Talented emerging artists who have persevered through the turbulent years of Covid are bursting onto the art scene with a plea to “let us in”, as the Lord Mayor of Leeds opens their degree show.

The university exhibition, which is free and open to the public until June 18, is a chance for the 49 students to showcase the work they have produced over the final year of their BA Fine Art degree.

Curated and staged by the students themselves – unusual for university degree shows – the title of the show ‘Can you let us in?’ asks the art world to help the up-and-coming creators bridge the gap from university study to life as professional artists.

It is also a playful reference to a regular message that appeared in the students’ group chat whenever someone had forgotten their access card for the shared studio space.

BA Fine Art student Molly Newham, part of the show’s organising committee, said:

“I can honestly say that ‘Can you let us in?’ is the final year Fine Art students at their best.

‘Can you let us in?’ is a loud knock on the doors of the wider art world

“This show represents a perseverance and resilience fostered over the last three years. From physically being locked out of our building and holed up in halls in our first few years due to pandemic lockdowns to slowly and steadily reclaiming the studios as our own. 

“’Can you let us in?’ is a loud knock on the doors of the wider art world. The show acts as an amplifier, with us as the next generation of creative workers shouting ‘are you listening, this is important!’.”

The exhibition encompasses painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, sound and moving image installations, using materials that range from oil paint to a kinetic ice sculpture.

It was formally opened by Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Al Garthwaite at a private viewing on Wednesday, June 7, accompanied by her Lord Mayor’s Consort Catherine Mitchell who is herself a fine art graduate from the university.

Cllr Garthwaite said: “I am completely blown away by the excellence of the concepts, the imagination, the use of the media that have gone into making these art works. There is such a variety as well – from the paintings to the ice sculpture to the amazing ceramic forms, and the Amazon boxes which have been transformed to show the interior of student houses of Hyde Park.

“It genuinely gives me the most enormous pleasure to be able to formally open this show.”

BA Fine Art student Izzy Spriggs, the show’s director, said organising the show was “challenging yet hugely rewarding”. She thanked the technicians who gave their time to help and taught the students’ valuable skills they will use in their future careers. 

Lecturer Dr Julia McKinlay, who led the module for the degree show, praised the students for their resilience through a disrupted three years at university.

They have risen to this challenge brilliantly and produced a wonderful exhibition full of exciting and challenging work

She said: “It has been a pleasure to work with this cohort of fine art students in their final year of undergraduate study. They have had an unprecedented university experience with dormitory lockdowns and a year working in isolation at the start of their degree.

“Despite this, they have thrown themselves into developing their studio practices and have produced their best work for this year’s degree show. There is a huge range of fantastic work to see ranging from printmaking to audio visual installations.”

She went on to explain that while many universities see degree shows curated by academic staff, the Leeds students run the entire endeavour themselves even managing the budget and arranging marketing campaigns.

“This is a huge collective endeavour but also an opportunity to learn what it takes and gain the skills to put on a public exhibition of this scale. All the while, producing their own work as artists in the exhibition,” Dr McKinlay added.

“They have risen to this challenge brilliantly and produced a wonderful exhibition full of exciting and challenging work.”

The students were also congratulated on their “complex and astute” work by Dr Joanne Crawford, Head of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies. Dr Crawford said the show was a chance to reflect on the impact national and global events have had on our lives.

“This has been acutely evident in the arts sector where the gap between aspiration and reality becomes one increasingly difficult to cross, especially for the generation represented by the 49 final year artists asking ‘Can you let us in?’

“It is sometimes difficult not to be pessimistic in such changeable and often volatile times, but the hope, enthusiasm and sheer determination of this extremely talented group is reassuring. Through their artistic endeavours they are all are looking the future straight in the eye and demanding a say in how their world will be shaped and experienced.

“The range of art on display in this exhibition shows a complex and astute questioning of the status quo in the hope for something different. What impresses me the most though is that in doing this they demonstrate a real kindness; a call for collective action and real connectivity.”

Further information

From borrowed exhibit space in a house to the bespoke walls of its own gallery, Palo Alto’s Gallery House has built a solid foundation in the Peninsula arts community.

Much as in an actual house, the residents — or members, in this case — may change over time, but the character and “good bones” of Gallery House remain. The cooperative gallery, founded in Palo Alto in 1958, is marking its 65th anniversary this month and will celebrate the occasion with a June 9 reception that also highlights its current show featuring works in a variety of media by the 30 artists who are members of the gallery.

Just in the last two decades, Gallery House has withstood the encroachment of online art sales, a major move across town, a recession and a pandemic. And throughout its history, each member has contributed in their own way to making Gallery House a home for art in Palo Alto.

Mixed-media artist Theresa Robinson has been a member since 1979.

“It had a feeling right from the start of being a real gallery — a center for art — but of course, we also wanted to appeal to people to buy art,” Robinson said. “There was a sense of quality and people who were really serious about what they were doing.”

The cooperative was co-founded by the late Edith Sommers and the late Estelle Grunewald, and as its name suggests, its first location was in a house. In its early days, the gallery counted among its patrons novelist and environmentalist Wallace Stegner and William Hewlett.

Robinson and clay artist Barbara Brown, who also joined in 1979, are the gallery’s longest serving members, and a number of others can count their years of membership in decades, though Gallery House has members who have joined more recently.

As press materials for the gallery’s 50th anniversary noted, not long after Brown joined, she launched the effort to host regular receptions at the gallery, which still continue to this day, very much in the gallery’s cooperative spirit.

In 2000, Gallery House moved from its longtime space on Ramona Street in downtown Palo Alto to its current space at 320 S. California Ave., Palo Alto. The gallery shares a building with Printers Cafe and Moods Wine Bar.

A pandemic pivot

A glance around the space instantly reveals art in a broad range of media: paintings, photographs, mixed-media art, sculpture, jewelry and ceramics, in both vibrant hues and striking monochromatic palettes. Sleek, minimalist ceramics share space with swirling wire sculptures and playful pieces that nod to folk art.

Due to the nature of its format, the gallery has always featured works in a variety of media, though Robinson noted that over time, there has been a move toward more abstract works.

“We’ve evolved at the same time with the basic truth of what we do without picking up on a trend,” Robinson said.

One major change that the gallery did make in response to the times was a renovation of the interior layout due to the pandemic.

“Our whole way of exhibiting has changed,” said Sydell Lewis, a painter and digital printmaker who’s belonged to Gallery House since 2000.

The pandemic not only spurred a renovation that brought more display space to the gallery, but also brought a major shift in how members’ works are shown. Additional walls were installed to provide extra display space in the large area, and the gallery switched from showing members’ works all mixed together “salon style,” to a format in which each artist has their own dedicated space.

Early in the pandemic, the switch allowed for a staggered schedule for hanging art, to ensure that just a few people were in the gallery at any one time. Though the need for a socially distanced art-hanging has waned, Gallery House kept the new exhibit format.

“People like it (and) the artists like hanging like this. Because we each get our space, we can have quite a few pictures on the wall at any one time,” said painter Trevlyn Williams, who joined the gallery in 2002.

In it together

What hasn’t changed in its long lifetime is Gallery House’s co-op format and community spirit.

From paying the rent to reception-planning, steering the gallery as board members to developing marketing strategies, member artists run every element of the operation.

“I’ve just always found it to be a gallery space that works because we run the gallery, we make the decisions, which is a good and a bad thing, because it means responsibility, but it also means that it’s a shared responsibility as opposed to being in a gallery that’s owned by somebody else,” said Williams, who served as board chair from 2005 to 2008.

“The privately owned galleries take a bigger commission. We’re not looking to profit, as such, we’re just looking to maintain an operating budget. We can give more of the commission to the artists,” she added.

Members pay dues and a 30% commission on sales, which go toward rent and operational costs. They also are expected to share the work of running the gallery business, to volunteer, taking turns staffing the gallery, helping host receptions and other duties. Some members also take up posts that draw on professional areas of expertise outside of art, using knowledge of marketing to help with publicity, for example.

“People come to the gallery with different backgrounds. I’m a former chemist, we have a former Ph.D. biologist. And then we have lawyers. We have people who come in from other disciplines — they have always been artists, they’ve always loved to do this, but for some reason, this is their time. They bring in their backgrounds to help the gallery run,” said Lewis, who served as the gallery’s chair from 2008 through 2014.

“I think everybody contributes in a way that they can,” Williams said.

A jury of peers

The gallery’s members hail from around the Bay Area and a few points beyond, including Monterey County. Membership is juried, so that artists interested in joining must apply and submit some of their pieces for consideration in a process that has two stages of judging.

“The gallery has a reputation for being difficult to get into. And I think if you look at the work, you’ll see,” Lewis said.

Though it’s a welcoming space for art, it’s not the place for beginners, Walker noted.

“We are picky about the artists having a degree of accomplishment. You need to be proficient in your medium, your production and also your presentation,” she said.

That’s not to say that artists who join are required to stay in that one specific lane – whether it’s subject matter or an entirely different medium. The gallery encourages members to explore different media or techniques.

“We allow people to try to develop into other areas that are of interest. So one of the reasons we want to have strong artists is because if they’re going to deviate, we want to make sure you’re in the right,” Lewis said.

Some artists who juried into the gallery with one medium are now working in something else entirely. If an artist is making a significant shift, they may be asked to “re-jury,” as Lewis who had juried in as a painter, was asked to do when she began working in digital printmaking.

Robinson, a Saratoga resident, said that when she joined, just as the co-op had passed its 20th anniversary, Gallery House had already made a name in the art community that went beyond the Peninsula. She said it was an art teacher at West Valley College who suggested she apply.

Her work has always focused on figures, but Robinson said that she has worked in a variety of media, including printmaking, watercolors, drawing and etching. But her work at Gallery House has come to highlight mixed-media works. For a while, she said, she was even repurposing found materials from friends making home renovations to create pieces.

Williams continues to focus on painting, but has shifted her subject matter from cultural objects and wildlife that reflected her South African homeland to landscapes that take inspiration from the Bay Area.

Part of the community

Experiencing art in person can be pretty different than seeing it online — an option that Gallery House offered during the lockdown era in the absence of people being able to come in person. Lewis and Williams said that since then, visitors have been slow to return, which they attribute in part to several blocks of California Avenue (including the 300 block) continuing to be closed for outdoor dining. However, Lewis did note that she saw greater numbers come through the gallery during Silicon Valley Open Studios last month — at least 100 people in one afternoon.

Visitors’ presence is a necessary part of the equation that makes a special space like Gallery House work, from engaging with the artists, learning about their pieces, and yes, hopefully buying some, too.

“Art almost needs living people around it, you know, as an artist you need to have your work somewhere that people can actually see it and as an artist that feeds you,” Williams said.

From behind the scenes, what seems to have always made it all work are the artists of Gallery House. As Williams said, the gallery’s longevity shows that “the model works.”

Lewis compared Gallery House to her experiences working with a commercial gallery, to which she also still belongs. Though Gallery House’s artists do aim to sell works, there’s camaraderie and support — and a chance to forge meaningful connections with other artists and the public.

“I stayed here because not only do I want to be part of the business and doing this, but it’s because I have friends here. We have a community, which if you’re in a commercial gallery, you don’t. You go there once in a while and you bring your work, you take your work, and occasionally you’ll have a reception but you don’t connect with people. Whereas here, we do have a community, and I think that’s really important.”

As Robinson put it, “We are what we are: part of the community.”

Gallery House celebrates its 65th anniversary June 9, 5-7 p.m. at 320 S. California Ave., Palo Alto. The current exhibition, “On a Clear Day,” will be on view through June 25. For more information, visit galleryhouse.art.

MONTAUK, N.Y.– Premium non-alcoholic canned cocktail brand Jeng announces Nicole Bray as co-founder and chief marketing officer. Bray has been instrumental in Jeng’s success since its formation in 2021, and now joins the company full-time to prime Jeng for organic growth as it expands its line of ready-to-drink cocktails with new products, flavors, and distribution in 2023.

Bray joins the team with a breadth of marketing, advertising, and business development expertise. She accrued years of executive-level leadership experience at J. Walter Thompson, TBWAChiatDay, and McCann Erickson, where she led accounts including Diageo, Apple, Visa, Nescafe, and Nissan. She later went on to start Manhattan-based Mercer Contemporary, an art advisory, appraisal, and legacy planning firm for private art collectors.

She will drive the company’s organic growth strategy by targeting key demographic groups that are increasingly more interested in alcohol-free products, namely women. She drew inspiration from her personal experience when she was pregnant and became frustrated with the extremely limited and unappetizing alcohol-free options available to her. This led her to co-found Jeng and develop flavorful non-alcoholic cocktails for drinkers, non-drinkers, sober-curious and mindful drinkers alike.

“Women in particular are seriously changing the way they drink,” says Bray. “With Jeng, we’ve set out to give them, and others, a portfolio of upscale alternatives that promote relaxation without the constraints of alcohol.”

“Nicole has been instrumental in Jeng’s success since our company was formed in 2021,” shares Co-Founder John Enghauser. “We’re thrilled to have her officially join the team and prime us for our next chapter as the non-alcoholic sector skyrockets.”

Bray sets out to propel Jeng as the leading non-alcoholic beverage company in 2023.

About Jeng, LLC

Jeng makes alcohol-free beverages for the world to enjoy. Available throughout the country and online at sipjeng.com, Jeng creates mixologist-inspired soft cocktails that celebrate mindful drinking. Jeng is available with or without hemp extract/CBD. Jeng’s premium, alcohol-free, ready-to-drink cocktails include classic flavors like Moscow mule, Paloma, and gin & tonic. Jeng can be found in alcohol-free bottle shops, restaurants, liquor and grocery stores in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and throughout the country.

For More Information:
https://sipjeng.com

Yellow Springs, Ohio — Coming on board as WYSO Public Radio is poised for continued significant growth, long-time local fundraising professional Amanda Burks has joined the WYSO team to lead donor and grant development, as well as the station’s marketing efforts.

Burks has raised more than $22 million through capital campaigns and through general fund raising events in her 15-plus year career in Dayton, for such iconic local nonprofits as Ronald McDonald House Charities, Hospice of Dayton Foundation and the Dayton Art Institute.

She also has several years of experience in strategic marketing, having worked as vice president of vellaInc. Public Relations and Marketing Communications.

General Manager Luke Dennis said he is eager to work with Burks to build on the institutional and individual donor development that he and Major Gift Officer Sara Woodhull have been leading for the past three years.

“Amanda is a natural leader, a strategic thinker and an excellent communicator with proven nonprofit fundraising and marketing experience,” he said. “She also has great connections in this community, and I know that she will help us expand general support as well as funding for such projects as our new headquarters in Yellow Springs, our satellite studio in downtown Dayton and the unique programming that the Center for Community Voices produces.”

“Having been an avid listener and sustaining member for many years, I am honored to have this opportunity to serve the organization in a new and meaningful way,” said Burks, who also will manage grant development and lead the station’s membership, marketing and event staff to grow listenership and raise WYSO’s profile. “WYSO has long been a pillar of our community, and with so much growth on the horizon, this is an exciting time to join the team.”

Copyright 2023 WYSO. To see more, visit https://www.wyso.org.

PushPush Arts, an innovative arts incubator that has been promoting and supporting the arts in Atlanta for 25 years, is nearing completion of an exciting new development in downtown College Park.

ION College Park is an adaptive reuse arts campus offering support and structure to artists in the form of affordable housing, art studios, galleries, stages, and community art spaces.

PushPush Arts was founded in 1997 by artists Tim Habeger and Shelby Hofer. Originally named PushPush Theater, the husband and wife pair has fostered and supported thousands of artists, projects, and films over the years. 

PushPush Arts was first housed in the FloatAway Building in Morningside before expanding into a larger location in Decatur. Today, they are preparing to launch their biggest venture yet: a nearly 23,000-square-foot property in College Park. 

​Throughout PushPush Arts’ long history, there have been plenty of defining moments. In a 2010 survey, 80% of their artists were able to bike or walk to the facility. When they asked again in 2019 that number had dropped to 10%. This set off alarm bells for Habeger and Hofer.

“All of our artists were moving out because of the affordability problem,” said Habeger. As a result, the artists had diminished access to their facility and programming.

For the team at PushPush Arts, access is paramount. It’s central to everything they do and what they stand for. After realizing that they were not able to serve their artists as well in their location, they started looking for a better space that would be more central to their artistic base. 

Cherie Ong from Good Places, one of PushPush Art’s community partners, suggested that they consider creating an adaptive reuse art space on the grounds of the 125-year-old College Park First United Methodist Church. The property was too large for the church’s current needs and instead of selling, they opted to partner with PushPush Arts in the imagining of a new comprehensive arts campus on the site. 

Comprised of four buildings on a campus that is accessible to MARTA, ION College Park is also conveniently located just minutes from the airport. The property is within walking distance of downtown College Park as well as the upcoming mixed-use 6 West development. 

“We created this plan to build a welcoming center for the arts in College Park,” said Habeger. “That’s where a lot of our artists were coming from anyway, and the southwest corner of Atlanta was woefully underserved for the fine arts. So that’s where we started four years ago.” 

Residents renting or owning property in the arts complex will have free and low-cost access to workshops, events, performances, live music, art exhibits, and comedy shows, just to name a few. Both residents and those who live in the surrounding neighborhoods will be able to come together to develop a lasting sense of community centered around art. 

“A resident on our campus is not only a participant in creating this cultural scene but they are also homeowners, or living and working affordably, in a way that doesn’t push people out but instead invites people in,” explained Kaleigh Malloy, Development and Marketing Manager for PushPush Arts. 

As renovation and construction efforts near their completion, the team at PushPush Arts will begin moving to the property at 1805 Harvard Ave. in late summer or early fall. The opening of the cafe, art gallery, performance space, and six artist studios will soon follow. Meanwhile, the affordable housing building which will supply 60 one- and two-bedroom apartments, gallery space, a workroom, and a community center is set to have a soft opening sometime before the holiday season. 

“Ultimately our mission has always been to amplify artists through their work with inclusion and programmatic operations,” explained Malloy. “Our vision has been to create a hub for artists where they can sustain themselves creatively and financially. This project is the actualization of that.”

Despite the fact that College Park is home to a significant artist population, there has never been an arts center in the city limits. “We have seen an outpouring of support from the community and Mayor Motley Broom,” said Malloy. “It’s an extraordinary group effort.” 

Habeger explained that as they developed the program they considered models of organizational structure from other industries such as the software industry. They were interested in encouraging, fostering, and then retaining talent.

“We don’t want to keep losing artists to cities where they can sustain themselves better,” said Malloy. “We want to invest in IP and in content by artists here in Atlanta. We want to keep them here, produce their work here, and allow artists to have upward mobility through opportunities for homeownership and opportunities to create. Not just to survive but to thrive.“

When using terms like open-sourced, Habeger clarified that the concept essentially allows access for the public to get involved at every level. From a project’s genesis to its completion, PushPush Arts invites creatives and innovators to participate as volunteers, interns, apprentices, collaborators, professional partners, or sponsors. “There is always an access point,” said Habeger. 

PushPush Arts makes big things happen by working with key players from their extensive network of community partners both locally and abroad. Some notable collaborators for ION College Park include Good Places, an organization that focuses on neighborhood revitalization in community-centered real estate development.

Tapestry Development, a qualified low-income housing tax credit developer, is dedicated to the preservation of low-income housing in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. The KNDGM Group is a majority Black-Owned developer focused on breaking cycles of poverty in the face of gentrification. The design and development firm eightvillage focuses on place-based ecologies that are sustainable and empathetic in nature. The College Park First United Methodist Church is the first-ever church in College Park, and they will remain a key partner in the ION College Park project.

“We believe that there are things we can do to create great content here,” he continued. “The South has got something to say. Atlanta can sit at the table with any city in the world to talk about race, equity, a troubled past… everything that any major city deals with. Atlanta really has a lot to offer, and for the arts, we believe we can accelerate that and help to give them a first-class cultural city to live and work in.”

If you’d like to get involved with ION College Park, follow along with progress on the PushPush Arts website. Studio spaces will soon be available to rent, interested parties can email info@pushpusharts.com for more details. 

The studio let viewers rent or buy movies earlier for a higher price. This made more than $1 billion in less than three years, with nearly no decrease in box-office sales.

Connection and interaction are at the heart of Seonna Hong’s latest body of work, which positions minimally rendered figures amid abstract landscapes. Through patchy brushstrokes of acrylic and oil pastel, the Los Angeles-based artist contrasts the opaque colors of the subjects’ limbs or garments with the rough, mottled environments they occupy. Generally diminutive in comparison to their surroundings, the figures remain anonymous and adventurous, exploring ethereal expanses. Voluptuous fields of orange, large stones in pinks and reds, and mountains of haphazard markings appear like distant figments of a dream.

The works shown here are on view this week as part of Murmurations, Hong’s latest solo show at Hashimoto Contemporary in New York. Comprised of vibrant paintings and drawings in grainy colored pencil, the exhibition reflects the experience of re-emerging into public space following the pandemic. Firmly in discovery mode, the figures traverse the unearthly landscapes and tempestuous weather events and convene with each other as they form new bonds between humanity and nature.

Murmurations is on view through July 1. Find more from Hong on her site and Instagram.

“People Person” (2023), acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, diptych, 48 x 72 inches

“Quiet Day” (2023), mixed media on drywall, 23 3/4 x 23 3/4 inches

Left: “Memory Catalog” (2023), acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 60 x 48 inches. Right: “Murmurations” (2023), acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

“Super Position” (2023), mixed media on wood, 8 1/2 x 11 inches

“Do You Believe In People” (2023), mixed media on wood, 8 1/2 x 11 inches

“Warm Storm” (2023), acrylic and oil pastel on wood, 10 x 8 inches

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Emerging into a New World, Small Figures Explore Seonna Hong’s Dreamlike Landscapes appeared first on Colossal.

If you’ve walked along an ocean shoreline, chances are you’ve stumbled upon the crumpled, brownish-green tendrils of kelp washed up at high tide. Despite appearances, the otherworldly seaweed is not a plant but rather a type of algae. Leaf-like forms called blades soak up sunlight to photosynthesize, and gas-filled bladders hold the structures close to the surface. Underwater, they grow in elegantly swaying forests, providing nourishment and shelter to marine wildlife. For Douglas Klug, these graceful, undulating ecosystems provide endless inspiration and surprising interactions.

Based in Santa Barbara, California, Klug is an avid scuba diver and photographer who focuses on submarine life, highlighting schools of fish and myriad textures as they interact in the rippling sunlight. Most of the kelp forests he explores are within Channel Islands National Park near where he lives. “All my diving is within what is considered ‘recreational’ limits at depths shallower than 130 feet. The water is cold, and the ocean has strong energy called surge, so the conditions can be challenging to work in,” he tells Colossal.

Klug pays attention to changes in the ecosystem, noting that “kelp forests themselves are living, thriving environments that can wax and wane with currents, water temperature, or other factors,” providing clues to the ocean’s health and the trickle-down effect for animals and humans that rely on its food sources. Not only is some of the seaweed edible, it provides safe haven and nurseries for fish, while large concentrations of the algae are powerful carbon sinks able to sequester millions of pounds of carbon dioxide. Due to the effects of the climate crisis and human inference with fragile aquatic ecosystems, the forests are suffering.

Klug shines a light on the marine world with the hope that viewers will gain understanding and appreciation for critical habitats. “I love shooting the kelp forests because it lets me highlight one of nature’s most important resources,” he says. “Kelp forests are important to all of us as they contribute to our world’s health and stability.” Along with other wildlife like seals, sea lions, and nudibranchs—a group of particularly colorful, tiny molluscs—the ocean challenges the artist to find the right conditions for lighting and exciting encounters, and to be in the right place at the right time.

Find more of Klug’s nature photography on his website and Flickr.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Sunlight Illuminates Undulating Kelp Forests in Underwater Photographs by Douglas Klug appeared first on Colossal.