Artist DeeDee Calvey at Cornwall Bridge Gallery

Artist Dee Dee Ball Calvey is having her first solo show at the Cornwall Bridge Gallery. There's a lot variety & color, arranged with that painterly feeling of touched-ness.

Here's the artist herself posing between two of her works. Musician Bo Missinne jumped into the shot - yes the reception was fun!

At the opening there was music also the duo Good Medicine Rx, (Michel Rae Driscoll and Jeff Duggan)  played and made a bit of toe tapping harmony. Dee Dee did some flute work with and with out Jeff. Got drafted myself willingly  did one song, "Shalain" (Thanks for asking!)


Wasn't sure until the last minute I would be able to attend (last minute computer support for a relative and who knows how long that might have taken) but I am so glad I made the drive. I wasn't so green of me I guess, but I really enjoyed it.

Busy No 2 at SCAN this week

Busy No 2: (on the bottom right) is on display at SCAN this week at the library. Here it is nicely grouped with two other works. I am thrilled they took it. It has never actually been shown before....

Small works show at Art And Frame

The Inquisitor

The opening for the Second Small Works show at Art and Frame in Danbury was well attended. Seth Lefferts (see photo below which is actually from Molten Java) played admirably. The show remains up until January 20. I have three small polymer heads in the show, (one shown above) all with huge price tags because I want them to come home to me afterwards.

Fine Arts & Crafts in Bethel, Sat after Thanksgiving

Fast talking, always smiling, Bohemian wildman artist Mike Seri sent me this poster. He curated the first Pop Up Bethel show and i have to tell you it was wonderful. So why not do your Xmas and Kwanza gifting right here and support the arts. So check this out:

Art and Frame Photo Show in Danbury

Art and Frame's Photo show has some interesting works. Take a pass through and check them out. This gallery and frame shop is located near Chamomile on Route 6 in Danbury. Check their Facebook page and click on events for show openings.  Besides the artwork, their show openings usually feature great local music and a nice spread of noshable items. On this particular evening I was too early and missed the music however.

Pop Up Art - fabulous works right in Bethel

Pop Up Art, curated by local artist and poet Mike Seri, had a depth to it, of style and nuance. It had some amazing intricate engaging works, lots of whimsy, and plenty of opportunities to look into the human alter ego as well - in many different media.  I missed the opening, but enjoyed everything so much when I finally got to see it. The video above was produced by Take Notice Productions which has its own Youtube channel.

Artists in the show include: Erin Nazzaro, Frank Foster Post, Tarol Samuelson, Katie Bassett, Juan Andreu, David Teti, Eric Camiel, Leslie Pelino, Bibiana Matheis, Nicole Cudzilo, Juan Andreu, Michael Morris, Joseph Farris, Tara Burgess, Ival Stratford-Kovner, Judith Wyer, Suzanne Ross, Tanya Kukucka, Kathleen Benton, Keith Dube, FranK Kara, Chris Durante, Kenny Hess, Justin Buto, F. Henry-Meehan, Jim Felice

The gallery is opposite the Bethel cinema.

Video no long up I guess.

Watch "Pop Up Art Bethel - Contemporary Pop Up Art Gallery Reception" on YouTube

Fibers in Fine Art - unexpected intricacies

When I hear the word fiber I used to think digestion.  But not this week. Two different shows - one local, one vicarious - have pointed me toward its capacity for beauty.

The local show is at Art and Frame in Danbury (Rte 6 near Camomile).  These pics don't do it justice as each has so many subtleties and such understated nuance. The artist name is Paula Renee and she combines weaving and knotting, applied color and collaged papers (I am guessing here) with wonderful sense of color. She's won two awards: One from the Society for Creative Arts of Newtown for best in show (a silk "stiching" called Red Trees Lakeside, and another from The New Canaan Society for the Arts for a mixed media work called Brain Storming.. The photos here are not very good.

Her stuff is only up until tomorrow so get out this weekend and see this free exhibit. You might take one home even - as there are many small sized, matted items with good prices!

The vicarious show - well that is an online article about artist Lauren DiCioccio's gorgeous  hand embriodered issues of the New York Times. This is not your momma's embroidery. It is MOMA's kind of embroidery though. Check out Katie Hosner's great article at http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/lauren-dicioccio-sewnnews

Paddies Day Part 1: Flowers & Music at Art and Frame

Jen Vanderlyn and some of the Flowers wall display.

Art and Frame in Danbury (on Route 6) stages some really nice art show openings and this Paddies Day event was no exception.  There's eye candy on the walls, tasty interesting food & wine  - and to ice the cake, there's live music.

Jen Venderlyn

The music on Paddies Day was Jen Vanderlyn who is half the sisters folk/rock duo Free Thought.   She has a great voice and compelling original material. I really can't wait to hear the whole duo in August. For information or to hear some wonderful samples from CDBaby visit their website at FreethoughMusic.WordPress.com

The Flowers show runs through April 29th. You can see what else is up at Art and Frame at http://artandframeofdanbury.com/

the table!

Small, colorful works at Art & Frame

There is an interesting Small Works show, around 200 pieces from 80 local artists, up through January 6, 2012 at Art & Frame in Danbury. That's on Route 6, (60 Newtown Road),  in the same plaza with Camomile Natural Foods.  I wasn't going there, just walking by, and the display caught my eye, lured me inside.  The works are various, with various prices, and the atmosphere was soft and friendly as opposed to austere and sterile.  I liked being there looking at the art. You can find their website at http://www.artandframeofdanbury.com, and their facebook page at http://facebook.com/ArtandFrame .   I noticed three Alberettis two by Robert and one by Mary Lou, all with a nice well-touched feel. Check it out. Made-in-America too.

2010: art shows R us

In the beginning of 2010 I wrote - "Let is be a year of music!"  Instead for me 2010 was a year of Art. It was the first time in decades I showed my artwork in a Gallery.

,First I showed  a drawing called Aspects of the Self one drawing at the Frieght Street Gallery during their May Day Festival show: This was an amazing thing. No one had seen my work, except digitally, in years!

Later in May I showed one of my polymer faces during the Artwell Rocks show in Torrington. I was on a roll whoohoo!   The work was called "The British Invasion: 40 Years Later."

During the summer, at the request of Victoria Munoz, I brought three works to hang at Freight Street during one of her poetry Salons there. I brought my Dancing Poems collage, Hair's on Fire (an oil pastel) and  Water & Fire, a digital painting.

For Artwell's Landscape and Still Life in Septemeber, I brought three works I had finished recently, all oil paintings on canvas board: Between the Darkness and the Deep, Rural Free Delivery, and River of Sky.

I created a special work for Artwell's DaDa show in November. New Era: the Eagle Egg Shell Breaks, and a found art peice  called congress which consisted of twisted spring wires from an old couch.  It's been a good year!

Oddities: The British Invasion 40 Years Later

This incredulous expression, on an aging brit face with pursed lips and plentiful bags under crossed eyes - is worn by one of my polymer clay sculptures currently hanging in the Artwell Rocks Show in Torrington. The colors are acrylic and permanent ink pens mostly. The hair is a doll wig..... The theme was music. So this is the British Invasion, 40 years later.....

"False Faces" - masks (1916-1948) by W.T. Benda were at WCSU

W.L. Benda's amazing masks were shown at Western Conn. State University's Alumni Hall this past week, by his grandson Thatcher Taylor who is a theater student there, with the assistance of Elizabeth Popeil an associate professor. Taylor is a personable sort and was there to act as a tour-guide. He is studying set design and theater tech at the college.

Alumni Hall is full of glass and has a chandelier. The masks were all in plexiglass cases. This arrangement made reflections difficult to avoid. So instead I gave in to them and tried to position them in the photo frame with some mixed results.

GOLDILOCKS >

THE EXECUTIONER:

What I find odd, thinking back, is that male masks could have the full range of humanity, could be old or evil However, female masks were all idealized as youthful, beautiful, unblemished.

I wish I had seen a wider variety of the women characters so I could know if this was an artistic choice or just the whim of the curator. I think I will paint some women as they are, warts and all. I really enjoyed this exhibit.

"Aspects of the Self" – at Freight Street’s May Day show

This pencil drawing of mine called "Aspects of the Self," is in the Freight Street Gallery's May Day Festival show which hangs at the gallery through most of May.( I pick it up on May 23). Scroll down on the linked page for a list of artists. There are a lot of really interesting  and colorful pieces in this show in many mediums. If you go, be sure to view the items in the hallways as well as in the main room.   During the opening quite a few musical groups performed. I was there for about an hour and thoroughly enjoyed the spacey musical creations of Martin Ear and Evan. At some point a guy with, what looked like it might be a digery do joined them for a number. Their music really lent itself to the mood of the artwork.   Many thanks to Mike and Dustin Byrne for putting on the show.

This is the first time in two decades I have displayed my work  (other than promotional  posters) in a physical rather than digital sense.

I drew this during a graduate drawing class at Weselyan. The subject is looking inward - and what she sees is various parts of her self as well as her rejected shadow-self. Note she is holding on to the shadow-self rather tightly, so though the shadow is hidden, she is not rejected....

This photo is in black and white. In the drawing itself the paper has a more yellowish color not show here.  One of the techniques I like to use in drawing, is to make a very heavy mark with a soft pencil, then draw back into the marks with an eraser.  That is a technique used in quite a few areas of this drawing. This drawing also appears on the new cover of Inverse Origamii - the art of unfolding, my first poetry chapbook.

NaPoWriMo #10 - Audience of Dolls

Audience of Dolls
     a poem from an exhibit of art dolls*

All around the dining room and down the hall, dozens of smiling
Carmen Mirandas in every imaginable outfit witness this meal:
They watch the diners tasting, the payers and the waiters bustling
watch Mr. & Mrs. with red wine in shining glasses, enjoying

the bouquet, the color, the dry spark of it, not caring if the legalists see.
Carmen and her sisters listen, ears peeking from wrapped
hair, smiling artfully, hopeful, as the beautiful youths speak
of their effusive readiness, so eager to leap into possibility's lap.

And the dark haired friend of the family, with his I'm-still-alive smile
innocent in it all, saying little, enjoying the occasion.
All around the dining room and down the hall
the talk winds on, in French, in Spanish, a hint of German

English in multiple accents, and food, such food. And the
Auntie in her white-haired frailty, tasting the chocolate cake
and the cousin in her exuberant reserve, looking back at
the dolls looking, listening to the doll talk  from their painted mouths

as they survey humanity with artist eyes looking
all around the dining room and down the hall.
And it was good, the dolls agreed. It was all deliciously good.

- Mar Walker

*The dolls were and are an art exhibit of "Spirit Dolls" created by artist Paula Brinkman which are on display at Carole Peck's Good News Cafe.

http://www.good-news-cafe.com/Gallery/paulabrinkmanmarch/    See the picture---> which is a webshot from of the Good News Website:

The prompt was to write about a celebration. I chose to write about the most recent celebration I'd been to which was on Easter afternoon. We were celebrating a new job for my cousin's son who was moving  out of the country with his lovely wife. (and has already left I think) . (Since I am a heathen, I was not celebrating the religious holiday, can't speak for the others, I think they were...) We didn't cook, clean or wash up, or have left overs that aren't on the diet.... And Carole Peck is a culinary genius .  The food is complex, fresh, delicious. And I didn't have to dress up, and I didn't have to pay the bill,  (thank Zeus' tail for that or I'd still be washing dishes.... Zeus is a cat I know...).

Short poem with digital foolishness

Here's a poem to go with this crazy digital sea:

The mix, the shrift of wave and gilt,
all gnarl or growling storm
All life's atwist in azure time's wild light.
Adapt! Transform!