor Dafoe met with Tillmans at MoMA for a conversation about language, a look into the past, and how staring out into the cosmos has taught him to appreciate life on earth.

Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear is on view at the Museum of Modern Art until January 1, 2023.

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