Viewers can choose between the contemporary and classic, between bodies of water in Oklahoma and in China, complemented by superb nature studies, in a show at Mainsite Contemporary Art. The exhibit by Norman artists Carol Beesley, Alan Atkinson and Debby Kaspari will have a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. June 10.
A shift from Southwest landscapes to central Oklahoma bodies of water, sometimes made even more dramatic, is found in the oil paintings of Beesley, who returned to Norman from Santa Fe in September 2009.
Clouds reflect in nearly turquoise-hued water, broken only by two thin strips of land, and the distant green shoreline, in Beesley's oil of “Indian Point, Lake Thunderbird near Norman.” Punctuating the masterful handling of water in this large canvas is a long horizontal log, lying across and casting its shadow on pinkish-brown rocks in the foreground.
Equally quiet and almost meditational are two oils of Lake Hefner. Scattered rocks in the foreground lead the eye back to a broad expanse of red beach and a bit of blue water in one of them, done just before sunset, while a “bright moment” turns the lake's waters purple in the other.
Transforming an apparently mundane scene in an even more spectacular fashion is Beesley's oil of a “Detention Pond Near St. Elijah Orthodox Church” in Oklahoma City. Pink-red rocks create a magical cove for pale, jewel-like pink and aqua-tinted waters, basking under a distant strip of foliage, in this composition, which has a sublime impact in spite of its lowly subject.
A miniature female figure pulls back a theatrical curtain, “revealing” contemporary snapshots and a Renaissance portrait, illusionistically taped to the sky, in a pastel-colored pencil drawing. The Revealing” is one of three excellent mixed media works on paper, described by Beesley as an “art history lesson,” on view with five oil drawings on paper, based on the backyard of her house in Santa Fe.
Beesley is a professor emeritus at the University of Oklahoma who is represented by the JRB Art at The Elms gallery in Oklahoma City.
An artist who calls his work an homage to the ancient Chinese painting tradition, Atkinson provides us with a quietly memorable, almost scroll-like depiction of a “Warbler on a Pine Tree” branch.
Even more impressive are four acrylic canvases from Atkinson's “Don't Drink the Water” series. Depicting Chinese lake or river scenes, the stylized waves in these paintings emerge from rich, stained, brown-hued backgrounds, in almost dreamlike fashion.
Kaspari offers 11 exquisite mixed media drawings on paper of flora, fauna, birds, rocks and landscape elements, plus one large acrylic and graphite painting on birch panel. The latter is especially noteworthy, depicting a tropical looking tree or plant, with two exotic, yellow and black birds perched on its branches (one of whom seems to be saying something to the other).
2011年5月29日星期日
Land Of Five Rivers Exhibition Featuring Indo-Canadian Artists At Surrey Gallery
A richly detailed black and white photograph of an elderly street musician in Jaipur, an oil painting of a woman clad in colourful traditional dress, an oil painting of a newly married couple locked in an embrace, pen and ink studies of sacred architecture, a photo-collage of passengers aboard the Komagata Maru collaged together with related text documents, and a precisely rendered oil paint portrait of the famous poet Gurcharan Rampuri.
From the Land of Five Rivers, an exhibition that runs May 13 to August 14 at the Surrey Art Gallery, presents forty recent paintings, photographs and drawings by six Lower Mainland-based artists: Vipin Kapoor, Baljit Kaur, Jay Panesar, Dave Singh Benning, Jarnail Singh, and Mandeep Wirk. The artists have represented the cultural traditions, history, street life, and domestic interiors of their cultural homeland of the Punjab, as well as their experiences living in southwestern British Columbia. The exhibition title reflects the ancestry of these artists, as the Punjab is also known as the ‘land of five rivers’ due to the network of winding rivers that trace the edges of the region. The artists have selected artworks that respond to complex notions of home, an ancestral homeland, place, history and memory. The artists will be in attendance at the exhibition reception on June 24 at 7pm—everyone is welcome.
Admission to the exhibition and reception is free.
Artist Biographies
Born in Ludhiana, Vipin Kapoor came to Canada in 1999 where he has worked as an artist and actor. Based in Delta, Kapoor mainly produces art in acrylic and oil paint and has experience in portraits, landscapes, murals, airbrush work, digital art, graphic design, photography, and videography.
Baljit Kaur is a Surrey-based artist who mainly paints portraits of women. Kaur has a B.A. in Fine Arts from the Government College for Women (G.C.W.) in Chandigarh, where she focused on drawing and painting, as well as vocal music (classical raag). She came to Canada with her family in 2000. Baljit has been painting for close to 20 years, and her work has been presented in a number of group exhibitions in India and Canada.
Born in Chandigarh, Surrey-based Jay Panesar came to Canada in 2000 with his artist-parents, Jarnail Singh and Baljit Kaur. For the past number of years Panesar has taken up photography. He says it allows him to explore and capture the richness and authenticity of life as it is.
Born in the U.K., and living in Canada since the 1980’s, Surrey-based Dave Singh Benning studied graphic arts throughout school and college; more recently he has practiced as a graphic designer working in silk screens. While he is known primarily for his popular culture portraits in acrylic on canvas, the pen and ink work in the current exhibition is a move toward more historical and architectural subject matter.
Jarnail Singh is an artist, illustrator, designer, photographer, and art journalist. Born in the small town of Zira, he received a B.A. at Punjab University in Handigarh. He came to Canada with his family in 2000, and now resides in Surrey where he has become actively involved in the local arts community. In 2008, Singh was one of the citizens honoured with the City of Surrey’s first Civic Treasures Award.
Mandeep Wirk is very much a global citizen. Her grandfather emigrated from the Punjab and settled in Kenya, Africa where she was born. Soon after, she moved with her parents to England, and then in 1972 came to Canada where she has earned an M.A. in Psychology and began work as an educator. Now based in Abbotsford, Wirk’s current creative practice focuses on paintings, drawings and collages, in addition to photography, and freelance writing.
From the Land of Five Rivers, an exhibition that runs May 13 to August 14 at the Surrey Art Gallery, presents forty recent paintings, photographs and drawings by six Lower Mainland-based artists: Vipin Kapoor, Baljit Kaur, Jay Panesar, Dave Singh Benning, Jarnail Singh, and Mandeep Wirk. The artists have represented the cultural traditions, history, street life, and domestic interiors of their cultural homeland of the Punjab, as well as their experiences living in southwestern British Columbia. The exhibition title reflects the ancestry of these artists, as the Punjab is also known as the ‘land of five rivers’ due to the network of winding rivers that trace the edges of the region. The artists have selected artworks that respond to complex notions of home, an ancestral homeland, place, history and memory. The artists will be in attendance at the exhibition reception on June 24 at 7pm—everyone is welcome.
Admission to the exhibition and reception is free.
Artist Biographies
Born in Ludhiana, Vipin Kapoor came to Canada in 1999 where he has worked as an artist and actor. Based in Delta, Kapoor mainly produces art in acrylic and oil paint and has experience in portraits, landscapes, murals, airbrush work, digital art, graphic design, photography, and videography.
Baljit Kaur is a Surrey-based artist who mainly paints portraits of women. Kaur has a B.A. in Fine Arts from the Government College for Women (G.C.W.) in Chandigarh, where she focused on drawing and painting, as well as vocal music (classical raag). She came to Canada with her family in 2000. Baljit has been painting for close to 20 years, and her work has been presented in a number of group exhibitions in India and Canada.
Born in Chandigarh, Surrey-based Jay Panesar came to Canada in 2000 with his artist-parents, Jarnail Singh and Baljit Kaur. For the past number of years Panesar has taken up photography. He says it allows him to explore and capture the richness and authenticity of life as it is.
Born in the U.K., and living in Canada since the 1980’s, Surrey-based Dave Singh Benning studied graphic arts throughout school and college; more recently he has practiced as a graphic designer working in silk screens. While he is known primarily for his popular culture portraits in acrylic on canvas, the pen and ink work in the current exhibition is a move toward more historical and architectural subject matter.
Jarnail Singh is an artist, illustrator, designer, photographer, and art journalist. Born in the small town of Zira, he received a B.A. at Punjab University in Handigarh. He came to Canada with his family in 2000, and now resides in Surrey where he has become actively involved in the local arts community. In 2008, Singh was one of the citizens honoured with the City of Surrey’s first Civic Treasures Award.
Mandeep Wirk is very much a global citizen. Her grandfather emigrated from the Punjab and settled in Kenya, Africa where she was born. Soon after, she moved with her parents to England, and then in 1972 came to Canada where she has earned an M.A. in Psychology and began work as an educator. Now based in Abbotsford, Wirk’s current creative practice focuses on paintings, drawings and collages, in addition to photography, and freelance writing.
2011年5月25日星期三
JIMMY BAKER’S DOUBLE TILLMAN
“It stands like a sentinel, watching in the wind over one of America's most treasured landmarks, the Hoover Dam,” reads the story, which fails to mention that the massive arched bypass crossing the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada is a monument to war, erected in a region embattled by xenophobic fervor.
Just look at the names gracing its existence: O’Callaghan was a former governor of the gambling state, decorated Korean War veteran and Harry Reid’s mentor, and Arizona native Pat Tillman we all know as the Hulk-like football player who enlisted in the Army after 9/11 in an effort to fight the “good fight” in Afghanistan.
Sadly, the honorable serviceman was killed by friendly fire, and became victim of a shameful fabrication, spearheaded by General Stanley McChrystal and the Bush Administration, designed to position Tillman’s apparent sacrifice as recruitment bait. Even though the plan failed, people were quick to forgive and history received into its arms another faux tale of heroism. Remember “Little Girl Rambo” Jessica Lynch?
The Cincinnati-based painter Jimmy Baker (b. 1980) didn’t forget. Instead, he confected an ode to deception titled Double Tillman (2011), an ominous, ultra-glossy and sort of magical painting of a barren valley in burnt colors as seen from a rocky mountaintop. Some elements in the large vertical painting look pixilated, the same way images break down on YouTube, and far away in the distance is the round corona of an orange-yellow sun flickering bright.
The painting is the high point of “Jimmy Baker: Remote Viewing” at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, the artist’s first solo museum show. Baker, who exhibits in New York with Foxy Production and in Los Angeles with Roberts & Tilton, is known for works that mix traditional painting with digital printing.
Spreading across the surface of Double Tillman is the faint image of a gigantic ghostly eye, apparently constituted of a smoky glare, or magnetic field, as if refracted from within the sun. Closer inspection reveals that the upper part of the faux eye is a double photorealistic rendering the arched bridge. In addition, piled up on each side of the painting, in sharp contrast to its super flat surface, are delicious-looking pasty accumulations of oil paint in dark greens, ochres and browns.
Certain elements from nature in the painting are reminiscent of Max Ernst’s surreal forests and solar disks. Baker also establishes an immediate historical connection to North American landscape painting, especially the Hudson River School and its romantic notions of the wilderness.
Whether Baker’s painting has religious connotations, or is the last vision of a dying Tillman, is up to the viewer to decide, but what I feel makes it so special is the way that the artist concocts a drowsy metaphor dealing with mistrust in government. In multilayered images he merges traditional oil painting, large-scale commercial digital printing and UV inks, the type used commercial in outdoor banners.
With this technique Baker ventures in territory once ruled by Antoni Muntadas in the ‘90s in his series “On Translation,” where he would display portable photographic banners in public spaces as a way to prompt people to question corporate mainstream media. In recent years, Fabian Marcaccio has also painted on monumental banners, though his works tend to negate metaphorical readings while focusing on the ultra-cool.
But unlike Muntadas and Marcaccio, Baker makes his complicated way of painting seem effortless and even natural to the naked eye.
In general, “Remote Viewing” kept me befuddled, thanks in part to the disorienting imagery of inverted skies, clouds mingling with artillery explosions in vast landscapes, faceless soldiers marching upside down, hacked bodies, and pixilated surfaces juxtaposed with photorealistic details of futuristic machinery.
One painting that has it all is Divination (2011).It shows two figures wearing outdated virtual reality gadgets, comfortably levitating like Virmanas -- mythological Hindu flying machines -- over a dark hollow stage, as if they are flying remote-controlled drones over Baghdad or Colombia.
Another good one is Hamd Bags (2011), a small violent depiction of airhead Pop star Jessica Simpson’s upper half blasting -- in the manner of Michelangelo Antonioni’s explosion sequence in Zabriskie Point -- into a raw barrage of fluids and meaty gruesomeness.
Not to take away from the rest of the show, but it would be fair to say Jimmy Baker’s “Remote Viewing” is the story of one great subversive painting that contains hardcore political commentary without sacrificing beauty or craft. It’s always uplifting, as it is depressing, to find an artist who can wake us from our collective daydreaming and remind us how hypocritical we can be.
Just look at the names gracing its existence: O’Callaghan was a former governor of the gambling state, decorated Korean War veteran and Harry Reid’s mentor, and Arizona native Pat Tillman we all know as the Hulk-like football player who enlisted in the Army after 9/11 in an effort to fight the “good fight” in Afghanistan.
Sadly, the honorable serviceman was killed by friendly fire, and became victim of a shameful fabrication, spearheaded by General Stanley McChrystal and the Bush Administration, designed to position Tillman’s apparent sacrifice as recruitment bait. Even though the plan failed, people were quick to forgive and history received into its arms another faux tale of heroism. Remember “Little Girl Rambo” Jessica Lynch?
The Cincinnati-based painter Jimmy Baker (b. 1980) didn’t forget. Instead, he confected an ode to deception titled Double Tillman (2011), an ominous, ultra-glossy and sort of magical painting of a barren valley in burnt colors as seen from a rocky mountaintop. Some elements in the large vertical painting look pixilated, the same way images break down on YouTube, and far away in the distance is the round corona of an orange-yellow sun flickering bright.
The painting is the high point of “Jimmy Baker: Remote Viewing” at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, the artist’s first solo museum show. Baker, who exhibits in New York with Foxy Production and in Los Angeles with Roberts & Tilton, is known for works that mix traditional painting with digital printing.
Spreading across the surface of Double Tillman is the faint image of a gigantic ghostly eye, apparently constituted of a smoky glare, or magnetic field, as if refracted from within the sun. Closer inspection reveals that the upper part of the faux eye is a double photorealistic rendering the arched bridge. In addition, piled up on each side of the painting, in sharp contrast to its super flat surface, are delicious-looking pasty accumulations of oil paint in dark greens, ochres and browns.
Certain elements from nature in the painting are reminiscent of Max Ernst’s surreal forests and solar disks. Baker also establishes an immediate historical connection to North American landscape painting, especially the Hudson River School and its romantic notions of the wilderness.
Whether Baker’s painting has religious connotations, or is the last vision of a dying Tillman, is up to the viewer to decide, but what I feel makes it so special is the way that the artist concocts a drowsy metaphor dealing with mistrust in government. In multilayered images he merges traditional oil painting, large-scale commercial digital printing and UV inks, the type used commercial in outdoor banners.
With this technique Baker ventures in territory once ruled by Antoni Muntadas in the ‘90s in his series “On Translation,” where he would display portable photographic banners in public spaces as a way to prompt people to question corporate mainstream media. In recent years, Fabian Marcaccio has also painted on monumental banners, though his works tend to negate metaphorical readings while focusing on the ultra-cool.
But unlike Muntadas and Marcaccio, Baker makes his complicated way of painting seem effortless and even natural to the naked eye.
In general, “Remote Viewing” kept me befuddled, thanks in part to the disorienting imagery of inverted skies, clouds mingling with artillery explosions in vast landscapes, faceless soldiers marching upside down, hacked bodies, and pixilated surfaces juxtaposed with photorealistic details of futuristic machinery.
One painting that has it all is Divination (2011).It shows two figures wearing outdated virtual reality gadgets, comfortably levitating like Virmanas -- mythological Hindu flying machines -- over a dark hollow stage, as if they are flying remote-controlled drones over Baghdad or Colombia.
Another good one is Hamd Bags (2011), a small violent depiction of airhead Pop star Jessica Simpson’s upper half blasting -- in the manner of Michelangelo Antonioni’s explosion sequence in Zabriskie Point -- into a raw barrage of fluids and meaty gruesomeness.
Not to take away from the rest of the show, but it would be fair to say Jimmy Baker’s “Remote Viewing” is the story of one great subversive painting that contains hardcore political commentary without sacrificing beauty or craft. It’s always uplifting, as it is depressing, to find an artist who can wake us from our collective daydreaming and remind us how hypocritical we can be.
Tryon gallery walk set for June 4
The streets of downtown Tryon will come alive during the second Tryon Gallery Trot from 5-8 p.m. June 4. There will be 8 participating galleries, shops and businesses featuring artwork and refreshments.
The Upstairs Artspace will be opening a new show "Flood and The Pump: Galleries With Attitude." This exhibit presents 15 artists from the Flood Fine Arts Center, an Asheville institution that is well known for showcasing exciting, thought-provoking art. In addition, 20 artists with working studios at the Flood will be offering examples of their work.
Tryon Painters and Sculptors, located in Gallery One in the mid-level of the Tryon Fine Arts Center on Melrose Ave. is showing the work of Richard Baker. Baker’s oil paintings depict the architecture and landscapes of this area.
Kiveo, a Trade Street internet business is opening its’ spacious offices to display contemporary and traditional paintings from Ralph Berger, Robert Deterly, Alan McCarter, Jocelyn Davis, Richard Baker, and Catherine Gurri.
Kathleen’s Gallery will be featuring the “Small Wonders” of photographer Elaine Pearsons. Her new work is enhanced by a glaze of colorful glitter. Asheville poet and photographer, Tracey Schmidt will show giclee prints from her new book of poetry.
Vines and Stuff in the Shops of Tryon will be open late showcasing their wide variety of gifts for all ages including hand made pottery.
Just across the street Skyuka Fine Art will be opening “Landscapes of the Carolinas” dedicated to the art of the landscape. Much of the work will be of the Tryon area, its’ surrounding mountains as well as low country, marsh and coastal landscapes in a variety of techniques and mediums. New artists to the gallery will be represented in this exhibit as well as historical ones.
Next door to Skyuka, Green River Gallery joins in the trot offering a wide selection of paintings and prints from their collection.
Just down from Green River Gallery, Richard Baker Studio will host late hours with a special touch; Richard will be demonstrating how he captures the beautiful properties of water that he is so well known for. Mr. Baker has also taken on some new local artists who will have their work on display and be on site as well.
This, the second Tryon Gallery Trot, is sponsored by the Tryon Downtown Development Association. Look for maps in participating galleries and shops to guide you along on your own "Trot."
The Upstairs Artspace will be opening a new show "Flood and The Pump: Galleries With Attitude." This exhibit presents 15 artists from the Flood Fine Arts Center, an Asheville institution that is well known for showcasing exciting, thought-provoking art. In addition, 20 artists with working studios at the Flood will be offering examples of their work.
Tryon Painters and Sculptors, located in Gallery One in the mid-level of the Tryon Fine Arts Center on Melrose Ave. is showing the work of Richard Baker. Baker’s oil paintings depict the architecture and landscapes of this area.
Kiveo, a Trade Street internet business is opening its’ spacious offices to display contemporary and traditional paintings from Ralph Berger, Robert Deterly, Alan McCarter, Jocelyn Davis, Richard Baker, and Catherine Gurri.
Kathleen’s Gallery will be featuring the “Small Wonders” of photographer Elaine Pearsons. Her new work is enhanced by a glaze of colorful glitter. Asheville poet and photographer, Tracey Schmidt will show giclee prints from her new book of poetry.
Vines and Stuff in the Shops of Tryon will be open late showcasing their wide variety of gifts for all ages including hand made pottery.
Just across the street Skyuka Fine Art will be opening “Landscapes of the Carolinas” dedicated to the art of the landscape. Much of the work will be of the Tryon area, its’ surrounding mountains as well as low country, marsh and coastal landscapes in a variety of techniques and mediums. New artists to the gallery will be represented in this exhibit as well as historical ones.
Next door to Skyuka, Green River Gallery joins in the trot offering a wide selection of paintings and prints from their collection.
Just down from Green River Gallery, Richard Baker Studio will host late hours with a special touch; Richard will be demonstrating how he captures the beautiful properties of water that he is so well known for. Mr. Baker has also taken on some new local artists who will have their work on display and be on site as well.
This, the second Tryon Gallery Trot, is sponsored by the Tryon Downtown Development Association. Look for maps in participating galleries and shops to guide you along on your own "Trot."
Items from Lambuth University in Tennessee, closing in June, will be auctioned May 28th
It isn’t often that an institution of higher learning sells off most of its holdings and closes its doors for good, but that’s exactly what is about to happen at Lambuth University, a small liberal arts school located about midway between Memphis and Nashville. A sale of the university’s property will be held Saturday, May 28, in the Student Union Building.
And the offerings will be considerable. Auctioned will be a wide variety of merchandise from the school’s 168-year history, to include magnificent antiques, important works of art, rare and vintage books (some dating back as far as 1800), wonderful period furniture, several fine pianos, Persian rugs, decorative accessories and one-of-a-kind items in an array of categories.
These will include a sizable bronze bell (signed and dated 1822), a marble bust of a Victorian girl (16 inches tall, circa 1860), a mahogany Victorian-era Victrola in good working condition (circa 1920), a 1796 early map of Tennessee, a rare antique microscope, a large group of vintage wedding dresses, an antique wheelchair, a folding portable stage and a pair of safes.
Conducting the sale will be Stevens Auction Company, based in Aberdeen, Miss. “The school struggled financially following the economic crisis of 2008 and just never recovered,” said Dwight Stephens. “Throughout 2009 and 2010, faculty and staff resolutely endured weeks, even months, without pay.” Trustees voted to close the school effective June 30th of this year.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to help faculty and staff provide educational services for a projected 77 summer 2011 graduates. Sales will ensure that those who have fought so hard and diligently for the school will be able to end their tenure with dignity. The auction will begin at 10 a.m., with an open house preview planned for Friday, May 27th, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
A pre-sale preview will also be held on auction day, from 8 a.m. until the first gavel comes down. Many of the items to be sold may be viewed on the Stevens Auction Company website, at www.stevensauction.com. A free brochure is available by calling (662) 369-2200. There will be no Internet bidding available, but telephone and absentee bids will be accepted.
Furniture items will feature a massive circa-1790 English walnut Georgian breakfront bookcase, Gothic style, with Million glass doors (and the original glass). The piece is 18 feet long and 11 feet 4 inches tall. Also sold will be a 16-foot-long mahogany conference table, 16 Queen Anne chairs, a rare model oak writing desk, and an oak church pew and communion table.
The books would excite even the most hard-core bibliophile. There are around 1,000 – many of them leather-bound and rare first-editions. They include a first-edition work by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and volumes of poetry by greats such as Byron, Keats and Shelley. The books are so rare and fragile they’ve been kept locked away for the better part of a century.
The pianos will include a Steinway & Son concert grand piano from the chapel (serial # 404793D), a Steinway & Son parlor baby grand piano, a K. Kawai piano from the theater (serial # 242867), a Baldwin concert grand piano, a K. Kawai parlor grand piano (Model 650, serial # 271529) and a K. Kawai parlor grand piano. Also sold will be a practice organ in good condition.
The fine art will feature a monumental 1776 portrait of Thomas Brown, Esq., by William McCullough (Glasgow Academy); an unsigned oil painting of the early New York City skyline by Samuel Halpert (Am., 1884-1930), a pioneer of modern art in American (est. $30,000); an oil on canvas landscape by G.B. Sticks (Br., 1834-1898), titled Loch Kathrine Sunset (1876); an oil on canvas of a woman and a mule by L. Meyer (N.Y., 19th century); and other important works.
What is today Lambuth University began in 1843 as a small but significant women’s college geared mainly toward women in the Jackson and Memphus, Tenn., areas. It was founded by the Memphis Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Eighty years later, men were allowed to enroll, thus broadening Lambuth’s educational reach and community impact.
Through steadfast stewardship of early leaders at the newly co-educational institution, Lambuth continued to expand not only its campus size but its athletic activities and academic offerings, including one of the few planetariums in the South. It is unclear what will become of the buildings and grounds once the school closes, but word is negotiations are underway with a large area university to acquire it and turn it into a satellite campus. But no deal has been made.
The Lambuth University Student Union Building is located at 705 Lambuth Boulevard in Jackson, Tenn., about a half-mile west of US Highway 45 (also known as North Highland Ave.).
Terms of the auction will be cash, major credit cards and pre-approved checks. All sales will be final, with no warranty expressed or implied. A 12 percent buyer’s premium will be charged on each total purchase price, with a 2 percent discount for cash, business and personal checks with proper ID, or wire transfers. A 7 percent sales tax will apply to most purchases.
And the offerings will be considerable. Auctioned will be a wide variety of merchandise from the school’s 168-year history, to include magnificent antiques, important works of art, rare and vintage books (some dating back as far as 1800), wonderful period furniture, several fine pianos, Persian rugs, decorative accessories and one-of-a-kind items in an array of categories.
These will include a sizable bronze bell (signed and dated 1822), a marble bust of a Victorian girl (16 inches tall, circa 1860), a mahogany Victorian-era Victrola in good working condition (circa 1920), a 1796 early map of Tennessee, a rare antique microscope, a large group of vintage wedding dresses, an antique wheelchair, a folding portable stage and a pair of safes.
Conducting the sale will be Stevens Auction Company, based in Aberdeen, Miss. “The school struggled financially following the economic crisis of 2008 and just never recovered,” said Dwight Stephens. “Throughout 2009 and 2010, faculty and staff resolutely endured weeks, even months, without pay.” Trustees voted to close the school effective June 30th of this year.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to help faculty and staff provide educational services for a projected 77 summer 2011 graduates. Sales will ensure that those who have fought so hard and diligently for the school will be able to end their tenure with dignity. The auction will begin at 10 a.m., with an open house preview planned for Friday, May 27th, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
A pre-sale preview will also be held on auction day, from 8 a.m. until the first gavel comes down. Many of the items to be sold may be viewed on the Stevens Auction Company website, at www.stevensauction.com. A free brochure is available by calling (662) 369-2200. There will be no Internet bidding available, but telephone and absentee bids will be accepted.
Furniture items will feature a massive circa-1790 English walnut Georgian breakfront bookcase, Gothic style, with Million glass doors (and the original glass). The piece is 18 feet long and 11 feet 4 inches tall. Also sold will be a 16-foot-long mahogany conference table, 16 Queen Anne chairs, a rare model oak writing desk, and an oak church pew and communion table.
The books would excite even the most hard-core bibliophile. There are around 1,000 – many of them leather-bound and rare first-editions. They include a first-edition work by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and volumes of poetry by greats such as Byron, Keats and Shelley. The books are so rare and fragile they’ve been kept locked away for the better part of a century.
The pianos will include a Steinway & Son concert grand piano from the chapel (serial # 404793D), a Steinway & Son parlor baby grand piano, a K. Kawai piano from the theater (serial # 242867), a Baldwin concert grand piano, a K. Kawai parlor grand piano (Model 650, serial # 271529) and a K. Kawai parlor grand piano. Also sold will be a practice organ in good condition.
The fine art will feature a monumental 1776 portrait of Thomas Brown, Esq., by William McCullough (Glasgow Academy); an unsigned oil painting of the early New York City skyline by Samuel Halpert (Am., 1884-1930), a pioneer of modern art in American (est. $30,000); an oil on canvas landscape by G.B. Sticks (Br., 1834-1898), titled Loch Kathrine Sunset (1876); an oil on canvas of a woman and a mule by L. Meyer (N.Y., 19th century); and other important works.
What is today Lambuth University began in 1843 as a small but significant women’s college geared mainly toward women in the Jackson and Memphus, Tenn., areas. It was founded by the Memphis Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Eighty years later, men were allowed to enroll, thus broadening Lambuth’s educational reach and community impact.
Through steadfast stewardship of early leaders at the newly co-educational institution, Lambuth continued to expand not only its campus size but its athletic activities and academic offerings, including one of the few planetariums in the South. It is unclear what will become of the buildings and grounds once the school closes, but word is negotiations are underway with a large area university to acquire it and turn it into a satellite campus. But no deal has been made.
The Lambuth University Student Union Building is located at 705 Lambuth Boulevard in Jackson, Tenn., about a half-mile west of US Highway 45 (also known as North Highland Ave.).
Terms of the auction will be cash, major credit cards and pre-approved checks. All sales will be final, with no warranty expressed or implied. A 12 percent buyer’s premium will be charged on each total purchase price, with a 2 percent discount for cash, business and personal checks with proper ID, or wire transfers. A 7 percent sales tax will apply to most purchases.
2011年5月22日星期日
Paintings of Portland expected to fetch up to £47k at auction
TWO paintings of Portland by a prolific British artist are expected to fetch up to a combined £47,000 at auction.
John Piper’s works will go under the hammer later this month in Christie’s sale of 20th century British and Irish Art.
The late artist’s oil painting entitled ‘Portland’ has been estimated at between £25,000 and £35,000, while his oil and collage piece called ‘Portland Bill’ is estimated to make between £8,000 and £12,000.
Piper, who died aged 89 in 1992, celebrated the British landscape and its architecture in his work, best known for his abstract work and paintings of churches, castles and stately homes.
The 20in by 24in canvas ‘Portland’ is signed by Piper and dated 1953.
Speaking in an exhibition catalogue about his painting, he describes the island as a place ‘too extraordinary for words on the map’.
He said: “My discovery of Portland was very important to me. I think it was in the late 1920s that I first went there in a very old Morris Cowley with Miles Marshall.
“I am a map-lover and Portland looks too extraordinary for words on the map, so does the adjoining Chesil beach. At that time Portland Bill was much more untidy, with great blocks of stone lying about on the low quarry shore in magnificent disarray.
“The derricks for loading the blocks onto the boats stood among a very small scatter of beach huts, dominated by the great triangular, pyramidal sea-mark and the black and red striped lighthouse.
“The foreshore is now more ship-shape, holidaymakers come in crowds.
“Inland too there is a lot of development but the character remains: large-scale, airy, maritime, naval, above all workaday, and not picturesque, except by accident.”
The 6inx8in ‘Portland Bill’ is dated 1950 and is to be sold with a copy of the letter from Piper to the current owner, dated August 22, 1975.
The letter said: “The small painting you sent a photograph of, was one of quite a series I did at the time – about 1950 – of the same subject, more or less.
“That is, of blocks of newly quarried stone at Portland [Dorset] lying on, or near, the beach, beside fishermen's huts.
“They [the pictures] were of all shapes and sizes and some in oil, some in gouache, some pen and ink and watercolour.”
Both paintings will go up for auction on May 26 at Christie’s, London, along with three other of Piper’s paintings.
John Piper’s works will go under the hammer later this month in Christie’s sale of 20th century British and Irish Art.
The late artist’s oil painting entitled ‘Portland’ has been estimated at between £25,000 and £35,000, while his oil and collage piece called ‘Portland Bill’ is estimated to make between £8,000 and £12,000.
Piper, who died aged 89 in 1992, celebrated the British landscape and its architecture in his work, best known for his abstract work and paintings of churches, castles and stately homes.
The 20in by 24in canvas ‘Portland’ is signed by Piper and dated 1953.
Speaking in an exhibition catalogue about his painting, he describes the island as a place ‘too extraordinary for words on the map’.
He said: “My discovery of Portland was very important to me. I think it was in the late 1920s that I first went there in a very old Morris Cowley with Miles Marshall.
“I am a map-lover and Portland looks too extraordinary for words on the map, so does the adjoining Chesil beach. At that time Portland Bill was much more untidy, with great blocks of stone lying about on the low quarry shore in magnificent disarray.
“The derricks for loading the blocks onto the boats stood among a very small scatter of beach huts, dominated by the great triangular, pyramidal sea-mark and the black and red striped lighthouse.
“The foreshore is now more ship-shape, holidaymakers come in crowds.
“Inland too there is a lot of development but the character remains: large-scale, airy, maritime, naval, above all workaday, and not picturesque, except by accident.”
The 6inx8in ‘Portland Bill’ is dated 1950 and is to be sold with a copy of the letter from Piper to the current owner, dated August 22, 1975.
The letter said: “The small painting you sent a photograph of, was one of quite a series I did at the time – about 1950 – of the same subject, more or less.
“That is, of blocks of newly quarried stone at Portland [Dorset] lying on, or near, the beach, beside fishermen's huts.
“They [the pictures] were of all shapes and sizes and some in oil, some in gouache, some pen and ink and watercolour.”
Both paintings will go up for auction on May 26 at Christie’s, London, along with three other of Piper’s paintings.
Art inspired by 'natural world'
Ann Singsaas of Stevens Point and Kathy Brown of Marathon are two central Wisconsin artists who blend traditional materials and techniques with their own contemporary approaches to media and style. They will share their artwork with the public through an exhibit at the Alexander House Center for Art and History through July 5.
Singsaas has studied art at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., the University of Illinois and Eastern Michigan University. She has been painting in both oil and watercolor for more than 20 years and teaching workshops and classes for more than 15 years. She is one of the founders of Gallery Q in Stevens Point.
Singsaas will exhibit works in oil and watercolor. The "Birches" series of paintings uses a very traditional medium -- oil paint -- on a less conventional surface -- hand-brushed aluminum. The effect is as if you are seeing these natural objects, rendered in a highly realistic style, pop off the surface on which they are applied. These works invite careful inspection of both subject and technique. Birch trunks, dandelions and budding twigs take on a slightly surreal quality in juxtaposition with the industrial feel of the machined metal plates. The subjects themselves appear to occupy a space just in front of the picture plane.
"The contrast between something so natural, organic looking and papery as birch bark with the stark impersonal and industrial surface of the metal lets these two ideas, the natural and the manmade, mingle," Singsaas said. "I'm not looking for inner deeper secret meaning in these natural elements, they have a magic all their own. I do, however, use this visual style to trick the viewers' eyes and get them to truly look at something simple, whether it be a milkweed pod or a hunk of aluminum, and see it as beautiful and intricate."
The "Wandering" series started while Singsaas was teaching an outdoor painting class at the University of Michigan Biological Station. That week-long class in Michigan was an opportunity to do a lot of on-site demos that actually made good paintings. This idea of doing small quick paintings transferred well to travel. On each trip, Singsaas brought along a small spiral bound notebook of Arches 140-pound cold-press paper, an old Yarka watercolor pan set, three brushes and a plastic cup. These spare elements allowed for a quick response to the landscape and its changing light. Traveling to different locations and sketching on-site or from photos later on in the studio gave a new perspective to both of the series that will be on exhibit.
Brown weaves a variety of baskets using variations of traditional basket patterns and her own contemporary designs. All of her baskets are hand-woven and almost all are one-of-a-kind. She enjoys working with a variety of basket styles. Brown specializes in twill baskets made with reed and her own versions of antler baskets. She also likes reinventing old, functional baskets in reed for modern use.
"I often start with an established basket pattern or technique but then vary it and refashion it into my own original design," Brown said. "For years I have been interested in various weaving techniques that create double-walled baskets. I especially enjoy mastering the double-sided Choctaw basket and have also developed my own technique in weaving double-walled twill baskets."
Natural materials from Wisconsin, especially antlers and barks, appear in her baskets, but primarily Brown weaves with purchased reed and cane. Reed is a product of the Asian rattan plant whose inner core produces long, sinuous material ideal for working into basketry. Her antler baskets are usually made from a combination of reed, seagrass, willow and acorns. She acquires the white-tailed deer antlers from her husband and brothers and their Wisconsin hunting companions.
"I am in the process of developing willow-weaving techniques and a new willow patch with 10 varieties of willow that grow behind my garage," Brown said. "The willow patch will provide an organic source of weaving materials right in my own backyard. It takes a long time to develop new baskets and you will have to review my basket display to see if these actually start to supplant my love of making baskets out of cane and reed.
"Whether weaving with cane and reed or a variety of Wisconsin materials, I am often inspired by the natural world around me."
The Alexander House Center for Art and History is sponsored by the Alexander Charitable Foundation. Gallery hours are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by special appointment.
Contributed by Joe Clark, art director for the Alexander House.
Singsaas has studied art at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., the University of Illinois and Eastern Michigan University. She has been painting in both oil and watercolor for more than 20 years and teaching workshops and classes for more than 15 years. She is one of the founders of Gallery Q in Stevens Point.
Singsaas will exhibit works in oil and watercolor. The "Birches" series of paintings uses a very traditional medium -- oil paint -- on a less conventional surface -- hand-brushed aluminum. The effect is as if you are seeing these natural objects, rendered in a highly realistic style, pop off the surface on which they are applied. These works invite careful inspection of both subject and technique. Birch trunks, dandelions and budding twigs take on a slightly surreal quality in juxtaposition with the industrial feel of the machined metal plates. The subjects themselves appear to occupy a space just in front of the picture plane.
"The contrast between something so natural, organic looking and papery as birch bark with the stark impersonal and industrial surface of the metal lets these two ideas, the natural and the manmade, mingle," Singsaas said. "I'm not looking for inner deeper secret meaning in these natural elements, they have a magic all their own. I do, however, use this visual style to trick the viewers' eyes and get them to truly look at something simple, whether it be a milkweed pod or a hunk of aluminum, and see it as beautiful and intricate."
The "Wandering" series started while Singsaas was teaching an outdoor painting class at the University of Michigan Biological Station. That week-long class in Michigan was an opportunity to do a lot of on-site demos that actually made good paintings. This idea of doing small quick paintings transferred well to travel. On each trip, Singsaas brought along a small spiral bound notebook of Arches 140-pound cold-press paper, an old Yarka watercolor pan set, three brushes and a plastic cup. These spare elements allowed for a quick response to the landscape and its changing light. Traveling to different locations and sketching on-site or from photos later on in the studio gave a new perspective to both of the series that will be on exhibit.
Brown weaves a variety of baskets using variations of traditional basket patterns and her own contemporary designs. All of her baskets are hand-woven and almost all are one-of-a-kind. She enjoys working with a variety of basket styles. Brown specializes in twill baskets made with reed and her own versions of antler baskets. She also likes reinventing old, functional baskets in reed for modern use.
"I often start with an established basket pattern or technique but then vary it and refashion it into my own original design," Brown said. "For years I have been interested in various weaving techniques that create double-walled baskets. I especially enjoy mastering the double-sided Choctaw basket and have also developed my own technique in weaving double-walled twill baskets."
Natural materials from Wisconsin, especially antlers and barks, appear in her baskets, but primarily Brown weaves with purchased reed and cane. Reed is a product of the Asian rattan plant whose inner core produces long, sinuous material ideal for working into basketry. Her antler baskets are usually made from a combination of reed, seagrass, willow and acorns. She acquires the white-tailed deer antlers from her husband and brothers and their Wisconsin hunting companions.
"I am in the process of developing willow-weaving techniques and a new willow patch with 10 varieties of willow that grow behind my garage," Brown said. "The willow patch will provide an organic source of weaving materials right in my own backyard. It takes a long time to develop new baskets and you will have to review my basket display to see if these actually start to supplant my love of making baskets out of cane and reed.
"Whether weaving with cane and reed or a variety of Wisconsin materials, I am often inspired by the natural world around me."
The Alexander House Center for Art and History is sponsored by the Alexander Charitable Foundation. Gallery hours are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by special appointment.
Contributed by Joe Clark, art director for the Alexander House.
2011年5月18日星期三
Local artist exhibiting thesis work
Local Townsend artist and resident Betsy Popp recently obtained her master's degree in fine art, painting. Popp's formal dissertation presentation concentrated on the personal development of her landscape paintings in oil. This body of work created for her thesis presentation will be exhibited at the Nicolet College campus in the Nicolet Art Gallery, on the first floor of the Learning Resource Center, Rhinelander.
The main exhibit will showcase about 30 landscape paintings with the addition of about 20 wood sculptures, also created by Popp, which compliment her paintings. In addition, the remainder of the gallery space will be filled with photographs from Central Wisconsin photographer and friend Rick Eyre.
The exhibit, "Nature, Travel and Adventure — Through the Eyes of Artist Betsy Popp and Photographer Rick Eyre," will run May 20-June 10. The opening reception will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 28. Summer gallery hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday.
The main exhibit will showcase about 30 landscape paintings with the addition of about 20 wood sculptures, also created by Popp, which compliment her paintings. In addition, the remainder of the gallery space will be filled with photographs from Central Wisconsin photographer and friend Rick Eyre.
The exhibit, "Nature, Travel and Adventure — Through the Eyes of Artist Betsy Popp and Photographer Rick Eyre," will run May 20-June 10. The opening reception will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 28. Summer gallery hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday.
Plein Air Festival Returns to Wayne Art Center
Beginning Tuesday, May 17th and running until May 21, the Wayne Art Center will be hosting 32 artists from around the country for its 5th annual Plein Air Festival. Artists will travel from as far as Tennessee and Indiana to paint local landscapes.
Plein Air, which means “in the open air,” originated in Laguna Beach, California about fifteen years ago. In Plein Air festivals, artists have two to four days to paint as many on location landscapes as they can. Each painting takes two to three hours—a nonnegotiable time frame, since an artist can only paint a scene for as long as the light stays the same.
This year, artists will spend the first two days painting within a 15-mile radius of Wayne. The next day they will expand to Philadelphia, and on the final day, they will all paint in central Wayne. When they finish painting in Wayne at 1 p.m. on Saturday, they bring the paintings (some still wet, all already framed) to the Wayne Art Center.
“It’s like a triathlon of painting,” said Patti Hallowell, program coordinator at the Wayne Art Center. “It’s very rich and stimulating.”
Artists are required to produce at least two paintings, with some finishing with as many as fifteen. All in all, the Art Center hangs about 200 paintings. This is one of its two major fundraisers and one of the top selling exhibitions. Karen Louise Fay, director of special programs, cites familiarity and accessibility as the reason for the exhibit’s popularity. “People understand the subject matter,” she said.
The paintings, including those that have been sold, will be on display for the public until June 24 at the Davenport Gallery.
Although producing a large volume of paintings in a short time can be exhausting, many artists are trained in Plein Air techniques.
“These are people who seek challenge,” said Hallowell. Many painters enjoy the experience of painting from nature, where they can “hear the birds chirping.” Artists have their own styles and color palettes, and as Fay pointed out, even “clouds are interpreted differently.”
Local artist and participant Valerie Craig said that there is a “great spirit and energy” surrounding the festival. Craig, who helped found the festival, has painted at Androssan Farm and the Daylesford train station. Although she has painted since she was eight, Craig was originally a nurse.
The artists were chosen from an applicant pool of 80 by Billy O’Donnell. O’Donnell, a lifelong resident of Missouri, is a nationally recognized landscape painter. His other duties in the festival include deciding on the recipients of $4,000 of prize money and conducting a Plein Air demo and a Plein Air painting workshop.
The festival is made possible by contributions of business sponsors, patrons, and 43 committee members. The committee is chaired by Barbara Berry.
In an area where trees line the sides of the road and parks are plentiful, the community often overlooks the area’s landscapes and greenery. The Plein Air festival draws attention back to Radnor’s surroundings. “It highlights the beauty of the area,” Craig said of why she loves the festival. “I feel like a guest in my own hometown.”
Plein Air, which means “in the open air,” originated in Laguna Beach, California about fifteen years ago. In Plein Air festivals, artists have two to four days to paint as many on location landscapes as they can. Each painting takes two to three hours—a nonnegotiable time frame, since an artist can only paint a scene for as long as the light stays the same.
This year, artists will spend the first two days painting within a 15-mile radius of Wayne. The next day they will expand to Philadelphia, and on the final day, they will all paint in central Wayne. When they finish painting in Wayne at 1 p.m. on Saturday, they bring the paintings (some still wet, all already framed) to the Wayne Art Center.
“It’s like a triathlon of painting,” said Patti Hallowell, program coordinator at the Wayne Art Center. “It’s very rich and stimulating.”
Artists are required to produce at least two paintings, with some finishing with as many as fifteen. All in all, the Art Center hangs about 200 paintings. This is one of its two major fundraisers and one of the top selling exhibitions. Karen Louise Fay, director of special programs, cites familiarity and accessibility as the reason for the exhibit’s popularity. “People understand the subject matter,” she said.
The paintings, including those that have been sold, will be on display for the public until June 24 at the Davenport Gallery.
Although producing a large volume of paintings in a short time can be exhausting, many artists are trained in Plein Air techniques.
“These are people who seek challenge,” said Hallowell. Many painters enjoy the experience of painting from nature, where they can “hear the birds chirping.” Artists have their own styles and color palettes, and as Fay pointed out, even “clouds are interpreted differently.”
Local artist and participant Valerie Craig said that there is a “great spirit and energy” surrounding the festival. Craig, who helped found the festival, has painted at Androssan Farm and the Daylesford train station. Although she has painted since she was eight, Craig was originally a nurse.
The artists were chosen from an applicant pool of 80 by Billy O’Donnell. O’Donnell, a lifelong resident of Missouri, is a nationally recognized landscape painter. His other duties in the festival include deciding on the recipients of $4,000 of prize money and conducting a Plein Air demo and a Plein Air painting workshop.
The festival is made possible by contributions of business sponsors, patrons, and 43 committee members. The committee is chaired by Barbara Berry.
In an area where trees line the sides of the road and parks are plentiful, the community often overlooks the area’s landscapes and greenery. The Plein Air festival draws attention back to Radnor’s surroundings. “It highlights the beauty of the area,” Craig said of why she loves the festival. “I feel like a guest in my own hometown.”
2011年5月15日星期日
Don't want to rip off the wallpaper? Here's how to paint over it
Let's talk about painting over existing wallpaper. Yes, it can be done.
Before starting, it's important to have all the necessary equipment. Here's what you'll need.
Of course, the first step is paint. Check with the paint store to know how much you will need for the size of the room you are painting. A little extra is good -- a little shy is not. You'll also need primer, painter's tape, plastic disposable drip cloths, rollers and brushes, paint trays and texture if you are going to texture the walls. Aside from the usual painting supplies, one additional necessity is wallpaper touch-up glue that comes in a tube and is available at home stores.
A little more prep work needs to be done, too. If there are any seams in the wallpaper that are a bit lifted, you need to reglue them. Check all corners and seams to be sure all the paper is securely attached to the wall. You do not want the paint to soak in behind the paper or the paper will start to come off the wall.
Next, apply a quick-dry primer. You want the primer to dry quickly so it doesn't absorb into the paper, causing it to possibly detach from the wall if it gets soaked. If the wallpaper is vinyl, you will need to use an oil-based primer.
The reason for the primer is twofold: to create a solid base so the paint won't absorb into the paper and to stop the wallpaper design from bleeding through the paint. Let the primer dry completely.
The instructions on the can give an approximate drying time. You can take this time to wash out the rollers with mild soap and water and set them out to dry.
If you want the wall to have texture, this is when you apply it. Once the texture is applied, seal it again with more primer before starting the paint.
Remix the paint. If it has been sitting for a long period, you should take it to the paint store to remix.
Start with the edges and corners, which are painted with a brush. Use a very steady hand. This is where a good tape job pays off. Don't overload your paint tray. This can cause spills and unnecessary messes.
Roll the color onto the wall using a zigzag pattern. Let it dry. You will probably need two coats of paint.
Good ventilation is necessary, so open the windows and leave them open to rid the room of the paint fumes.
Before starting, it's important to have all the necessary equipment. Here's what you'll need.
Of course, the first step is paint. Check with the paint store to know how much you will need for the size of the room you are painting. A little extra is good -- a little shy is not. You'll also need primer, painter's tape, plastic disposable drip cloths, rollers and brushes, paint trays and texture if you are going to texture the walls. Aside from the usual painting supplies, one additional necessity is wallpaper touch-up glue that comes in a tube and is available at home stores.
A little more prep work needs to be done, too. If there are any seams in the wallpaper that are a bit lifted, you need to reglue them. Check all corners and seams to be sure all the paper is securely attached to the wall. You do not want the paint to soak in behind the paper or the paper will start to come off the wall.
Next, apply a quick-dry primer. You want the primer to dry quickly so it doesn't absorb into the paper, causing it to possibly detach from the wall if it gets soaked. If the wallpaper is vinyl, you will need to use an oil-based primer.
The reason for the primer is twofold: to create a solid base so the paint won't absorb into the paper and to stop the wallpaper design from bleeding through the paint. Let the primer dry completely.
The instructions on the can give an approximate drying time. You can take this time to wash out the rollers with mild soap and water and set them out to dry.
If you want the wall to have texture, this is when you apply it. Once the texture is applied, seal it again with more primer before starting the paint.
Remix the paint. If it has been sitting for a long period, you should take it to the paint store to remix.
Start with the edges and corners, which are painted with a brush. Use a very steady hand. This is where a good tape job pays off. Don't overload your paint tray. This can cause spills and unnecessary messes.
Roll the color onto the wall using a zigzag pattern. Let it dry. You will probably need two coats of paint.
Good ventilation is necessary, so open the windows and leave them open to rid the room of the paint fumes.
THE LAST SURVIVOR OF HITLER’S DOWNFALL - THE FUHRER'S BODYGUARD GIVES LAST INTERVIEW
IN A Berlin suburb, just a few miles from Hitler’s Führer bunker is a small, white detached house with a grey metal gate and crumbling plaster.
It has, for many decades, been the home of Rochus Misch, the man who worked as Hitler’s bodyguard between 1940 and 1945. He is the last living witness of the dictator’s suicide and the only surviving member of the bunker’s staff.
Now 93, housebound and terminally ill, Misch says: “This is definitely going to be my last appointment with the press. I would now like to die in peace.”
There are no photos, busts or personal objects of Adolf Hitler in Misch’s home. “My wife Gerda threw everything away,” he says.
Misch was born on July 29, 1917, just after his soldier father died in the First World War. In 1920 his mother died of pneumonia so young Rochus was raised by his grandparents. When he finished school, he trained to be a painter.
In 1937, during the physical examination for the army, the suggestion was made that he complete his compulsory military service in the Verfügungstruppe (Dispositional Troops), a precursor of the Waffen-SS. It would be four years of service free of fatigue duty and with automatic acceptance into the civil service.
On September 24, 1939, Misch was shot in the chest during the Battle of Modlin, 30 miles north of Warsaw in Poland. He tried to negotiate the surrender of the Polish stronghold and received an Iron Cross, Second Class for his bravery.
Misch’s conscientiousness was held in high regard and, after his recovery, his company commander Wilhelm Mohnke recommended him for the Führerbegleitkommando (Führer’s SS escort). “I was put in a car and taken to the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. The address: Wilhelmstrasse 77, the residence of the Führer,” remembers Misch.
“I was led in by Hitler’s chief adjutant, Wilhelm Brückner. I was scared of meeting the Führer in person. Adolf Hitler was standing behind the door as the chief adjutant opened it. I went ice cold.”
Hitler gave him a letter to be given to his sister Paula in Vienna and so Rochus Misch set off on his first courier trip. “That was my first personal encounter with the Führer. He wasn’t a monster or a superhuman. He stood across from me like a completely normal man with nice words.”
Rochus Misch was Adolf Hitler’s telephonist, courier and bodyguard for five years. As a telephonist, he was responsible for Adolf’s communication with his generals. “Hitler’s telephone number at the Reich Chancellery was 12 00 50,” he says and is clearly proud of his good memory. In the SS he was in Adolf Hitler’s personal Bodyguard Regiment. When Misch married his wife Gerda in 1942, Hitler sent the couple a case of wine.
His past was not that of a Hitler fanatic. “I never had anything to do with the Nazi Party, I wasn’t in the Hitler Youth and yet there I was in the innermost circle, day and night. We telephonists and bodyguards were always around him. Another 22 steps past me and you were in his bedroom.”
As the war progressed Misch got to know his employer personally. “Hitler got cold very easily and often took a hot water bottle to bed with him,” he remembers. One particular incident remains crystal clear in recollection. “It was the middle of the night. In the belief that Hitler had already gone to bed, I opened the door to his living room to get something from there. He was sitting there, his chin buried in his hands, motionless, as if in a trance.
“He was staring at an oil painting of Friedrick the Great that was flickering in the candlelight. He always took it with him when he travelled. I felt like an intruder who had interrupted someone in the middle of prayer.”
However, Misch insists that he never heard anything about the mass murder of millions of European Jews in any of the phone calls he listened in on. “I completed my work, loyally and well and passed on news and messages correctly because I didn’t want to be thrown out. I was happy to not have to be on the front line. I adapted to the work there and soon Hitler was just a normal person to me, he was the boss.
“Just once I read one piece of news saying that an international committee controlled the concentration camps and that the reports were given to Count Bernadotte [a Swedish diplomat and negotiator on behalf of concentration camp prisoners]; that was all on that subject.”
Misch witnessed the attempted assassination of Hitler on July 20, 1944 and also the last days in the bunker below the Reich Chancellery before the Führer’s suicide. He was there on April 30, 1945 when Adolf Hitler said goodbye to everyone and was in the room next door when he shot himself. “Hitler had long since lost his confidence of a victory.”
He saw the uncovered corpse and also Eva Braun sitting dead in the corner of the sofa next to her husband’s body. Her head was turned towards him. “Her knees were drawn up to her chest, she was wearing a dark blue dress and had white ruffles on her collar.”
After Hitler’s death Misch was divided. He wanted to try to flee from the Russians but on the other hand he didn’t want to desert. He wanted to end his service to the “Führer, people and fatherland” in the proper manner. So, on May 1, 1945, he asked Joseph Goebbels if there was anything left for him to do. Goebbels left him with the words: “We have understood how to live, we will also understand how to die.”
It has, for many decades, been the home of Rochus Misch, the man who worked as Hitler’s bodyguard between 1940 and 1945. He is the last living witness of the dictator’s suicide and the only surviving member of the bunker’s staff.
Now 93, housebound and terminally ill, Misch says: “This is definitely going to be my last appointment with the press. I would now like to die in peace.”
There are no photos, busts or personal objects of Adolf Hitler in Misch’s home. “My wife Gerda threw everything away,” he says.
Misch was born on July 29, 1917, just after his soldier father died in the First World War. In 1920 his mother died of pneumonia so young Rochus was raised by his grandparents. When he finished school, he trained to be a painter.
In 1937, during the physical examination for the army, the suggestion was made that he complete his compulsory military service in the Verfügungstruppe (Dispositional Troops), a precursor of the Waffen-SS. It would be four years of service free of fatigue duty and with automatic acceptance into the civil service.
On September 24, 1939, Misch was shot in the chest during the Battle of Modlin, 30 miles north of Warsaw in Poland. He tried to negotiate the surrender of the Polish stronghold and received an Iron Cross, Second Class for his bravery.
Misch’s conscientiousness was held in high regard and, after his recovery, his company commander Wilhelm Mohnke recommended him for the Führerbegleitkommando (Führer’s SS escort). “I was put in a car and taken to the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. The address: Wilhelmstrasse 77, the residence of the Führer,” remembers Misch.
“I was led in by Hitler’s chief adjutant, Wilhelm Brückner. I was scared of meeting the Führer in person. Adolf Hitler was standing behind the door as the chief adjutant opened it. I went ice cold.”
Hitler gave him a letter to be given to his sister Paula in Vienna and so Rochus Misch set off on his first courier trip. “That was my first personal encounter with the Führer. He wasn’t a monster or a superhuman. He stood across from me like a completely normal man with nice words.”
Rochus Misch was Adolf Hitler’s telephonist, courier and bodyguard for five years. As a telephonist, he was responsible for Adolf’s communication with his generals. “Hitler’s telephone number at the Reich Chancellery was 12 00 50,” he says and is clearly proud of his good memory. In the SS he was in Adolf Hitler’s personal Bodyguard Regiment. When Misch married his wife Gerda in 1942, Hitler sent the couple a case of wine.
His past was not that of a Hitler fanatic. “I never had anything to do with the Nazi Party, I wasn’t in the Hitler Youth and yet there I was in the innermost circle, day and night. We telephonists and bodyguards were always around him. Another 22 steps past me and you were in his bedroom.”
As the war progressed Misch got to know his employer personally. “Hitler got cold very easily and often took a hot water bottle to bed with him,” he remembers. One particular incident remains crystal clear in recollection. “It was the middle of the night. In the belief that Hitler had already gone to bed, I opened the door to his living room to get something from there. He was sitting there, his chin buried in his hands, motionless, as if in a trance.
“He was staring at an oil painting of Friedrick the Great that was flickering in the candlelight. He always took it with him when he travelled. I felt like an intruder who had interrupted someone in the middle of prayer.”
However, Misch insists that he never heard anything about the mass murder of millions of European Jews in any of the phone calls he listened in on. “I completed my work, loyally and well and passed on news and messages correctly because I didn’t want to be thrown out. I was happy to not have to be on the front line. I adapted to the work there and soon Hitler was just a normal person to me, he was the boss.
“Just once I read one piece of news saying that an international committee controlled the concentration camps and that the reports were given to Count Bernadotte [a Swedish diplomat and negotiator on behalf of concentration camp prisoners]; that was all on that subject.”
Misch witnessed the attempted assassination of Hitler on July 20, 1944 and also the last days in the bunker below the Reich Chancellery before the Führer’s suicide. He was there on April 30, 1945 when Adolf Hitler said goodbye to everyone and was in the room next door when he shot himself. “Hitler had long since lost his confidence of a victory.”
He saw the uncovered corpse and also Eva Braun sitting dead in the corner of the sofa next to her husband’s body. Her head was turned towards him. “Her knees were drawn up to her chest, she was wearing a dark blue dress and had white ruffles on her collar.”
After Hitler’s death Misch was divided. He wanted to try to flee from the Russians but on the other hand he didn’t want to desert. He wanted to end his service to the “Führer, people and fatherland” in the proper manner. So, on May 1, 1945, he asked Joseph Goebbels if there was anything left for him to do. Goebbels left him with the words: “We have understood how to live, we will also understand how to die.”
2011年5月10日星期二
Winners named in museum juried art show
An Easley artist won first place in the Pickens County Museum of Art & History’s 32nd annual Juried South Carolina Artist’s Exhibition.
Kendon Oates was selected by jurist Frank Thomson as the top winner for his ink and watercolor works, “Bog Hollow” and “The Mineral Extractor.”
Second place was presented to Lee Sipe of Columbia for her copper wire woven, “Vessel No. 199.”
Greenville’s Michael McDunn placed third for his curly maple wood, “Console Table.”
Honorable mentions went to Janet F. Rodgers of Travelers Rest for her oil painting, “Krystal,” and to Clemson’s Sam Wang for his palladium/cyanotype photograph, “Night Bloomers.”
Artists who received a special “Juror’s Choice” award for works of special interest were:
Warren Carpenter of Seneca for his wood-turned work, “12155 Walnut”;
Steven Chapp of Easley’s for his linocut relief print, “Reactive”;
Jim Creal of Spartanburg for his lithographic print, “Pritchards Island: Mystic Wood”;
Colin Dodd of Columbia for the oil painting, “John Ford in Monument Valley”;
J. Michael Johnson of Taylors for his photograph, “Tree 0456”;
Steve Marlow of Travelers Rest’s for his photograph, “Virginia Hawkins Falls”;
Nancy Oppenheimer of Seneca for her pastel “Another Stormy Day”;
Maxine Riley of Greenville for her gourd with basketry piece, “Amber Eye”;
Susan Watson of Seneca for her oil painting, “The Beloved”;
Anderson Wrangle of Clemson for his toned silver gelatin photograph, “Limb / French Door (interruption #26).”
Museum director Allen Coleman chose the cut denim work, “Yvette & Ansley” by Jim Arendt of Columbia, as the recipient of the 2011 Director’s Choice commendation.
The Pickens County Cultural Commission’s Purchase Award honoring Shirley Sarlin was presented to Colin Dodd of Columbia for his oil painting, “John Ford in Monument Valley.”
The 2011 Susan B. Benjamin Memorial Purchase Award was presented to Steve Marlow of Travelers Rest for his photograph, “Virginia Hawkins Falls.”
A Pickens County Cultural Commission Purchase Award in Memory of Susan Benjamin went to John Urban of Anderson for his oil painting, “Appalachian Shadows.”
The 2011 Seth Schafer Heimlich Memorial Purchase Award was presented to Jim Creal of Spartanburg for his lithograph, “Pritchards Island: Mystic Wood”.
A Pickens County Cultural Commission Purchase Award in Memory of Seth Heimlich went to Pendleton’s Sydney A. Cross for her lithograph and screenprint, “Update.”
A Purchase Award in Honor of Evelyn Kochansky was presented to Alan S. Weinberg of Taylors for his photograph, “White Orchid.”
Additional Museum Purchase Awards were made to Greenville’s Kent Ambler for his woodcut print, “Another Late Night”; to Cindy Landrum of Pelzer for her photograph, “Forgotten Lesson”; and to Greenwood’s Bob Taft for his stoneware ceramic piece, “Antelopes.”
Kendon Oates was selected by jurist Frank Thomson as the top winner for his ink and watercolor works, “Bog Hollow” and “The Mineral Extractor.”
Second place was presented to Lee Sipe of Columbia for her copper wire woven, “Vessel No. 199.”
Greenville’s Michael McDunn placed third for his curly maple wood, “Console Table.”
Honorable mentions went to Janet F. Rodgers of Travelers Rest for her oil painting, “Krystal,” and to Clemson’s Sam Wang for his palladium/cyanotype photograph, “Night Bloomers.”
Artists who received a special “Juror’s Choice” award for works of special interest were:
Warren Carpenter of Seneca for his wood-turned work, “12155 Walnut”;
Steven Chapp of Easley’s for his linocut relief print, “Reactive”;
Jim Creal of Spartanburg for his lithographic print, “Pritchards Island: Mystic Wood”;
Colin Dodd of Columbia for the oil painting, “John Ford in Monument Valley”;
J. Michael Johnson of Taylors for his photograph, “Tree 0456”;
Steve Marlow of Travelers Rest’s for his photograph, “Virginia Hawkins Falls”;
Nancy Oppenheimer of Seneca for her pastel “Another Stormy Day”;
Maxine Riley of Greenville for her gourd with basketry piece, “Amber Eye”;
Susan Watson of Seneca for her oil painting, “The Beloved”;
Anderson Wrangle of Clemson for his toned silver gelatin photograph, “Limb / French Door (interruption #26).”
Museum director Allen Coleman chose the cut denim work, “Yvette & Ansley” by Jim Arendt of Columbia, as the recipient of the 2011 Director’s Choice commendation.
The Pickens County Cultural Commission’s Purchase Award honoring Shirley Sarlin was presented to Colin Dodd of Columbia for his oil painting, “John Ford in Monument Valley.”
The 2011 Susan B. Benjamin Memorial Purchase Award was presented to Steve Marlow of Travelers Rest for his photograph, “Virginia Hawkins Falls.”
A Pickens County Cultural Commission Purchase Award in Memory of Susan Benjamin went to John Urban of Anderson for his oil painting, “Appalachian Shadows.”
The 2011 Seth Schafer Heimlich Memorial Purchase Award was presented to Jim Creal of Spartanburg for his lithograph, “Pritchards Island: Mystic Wood”.
A Pickens County Cultural Commission Purchase Award in Memory of Seth Heimlich went to Pendleton’s Sydney A. Cross for her lithograph and screenprint, “Update.”
A Purchase Award in Honor of Evelyn Kochansky was presented to Alan S. Weinberg of Taylors for his photograph, “White Orchid.”
Additional Museum Purchase Awards were made to Greenville’s Kent Ambler for his woodcut print, “Another Late Night”; to Cindy Landrum of Pelzer for her photograph, “Forgotten Lesson”; and to Greenwood’s Bob Taft for his stoneware ceramic piece, “Antelopes.”
MC seniors’ artwork displayed at Clayton Center
The work of four Maryville College senior art majors is on exhibit this week in the Clayton Center for the Arts’ Blackberry Farm Gallery.
A closing reception will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday in the gallery.
Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
These are the artists:
• Anna Glass, an art major from Gallatin, is showcasing a collection of oil paintings titled “Anna’s Animal Art.”
Her exhibit includes several large oil paintings that depict images of pets.
An oil painting of a chicken, titled “Rosemary,” is based on a photograph taken by Glass, which recently won an honorable mention in Photographer’s Forum magazine’s 31st annual “Best of College Photography” contest.
• Laura Maestas, an art major from Rockford, is showcasing a collection of fairy tale costumes.
The show, titled “Once Upon a Time,” includes three outfits, each based on an individual fairy tale heroine.
Maestas used fabric, including cotton, linen, wool and gauze to create the pieces. She is also displaying preliminary design sketches, as well as finished display sketches for each outfit.
“In contrast to the typical fairy tale ‘costumes,’ I wanted to create more modern and wearable clothing for fairytale heroines,” Maestas said.
“Using an overall aesthetic of loose silhouettes, mostly-natural colors, and a focus on texture rather than pattern of fabric, I created three outfits, each made up of multiple garments.
“In order to make the outfits as close to my designs as possible, I learned and used a variety of methods to manipulate the fabric, including dyeing, smocking, and various other types of decorative stitching.”
• Lee Steenbergen, an art major from Columbia, is displaying a collection of 10 digital photographs. his exhibit is titled “A Foray into Photojournalism.”
Steenbergen said the images “come from everywhere:” an area known as Sodom & Gomorrah in Accra, Ghana; a Tibetan nunnery near Tagong, China; a nonviolence protest of the School of the Americas in Spencer, Ga.; and “everyday happenings right here in Maryville.”
• Lee Craft, an art major from Nashville, explores the history of automotive design through several different types of media.
“These pieces are an exploration into the history of automotive design, seen through a 21st-century scope,” Craft said.
“They are modern designs that give a nod to the past without sacrificing my creativity to do it.”
A closing reception will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday in the gallery.
Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
These are the artists:
• Anna Glass, an art major from Gallatin, is showcasing a collection of oil paintings titled “Anna’s Animal Art.”
Her exhibit includes several large oil paintings that depict images of pets.
An oil painting of a chicken, titled “Rosemary,” is based on a photograph taken by Glass, which recently won an honorable mention in Photographer’s Forum magazine’s 31st annual “Best of College Photography” contest.
• Laura Maestas, an art major from Rockford, is showcasing a collection of fairy tale costumes.
The show, titled “Once Upon a Time,” includes three outfits, each based on an individual fairy tale heroine.
Maestas used fabric, including cotton, linen, wool and gauze to create the pieces. She is also displaying preliminary design sketches, as well as finished display sketches for each outfit.
“In contrast to the typical fairy tale ‘costumes,’ I wanted to create more modern and wearable clothing for fairytale heroines,” Maestas said.
“Using an overall aesthetic of loose silhouettes, mostly-natural colors, and a focus on texture rather than pattern of fabric, I created three outfits, each made up of multiple garments.
“In order to make the outfits as close to my designs as possible, I learned and used a variety of methods to manipulate the fabric, including dyeing, smocking, and various other types of decorative stitching.”
• Lee Steenbergen, an art major from Columbia, is displaying a collection of 10 digital photographs. his exhibit is titled “A Foray into Photojournalism.”
Steenbergen said the images “come from everywhere:” an area known as Sodom & Gomorrah in Accra, Ghana; a Tibetan nunnery near Tagong, China; a nonviolence protest of the School of the Americas in Spencer, Ga.; and “everyday happenings right here in Maryville.”
• Lee Craft, an art major from Nashville, explores the history of automotive design through several different types of media.
“These pieces are an exploration into the history of automotive design, seen through a 21st-century scope,” Craft said.
“They are modern designs that give a nod to the past without sacrificing my creativity to do it.”
2011年5月8日星期日
Highgate artist Veronica Green stages new exhibition Sky and Rock with Chagan Contemporary
A RISING star artist from Highgate is staging her first major solo exhibition in London.
Veronica Green, 29, has joined forces with Chagan Contemporary, a new art gallery on the capital's art scene, for the exhibition of oil paintings.
Veronica's earlier works focused on still life jugs and bottles, and her latest canvases explore the objects that make up a landscape, showing aspects such as sky, rock, sea and beach.
Veronica said: "My latest paintings have taken me in a new direction.
"I used to work with a lot of vessels and other objects, capturing them in a type of still life on the canvas.
"But when I started drawing a small statue of the author Walter Scott, which we used as a doorstop at home, I found that laid on its side the folds of the robes and drapery resembled hills and this kick-started me in the direction of painting landscapes.
"Each painting in my exhibition either contains a patch of sky, some sea, a rocky outcrop, a beach, or buildings, and sometimes all five.
"I like to keep some things in my paintings that are recognisable, whilst abstracting others. Along with vivid colour, this excites the eye, whilst the mind is reassured as some shapes are familiar to it and form a meaning through association."
The latest exhibition follows two successful joint shows in 2008 in London and a solo exhibition in Edinburgh. Geeta Chagan, owner of Chagan Contemporary, regularly holds monthly shows, aiming to offer an alternative to traditional galleries by exhibiting in domestic settings.
Sky and Rock is open today, Sunday, and Saturday, May 14 and Sunday May 15, from 10am to 6pm, and by appointment until May 30, at 31 Clarendon Gardens, W9 1AZ.
Veronica Green, 29, has joined forces with Chagan Contemporary, a new art gallery on the capital's art scene, for the exhibition of oil paintings.
Veronica's earlier works focused on still life jugs and bottles, and her latest canvases explore the objects that make up a landscape, showing aspects such as sky, rock, sea and beach.
Veronica said: "My latest paintings have taken me in a new direction.
"I used to work with a lot of vessels and other objects, capturing them in a type of still life on the canvas.
"But when I started drawing a small statue of the author Walter Scott, which we used as a doorstop at home, I found that laid on its side the folds of the robes and drapery resembled hills and this kick-started me in the direction of painting landscapes.
"Each painting in my exhibition either contains a patch of sky, some sea, a rocky outcrop, a beach, or buildings, and sometimes all five.
"I like to keep some things in my paintings that are recognisable, whilst abstracting others. Along with vivid colour, this excites the eye, whilst the mind is reassured as some shapes are familiar to it and form a meaning through association."
The latest exhibition follows two successful joint shows in 2008 in London and a solo exhibition in Edinburgh. Geeta Chagan, owner of Chagan Contemporary, regularly holds monthly shows, aiming to offer an alternative to traditional galleries by exhibiting in domestic settings.
Sky and Rock is open today, Sunday, and Saturday, May 14 and Sunday May 15, from 10am to 6pm, and by appointment until May 30, at 31 Clarendon Gardens, W9 1AZ.
2011年5月5日星期四
The 87th Annual Spring Salon, featuring diverse works
The 87th Annual Spring Salon, featuring diverse works -- ranging from traditional oil paintings to contemporary sculptures -- from hundreds of artists across the state has been juried and is ready to be viewed.
This year's show had 1,008 entries, of which 253 were accepted and are currently on display.
"It's the biggest show that we do each year," said Ashlee Whitaker, associate curator for the museum. Whitaker oversaw the submission of artwork for the salon and also placed and hung the show -- which keeps growing.
"This year's salon is bigger," Whitaker said. "We thought last year's was quite big in terms of the quality of the work was really overwhelming. This year, it's even more so. Also, the physical size of the works is a lot bigger."
To accommodate the increased number and sizes of the works, the entire main floor of the museum has been filled and has spilled over into two galleries on the second floor.
"We didn't want to make the show smaller," Whitaker said. "We wanted to accommodate all the works that were juried in, because they're definitely worth it."
The 253 pieces were juried by Dr. Philipp Malzl, member of the Utah Arts Council board of directors and chair of the Mapleton Heritage Museum Preservation Committee, and by Adam Price, founder of the 337 Project and executive director of the Salt Lake Art Center.
"It was definitely a very, very difficult selection process for the jurors," Whitaker said. "There were so many outstanding works. It's a statement about the art scene in Utah and how it is absolutely growing in dynamic. It's really impressive, and it's a wonderful symbol that Utah is really coming into its own as an art state."
Six jurors' awards were granted, with Jeff Pugh running away with the Jurors' First Place Award for his oil on canvas "Skyscrapers & Cowpies" -- a modern rural farmland scene.
"Jeff does a lot of depictions of rural Utah landscape, fields and mountains, trees and cows," Whitaker said. "He has a very distinct style and way of handling the paint. He focuses a little bit on geometry and his use of the palette knife creates a really distinctive feel to the piece."
Pugh graduated from the University of Utah in 2004 and has spent the last seven years developing his art.
"I would call it modern landscape," Pugh said of his style. "It's traditional subject matter, but I'm pushing the design."
Pugh said he's still pinching himself to believe his piece won the coveted first prize.
"I keep wondering if they got the right name and the right painting, because I've seen the quality of work that was submitted, and that makes it an even greater honor for me to receive the award."
In addition, second-place jurors' awards were given for works by Shea Guevar and David Miekle, and third-place awards were presented to pieces by Sandy Freckleton, Travis Richard Tanner and Sunny B. Taylor. A handful of awards also were given to various other artists by museum staff.
Copyright 2011 Daily Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This year's show had 1,008 entries, of which 253 were accepted and are currently on display.
"It's the biggest show that we do each year," said Ashlee Whitaker, associate curator for the museum. Whitaker oversaw the submission of artwork for the salon and also placed and hung the show -- which keeps growing.
"This year's salon is bigger," Whitaker said. "We thought last year's was quite big in terms of the quality of the work was really overwhelming. This year, it's even more so. Also, the physical size of the works is a lot bigger."
To accommodate the increased number and sizes of the works, the entire main floor of the museum has been filled and has spilled over into two galleries on the second floor.
"We didn't want to make the show smaller," Whitaker said. "We wanted to accommodate all the works that were juried in, because they're definitely worth it."
The 253 pieces were juried by Dr. Philipp Malzl, member of the Utah Arts Council board of directors and chair of the Mapleton Heritage Museum Preservation Committee, and by Adam Price, founder of the 337 Project and executive director of the Salt Lake Art Center.
"It was definitely a very, very difficult selection process for the jurors," Whitaker said. "There were so many outstanding works. It's a statement about the art scene in Utah and how it is absolutely growing in dynamic. It's really impressive, and it's a wonderful symbol that Utah is really coming into its own as an art state."
Six jurors' awards were granted, with Jeff Pugh running away with the Jurors' First Place Award for his oil on canvas "Skyscrapers & Cowpies" -- a modern rural farmland scene.
"Jeff does a lot of depictions of rural Utah landscape, fields and mountains, trees and cows," Whitaker said. "He has a very distinct style and way of handling the paint. He focuses a little bit on geometry and his use of the palette knife creates a really distinctive feel to the piece."
Pugh graduated from the University of Utah in 2004 and has spent the last seven years developing his art.
"I would call it modern landscape," Pugh said of his style. "It's traditional subject matter, but I'm pushing the design."
Pugh said he's still pinching himself to believe his piece won the coveted first prize.
"I keep wondering if they got the right name and the right painting, because I've seen the quality of work that was submitted, and that makes it an even greater honor for me to receive the award."
In addition, second-place jurors' awards were given for works by Shea Guevar and David Miekle, and third-place awards were presented to pieces by Sandy Freckleton, Travis Richard Tanner and Sunny B. Taylor. A handful of awards also were given to various other artists by museum staff.
Copyright 2011 Daily Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Cohen’s Landscape Fetches Record $22.5 Million in Uneven Christie’s Sale
Christie’s International sold $156 million of Impressionist and modern art last night in New York, less than half the year-ago total, as collectors and advisers lamented a scarcity of masterpieces.
“This time around, the auction houses don’t have any great estates,” said Suzanne Gyorgy, head of Citi Private Bank’s art advisory service, before the sale. “They don’t have the iconic great work.”
The tally fell below Christie’s presale estimate of $162.3 million to $231.9 million, with 10 of the 57 lots failing to sell. Leonardo DiCaprio, sitting near the front of the room with a baseball cap obscuring his face, was among the onlookers as Claude Monet’s 1914-17 floral painting “Iris mauves” failed to sell.
Estimated to fetch as much as $20 million, it was the sale’s biggest casualty. DiCaprio declined to comment.
The top lot was a tie. A Maurice de Vlaminck landscape owned by hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen fetched a record $22.5 million, as did Monet’s 1891 painting of poplars, “Les Peupliers.”
The 1905 Vlaminck canvas, “Paysage de banlieue,” is a view of the small town of Chatou in the suburbs of Paris. Yet its palette of bright yellow and deep blue seems more Mediterranean.
“For Vlaminck it’s a pretty key composition,” said Michael Findlay, director at Acquavella Galleries in New York, before the sale. “It couldn’t be a better date, it couldn’t be better colors.”
The seller bought the work from Acquavella in 2002 and according to Christie’s, Acquavella bought it back last night.
In May 2010, Christie’s achieved records for Picasso and Jasper Johns while auctioning the estates of Frances Brody and Michael Crichton. Its Impressionist and modern sale was a $335.5 million spectacle starring a 1932 Picasso that went for $106.5 million.
“We are seeing a seismic shift,” Matthew Armstrong, director of Peter Freeman gallery in Soho, said by telephone yesterday afternoon. “The shift is toward more contemporary art because great Impressionist and modern artworks are simply harder to find. We don’t see the same level of quality as we did at the peak of the market.”
Pierre Bonnard’s 1936 canvas “Le Petit Dejeuner” fetched $6.2 million last night, just above its low estimate of $6 million. The painting was part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2009 show “Pierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors.”
‘Discerning Market’
Sotheby’s (BID) Impressionist and modern art sale tallied $170.5 million Tuesday, the smallest New York evening sale at the auction house in two years. A quarter of the lots failed to sell.
“It’s a discerning market,” said Findlay. It “has responded in an appropriate way to what it’s been offered.”
Sotheby’s fell $4.01, or 8 percent, to $46 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, its biggest drop in 10 months. Rommel Dionisio, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, called Tuesday night’s sale results “mildly disappointing.”
“This time around, the auction houses don’t have any great estates,” said Suzanne Gyorgy, head of Citi Private Bank’s art advisory service, before the sale. “They don’t have the iconic great work.”
The tally fell below Christie’s presale estimate of $162.3 million to $231.9 million, with 10 of the 57 lots failing to sell. Leonardo DiCaprio, sitting near the front of the room with a baseball cap obscuring his face, was among the onlookers as Claude Monet’s 1914-17 floral painting “Iris mauves” failed to sell.
Estimated to fetch as much as $20 million, it was the sale’s biggest casualty. DiCaprio declined to comment.
The top lot was a tie. A Maurice de Vlaminck landscape owned by hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen fetched a record $22.5 million, as did Monet’s 1891 painting of poplars, “Les Peupliers.”
The 1905 Vlaminck canvas, “Paysage de banlieue,” is a view of the small town of Chatou in the suburbs of Paris. Yet its palette of bright yellow and deep blue seems more Mediterranean.
“For Vlaminck it’s a pretty key composition,” said Michael Findlay, director at Acquavella Galleries in New York, before the sale. “It couldn’t be a better date, it couldn’t be better colors.”
The seller bought the work from Acquavella in 2002 and according to Christie’s, Acquavella bought it back last night.
In May 2010, Christie’s achieved records for Picasso and Jasper Johns while auctioning the estates of Frances Brody and Michael Crichton. Its Impressionist and modern sale was a $335.5 million spectacle starring a 1932 Picasso that went for $106.5 million.
“We are seeing a seismic shift,” Matthew Armstrong, director of Peter Freeman gallery in Soho, said by telephone yesterday afternoon. “The shift is toward more contemporary art because great Impressionist and modern artworks are simply harder to find. We don’t see the same level of quality as we did at the peak of the market.”
Pierre Bonnard’s 1936 canvas “Le Petit Dejeuner” fetched $6.2 million last night, just above its low estimate of $6 million. The painting was part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2009 show “Pierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors.”
‘Discerning Market’
Sotheby’s (BID) Impressionist and modern art sale tallied $170.5 million Tuesday, the smallest New York evening sale at the auction house in two years. A quarter of the lots failed to sell.
“It’s a discerning market,” said Findlay. It “has responded in an appropriate way to what it’s been offered.”
Sotheby’s fell $4.01, or 8 percent, to $46 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, its biggest drop in 10 months. Rommel Dionisio, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, called Tuesday night’s sale results “mildly disappointing.”
2011年5月2日星期一
Education
DETAILED BACKGROUND
Japan is an island nation of East Asia. It is composed of four large islands and many smaller ones, which extend in a narrow arc, northeast to southwest, for a distance of about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) off the eastern coast of Asia. The four main islands are Honshu (the largest and most populous), Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku.
Japan's culture is a blend of traditional Japanese values and modern Western ideas. Japan is the world's oldest monarchy. Its emperors traced their descent from Jimmu. Jimmu, according to mythical tradition, unified Japan and became its first emperor more than 2,500 years ago. Modern Japan, however, is a constitutional monarchy. The emperor is the symbol of the nation, with little political power.
Until slightly more than a century ago, Japan, by its own choice, was almost completely isolated from the rest of the world. It reluctantly opened to Western countries in the mid-1800's. It adopted modern technology and quickly became an industrial and military power. Following the destruction of World War II, Japan rebuilt its economy and now ranks among the world's leading industrialized nations.
People
The islands of Japan were probably settled by peoples migrating from the mainland of Asia. Over a period of many centuries they developed into a distinctive people, the Japanese. The Ainu, a people quite different from the Japanese, are the descendants of the earliest settlers of the islands. Only a few thousand have survived. Most Ainu now live on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Japan is one of the world's most densely populated countries. It has about half the population of the United States. But in area it is smaller than the state of California. Nearly two-thirds of the Japanese are city dwellers. And the number is increasing.
Religion
Shinto and Buddhism are the major religions of Japan. A very small minority of Japanese are Christians.
Shinto, meaning "the way of the gods," is a native Japanese religion. Its followers worship the forces of nature and emphasize cleanliness. Its gods, like those of ancient Greece, often personify the forces of nature. Shinto came under the influence of Buddhism, which was introduced from China. Buddhism brought a new faith and a new philosophy to Japan. Today, most Japanese see no contradiction in participating in both Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies. In fact, the typical Japanese marriage ceremony is performed according to Shinto rites, while the funeral service is Buddhist.
Way of Life
Dwellings. A traditional Japanese house is small. It is made of wood and has a tiled roof. Most houses are surrounded by a bamboo fence or hedge. Because Japan is such a densely populated country and space is limited, Japanese gardens are small. They usually contain some shrubbery and perhaps a group of carefully arranged rocks, all designed to give a feeling of peace and quiet.
On entering a Japanese house one takes off one's shoes. The floors in the inner rooms are covered with tatami, or rush matting. Sliding doors made of wood and paper enclose the rooms. Ideally, the Japanese house is sparsely furnished. But because of limited space, the average house tends to be cluttered. To one side of the main room is the tokonoma, an alcove (a small separate area) decorated with a hanging scroll. The scroll is usually a painting or a poem beautifully written with a brush. Next to the scroll is a flower arrangement of simple beauty and perhaps one or two art objects. A low, wide table is used for eating and writing. Japanese traditionally sit on zabuton, or cushions, instead of chairs. Bedding, called futon, is laid out at night on the tatami and put away in closets during the day.
This traditional style of living is rapidly changing, particularly in the cities. Apartment houses are replacing the small homes. Western-style furniture, electrical appliances, and modern kitchen equipment are now common in Japanese homes.
Few homes have central heating, however, even in the cities. Portable kerosene stoves provide the main source of heat. Many houses also contain a kotatsu. This is a sunken area heated by an electric coil under a table. The kotatsu is usually located in the main room. When a quilt is placed over the table, family members can tuck their feet into the sunken area and sit in comfort or eat a meal, even in the cold of winter.
The Traditional Bath. Many new homes and apartments have Western-style baths and showers. But the majority of Japanese still prefer the traditional Japanese bath. The bathtub is made of wood. It is quite deep and large enough to accommodate several people. The custom is to wash oneself thoroughly with soap and water before getting into the tub to soak. For this reason, the floors of the bathrooms are built to allow water to drain. One takes a bath to relax in the hot water, not just to get clean.
Marriage. The once-usual custom of arranged marriages is rapidly changing. But even when a man and woman have independently chosen each other, they still favor a traditional marriage ceremony. A Japanese bride wears an ancient hairstyle, now usually a wig rented for the occasion. A white band is tied around the top of her hair to hide the "horns of jealousy" that every woman is believed to possess. The bride's ceremonial kimono, or robe, is black or white, with a colorful design at the hem. Her obi (a sash used to fasten the kimono) is tied at the back in a butterfly knot--the symbol of a young, unmarried woman. If she wears traditional dress after she is married, she will tie the obi in a drum knot. It is fashionable for the groom to wear Western-style attire, rather than the formal men's kimono with a pleated overskirt called hakama.
Dining and Etiquette. An invitation for dinner to a Japanese home is considered a great honor. Japanese etiquette, or prescribed behavior, is quite different from that of Western countries. At a family-style dinner, the dishes are placed in the center of the table. Everyone reaches for the food with chopsticks. For more formal dinners, the guests are provided with individual serving trays. The plates and bowls are often purposely unmatched. They are chosen to enhance the food, which is artistically arranged. A typical dinner might consist of steamed rice, pickled vegetables, and a main dish of tempura--fish or vegetables dipped in batter and deep-fried in oil. Or the main dish might be sukiyaki. This is a combination of sliced beef or chicken with an assortment of vegetables. It is cooked at the table.
The Japanese language has many polite phrases appropriate for different social situations. It would be considered rude if a guest, or even members of the family, started to eat without first bowing and saying, "Ita-dakimasu [I gratefully receive this food]." After the meal is over, one bows again and says, "Gochiso-sama [Thank you for the delicious meal]." Formal bows are once again exchanged when the guest is ready to leave. The guest says, "Arigato gozaimasu [Thank you]" and "Sayonara [Good-bye]," and the host tells the guest repeatedly, "Mata dozo [Please come again]."
The Tea Ceremony. Tea is the favorite beverage of the Japanese and an ever-present part of daily life. A cup of tea is always offered to a guest. The formal tea ceremony, during which the tea is brewed and served, requires quiet concentration and the strict observance of rules. The ceremony is filled with spiritual meaning. Its correct performance was once considered one of the necessary social graces of Japanese women.
Business Practices. The business world of Japan has become completely Westernized. But some traditional customs remain. Checks and documents are stamped with the seal of a person's name or of a company, instead of being signed. People in business exchange name cards when they first meet. Japanese surnames, or last names, come before the given name. For instance, Yukio (given name) Ogawa (surname) is addressed as Ogawa Yukio-san. (San is used for Mr., Mrs., and Miss.)
One's rank is strictly observed in business. At New Year's and mid-summer, gifts are sent to clients and superiors. In small offices and shops, the soroban, or abacus (an ancient but rapid calculating device), is used. However, most business establishments in Japan, as in the United States or Europe, have the latest electronic equipment.
Language
The Japanese language is thought to be related to Korean, Manchurian, and Mongolian, and more distantly to Finnish and Hungarian. But these connections lie in the remote past. Until the 400's or 500's A.D., when Chinese characters were introduced, the Japanese had no writing system. Thereafter, a system was developed for writing Japanese using Chinese characters (kanji). Using kanji as a base, the Japanese devised two syllabic alphabets--hiragana and katakana. Each represents the same 47 syllables. The alphabets are used together with kanji in writing modern Japanese.
Children first learn hiragana and katakana and are gradually introduced to kanji. There are more than 60,000 kanji. But most people have a general knowledge of from 3,000 to 4,000 kanji. To simplify matters, most books and newspapers use only 1,850 kanji. This is the same number that high school graduates are expected to master. There is also a method of writing Japanese--called romaji--using the Roman alphabet.
Japanese is traditionally written from top to bottom, beginning at the right-hand side of the page. In modern books, especially those dealing with scientific subjects, the text appears in Western style--straight across from left to right. Children do their homework with a pen or pencil. But, because the art of beautiful writing, or calligraphy, is much esteemed, they also learn to write Japanese using a brush and black ink.
The Japanese place a high value on education. Modern schools began in Japan more than a century ago. After World War II, Japanese schools adopted a system similar to that of the United States. Nine years of schooling (six of primary school and three of middle school) are compulsory for Japanese children. Nearly all continue on to high school for three additional years. Higher education also resembles the four-year college system of the United States. There are more than 450 colleges and universities in Japan. There are also many specialized schools and junior colleges.
Japan is an island nation of East Asia. It is composed of four large islands and many smaller ones, which extend in a narrow arc, northeast to southwest, for a distance of about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) off the eastern coast of Asia. The four main islands are Honshu (the largest and most populous), Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku.
Japan's culture is a blend of traditional Japanese values and modern Western ideas. Japan is the world's oldest monarchy. Its emperors traced their descent from Jimmu. Jimmu, according to mythical tradition, unified Japan and became its first emperor more than 2,500 years ago. Modern Japan, however, is a constitutional monarchy. The emperor is the symbol of the nation, with little political power.
Until slightly more than a century ago, Japan, by its own choice, was almost completely isolated from the rest of the world. It reluctantly opened to Western countries in the mid-1800's. It adopted modern technology and quickly became an industrial and military power. Following the destruction of World War II, Japan rebuilt its economy and now ranks among the world's leading industrialized nations.
People
The islands of Japan were probably settled by peoples migrating from the mainland of Asia. Over a period of many centuries they developed into a distinctive people, the Japanese. The Ainu, a people quite different from the Japanese, are the descendants of the earliest settlers of the islands. Only a few thousand have survived. Most Ainu now live on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Japan is one of the world's most densely populated countries. It has about half the population of the United States. But in area it is smaller than the state of California. Nearly two-thirds of the Japanese are city dwellers. And the number is increasing.
Religion
Shinto and Buddhism are the major religions of Japan. A very small minority of Japanese are Christians.
Shinto, meaning "the way of the gods," is a native Japanese religion. Its followers worship the forces of nature and emphasize cleanliness. Its gods, like those of ancient Greece, often personify the forces of nature. Shinto came under the influence of Buddhism, which was introduced from China. Buddhism brought a new faith and a new philosophy to Japan. Today, most Japanese see no contradiction in participating in both Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies. In fact, the typical Japanese marriage ceremony is performed according to Shinto rites, while the funeral service is Buddhist.
Way of Life
Dwellings. A traditional Japanese house is small. It is made of wood and has a tiled roof. Most houses are surrounded by a bamboo fence or hedge. Because Japan is such a densely populated country and space is limited, Japanese gardens are small. They usually contain some shrubbery and perhaps a group of carefully arranged rocks, all designed to give a feeling of peace and quiet.
On entering a Japanese house one takes off one's shoes. The floors in the inner rooms are covered with tatami, or rush matting. Sliding doors made of wood and paper enclose the rooms. Ideally, the Japanese house is sparsely furnished. But because of limited space, the average house tends to be cluttered. To one side of the main room is the tokonoma, an alcove (a small separate area) decorated with a hanging scroll. The scroll is usually a painting or a poem beautifully written with a brush. Next to the scroll is a flower arrangement of simple beauty and perhaps one or two art objects. A low, wide table is used for eating and writing. Japanese traditionally sit on zabuton, or cushions, instead of chairs. Bedding, called futon, is laid out at night on the tatami and put away in closets during the day.
This traditional style of living is rapidly changing, particularly in the cities. Apartment houses are replacing the small homes. Western-style furniture, electrical appliances, and modern kitchen equipment are now common in Japanese homes.
Few homes have central heating, however, even in the cities. Portable kerosene stoves provide the main source of heat. Many houses also contain a kotatsu. This is a sunken area heated by an electric coil under a table. The kotatsu is usually located in the main room. When a quilt is placed over the table, family members can tuck their feet into the sunken area and sit in comfort or eat a meal, even in the cold of winter.
The Traditional Bath. Many new homes and apartments have Western-style baths and showers. But the majority of Japanese still prefer the traditional Japanese bath. The bathtub is made of wood. It is quite deep and large enough to accommodate several people. The custom is to wash oneself thoroughly with soap and water before getting into the tub to soak. For this reason, the floors of the bathrooms are built to allow water to drain. One takes a bath to relax in the hot water, not just to get clean.
Marriage. The once-usual custom of arranged marriages is rapidly changing. But even when a man and woman have independently chosen each other, they still favor a traditional marriage ceremony. A Japanese bride wears an ancient hairstyle, now usually a wig rented for the occasion. A white band is tied around the top of her hair to hide the "horns of jealousy" that every woman is believed to possess. The bride's ceremonial kimono, or robe, is black or white, with a colorful design at the hem. Her obi (a sash used to fasten the kimono) is tied at the back in a butterfly knot--the symbol of a young, unmarried woman. If she wears traditional dress after she is married, she will tie the obi in a drum knot. It is fashionable for the groom to wear Western-style attire, rather than the formal men's kimono with a pleated overskirt called hakama.
Dining and Etiquette. An invitation for dinner to a Japanese home is considered a great honor. Japanese etiquette, or prescribed behavior, is quite different from that of Western countries. At a family-style dinner, the dishes are placed in the center of the table. Everyone reaches for the food with chopsticks. For more formal dinners, the guests are provided with individual serving trays. The plates and bowls are often purposely unmatched. They are chosen to enhance the food, which is artistically arranged. A typical dinner might consist of steamed rice, pickled vegetables, and a main dish of tempura--fish or vegetables dipped in batter and deep-fried in oil. Or the main dish might be sukiyaki. This is a combination of sliced beef or chicken with an assortment of vegetables. It is cooked at the table.
The Japanese language has many polite phrases appropriate for different social situations. It would be considered rude if a guest, or even members of the family, started to eat without first bowing and saying, "Ita-dakimasu [I gratefully receive this food]." After the meal is over, one bows again and says, "Gochiso-sama [Thank you for the delicious meal]." Formal bows are once again exchanged when the guest is ready to leave. The guest says, "Arigato gozaimasu [Thank you]" and "Sayonara [Good-bye]," and the host tells the guest repeatedly, "Mata dozo [Please come again]."
The Tea Ceremony. Tea is the favorite beverage of the Japanese and an ever-present part of daily life. A cup of tea is always offered to a guest. The formal tea ceremony, during which the tea is brewed and served, requires quiet concentration and the strict observance of rules. The ceremony is filled with spiritual meaning. Its correct performance was once considered one of the necessary social graces of Japanese women.
Business Practices. The business world of Japan has become completely Westernized. But some traditional customs remain. Checks and documents are stamped with the seal of a person's name or of a company, instead of being signed. People in business exchange name cards when they first meet. Japanese surnames, or last names, come before the given name. For instance, Yukio (given name) Ogawa (surname) is addressed as Ogawa Yukio-san. (San is used for Mr., Mrs., and Miss.)
One's rank is strictly observed in business. At New Year's and mid-summer, gifts are sent to clients and superiors. In small offices and shops, the soroban, or abacus (an ancient but rapid calculating device), is used. However, most business establishments in Japan, as in the United States or Europe, have the latest electronic equipment.
Language
The Japanese language is thought to be related to Korean, Manchurian, and Mongolian, and more distantly to Finnish and Hungarian. But these connections lie in the remote past. Until the 400's or 500's A.D., when Chinese characters were introduced, the Japanese had no writing system. Thereafter, a system was developed for writing Japanese using Chinese characters (kanji). Using kanji as a base, the Japanese devised two syllabic alphabets--hiragana and katakana. Each represents the same 47 syllables. The alphabets are used together with kanji in writing modern Japanese.
Children first learn hiragana and katakana and are gradually introduced to kanji. There are more than 60,000 kanji. But most people have a general knowledge of from 3,000 to 4,000 kanji. To simplify matters, most books and newspapers use only 1,850 kanji. This is the same number that high school graduates are expected to master. There is also a method of writing Japanese--called romaji--using the Roman alphabet.
Japanese is traditionally written from top to bottom, beginning at the right-hand side of the page. In modern books, especially those dealing with scientific subjects, the text appears in Western style--straight across from left to right. Children do their homework with a pen or pencil. But, because the art of beautiful writing, or calligraphy, is much esteemed, they also learn to write Japanese using a brush and black ink.
The Japanese place a high value on education. Modern schools began in Japan more than a century ago. After World War II, Japanese schools adopted a system similar to that of the United States. Nine years of schooling (six of primary school and three of middle school) are compulsory for Japanese children. Nearly all continue on to high school for three additional years. Higher education also resembles the four-year college system of the United States. There are more than 450 colleges and universities in Japan. There are also many specialized schools and junior colleges.
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