Arts Winter 2023
From Sullivan Goss:
She was born in Washington, D.C. in 1907 to a military family of high standing. He was born in L.A. in 1968 to a Hollywood family of note. East Coast, West Coast. Modern, Contemporary. Grandmother, grandson. Betty, an artist first and foremost, but a diarist, too. Christopher, a writer first, but then an illustrator and now a painter. From one generation to the next, the world changed a great deal, but the creative drive pulsing within the family genes and culture asserted itself again and again.
Showing together for the first time, Christopher and Betty share just a few stylistic preferences: the merging of graphic clarity with painterly passages, for example. Both grandmother and grandson seem determined to find patterns, whether natural or invented. The landscape is recurrent, though hers are often upstate New York, southern Canada, and Cape Cod, while Christopher largely paints his new surroundings in Ojai, CA. Otherwise, they are artists of a different stripe. For both, however, it seems to be enough to look and to paint. Thoughts and feelings have to sneak in. They focus on the visuals.
Mary Neville's solo show at the Santa Paula Art Museum features a collection of abstract paintings that explore the beauty and complexity of nature. Using color, texture, and form, Neville captures the essence of natural landscapes and transforms them into ethereal, otherworldly visions.
From Santa Paula Art Museum: "A professional artist for over 10 years, Mary was ecstatic to be accepted this past fall into the month-long artist residency program at Ghost Ranch, near Abiquiu in northern New Mexico. She knew nothing about where she was headed other than artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) once lived there.
Neville knew not the names of the mesas and monumental mountains she would call her front porch view. Nor did she know she would share camp with mule deer, ravens, snakes, and red ants or that sandy soil erodes swiftly as monsoon rains wipe out trees and trails and that dust settles on the skin like an extra pair of socks. She was delighted to find that the Milky Way still strides upon the moonless night sky. Her abstract compositions suggest the contours of mountains, the movement of water, and the play of light and shadow in nature."
Neville's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States, and her paintings are held in numerous private collections.
From Spore Space:
Worldwide, the sacred energy pathways were marked by some human means: mounds, banks, ditches, dolmans, menhirs, and stone crosses, stone circles, terraces and roads. Things, thoughts, forms, features, creatures, critters, spirits, snakes slink through the grass into the sky through our heads into the ground. In some places the energy circuits were known as “fairy paths”, roads of psychic activity; and local peasant celebrations were timed to coincide with the current’s passage. It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.
Iconoclasts: Insiders and Outsiders celebrates the works of artists known for their unconventional approach to art. Featured above are three works (left to right) - Man Ray's Cactus, 1971, Roberto Matta's Plate 7 from Les Voix, and a third, unnamed work by Max Papart.
In the mid-20th century, many artists rejected traditional art forms and experimented with new techniques and styles. This period saw the rise of movements like Dada and Surrealism, which sought to challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of what was considered art. Man Ray, Roberto Matta, and Max Papart were all part of this movement and were known for their contributions to the art world.
This show celebrates artists unafraid to break the rules and push the boundaries of what was considered art. The show highlights the importance of individuality and creativity in the art world and showcases each artist's unique contributions to the movement.
Laurence Stephen Lowry was a British painter best known for his unique depictions of industrial life and landscapes in the North of England. While he is often associated with his industrial paintings, he also created a number of landscapes and seascapes throughout his career. Three such works, currently on view at Canvas + Paper gallery, are "Seascape, Yachts at Lytham" (1920), "The Monolith" (1950s), and "Glencoe" (1959).
Lowry's paintings demonstrate his versatility as an artist and his ability to capture a wide range of moods and atmospheres in his work. Whether depicting the beauty of the natural world, the starkness of an industrial landscape, or the mysterious symbols of the human psyche, Lowry's paintings continue to captivate and inspire viewers to this day.
From Santa Paula Art Museum: The 14th Annual Art About Agriculture Exhibition features art by Jannene Behl, Luca Boffi, Thomas Breeden, Carlos Briceño, L.T. Bunning, Gary Campopiano, Juan Carlos, Robert Carson, Michele Chapin, Christine Chapman, Harvey Cusworth, Janice Dickenson, Johann Eichstetter, Gail Faulkner, Pausha Foley, Anthony Forzaglia, Anna Viktorovna Gaikovich, Kevin Gleason, Patti Handfinger, Ray Harris, David Hartung, Bob Hernandez, John Manuel Ildefonso, Gabriel Islas, John Iwerks, Laura Jean Jespersen, Chuck Kovacic, Brigitta Kovacs, Andrew Laenen, Beverly Lazor, Karen Leoni, Lisa Skyheart Marshall, Yolande McAlevey, Joe Milazzo, Pj Mills, Hyatt Moore, Martha Moran, Doug Nelson, Christopher Noxon, Y. Hope Osborn, Arpad Petrass, Inga Poslitur, Anette Power, Jessie Rasche, Viktoria Romanova, Mariann Romero, Peter Ruiz, Rene Rushing, Becky Savell, Dan Schultz, Jules Smith, K.C. Spink, Pamela Strautman, Andrea Vargas, Trevor Walker, Nina Warner, Carolyn Warren, Jim Wilson, Michael Logan Woodle, and Kay Zetlmaier.
Above: People’s Choice Award-Winner Martha Moran's Strawberry Fields Forever
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 12, 5-7 PM
Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation / Ojai Institute
Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation is pleased to present Sweeping Up the Shadows, a solo exhibition project by Aaron Spangler for the Ojai Institute. Spangler is the recipient of the 2022 Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Minnesota Art Prize.
From Maloof Foundation:
Matters of Gravity presents the work of two Ojai sculptors grappling with gravity in very distinct ways.
Tanya Kovaleski’s dynamically engineered wooden structures arch skyward in gravity-defying angles and curves, all painted in bold colors.
Martha Moran’s rock stacks deal with mass and balance, rooted to the earth. Her Buddha Beach Maloof installation is an array of small rock stacks, inspired by Buddha Beach in Sedona, Arizona, a vortex spot filled with thousands of stacks.
Photos by Deborah Lyon for Ojai Studio Artists.
Ojai Locals Only
Cover: Mary Neville at Ghost Ranch, NM
PAST EVENTS:
Cover: Jules Weissman