5×7 Exhibition Continues at the Arthouse through June 12th
The 5×7 show at the Arthouse is open through June 12th, sooooo you still have a shot at picking up some wonderful small art.
I did not end up going to the ArtSplurge (the first night opening when the art is initially revealed and available for sale), but the Art Social on the second night was great! There was pizza and beer, good live music and lots of friends, and a gazillion wonderful 5×7 paintings and sculptures!
The renovations at the Arthouse are excellent, allowing for much more exhibition space. The beauty of the old building has been preserved while also injecting some gorgeous contemporary design elements. I really love the modern variation of glass block windows.
There were several art pieces in protest of the firing of the Arthouse’s curator (see for more on that story). Here are a few of the protest pieces I saw: [nggallery id=110]
See more pictures of the opening crowds and the building here: .
And see some of the gorgeous art on that’s still on view at the Arthouse here (my two paintings are among this group of pictures; can you find them?): .
5×7 Art Splurge and Social at the Arthouse
2011 5×7 Art Splurge
The 5×7 annual fundraiser, art sale and exhibition benefiting the Arthouse at the Jones Center opens tomorrow night with the Art Splurge, where you will have your first chance to purchase artwork from among 1,000s of original 5×7-inch works of art by emerging and established contemporary artists.
I will have two pieces in the show, part of a new series of small paintings. (I will unveil the series some time after the ArtSplurge and ArtSocial have passed, as all works are supposed to remain anonymous until they are sold).
This is a really exciting event. Patrons can preview the art for about an hour and decide on the pieces they want to purchase; then at a certain hour, a horn is blown and it’s a fun scramble for the patrons to grab their chosen works of art. The Arthouse has produced a simple video showing you How To 5×7.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the art that will be available tomorrow night: http://www.arthousetexas.org/blog/
Find out more about the Art Splurge and purchase tickets at the Arthouse website.
5×7 Art Social
Or come out to the 5×7 Art Social on Friday night to schmooze with the artists, where you will have your second chance to pick up a 5×7 work of art. Read all the details and purchase tickets for only $30 through the Arthouse website. There will be food, drinks and music both nights. Hope to see you there!
Controversy at the Arthouse
The conversation Friday night (and possibly Thursday night, too) should be pretty lively, due to the controversy created earlier this year due to the decision by the Arthouse to dismiss their only curator, Elizabeth Dunbar—for financial reasons (after having spent $6.6 million on their year-long renovation and expansion). Some of the artwork in the 5×7 show is a direct response to this controversy, and you may even see some blank boards in protest of the decision to eliminate Dunbar’s position.
If you’d like to read up on all the details of the controversy, there are several excellent articles online:
- The initial reason for the controversy: Culture Wars at the Arthouse?
- More controversy reported on Austin360: Arthouse faces controversy with cutbacks, other moves
- Wendy Vogel, editor of “might be good,” weighs in on Austin’s art implosion
- A fascinating conversation between the duo Rachel Cook (in curatorial studies at Bard) and Claire Ruud (in business school at Yale) about the Arthouse situation and the environment in which artists and curators operate today: Arthouse: The Dilemma of Authenticity and Visibility
Pictures from the People’s Gallery Exhibition
“Gravity” by Irene Roderick, Latex paint, fishing line, wire hoop, 2010
was so thrilled to be selected for the 2011 People’s Gallery Exhibition at the Austin City Hall. One of my paintings, “Luminous Future,” was selected from among 1400 pieces entered by 325 local artists and arts organizations. This year the jurors were: Carla Nickerson, artist and Production Coordinator for ProArts Collective; Johnny Walker, artist; and Herlinda Zamora, Culture and Arts Education Manager, Mexican American Cultural Center. The exhibition was finalized and designed by Jean Graham, the City’s Exhibition Coordinator. (Thanks, everyone, for including me!).
I thought I was feeling better from several days of allergy-related illnesses, so Terry and I got spiffed up and headed downtown. We arrived at the City Hall just in time to hear a few words from the mayor, and to see Caprice Pierucci receive her People’s Choice award for her piece in the 2010 Exhibition.
I was so happy to see so many of my art friends there, and that so many of them were also selected for this show! Jill Alo and I were beginning painting and drawing students together in Minnie Miles’ classes at ACC back in the 80′s, before she moved on to UT and I went up to SAIC. We also worked together at a framing shop while in school. We have been good friends ever since, and have been in several critique groups and art exhibitions together, so I was so happy to see her very sunny piece in this show.
I also have exhibited and been in critique groups with Sandy Lowder, whose lovely large painting was hung right next to mine. I love the abstract qualities that she always infuses into her paintings (which frequently begin in a figurative way).
Gladys Poorte also has an awesomely beautiful painting in this exhibition. Jill, Sandy, Gladys and I were all in the “Topographies” show together at Studio2 Gallery in 2003, along with 4 or 5 other artists.
Kristy Battani from the Texas Wax organization, of which I was a part for a couple years, had a lovely encaustic work in this show, too.
There were several other friends and acquaintances whose work is in the show, but (for some reason) I did not get photos of their pieces during the opening (I simply must go back!).
Take a gander at the photos I did get below, and if you’re in Austin, I highly recommend taking a hour or so some day to go see all the awesome paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, assemblages and installations in this show. You can even vote for your favorite piece.
The show is at the Austin City Hall through January 13 2012, exhibited in the hallways, conference rooms, lobbies, balconies, large stairwells, and in the Mayor’s office–all throughout the first 3 floors of the City Hall. Mine is #92, in the The Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office hallway on the second floor. Hours are from 8am-5pm M-F.
Austin City Hall
301 W 2nd St.
Austin, TX 78701
[nggallery id=105]
People’s Gallery Exhibition Opening Tomorrow Night
ust a reminder that I had a painting selected from over a thousand submissions of paintings, sculptures, photographs, and more for the 2011 People’s Gallery Exhibition.
The opening is tomorrow night from 6-9pm at City Hall, and features over 100 artworks from Austin-area artists, galleries, museums, and art organizations displayed throughout the first three floors of City Hall.
Short films selected for the 2011 Faces of Austin multimedia program will have a premiere screening in City Council Chambers, starting at 7 p.m. And in the Atrium, enjoy music by The Djembabes and refreshments courtesy of Whole Foods Market.
Get updated event and parking information at Austin Art in Public Places
If you go to the opening, look for me and/or my painting somewhere in that space!
Cheers!
Marilyn
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Great News! People’s Gallery Exhibition at Austin City Hall
Woo-hoo! I’ve had a work accepted into the 2011 People’s Gallery Exhibition at Austin City Hall! I consider this a great honor. The work will remain on view in the Austin City Hall for an entire year. The exhibit runs from February 18 2011 – January 13 2012.
There will be an opening reception on February 18, 2011, from 06:00 PM – 09:00 PM, with refreshments to be provided by Whole Foods Market.
Austin City Hall
301 W 2nd St.
Austin, TX 78701
For the rest of the year, Austin City Hall is open to the public Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The first floor atrium lobby is also open to the public during City Council meetings.
See the People’s Gallery Exhibition page for more information or the Events page on my website..
East Austin Studio Tour 2010, Part Three
Above (or left): Sculpture “Plucky” by Dominique Vyborny at the Pump Project Arts Complex during E.A.S.T. 2010
Full Day of Visiting Artist Studios, Last Day of E.A.S.T.
I decided to spend the final day of EAST visiting more artists’ studios rather than hanging around The Vortex. If you came to see me at The Vortex yesterday, my apologies for not being there; if you’d like to see more of my paintings, you can always schedule a private visit at my home studio; just contact me and we’ll set something up.
I started at neighbor Robbie Ortiz’s studio, where he and fellow painter Stephen Schwake were showing their work. Robbie does some amazing cubistic paintings and drawings; visit his website at: RobbieOrtiz.com.
Stephen does large paintings and drawings influenced by “80′s skateboard graphics, hot rods, science, stained glass, American roots music, mid-century Modern design, art history, and World War II fighter planes.” His site is StephenSchwake.com.
Next I headed down to the Artpost, where I visited with Court Lurie for a bit. I really love her abstract paintings! Court is very deservedly a rising star in the Austin art world.
See her work at: CourtLurie.com.
I popped my head into a few other studios; there’s a glass artist named Nicholas Dertrien who is doing some pretty amazing blown glass sculpture of the human body, some complete with (what I think are) internal organs. See his “Transparent Body” work at Shoal Creek Gallery.
I also peeked at the work of sculptors/installation artists Scott Proctor and Marianne McGrath.
Then I headed over to the Pump Project Arts Complex, where I visited with fabulous abstract painter, Jan Roset, portrait painter Nicole Jeffords, and lightbox sculptor Brooke Gassiot.
Also poked my head into the studios of Alicia Hartzell, Amber Kappes, Erika Jaeggli, Mark Johnson, Katherine Sheehan, Leanne Venier, Darvin Jones, Paul Alix (illustrator, very funny guy), Scott Ewen, Audrey Lopata (awesome kids illustrator), and Lana Waldrep.
Then I drove up to the Pump Project Satellite, where I met painter Keva Richardson (love her work), and visited with good friend Jill Alo at Women Printmakers of Austin, where I also ran into friend and fellow encaustic artist Maggie Jordan. Popped into Damon Arhos studio, too.
Then I walked down to Big Medium (the folks that started all this), viewed the show at the gallery, visited with encaustic painter Kristy Darnell Battani, abstract painter Rebecca Bennett, and said Hi to Judy Paul above the crowd that always surrounds her. 
Stopped in to see Daphne Holland‘s new work, and chatted with Juan Moreno, two more encaustic artists from Texas Wax. Stopped into Bay6 Studio, where I talked to Kevin Kuhn briefly (he’s taken over the Texas Wax website, bless his heart), and Sharon Kyle Kuhn, the encaustic artist who started the Austin Chapter of Texas Wax.
By this time, it was after 5:30, and I still had at least 6 more artists on my must-see list, but knew I only had time for one more. So I zipped over to Jennifer Chenoweth‘s to see her new work and the work of Virginia Fleck. Her work is always so interesting, and her home itself is an amazing work of art! Good call: Jennifer very kindly packed up a bowl of her delicious chicken pesole to take with me after my very brief visit.
And that, my friends, was my whirlwind one day tour of EAST 2010 (seeing only about 1/10th of the artists participating this year).
View some photos from the ArtPost and the Pump Project Arts Complex in this gallery:
[nggallery id=63]
See also part one: Participating as an Artist at The Vortex
and part two: EAST Artists Tour
East Austin Studio Tour 2010, Part Two
Above (or left): Sculpture by Hank Waddell and paintings by Shawn Camp at Shawn Camp’s studio during E.A.S.T. 2010
An artist is not an isolated system. In order to survive he has to interact continuously with the world around him… Theoretically there are no limits to his involvement.— Hans Haacke
EAST Artists Tour
This year, for the first time, artists were able to visit other artists’s studios on a few weeknights in the week between the two EAST public tour weekends. This is a really great development! A major drawback of being a participating artist in EAST these past years has always been that you’re stuck at your own studio and can’t get out to see new work, new artists, new spaces, new ideas, and visit with your artist friends. It was one of the main reasons why I didn’t open my studio last year, and instead spent the time visiting as many artists and studios as I could comfortably squeeze in.
The folks who organized this actually pulled it off more or less at the last moment, so I think that not all the artists were even aware of it. I found out too late to make it during the first two nights, but managed to get to three artist’s studios on the third night.
First, I got to visit with neighbor and painter extraordinaire Jennifer Balkan. Jennifer is a very painterly figurative painter who often uses bits of maps in her work (and she’s really, really nice!). I saw her work during the very first EAST Tour that I visited—maybe it was #2 in 2004 (when there were only 51 locations)—and I was blown away by her work then.
Jennifer just gets better and better, and her work is currently included in this great invitational “Women Painting Women” show at Robert Lange Studio in Charleston. You can see the show and read the articles from American Art Collector, ArtMag, & Art See at: Robert Lange Studio, and you can visit her website and see more of her work and info at: JenniferBalkan.net.
Next, I visited with neighbor, friend and painter Ines Batllo in her wonderful new studio. Ines is a Catalan painter whose paintings in oil and encaustic are skillful, deep, and full of soul. She’s doing some very interesting three-dimensional work with encaustic. She and I were having such a great conversation that I forgot to take any photos there, but you can view her work online at: inespaintings.com.
My last visit of the evening was to Shawn Camp’s studio, with Shawn Camp’s paintings and Hank Waddell’s sculptures.
Shawn’s paintings are so luscious; they are very thick with gorgeous paint, and I just want to roll in them (like in the movie “What Dreams May Come”). His work also references the landscape from an aerial perspective. I first saw Shawn’s work at the Davis Gallery in 2006, when he showed with the awesome sculptor Caprice Pierucci, and I just fell in love Shawn’s work at that time (and Caprice’s!).
Well, I fell heads over heels in love with one particular little painting of Shawn’s this night, and so, soon I will be able to look at it every day. Yes! I am buying a small painting from Shawn, and I could hardly be more excited! (EAST folks, take note: The EAST Artists Tour is definitely worth it for artist and artist alike!). :)
See more of Shawn’s gorgeous paintings at ShawnCamp.net.
Sculptor Hank Waddell’s work is very cool, and so is he. He uses a lot of construction materials in his work, makes beautiful and intriguing sculptures in wood, bamboo, metal, foam and more. He also creates some very cool (and affordable) lead airplanes, and is always, always surprising. Hank was one of the very few artists chosen for the 24th “New American Talent” at Arthouse’s Jones Center. The work was selected by New American Talent juror, Hamza Walker, Curator and Director of Education, The Renaissance Society, The University of Chicago.”
I met Hank when he was president of the Texas Society of Sculptors, and I was taking over as webmaster. We’ve both since moved on from our positions at TSOS, but we have stayed friends, and I designed his newest website. To see Hank’s fantastic and fun work, visit his site at: HankWaddell.com.
View a small gallery of images from the EAST Artists Tour:
[nggallery id=62]
See also part three: Full Day of Visiting Artist Studios, Last Day of E.A.S.T.
and part one: Participating as an Artist at The Vortex
East Austin Studio Tour 2010, Part One
The Drishti Dancers performing at The Vortex, East Austin Studio Tour 2010
Participating as an Artist at The Vortex
This year’s East Austin Studio Tour was great, as always! I had my paintings up at The Vortex, and hung out there for 3 of the 4 days of the tour. Sold some work, met some people, visited with friends, and had a good time enjoying the other events at The Vortex (belly dancing, hula-hooping, musical performances, aerial dancing, trapeze). Oh, I didn’t participate in any of those; I merely enjoyed watching them.
One of the several musical highlights for me was a 60′s style surf band called the Nematoads. Think The Ventures, only really fast! They are a 5-piece band with a fabulous drummer, bass, guitar and a horn section. They played a very high-energy rock-n-roll set, and were pretty awesome. The crowd loved them; they had hula-hoopers out there hooping it up through their whole set.
To find out more about the Nematoads, read their blurb from the Austin Chronicle’s Musicians’ Register.
View a gallery of images from EAST at The Vortex here:
[nggallery id=60]
See also part two: EAST Artists Tour
and part three: Full Day of Visiting Artist Studios, Last Day of E.A.S.T.
This and That: Visiting E.A.S.T. and Artwork Pricing
“My Alien Friend”
Oil on Canvas
6″ x 6″
© 2009 Marilyn Fenn
A lot of little bits of news are piling up this week, faster than I can post individually, so here are some of them:
Artwork Pricing:
My pricing is based on a per-square-inch algorithm that is now both linear and consistent. Works on paper cost less than paintings, and matted and/or framed art costs more than unframed work. Plain and simple for us all.
Getting Noticed!
There’s been kind of a wonderful uptick in people noticing my work lately (yeah!!!). I sold a few limited edition prints of paintings last weekend at The Vortex (part of the East Austin Studio Tour). Just this week, several more folks have joined my page on Facebook, and I’ve gotten some great comments about my paintings from a few other Facebook friends. I had several of my paintings included in Etsy Treasuries recently (3 today!), and I’ve been invited to join a group of artists who are committed to using the power of the internet to raise awareness of finding quality fine art. More about that in the next post.
Final Weekend of the East Austin Studio Tour
Tomorrow and Sunday are the final two days of E.A.S.T. If you love art, or just want to see some of the coolest things happening in Austin, this is the place to be! Visit the East Austin Studio Tour website to find which artists will be where. You may still be able to find a gorgeous printed catalog and map, but you can also view the catalog online.
One of the coolest features on this year’s EAST website is the ability to create your own tour (because, let’s face it, there is no way you could visit all 300 artists, 150 studios, 28 exhibition spaces, 19 happenings and all the furthermores in 2 days, or even 4, in case you’d already started last weekend). Go to the EAST website and click on the link for “Your E.A.S.T.,” then start searching and adding artists, studios and exhibition spaces. I quickly made a very tiny list, which you can view here, though it leaves out whole great groups of artists. Sorry, I was a bit bleary-eyed, and unfortunately, it seems you can’t add to the list, once you finalize it. Drat! In fact, I left out the exhibition space where I will be this weekend!
I will be at The Vortex again tomorrow, from 11am-6pm: Exhibition Space #E28, 2307 Manor Road–a large Theatre and yard located just east of the dry cleaners at Cherrywood/Chestnut and Manor. It’s deep back behind the parking lot that’s to the south of
I should be there Sunday, too, though I’m not making any promises. I’m not sure I can stand to hang around that long, and I’d sure love to visit some other artists! (So do let me know in advance if you are planning to come visit me on Sunday; otherwise…you can always call me after the tour, if you’d like to visit my studio.
I’ll Be Showing with Cherrywood Artists at the Vortex During EAST
The VORTEX and CHULA
are pleased to announce
an Open Studio and Performance Festival
at The VORTEX for
East Austin Studio Tour 2010
When: Saturday and Sunday, November 13-14, 21-22, 2010 11am-6pm.
CircX VorteX, November 14 7pm.
Where: The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722
Free Admission!
The VORTEX and CHULA present 2 weekends of visual and performing arts for East Austin Studio Tour. Each day of the tour, visual artists display their work while performing artists provide demonstrations and performances. See the full list of daily events at the Vortex website.
The Vortex is Exhibition Space # E28 on the EAST map.
Visual Artists from the Cherrywood Neighborhood include:
Paul Ahern, Cardboard Artist, www.cardboardistry.com
Stephen Bartolomeo, Painter
Marykathryn Briggs, Photographer, http://www.blurb.com/books/ 1302977
Patricia Chapa, Silkscreen Paintings.
Marilyn Fenn, Painter, marilynfenn.com
Carolyn Green + Katinka Pinka, Mother-daughter team devoted to multi-media collage art, clothing, and accessories from recycled materials, www.katinkapinka.com
Cassandra Ramirez, ceramic artist showing bowls and succulent planters.
Cedar Stevens, hoopster and herbalist, Hoops by Hullaba Loola and Natural Magick Shop
Jeff Woodruff, art jeweler, painter and mobile sculptor, www.metalicity.com
Demonstrations and performances each day between 11am and 6pm of EAST include work by Sky Candy Aerial Collective, Drishti Dancers, John Steven and Tyler, Abigail and Hansel, Nematoades, Haun’s Mill, Los Super Avengers, and Sticky Fingers Fashion Fragrance Show.
CircX VorteX returns with a fall installment at 7pm on November 14. This Free Circus Arts show features Aerial arts by Sky Candy, Drishti Dancers, live music, and more. Donations accepted to support the artists and the venue.
For more information contact vortex@vortexrep.org.
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