End of Year NCAN Arts and Economic Summit Take Aways

I spent a good part of this year arranging for a North County Arts Network Arts and Economic Summit. It was held in October while I was away in London. So it has taken me some time to review all the presentations, watch the videos and digest the information. I think this is a fitting time to summarize what I learned even though I was a long distance away. These following three take aways, I think, touch the heart of this event.

·       Arts and Culture is Not Just Food for the Soul. It is Food for the Table

·       Arts and Culture is Small Investment for a Large Return

·       Arts and Culture is no longer a charity: It is an economic industry generating approx. $1.1 billion in revenues for San Diego County.

These three succinct statements can be the cornerstone of convincing the community at large, particularly the business section, that supporting the arts is a vital part of the health of the our society, economically and luckily for us all, emotionally as well as many of us know.  

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Industry
Recognize that if you want a creative workforce, you need to support arts education.
Help create a cultural community to attract the best talent.
Support the arts with sponsorships, grants and discounts 

Indulge in the arts by attending art events and encouraging your work force to do the same.

Civic Organization
Make sure you have a staff arts employee
Campaign for % for the arts programs
Facilitate connection between the business community and the arts community

Support the arts with funding which encourage collaborations

Arts Organization and Artist
Stop thinking of yourselves as victims and looking for hand outs. 
Realize you are part of the economic fabric of the community.
Join together to promote the arts and for advocacy issues. You are always stronger together than apart.
Vote and campaign for government candidate that support the arts

As an artist, I am especially concerned with making sure that art products contribute well to certain criteria set out by Americans for the Arts. By thinking about these sets of issues of Aesthetic Perspecitve, you have a better chance of getting grants and creating work that will be seen and appreciated. Here are the Attributes for Excellence in Art for Change.

Communal meaning -  The creative work facilitates collective meaning that transcends individual perspective and experience.

Commitment -  Creative processes and products embody conviction to the cause espoused through the work.

Disruption - Art challenges what is by exposing what has been hidden, posing new ways of being, and modeling new forms of action

Cultural integrity - The creative work demonstrates integrity and ethical use of material with specific cultural origins and context.

Emotional experience -  Arts for Change facilitates a productive movement between “heart space”—the emotional experience that art evokes— and the “head space” of civic or social issues.

Sensory Experience - Vivid sensations deepen the experience of the creative work and heighten the power of its messages and the potential for change.

Risk taking - Creative work assumes risk by subverting dominant norms, values, narratives, standards, or aesthetics.

Openness - The creative work deepens impact by remaining open, fluid, transparent, subject to influence, and able to hold contradiction

Coherence - Strong ideas expressed with clarity advance both artistic and social purposes.

Resourcefulness - Imaginative use of available resources drives artistic innovation and demonstrates responsible social and environmental practice

Stickiness - The creative work achieves sustained resonance, impact, or value.

Finally, we don’t create art to hid it under the bed or in the closet. We are no where unless we have a audience and so to our dear public:

Give generously to non-profit arts organizations,  like San Diego Visual Arts Network,  which promotes the visual arts region wide.
Attend receptions, drink copiously and BUY MORE ART

SDVAN Giving Tuesday

Every year we remind out supporters about the Better Giving Campaign Giving Tuesday. We appreciate their cash donations, but this year we decided to offer the opportunity to support San Diego Visual Arts Network to a selected artist. We gave Cheryl Sorg the remit to incorporate the Giving Tuesday Logo into a specially designed art work that we could use on our website and emails to promote the day. Ms. Sorg uses a special paper that changes color from different angles. So when photographed from different viewpoints it appears to be a whole new work of art. We made a selection of these to create a banner for our site.

We give back to our supporters every year with a no fee accessory exchange party. This year we have invite Cheryl Sorg to showcase her works of art at that party. So the effort she made for us will do double duty! We hope that the coverage we give to her along with our thanks will be of benefit to her. We certainly believe by having an original work of art created especially for our campaign, we are getting a great benefit from her. 

Our great thanks to Cheryl Sorg.

Our Giving Tuesday campaign this year is on TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28TH. We appreciate our supporters and their cash donations. Donate to SDVAN online, by phone or by post.. Those of you who can give $25 of more will be listed on the permanent sponsor page.Thank you so much for your tax deductible donation. Our 2017 Support page is now online….make sure your name is on it and remember SDVAN in your annual end of the year giving.

London Post Script 2017

On the  last two days of our London trip I finally started to discover some very local art delights just minutes away from our ABNB flat. Yes, the fall has arrived and the leaves are changing and tingle of cool air is coming. But I was so pleased to see such wonderful art just a stone's through from our front door. For all of you are considering visiting, don't forget to discover Bermondsey...and that includes my  London friends!

The Dawn After Yesterday – Sándor Szász, The Concept Space 

This was a tale of the future apocalypse but set in World War 1 and 2.  I loved the disappearance of heads and the appearance of the wonderful circle/spheres as a mystery element of hope. 

Art House Ruth Dupre

The exhibition was on the top floor of a private home up a set of lovely wood stairs. The work was a mix of variations on clothes and accessories from a frock made from old bicycle tires to the rough wool of a sheep. We have seen recycled fashion before, but I think it was the hand wrought details of this work that was so poignant.   

The second part of the show has some charming rabbit themed works which I am including for my good friend Irene de Watteville. In fact the hats above would suit her so well. And how could i not include a gallery cat for Michelle Kurtis Cole!

Drawing Room Nicola Tyson, Beyond the Trace

Tucked into an old industrial park was a huge space, so was a perfect showroom for Nicola Tyson. I loved these small drawings and her full life sized figures were stellar. The space and the connect Tannery Gallery/Project has artist studios and a public drawing room

Tannery Projects Appropriated Sunlight: Ralph Anderson and Nancy Milner

From this group show I choose two artist, Ralph Anderson shaped strokes were painted red on the reverse and so the wall glowed around the cut out and around the outer edges.  These rounded free works made a nice contract the Nancy Milner's color field stripes with the out of focus change over. Both of these artists' works are completely flat. 

Ralph Anderson

Ralph Anderson

Ralph Anderson (detail0

Nancy Milner

Nancy Milner

Kagyu Samye Dzong London Tibetan Buddhist Centre

We were turned on to this meditation center by Richard and Victoria Nathanson although they live all the way on the other side of London in Putney. 

Richard Nathans on is an exclusive private art dealer who just curated an exhibition in New York on Modigliani Unmasked | Drawings From The Paul Alexandre Collection And Other Works.  Read his essay: What I Am Searching For

Patricia Frischer: Letter from London, Oct 2017 Part 4

I have just gone to my last exhibition of this trip to London.  I came here feeling very stressed and a bit jaded. But now I am energized and refreshed.  Art is a constant inspiration and joy for me. 

This whole trip I struggled with what is old and what is new and where do we go from here. It was interesting to see the deep roots that were planted by master artists, but the variation were no less interesting. In the end, I gathered strength from all those who have gone before us, knowing that an individual can still make a difference. The key lies in telling the truth as it applies to your unique self. 

Many of the exhibitions I saw were very in-depth looks at specific parts of an artist output. I prefer these shows to the big blockbuster retrospectives. I was able to gain more insight by concentrating more narrowly. The curators really shine with this type of display. You  almost feel like it is a doctorate thesis presented with real examples.  Learning about some of Degas techniques, or how the objects in Matisse's home worked their way into his pictures and seeing the relationship between Dali and Duchamp  was all new to me.  It was very life confirming to me to know that I was not tired of life and learning. 

Saatchi 

Calder on Paper 

Calder was not just a master of the mobile and jewelry which we saw several years ago in San Diego.  These works on paper show the strength of his  2-d vision. 

Iconoclasts: Art Out Of The Mainstream was a large mixed show and I am only showing you my very favorite works. Maurizo was my top pick as these old photographs were made stunning and new with the addition of a simple stitch.

Maurizo Anzeri

Massive ornate tapestries by Jose Faught used any material or concept that caught his eye. 

Jose Faught

Jose Faught

Thomas Mailaender showed  photos of photos negatives developed on skin using the sun or maybe a tanning bed? Brave people to volunteer to be sunburned for art. 

Philip Colbert - a riotous playful space altering collection

Oh Mylun Lee had a two room exhibition and they were stunningly pretty, but I am not sure what else they were. She used old techniques and new materials for all this visual stimulations. Then the third room was a total environment of a city landscape with floating, twirling  flowers and butterflies projected all around and over you. Disney would be proud.  

National Gallery of Art  

Drawn in Colour: Degas from the Burrell The sheer mastery of this chalk medium is a glory to behold as we all know. 

I chose to show you a couple of turned out feet that he did so well. You can actually feel the tension in the leg. 

 This delightful show explained how Degas would fix different layers so he could build up illusions. Then he might take the very nature of the chalk, thin it down with turps and change it to add highlights and dark lines.

It is not often that I see a piece and think, ah, I would love to have that on my wall. This small gem of a lady with field glasses staring back at us will haunt me. Sorry that the image above does not convey all the power this work emitted in real life. 

I have included this chalk images that was in the exhibition which was very vibrant and large and a real show stopper. But below you will see I found another version of the image... not so completely red as the image in the show.  Maybe the second had been enhanced by computer or maybe it is a whole other picture perhaps in oils.  In he one above, I can attest to the power of all red. 

Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites

Why the name PRE-Raphaelites and what does this have to do with Van Eyck? These nineteenth century artists rebelled against the work of Raphael and wanted to go back to the influence of the 1400's  Netherlander artist Van Eyck. Van Eyck's very famous picture below is full of symbolism and sharply rendered figures and a MIRROR. The mirror could either reflect people in the scene that were other wise unseen or it could be used to make a commentary about life and society.

Many of the works in the show depicted scenes from Tennyson's Lady of Shalott. She was cursed to look into a mirror and record in tapestry what she saw. But a glimpse of Lancelot was too tempting for her and she looked to see him in person. The curse was broken, but the lady died. 

William Morris Iseult mourning Tristram's exile from the court of King Mark. 'DOLOURS' (grief) written down the side of her mirror.

  William Holman Hunt: The mirror reflects the open window and a destination of hope for this women who see the errors of her ways.  

John William Waterhouse's Lady of Shalott

National Gallery Gift Shop
I was challenged by Michelle Kurtis Cole to chose seven black and white images that had no people in them and needed no explanation. The National Gallery has a show opening in November called Monochrome so their gift shop was set up with a number of black and white displays. Here is a selection of some of the photos I took. 

Royal Academy 

Jasper Johns

I was rather hoping that I had saved the best for last. But when I got to the Royal Academy to see the Jasper Johns show, I realized that they were also showing Matisse in his studio and Dali/Duchamp. Darwin and I both went to all three and had to pay a total of about $130 in entrance fees. It appears that going to see exhibitions in London is now as expensive as going to theater. Many permanent collections are free, but to see special shows there are very special prices!  We were both delighted to walk away feeling we had got our money's worth. This was party due to the break we took with a delightful lunch at Langan's Brasserie (an old haunt of David Hockney's). The spinach and anchovies souffle was just as I remembered it and the bill was even more than the price of the shows!  

The flag paintings seems a little sad now out of context of the time they were created but I found number painting below were just as potent.  Maybe because the USA is a bit sad now and numbers from computers still rule our lives

One of my favorites was this simple cast and painted toast sculpture.

At first glance and displayed very low, this just looked like a brick of metal on the four visible sides. But the fifth side was a pair of glasses and if you dipped down low you could actually see a pair of eyes through the lens. Very spooky and very now.  

I am including this last work which is current. Jasper Johns is still creating. But I found the works confusing and a bit weaker and the few stronger recent works  seemed to almost be copies of earlier works.  It is too soon to judge these works, but seeing the Matisse studio next with his unbelievably strong finish of cut outs gave me pause. 

Matisse in the Studio

It was so much fun to see the photographs and then see the actual objects on display from Matisse's studio and home and then see the works of art created with these objects in them. . Matisse has long been a favorite of mine as I am obsesses with pattern and fill up most of my own works with details. Maybe in my next life I will come back a minimallist!

I have inherited a collection of African and pre-Colombian inspired objects from my father and mother. I live with these all around me and I find you can't help but be influenced by your direct surroundings.  Matisse also included his own sculptures in his paintings. I have tried to put my painting into my past sculptures. And now that I am working on sculptures again, who knows what might  sneak into a shape.  

Dali/Duchamp

I had no idea that there was a relationship between Dali and Duchamp. If anything I would have thought that Duchamp would have been dismissive of this slightly younger artist. But  they corresponded and had many similarities. That is why I started with portraits of both of their fathers. There were also cubist paintings by both.  I think of Dali as the flamboyant showman and Duchamp as the quiet chessplayer, but this is not true. Duchamp dressed up as a women Rrose Selevy which when spoken aloud sounds like Eros, C'est la vie...translates as Love is Life. He was photographed playing chess with a nude artist. And like Dali in many of his works, he is obsessed with the subject of sex. They both had a great sense of humor and visited each other often. 

Dali painted his father

Duchamp paints his father

Dali, ever the inventor of technique, manipulating vision as Duchamp manipulated words. 

Duchamp as Rrose Salevy

The gift store at the Royal Academy was filled with lobster ornaments in homage to the famous lobster telephone by Dali.

Haven Hall on the  Isle of Wight

We spent two days relaxing at Haven Hall with dear friends who have converted this luxury home in to a five gold star establishment. The attention to detail was faultless, so I am including a picture of our room which had ocean views and some of the  close ups of the many lovely things in the self contained flat.  I highly recommend a stay at Haven Hall which can accommodate you for an artist retreat or a family celebration. Take a closer look at their website for information. 

Peter Layton Glasswork

Very close to us was a gallery and glass workshop on Bermondsey Street near the Fashion Museum that Zhandra Rhodes first set up. I have seen this space closed at night but this time I was able to go in and take a look around. All the work is high quality, but although some of it was decorative only, these pieces stood out to me.  

Scott Benefield showed these cylinders displayed together taking them out of the vase category and into the art realm. 

Sophie Thomas and Luis Thompson made an environmental statement with these glass versions of twisted plastic bottles with ocean debuis captured inside. 

Harry Morgan put polished concrete on the top of carved strands of glass below which created something a bit gravity defying. 

Bruce Marks's simple shapes were such an elegant grouping of birds. The interior lined with red glass made the negative space positive. 

Last Looks of London would not be complete without a few fashion shots of window displays. 

Clear plexiglass figures were defined by boxes of cosmetics. 

A fluffy angora sweater with a chiffon skirt and clear booties. Who would ever think to make this combo?

These patent leather boots were hand painted with traditional narrow boat or canal art which is British folk art. The little dots are raised silver studs. 

That is it for this year...if you missed the first three, then check out these links:

Patricia Frischer: London Letter Part 1, 2017 Picked Ripe by Patricia Frischer

Patricia Frischer: London Letter Part 2, 2017 Picked Ripe by Patricia Frischer

Patricia Frischer: London Letter, Part 3, 2017 Picked Ripe by Patricia Frischer