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--Dan Cummins (Board President)
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Spring Is In The Air
While Mother Nature seems intent on proving that it isn't so, it sure seems like spring is just around the corner. The beginning of March brought us the Spring Gallery Walk with over 40 people attending a fun-filled evening at The ArtiFactory. It was wonderful to see some old friends and meet some new folks that ventured out to see what life is like as the omicron variant winds down. And the past weekend brought us "spring forward" where all of sudden there is sunlight until 6:30 pm and we can enjoy the warmth of longer days. And to top it off, this morning I was presented with the first bed of crocuses jutting through a snow pack. It just feels like there is more energy in the air.
We hope you enjoy this newsletter. You will find some things we are offering in our space in the next month, as well as some interesting articles and links to art exhibits around the world. The newsletter is for you....please drop us a note with any comments and suggestions. We are truly interested in what you have to say.
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Join us in the ArtiFactory Gallery for Stacia Rain Stonerook on March 20 at 1 pm. Stacia is a Graphic Designer and Illustrator living in Iowa City. In addition to freelancing, Stacia has spent several years in the nonprofits arts community. She has served as the Graphic Designer for The Englert Theatre and is currently the Marketing Manager and Graphic Designer for FilmScene and Riverside Theatre. She is also the layout designer for the literary journal Brink. As an illustrator, Stacia creates hand-drawn work that is abstract, colorful, organic, and heavily inspired by biology.
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staciarain.com
Wesley House Lower Level, 120 N. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA
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Since I don’t have much news of local art doings this month I’ve decided to share some art news instead. Art Theft has been an interest of mine for a while. There are books and movies on the subject, some very good. (I need to ask our movie man Phil to look some up for me.) The movement to return these items to their original owners or places is growing and the struggle to hang on to the pieces is also hot. After all if a museum returned everything looted or acquired unethically, what would there be left to visit in a museum other than local donations and odds and ends?
In ancient times, winning a war meant capturing art, jewelry and and other spoils including slaves, women and children. It was a universally accepted practice. Destroying the citadel, temples and city was always a good idea too. Centuries later explorers and amateur archaeologists went back to these sites, the Acropolis, and pyramids and took home every artifact left behind. In recent memory the Nazis carried out a systematic looting of museums, churches and private art collections through out Europe, and today the favored approach to art theft is to go into an art museum and take the often previously looted art off the wall and scamper.
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In the news this week are two “restituted” stories. The first is about an Easter Island Head going home. These are the enormous heads we all have seen pictures of, but did you know that they have large torsos carved and ornamented buried deep in the ground? I didn’t! The Moai was moved to Santiago in 1870 and and now after many years is on a naval ship and will be home in a few days. Efforts are being made for the return of sacred and funerary objects as well.
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A rare painting “The Foxes” by German expressionist Franz Marc was returned to his descendants last year. Marc was drafted in WWI and died at Verdun in 1916. This painting was taken by Nazis from a Jewish collector, and later his work was deemed decadent and over a hundred of his paintings were seized from museums. Last week it sold at an international Christies auction for $57 million. I don’t know if it will remain in a private collection or become publicly available to see.
More on this topic next month.
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The one piece of news that I can pass on is for all you interested in plein air painting. Sign up for Plein Air in Washington hosted by Art Domestique, June 10-12. Entry fee is $30. Friday after 4 you can register and stay to paint a “Nocturne”. Saturday after 7 you can sign in and paint all day and Sunday morning. Turn art in at 1 at the gallery, art sales 2-5, awards ceremony at 4. There are prizes for 6 categories. Should be a real good time!
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That’s all from me this month.
Please send any art related events or news that you would like to share in our next newsletter. Enjoy the warmer longer days and send me your news!
Beppie
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Long-time favorite of mine and everyone’s, I would imagine. His work needs to be revisited on a timely basis, just like one of Jane Austin’s novels needs to be reread on the same basis.
Special, personal, intriguing, but not primitive, often child-like but not childish, and held in high regard everywhere. Not of any school, that I can tell. Some critics try to assign him to one, if for no other reason than when he lived and painted. But his range is so broad, it is evidence he’s seen a lot and assimilated a lot.
My favorites of his keep changing with my aging!
3:42 minutes long.
Paul Klee
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Rachael Hellmann Introduction
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 New to me, and surprisingly appealing! Shaped structures immediately imply abstract art, since with a very few exceptions like David Hockney, no one paints landscapes or portraits on shaped canvases. And why would they? That genre is most often employs the Renaissance window, and windows are rectangular. These pieces are reliefs as well, so that imparts an extra dimension beyond bands or areas of color.
From New York, L.A., London, you wonder? No, her studio is in Terre Haute, INDIANA.
Check her out, and click a Like button while you’re there, please.
3:07 long.
Rachael Hellmann Intro
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Chuck Arnoldi at Tamarind Institute Print Center
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Example of his work while at Tamarind
In this short video his discussion about being a guest artist at the prestigious Tamarind Institute is inspiring, but not my main take-away. As having worked in four different printmaking environments with no professional assistance, I listened closely to the challenges he is having with real professional technicians. Not that I would ever be anywhere close to Tamarind in Albuquerque, NM to need to take notes.
His “The thing about being an artist….” is just perfect for me. Full stop. Might strum a cord in someone else’s soul.
1:38 minutes long
Arnoldi Words of Wisdom
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CAI Contemporary Landscape Painting #2: A Broad Spectrum
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