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.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

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.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

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

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

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.  

It has been way too long since I attended an art opening at Art From Scrap. For one reason or another, the openings seemed to conflict with some other obligation. Well, I’m making the extra effort to head over there tomorrow night to see this show by this prolific local family. They have been a large part of the local art community for a long time, and each of them brings their own wonderful talents to their work. I’ve seen their work all over town in public spaces and at any number of group shows around town. This will be a great opportunity to see a concentrated exhibition.

Details below. See you there.

Gene Pool Retrospective Exhibition: Alf Ramirez, Colleen Kelly, and Isabella Kelly-Ramirez

Artist’s Reception: Friday, January 13, 2012 from 5:00 to 7:00

AFS Gallery

302 East Cota St. Santa Barbara, CA J

EMAIL: afsadmin@artfromscrap.org

WEB: www.artfromscrap.org

Gene Pool- A Family Retrospective at AFS Gallery

SANTA BARBARA: Gene Pool an exhibition featuring the work of Alf Ramirez, Colleen Kelly, and Isabella Kelly-Ramirez opens at the AFS Gallery on Friday, January 13, from 5:00-7:00 pm.  A family exhibition; Ramirez and Kelly are married, Isabella Kelly-Ramirez is their daughter, Gene Pool promises to highlight the commonalities and differences of this artistic family.

Mary Price, curator of the exhibition says “I am delighted to present this group retrospective of a very talented and interesting artist family. Alf’s wonderful assemblages intrigue me because they are so meticulous and humor filled. Not many people are aware of his older work, because these secret marvels have been hidden away in specially-made crates in odd corners of the family home. Colleen is amazing and very prolific. I was motivated by the idea of placing many pieces of her assemblage work together in the gallery because, through them, you can feel her high energy and attention to detail. Izzy is becoming well-known in the Los Angeles art community, as well as in Santa Barbara. She’s a very charming and promising artist, and I’m delighted to have her drawings and collages alongside her parents’ assemblage work.”

Alf Ramirez has a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.   His work in Gene Pool consists of highly crafted, intricate mixed media assemblage.  Some of the pieces include carving and casting on a small scale.  Ramirez says, “Language can be a jumping-off point for some of my artwork, starting with the title. I aspire to poetry in that regard, however, the end result is often prose.  The work is basically an exploration of my personal history and exploration of life in the United Sates and in California in particular.”

Colleen Kelly is currently working in assemblage, printmaking and bronze-casting. Her art revolves around the themes of housing, architecture, social, political and environmental issues.

A well-known Santa Barbara assemblage artist herself, Kelly is excited about Gene Pool.  Kelly explains, “Over the years I’ve collaborated with and been influenced by my artist-husband Alfred Ramirez. It’s really gratifying to see him get his work out there.”

Isabella Kelly-Ramirez’s artwork is usually figure-based with surreal and expressionistic qualities combined. Inspired by her early involvement of theatre, parade, and masquerade, Kelly-Ramirez is interested in depicting characters by way of pattern, texture and cosmetic color palettes.

She elaborates, “I grew up with artists in a house that was and still is one big studio. My artistic style is a hybrid from both parents. The color, pattern and whimsy come from my mom. The gesture, line, and dark irony comes from my dad.”

Mark your calendars! Friday, January 13^th is opening night for Gene Pool; the show will hang through February 25^th, 2012^.  This event is free and open to the public.

About Art From Scrap: Art From Scrap is Santa Barbara’s Environmental Education and Art Center.  The AFS Gallery is located upstairs at Art From Scrap. Summer Gallery Hours: Tues. Wed. Fri. and Sat.-10-3, Thurs. 10-6.  Rotating shows hang throughout the year bringing together art lovers, collectors and local artists.

Artist’s Reception: Friday, January 13, 2012 from 5:00 to 7:00

AFS Gallery

302 East Cota St. Santa Barbara, CA J

Jill Cloutier:             (805) 884-0459       x13

EMAIL: afsadmin@artfromscrap.org

WEB: www.artfromscrap.org

Happy New Year, one and all. I hope you all had a great holiday season and are ready to get the new year started. We are going to start 2012 off with a less frantic version of the monthly 1st Thursday Art Crawl. This should allow us to take a bit more time at each location and soak in the art more thoroughly. We will end the night at the studio of one of Santa Barbara’s most talented young painters, Derek Harrison. After missing his studio last month because of a miss-communication, we are back on track for this month. It should be a great night, and I hoping to see another big crowd join us for the evening.

You can find a map of the proposed itinerary below. The Art Crawl starts PROMPTLY at 5:45, so if you can’t make it at the beginning, use the map to track us down. I also usually update our location live on twitter.

See you on Thursday!

Click on the image below for a larger, printable version of the map.

First off, I would like to apologize to those of you who subscribe to the blog via email. I recently updated my wordpress software and my last post was re-sent, which means some of you got it twice and it was for an event that was days ago. Sorry about that.

Shibuya Vending Machines by Joseph O. Holmes

Anyway, I’d like to take a moment to focus on two very different photography related topics.

First off, for those of you who (like me) are fans of photography, make sure you visit the new show at Wall Space Gallery. We began the last Art Crawl at Wall Space, but the show has changed since then. As the ONLY gallery in town to focus exclusively on photography, this is the place to see the best local and national photographers. The current show focuses on the later. Thanks largely to the Brooks Institute, this town is full of great photographers, so those that stand out in this crowd are really something special. Announcement below.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Secondly, for all those great photographers I just mentioned, an inquiry for submission just landed in my inbox. So, I thought I would pass it along. Submission details are below. Good luck!

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-