First let me apologize to my email subscribers who will no doubt get this in their inbox after 1st Thursday… for those people let me suggest that you check out these places AFTER 1st Thursday. Just because these shows open tonight, they’ll be up for a while. So, if you missed any of these places while you were out and about tonight, go back and check them out some other time.

Anyway, these places are all worth a visit and have exciting shows up. If you join me on tonight’s Art Crawl through 1st Thursday, we’ll stop by many of these.

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Wall space gallery

113 West Ortega St

Santa Barbara, California 93101

            805.637.3898

gallery@wall-spacegallery.com

Carl Corey

Wisconsin Tavern League

1-26 February 2012

Artist Reception and Book Signing

During First Thursday’s ArtWalk, 6 to 8pm

Wall space is thrilled to announce an exhibition of Carl Corey’s Wisconsin Tavern League, a celebration of the community and spaces where the people of rural Wisconsin gather.

Join us on Thursday night February 2nd, have a beer, meet Carl and see the people and places of the League.

About Carl -

Carl Corey, (b. 1954) currently residing in Wisconsin, received an Associates Degree in Graphic Design from Northern Illinois University and a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts, College of Cinema & Photography from Southern Illinois University. A career-artist since 1979, Carl has instructed workshops for the Advertising Photographers of America, The Society of Artists and Photographers Representatives, Peninsula Art School, Northern Illinois University and Purdue University. He counts Harry Callahan, William Eggleston, Paul Caponigro, Eliot Porter and Irving Penn as influences on his photography. The recipient of over 100 awards from the advertising, design, and photography communities. Since 2000 Carl has directed his energy to more personal work focusing on social/aesthetic issues of the environment and the landscape.

His work has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in the US and abroad, including recent shows in Seattle, Madison, Kansas City, and Hong Kong. Corey’s award-winning photographs can be found in museum, corporate, and private collections.

For more information about Carl, any of these images, or the gallery please contact us.

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Observations

time & place

Photographs by Jesse Alexander and Patricia Houghton Clarke

2 – 25 February, 2012

Gallery 27
Brooks Institute of Photography
27 East Cota Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Artist Reception

First Thursday – February 2, 2012
6 – 8 pm

The creative works of Santa Barbara artists Jesse Alexander and Patricia Houghton
Clarke are on the walls of Gallery 27 this February. This collaborative effort between two
photographic talents is a discussion of place, people and ideas.
Jesse Alexander and Patricia Houghton Clarke are creative documentarians, both
exposing the people and places of cultures we don’t often see, or pass by without
notice. These two artists allow us to see not only across the generations of ideas, but
how our visual language has changed, or conversely, remained the same over time.
Both photographers are deeply involved in their subject, finding nuance in shadows,
order in chaos. Both see in black and white and color. Both using light and shadow to tell
their story. While these are two photographers at different points in their careers, we see
their similarities in light and form, capturing the human spirit.

CONTACT:

Patricia Houghton Clarke
805.452.7739 – www.patriciahoughtonclarke.com
pcphotog@gmail.com
Gallery 27/Brooks Institute: 805.617.4503
Facebook: Brooks Institute Gallery 27

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Gina Werfel / POLYPHONICS  

Developing from her earlier plein-air work, Werfel’s recent paintings consider natural forces through a delicate balance between figuration and abstraction. The oil on canvas and works on paper display deconstructed landforms with energized figures pulsing through them. Energetic paint strokes and merging color washes evoke the transitory instability of the landscape we inhabit. Elsewhere, diagonal marks lead the eye into fragile webs of color from which can be gleaned the artist’s local verdant landscape of northern California and recent stays in France and Italy. Werfel transports the viewer through urban sprawl, leafy foliage and towards the calm waters of the Mediterranean by means of wide, loose brushstrokes and atmospheric color. The paintings combine the sun-drenched lighting and colorful richness of the Venetian School with the bold, evocative mark making of the Abstract Expressionists to present renderings of fragmentary, chaotic spaces.

The title of the exhibition makes reference to the musicality that emerges from the paintings. In a fashion reminiscent of Kandinsky, Werfel’s patterns of juxtaposing colors and shapes link to musical arrangements. The paintings contain both lyricism and spontaneity; abstractions emerge from the canvas like jazz improvisations. Works such as Dancer present the human figure in motion, interacting with the surrounding landscape. The human and nature at times dissolve and intermix in dynamic sequences of paint. Werfel’s work continually brings the viewer back to the matter of boundaries: between figuration and abstraction, order and chaos, nature and human.  

I seem to have been so busy lately that I have been slow to get organized for this month’s Art Crawl. Because of this, I’m going to publish the exact same map that I used for last month’s Art Crawl, but I’ll also reserve the right to make some last minute deviations of our route. One of the challenges in organizing the Art Crawl is that many of the places I want to hit the most are also the farthest apart and for some people that is just too far to walk. So I do my best to balance these factors and encourage people to wear comfortable shoes. OH… and try to eat before you come. 1st Thursday happens right at dinner time and you can find yourself famished before get to see the place you’ve been waiting for all night.  The last few month’s we’ve had a really great turn out, and I’ve met some really great people… not to mention seen some pretty great art.

The Art Crawl begins at 5:45 sharp, however, if you know you’re going to be late you can follow our progress on Twitter.

Maybe we’ll see a movie star?

click on the image above for a larger map

Martha Friedman, Noodle, Cast polyurethane, pigment, rope, steel, 40 in. x 43 in. x 11 ft. (height variable), Courtesy the Artist and Wallspace, New York, NY

Thank you for helping to spread the word about the Youth Docent Crew (YDC) program at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF).

YDC application DEADLINE EXTENDED

This post is the first of a couple that will highlight great opportunities for young artists. If you are a young, up-and-coming artist, this mentorship provided by The Arts Fund is a way to get some very unique professional experience from an expert. Mentorships are provided in 6 specialized fields. I’m getting the word out a bit late in the game, the application deadline is a week from today. So, if you are just hearing about this for the first time, it is time to get a move on.

Please pass along the word to any young artists you might know. You can download the application here.

The Arts Fund is proud that it is offering 2 NEW MENTORSHIPS in CREATIVE WRITING and POETRY in addition to Bronze Casting, Contemporary Painting, Digital Documentary Photography and Mixed Media.  The 2012 Teen Arts Mentorship class descriptions and applications are now available on our website: www.artsfundsb.orgSTUDIO 240 will be the host of our Creative Writing mentor class this spring, and we are excited about our new partnership with Santa Barbara’s largest commercial photography studio and fantastic event space!                        www.240studio.com Other 2012 sponsors include: Art Resources, MacMechanic, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, Santa Barbara Foundation, Towbes Foundation, and Wood-Claeyssens Foundation