August 2022 | Olivebridge, NY | no. 8
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Dear friends,
A few months back I took a bit of a pivot from what has been a professional life in the arts and took the position of Project Director for FAMILY of Woodstock's newest program, HomeShare Woodstock. It feels good to apply my skills and experience to a position with an organization that has been serving the needs of the community for over fifty years. The HomeShare Woodstock program was established to address the rental crisis that faces our community here in Woodstock like so many communities across the country. There are over sixty home sharing programs across the United States. HomeShare Woodstock uses existing resources, allows seniors to age in their homes, provides affordable rentals so that our artists, volunteers and employees can remain in town, and brings the added benefits of companionship, security and help with personal and household tasks as part of the task exchange aspect of the program. You'll be hearing more about the program from me, but for now, you can follow us on our Facebook page here and please help spread the word!
It feels very good to be working for a good cause and this position also allows me the time to be in my studio, which had become a daily practice during COVID. I've also had time for some road trips to much-anticipated exhibitions. It's been a good, productive year of making and seeing art. See below for some of the exhibitions that caught my attention.
I wanted to thank everyone who came to see my solo exhibition at the Garrison Art Center this past March. The exhibit was beautifully installed and well-received and I'm grateful to everyone at the Garrison Art Center for the time, care, and attention that they brought to the exhibition.
Lastly, I hope you'll put the weekend of September 16-18 on your calendar. I'll be showing some of my recent work in an open studio art salon at the studio of my friend Petra Nimtz. I hope you'll save the date and plan to stop by. Details below.
May you all be keeping cool and enjoying these remaining days of summer.
Cheers!
xo Janice
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JOAN MITCHELL RETROSPECTIVE
Baltimore Museum of Art
Through August 14, 2022
I had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this exhibition to the east coast after its opening in San Francisco. I don't know when I first came to Joan Mitchell's work but the Marion Cajori film, "Portrait of an Abstract Painter," 1993, has been a film I've replayed often. I savored each and every one of the 70 works in this exhibition. Standing before her canvases you feel the full power and passion in this work - Joan Mitchell was a fierce painter, her brushstrokes full of life and energy, lyricism and directness. She is alive across every inch of the surface of her canvases. An introductory video presented before entering the galleries provides an articulate and sensitive reading of Mitchell's work by painter Stanley Whitney. The last venue for this exhibition is the Foundation Louis Vuitton this fall. It truly is not to be missed!
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MARY FRANK: The Observing Heart
Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art
Exhibit closed July 17, 2022
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The Observing Heart was a beautiful title for this exhibition of Woodstock's own Mary Frank. All that is passionate, fiercely independent and socially conscious about the artist is present in this collection of work. Although the exhibition closed in July I wanted to share some photos and applaud Mary for a moving and powerful exhibition. |
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PHILIP GUSTON NOW
Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, MA
Through September 11, 2022
The other show that I had been anxiously awaiting was the controversially postponed Philip Guston exhibition, Philip Guston Now. A pale pink 6x9 card announces the exhibition in the form of a handout at the entry to the exhibit's galleries at the MFA. It reads: "Emotional Preparedness for "Philip Guston Now." I saw Philip Guston Now several weeks ago and I had posted this card declaring "emotional preparedness" on my refrigerator door. That statement has been weighing heavily on me as has been the related perspective cast by the curators of this installation. I love Guston's painting. I love his approach to painting. I entered this exhibition as a painter eager to see the work of a great painter. I was saddened to find that the treatment of the KKK imagery and the heightened and pervasive sensitivity toward that imagery hung like a dark gray cloud as I walked through the show. I left the exhibit with that unfortunate weight rather than with the jubilance that I had anticipated. I have been thinking about this exhibition over and again since seeing it and I want to return as I am hopeful that knowing what to anticipate, I might be able to redirect my viewing. I would be very interested to know the reaction of others who have seen this exhibit. My disappointment aside there are many magnificent paintings on view and I offer a few of them here.
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Photos
Top: Philip Guston, Dial, 1956 and Tower, 1970
Middle: Philip Guston, Deluge 1969 and Cellar, 1970
Bottom: Philip Guston, The Ladder, 1978 and Black Sea, 1977
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SAVE THE DATE
Open Studio Art Salon
Friday, September 16, 6-8pm
Saturday, September 17, noon-6pm
Sunday, September 18, noon-6pm
Studio of Petra Nimtz
19 Wilber Lane
Woodstock, NY
845.389.2212
Please join me along with friends Petra Nimtz, Beth Humphrey and Iain Machell to view some of our latest works from the studio. Hope to see you there!
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MONOTYPE EXHIBITION & AUCTION
I was pleased to be invited to participate in this year's Monoprint Monothon at the Woodstock School of Art. The monothon is a fundraising effort for the benefit of the school's building fund and selected prints from this year's monothon will be on exhibit in the galleries at the Woodstock School of Art from September 10 - October 8 with the benefit auction taking place on September 10th from 2-4pm. I'm pleased to have my print, This Year's Love (pictured above) included in the auction. Please consider purchasing a print and help to support the school. For details visit www.woodstockschoolofart.org
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Be who you are.
Give What is yours to give.
Have Style.
Dare.
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