Back from Maine aand Holly

Well, I'm back from almost a month in Maine. While there, I went to the Portland Art Museum to see their wonderful show THE CALL OF THE COAST (Art Colonies of New England). It is an exhibit which explores four of the art communities from the the early 20th century, Cos Cob, Old Lyme, Ogunquit, and Monhegan. There are eighty paintings, including works by Childe Hassan, Marin, Bellows, Twachtman, Rockwell Kent, Robert Henri, and many more. If you happen to be near there, you'll see a visually stunning look at an era when artists came together in New England and created an amazing body of art.
The museum itself is a modern gem. It specializes in East Coast American artists. It's worth visiting even without this outstanding exhibit.

Now that I'm back, it's time to look at what's happening at the Gallery. The month of August will feature a show of works by Holly Hess. This will be a multimedia exhibit, with sculptures, oil paintings, silk painting, drawings. I had an interesting conversation with Holly on Friday. Her background in art is very unusual. Her father worked in a Federal Prison and she actually lived on the grounds. She received much of early training from a famous painter and counterfieter who was an inmate. She never actually met him. Her father was the intermediary. He would show the gentleman her work, he would critique it and suggest texts that she should study. Now that's really different. There will be a reception on August 9th. More details to come

Interesting news on NPR

I was listening to "all Things Considered" on public radio early this week and heard an interesting blurb. It seems that purchase of original art or tickets to concerts, operas, ballets, classical music, art shows, etc. is way down. However, the public has not lost its interest in the arts. The practice of making art is way up. People are playing music, drawing, painting, dancing, a lot. Classes to learn the arts are thriving. Interestin huh?

Diane's reception, etc.

Diane Nawrocki reception was last Sunday. There were a lot of people there, admiring, buying, chatting, eating, drinking, discussing. I would call it an outstanding success. Diane had asked Helen Blazie to play the violin and it was a lovely accompaniment to the occasion. I saw Connie writing up a lot of sales slips. She was busy enough that a few times I even helped by fetching bags and passing along purchases. I noticed that a lot of people looked also looked at the teacher's wall area and asked quesiions about classes.

It looks like we've gotten a good turn out for the summer classes. As of last count we had over 90 people signed up. When you consider that a lot of our usual students do not sign up for the summer session because of vacation conflicts, I think that's pretty impressive.

A week ago was the Board Meeting. Karen was out of town so Carol Wilson, our recording secretary took the helm. I was substitute recording secretary. I will treat Carol with much more respect from now on. It's not easy keeping all the comments and reports in your head, not to mention on a piece of paper and then writing it all down for the minutes. How do you write eh? I translated into under whelming....

I misspelled Connie's last name. It's Iocovetti. Sorry. Actually, it's nice to know that people are reading the blog.

First day of Open House

Yesterday was the first day of the open house. It opened a little slowly but by about 1pm people really started coming in. What a delight. Not everybody signed up immediately. Many went home with the schedule saying they were going to discuss it and sign up in the very near future. Hopefully they will. They all seemed interested and spent quite a bit of time talking to the teachers who were working on their own projects. It really was a lot of fun. I took pictures and tomorrow, if I can manage it, I'll put them on the post.
Jacque and her crew have put in a lot of work and effort. I know it's summer and many people can't sign up because of vacation plans. There's talk of next summer having more of very short classes.

Check our ads

Well, yesterday, we made it to the local papers. Our 1/4 page full color ad was in the centersection (This week's Calendar) of the Trib local as well as a blurb about the open house in their calendar right next to it. Also a short story I sent to the same paper was on page 2. We had a full color ad on the front of the Doings and another one on the calendar page of the Suburban Life. Whew! I'm so glad it all worked out.

Samantha (our intern) and I had a table at the La Grange Farmer's Market on the same day
Hopefully, we'll have a nice crowd for the open house.. If you're planning on taking a class, especially if it's more than one, be there. The 15% off* for the second class is good for those two days only. Remember, the percentage off is on the class of lesser cost.

Alla Jablowka's painting

The newsletter from the Western Springs library had a note that Alla had donated a painting to the children's library. Of course, I had to go and see it. What a wonder! It's a forest like scene, beautifully painted of course, with animals cleverly semi-hidden. To the side of the painting, there's a list of all the ones to find. Like a child, I had a great time locating the rabbits, raccoon, big and little bears, the deer, etc. The librarian joined me in the search and we had a wonderful time. When I dropped into the Gallery later that day, Dee told me that Alla has had prints made. I definitely want one. What a great gift for a child. Actually, I can see myself and my children and grown grandchildren having a great time doing the hunt. What a nice thing to have as a gift for the child who has more than enough toys.

Laura LeinSvencer has been a member of the La Grange Art League for the past ten years. She originally joined the league for fellowship and a place to exhibit her work, but she quickly changed directions to become one of the art league framers and collage teacher.
Her background in arts is personal examination into tactile studies such as ceramics, printmaking, hand papermaking, metal smith and now collage. Laura is a member of many local art leagues in the DuPage County area, Naperville Art League, Depage Art League, as well as ours. She is a co-founder of the Midwest Collage Society, a member of the National Collage Society and the Chicago Arts Coalition.
Seven years ago Alla Jabolkow (the League school director at the time) asked Laura if she would like to teach. She was taken aback by the question as her only teaching experience had been working in her children’s elementary school district in an Art Awareness program. Alla told her that she only had to share what she knew. Laura’s been teaching ever since. Her classes are popular and the output of her students is impressive.
What amazes everyone is the simple, fun loving, creative spirit she shares with her students, encouraging them to go outside the box and see where their own abilities will take them. They receive assignments and task work to enable them to hone their design skills, leading to a better understanding of a good compositional layout. Basically, Laura wants all the participants in her workshops and classes to challenge themselves.
She showed me an amazing journal she’d made from an old book found at a resale shop. It’s cut, painted, sewn, gessoed, sanded. I loved it. It’s an excellent example of Laura’s approach. First, there’s a concept, the artist relates to it, understands it and finally executes it.
With summer coming, she’s taking time off to exhibit in the outdoor fine arts festivals. This year she’ll be at Hinsdale, Naperville Women’s Club, Geneva, Burr Ridge, Riverwalk and her own outdoor studio exhibit in September. She’ll have a One Person Show at the La Grange Art League in October 2009. In the meantime, you can see more of her work at www.lauralein-svencer.com or stay tuned daily to her blog at http://www.lonecrwoart.blogsspot.com