“The Sky’s the Limit,” an exhibition of paintings in pastel by Carol Abitabilo Ast will be at the gallery August 4-29.  A reception for the artist will be held Friday, August 6 from 5-8pm with wine tasting compliments of Damiani Wine Cellars.

Carol says: “Much of the work in this exhibit demonstrates my fascination with the sky.  Always the backdrop, whether looking out a window or being out-of-doors, here it becomes a prominent feature.   With the sky emerging from the chorus line to stardom, the nature of the land is also changing in this exhibit.  Landscape is often associated with shades of green, but only a few of these paintings have any green in them at all.  Winter, rock and dusk rob the land of its traditional color, but present the viewer with beauty of a different sort.

Basically I use my pastels to preserve and share what I find beautiful.  The world is packed with controversy, stress, frustration, anger.  To allow loveliness in any manifestation to enter the mind is to regain humanness.   I hope this exhibit succeeds in some way in this direction.”

The artist periodically conducts pastel landscape workshops in New Mexico, New York and Maine and much of the work in this show represents her views of those places.  You can visit Carol’s web site and see more of her work:   www.carolast.com.

The artist will be sitting at the State of the Art Gallery every Saturday during the month of August.

Video

“Landscape and Light,” a show of photographs by David Watkins, Jr. opens June 30 and runs through August 1, 2010, at State of the Art.  These photographs are from several of the photographer’s favorite places:  his own perennial garden, the Maine coast and woods and country around Laramie, Wyoming.  Watkins says:  “In this show I’ve tried to exhibit a range of images all based on how the light at the time affected my own response.  Most of the images in the show have a strong graphic sense.  Some represent just a mood or experience while out with the camera…some a more manipulated, graphic representation of the original image.”

A reception for the artist will be held Gallery Night, Friday, July 2, 5-8.   Watkins will be sitting at the gallery July 2, 3,10, 31 and August 1.   Hours:  Tues. – Fri., 12-6pm, Sat. & Sun., 12-5pm.  The gallery is ADA accessible with curbside parking.

The points below are stated to help artists applying for membership in the State of the Art Gallery understand how the process works. When reviewing new membership applications, the gallery strives to maintain a balance of styles and media. We also value persons who support the cooperative nature of the gallery and the responsibility of membership. We use the points in A-E as guides for discussion. They are not hard and fast rules. Rather, they give us a framework in which to discuss an applicant’s work. The decision, pro or con, is based on a simple majority of the current membership. It should be noted that a decision not to accept is sometimes accompanied by suggestions for future work with a hope that the applicant will re-apply after an appropriate period. In fact, several successful, current members have been through a similar process of applying more than once.

A. Originality/Vision

Is there something that makes this person’s work unique and/or memorable?

B. High Technical Craftsmanship

Does the work demonstrate skillful use of the media, good composition, use of color where applicable, value and form?

C. Seriousness of Purpose/Maturity/Record of Accomplishment

Is there consistency that distinguishes the work? Is there a record of exhibition/shows or other evidence of serious intent? Has the artist clearly expressed his/her ideas clearly and/or creatively?

D. Presentation of Work

Is the work framed/based/mounted in a professional way?

E. Commitment to the Mission of the gallery.

Has the applicant expressed knowledge of gallery member responsibilities and willingness to perform them? Is there an expectation of long-term membership and financial commitment?

A BENEFIT EXHIBIT FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY

Ithaca sculptor explores gay and interracial marriage debates

In January 2010 Eva M. Capobianco will present “What Makes a Marriage?” at State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca, NY. The show will be a benefit for Marriage Equality New York and the Ithaca Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender Task Force (ILGBTTF). Fifty percent of the profits from all sales at the show will be shared equally by these two organizations.

The exhibit dates are January 6-31, 2010. There will be a reception for the artist on Friday, January 8th, from 5-8pm. Harpist Myra Kovary has generously agreed to perform at the reception free of charge in support of the fundraiser. State of the Art Gallery is located at 120 W. State Street, Ithaca, NY. Hours are Wed. –Fri., 12-6pm and Sat. & Sun., 12-5pm. The gallery is ADA accessible, free and open to the public. The artist will be present at the gallery from 12-5pm each Saturday during the exhibit.

The work for this exhibit began during the general election in November, 2004. Ms. Capobianco states: “I found myself deeply upset by how the issue of gay marriage had been used by conservatives as a wedge issue to mobilize their base.” Feeling discouraged, she began to explore ways to use her art to compare today’s struggle for gay marriage equality with the fight for legal interracial marriage that culminated in the historic Loving v. Virginia case in 1967. Reading and researching these two issues has lead to some fascinating comparisons. The artist has incorporated quotes and ideas from these parallel debates into her sculptures in ways that she hopes will foster a healthy discussion about them.

Gay marriage has now become legal in several states, but it has also seen major setbacks in recent months and years. Capobianco says “My partner and I have been together for 27 years. Right now we COULD choose to get married in Canada or Iowa or several other states and that marriage would probably be recognized by our home state of New York. But it would not be recognized by the federal government. That would leave us without most of the benefits and protections that straight couples enjoy. It is important to support organizations that are working to educate the public about the fundamental unfairness of our current system.”

This exhibit is also part of the Light in Winter Festival, www.lightinwinter.com. There will be a second reception during the festival, on Friday, January 22nd, from 5-7pm.

Video of show

The winners of SOAG’s biennial Regional Juried Art Exhibition have been announced:

Best of Show
Linda Andrei   “Conversation”

2nd Place
Allen Crittenden Smith   “Yellow Gray”

3rd Place
Paul McMillan   “Moonlight Over Cornstalks”

Honorable Mentions

John Whiting   “To and Fro”
Barbara Page   “Wind Drift Eight #2″
Edmond Caputo   “Brown Fish”
Gunilla Feigenbaum  ”Chinese Red #2″
Ileen Kaplan    ”Cafe Days”

Fifty works of art were chosen,  representing thirty-seven artists.  Included in the show are paintings, watercolors, drawings, mixed media, prints, assemblage and sculptures in clay, paper and metal.

Lin Price, a faculty member in the Department of Art at Ithaca College announced the prize-winning works at the reception for the artists Gallery Night, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.

Mink says this body of work is the culmination of her thinking about connections between painting and science.

“Ten years ago I founded an annual winter festival which features performers in both the  arts and sciences, so thinking about creative synergies is often on my mind. Painting has always been a part of my life, but this past year I tried an experiment: framing my work with concepts in physics and math.

At first I veered strongly toward rather literal connections but I soon became uncomfortable with the self consciously didactic results. I ended up naming the works in “Event Horizons” more playfully, so the titles touch only lightly on the paintings.

With a nod to the Romantics and Abstract Expressionism, my work rests on the energy of the gesture, the visible trace of the process, and the coherence of carefully controlled elements, with textures and densities ranging from thickly layered to ephemeral.”

State of the Art is located at 120 W. State Street in Ithaca.  Hours are Wed. – Fri., 12-6pm and Sat. & Sun., 12-5pm.  The gallery is ADA accessible and there is curbside parking available.  Contact information for the gallery is 607-277-1626 and www.soag.org.

Closeups of Paintings

Opening Night of Events Horizon

Gas prices are high, disposable income is low. Can’t get away for a vacation? Escape through the expressive paintings—abstract and realistic—of  Marian VanSoest and Patty L. Porter at State of the Art Gallery during August.

There are times when a person just needs to escape from the moment, but often the means or the time for this escape are not available. That’s where a connection with a painting can be very useful. Whether you want to go to a foreign land or just retreat into the depth of color and abstract form, a painting can facilitate this need.

Van Soest and Porter are two artists who have created paintings with just this in mind. They have painted together, traveled together and ruminated about art together for the past fifteen years. “Painted Escapes” exhibits paintings from their travels—both together and separately.

Van Soest says that she has taken a vacation from realism to revel in memory and painterly fun. Of her abstract works in the show, some evoke places seen from an airplane or by a bird out to catch fish. Some recall fields of roses or bluebells glanced from a car window. A few realistic figure paintings are included to show traveling painting companions at work and play. To Van Soest, these paintings—watercolor sketches—probably say it best: painting with friends on a summer day is one of life’s special joys.

Porter’s more realistic images of the hill towns and fields in Umbria, Italy, give the viewer a sense of the ambience of being in a foreign country while actually traveling only in your mind. For her, the idea of moving through the narrow antiquated passages of Orvieto and Spello suggest more possibilities of escape by considering what lies beyond the turn in the wall: the possibilities for escape are endless—hopeful, exciting, treacherous and tranquil.

A reception for the artists will be held Friday, August 7, from 5-8pm at the gallery, 120 W. State Street in Ithaca. Porter will be present at the gallery on Aug. 22, 12-5pm and Aug. 29, 12-5; VanS oest will be present on Aug. 9, 12-5pm and Aug. 15, 12-5pm. This is an opportunity for viewers to talk about the paintings with the artists. “Painted Escapes” runs from August 5 – 30, 2009. There is curbside parking and the gallery is ADA accessible. Hours: Wed. – Fri., 12-6pm, Sat. & Sun., 12-5pm. Contact information: 607-277-1626, www.soag.org

Carol Ast is part of a group show called “American Heartland – Watercolor and Pastel Landscapes and Townscapes” at the Blue Heron Gallery in Wyalusing, PA. The show runs from Jan. 6 to April 30, 2012.

Sheryl Sinkow’s  work is on permanent view at the Corners Gallery 903 Hanshaw Road, Ithaca, NY. www.cornersgallery.com

Ileen Kaplan has four paintings in “Little Gems” at The West End Gallery, 12 W. Market St. Corning, NY.  The show runs through March 9, with an opening reception on Friday February 3, 5-7:30.

Margy Nelson is showing work in the newly-opened Mezzanine Gallery at Benjamin Peters on the Commons, State Street in Ithaca, NY.  The show will run through February.

Diane Newton will have a drawing in the Canine/Feline Art Show at the Windsor Whip Works Art Gallery to benefit the True Friends Animal Welfare Center of Montrose PA, from Feb. 11-Mar. 12, 2012. All sales will benefit this shelter which desperately needs the help.

Over the past twenty years, artist/photographer Stan Bowman has explored the computer and digital software as tools for creating art.  “Abstract Discoveries,” the most current evidence of his efforts and explorations will be on display during June to visitors of State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca.  Bowman’s work in this exhibition is in the form of giclee prints:  most are printed on canvas and a few on metallic paper.

“These current images are for me a celebration of my interest in abstraction,” Bowman says.  “I am an abstract artist by inclination. Even when I began as a photographer in the 1950s my black and white images of subjects were organized with overall abstract patterns in mind. Places were important but so was the way the picture was organized in the frame. This attention to the abstract nature of imagery probably came originally from my years spent as an architect with its strong design emphasis, and my very intense interest in modernism with its focus on simplicity of form, shape and texture.”

Sharp Outline, one of the giclee prints in the exhibition, demonstrates Bowman’s use of abstract patterns and the ways he builds and manipulates them on the computer.  Although not black and white, he has organized his subject–colored shapes, which look like they were formed from a thick painting medium textured by a trowel–in layers of various colors and stages of enlargement.  There is an action caught–as if it were being captured through the viewfinder of a camera—of opaque shapes rising upward and leaving below trailings of what they once were.

Bowman has created this abstract imagery using programs like Adobe Photoshop.  “I am now pushing forward into new exciting territories,” he says, “I zoom in and feature pixels as the building block for abstract patterns, altering them using the powerful manipulation and transformation tools of Photoshop.  For me, discovery is the name of the game.”

“Abstract Discoveries” will be on exhibit June 3-28, 2009, with a reception for the artist Friday, June 5 from 5-8pm at the gallery.  State of the Art is located at 120 W. State Street in downtown Ithaca.  There is curbside parking and the gallery is ADA accessible.  Hours are:  Wed. – Fri., 12-6pm, Sat. & Sun., 12-5pm.  Contact information:  607-277-1626, www.soag.org//and www.http://Stanbowman.com//