September 2023 NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends,

I want to thank everyone who attended this year's Dorothy Gillespie "Studio Open House" last month. Visitors had an opportunity to see my mother's prolific body of work and learn about her process throughout her seven decade career and what The Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation is doing now to further my mother's passion and legacy for posterity. (See photos below of studio.)

The day before the Open House I was invited for a live in-person interview on NPR Public Radio Catskill in Liberty NY.

Click below to listen to the 13-minute interview by Tim Bruni the General Manager and Valerie Mansi the station's arts reporter about the Narrowsburg studio.

Gary Israel NPR Interview

You will need to fast forward to the segment at 35.20 minutes to about 48 minutes on the August 25th show.



Regards,

Gary

The studio, built 26 years ago, is located on four beautiful acres in Narrowsburg - a hamlet in Sullivan County, New York, in the Catskills about 120 miles NW of NYC. Narrowsburg is the home of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance. (See photos of studio below)

Located in the studio are Gillespie's pastels, watercolors and ink drawings when she attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore 1938-41

Gillespie loved to do portraits and self-portraits during her lifetime. Below left is a self-portrait she did when she moved to NYC in 1943. Below center is a self-portrait she did when she got married in 1946. Below right is her portrait of my father 1947.

Gillespie considered herself more a painter than a sculptor and in the back of the studio are her pre-abstract and abstract paintings from the 1950's & 1960's.

The Flag Show was just one of several "environmental and happening" shows Gillespie had in the 1960's and 1970's

The wood and canvas boxes above were created in the 1960's as Gillespie was transitioning from 2 dimensional paintings to three dimensional paper and metal.

The medium of paper was very important to Gillespie's artistic development. She believed that art on paper was compatible with our mobile society; It's easy to pack, easy to move and easy to unroll, hang on the wall and enjoy. In 1985 art historian Francis Martin wrote about Gillespie “She is paper, and paper is Gillespie.”

The metallic hanging starburst form became signature for Gillespie and she used it in many other installations, especially those with a high, deep space.

Gillespie created works using a single sheet of aluminum; first she painted the overall design, and then, using metal shears, she cut it into strips, which she then shaped.

Gillespie painted on the metal using enamel-based paint and a variety of brushes, including foam, small rollers, and hairbrushes.

In addition to Gillespie's 2000 Epcot poster she did posters for Lincoln Center, museums, galleries, universities etc. Her art was on the cover of the 1999 book titled "Dorothy Gillespie" as well as on the cover of playbills, annual reports, magazines, note cards, etc.

Freestanding painted sculptures above can be seen from multiple points of view.

To view the six minute video click

 "Dorothy Gillespie’s Studio in the Catskills"

Password:Dorothy