A+ Art Blog

New Horizons in SD Art

2012-01-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

I found myself making two speeches this month and in both the most important point was that old chestnut, why do we do this. Now I am no spring chicken and that means that I can cycle back to childhood and do things just for the fun of it. But I do have standards. My husband Darwin helped me to focus on the qualities that really attract us in any art work that we admire. We are looking for the excitement of break-though thinking and creation of the differences in perceived reality. We want a glimpse of new horizons, a view of what could be possible.

Many artworks will tell stories. Those stories will define in someway who we are, maybe in the past, maybe the present and hopefully in the future. I continue to be impressed with the quality of art we are now seeing in San Diego. The standard is getting higher and higher agrees Karen McGuire the curator of the William D. Cannon Art Gallery in Carlsbad. On view right now is the 2012 Invitational Exhibition, and McGuire admits it was hard to make a choice of just five from the juried show held last year.

Robert Ecker's paintinga were a favorite of Darwin especially the landscapes right at the entry. I also found these the best of his works as they seem to have focus and purpose which some of the other composition lacked. The technical ability of all the artists was very, very high but that is not the reason that we see such an improvement in the works in the last 15 years. SD artists were always capable of craftsmanship.

Becky Guttin (assemblage) created a field of strange and compelling shapes mainly on stems of metal and using gourds lined with metal filings. She is revisited these shapes that we first saw a while ago. The real revelation is when she groups them together and used her hand to vibrate the stems. All of a sudden we were transported from a desert landscape to an underwater bed of waving seaweed. I just wish that the works could move on their own so everyone could experience what we saw on the night of the opening.

Roy Jenuine (sculpture) Robert Nelson (drawing) both have stories to tell and allow our imaginations to fill in the blanks although we are directed by the visuals. Jenuine’s small figures holding on to picnic tables in gale force winds generated by drawn desk fans are charming. When grouped with figures in a variety of yoga-like positions all divided into display boxes, or a surfer and his surf board on a pulley with an elaborate water wheel, or a series of dogs of all sizes, we feel we are let into the world of an acute observer of life. Nelson continues his series of finely drawn characters seemingly from his dream world and we enjoyed another chance to see his work which is represented by Noel Baza. Nelson was one of our emerging artists from New Contemporaries III exhibition.

Sasha Koozel Reibstein (ceramics) has her own pharmacological lab in a kiln and has produced capsules for every possible malady. We see them not only suspended but embedded in what looks like body inners. For some reason these look rather pleasant and even humorous but there is a darker novel brewing here.

These artist are only just five of the wonderful talent that is developing in our community. Watch for the show in June of New Contemporaries now in its fifth year and all nominated by art professionals like Karen McGuire.

P.S. You still have time to see the wonderful overstuffed, radically shaped and exquisitely finished works of Lila Jang at Lux Art Institute. Ms. Jang’s misfortune of not being able to travel to SD from Korea is a benefit for us in that Kim MacConnel and Paul Henry have worked in the Lux studio during her show and their work is on display as well until March 3.

Is La Jolla coming back as a center for the visual arts in San Diego?

2011-12-26T12:43:00.000-08:00

La Jolla is known as an upscale shopping community with lots of sales art galleries, but not that much art street cred. I had high hopes when I planned my recent trip there to see three new galleries. I was most impressed with the beautiful white Scott White space showing Ross Bleckner. On Jan 14^th there will be a community "art walk" in La Jolla and Scott White Contemporary Art will unveil the gallery's second show in this new location having moved from Little Italy. Stranger Than Paradise is a retrospective of photographs by Stefanie Schneider that have been hand-picked by White himself. Although her work has been showcased in collections and museums around the world, this is Schneider's 1st solo show in San Diego. You can also still see the William Glen Crooks exhibition

Thumbprint Gallery does not have street level windows and neither it nor Alexander Salazar Fine Art were open for business on the day I visited. Neither appeared to show work different from their other gallery spaces in North Park and downtown. But both will be open in the evening on Jan 14. ASFA (6-9 pm) will show paintings by Erik Skoldberg from San Diego and sculptures by Kevin Barrett from New York. Thumbprint (5-10 pm) invented Works of Wisdom, works by an eclectic mix of artists using famous quotes as their stimulus.

I used this opportunity to drop into Quint Contemporary to see the stunning minimal back painted glass works by Thór Vigfússon. These works do not read in photographs but have such a quiet power. Also close by is RB Stevenson and I discovered the work of John Rogers, which blew me away. This local professor at San Diego State is another hidden SD treasure. The show at the end of December was sparse because many of the works were sold, but that made the space ever more open and elegant.

The Kathleen Marshall: Still in Paris gouache paintings at the Athenaeum Art and Music Library were almost photographic the technique was so perfect but it was the way that they drew you into the scene and made you believe, for the moment at least, that you could be living in one of these rooms and about to step into the sun dappled garden that is their true charm..

I visited The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to see the Phenomenal: California Light Space and Surface. I knew the works of most of these artists and was surprised to be most taken with the completely black room by Eric Orr called Zero Mass. I entered the room with trepidation and left after a few minutes. But something prompted me to ask a guard if I had missed anything. He kindly took me back into the room and gave me the confidence to stay long enough for my eyes to become accustomed to the very low light. The room was not a deprivation experience but an experiment in light and space after all.

Do I think that La Jolla is coming back as a center for the visual arts in San Diego? No, three new gallery spaces will not make that much difference. What I do think we are seeing is the re-bounding of the international art market being reflected in these galleries’ quest for a bit of that succulent pie. I hope that Thumbprint and Salazar have not put more on their plates than they can digest as I sincerely wish that they will succeed.

Audience Engagement

2011-11-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

I was glad to see the James Irvine Foundation publication Getting in on the Act as they made a very good case for the value of the policies at SDVAN. They reported that building support for the arts in the future depends on encouraging more participation from our audiences.

The study identifies three main types of involvement; curatorial where the public makes decision about the content or direction of the project; public co-producing with the collaboration of professional artists; and finally when the public is asked to create their own works of art.

We have found that SD audiences want to meet the artists and love to sit down for a meal with them and even share in the process of making the work. We know that art gives people a way to identify their community, take pride in it and thus protect and improve it.

SDVAN continues in its efforts to gain more and more participation from our community. During the Art Meets Fashion 2011 public launch in April of this year, we invited the public to strut their stuff on our catwalk with fashions made by them or their friends. This popular part of the program helped to build the number who attended this event to 1000 and it was one of the most well attended events of the NTC Liberty Station complex.

Hats Off to Life is a project where we will be going into retirement communities and basing hat constructions on the life of some of the residents. We hope to hold a hat making workshop for them as well. We will strive to introduce participatory components into the DNA of Creativity project in the next two years.

However, having spent 6 weeks looking at art in London with very little personal participation, I can testify that this was an immensely satisfying experience. Not all art needs to be displayed with a participation element although a little education is never amiss for those who might want it. The new show at the SDMA, Mexican Modern Painting from The Andrés Blaisten Collection (through Feb 19, 2012), is wonderful to see just for the varied styles and high quality of the work on display. There are two educational rooms within the show space. One has a time line with four ways to listen and interact with the information presented. The other has specially commissioned drawing benches with a chance to create right there.

For SDVAN, not having our own brick and mortar venue has become one of our strongest strategies. We do not consider this a disadvantage or even something to strive for in our future plans. As we work alternatively online, in loaned spaces and even work to get into people homes, we see this as a cost effective and innovative way to go forward.

Today’s artists are collaborating, remixing and repurposing not just with their materials but with their cultural views. At SDVAN we encourage that and try hard to do it internally within the organization. We are a 100% volunteer organization with no salaries or building cost to cover. All our donations go into the funding of projects for the community. This is an alternative way of running a non-profit and one which has grown out of the needs of those we serve.

I was astounded when I first came to SD to see the hundreds of art association that exist here. Although they have not perhaps been very proactive in creating an art market, they have certainly been responsible for supporting the many cultural resources of our neighborhoods. The SD region has this incredibly rich pool of amateur and part time artists and their impact is underestimated, I believe. It is heartening to learn that a total of 33% of all adults create and attend art events. Add to that 17% who attend and 12% who make art but don’t attend and you get a whooping 62% of American engaged in creative processes.

Here are a few examples of visual arts project mentioned in the study that I thought you might enjoy:

The Art Gallery of Ontario’s In Your Face was an open-submission art exhibit featuring 17,000 portraits collected from the public
The Davis Art Center’s Junk2Genius program celebrates the community’s commitment to reduce, reuse and recycle. This annual competition features 15 teams of community members competing in a timed sculpt-off using recycled materials
.

LONDON 2011 - PART TWO

2011-10-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

The link to this PDF includes news of

Frieze Art Fair
Exhibitions at Tate Modern (Gerhand Richter top)
Degas at the Royal Academy
Frank Stella at the Haunch of Venizen
Raqib Shaw at White Cube (above bottom)
Grayson Perry at the British Museum
more news of the design shows at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Pipilotti Rist at the Hayward Gallery (above middle)
Turner Prize show at the Baltic in Gateshead
and much more totaling 12 illustrated pages of coverage of October 2011 in London and Newcastle

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed attending these exhibitions.

http://www.sdvisualarts.net/sdvan_new/pdf/A+ArtBlogLondon2011Part2.pdf

LONDON 2011 - PART ONE

2011-09-26T09:20:00.000-07:00

My London Trip is Sept 15 to Oct 31, 2011 and I am sharing my art adventures this year on the A* Art Blog. This covers Sept 15 to Sept 26.

This is the beginning of my exploration of the London Design Festival 2011 and there are 200 participants and over 280 events in 25 different design areas. I have plans to go to about a dozen of them as it is quite overwhelming but fascinating. Evidently this is the largest design festival in the world. Hold on to your hats as what follows is just the first day.

I started with a lecture by Murray Moss at V&A about digital 3-D printing and examples are scattered through out the Victoria and Albert Museum so it was like a scavenger hunt to see them all, but brilliant and he is one cool old dude. He curated this collection from existing and commissions works and each is set for a reason in its space. It reminds me of what Ruben Ortiz-Torres says he is doing for the Long Beach Museum for Pacific Standard Time. By juxtaposing art works, you provoke new meaning on both. Displaying works of art in a relationships which are not time lined or regional but has to do with the influences is more historical but Moss envisions museums that could be science oriented one day and economic the next. . Moss was very interested in the way that nature can be mathamatised and how that could teach us things about structure in design. New architecture is not so much a referral to older styles (the variation on the box) but wide open to new materials construction in brand new ways. Some of the objects on view could not have been any other way but by 3-D printing.

Art work has been digitized before in a reductive process, where robots cut away in a reductive process, those bits not wants. Laser water jets controlled by computers are a good example of this. But 3-D printing is an additive process. Somewhere in between is digital modification to change an existing shape. This technique is pushed forward originally by the need for substitute body parts in the health industry. So far, we only read about the uses for peace purposes, but Moss thinks a broader dialogue is needed to cover the potential uses for war as well.

What you see below is a set of objects that were all made using 3-D printing. The light fixture opens and shuts like a flower in the sun the little stool telescopes up into a pole. The head of Lady Belhaven is reproduced in resin with a hat added to it by Stephen Jones in fiber filaments. The dress (this time on a dress form) was located in the only empty niche of the V&A hall opposite of one of the warrior saint. And the shoes were ringing the Bed of Ware which was supposed to sleep 16!

While looking for all these goodies, I discovered lots of other parts of the Design Festival. The entrance was decked out with a giant curve of interlocking wood bits called Timber Wave by Amanda Levete (left) that looks better in this photo than it did in real life. Bouroullec Brothers: Textile Field (right)- click the link to see a film of this being installed which is more interesting then the finished product,

basically a huge colored couch. When I saw it, exhausted museum visitors were reclining all over it. . The massive 240-square-meter structure was pieced together panel by panel over a fourteen-hour nocturnal stint captured by photographer Ben Dunbar-Brunton in the Raphael Gallery

A Pylon for the Future was a set of maquettes of short listed winners of a design contest by the Electric Grid. I think they missed the point here as these are really sculptures and no matter how elegant there is no way they will disappear into the landscape, so why not go all out and use a scheme of 6 which changes as you view them through the landscape.

Engineering Eyelashes: Paper Art by Jessica Palmer was a cute little

workshop for drop in visitors with an array of fiber papers for making jewelry and more sturdy glazed paper for making intricate cut out. I met Jessica who was wearing this collar necklace (left) at the time. I relaxed a bit from all that walking (three tube changes to get to the V&A from my flat in Clapham Common) and made a fun flower broach (right).

I was very surprised to be impressed with the Jameel, the bi-annual £25,000 international Art Prize for contemporary artists and designers inspired by Islamic traditions of art, craft and design. The Jameel Prize 2011 short listed artists and designers span a geographical region stretching from North America, to France, Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. I did not notice the prize winner Rachid Koraïchi perhaps because it was more subtle.

The youngest artist in the shortlist, Noor Ali Chagani (left) lives in Pakistan and his sculptural works made from miniature terracotta bricks are like a piece of cloth. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (middle) has combining Iranian traditions of mirror mosaic and reverse glass painting techniques with a modern aesthetic. Farmanfarmaian spent nearly a decade living in New York during the 1940’s and 1950’s as an art student and later as a fashion illustrator where she worked alongside Andy Warhol. Hadieh Shafie‘s (right) new works are made up of 22,500 strips of paper, each scroll is marked with printed and hand written Farsi (Persian) text then tightly rolled into concentri circles The concentric forms of both text and material take their inspiration from the dance of the whirling

dervish.Hadieh Shafie was born in Iran and lives and works in the USA.

Lifeline (2010) Birds of Paradise'(2008) 22500 (2011)

It is a very pleasant experience, walking around in an elegant tent erected in the middle of Berkeley Square at the LAPADA Art and Antique Fair presented by The Association of Art & Antique Dealers. Gold jewelry, silver presentation pieces, curiosities, furniture, paintings and drawings of the very finest quality, beautifully presented with a glass of champagne when one is parched, and a bit of smoked salmon if one felt faint. I gravitated to the Colander Table (so named for the holes) by Daniel Rohr, an edition of 8 for about $72,000 each which crated a stunning optical illusion. It dipped in the middle but a thick glass cover made it viable for use. This was the winner of the LAPADA "Object of the Year 2011 and presented by Peter Petrou Works of Art.

The Tent and Origin Fairs plus Super Brands which is one of five other displays near Brick Lane which is now the most happening place in the capitol. The streets were thronged and apparently this is not unusual for any weekend. The district was old and poor Jewish immigrants but is now a mix of Indian and yuppie. Spitalfields meat market has gone the way of Convent Garden flower market and is now all restaurants and shops. We got fabulous cheese from Androuet and chocolate brownies from St. Johns. Both were first consumed as a picnic lunch with wonderful cold meats, chocolates, corn nuts, baby artichokes, delicious bread and of course, wine, at Lesley’s nephew Ben’s temporary home while his business The Cold Press was displaying at the Tent Fair. (below)

The Old Truman Brewery London E1 was home to the English design fair in about 9 different rooms (NO actual tent!). These fun stools were made from cricket bats and more shapes liked cupcakes, fabulous puddled chrome chair, wonderful chandeliers that looked like them were made from a children’s erector set, and this clever knotted light.

Pierra Ospina Daruma Design Phillip Aduatz

Pink Clip Tick Chandelier by Freshwest Jung Myung Taek

These little fine porcelain pots all lined up like soldiers or a Morandi landscape (left) and this collection of little animals with a tiny pin cushion and two pins (right) was part of the onslaught of far eastern wares on view. .

Ikuko Iwamoto Naori Preistly

I couldn’t help but document all the deer themed wall décor I saw at Design and Made

Another theme was birds that seemed to be everywhere.

Latorre Cruz

Then on to Origins which was in the middle of Old Spitalfields Market London E1 and consisted of 6 long rows of small booths of fine crafts including a mass of jewelry, home décor objects, textiles and lighting. I was watchful for hats because of our upcoming Hats off to Life project and this antler hat seemed most impressive as it referred to all the deer I saw earlier at Tent.

Barbara Keal Katty Janneh Mirjam Muver

Another trend was paper cut outs and you can see further birds here in paper as well.

Claire Brewster Sarah Morpeth Abigail Brown Maxine Greer

This light sculpture below seems to tie every theme together and I am showing it with a wall of doll arms used to display necklaces. As always, many booths put a lot of thought into the display design and that is great fun to see.

Tsai and Yoshikawa Momocreatura

But I think my favorite piece of the shows was these drawings in space, one at the Tent fair on the left and one at Origins on the right. I especially like the one on the right as it only used the essentials lines to tell its story.

Jan Plechac Maya Selway

Drink, Mate, Art

2011-08-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

I am sure everyone has noticed how well attended the events aimed at the younger demographic group are when art is added to the entertainment. TNT at MCASD, Cocktails and Culture at SDMA, A-List at the Athenaeum and Art After Dark at the Oceanside Museum of Art, as well as the numerous vodka companies that hold launches at art gallery, are all opportunities for young adults to mix and mingle.

The really big question is how do we get that same audience to start buying art after they have attended an art show to eat, drink and mate? Suggesting education might be too big of a leap for those addled by alcohol. But the idea is to get them to start looking more closely at the art to develop some sort of choices that might lead to a desire to acquire. Here are two strategies to consider:

Roll playing: Hand out oodles of fake money and ask the guests to make choices about what art they would buy. A case of vodka goes to anyone who brings out the real thing and makes a purchase.

Match Making: ask couples to choose art for each other. This would entailed some work in figuring out the what and why. A bottle of vodka goes to the artist whose work is most chosen.

We need every trick in the book to build a healthier art world and that means where events are not only well attended but artists are supported hopefully in a monetary way.

Read another view on this subject by Kevin Freitas

Too Brave to Fail

2011-07-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

One of the suggestions for a DNA of Creativity project that was generated in our June meeting was Super Heroes, the DNA of our future selves. Comic Con, host to all things with super powers, came to town in mid July close to the same time I was invited to a SD Foundation visioning exercise for the future of SD. Join them all together and that train of thought dumped me into the subject of power and how it is used in a successful community and what we expect from our leaders.

In my own limited case, power is not a goal in itself. But I seem to have accrued some power as a by-product of various projects that I had a passion to complete. For example, my phone calls or emails are answered, I am asked to make job recommendations, our events draw a crowd and we can fund some projects because of the money we have raised. I have the power to get things done especially for others and I try my best to be a force for the good in the community.

Leaders are known to hold power and leaders have affected our past, affect our present and have a huge responsibility to affect our future. To see that future calls for imagination and a fearless attitude towards charge. No matter how much we might like things to stand still, the world turns and courage is called for to make sure we are traveling in the right directions. My husband Darwin coined a phrase, “too brave to fail.” It refers to risk takers who aren’t afraid to have new ideas and make them public. These leaders are responsible enough to know that failure is not acceptable. Everyone who has an imagination and is willing to use it is a leader in my book. I just wish these leaders were the ones who held the power.

Out and About in June, 2011

2011-06-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

I hear a wonderful video talk sent out by Dan Springs about shattering your miss-conceptions by Jared Cohen and I realized yet again how important it is to have an open mind to allow creativity to flow. I also know that we can’t just talk about ideas we have to do things and do them with passion and conviction. That is why I am so excited about the DNA of Creativity project. I spent a day and a half at the Art of Science Learning Conference at Calit2 and then we held a DNA of Creativity meeting where 28 professional gathered to further discuss the project, give in put and feedback. This was our third meeting and I think we now have a project which has legs and will help us meet the goals not only of SDVAN but to follow the mission to fuse the art and science communities.

Now that Art Meets Fashion is almost over, I have had a chance to go to a few exhibitions and boy has it been fun to see what is up and about in San Diego. I am not claiming to have made a survey of everything out there, but I just visited the shows that were in my path.

Italo Scanga mini retrospective is at the Oceanside Museum of Art to Aug 21 and I am looking forward to seeing a selection of his more intimate objects at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. He broke new ground in San Diego but I think it is the way that his colleagues speak of his zest for art and his welcoming spirit that adds to his status. Also at the OMA is Beatrice Wood Drawings and Ceramics to Sept 18, a charming eccentric women with an exciting love life that she captured in her often naïve way which makes art so accessible to all. Jeff Yeoman was a star at the Gold Coast Paintings of Southern California, California Arts Club now over. There were a few other paintings that made the show worthwhile. I liked Eric Merrell and Ken Goldman and I imagine these lush landscapes were a treat for the Oceanside audience.

I enjoyed the crowd and the cookies at the Zandra Rhodes and Andrew Logan tea party at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. I know both and own many marvelous jewelry pieces by Andrew from my time in London. It appeared like there were lots of sales for this one day event. Code of Chromes by David Forbes now over but well reviewed by Kevin Freitas on our Picked RAW Peeled blogsite. I love color field works and so was enchanted by these made from duct tape. They are all about the edge and seem to be on the edge of being edgy so I will follow his work with great interest.

Lynn Engstrom and James Watts at RB Stevenson are now over but the Watts showed a new (to me) style not using his usually tin tacked method. It was almost globe shape of drift wood hanging with little men dangling like chandelier crystals. I saw a similar pieces at the Solomon’s home in La Jolla (they were host for the annual SDMA Contemporary Art Council picnic) called brick man. I loved the sense of humor that Watts brings to his work.

Behind What It’s In Front Of: John McLaughlin painting and Roy McMarkin sculptures at Quint Gallery gave me a chance to see their new space just east of Torrey Pines on Gerard. The façade has been deigned by Roman de Salvo (SD Art Prize) and has a retro maze feeling that suits the building perfectly. The show of augmented and altered bureaus was so intriguing and bodes well for exciting shows in the new larger space.

It is your last few days of Patricia Patterson show at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido open only until June 30 so get your skates on if you have not seen the show if only to see the one installation room which is brilliant papered her personal notes.

We looked forward to seeing Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement as we lived for a time in a Renee Macintosh inspired home near Glasgow. This American version has strong ties to that European master’s work. On the night of our view we also got to see, John Dillemuth with his crazy and charming wood machines like a cross between a Da Vinci invention and Rube Goldberg and Brian Zimmerman with his astounding chairs which seemed to be site specific rising up in the atrium of quietly adding to the aesthetics of the eastern rooms. Both were part of the Summer Salon Series, What Does a City Need, Every Thursday from June 2 to Sept 1 at The San Diego Museum of Art Balboa Park, 92101 and highly recommended. By the way to the parties at the SMDA are elegant and fun and real crowd pleasers with special cocktails and exotic foods. Well done to the staff for putting on these events for people who really want to see the art besides having a good time. I think they hit just the right balance.

Who wouldn’t like wondering among the incredible gardens with exotic flora and cascading waterfalls of the SD Botanic Gardens but an added pleasure is the New Sculpture installation curated by Naomi Nussbaum Synergy Art Foundation aided by Dennis Batt. Special pieces by Cheryl Tall (with added mosaic skirts), Jeffery Laudenslager (who continues to grow as a master kinetic artist), Deanne Sabeck (new 3-d column of glowing light), Sandra Chanis (cleverly sites over water), and many, many more.

At the Lux Art Institute, see the work of South African sculptor Claudette Schreuders and the new sculpture she created while in residence at Lux. These works are an unexpected blend of realistic and cartoon that draws you in and then surprised you with a certain poignancy. A big wow for the ceramic objects for sale by Kelly Schnorr who reproduced ordinary objects but added unusual colors and transfers to show her quirky take on life. Very reasonably priced as well.

I also went to Hera Hub a new business center for women started by Felena Hanson for a Legal Issues in Business workshop by Amanda L. Mineer from the Legal Center for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs, Inc. Watch her new space for other events of interest to those setting up shop of some kind or another.

I end with just a plain old crazy assed Mid-summer party at Fusion Glass Company in La Mesa full of artists wearing wings and sporting wands and eating, drinking, and dancing. All this gaiety was a thank you to their customers and artists for a great year of sales. No fee, no cause, just bohemian artists doing what they do best. A big thank you to Debb and Paul for including us.

Putting Our Tax Dollars to Work

2011-05-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Putting Our Tax dollars to Work or what I would do if I were Arts and Culture Commissioner.
By Patricia Frischer

Okay, I will probably never be a commissioner for Arts and Culture, but I had a good fantasy while I was in the shower and thought I would share some thoughts. You never know when seeds of ideas might sprout. I have no doubt things need to shake up a bit and these ideas would certainly do that

Throw out the current plan for distributing TOT dollars. It is too much paperwork that no one wants to complete or read. Instead instigate a nomination process and a lottery draw to see who gets what. How great would it be if a tiny organization got a wind fall and could run with it?
All commissioners would be responsible for one interactive community project during their term. They would mentor and support the project to make sure it was excellent.
A Commission for Art and Culture Limousine would be on call once a week to take VIPs to art events. Commissioners would be responsible for filling this car up with different people for every trip thus widening the support of the arts and being seen to be present in the community. Only limited number of these trips would go to large established organization events. VIP would have a wide definition: politicians, community leaders, entertainment stars, sport stars, industry leaders, etc. A blog would be kept on these trips and statement taken from the VIPs.
The Commission would stand fully in back of SD Art Month and do everything possible to make this an awareness time for the value of the arts in our community. They would encourage cross collaborations of all kinds.
The Commission would hold the 21 st century version of a decathlon. Each entrant to complete a 100 Meter Race, High Jump, Hurdles, Discus, Swim/Surf, Painting, Poetry, Dance, Video, and Song.

Now it is your turn. Do you have a fantasy of what you would do as commissioner? Blog away.

PS This is written with respect to the current Commission for Arts and Culture. It is a hard job, we know.

The Birthing of Art Meets Fashion

2011-04-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

Besides the fact that this event takes more than 9 months to gestate, I feel that it is much like carrying a fetus to term. Strange for me to say perhaps, as I have never born a real child, but just look at the process and make up your own mind.

It is always easy to procreate with a partner and whether you call it a marriage or a friendship, I could ask for non better than Felena Hanson who is the Fashion Designer coordinator for Art Meets Fashion.

We turn to Krystel Tien, Fashion Show coordinator with the aid of Loren Smith Productions for our baby shower i.e. thefashion show launch. This is the celebration for all the participants and a few special guests. We are anticipating the more extensive shows in the various venues and giving the project its extra push into the world.

You need a Midwife standing by to aid you through the process and Rosemary KimBal does proof reading, mans a desk, gives me a ride…what ever I may need most. Amazingly she is also making with the Valentine Viannay the scarves commemorating the project and also fabric for the dance performance and even doing a demonstration of Giant Brush painting at the Art Walk (the event draws 150,000 on one day.) where she will help us promote Art Meets Fashion.

Birthing is a natural process but it is essential to have this vital person to supply money transfusions Doctor Carolann Dekker is our Sponsorship Liaison

Standing by is the Nurse practitioner, Lauren Letizio who coordinates the over 35 Fringe Event which are cross promoted during this project. We consider them all our Neighbors who lend a hand when needed.

What could be more vital than choosing the correct hospital and with the help of Constance White and Susanna Pereda we secured the San Diego International Airport to birth the project.

It’s sextuplets! We thought we had an 11 pound (team.venue) baby, but it turns out there is an online competition put hosted by Brian Willis and Zhibit.org with winners presented at the L Street Fine Art Gallery by Kay Colvin , an AMF artists exhibition at San Diego Dance Theater directed by Aimee Dupuis, a Mannequin show organized by Denise Bonaimo and Ariane Brittany at the NTC, a group show at the SD Airport and all those fringe events galore.

We have the glorious fortune to have three Godmothers, ,Irene de Watteville who watches over us and Rana Sampson, first lady of SD and our honorary patron and Jodi Kadesh, NBC San Diego Traffic & Weather Anchor and MC for our fashion show at the airport.

Christening is the time you declare your joy to the entire world and what nicer place than the NTC Promenade at Liberty Station for our public launch party hosted by Alan Ziter and with a dance performance by Jean Isaacs, San Diego Dance Theater and fashion show coordinator Ranee Alano. Having the public join in on the catwalk is an extra bonus with all that good will and best wishes.

Spreading the good news is Kim Richards our PR Liaison, .Louisa Garcia the documenter coordinator and Art Blog Editor, Erinn Ryan our Fashion Blog Editor. We have Adam Levins and Jessica Mandeville to thank for creating the video promotion of the project. Watch for the video by John Schell and those wonderful baby pictures by Kira Corser and Clarissa Danielle Sepulveda who documents the SD International Airport Fashion show, April 28, 2011

Knowledge transfer is handled by Denise Bonaimo Educator coordinator of the many schools who will be teaching lesson plans and to the Art Institute of Ca, SD and their staff including Jaye Brown and Ruth Holden with help from Tania Alcala and Mark Jesinoski.

It truly take a village to raise a child and ours is well tended by the more than 200 collaborators who are the artists, the fashion designers, the educators, the documenters, the gallery and boutiques owners. It’s a boy, It’s a girl….it’s Art Meets Fashion. Pass the cigars!

SDVAN presents LA Contemporary Art Fair 2011 in under 2 mintues

2011-01-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

LA Art Fair in under 2 minutes

LA Contemporary Art Fair 2011 at the Barker Hanger.

OK, you are going to have to bear with me as I just got the digital video recorder and the editing software isn’t even paid for yet. But for those of you not able to attend the LA Contemporary Art Fair or those who went and want a bit of a memory of it, you can watch my little attempt on UTube or on the SDVAN A+Art Blog site.

We thought the fair was a bit smaller and not quite as good as the Art SD one, but we did have a very nice day. We went early afternoon of the first full day of the fair (a Friday) and had no trouble parking and no large crowds either. I am sure it was packed on the opening night.

.I really liked the Quint Gallery display of photographs by Lee Materazzi. Wow, that woman is something else. She is a winner. Make sure and flip the pages of her book in this link to see the whole show.

I included the new little sheep with the pink neon by David Adey (SD Art Prize 2010) from Luis de Jesus Gallery.. I am looking forward to seeing his whole presentation through The Contemporary Committee of the SD Museum of Art. If you don’t know about this group, you should. It is very inexpensive to join and you go to collectors’ homes to hear presentations by selected artists.

The best artist who I discovered for the first time was Andrew Schoulz who is from Milwaukee but showing at a Milan gallery Jerome Zodo. His lines and compositions were compelling to me

Ace Gallery had huge targets of concentric circles by Christian Schoeller (not available for view in the catalog or online but you can’t miss them on the video). Justin Bower’s huge heads at Ace (also available locally at Alexander Salazar Fine Art) were show stoppers as well.

Patrick Painter Gallery featured Liz Croft and her huge needle points were homey and contemporary at the same time.

Like all viewers, I am attracted by the things that move and glitter. Some of these were most interesting as well, but on retrospection, I think the quality works were those from San Diego. Rather made me proud.

Best Tidbits for the Twelve Months of 2010

2010-12-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

Here is our picks of the best of the Tidbits that were recorded over the entire year of 2010 for you to re-digest and enjoy. These were first posted in our RAW gossip column.

Dec: "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade, MONTEREY, CA, loved and hated for his cutesy home and hearth paintings will go to jail in June for drunk driving. Read about his other debaucheries in the full article in ArtInfo. PS. Did you know that his production company declared bankruptcy? How the mighty have fallen.

Eyes in the back of your head department: Professor Wafaa Bilal had a digital camera implanted in the back of his head, in New York. Bilal, a performance artist, was commissioned by the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar and the work is titled The 3rd I which is on view from December.

The ultimate conceptual Christmas tree has been created by Giorgio Sadotti for Tate Britain The work, entitled Flower Ssnake, is an unadorned spruce with a bull whip coiled at it base. On 5 January 2011, the spell of Christmas will be dramatically whipped out of the tree in a performance art finale.

Nov: For the category of why can’t we have this in San Diego Harbor: Now in its second year, DRIFT is staged by Illuminate Productions with installations include waterfalls at two locations on the river which feature words from live news feeds falling through a curtain of water. The amazing technology used to create “bit.fal”l allows words to be displayed in mid-air in the droplets.

Oct: Documentary film, Waiting for Hockney is a mesmerizing true story about an artist who spends 10 years working on a portrait and wants David Hockney to have the honor of discovering him. As the documentary unfolds it weaves between the stories of how/why the artist spent 10 years making this portrait and his attempts to meet Hockney.

Sept: They are Eating Their Art Out in a big way in London with The Cake Britain exhibition. Held at The Future Gallery this show is sponsored by Tate & Lyle Sugars and produced by the Mad Artists Tea Party.

Aug: Young vandals are tipping 600 pound sculpture cows over in Burlington, Vermont. Those colorfully painted cud chewers are hitting the dust, but one of them managed to hit back and broke the foot of its attacker. The town has organized bartenders to watch out for the cow’s safety. They call them ‘cow tenders”. How come we find ourselves rooting for the vandals on this one?

July: Charles Saatchi just gave his $37 million dollar collection to the British government and his museum will be re-titled the MOCA London. Also from London: five members of the art activist group Culture Beyond Oil poured non-toxic black oil around the British Museum’s world famous Easter Island sculpture, in protest at BP’s sponsorship of the museum. They were careful not to get any oil on the art.

June: Marilyn Monroe's "Blondes" Dress Heads to Auction and the superstarlet's gown from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" carries an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. Is this where Art Meets Fashion? Princess Diane’s racy black dress has already sold for $275,000.

May: Peter Schjeldahl (Man of the World, New Yorker, Dec 21, 2009), reminds us, “Pleasure is the only trusty teacher and guarantor of seriousness in art.”

April: The EyeWriter has been chosen as the winner of the first FutureEverything Award, a £10,000 prize set up to celebrate the creative imagination that will shape our future. The EyeWriter is a pair of low-cost eye-tracking glasses that allow artists and graffiti writers with paralysis to draw using only their eyes. Inspired by Tony Quan, a graffiti writer, social activist and publisher who was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (AML) in 2003, The EyeWriter is the result of collaboration with five other artists and a production company. Tony Quan comments: ‘Art is a tool of empowerment and social change, and I consider myself blessed to be able to create and use my work to promote health reform…”

March: Check out these paddy fields in Japan that have been planted with various colored rice to create living murals. Definitely worth a click. Thanks to Deanne Sabeck for feeding our souls with this tidbit. When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination

Feb: Alberto Giacometti’s L’homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) sold for $104,327,006 and is now the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction which was reported by Sotheby’s.

Jan: Take a look at the really fun digital show at the Victoria and Albert Museum as reported by the BBC in London.The Digital Design Sensations Exhibition includes “eyes” that look at the viewers and gestures that result in flung paint.

Katherine Sweetman has a home at SDVAN

2010-11-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

We are NOT thrilled at all to see that some wonderful writers are being given an opportunity to write a blog for the Union Tribune on the arts for NO PAY. Not all the articles will make it into the print edition that will be financially rewarded but the Sketchbook Blogs online are introduced by David Fobes and are giving space to Joe Nalven, Richard Geaves, William Parson, Drew Synder, and Allesandra Moctezuma.

Letting Robert Pincus go was bad enough, but getting these artists to write on spec is outrageous. It is like the UT is holding the art world to ransom because if these writers do not write, how will we get coverage.

Katherine Sweetman’s resignation from her blog duties at the UT was withdrawn from the UT site in 13 hours, but you can read it and register your protest on The SD Reader thanks to Don Bauder. There is talk of a boycott. The story has even made it to ArtInfo. Here is our cry to SD art writers: If you are going to write for free….write for SDVAN and serve an organization that gives back to the community and is 100% volunteer. Contact us at info@sdvisualarts.net

You can read many of Katherine Sweetman's articles in our Picked RAW Peeled feature on SD Visual Arts Network.

Filling a Need

2010-10-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

There are garbage men in New York who are Russian immigrant musicians unable to find work. Their talent is being ignored and thus wasted. One of the suggestions of President Obama’s Committee on Arts and Humanity was to turn around our views of those coming into the country and see them as an asset and not a liability. Founded in 1982 under Ronald Regan, this group is an independent advisory committee, 35 members strong. Many of them are artists this year, but Chuck Close is the first visual artist on the committee since its beginning. He speaks passionately about how the focus needs to stay on real art projects and not on policy. Close talked of not inventing programs, but finding the best existing ones and cross pollinating those ideas. He also views anyone who sees a need and does something about it as a role model. You can see and hear the entire panel discussion, and hopefully become inspired to start your own project of some sort.

One outstanding example of one of these projects is the TED Prize winner for 2011. JR. a photographer and artist whose work is based on his ability to remain anonymous. In other words, he's a guerilla artist. In 2007, he did Face 2 Face where he asked different religious leaders to make funny faces. He then displays these as large scale humorous photographic murals. In 2008 Women are Heroes, in Paris and in 2010 "Women Are Heroes in Africa are variations on that theme. He has made huge collaborations with thousands of volunteers that enable his work to be public. The TED prize is $100,000 and it will be interesting to see what he does with it. This is a perfect example on one man who sees a need, makes his own opportunity and takes action.

October is National Arts and Humanities Month in the USA. For many of us, every month is arts and humanities month. For those who might need a reminder, here are 101 Things to Do to Celebrate NAHM .

Collectors Take Note

2010-09-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

I was so proud to see the excellence of the art that was shown at the Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair particularly at the San Diego booths. This quality will hopefully be reported in stories taken back to Japan and Mexico City and New York by the other participants at the fair. We sold art to the valued of over $20,000 in our SD Art Prize display, met a huge number of new people and saw lots of friends and colleagues.

I hear over and over that there are not enough sales galleries in San Diego. I know why this is…. there does not seem to be enough people buying art to support those galleries. But I have noticed a few other bad practices that make it difficult for galleries to survive and for trust to develop between artist, galleries and collectors. So this is my plea: Break a few bad habits and create better ones. Then our galleries can survive and prosper in San Diego and support more artists and encourage more art collectors.

Artist

· Don’t go behind your gallery’s back to make a sales direct to a collector and cut them out

· Make sure your prices are the same for all

· Art work does not go on sale. Destroy the work you don’t like and don’t undermine your prices.

Art Gallery/Dealer

· Pay artists on time when you are paid

· Split your commission and work with agents and consultants and other galleries to build audience for your artists. Greed will restrict growing the reputation of the artists and thus hamper the rise of prices.

· If you discount the work more than 10% to make a sale, take the discount off your commission, not the artist’s share of the price.

Collector

· Use galleries…don’t cut them out to go directly to the artist. You affect the whole market with this practice.

· Don’t negotiate the price so that the gallery barely makes a profit. Pay full price if justified by quality, reputation and provenance.

So now there are so many wonderful visual art events in San Diego county that we are spoiled for choice. The San Diego Visual Arts Network has registered almost 6000 events since 2003 and you can find something to do almost every day of every month on our calendar.

Birthing Process

2010-08-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

This last month I have challenged myself to think about the role SDVAN plays in the San Diego Community. We are unique in many ways and I am beginning to see how that uniqueness makes us innovative and helps us remain creative. I have a feeling that is why we draw so many volunteers and collaborators, find so many people attending our events and why we are so excited about the future.

We are lucky not to be the guardians of an established culture, the role so many museums have to take on in society. Instead, we can keep an ear to the ground, feel a buzz, and are able to respond to an idea. We do this on the grass roots level and it is those tender shoots that we encourage and try to nurture.

We are cutting edge in our strategic thinking and have evolved as logical incrementalist, a model put forward by James B. Quinn in his book Strategies for Change. This is a descriptive instead of prescriptive path which means we don’t always know what lies ahead. We are experienced enough and confident enough to know that the challenges of the future can be met. That gives us enormous freedom. So for example when a project for a dozen artists at one venue turns into 130 artists at 41 venues (Little & Large), we call on the troops to help and we make it happen. Art Meets Fashion is forming into a project that no one person could conceive. There are 13 teams, more than 15 fringe events, an online competition, a Mannequin project, lesson plans for teens…we are not sure where it will go or how many people will be included by the time the project ends in 2011.

All along the way we are networking and aiding new collaborations, watching life emerge as people and organizations pair up, birth new ideas and breathe life into creative whims. We hear people say time and time again how excited they are to participate, to have the opportunity to create and share. We have the privilege to see all that unfold and offer it the public.

And we are supported by and collaborate with organizations like Art San Diego Contemporary Fair and Synergy Arts Foundation, which are united in the joint effort to protect our local art scene and elevate it to reach it true potential. From Baja Norte to Fallbrook amazing things are being created and are waiting to be acquired and cherished. My own latest purchase was a fabulous work by the street artist Surge (Sergio Hernandez) from the Thumbprint Gallery, a small child dressed up as a James Bond spy, debonair in his mask and tux complete with a toy gun. He is poised for the fun of the chase. What adventure awaits us all!

Six Picks

The first week of September is full of Art San Diego Contemporary Fair events from September 2-5 at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel. Opening night tickets are $75 and include a donation to the SD Art Prize. Entrance on 3-5 is $15. .The following are my six picks.

1 .Join the volunteers of San Diego Visual Arts Network at Art San Diego Contemporary Fair as we celebrate the works of the SD Art Prize 2010 recipients Julio Orozco, Einar and Jamex de la Torre, David Adey, and Gail Roberts featured in Booth # 7.

2. Jon Block’s Sight & Sound, is presenting FREE concert on Friday Sept 2 from 7 to 10 pm at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel outside of Vela Restaurant and is in celebration of the 2010 SD Art Prize recipients and the emerging artist nominated for the prize in the San Diego Visual Arts Network's New Contemporaries III exhibition.

3. Come early to the fair that day and hear Lucía Sanromán, Associate Curator, The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, speaking about Between Here and There. Curatorial Strategies Towards a Regional Survey from 2– 3 pm.

4. A one-day conference titled: "Art in the City - Utilizing Art & Culture as Transformative Tools." is about how innovative arts/culture programs have added to the civic and economic life of cities across America. It is on Saturday, Sept the 4^th. The fair organizers are offering non-profits a discounted rate of $25 to attend the conference.

5. Mimosas and discussion begin at 11:00 a.m. at L Street Fine Art, (Jian Wang's painting) followed by lunch at McCormick & Schmick's in the Omni Hotel at 12:00 p.m. for those who join Art Talk: Art Walk. This evenit is in collaboration with Art Expressions Gallery and a portion of the proceeds will benefit ArtsBusXpress,. Guest speakers are Ann Berchtold (Executive Director of Art San Diego Contemporary Fair), Peter Fehler (Publisher of Art Ltd. Magazine), Robert Pincus (distinguished Art Critic from the San Diego Union-Tribune). Then a shuttle will take you to the fair. $75 per person (in advance) $85 per person (at the door). For more info and tickets: Art Expressions Gallery 858.270.7577

6. A satellite to the official fair is Easel - A San Diego Art Af(FAIR) will be one week only from Sept 2 – 6. and features Dan Camp and up to 200 works by 85 artists. Organized by Alexander Salazar Fine Art in a rented space at the corner of 7^th Avenue and C, the maximum price of work for sale is $2,000 and proceeds will benefit It’s All About the Kids Foundation. For more info: alexandersalazarfineart@gmail.com 619.531.8996. In 2011.

....And Three to go

2010-07-26T23:56:00.000-07:00

In July, I was fortunate to interview Ed Fosmire, the new executive director of the Oceanside Museum of Art. I must stay I felt comfortable calling him Ed. He is quite young and extremely enthusiastic about his new position. His wife is an artist on hiatus as she raised their now 5 year daughter.

The 2010 strategic planning process was almost at an end that when he arrived in April, but Ed has managed to have some influence already. He wants to redirect fundraising (one of his strength) away from the capitol campaign for the plant expansion toward philanthropic support of the museum’s programming. When asked the secret of his previous success (over $1.5 million at CSU in Long Beach), he said it was “an honest and forthright” approach. He further explained that each patron has to know what is needed and then has to express what their needs are. Then it is a matter of creating a win-win situation for the museum and the donor.

He does want to bring a Contemporary Asian exhibition to the museum as his own special interest is India, Tibet and Japan. He is working toward that goal for 2012 but knows first he has to beef up the local Asian audience. Of course, the core supporters of the museum will not be neglected but a younger demographic will also be a continued goal. The outreach will concentrate on 5th graders and the NEA grant process is underway to supplement the museum needs in that direction.

He spoke of his support for local artist and their important in the community but there are no plans to build a contemporary permanent collection at this time. But there are signs that Ed Fosmire is a risk taker. The fifteen foot nude bright yellow baby created by ceramic artist Matt Wedel and placed at the front lawn of the Long Beach Museum of Art was controversial and his responsibility.

Ed Fosmire replaced Skip Pahl, and joins board president Beate Russe and vice president, Carolyn Mickelson. He is one to watch along with the new Roxana Velásquez Martínez del Campo new executive director of The San Diego Museum of Art who takes Derrick R. Cartwright’s job and Kathryn Kanjo who has been appointed the new Chief Curator and Head of the Curatorial Department of the Museum of Contemporary Art, SD and replaced Stephanie Hanor.

Willing to Fail

2010-06-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Work of Art: The Next Great Artist on Bravo TV (channel 42 in North County, Wednesday at 10 pm) Reality TV comes to Fine Art

Here Not There: SD Artist Now exhibition until Sept 19 at The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla.

What does a crass TV reality program have to do with an emerging art show in San Diego’s modern museum? Simple. Both are showcasing artists who are willing to fail.

Being willing to fail is more important than one would think. In fact, I would say it is the cornerstone of creativity. It means attempting something in a new way, trying to break out of the box, going where no one has gone before.

The frontier of the new is not for chickens. No matter how lame the artists on the American Idol twin might be, they are taking that chance and we could all benefit if it is a success. Imagine if a mass audience dared to support the arts by buying it and displaying it on their walls. What if the general population started talking about the latest fine art talent? What if this quest to find the great raised the bar for the normal?

That could mean that a show like that at the MCASD became a sign post for all those new patrons. The artist would benefit from art sales and the museum with more community support. And it would happen HERE not there, yes, right here in San Diego.

Life, Luck and Survival

2010-05-25T00:35:00.000-07:00

The airplane rolled and pitched as it neared closer to earth. The land grew from small to large at an alarming rate. The wings leveled slightly as we held our breath and the motor quieted. But then a huge surge of power and at less than 20 feet from the ground, we swooped back up into the sky.

No, not a cut scene from LOST, but a real scene from my life last week. A reminder of how everyday of our life is about survival and survival can depends on luck and occasionally some skill and instinct. The week before, after being diagnosed with pneumonia and put on antibiotics, I was not happy with my mother’s progress. I took her off to the ER at Scripps Encinitas and she was rushed off to a hospital room with a pulmonary embolism. She is recovering now and has discovered drugs and the will to play golf again. I am planning her 90th birthday next month with glee.

How much do we dare to do? How much do we dare not to do? As it appears to be mainly in the lap of the gods, why not dream big and see what happens. So why did I spend far too many hours working on a grant proposal for emergency preparedness for artists. Maybe I was dreaming that this process would open doors for more grants and the ability to help artists in the future. But there is no doubt; I would rather be working on the programs themselves and in my own art studio. Sometimes the lap of my god seems a little hard and I wonder how prepared am I for an emergency.

Arting: are we consuming the right art?

2010-04-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know there is no new thing in art ever…it has all been done before. But that does not keep us from trying to identify what is going on right now in our society. In the April 5 issue of The New Yorker magazine, there was an article No Rules about Le Fooding by Adam Gopnik. Le Fooding is the latest cuisine craze and started in France ten years ago and has finally reached our shores. The most notable result of Le Fooding is the restaurant guide in competition with Michelin (traditional high cuisine) and Gault Millau (nouvelle cuisine). Le Fooding includes a few fast food joints of exceptional quality which is heresy to Michelin. Le Fooding is about food that is passionate, provocative, and spontaneous.

Mr. Gopnik uses all sorts of art analogies to explain Le Fooding. I immediately thought what characteristic of cuisine might apply to the visual arts.

If hor d'oeuvres traditionally tempts us to eat more at the beginning of a meal, what can we do to sell more art? This is especially important at a time when the art world is anxious about the stability of the market place. Will new art lure established buyer to start buying again? We want it all: fresh ideas, tempting visuals, and superb craftsmanship. I think we are getting lots of those qualities with our local artists. I am constantly astonished by the wealth of talent we have and you need to go no further than the New Contemporaries emerging artist exhibition in its third year, to see the menu of starters for 2010.

The main course or entrée is the surprise. It is not the newness of the art, but developing the new audience, which should be our current focus. How the viewers enters the art world, are engaged and become patrons, buyers or even simply supporters is the dish du jour. What are we doing to take the art walk attendees (all 300,000 of them) up to the next level? Is our audience ready to participate and are we making that easy and fun for them? Social media is everywhere, and a good idea can rise in an hour like a soufflé. Are we working together to take the best of the good ideas, stuffing, basting, and grilling them until they are ready to consume? The SD Art Prize in it’s four year, Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair in it’s second year and San Diego Art Month (click to request details) this coming September and Art Meets Fashion in 2011 are certainly taking us in the right direction.

The desert is definitely a la mode. No, not art covered with whipped or iced cream, but described in the words of today that we all understand. Gone is the art speak of ancient historians, and even the double speak of some conceptualists. We want art that nourishes us, provokes and challenges us into discussion, maybe a palate cleanser of pleasure between courses occasionally.

We seek art that can go on the walls of our homes and into the permanent collections of our museums. We want to gather in real (not virtual) spaces to celebrate that art. We also wouldn’t mind going directly into the kitchen now and then to see what is cooking and maybe stir a few pots.

Cliffnotes: One Month Condensed into One Week

2010-03-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

I would hate the pressure of having to post a monthly diary of my art activities. But I am going to give you a brief outline of what it is like to be me compressed into 7 days. Excuse my further liberties with the sequence of these events. Hopefully it will be insightful to some of you and it may help me to prioritize my time in the future. Remember that some of these projects might fall through the cracks. But there seem to be a dozen waiting in the wings.

Day 1

Lunch with Julio Orozco where I learned about his exciting art projects including story boards for sleazy movies and I gave advice on galleries and choice of work for the New Contemporaries III at Project X: Art. That night we previewed the new work by David Adey; John Henry at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, which was a stunning “flat” bridge of books. Negotiations were finalized soon after to hold the SD Art Prize shows at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library with the help of Erika Torri the director. Adey’s show is the first, followed by Gail Roberts and in April of 2011, we will collaborate on the Einar and Jamex de la Torre exhibitions. We also found out that Larry Poteet will be manning the Beyond the Borders booth at Art San Diego. All four SD Art Prize artists will be featured in our two booths at the fair which will be next to the BTB Art Gallery booth. It should be a great 4 days of partying at the Hilton Bayfront Sept 2 -5. I finished setting the panel where the nominators will speak on behalf of the artists at Project X on May 15 and the catalog for that show is very near completion and will be posted by the time you read this. We are holding on going discussions with the Omni Hotel to find them a new curator for their exhibition space. We are so thankful to them for hosting the prize for the last three years and want to make sure that space stays one primarily for local artists.

Day 2

We were off in a rain storm to the Mingei International Museum to see Tempering Memory, by Julio Rodríguez, which complements the exhibition ¡VIVA MÉXICO!. ¡VIVA MÉXICO! — Heroes and Artisans. Lovely photos and display of historical artifacts and always a pleasure to be in the beautiful Mingei. We confirmed with Julio and Cecilia that we will try to bring 2-3 bus loads of patrons to the opening of EntijuanaArt at the end of Sept. This is also the opening of the Tijuana Movers and Shakers exhibition that features TJ artists making portraits of TJ VIPs in the art world. Wow, we have gone international.

Day 3

We may have been the oldest folks at the Glashaus but this was our opportunity to see this relatively new space (the party was for the one year anniversary and the dress was mustache masquerade. Device Gallery and Matt Divine both have cornerstone presence in the space and we also loved the work of Michael Mass and discovered many designers including Trista Roland and Allison Neumann. This would make a lovely venue as a hub for the Art Meets Fashion Project. (Launching this week with a meeting for all interested in know more on April 22) We are also considering the new space4Art building and the NTC. We finally launched the application and guidelines for this collaboration after weeks of working on the logo design (stunning even if it was made by committee and not my preferred way of making design decisions.) The visit to the SD Airport with our host Constance White (to see the stunning new works by the de la Torre’s) will result with luck in a further collaboration in their new WestEnd Gallery and maybe even a fashion show in baggage claim in 2011.

Day 4

Lunch with Felicia Shaw of the SD Foundation and Naomi Nussbaum of Synergy Arts Foundation was held in Cardiff to discuss a project to give grants to artists to help them prepare for emergencies. Synergy is the perfect fit for this project and working with Felicia is a joy. We hope to give away Studio Protectors and give a workshop to help artist to apply for the grants and learn some of the things they can do to prepare for the unknown natural or man-made disaster. Lunches like this confirm my belief in the Eat Your Art Out projects which gives artists and art patrons a chance to break bread and get past the starter and into the meat and potatoes of the art world. We have three of these in process for the summer of 2010.

Day 5

Reading the new Public Art Master Plan (Draft) for the Port of San Diego with a bunch of new recommendations for a clearer vision of how all the artwork should work together to build a collection and fulfill their vision was heavy going as it was 74 pages. Comparing it to the beautifully illustrated 28 page master plan for the SD Airport was interesting. The SD Airport plan is full of inventive wishes such as curbside canopies and an observation platform, a performance venue and meditation area and even a chill zone. Even more heavy going was the workshop for the SD Women’s Foundation and then the speech by the new director of the NEA, Rocco Landesman held at the La Jolla Playhouse. Mainly I am just tired of hearing how important art and culture is to the health and vitality of the city. Hell, we all know that. But I never hear any creative and exciting plans that the powers that be have to allow the arts to perform that role to its fullest. There was no explanation why San Diego received only $75,000 out of the $5 million that came to California. The good news is that Rocco is trying hard to raise money for the arts from the budgets for housing, education, transportation and health and environment agencies. By making the arts the fulcrum for getting funds, he hopes his Art Works (triple entendre) campaign produces results. There were some networking opportunities at both. However, I especially enjoyed hearing and meeting Vicki Estrada from Media Arts Center. We hope to expand by using interns into the video world much more in the future especially with the Art Meets Fashion project.

Day 6

We were able to help the Bronowski Art & Science Forum with non-profit status through our fiscal agent program and they will be holding their first panel on Thurs. May 27 at The Neuroscience Institutes auditorium with a Conversations with Roman De Salvo and Dr. V.S. Ramachandran. They will be making lots of improvement to the forum with the help of some wonderful volunteers. Likewise, we hope to assist the Contemporary Art Committee from the San Diego Museum of Art with some strategies for getting new members….maybe in the future a website of their own to high light the excellent programs that they put on with an emphasis on meeting local artists. Their last meeting featured Lea de Witt who gave a marvelous video presentation of her glass process. They will all be treated to a private showing of the New Contemporaries III show in May where I lined up a selection of artist to make presentations.

Day 7

Even my rest day is all art all the time. I was happy to visit Becky Guttin’s studio on Silverton Avenue to see new work before she jets off for her show in Israel. Five other artists have opened their studios in this same location in Mira Mar and we were told that rents are cheap and I can testify that the studios are large and airy. More artists should consider this area. They hope to put on regular open house and this would be a great location for group shows as well. Which reminds me that I finished the power point presentation for my lecture on March 23 at SDAI on how to curate a group show. This is an old soapbox for me as I would like to see more thought put into exhibitions to raise the standard of shows that we see. I also saw a play at the Encinitas Library which was FREE and filled to capacity…very heartening and Jim Gilliam is to be endlessly commended for bringing the arts alive to our community. I was treated by Irene de Watteville to a performance of Aurélia's Oratorio, which was charming if a bit light weight but beautifully performed. I spent time in my own studio working on a new line of sculptures We zipped over to Kansas City for the 125 anniversary of the KC Art Institute and saw the new wing of the Nelson Aitkin Museum. It was the most beautiful landscape and thrilling to see snow falling and white blanketing everything. We visited with Debbie Glassberg , my friend who has just finished building a house out of ship’s containers, which was stunning and environmentally as green as you can get. We dined with Bruce and Cheryl Tall and saw her latest paintings, which are starting to surpass her ceramic sculpture. She is teaching Jean Lowe how to make small ceramic works for the Specimen gift shop at Lux.

I truly believe in the power of art. It fills my life in so many ways. I just hope it doesn’t bury me.

Allison Renshaw Discovered

2010-02-23T18:24:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest pleasures for an art addict is to watch the progress of an artist as they grow and develop. I got that opportunity retrospectively when I visited the studio of Allison Renshaw and was allowed to paw through some of her past work. It was there I found the clues to her latest creations. I soon started to recognize the visual language she has developed including egg forms, water shapes and flesh tones but it was the collaged element developed from mail art to her friends, which stood out for me.

Compositionally these almost abstract works are quite formal. You see balance, movement and a layering of space we expect form the best of all 2-D work. But she managed to use the unique masking of the collaged work to create a mystery in the subject matter that is tremendously intriguing both visually and conceptually. Allison uses acrylic and lately air brushing to give us endless mini landscapes within the painting which helps us have the mandala-like experience of meditation. In other words you can get lost in the details. I am a sucker for art titles and many of Renshaw's works are named after lipstick shades. She passes the number one criteria I have for art. It is honest and reflective of who she is.

The only trouble I have is how to sum up the work. Is it where dumb and pretty get to live happily with intelligent and ugly? Or Is it where Intelligent and pretty get to live happily with dumb and ugly.

Patricia Frischer
Coordinator, www.SDVAN.net

Allison Renshaw: Plastic Fantastic is showing her work at Oceanside Museum of Art, (704 Pier View Way , Oceanside , 92054). Gallery Walk and Talk with Renshaw, Thurs. Feb 25, 7 pm. Show until June 20.
She is also one of the artists in New Contemporary III, 2010 at Project X: Art: Greg Boudreau, Kelsey Brookes, Stephen Curry, Steve Gibson, Brian Goeltzenleuchter, Wendell M. Kling, Heather Gwen Martin, Robert Nelson, Julio Orozco, Allison Renshaw, Lesha Maria Rodriguez, James Soe Nyun, Stephen Tompkins
Opening Reception: Sat. April 24, 7 – 10 pm, Panel discussion Sat. May 15, 5:30 pm, Show from Sat., April 24 – Sat., May 22, 2010 (320 S. Cedros Ave. Ste. 500 , Solana Beach, 92075). For more info: Chris Martino 858.792.9685

Dreams and Visions: Movers and Shakers 2

2010-01-24T23:26:00.000-08:00

I have a feeling I am not the only one who was thrilled by the storms of mid-January. The lightning electrifying the atmosphere and the thunder and pounding rain filling my senses was so exciting and reminded me of my Wizard of Oz roots in Kansas. Over 500 people amazed me by filling the gallery for the reception of the Movers and Shakers 2 exhibition at Art Expressions Gallery (2645 Financial Court, Suite C, SD, 92117 Link for map to gallery) in the middle of that onslaught of weather. I prefer to think they braved the storms because the draw of good art and the energy of the arts community when it comes together create the same excitement.

January reflections and predictions are still on my mind when I look at the two Movers and Shakers exhibitions (2008/2010) together as a whole. We set out to mark a cross selection of those who help the visual arts community depicted in a wide ranging portrait format by some of those artists who are aided by their efforts. On line, you can learn about the start of this project, a couple of introductions to the show Id, Ego and Superego, Movers and Shakers 2, and a forward by David Lewison or find all the information in our catalogs one and two. In both exhibitions those VIP s were asked to state their vision for the future of the visual art in our region.

SD Flash Forward: Movers and Shakers Speak Out is a summary of those visions in the first exhibition by Kevin Freitas and myself. It is interesting to see how some of these visions have progressed. A way to promote San Diego outside of our geographical area has been started by the Beyond the Borders International Art Fair by bringing an outside audience to the city. Perhaps September, when the fair is scheduled for the next three years at the new Hilton Hotel Bayfront, can become the month for all galleries to concentrate on promoting local art. Massive collaborations were made to put on the Little & Large project with 41 local galleries and over 120 artists included. We are so cheered to see the Space4Art project with the possibility of an art center in Barrio Logan/East Village.

We hope you will think about these visions and those of your own and then create some real action to make dreams into reality.

Now hear some live chat about last year and the future on Art Rocks! Interview with Philly Joe Swendoza

Patricia Frischer
Coordinator, www.SDVAN.net

State of the Arts 2010 -The Future of Art Publications

2009-12-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

I believe that Art is the beginning of change. There are always other ways of seeing, thinking, acting, being. There is more than one reality and of course, more than one choice. So I set out to ask my art writing colleagues Seth Combs contributing to San Diego CityBeat, Keli Dailey stirring things up at SignOnSanDiego, Kevin Freitas posting on Art As Authority (read his entire article on this subject) resident art critic Robert Pincus writing for Union Tribune about the future of art publications and what they see on the horizon of this industry.

Do people read about art in depth any more?

It seems like we are all being bombarded by words on the internet. We assume that the attention span of the young is limited to 300 words at a time so fundamental to this discussion are the reading habits of the future.

Keli Dailey reminds us that you have “…. to see a lot of good art to recognize the limitations of not-so-good art, and this swallowing and absorption of the good vitamins makes your eyes stronger.”

Robert Pincus has faith that “…people want to read good writing about art. My evidence for the continuing viability of informed and passionate art criticism is anecdotal.” as he gets comments sent to him regularly about his column.

“The writing needs to be succinct with less art jargon, treating the reader with respect and realizing that the audience has a multitude of choices…” is Seth Combs take on this question.

Kevin Freitas takes a contrasting view, “As we become increasingly “plugged in” our capacity to reflect and ponder upon the information received decreases – including how art is viewed and understood.” He thinks that the coffee table book may be replaced by the Kindle, but “artist blogs and pod casts will not be the knock-out punch to the jaw of movable type.”

The overriding sentiment here seems to be as Pincus states “…..nothing can replace the value of keen insights about art, no matter how they are delivered.”

Are websites the future of publications or do they also have to organize events, curate show, etc?

As the coordinator of a website directory that has morphed into a media publication with calendar, and events promotions, I wondered how traditional publications are using their websites and how some journal websites are surviving.

Combs states that "local publications that are exclusively art oriented have more problems than nationals art periodicals.” CityBeat has a wider remit and covers news, food, nightlife, etc. But size of the editorials at CityBeat are not dependant on advertising generated by the arts as the “publisher recognize that culture adds value to the publication.” Of course, three people with an online blog can survive, but would they be able to progress and reach full potential? Small local online publication, like Latent Print and Sezio are screening movies, supporting poetry readings, combining music with art displays.

Dailey recommends Arts Journal as one of the few profit-turning and highly trafficked online arts publications. I personally get my art daily from Art Daily right now.

Pincus believes “…that print publications will survive, with online dimensions continuing to expand their scope into a range of media. But new publications may opt not to appear in print at all. More importantly, though, it's always the quality of the coverage that will matter most. The liveliness and lucidity of the writing will set one daily, weekly, magazine and site apart from another. For audio or video reporting, it is the perceptiveness of an interview or the excellence of the footage that is vital”

Freitas applauds the rise of self published volumes, which “give artists the freedom and luxury to get the word out at a minimal cost.” He recommends LA based Coagula Art Journal , now in its 17 th year.

e-Flux which began in 1999 as an exhibition in a hotel has become “state of the art” officially with its recognition of Anton Vidokle/e-flux, Julieta Aranda & Brian Kuan Wood on the top most powerful people list of Art Review Magazine. (See the whole list in our revised Smart Collector article). e-Flux can be described as a collective, a school, an archive, an advocacy source, a journal, a gallery in Manhattan and a gathering place for projects to incubate and mature. e-Flux even auctions and markets artwork.

Frieze is a magazine published 8 times a year, a very successful art fair held in London in October and a non-profit foundation responsible for the curated program at the fair, including artist commissions, talks, films, music and education. The Foundation is funded by the European Commission and Arts Council England. Perhaps our own Beyond the Borders International Art Fair SDVAN/SD Art Prize is already the non-profit organization associated with this fair. will develop into a publication.

Are there still movements and if not how do we define contemporary arts?

Everywhere I look combined, collaged, collaborated and bigger than life art is prevalent. How do you get a handle on that all encompassing media assault? And how can we use geography to define art where the World Wide Web makes us all one?

Robert Pincus says he has, “…never felt it to be any less exciting to be a critic in a post-movement era. Art, whether collaborative or made in isolation, is always rooted in the strength of its vision and convictions. Art that grips us and surprises us will always appear.”

Keli Dailey believes there are movements. “ Lowbrow is a movement and there are many micro-movements, which might become major, but the very nature of contemporary art is to morph, and not be static. It overlaps and borrows and competes and revises and reassembles and destroys and sounds intellectually muscular when it tosses the word “postmodernism” around like an ‘ol pigskin.”

Seth Combs is hopeful that the new Space4Art Barrio Logan/ East Village art complex will provide a local geography for “…more interdisciplinary, interactivities and cross pollination of ideas.” He feels that North Park never reached that maturity before the rents went up and the artists moved on. Today’s artists must speak, write and publish in city centers, which are the main ingredient to making that soup from which great art emerges.

For Kevin Freitas, “The problem is everyone is talking and no one is listening or even commenting. And while artists might upload their work to the internet in an effort to circumvent dwindling exposure in traditional press sources, it is actually hurting them. The idea that art speaks to everyone has just gotten harder to hear over the din of a thousand invisible voices competing on the same computer platform. In the end, the only cure for the arts and its exposure is to keep a copy of the painting you’re standing in front of, firmly imprinted in your mind’s eye.”

However, e-Flux has just published a collection of blog threads which they see as the natural developing direction of visual art writing. Could it be that blog topics will emerge and self define categories of interest? Some of the chapter heading include: Politics of Installation (Boris Groys), Is a Museum a Factory? (Hito Steyerl), and Art in the Knowledge-Based Polis (Tom Holert).

My advice is to choose a variety of websites and writers to follow and remain loyal so as not to confuse yourself. If you get bored there are obviously plenty of choices so keep your eyes open and your finger on the search button. Finally, remember to keep those comments coming as this is one of your ways to actually affect the future and make sure that next year 400 more publications do not bite the dust.

London and Venice, 2009

2009-11-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

The essence of a trip should be definable. So much content is difficult to organize but here is my summary of some of the trends I saw and observations I made during an exceptionally art-filled month in Europe.

A. New techniques abound with installation art attracting the most attention. Artists are stretching to use technology and seem to be having fun….remembering that they do not just create to make money. There was often an “anything goes” festivity about the work we saw. Boundaries are being pushed and artists are resisting strict categorizations by media. I have a theory this is due to our exposure to UTube and the multi media savvy of youth. A simple image or object is not enough to gratify desire any longer. We want entire environments which somehow encompass us and give us a total sensory experience. Video art is often dull and slow in comparison with the cinema. It may be cheap to transport, but no one has found a good way to show it at a fair or biennial. I suggest a relaxation lounge, with wonderful seats for those who are tired, where all the videos are shown on demand. Too bad there was not an art channel on the 10 hour airline trip overseas.

At the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, Fabrizio Plessi has undoubtedly the most incredible room with tiled floor and spectacular windows to display his beautifully constructed set of boats with video clips of running water surging on the top of each one.

B. Cliques do exist and there are artists who are being promoted over and over, while emerging artists still struggle to be seen. Young artists, however, have the advantage of being able to make their own websites to promote their work. At the end of the week-long Free Art Fair at London’s Barbican in Oct 2009 (now in its third and final year) all the works are given away for free. Does this undermine the market price? If people get it for free, will they start to expect all art to be free all the time? Or is this a clever strategy to build audience by helping future patrons to experience owning the works? C. American art is still very strongly represented in London and Venice. The John Baldessari exhibition and Andy Warhol in Pop Life: Art in a Material World at the Tate Modern, Ed Ruscha at the Hayward, Bruce Nauman at the American Pavillion at the Venice Biennial and Abstract America: New Painting and Sculpture at the Saatchi Gallery.

Kristin Baker, (left) The Raft Of Perseus, was a work made with collaged hand painted torn paper on canvas. These works really stuck with me and reminded me of Allison Renshaw, who is local painter and has a stunning work in the Quint show at CCAE. Here is a solution to those who say they can not afford the art that they see in big galleries. You can buy local which might be more affordable. Paul Lee, (right) Untitled (Can Sculpture) created this series of cans with faces and lenses and I immediately thought of Tom Driscoll’s smashed bottles on show at the L Street Gallery for the SD Art Prize. You can also see Tom’s work at CCAE and even buy for $8 one of his fridge magnets, which is not a reproduction but a real miniature work of art.D. Fairs like Frieze Art Fair and Biennials are still the easiest way to see art from all over the world in just a few hours or days. The galleries are now concentrating more on the work of one artist or one genre to make a stronger showing in their booths and pavilions and this is a relief to the eye and more of an education. During the Frieze fair in London, there are an enormous number of satellite shows and major exhibitions in museums and galleries opening to take advantage of the audience that Frieze attracts.

SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution at Somerset House was the most amazing eye opener for me. This project is the brain child of Nick Knight who is mainly concerned with showing fashion shoots as a process deserving of film documentation. In this exhibition, he has done much more. He shows the process of creation, he allows us to see the actual performance of the shot and he encourages participation in many inventive ways. In the photo above you see Naomi Campbell (left) times three and three times as large as real life. I was able to go to a computer board, choose my color and size of pen and my drawings were projected on this huge colossus. The sculpture was made with the latest technology from triple exposure photo converted in to 3-D data and digitally carved. I got so many ideas from this show and hope we can utilize much of what is happening in London for our Art Meets Fashion project in 2010/11. I loved the prints of lips on glass that were signed and displayed…..maybe our VIP’s can do a similar stunt at the next Movers and Shakers show.
Anish Kapoor (middle) at Royal Academy was by far my favorite exhibition on this trip. Take a look at the firing of the cannon video. By the end of the show the room will be filled with red oily wax and I found this both a strangely exciting and silly experience. Henry Darger (right) at the Museum of Everything shows outsider art works by people who are compelled to create. Many are mentally “challenged” or even institutionalized.

Origin is a two part fine craft fair held at Somerset House. Fenella Elms makes these impossibly delicate porcelain images on the left. The cross over from Fine Craft to Fine Art was evident in this show. I think it is time we had a similar fair in San Diego and we intend to encourage that at SDVAN. I enjoyed the Pavilion of Art & Design London at Berkeley Square especially for the Artist’s Jewels at Didier Antiques (center) because of our Little & Large promotion of sculptors/jewelers. I loved Vincent Dubourg’s (right) deconstructed cabinet from Carpenter Workshop Gallery …click the link to see other terrific works by him.

E. The art market in Europe is not that different than in the USA i.e. shrinking money for grants and from collectors, but galleries are numerous and art fairs and biennials are still thriving. Art still has the power to transform a landscape and the economy of an area. The Venice Biennial has expanded to include its garden setting, a larger warehouse nearby and 44 displays in the city. If you are like me and have known about the Biennial all your adult life, you have certain expectations of the quality of the work being of the highest. But over the years, this has become just one more semi annual art venue, so I had to get over my disappointment quickly and realize that this is a mixed bag of art. Some are outstanding; others are lack luster and even seemed unfocused.

When we reached Making World pavilion, it was Galaxies forming along filaments, like droplets along the strands of a spider's web (left) by Tomas Saraceno that was a show stopper. It filled an entire large room and I felt like a thief crossing a laser protected safe room getting from one side to the other. A long series of turntables with a very odd assortment of found objects (right) was made very special because of the lighting, shadows and motion created. Take a look at the video of Hans-Peter Feldman’s Shadow Play.

The photo (left) is just to give you an idea of why you should watch the video link to Paul Chan’s sexy, funny shadows projected on the rough brick wall. Giacomo Costa’s photo montage Private Garden (center and right) engulfs you on both sides of a walk way of light boxes, but it is only on close observation that you see this digital masterpiece is all collaged and not a natural setting at all.

A terrible cliché, but it is good to travel and good to return. A first week at home showed that SD has as much to offer as any major city in the world. I highly recommend Untitled the movie about the art world now playing in Hillcrest. And I recommend even more strongly the Tara Donovan art exhibition at the Downtown MCASD through February.

I wrote a 30 pages diary of a month’s coverage, and edited it down by taking out all the notes on friends and food. If you want to see more details and photos of this trip please read the 18 page PDF of this trip.. I hope this tempts you to make your own commitment to see more art in the near future.

MEET THE PRESS

2009-10-20T05:23:00.000-07:00

Meet the Press, Sept 26, 2009. Panel discussion moderated by Kevin Freitas from Art as Authority at Art Produce Gallery as part of Agitprop: David White's Brain Trust.

You can see the video of this panel discussion on UTube posted by Kevin Frietas. Kevin and Philly Joe Swendoza did a further discussion of the evening and you can hear that on this link if you click on Viagra Needed for San Diego Arts Press Corps? on Art Rocks! Internet radio.

What follows are solely my written answers to the questions asked by Kevin Freitas that evening. Other panelist were Keli Dailey from SignOnSanDiego, Pam Kragen from North County Times, Seth Combs from San Diego CityBeat

What is your current diagnostic of the state of health of the arts coverage here in San Diego? (What would you prescribe as a remedy?)

High grade fever of expectations, sperm count is too low. Viagra needed.

How do you proceed and decide what to cover? (Give me one good reason why we should cover the arts at all?)

Art needs to be mystified and demystified. We need to create wonder. We also need to give people a handle on a way to approach art. At SDVAN we chose writers who make a choice for our Picked RAW feature and they then write in Picked RAW Peeled a report on what they have chosen and seen. We ask that they commit to 6 months of Picks in order to develop their own voice. We also ask them to write in a way that the man on the street can understand.
Do you have a target audience that you write for? What is the most effective way to reach that audience? For example, as purely informational (who, what, where, when) or is there a larger goal?Our target audience is those who have never bought art before. They are graduating from Art Walk to Ray at Night to Open Studios to buying their first art work. We are still working on the most effective way to get to them, but we believe they are young and computer literate.

As newspapers and their readership shrink, are sold and re-bought, their advertising dollars shrinking (from what we hear in the press) and the push to put the news on the web, with video and breaking news reporters a la CNN, etc: Has the art press shrunk as well, or is this an opportunity to develop and reach a larger public? How has it affected you as a writer?

I was paid to write free lanch in England for a Middle Eastern Magazine and have a history of connection with writers (I was previously married to the terrorist expert and defense correspondent for the London Sunday Times). I wrote a book of advice for Artists. I write tons of copy (A+ Art Blog on anything I am feeling, Art Resource articles, press releases, an annual newsletter from London and state of the arts) so I have been forced to think of myself as an art writer. It took me three years before I really thought of SDVAN as media source. To me the art writing world just gets bigger and bigger. Sometimes it threatens to take over my life. But if you curate and create, you almost have to write as well. But I have almost no idea who reads what I write and I see that as the biggest possible future change. Could comments left by readers be the new score card for advertisers replacing subscription numbers?
How can we improve the arts coverage here?We need to constantly encourage more writing. Ideally, there would be one place (i.e. website) where an audience could go to link to all the articles that are available by local writers on local visual artists. We need to use art writers to educate art buyers.

What do you think makes for outstanding arts writing?

There is no substitute for text which is well written with no art speak. We should be able to see the personality/prejudice of the writer and identify those we trust. But the most important thing to me is that the article should make the readers want to go and see the work for themselves.

I am including below a small teaser about my trip to London….a full art report will come to you in November about London and Venice.

Anish Kapoor at Royal Academy was by far my favorite exhibition so far on this trip. (click the link “view exhibition photos). Take a look at the firing of the cannon video. By the end of the show the room will be filled with wax and I found this both a strangely exciting and silly experience. Kapoor gives us a once in a life time sensuous experience of cherry red lacquer and gooey oil and wax and ultra shiny surfaces that distorted the room and those in it. It is monumental in scale especially a large H.G. Wells type construction of massive rusted steel which might have been a cross between a time machine and submarine hull with lovely curves and seductive opening. I don’t think I can do justice to describing the giant train-like object that ran on rails blocking five huge gallery spaces and appearing to squeeze through three doorways leaving trails of red wax and oil everywhere. The giant depression in the wall which was a very pure yellow was phenomenal…a Zen experience which was on a level with his first powdered pigment pieces. A few of these were on show and were very disappointing. I don’t know if they were just bad versions or if he has moved on so far from these that they just seemed rather pathetic. I think it might be my first impression of the mirror balls as you come into the courtyard of the Royal Academy that will stick with me (and is the new wallpaper on my cell phone). I was most impressed with the Royal Academy for letting him do major construction and destruction to their rooms. No photo can do them justice. You have to experience them to feel their grandeur. London is all a buzz about this show and it is the one thing everyone agrees you should not miss. Plan a trip to London by Dec 10 if you possibly can.

I also want to mention the Charette held Sept 11-13 held at the New School of Architecture by Synergy Arts Foundation for Affordable Work/Live Space For Artists & Arts Organizations. I received a complete report on this from Naomi Nussbaum. The first 120 participants were divided into 16 groups to discuss development of the nine sites. On day 2, 40 people continued to develop these ideas and they made presentations with sketches, floor plans etc. on day 3. Finally all the participants were asked to give five goals for Work/Live spaces and a master list of these was compiled. They range from Community centers to community outreach to building design to personal space to finance and include lots of miscellaneous information as well. Hopefully the full report and results will be available for all to see soon.

Beyond the Borders International Art Fair

2009-09-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

In my youth, I was an art dealer on the international scene attending art fairs representing a gallery I ran in London. Memories of those days flooded back as I entered the Beyond the Borders International Art Fair. When you go to this sort of fair you are able to walk up and down the isles covering thousands of miles with just a few steps. We held court in our booth for the SD Art Prize and SDVAN, made valuable introductions, advised collectors on purchases and spotted talent. There was a buzz in the air that this was the place to be on the opening night. Our wish is that our county can support an international fair on a regular basis and there was a tangible optimism Sept 2-4, 2009 that that might be possible.

True to the title of the fair, it was very exciting to see galleries represented outside of America. Arte 256 Galeria from Tijuana displayed Alida Cervantes who continued her tradition of portraits like the one she did of Jean Lowe for our Movers and Shakers project. Tomas Rivas who has delighted us at the Lux showed with ACG from Chile. Tania Candiani (New Contemporaries) showed with Sumo Arte We were thrilled with the work of Rodrigo Echeverri from KBK. We know one of his paintings of super realistic red bricks sold during the fair to a local collector. Both those galleries are located in Mexico City.

Sales are one of the big things that make an art fair exciting. The pressure is on our local collectors to buy while the work is on location. The fair attracted lots of visitors (from LA and Orange County mainly) who also felt the need to decide before the day’s end.

The Bird Project of the Paint Night Group sold numerous small works and we were pleased to hear that at least one of Matt Divine’s sculptures also sold during the show. Sales were also reported from the Art of Photography booth. I discovered a new artist Stephen Foss represented by Julie Nester Gallery out of Park City, Utah. (an impressive piece was acquired by a La Jolla doctor).

Iana Quesnell’s (SD Art Prize) exquisite drawing of a fully loaded lace table seating graced the stage. Eric Phleger Gallery (newest addition to the art scene in Leucadia) showed Raul Guerrero (SD Art Prize) and Ed Moses side by side. The Klines’ Peaces was a special exhibit with work recently shown at CCAE.

Representing La Jolla, Galeria Jan launched Taylor Marie Prendergast, a highly talented and very young local painter. Madison Gallery featured Luc Leestemaker who was present to sign his book. CJ Gallery from downtown SD, hung the huge tea bowl series by Hoon Kwak.

The fair for me was a combination of exhaustion and exhilaration. With an incredible team of volunteers, including Alexandra Rosa, Dave Ghilarducci, Deborah Francis, Carol Beth Rodriguez, Rosemary KimBal, Kay Colvin, Lisa Van Herik, Virginia Lukei, Tania Alcala, Michele Guieu, and Silvia Valentino Karabashlieva, we greeted over 3000 collector, artists, and art professionals. This mighty band informed all those that attended about our efforts at SDVAN. Our SD Art Prize stand looked magnificent with the works of Kim MacConnel, Brian Dick and May-ling Martinez. The hotel and grounds are delux and the staff of the hotel and the organizers of the fair including Ann Berchtold and Julie Schraeger did a super job. This was a first class operation and most of the leading lights of the art world in San Diego were present.

My recommendation is to save your money, stay close to home, no airfare and no hotel bills. Instead, buy local. Just to be contrary, my next blog will be from London for the Frieze Art Fair and Venice for the Biennial. But after all someone has to spread the word about art in SD.

Patricia Frischer
www.sdvan.net
www.artproca.com
www.drawscrowd.com

Davie Hickey gave a lecture at the Beyond the Borders International Art Fair and you can read a report on it in our SmART Collector: Ask the Art Critic: Dave Hickey feature.

Interpersonal Theory of Art

2009-08-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

Interpersonal Theory of Art: Little & Large community phenomenon and the museum exhibition, Calder Jewelry at SDMA
by Patricia Frischer Coordinator, http://www.sdvan.net/

The weather may be hot most of the time in San Diego but we are all out in the cold without each other. Our Little & Large gathering created a palpable energy. You can almost see sparks of creativity flying through the air. This interaction is what we hunger for and our art is the food that ultimately satisfies us.

I went to two major launches for Alexander Calder last month. One was our own Little & Large launch where 450 artists and art supporter came together at the glamorous Se Hotel. The other was for about 250 VIPs invited to celebrate the opening of the Calder Jewelry show at the San Diego Museum of Art. I have pondered about the differences in the two occasions. I have also been wondering about the huge involvement that Little & Large engendered.

Those who are rich and maybe even a bit bored are drawn to the Bohemian chic created by artists. It was an impressive group who attended the Calder opening at SDMA. The staff worked very hard with stilt walkers, acrobats and gourmet food and drink, but only a few artists were invited. Ultimately it was the Calder jewelry itself that brought us together that night. The jewelry that this man created starting early in the 20th century, is starkly modern even today. Whimsical, royal, clever, adoring adornments seem to erupt from him and we are still happy to ogle 90 years later.

At the Little & Large launch the artists were present in droves and wearing their own creations. Professional models enhanced the work of just a few, but many more were encouraged to strut their stuff on and off the catwalk. The clothes, the jewels, the open air moonlight, the aquamarine lights of the pool, the Veev vodka, the 20 foot high projections of the jewelry and related sculpture, the video performance turned into flip books, the sexy salsa demonstration all contributed. But it was the budding collaboration, connections and kinsman ship that turned the evening into a love fest.

Why did this simple idea to ask sculptors to make a piece of jewelry and jewelers to make a sculpture develop into this large promotion at this particular time? The artists were hungry to try something new. The galleries were keen to generate publicity, especially offered for free. That is what we counted on. We were already seeing the artists raising the quality bar of their work when challenged. Galleries are now able to work together as evidenced by joint art walks for example in North Park, Cedros Design, and Kettner. This momentum is now spreading to La Jolla, El Cajon, Oceanside and Carlsbad. These events have one major quality in common. They are all inclusive.

Could we finally be nearing a tipping point? We have everything going for us but buyers to support the work of all these dedicated professionals. The self confidence generated in promotions like Little & Large is, I believe, just what we need to take us over the top. Harry Stack Sullivan was a psychiatrist who developed a theory based on interpersonal relationships. His search for satisfaction via personal involvement with others, led him to characterize loneliness as the most painful of human experiences. Combining artists with art buyers means never having to be alone again.

Little & Large promotions and the San Diego Museum of Art Calder Jewelry exhibition are both on show until Jan 3, 2010.

Patricia Frischer Coordinator, http://www.sdvan.net/

Little & Large Launch

2009-07-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

San Diego Visual Arts Network presents Little & Large
Over 90 Artists creating a Sculpture and related Jewelry for display at 41 Venues County Wide
All venue details available on www.SDVAN.net alphabetically by venue location and by artist.
Watch for Little & Large near you through Dec, 2009
More info: info@sdvisualarts.net 760.943.0148
A CATALOG with images of the works is now available to download for free on SDVAN.
http://www.sdvisualarts.net/sdvan_new/pdf/littlecatalog.pdf
Little & Large Launch Slide Show of images from the Launch party at the Se Hotel by various photographers (John Liu, Bruce Meyer, Diane Graber) plus photos by Tom Wilson http://www.tswilson.com/fashionshow/

The energy was incredible as the art world came together July 8, 2009 to celebrate over 90 artists working with 41 venues county wide to showcase over 200 art works. The Se Hotel was the perfect venue for this gathering of 450 art aficionados. Surface and texture play a huge part in the glamour of the décor for the hotel as well as the jewelry sported by all the guests. Adornments were documented on site in NowFlipThis books. The professional and amateur runway shows on the transparent runway over the swimming pool added to the excitement (MCed by Philly Joe Swendoza from ArtRocks! ) as did the 20 foot high slide show of images from the extensive catalog. Eco-friendly cocktails courtesy of VeeV were served during the VIP part of this evening.

Some artists commented that this promotion heralded some of the most creative energy seen in SD. Jewelers were challenged to make a larger work of sculpture and some of our most macho sculptors came up with jewelry petite enough for the most discerning. Fancy a pair of concrete earrings, a bracelet that lights up, a kinetic necklace fanned out to reveal its colors like a peacock? All are available along with some of the most classic, intricate precious jewels you can imagine.

The concept of the show is so unusual that it is getting national press in Ornament Magazine and American Style. A collaboration on this scale is a boost to the confidence of the art world in SD and a shout out to the rest of the community that we are indeed, a cultural destination.

I have not been able to see all the shows yet, but the creative level of the work is extremely high. It is fascinating to see the relationship of the jewelry to the sculpture. In Solana Beach, Johanna Hansen at Trios Gallery made a sculpture which is a collage of all the jewelry she created and detachable for wearing. d. goth’s hearts have taken on brutal nail closures and the matching necklaces and practically punk. This is great interest already in the Susan Hirsch glass hanging. Lynne Merchant’s full size “Humaniquin” changes accessories almost daily. Dick Ditore’s incredible breast plate of glass is a show stopper at the Ordover Gallery.

Downtown, the show of Anne Wolf’s at Noel-Baza Fine Arts fills an entire room with intricate and elegant works including a tea pot poised for lift off. Jett Gallery surprised us by adding Zachary Allen (special concrete earrings), Josh Herman, Britt Neubacher, John Neumann and James Watts at the last minute. Colosseum Fine Art never looked better with jewelry displays making this space explode with a chance to see close up the woven works of Lisa Van Herik and Tara Magboo’s headpiece and a wealth of other treasures. The display at Mixture included necklaces that lights up by William Leslie and a wonderful broach by Matt Divine which is a true miniature of the matching sculpture. It is great fun to see the cascading mobile by blox.

The galleries in La Jolla gave us a stunning collar of glass by Tom Marosz at Hallmark which embodies the feeling of his matching glass sculptures. You can see Becky Guttin’s necklaces and bracelets both at Galleria Jan and at the SDMA Gift Store where the Calder show opens on July 25. Contemporary Fine Art showcases Les Perhac’s kinetic necklace which fans out its peacock colors on demand. Lisa Slovis Mandel is showing her line which already included both 2 and 3-D works but Alexandra Hart’s new crown shaped sculpture is a joy. Corrine Perez-Garcia made her first foray into larger scale cast bronze work and was able to translate to perfection her sweeps and undulations. Carolyn Guerra at the Madison Gallery utilized the outside space to it’s best advantage with her tall double sided columns whose faces are repeated on her ceramic necklaces. Viviana Lombrozo holds on to her memories but allows them to transform into a take away necklace in her combined piece at Art Expressions Gallery.

Whatever you do, don’t miss Denise Bonaimo’s game piece dresses and accessories at the Bonita Museum and SD Art Department. I have not been able to see the five venues in El Cajon yet and Debbie Solan is showing at Fusionglass as well at the Timmons Galleries in Rancho Santa Fe with room divider sized panels.

I can’t wait to see Planet Rooth and Matthew Cirello in his own space in North Park and I am intrigued by what looks like rubber works by Mary Donald at Pigment all in North Park. Richard Keely at Velo Cult has made a necklace from plastic cups but transformed them into a miracle material. My schedule includes visits to Adorn Gallery and Bread on Market (Thomine Wilson) downtown and the GIA in Carlsbad with stops at the Solana Beach City Hall Gallery, Andrews Gallery, Front Porch Gallery, 101 Art and Soul and the OMA on the coast and four fabulous venues inland north, Escondido Art Partnership, Distinction, Par Jewelry and the Fallbook Art Center (don’t miss this one if you have not been there…the space is amazing)

I wish I could have seen them all by now, but I will do my best and welcome anyone to join me as I tour around the county. I am sorry not to mention each and every one of the artists with my impressions. Hopefully, some of you will write in and we can spread the word with first hand experiences of these exception works created at a most unusual time of collaboration and expansion for the visual arts in San Diego.

I have enormous appreciation of the hard work by all these artists to create works for this promotion, for the galleries to showcase them, for the volunteers that helped make it all possible. Now it is up to the public to make the effort to see and support our home grown talent while it is in season and at its peak.

Patricia Frischer
Coordinator, http://www.sdvan.net/

Some spaces are showing only a few artists but we want to draw your attention to the following spaces where you will see Little & Large exhibitions with 5 or more artists: Adorn Gallery, Colosseum Fine Arts, Mixture, Jett Gallery, San Diego Art Department, Sophie’s Art Gallery, Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery and Gemological Institute Of America. There are also grouping of venues in North Little Italy (NoLI), La Jolla, El Cajon, North and South Park, Solana Beach, and Escondido.

This promotion is inspired by the Calder Jewelry exhibition at San Diego Museum of Art beginning July 25, 2009 until Jan 3, 2010

Little & Large: Jewelry and Sculpture

2009-06-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

LIttle & Large Introductions by Patricia Frischer

The San Diego Visual Arts Network in a joint collaboration of 41 venues from Fallbrook to Coronado has challenged almost 100 local artists, both sculptors and jewelers, to work in both mediums in homage to Alexander Calder. When I heard the announcement about Calder Jewelry, the light bulb went on almost immediately as I thought about how this artist had created his stunning sculptures but also made over 1800 pieces of jewelry. Why not ask local sculptors to make a piece of jewelry? Then naturally, we must give that same chance to local jewelers by asking them to create a sculpture. I had no idea this seemingly simple concept would be so embraced by the art community.

We have asked each artist (either a sculptor or a jeweler) to make both a work of sculpture and a piece of jewelry just like Alexander Calder made both jewelry and sculpture. We have asked each to write a few words about that relationship. We are giving artists the opportunity and challenge to work in another medium, if they are not already doing so. The artists are not partnered together...they all work independently and they show their two works side by side. Some artists have been asked to show a number of these combinations at their venues and a few are showing at more than one place.

As coordinator of the SDVAN I saw many immediate benefits for our organization. It is our first county wide promotion, thus giving us wider exposure than ever before. We made collaborations with a new set of volunteers, artists, art galleries, and museum shops. We also received masses of new listings on the site from those resources as well as on our mailing list. We are asking for a 5% voluntary donation for any work sold during the promotion to help raise funds for our future projects.

“Many artists are delighted to have found new venues for their work to help boost their careers and hopefully their pocketbooks” as stated by our La Jolla coordinator Lisa Van Herik. Some of the jewelers are being validated as artists as this is the first show for them in art galleries and not shops. The sculptors are getting a chance to create jewelry which might possibly have a better market than larger works during the current economic market. We have found that many sculptors are welcoming this opportunity to make smaller wearable works at this time when large pieces are more challenging to place. Also jewelers are embracing the idea of making larger works which don't need to be wearable; thereby helping them cross over and break down the boundaries between art and craft.

The venues are being exposed to new artists and by joining such a large collaboration are getting greater exposure and the possibility of a new audience. This is an opportunity to come together and present a united front and draw more attention to the visual arts. Besides the official launch at the Se Hotel at least four major areas of town ( El Cajon, North Park, Cedros Design District in Solana Beach, and La Jolla) are able to feature these artists during their monthly Art Walks. Many are having private openings as well as giving up to three special evenings to celebrate and promote themselves and the artists. That makes over 50 opportunities to gather and network. SDVAN with its 3-4000 visitors a month and over one million hits a year gives tremendous coverage to these events.

I hope we are giving the art patrons who might be happy to buy a piece of jewelry a way to relate to sculpture and to expand their concepts of art. And for those feeling the pinch right now, hasn’t artful jewelry always been reasonably affordable portable sculpture? One of the largest challenges for SDVAN is to try to create more art collectors in our region. This county-wide promotion will help art buyers to find art close by and hard to resist these tempting displays.

I personally am very pleased about all the special works that have been created just for this promotion. I get so excited when I am in the proximity of good art. Plus, I love a good party with many individual venue receptions and our group launch everyone will be given a chance to Party with the Art Stars.

Patricia Frischer is a founding member and coordinator of the San Diego Visual Arts Network, Frischer has taken on the roles of gallerist, curator, writer, teacher, website coordinator and artist. Her many metamorphoses make it difficult to fit her into any of the usual art world categories. She is author of The Artist and the Art of Marketing and has lectured extensively on marketing for artists. She is a trainer of artists’ agents, art dealers, consultant and collectors. Her own art work (www.DrawsCrowd.com) has been shown internationally and her most recent one person show was at Oxford University and The Mesa College Art Gallery.

The Recycling Buzz

2009-05-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the universe just seems to speak to you and this month everywhere I turned, it was about recycling.

The seeds were planted when a new friend Felena Hanson invited me to Recyle/Reuse , which was a business networking opportunity focused on green practices in the fashion industry. At this event there was a clothing and accessories swap, an amateur styling competition, and a speaker to discuss green fabrics & practices in the fashion industry.

That reminded me of the work of Thomine Wilson who is working as a volunteer for the Little & Large promotion and doing a splendid job in El Cajon organizing the galleries there to participate. Wilson herself works with people who have recently experienced a loss and takse mainly costume jewelry from the loved ones to create either a new piece of adornment or a sculptural piece. These become family keepsakes.

Jan Phillips tells us that she sold jewelry from Liberia made out of recycled coke bottles at the Foundation for Women's microcredit fundraiser. They made $3000 for the Liberian craftswomen and over $50,000 for microcredit loans to women in San Diego and Liberia.

Early in May, there was a one day exhibit Vortex Plastique of art made from recycled plastiques at the Oceanside Museum of Art. This project was in conjunction with Mira Costa College.

Coming up is a juried show in Encinitas at the new library called Reuse, Reinvent, Recycle. This is part of the Encinitas Civic Art Program organized by Jim Gilliam. Eighty-five percent of the work has to be made from recycled material.
ART Produce Gallery & ART@theCORE are working together to put on a show Voices: Mapping the Hood which has a special audience participation project - OurSpace/Creative Exchange. The public was asked to bring an object small enough to fit into a plastic baggie. Each was labeled with a name and message. Once the exhibition opened all those participating were invited to come in and choose an object to call their own. This show continues until June 28.

Coming up on June 6 at the Garage is a project to encourage people to give up things. Give Some, Take Some from noon to 8 pm (4141 Alabama Street #4, 6192976032 deepseal2@aol.com) You can give services or objects. After you have offered up this gift, you are free to pick out one for your own if you like.

Jim Yuran of Ego-Id is looking for an artist(s) who makes recycled art, preferably out of paper, for an exhibit/open house at one of San Diego’s premier printing companies (www.ranroy.com). The facility is absolutely beautiful and it will showcase the art to many of the top designers and marketing people in the city, as well as business decision makers. The opening is July 24 but they need to make selections soon so contact them soon: jim@ego-id.com 619.283.1210

We even heard from Doug Simay that the Deborah Butterfield show at LA Louver had three small abstractions of assembled metal waste to compose her famous horses. He thought they were best of the show.

What do I make of this? Is recycling now sexy? Are our lives changes forever more? Well, collages and assemblages are recycled art that goes way back. Painters have been working over old canvases for ages and not just to save money, but often to blot out bad art. So this is probably just a re-branding exercise for the art world. But for the world at large, I think it might be a coming of age thing. Going green is now a corporately acceptable, even enviable activity. If the art world can cash in on this, I say, go for it. And if we can all get by with less buying right now, we might re-discover other values that are important in our lives.

Economic Realities, May 2009

2009-04-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

We are seeing massive cut backs in public funding for the arts. Staff is being let go and projects are going on hold or reduced. Museum hours are reduced and there are concessions on prices in an attempt to draw people back to these venues. Certainly, in the private section, not many are buying art now. But what we do notice is a huge surge in the outreach by commercial galleries to stimulate the market place. Galleries, both sales and non-profit, are well attended, at least at opening receptions as people seek a place to gather and talk. There are more art walks and open studios than ever before.

There is the new La Jolla First Friday Art Walk, the three open nights in North Park, the Downtown Art Walk, Kettners Nights, Mission Federal Art Walk, Cedros Art Walk (April 25/26)…you can see a whole list in our ongoing art events feature including about 20 monthly events and 33 yearly events and that does not include 14 annual juried exhibitions and a selection of 7 monthly ongoing juried shows. Most sales galleries change their shows monthly or every 6 weeks and that is true for University and school galleries as well. The Beyond the Border International Contemporary Art Fair scheduled for Sept 2-4 is 80% sold out.

There is a huge effort made by artists and galleriest to be involved in these events. They continue to pay for booths and entrance fees, frame work, feed and water the guest and even supply live performances to entertain the audience. But in a nutshell, the difference between a thriving cultural capitol and San Diego is that we simply do not have enough buyers to make an art career viable to the artists. If the artists sold masses of art, no one would complain of the charges for art fairs or for juried show. If people bought, art galleries would thrive and there would be year round places to buy art not just the art walks/fairs which are abounding. The art walks could take their rightful place as an introduction to the man on the street to art, which is what they do very well right now, giving huge exposure to masses of talent.

This month, besides attending the opening for the SD Art Prize 2009 recipients Kim MacConnel and Brian Dick at the L-Street Gallery, I visited the UCSD open studios graduate exhibition and I really enjoyed myself. I like the Elizabeth Mehrmand with her bed...when you laid on it a motion detector started a video in back of you on the wall with her nude image repeating how much she loved me. Just terrific and she is a first year student! I was also taken by Merve Kayan videos and James Enos' incredible architecture sculptures. It was good to see Yvonne Vennegas and Omar Pimienta (SD Art Prize artists). These students seem to have no interest in sales in the ivory tower of academia. Most have no websites yet and don’t even have a calling card. I remember my carefree university days. But it was rather delicious to sell a random color study even back then. Now I am proud of my hard won knowledge of the art market.

Reality comes hard and fast these days, but I am still optimistic about how much we can change the market during these times of economic stress. We have 40 venues and over 70 artists participating in the Little & Large promotion. We are planting seeds of desire. When the money starts flowing again, we will be ready.

Seven Volunteer Inspired Visual Arts Projects

2009-03-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

Seven Volunteer Inspired Visual Arts projects

On Feb 8, 2009 a brainstorming session was held during the SDVAN meeting Our approach to this brainstorming session was different than the “blue sky” fantasy sessions in past years. We started by individually writing up Post It notes of those things we thought were limiting our lives in the visual arts in SD. These notes were organized in rough categories with the help of all and special thanks to Judith D’Agostino. Then the following groups of volunteers were tasked to come up with at least one project to address some of the concerns. We asked that all projects could take place in the course of no more than one year.

We are grateful to all the participants of this day, for their energy and creativity. SDVAN can not adopt all these worthy projects but we would love to support those who might make them into reality. If you are particularly interested in any of these projects, we welcome you to contact us. We will be glad to facilitate the formation of a committee that can look into the feasibility of any and all of these ideas.

Please note: the first three ideas involved projects to benefit children which was a strong theme of the day. SDVAN will be brainstorming further to choose a project for children using grant money supplied by the Seth Spague Foundation for a project in 2010. If you want to join this committee please let us know. Please read about the positive affects of arts in the schools in our resource article The Arts: Ask for More campaign of American for the Arts)

1. Marti Kranzberg, Valerie Samuel Henderson, Rosemary KimBal, Sheri Fox
Concern: Federal, State, County and City arts councils are not doing enough. We have little information about them and they do not seem to value the arts. They do not seem to communicate with each other.
Project: An Arts Advocacy Committee formed to organize a presentation (perhaps multi-media) utilizing children if possible, which promotes the value of the arts by documenting the effects of arts in our community. Try to get corporate sponsorship to include this presentation in their ads. Involve Pam Slater in an effort to see what she needs as she continues to support the arts and get this presentation shown when lobbying for arts issues.

2. Judith D’Agostino, Kay Colvin, Thomine Wilson, Christy Goodson Decker, Mireille Des Rosiers
Concern: Not enough art in the schools
Project: Panel Discussion for Parents about bringing the benefits of arts for children. Panels to consist of a child, a teacher, and a parent who have experienced and can demonstrate the benefits. The education directors of the major museums (SDMA, MoCASD, MoPA) involved in the CARE program (Collaborative Art Resources for Educators) might be a partner for this project.

3. Irene de Watteville, Daniele Arnaud, Patty Smith, Michele Guieu
Concern: Isolation of the arts community from each other and from the community at large
Project: Collaboration between artists, art association and galleries to bring children into our local galleries. Have guidelines on how to appreciate what they see and encourage them to collect each others art works (even at 25 cents each!)

4. Naomi Nussbaum, Madeline Sherry
Concern: There is a lack of galleries and a lack of appreciation of art
Project: Creation of Creative Communities where artist in geographical localities ban together to do work on certain projects…the first being Affordable Live/Work spaces* which in turn could lead to joint gallery spaces, closer sense of community and more respect for the arts and what they bring to a community. It might also be time to bring back Open Studio tours organized by geographical localities. *Synergy Art Foundation (SAF) is conducting an Artist Live/Work survey to evaluate the needs of San Diego County artists and arts organizations for permanent, affordable live and work space. Please take the time to complete the survey if you are interested in spaces.

5. Naimeh Tahna, Irene Abraham
Concern: Artists are not supporting each other enough. They are not activists and lack a communal art space and cohesion for networking.
Project: Strong themed exhibitions for example “Opposites Attract” which would pair opposite extremes of style or medium or “Missing Links” where artists are asked to make one work using various different mediums in collaborations with each other. Shows should travel to different parts of the community in alternative venues and could use tourist outlets (i.e. hotel concierge) to build new audience for art.

6. Renee Miller, Mark Rodman-Smith, Jo Caldwell
Concern: Finding unknown quality artists and nurturing and giving them exposure
Project: Putting out a call for artists, perhaps suggested by other artists for a juried show. Rob Sterling Bell stopped by the meeting and although he did not stay for the brainstorming he left his document on the Sterling Jurying System which advocates non partisan judgments by approved jurors who are held to standards. The use of online submission for juried shows brings in a new era where all the applicants can be viewed on a monitor during the show of the selected art works so the public can see what works were not included. A competition of curated shows could also be judged in this way with the winning show put on but all the others shown online. Maybe this could be suggested to some of the existing juried shows.

7. Patricia Frischer – although I was busy facilitating this meeting, I did have an idea for a project which I want to share.
Concern: Not enough people buy art in SD
Project: Mini Art Collectors Competition –To enter the competition perspective collectors will choose (not having to buy) up to 10 works from Local Regional Artist to make a mini-collection and write a short essay about how those works were selected and how they go together to make a collection. Three hundred dollars ($300) goes to the winner to go toward the purchase of one of the selected works. Plus the top five entries are posted on SDVAN with all the images and links to the artists chosen. Needs for this project include criteria for judging, jurors to chose winners, catchy name and logo, process for submitting images online and volunteer administrator.

Please feel free to leave your comments on these projects as well as write us with projects you might like to suggest yourself. We would like to hear from you if you want to lead a project of any kind for the visual arts in the San Diego region.

Snapshots: Changing perspectives in the San Diego Art Scene

2009-02-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

Snapshot – One women’s personal views on Changing Perspectives in the San Diego Art Scene: Notes from the panel discussion.

Snapshots: Changing perspectives in the San Diego Art Scene was held on Sat. Feb 21 at 7:00 pm. This was a panel discussion with Philly Joe Swendoza (ArtRocks!), Robert Pincus (SD Union Tribune), Patricia Frischer (San Diego Visual Arts Network), and David White (Agitprop Gallery) and moderated by:Katherine Sweetman (Director, Lui Velazquez) held at Art Produce Gallery (3139 University Ave, SD 92104) but organized by Kevin Freitas (Art as Authority) 619.337.4891.

Your can now see the entire panel on video by Lynn Susholtz and transcribed for UTube by Katherine Sweetmen. Enormous thanks to both for the time and effort.

Why does one agree to participate in a panel discussion and why does someone show up to hear the panelist. I am trying to make sense of the evening activities and so am presenting this personal view to help me clarify my thoughts. I have added my speakers notes to the end of this blog to show more clearly the sequence of questions and my own personal responses for those who were not there or need a refresher.

I think some of the audience will have come away from this evening with frustration…yet more talk and no action. Others will have been highly offended by what was said. But I came away with a sense that there was a strong need for an arts community in SD. This is something that I have been noticing for years. In a conversation I had during the wind down of the evening with Mark Rodman Smith, we discussed how the Arts supply the tools to define community. Definition of community is a commodity that every SD communities (not just the arts) is looking for especially right now as we all struggle to survive. I think that the arts community is built through collaborations and we have an opportunity now to help the general community define itself.

My husband, Darwin, says that SD has an inferiority complex. This is bad in itself but also produces some bad behaviors. Some people self aggrandize to build ego. (Am I guilty of this? I hope not but I have been accused.) They can become territorial and combative instead of collaborative. My stance has always been that we have to pull together to create a tide that raises all boats.

Luis Ituarte described us as an area “under construction trying to find out who we are.” We have turned north to LA, but can also turn south to the “fire of TJ” as Perry Vasquez suggested. I would like to see SD defined community by community and not branded in a big corporate way. That is not to say I don’t appreciate the appeal of branding. Pierrette Van Cleve volunteered her expertise on the high end art market, but missed the point that most of those present were at the event seeking community not a ticket to ride. But I certainly appreciate her effort to attend and participate even if her views were labeled by one as fascism! I am sorry that excitement was at her expense, but at least it was controversy which was otherwise too lacking. I was expecting to be grilled for choosing Movers and Shakers and promoting Art Stars. But I got off lightly.

Robert Pincus and Pierrette agreed that art collectors in SD lack confidence to buy here. I don’t think we did enough to address that problem. Certainly it was mentioned that Museums are not doing enough to support new talent. We would like to see a curators open competition established to suggest shows outside of the white box. Lynn Susholtz called this “curator wars”. I would also like to see collectors wars with a competition and a cash award for the best compilation of art work. There are not enough professional art galleriest. Kyle Forbes did suggest privately that as a non artist he was surprised how non-inclusive artist were. He thinks there is a grass roots yearning for artists to speak directly to potential patrons. Galleries struggle with this we know. Artists do too little to help market their own work and need to make better work and raise the bar higher. And yes, I agree that making good art is not enough. Too bad, but true.

But it was Philly Joe Swendoza’s constant call to those present to get off their duffs and do something that rang true to many all night long. David White’s remarks that “all the things we hate are also our opportunities” was so hopeful and his closing reminder to “not be afraid to fail” are engraved on most artist hearts but still needed to be stated and expanded to include community projects as well as the art itself.

Kevin Freitas was extending a conversation that started on Art As Authority with this panel. Robert Pincus agreed to be present as this was also a discussion they were having privately. Now you are invited to join in if you wish. There are those that observe, those that complain and then those that do. Which are you?

Here are my notes. I hope you let us hear from you.

In your opinion what are the problems with the San Diego Art Scene?
Jealousy over funding and contacts holding back collaborations.
There are not enough collaborations to show the strength of the visual arts in SD to the great mass of disinterested casual observers.
Artists wait for galleries to build a market. Instead, a partnership should be created between artists and galleries to promote art.
Art Associations are not educating artists on marketing and concentrating on building audience.
A lack of curators hunting out artists of excellence and producing exhibitions of their art. This is one of the reason it is hard to discover new talent. Who is looking for it?
There are too many boring juried shows where the fees finance the show.
There is massively uncreative programming from the arts administrators at city and county levels and lack of collaboration amongst them so they are constantly each reinventing the wheel.
Obviously there is a lack of funding for arts education in the schools.
The attempts to involve the corporate world in the arts are too few and far too ineffectual.
Finally, networking opportunities for artist are lacking.
Why do we stay in San Diego?
There is incredible artistic freedom which I compare to the Wild West.
No one is really watching what artists here do which means anything goes.
If someone like me can come and help create the SDVAN visual resource in just 10 years, the sky is the limit for young entrepreneurs with energy and creative ideas.
How do we get more/better/diverse art coverage from the media? / What should the arts be asking of our writers?
I would like to see more curated shows of excellence with intriguing themes which attract a new audience.
We need to encourage any good writer to write about the arts.
Museums and Universities should give more awards for art writers. We discovered and encouraged two art writers from the Vision to Page competition. Students are also a good source of art writing which is untapped.
More online interviews and videos (new technology) featuring artists and reviewing shows are needed and could be the breakthrough to a new audience.
What sells in SD? How does market affect what is made here?
Works made by children to their parents, highly discounted art at charity art auctions, art made by an artist sold to another artists (luckily we have artist with money) and a few commercial galleries who know their clientele have survived from selling art.
What could sell here might be a better question? Icons of the youth culture and art as status symbols if we could convince the rich that local art is a status symbol.
I do not think that any honest artist seriously thinks about what sells. And most do not have a clue what sells. Making art is a calling. If a few artists are only concerned about marketing and have some success, this is not prevalent or interesting to me except as a phenomenon.
What can we do to make the art scene better?
Sharing contacts through more collaborations instead of withholding that information would be a good start.
Artists should learn to understand how to be professional and help galleries to build a market
New Galleries should be correctly financed to survive the seven years it take to break even.
Underground art spaces should be supported as they help enormously to build community.
I would like to see each museums holding at least one open submission for curated shows which showcase artists of excellence.
If the various City Arts Commissions/Board could form some sort of an Association it might go a long way to creating synergy and build projects across the county.
Corporate funding for arts education in the schools needs to be coupled with corporations receiving recognition for this effort.
More and better parties and not just because life is often too serious but because that is where artists usually network, relationships are started and people discuss art.

Patricia Frischer, coordinator, San Diego Visual Arts Network http://www.sdvan.net/ info@sdvisualarts.net 760.943.0148

Your can now see the entire panel on video by Lynn Susholtz and transcribed for UTube by Katherine Sweetmen. Enormous thanks to both for the time and effort.

The Economy and Affordable Live/Work Spaces

2009-02-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

The Economy and Affordable Live/Work Spaces

In this time of economic downturn, the Arts are seen as a way to revitalize communities by creating audience, involving our children, protecting and valuing cultural heritage, and reaching out to community to participate in projects. The Arts metaphorically till the earth in preparation for financial growth.

SDVAN is lucky to be one of the few non-profits confident we can maintain all of our programs with no cut backs. We budget with existing funds and not projected ones. We have found that the financial climate has made it easier to form collaboration, which is one of our major goals. We have a loyal base of volunteers which remain excited and dedicated. In fact, we see this as an excellent time to widen our scope and influence and show how important the visual arts are to our community. The county wide Little & Large promotion is a perfect example of this growth.

Affordable Live/Work Spaces
Abridged and adapted from an Article by Kelly Bennett for Voice of San Diego

We see it time and time again. Artists move into an area which is affordable for them which usually means quite low rents. They energize the community, draw crowds which draw new businesses. Then property prices go up and the artists can no longer afford to live in that community and have to move on.

Naomi Nussbaum of The Synergy Art Foundation, and Mario Torero, a Chicano Park artist could see this pattern repeating it self and decided to form a project BL./EV (for Barrio Logan/East Village and pronounced as Believe) to try to build up this area for artists and make sure that when they succeeded in creating a new art district, artist might remain long term. Cheryl Nickel joined the group as an artist also passionate about this cause.

Earlier this year this core group joined with the North Park and El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement/Arts Districts who are also interested in affordable artist and arts organization space. With funding from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) the fee was paid for ArtSpace, a non-profit property development organization out of Philadelphia to speak about their organization. Many ideas were generated at this meeting and although ArtSpace is a rather expensive choice for property development, their format for encouraging creative centers could be adapted for San Diego.

The BL/EV group wants to take a lead in creating permanent, affordable artist live/work space to attract and keep artists in their downtowns. There are a variety of ways this can happen and each would evolve organically and in accordance with the needs of the artists involved.:

Fixed lower rents subsidized by city, state, federal (tax credit not taken advantage of yet in our county), and private funds.
Lease to own options for those wanting to invest and reap the benefits,
Family options and Cooperatives

Beyond work/live space there could be other facilities including the following examples:
An exhibition space, a performance space, perhaps even a community organic garden.
A community center or even a specialized museum to acknowledge the cultural heritage of the community.
Artists' support services such as . printing facilities, recording studios, framing shop, etc.
Other creative enterprises which support local small-scale economic development, mass transit, and emphasizing local character.
Affordable low-income housing would be part of the centers, thus helping retain the socioeconomic and ethnic character.

Although the initial focus is the Barrio Logan East Village district, those nearby urban areas such as North Park, El Cajon Blvd., City Heights are all areas where these plans could be seeded. Elsewhere in the county, for example El Cajon, San Ysidro, Encinitas, Vista, Oceanside, there is also an interest in creating arts districts.

The results of these creative centers would be increased community pride and economic growth. For poorer neighborhoods, this means artists need an opportunity to grow economically with the creative businesses in their neighborhoods. For more affluent areas, artists can help to renew creative elements in neighborhoods, bring appreciation of local character and culture, assure aesthetic quality, support economic development and aid with arts education. These are all core needs of the creative class (as described by Richard Florida), which comprises about one-third of the work force in the most successful cities and is the sector that will define successful, dynamic cities of the future,

Our biggest challenge is the high cost to rent or purchase space together with the limits spent on art in San Diego, which help support artists with sales of art. San Diego government and civic leaders must realize that the best investments in the future are not giant ballparks, but are the much less costly, much more cost effective investments in supporting the creative economy.