Thursday, April 29, 2010

Artists On Display At SPARC Temporary Contemporary Gallery

SPARC Temporary Contemporary Gallery, at 909 El Centro St., is a must see destination on Saturday. This newly built commercial space will debut as an art gallery featuring the works of local artists Liz Reday and Catherine Ellen Money, Kirk Miller, Nathan Rohlander, Amy Runyen, Alice Simpson, Marie Switzer, Susan Singer, Connie Rohman and many others . Most of the works will be available for acquisition.

And don't forget to check out the article on the event and artists at artsbeatla.com
!

Here are just some of the artists on display! Make sure you stop by to see these and the many other amazing works of art.

LIZ REDAY:
A lifelong career artist, Liz Reday holds a Master's Degree from the Royal College of Art in London. Her work has been featured in numerous shows and collections in several countries, including Australia, Great Britain and Japan.

Liz Reday spent her childhood in rural Japan before moving to Southern California. She had a solo show at the Kerry Schuh Gallery, Newport Beach. David Hockney at UC Irvine, sent her to London. A recent trip to India & the L.A. River have been recent inspirations for her oils on canvas.



CATHERINE ELLEN MONEY:
Photographic artist and poet. Graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, CA. Several images from THE PLANET PARADISE COLLECTION will be on exhibit.

Artist's Statement: PLANET PARADISE speaks to the intimate moments in my life. Vibrant and enigmatic, the imagery pokes at the subconscious, transporting the viewer into a world of energy, color and light. Expressed in mythical proportions, on a metallic substrate, the imagery invites the viewer to linger and consider our emotional response to our natural world.




ALICE SIMPSON:

With a background in fashion illustration, it is by instinct that I search for the line that graces form, hair and fabric; to capture the quality of watercolor washes; to reveal how light and shadows create drama. Coil built, pushed, pulled, carved, and hollowed to one quarter thickness, my works are detailed into expression and each contains a secret. The larger operatic works are inspired by suspended emotional moments of sound and expression.

Portrait of the Artist as Queen Elizabeth 1, with her sideways glance and ironic expression, and Portrait of the Artist As Sarah Palin, including her ubiquitous wink, are intended as satiric representations of their time and place in history.




BARRY WETMORE:

About the artist! 1 year, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Fine Arts Dept./ 4 years, Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles/ 24 years, TV and Print advertising Art Director / 23 years Freelance Illustrator, creating art for print ads, TV commercials and book publishers / 12 years fine art painting! My name is Barry Wetmore and I live in, of all places...South Pasadena, California! Tah Dah! wetart@socal.rr.com


CECILIA PAISLEY LEGASPE:

Started drawing since she was 2 years of age. Would make her own story books with folded sheets or paper stapled together like a book to read to her little brother Leo. At age 4-6 she would sketch and design fashion models. Then was fascinated with Japanese anime would make up her own characters using pen, pencil and ink. Cecilia now 18 years has displayed her art work at, The Pomona Arts Colony, exhibition at Bunny Gunner Gallery, SoHo Gallery, and 5ifty Bucks gallery in Pomona.


LEONARDO AMADEO LEGASPE:

Started drawing at the age of 2 immitating his older sister Ceci by watching her and amazingly had the same artistic talent. Since Kindergarten he was chosen to design the schools calendar for the year and every year after that. Leo's medium is also pen, pencil and ink. He is extremely fascinated in Robots and machinary. He draws every piece by thought and imagination. Leonardo now at age 13 has displayed his art work at, 5ifty Bucks Gallery with his sister.


HARRY LIEBERMAN:

Harry Lieberman, who paints representational landscapes, began his art career at High School of Music and Art in New York City and has taken workshops with M. Stephen Doherty, Ross Merrill and Scott Christensen. He has been most influenced by JMW Turner and the artists of the Hudson River School.







KIRK MILLER:

Kirk's education and experience cover a wide spectrum of art and art activity. He has a background in art history, several years experience as a Post-Conceptual artist, twenty three years full-time teaching experience at Cerritos College, and has instructed survey courses as well as courses specifically devoted to painting, electronic imaging, and installation or experimental art.


Kirk received an M.F.A. in painting from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1987, a B.F.A. in illustration in 1979, and in 1973, and received a B.A. in art history from the University of California, Berkeley, CA. He has been a professor of art at Cerritos College since 1988 and has been an adjunct professor at CSU, Long Beach and CSU, Northridge as well.


Description of Artwork

Something About Nothing or No Thing


My works of art are “spacers.” They are the gaps between words, the interval between notes, the expanse between things, the thoughts between thoughts. Put simply, they represent the “space in between.” Some time ago, while pondering the notion of nothing I came upon this quote, which for me succinctly describes what I’m trying to do and say.


“We start, then, with nothing, pure zero. But this is not the nothing of negation. For not means other than, and other is merely a synonym of the ordinal numeral second. As such it implies a first; while the present pure zero is prior to every first. The nothing of negation is the nothing of death, which comes second to, or after, everything. But this pure zero is the nothing of not having been born. There is no individual thing, no compulsion, outward nor inward, no law. It is the germinal nothing, in which the whole universe is involved or foreshadowed. As such, it is absolutely undefined and unlimited possibility --boundless possibility. There is no compulsion and no law. It is boundless freedom.”

Charles S. Peirce, “Logic of Events” (1898)


MARIE SWITZER MILLER:

Marie Switzer-Miller is a local resident of South Pasadena and is currently moving in a new and exciting direction with her art. During the past twenty years Marie has worked as a concept designer and art director for the global leaders of themed entertainment, including BRC Imagination Arts and Walt Disney Imagineering. Marie’s new works of art, which were recently in South Pasadena at SPACE in a show titled “Textiles on the Edge,” offer a fresh and unconventional approach to the use of natural materials and techniques. Marie received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial/Environmental Design, with honors, from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1987. In 1995, she returned to Art Center as an instructor and taught “Environments for Entertainment,” and Woodbury University in Burbank. She has taught at SPEF and SPACE in South Pasadena as well.


Description of Artwork:
My current works of art deal with a variety of issues, ranging from those of personal sensory and memory to grief and release, and are made of a variety of natural materials, such as hemp, to fallen pods gathered from the base of wisteria vines. Evidence of my strong formal education in design is clearly present in my artwork. In the work titled “Disentanglement in Crossing the Red Sea,” the composition is reminiscent of an early Malevich, but that is where similarity ends. Process is also an important component to my artwork. Most of my art is very labor intensive. Meticulously tying hundreds of hemp threads can provide a space, a mental opening if you will, for me on the one hand, but can also serve to help facilitate memories on the other and aid in moving the artwork forward in an unanticipated direction helping to give it a life of its own. Some of these new works of art were recently exhibited.



Liz & Catherine, curators in front of SPARC gallery space.

South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival & Art Walk


Sparc is taking part in the South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival & Art Walk This Saturday!

Saturday, May 1, 2010 from 2pm to 10pm
Fair Oaks to Grand Ave. on Mission Street


Join us for the second annual
eclectic music festival & art walk
in wonderful, walkable
South Pasadena!

Over two dozen musical groups at six venues. For details, see the entertainment lineup.

David Lindley, The Nervis Brothers, Double Naught Spy Car, Moira Smiley & VOCO and Wahid all for just $20, with live music at five other venues for FREE! Tickets at www.SouthPasadena.net


Purchase tickets online in advance.
Enter code: SPARC and10% of your ticket will go to the South Pasadena Arts Council!

Art Galleries & Open Studios:
  • The SPARC Interactive Arts Event with the Giant Easels on Meridian is FREE- come particiapate and paint with us! We will be painting from 5:30pm - 8pm.
  • SPARC Temporary Contemporary. (909 El Centro St.) This newly built commercial space will debut as an art gallery featuring the works of local artists Liz Reday and Catherine Ellen Money, Kirk Miller, Nathan Rohlander, Amy Runyen, Alice Simpson, Marie Switzer, Susan Singer, Connie Rohman and others. Most of the works will be available for acquisition.
  • Michael Hollis (238 Pasadena Avenue) will be having a group show with paintings of early California and contemporary American art
  • SoPas Gallery (1121 Mission Street) will be showing the recent paintings of South Pasadena artist Leslie Saeta.
  • SPACE Gallery (1506 Mission Street) presents "Our Shaky Civilization with Animals" featuring the artwork of Abira Ali and Gordon Henderson.
  • Fremont Gallery (812 Fremont Avenue) will present the works of Kikki Eder, "Real, Unreal, Surreal" oil paintings.
  • Burke Triolo (538 Mission Street) will host an open studio showing photographic works and montage by J.T. Burke and Loraine Angela Triolo.
  • SOPA Studios (1025 Hope Street) is an artists' collective and will host an open studio.
  • Upstairs Artists (1034 Mission Street) lofts above Mission Street will have an open studio.
  • www.sewjoe.com Catch the cutting edge in design at Sew Joe Stitch Lounge at 634 Mission.
  • Special Exhibitions will be presented by Zinnia, Kaldi Coffee & Tea, Reimagine Your Home, Mission Street Yoga, and more. Celebrate the grand opening of House of Honey. Get into it - literally - with The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) "Art Experience," an interactive exhibition on Meridian.
  • Watch for the UpStage kids appearing on the community stage at Meridian during the afternoon! Upstage is a theatre school for kids 6yrs-16 yrs based out of So Pasadena for the last 10 yrs. They do an afterschool program and summer theatre camps. For more details go to upstageschools.com
  • Contact Tom Field of Thomas R. Field American Antiques with questions about the Art Walk or the Eclectic music festival. Call 626.799.8546
Read more about the event and the galleries here:

Take the Metro Gold Line to Mission Station! www.metro.net. Or exit the Arroyo Seco Parkway (110) at Orange Grove Ave. or Fair Oaks Ave. in South Pasadena.


Artist rendering of SPARC easels by Marie Miller!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Another Work Gathering For SPARC Interactive Arts Event!

Let us know if you can make it!

Date/Time: Saturday, April 24, 11 - 2 p.m.

Location: Susan Masterman's house

1233 Garfield Avenue

South Pasadena, CA 91030

T [626] 799. 2749

Third house south of intersection of Monterey Road and Garfield Ave., on the west side of the street.

Park on Garfield, use the side gate to the right & walk down the driveway to the garage. Or press the call box in the driveway and Susan can buzz you in to park in the gravel motor court.

Wear clothes that you can paint in, bring gloves to work with wood.

Our work party last week was great- (see photos below) we're in the home stretch if you can help out let us know if you will be there!
Dan Burr building Giant Easel.

Helpers paint parts of Giant Easels.

Mike Rouse put together more see through canvases!

The Perello family pitches in big time!

Decorating donation box!

*** We still need volunteers for our May 1st Interactive Arts Event. Artists to paint and supervise, people to man info and donation booth, trucks to hep transport giant easels, and strong men to help set up and tear down- let us know ASAP if you can help on Sat May 1st!


***And don't forget to attend the Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk go to- SoPasArtsCouncil.com for event details, tickets and T-Shirt orders!

Lissa Reynolds

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Exciting Announcement!


Our South Pasadena Arts Council Web site is up and running!

Check it out at: www.SoPasArtsCouncil.com

WE NEED YOU!

Help needed to get ready for our Interactive Arts Event on May 1st

The Arts Council will be creating an "Arts Experience" for the May 1st South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk. Please join us on April 17th and April 24th from 11-2pm at the Fremont Center Theatre to help build the frames needed for the project. We need your help!

Please email Hope Perello at hopeperello@sbcglobal.net if you can make either day.

The Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk on May 1st is just around the corner! We need Arts Council members to help out with our Arts Experience event!

Volunteers are needed to:
Refill paint and water
Hand out and collect aprons given to participants
Talk up the Arts Council
Man the Information table
Help set up and breakdown

Here are the various shifts you can sign up for:
SATURDAY, MAY 1st
2:30-4:30pm
4:30-6:30pm
6:30-8:30pm

Contact Karen Sommers Cooper if you would like to sign up: karencooper@me.com. The more, the merrier!