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Glass Is Art, Myrna And Sheldon Palley Have Over Thirty Years of Collecting To Prove It , See Part of Their Collection At Miami International Airport

11/28/2018

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by Patrick Ogle

When you speak to Myrna Palley about art glass the first thing you notice are the pronouns: "we" "us" and "ours." The long-time collector of glass art, with her husband, Sheldon, views the artists, the glass galleries and other collectors as her people.

"We travel together, we visit each other's homes." she says.

Visitors to Miami Art Week can start looking at fine art as soon as they get off the plane this year. Part of the Palley's glass art collection will be gracing the American Airlines terminal at Miami International airport (concourse D 29). A
further large portion of the collection resides at the Palley Pavilion, next to the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami.

Palley studied art at the University of Miami and has remained connected to the school ever since.

"I feel like I live on campus. It is like I never left. My son went to law school there." she says.

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Palley was an art teacher until she married, is on the board of the New World School of the Arts and a patrons (and officers) of the Ring Theatre at the University of Miami (again, with her husband). To say the arts pay a pivotal role in her life is an understatement. The Palley's are activists across a broad spectrum of arts.

"No one donates to the arts and it is so very important for mind and body. Everyone gives to diseases, and that is marvelous, but supporting the arts is something you can give to benefit people before something happens physically or mentally." she says.

The Palley's became involved in collecting glass over 30 years ago. Back then glass was seen more as a craft (today, in some cases it still is). They were attracted to the medium for numerous reasons.

"It is pure, it is filled with energy. It is a marvelous ingredient. Look at it! We were pioneers (as collectors). It is a marvelous art form. It is amazing what can be done with it, especially when combined with other materials like metal and wood," says Palley. "It is amazing what they could do with a fluid material that wound up being something you could hold. It has a life of its own. Wherever you put it it picks up something--daylight artificial light. It is sculpture that feeds from the environment. It is like a bowl of fish. The fish are always swimming around."
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Despite her passion for glass art Palley says that her and Sheldon never intended to have a collection, to be "collectors."

"It got out of hand. How out of hand? We have thousands of pieces." she says.

The solution was the Palley Pavilion at the University of Miami. The collection (or much of it) went there. It is in a separate building at the Lowe Gallery. The airport exhibit came about after the Palley's were contacted by the airport.

The curator of the airport exhibit is Linda Boone. Boone and her husband opened the first glass gallery in the country in Detroit, Habatat Gallery. Boone is retired but a nephew runs the Detroit gallery and her daughter runs one in West Palm Beach. She was instrumental in the Palley Pavilion's creation. She is glass art gallerist and curatorial royalty and Palley's respect for her is effusive.

This mirrors her opinion of the early glass artists she knows and in particular those she met in the early days.

"The fact the artists, working independently, worked so hard," she says "There were no galleries and they took to a brand new field but they thought enough of that they were doing to go into the shows and craft fairs."

These artists were running head first into an art form that was not considered fine art and that was, indeed, a complicated and expensive sort of art to produce was a leap of faith. The Palleys were there, right there, believing with them. Typing words cannot convey, adequately, the passion in Palley's voice as she speaks of the early glass artists.

One artist, who Palley rates as the A+++ of glass artists, is Dan Dailey. He perhaps comes from a slightly later period but the route he chose and the work he creates still reminds of the era a moment before he began. When Dailey is mentioned Palley notes he is coming to visit her for Miami Art Week (read an old interview with Dailey HERE). Palley's collection includes half a dozen pieces from Dailey. His work includes pieces in a myriad of styles over his long career. Dailey's
wife, Linda McNeil is an jewelry artist in her own right. 
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Blue Head with Flowers by Richard Jolley, from Palley Pavilion at Lowe Art Museum
Their collection is, even now, expanding. The passion for glass continues and they do not keep this light, proverbially, under a bushel. It is spread out all over South Florida. It isn't about stashing a collection: it is about sharing a collection.

"I have glass around the city and I sometimes forget where they are," she says. "We are still buying and the collection  is still expanding. Glass is like a child but it doesn't talk back to me."

Not everyone agrees that glass art is fine art, a sort of bizarre notion for anyone who has seen the work of  Dale Chihuly and his student, Dailey.

Palley says Art Basel doesn't allow glass galleries but that you will find glass on the floor of the show because some  galleries bring some (tacitly refuting the notion glass art isn't fine art).

"We are no longer a craft. A friend of mine donated 16 or 17 pieces of Billy (WIlliam) Morris to my part of the museum 10 years ago." she says

The pieces were valued in the millions.

"Now, I don't think it is craft? I don't think it is a lot of people working around a bunsen burner." she says. "It is not going anywhere, it is fine art. If Art Basel is close minded that is their trouble." says Palley.

Glass galleries are all over the country and, despite the stances of certain fairs, glass is fine art and always has been. You will see glass all around town during Miami Art Week.

Before you do that? Check out the exhibit at Miami International Airport.

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Pinta Miami Art Fair, The Only Fair Focused On Latin American Art During Miami Art Week 2018, An Interview With Diego Costa Peuser

11/28/2018

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by Patrick Ogle

Pinta Miami (December 5 to 9, 2018) is the first fair, operating during Miami Art Week, to focus entirely on Latin American art during Miami Art Week.  Certainly you see Latin American art within various fairs but no fair, until Pinta, focused entirely on the region.

"From its beginnings, Pinta broke into the art scene almost as a sort of revelation about how the manifestations of modernity in Latin American art were not only parallel but in many cases preceded those that would appear in the United States. And this teaches that the history of art can be told in many ways," says Diego Costa Peuser, Executive Director of Pinta and a founder of the fair. "Pinta bringstogether the most influential figures of modernity, and at the same time highlights a key horizon for contemporary art. Certainly, in a globalized world art should travel without borders but,  with some exceptions, The South had been inserted into the world scene just a couple of decades ago. So, if someone wants a true understanding of the present state of contemporary art, they should look at the fair. I mean, in the history books of art in this country it is not even mentioned that a Chilean, Roberto Matta, was the great pioneer of North American abstract expressionism."

Just a few years ago knowledge of the great artists of Latin America, true masters, was sorely lacking. A small group, of course, were aware of these masters but broader recognition in the art world was simply not there (to say nothing of the world in general). The information was not there. Things have changed.
 
"There is a growing awareness of the value and importance of Latin American art, but without a doubt I think that Graciela Speranza is right when she writes: that although art should stand by itself without reference to the origin, we must invent strategies 'until in the global map that decomposes and recomposes in the 21st century, the art of Latin America becomes part of the visible world, and no longer included just cover the condescending quota'," says Peuser. "Because of factors outside of art, what gets created in the world’s epicenters achieves greater resonance, and is inserted into the world scene, but that does not mean that it has by itself more value than what is created in the south."

Just because the American segment of the art world is not aware of something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And, while the notion of a borderless, open art world where national and cultural boundaries do not exist is ideal? It isn't, in fact, what exists. Pinta works with artists whose work is historically significant, artists that are in the middle of their careers and emerging artists. In some cases established artists of Latin America are "emerging artists" in the north.

"Pinta devotes a large space to curatorships that allow one to see - as in the model of pavilions of the Venice Biennial--the best artists from some countries. And those sections include both established artists as well as mid-career and
emerging," he says. "Do not forget that the fair had a decisive role in the rediscovery of Carmen Herrera, and I’ll give you another example; in 2016 a curated section gave ample space to Jorge Eduardo Eielson, and we even reconstructed one of the historical installations. Not long after, Andrea Rosen began to represent him in New York. And I would dare to say that we are in a climate where discoveries do not only operate in the emerging category but also with artists who were ignored for many years."
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Pinta, like many fairs, has sections and special exhibitions. How do they keep it fresh year to year?

"First, we invite large collections that display their components with great care. Just walking through them is a lesson in itself. We have had for example the Capriles Brillembourg Collection of Venezuela, the Jorge Perez Collection, the
Tiroche deLeon Collection, the Waismann Collection, and this year we invited the INELCOM  Contemporary Art Collection of Spain," says Peuser.

Pinta also has sections inside the country pavilions: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain and Mexico. Curators are invited to include special projects that coincide with their research.

"Jesús Fuenmayor explores the work of emerging artists concerned with the environment. Roc Laseca works with gallerists to display individual works in their own cabinets. Aluna Art Foundation gathers the effective look of a group of Venezuelan artists on the architecture of Caracas, as a critical mirror," he says. "Everywhere, there are clear signs that allow one to recognize the collections, the pavilions and the curated projects, but everything is integrated at the same time into to the body of the fair constituted by the galleries."

Miami Art Week has, for years, been a massive flood of art, an avalanche of art and it expands every year. Even within this context there is room for something new--education, experience and more.

"In the middle of the saturation of the market, there is still space for those who, beyond the social event, need to understand the stories that art tells. From prehistory to today there is something in art that saves, and saves us. Art has transformed the city, has created new districts and displacements, but its effect penetrates all strata," he says. "The art of the street is a visible trace of it, but also the way in which--after the fair--alternative art spaces, temporary galleries and a series of initiatives are reactivated is also the effect of a place that concentrates the art of the art world into a week."

Visit Pinta during art week to see these stories art tells.
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Stoney Road Press (Dublin)'s David O'Donoghue On Ink Miami 2018, Printed Art And Seal Snot

11/25/2018

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PictureMedusae IV (Glowing) by Dorothy Cross
by Patrick Ogle

Stoney Road Press, from Dublin, Ireland, is an independent fine art print studio. Their collection of print works represents a wide variety of styles and methods. Pieces from Stoney Road are held in noted private and public collections around the world including: the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Boston Public Library, The Arts Council, Princeton University and many more. They are the only independent commercial fine art print studio in Ireland.
 
Stoney Road are coming to Miami Beach for the tenth time as part of Ink Miami 2018 December 5 to 9, 2019, at the Dorchester Hotel (1850 Collins Ave,, Miami Beach).

"It has become a very important part of our art fair calendar. Coming only weeks after the main IFPDA New York print Fair--a lot of conversations begun with clients in New York get completed at INK," says co-founder, David O’Donoghue. "We have more space to show work and more time to engage with clients than we have in New York. Ink is a very friendly fair; people really enjoy it and frequently rank it amongst their favorite fair in Miami."

Ink Miami is dedicated to printed work (although you may see the occasional piece that is not a print). They are also unique in that they open earlier than other fairs. You can go to Ink with your morning coffee in hand.

"So each morning, Ink  gets lots of visitors enjoying coffee and croissants from our breakfast trolley while visiting each of the booths. It is very easy and relaxed," says O’Donoghue. "They then head off feeling replete to the madnesses of Miami and the other art fairs--only to return later that day to INK to collapse on your couch,to enjoy your air conditioning and a complementary cold beverage while regaling you with tales of their art fair adventures that afternoon."

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Medusae I (Not Glowing) by Dorothy Cross
This year Stoney Road is showing pieces by Dorothy Cross and Brian Duggan.

Cross, best known as a sculptor, will be showing work, collectively titled, Medusae. It is a continuation of the artist's obsession with the ocean. These prints of jellyfish glow in the dark (yes, there will be a dark room where you can see this). O’Donoghue says that the word "jellyfish" is a beautiful word in the Irish language, smugairle róin.

"This is pronounced SMUGLELY ROIN--the literal translation of which in English is "seal snot’-- not so lovely!" he says.

They are also working on a glow in the dark jellyfish t-shirt which may be ready for the fair. It is to be hoped the shirt says "seal snot" somewhere on it.

Duggan's work, in neon, is titled I fell in love with the wall and is inspired by Sam Morgan Storm. Morgan is one of the few female "Wall of Death" riders. She got her start, at the age of 15, working at the Dade County Motordrome. Over her career she was injured man times. She passed away in 2008 at the age of 53. The Wall of Death is a circular, mesh globe and inside is a daredevil riding a motorcycle. How anyone even thought of this as an attraction boggles the imagination and it is as dangerous as it is fascinating.
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I Fell In Love With The Wall by Brian Duggan
Ink Miami gives each exhibitor a room at the hotel to show work.

"The scale of the rooms at INK gives an opportunity to showcase a lot more works than we have at IFPDA. We bring a large selection of works by a variety of artists. You can rest assured that the very artist you decide not to bring to INK one year is the artist that a client will ask for when visiting. So I kind of have to bring everything!" says O’Donoghue "We always aim to have a number of new works & projects which visitors/clients like to see. Then there are the favourites--like the Donald Teskey carborundum seascapes. We bring the acrylic plates the prints were made from and examples of the prints broken down into the sequence of plates showing how the image is developed. Visitors love to see this as it really helps explain how the process works-that these prints are all hand made by the artist, hand inked by the master printers at Stoney Road Press and not just reproductions of a painting."

Stoney Road have been in business for 18 years, initially working mostly with Irish artists but recently expanding to include artists from the U.K. and the United States. Ink Miami, and other art fairs around the world, are an important, even essential, part of Stoney Road's bottom line.

"We are based in Dublin--with a very modest (that's being generous) art market. For the past 10 years we have been exhibiting in the US at art fairs in New York, Miami, L.A., Palm Springs, San Francisco and Portland. This year we added Cleveland to the list and we hope to show in Seattle later this year," says O’Donoghue. "I would say about 50 percent of our turnover comes from the Art fairs. As an art  publisher getting access to this very large art audience is an essential part of our business and one we couldn’t achieve at home in Dublin. It's amazing how people know us from San Francisco and then see us in New York or when they are in London in May when we are showing at the London Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy."

Another important part of the fair is putting the art in context for viewers. You can see the art on the website but you cannot exchange stories with the artists or gallery owners.  

"I enjoy meeting people at the fairs. I like talking about the artists we work with and the how the works were made. There are stories and anecdotes about the artists )and) visitors to our booths enjoy hearing these tales. It brings the
works to life."  he says.

O’Donoghue also takes some time for himself during Miami Art Week (as every exhibitor should).
 
"I swim every day at dawn on South Beach. It's a wonderful start to the day watching the sun rise." he says.

It is to be hoped O’Donoghue knows it is Portuguese man o' war season in December. That is one seal snot encounter to be avoided.
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Seven Leaves for James by James Drummond
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Jerald Melberg Gallery Showing Work By Wolf Khan And Many Others At Art Miami 2018, An Interview With Jerald Melberg

11/21/2018

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PictureUntitled by Robert Motherwell
by Patrick Ogle

Jerald Melberg, the name behind Charlotte’s Jerald Melberg Gallery (Charlotte), has a little advice for prospective gallery owners.

“If you want to make a small fortune in the gallery business, start with a large one.” he says.

Melberg's gallery will be on hand for the most important art event in the United States, Art Week in Miami. The gallery will, again, be part of  Art Miami (One Herald Plaza, Miami). The fair takes place December 4 to 9, 2018.

“I like this fair because the dealers are friendly, the fair goers are friendly, and feel like they can find something at Art Miami that they would like to own and can afford,” says Melberg. “It also gives me the opportunity to be in front of thousands of collectors that I wouldn’t normally have opportunity to meet.”

Melberg’s gallery represents an eclectic group of artists including Wolf Kahn, Susan Grossman, Esteban Vicente and Raul Diaz. When asked how he chooses the artists to represent or show, Melberg gives two answers.

“The short answer is, very carefully. The longer answer is I choose my artists emotionally and how they speak to me and are they saying something that contributes to society,” he says “ I do not choose them because they may be popular or easy to sell. If I believe in them, I can convince others to do so as well.”

Confidence is, no doubt, part of being a success in the art world.

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A Sudden Burst by Charles Basham
One artist whose work will certainly catch your eye at the Jerald Melberg Gallery booth is Wolf Kahn. Kahn was born in Germany but came to the USA as a teenager in 1940.  He spent time in the U.S. Navy and , in perhaps the best use of the G.I. Bill ever, he studied with Hans Hofmann in New York.  He was one of a group of Hofmann students who started Hansa Gallery. Kahn's work blends the abstract with the figurative and his palette (colors he uses) has been compared to an array of artists; It is really his own creation because his work is unique in both color and form. He is, to put it succinctly, one of the world's most important living artists. 

“I had been aware of Wolf’s work since I was in my 20s. At 31 I became curator at the Mint Museum here in Charlotte and I proposed doing an exhibition for Wolf. On my next trip to New York I met with Grace Borgenicht, Wolf’s dealer at the time, to discuss the possibility of an exhibition,” says Melberg. “She informed me that a museum tour was being organized and the only slot left coincided with an opening on the Mint Museum’s calendar. Grace asked me if I had ever met Wolf. When I told her I hadn’t, she picked up the phone, ‘Hello Wolf, there’s a young curator here from the Mint Museum. I’m going to send him down to the studio to meet you’.”

A meeting with an artist of Kahn’s stature might be nerve-wracking even with more than a minutes notice.

“The next thing I knew I was ringing the buzzer on Wolf’s studio door, doing so with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. The studio was on the top floor of a four story walk up. At the first landing I took a 180 degree turn.” he says. “As I turned again at the next landing, there were two flights of stairs straight up, ending at Wolf’s door. The door opened and there stood Wolf Kahn in his white painter’s smock with brush in hand. He was silhouetted by the window behind him, the sunlight forming a halo around his head. As I climbed those last two flights, I truly felt I was ascending to the heavens. I was awestruck. I still am today.”
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Whetstone Valley by Wolf Kahn

Landscape in a Minor Key and On a Base of French Mauve by Wolf Kahn

There is a tendency to think of art as being some rareified thing that only the denizens of New York care about. Yet people in the rest of the country, including the Southeast,  have managed to come out of their caves to form vibrant arts communities. Atlanta, Miami and Charlotte all have vibrant arts communities. For galleries, as cities grow, in size and economically, the market for art correspondingly rises.

“As a city, Charlotte is growing like a weed. I have lived here now for forty years and the changes are so dramatic that you can hardly speak of them. It is a booming, vital place, but I cannot exist from it completely. That is why I do art fairs.” he says.

Many galleries show work at a number of fairs during Art Week in Miami. Some galleries do it memorably while some do it forgetably. Melberg’s advice to galleries coming to Miami for the first time is simple.

“Don’t try to be something you’re not. Don’t go borrowing works from others to bolster your look. Show the artists you believe in.” he says.

The work you see here is from the gallery’s current exhibition of work by Charles Basham and an upcoming exhibition of work from Robert Motherwell. The Motherwell pieces are coming directly from The Dedalus Foundation and have never been seen previously.

“I am also working on the catalogue raisonne of the graphic works of Romare Bearden. Should be published in about a year.” he says.

Always keep an eye open for what the gallery is doing--from noted artists like Bearden, Motherwell and Bashen to contemporary artists with unique and stunning work. Melberg is enthusiastic about the art he shows and the process of showing it.

“I recently turned 70 and I’m still at it. I still want to be at it.” he says.

Drop by the Jerald Melberg Gallery booth at Art Miami to see all the artists they are bringing along.
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Nimbus by Charles Basham
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Sara Rahbar Creates Mesmerizing, Thought Provoking Work Out Of The Detritus Of War-- Appearing At NADA Miami 2018

11/17/2018

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by Patrick Ogle

Sara Rahbar makes art out of the detritus of war. She is a mixed media artist whose sculpture and installation pieces take broken, implements of war, pieces of uniform and gear and recreates them into art. Her work is both personal and broad in its scope. Pieces reflect her experiences but they also embody the broader, shared, human experience.

Rahbar, an American artist born in Iran, lives and works in New York City. Her work will be show at NADA Miami 2018 (December 6 to 9) by Carbon.12 Gallery (Dubai). Her work with cast off martial items began early for her.

“From the very beginning I’ve always been attracted to these kinds of objects. I’m sure it has something to do with my past but I never overthink it. For me working is very instinctual, very raw and natural,” she says. “I began with the American flag and remnants from different wars. Now it’s cast bronze body parts, tools and collected objects but in the end they all touch on the same subjects: love, violence, control, the human condition. The objects and mediums may change but these subjects have always played a very significant role in my work. The foundation of it all are my emotions & memories; that is where everything begins.”

Knowing she was born, and left, Iran during a tumultuous period tends to lend credence to the notion that this is the root of her art but it isn’t necessarily that, or at least that alone.

“I don’t remember much and  in general I don’t like to linger in the past. I let it all go a long time ago. But you know how it is we accumulate so much from living, from being out there in the world,emotions, memories and they always pop up in the work somehow. Sometimes I am aware of it and sometimes I’m not,” she says. “The work is a reflection of me of my life -of all the things that I’ve seen, recorded, felt & held onto all these years. And just like I have an accumulation of memories and emotions- my work is an accumulation of used and lived objects, neatly placed and attached together in a way that makes sense to me.”

Find out more at sararahbar.com

A sideways comparison to Louise Nevelson is justifiably brushed aside by Rahbar who explains the differences succinctly.

“She is a wonderful artist and I love her work -but my pieces are very different from hers. I use very specific objects--weapons and body parts. Also there’s a lot of metal in these pieces and Nevelson’s pieces were primarily wood.” says Rahbar. “These days I primarily work with wood and metal they are strong materials-and I like that I don’t like weak things. I don’t like things that break.”

Rahbar says she talks about workers, soldiers and the people just trying to survive. Geography, interactions and what remains after trauma are all part of her art.

“There are a lot of ideas that run through my mind when I collect these objects, but in the end when they’re in my studio they very organically come together and wind up becoming these historical totem poles or wall pieces,” she says. “I feel like I’m recording a history with these pieces; some of these objects are from World War I and II some of them are tools are from the 18th and 19th century. I feel such a relatedness to these objects and subjects. It all stems from somewhere deep down inside of me. It’s very hard to put into words.”

Like most art, the reaction of viewers comes from the viewer as much as it does from the art. Looking at Rahbar’s art is likely to inspire thought and a response. Different people will have different feelings about the work. This is, however, not the artist’s concern.

“I have received all different kinds of reactions to the work. But I don’t really focus on that too much. Once I make the piece I let it go.” says Rahbar. “I don’t focus on what it means and what people think of it. I’m focused on the bodies of work--the bigger picture and  mainly the next piece. It’s always about the next piece.”
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As Rahbar noted, she doesn’t work in “found items” alone. She also uses cast Bronze.

“I work with this amazing foundry in New York--Modern Art Foundry in Astoria, Queens. They have been around forever and I love working with them,” she says. “I cast my own body parts and use them in my various bodies of work. Sometimes they are attached to various collected objects and sometimes they are just on their own.”

She used to use prosthetics in her work but decided she needed skin, fingertips and veins.

“I needed curled feet and hands frozen in stressful positions--more human and authentic looking arms and legs,” she says. “That’s when I decide to just cast my own. I love working with bronze.“

There is something painful, something traumatic, in Rahbar’s art, in addition to the beauty. Yet she never recalls any temptation to create art of a more mundane sort.

“I’ll never forget this documentary that I watched years ago on Francis Bacon and they asked him the same kind of thing and he said something along the lines of 'flowers are also very tragic and sad because eventually they slowly wither away and die right before our eyes'.” she says. “I’ve had my share of trauma--the work is my catharsis, it heals me. It’s helped me to work through it and I’m at peace now.”

She is vegan and meditates after battling years of pain from addiction and depression.

“I’m in a better place now-and I have found that in facing the pain rather than running away from it or numbing myself to it. I’ve been able to create this body of work and heal myself in the process,” she says. “The work has been the only thing that has saved me from myself--that and my mother & brother. They have always been my rocks. I would not have made it this far without them.”
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Rahbar, as noted above, will be showing her work at NADA Miami via Carbon 12 (Dubai). She will also be showing work at The Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University from October 23 to December 16, 2018 as part of Loud Silence--Activism Through Art. 
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Kathleen Vance Creates Intricate, Beautiful Wetlands Landscapes On Both Large And Small Scale

11/12/2018

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by Patrick Ogle

Kathleen Vance is a Brooklyn-based artist who creates beautiful wetland landscape sculptures, small and large. These are not fountains, they are recreations of woodlands and wetlands that may be as small as a purse or massive installation pieces. The larger work came first before it became “miniaturized.”

“I had been making large scale immersive environmental structures with the idea that people could physically enter the installations,” she says. “The Traveling Landscapes build from vintage cases were a way to create this feeling in an illusionary way, where viewers could imagine what it would be like to be in the miniature landscapes.”

Vance says she has a strong connection to nature and that, to her, walking in the forest is an enchanting experience that helps her realign her senses and thoughts. Her work converts the actual sensations in nature into something shareable.

“Translating this feeling to my sculptural work involves recreating aspects of the forest environment that I felt a personal connection with,” says Vance. “Light and scale are important components; I imagine myself at the scale I am working and like to have moments of discovery within the works.” 

See more at vanceartworks.com

Water is integral to the work; water is the at the very center of these works. It is impossible, after seeing any single piece, to imagine another without water as a component. This is not accidental or merely a matter of aesthetics.

“Water is the most important resource that we have as humans and I feel it is something to enjoy as a natural event in the outdoor environment. But we must take care to protect and make sure our waterways are clean. I create works that incorporate flowing water to show the strength and fragility of the ecosystems around waterways,” says Vance. “Achieving this is sometimes a challenging task, as I don't like for the engineering aspect of a project to get in the way of people enjoying my works. In the Traveling Landscapes, the most difficult aspect is transforming a suitcase or vintage into a vessel to hold water. These works mimic the way water acts in the natural world, so when you see water flow along the surface of the landscapes, it is also filtering down below into a hidden reservoir. So the cases themselves act as the basin of a reservoir to hold and capture the water which is recycled through the sculptures.”

The work recycles the water that is part of the art while the suitcases themselves are recycled into pieces of art. There is something appealing about any art that takes something that might wind up in a landfill and turns that item into something beautiful. These pieces, either the larger installations or the small Traveling Landscape work, have an almost hypnotic quality to them, which dovetails with Vance’s intent.

“I hope that people gain a moment of respite from their daily routine.  We can get so lost in the everyday goings on that we often don't get a chance to enjoy and experience some of the magical moments in nature,” she says. “I want to convey and capture a moment of wonder, that whisks a person away (at least in their mind) to a point of encounter with nature.”
Vance is also subtly reminding us about the importance of water in the environment and, indeed, in our daily lives.

“We should take care to maintain a balance with nature. There is a fragile balance in natural ecosystems that when it is disrupted can have catastrophic effects,” she says. “In my works I am conveying the preciousness of nature and while it is something to enjoy, we should do so in a respectful way.”

The Traveling Landscape work needs suitcases and the vintage suitcases and steamer trunks Vance uses all have individual and, generally, irretrievable, histories of their own and you won’t find them at a department store.

“I look for vintage cases that are from a time where travel was done at a slower pace, and somehow the world itself seemed larger. The distance between has not changed, just the ease in getting there. I feel an attraction to the romantic idea of travel, with a beauty to older style of suitcases and luggage.  Steamer trunks with wooden sides and metal ornamentation were built to last across long sea voyages, and that masterful construction is evident today as there are many that are held as heirloom items, or still used today as storage. Train cases seem to have a glamorous level of style,” she says. “I image the traveler who is possibly coming to a place for the first time (perhaps not to return) and what they would bring with them.What are the precious objects and what they long to have or what they have left behind? In a philosophical way, I relate the cases as a marker for travel, without the actual utility of their use, they act as metaphors for travel and containers for the most precious and necessary objects and needs.”

Vance says she is grateful for friends and colleagues always being on the lookout for these vintage, specialty cases. She is also always checking out thrift shops and antique stores for her next piece.
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Water in nature is more than just individuals waterways, streams and rivers and Vance's pieces will reflect this in some future pieces.

“I am developing works that look at the larger systems that feed groundwater access points.  Creating sculptural installations with running water presents unique challenges at each site,” she says. “I am creating plans for permanent, larger public works that capture the wonder of the wilderness while presenting a level of informative engagement.”

You can see her Traveling Landscapes in Baggage Claims,  a traveling exhibition at the Peeler Art Center (DePauw University) through December 9, 2018. It will then be on  view at the Weisman Art Museum (University of Minnesota). Rockelmann & Partner () are showing her pieces this month (November, 2018).
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