The Rickie Report is excited to share so many events and activities that are available here in Palm Beach County!  Family-friendly arts and cultural activities are abundant!  No need to hear “I’m bored” anymore!

 Cultural Council of Palm Beach County

invites you to experience

family-friendly arts

cultural activities,

venues and

locales

Right Here –  In Florida’s Cultural Capital^®

Explore hundreds of family-fun things to do online at http://artscalendar.com/thepalmbeaches

The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County invites visitors to enjoy a fun variety of family-friendly activities, venues and locales taking place all over the county and discover why it’s called, Florida’s Cultural Capital^®! With a colorful and diverse array of arts and cultural activities, offerings and fun, there’s sure to be something for families of varying age, taste, and budget. Check out happening events on tap, visit websites, and even purchase tickets by visiting: http://artscalendar.com/thepalmbeaches.

It’s all about `Outdoor Florida’ on the South end of Palm Beach County at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Nestled along AIA in Boca Raton, this venue offers visitors an expansive outdoor nature center with its Sea Turtle Garden, container garden of herbs and local flora, gopher tortoise exhibit and a butterfly nursery. Nature Craft for Father’s Day is planned to take place on June 15; 11 a.m. – Noon; ages 7 – 12; RSVP (561) 544-8615.

Enjoy live theater by taking the family for a “peek” ‘under the sea’ through the eyes of the Sol Children Theatre Troup’s musical play adaptation of Disney’s Broadway production, The Little Mermaid, Jr. July 4–5, Olympic Heights Performing Arts Theater, in Boca Raton; 561.447.8829.

Just north of Boca Raton in the heart of Downtown Delray Beach, visitors will find the charming and whimsical Puppetry Arts Center of the Palm Beaches. Robin Hood, by Master Puppeteer Jerry Bickel with the Bits ‘N Pieces Marionettes takes the stage 10:30 a.m., May 16, 17; and 2 p.m., May 18;

A short walk from the Puppetry Arts Center finds Arts Garage, home of jazz, blues, big band, live theatre, comedy and more! Dance in your seats to the popular family musical, “Footloose,” May 16 – May 19; table reservations available; show times vary. 561-450-6357, orinfo@artsgarage.org.

On the western end of Delray Beach visitors can experience the magical and serene setting of the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. This year, its annual Sushi and Stroll event offers several dates and themes to enjoy. On June 7, from 5:30 p.m – 8:30 p.m. `Sip while you stroll’ at the Morikami’s Sip & Stroll: An All-About-Sake Evening event. Enjoy a unique selection of sake and menu items from the Cornell Café and learn all about the appeal of this age-old Japanese spirit. www.morikami.org.

Nature enthusiasts can also enjoy a visit to the Sandoway House Nature Center, found along AIA in northern Delray Beach.  Sandoway is home to the largest private collection of shells in southeast Florida with 10,000 museum quality shells on display.  Shark feeding anyone? Plan to arrive at 1:30 p.m. sharp, Tuesday through Sunday, to participate in this thrilling local favorite. If getting your toes in the sand is more your thing, sign up for its May 25 Beach Walk, taking place from 11 a.m. – noon. www.sandowayhouse.org.

For those who like to shop until they drop, explore artsy and trendy Lake Avenue in Downtown Lake Worth. At the corner of Lake and L Street, visitors will not want to miss stopping in at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County to find over 1200 artist-created items for sale in its Uniquely Palm Beach Store. While there, check out its exhibitions by Palm Beach County artists: Artist as Author through May 18; and, County Contemporary: All Media Juried Show – June 14 – Sept. 7.  In the Cultural Council’s Cultural Information Center, take advantage of utilizing its interactive, touch-screen Explore Board to peruse arts and cultural venues; pick up brochures, event calendars, maps, the Winter issue ofart&culture magazine, and fill your day book or extended stay itinerary with destination stops sure to fulfill your quest for exciting arts and cultural happenings fun for the entire family – found all over the county. www.PalmBeachCulture.com

Just north of Lake Worth, in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County’s world class community youth choir, Young Singers of the Palm Beaches, presents “Ubuntu”, a special 10th Anniversary performance at the Annual Spring Concert on May 19. This award winning community chorus featuring 350 of the area’s top, talented youth voices; 7 p.m.; 561-832-SHOW; 1-800-KRAVIS-1.

A constant nearby draw for visitors of all ages is the Palm Beach Zoo, with exciting and educational encounters available to help you get to know some of the county’s resident animals. Daily Keeper Talks and `informative feeding and enrichment’ events give visitors an up close and personal look into topics like: What makes tigers so “chuffed” (happy); how alligators and pelicans eat; and what monkeys like to do when they, `monkey around.’ Open   9 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily; www.palmbeachzoo.org.

Archelon, part of the “Savage Ancient Seas” Exhibit at the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium

Hop across the street to see what’s new at the newly-expanded South Florida Science Center and Aquarium, formerly known as the South Florida Science Museum. Celebrate with fun, interactive science 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on June 7 – “Community Opening Day.” Admission is Free. Experience the first blockbuster exhibit to fill the newly open exhibit hall, Savage Ancient Seas: Dinosaurs of the Deep.  Kids and adults alike will gasp in awe at Archelon, a  17-foot-wide sea turtle.  Archelon will be on display as part of the Museum’s newest traveling exhibit – Savage Ancient Seas: The Ancient Aquatic Deep -  opening to the public on Friday, May 17.   www.sfsm.org.

Have a budding artist in the family?  Every first Saturday of each month The Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach offers, `Art on the go!’ ages Kindergarten to 5^th Grade. These art workshops are designed just for kids. Dates vary; RSVP:  www.armoryart.org

It’s well-known that the acclaimed Norton Museum of Art, in Downtown West Palm Beach, has permanent collections and exhibitions of masterpiece works of art year-round, but did you know it also offers family-friendly hands-on activities for kids of all ages?  On June 20, the museum invites guests to Be a LEGO® Architect. Begin in the classroom and learn about types of buildings. Next, participants draw designs and take plans to the LEGO® building activity area to construct it in 3-D on a special city map. Are you a Florida Resident planning a staycation? The Norton offers free admission for Florida residents in June, July and August and free admission to Palm Beach County residents every Saturday from June 1 – Aug. 3. www.norton.org.

Nearby along the intracoastal waterway finds the serene and tranquil Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens. Gain rare insight into the life’s work of American Sculptor Ann Weaver Norton by exploring Ann’s studio, gardens, and historic home. The vast, meticulously landscaped property is adorned with Ann’s monumental sculptures. Open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Wed. through Sunday; closed in August. www.ansg.org.

A natural, outdoor setting that invites guests to set their own pace and explore nearly three acres of striking sculpture and native landscape is the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. The gardens are open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and there is no charge for admission. To learn more, visit www.fourarts.org/gardens.

North Palm Beach is home to the beautiful, tucked away John D. MacArthur Beach State Park. Learn about the park’s ecosystems and history with an array of events. Enjoy a Butterfly Walk on May 25; 11 – Noon; Daily nature Walks at 10 a.m.; Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; Free with Park admission. Guided two-hour Kayak tours occur daily at high tide; Turtle Walks, May 28 – July 19 with RSVP required; 8 p.m. – 11 p.m., or later, depending on the turtles. 561.624.6952.

North on U.S. 1 is Juno Beach’s Loggerhead MarineLife Center, filled with nature-based exhibitions to explore, and a state-of-the-art turtle rehabilitation center.  Each Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. children under 5 can bring their own “hatchlings” to share and enjoy ocean-inspired stories, crafts, and more with Hatchling Tales story time. Enjoy books, music, and group activities-Free; Celebrate World Oceans Day at Loggerhead on June 8 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. to honor the body of water which links us all and to learn ways we can all generate awareness about conserving and protecting our world’s oceans- Free. www.marinelife.org.

Participating cultural and arts organizations say, `Welcome to Palm Beach County” – where Culture has found its place in the sun®. For a wide preview of family fun events and other arts and cultural offerings in Palm Beach County, visit the Cultural Council’s Arts Calendar at: http://artscalendar.com/thepalmbeaches

About the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County:  The Cultural Council is Palm Beach County’s official arts agency and serves non-profit cultural organizations and professional artists throughout the county. It’s responsibilities include marketing the county’s cultural experiences to visitors and residents, administering grants to organizations and artists, expanding arts and cultural education opportunities, advocating for funding and arts-friendly policies, and serving cultural organizations and artists through capacity building training and exposure to funders and audiences. For more information, see  www.palmbeachculture.com.  Admission to the Cultural Council is free and open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

You will be spending a lot of time at The Norton Museum of Art this month, as new exhibits are unveiled.  A special one, Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art promises some spectacular pieces, including textiles and rare ceramics.  The Rickie Report knows you won’t want to miss it starting March 21st.

 The special exhibition, Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art, showcases dozens of objects from Shangri La, the spectacular Honolulu home Doris Duke built in the mid 1930s and filled with Islamic art until her death in 1993. Featuring artwork from the first through the 20th centuries, Shangri La unfolds organically, much like Duke’s many travels through Muslim countries. The exhibition, which also includes contemporary work by former Shangri La artists-in-residence, is on view from March 21 through July 14, 2013. 

Tile Entry to Shangri La

New York native Duke, was the only child of James Buchanan Duke, and inherited her father’s tobacco and energy fortune at age 12.  She eventually chose to build a residence in Hawaii, commissioning architect Marion Sims Wyeth (1889-1982) to design and build Shangri La as a seasonal home. Wyeth was known for his work on many notable Palm Beach mansions and later designed the Norton Museum of Art. Taking an active role in developing the plans for Shangri La, Duke intended the architecture to be influenced by Islamic artworks and artifacts she collected, and envisioned a collection that also would be integrated into the architecture.

Situated among five acres of interlocking, terraced gardens and pools overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Honolulu’s Diamond Head, Shangri La seamlessly integrated Duke’s passion for modern architecture, tropical landscape, and art from throughout the Islamic world.

The home incorporates unique architectural features such as carved marble doorways, decorated screens known as jali, gilt and coffered ceilings, and floral ceramic tiles. The interiors weave together artifacts such as silk textiles, jewel-toned chandeliers, and rare ceramics, many collected during a 1935 honeymoon which took her around the world. 

“Doris Duke’s encounters with the Islamic world were transformative and Shangri La is her paean to the places and traditions she loved—a story told in many voices and from many perspectives in this exhibition,” says Deborah Pope, Executive Director of Shangri La. “Duke recognized Shangri La’s fluid identity, paying homage to a pan-Islamic world while simultaneously embracing modern style and innovation. Those juxtapositions and paradoxes are the essence of Shangri La…” 

The earliest piece in the exhibition is an exquisite first-millennium gold jug. Other highlights include ceramics and glassware from the 10th to 20th century; mother-of-pearl, 18th-century furniture from Turkey and Syria, a silver pitcher from Kashmir, a Spanish earthenware charger, and a pair of 19th-century wood-and-copper courtyard doors with Arabic calligraphy. Textiles are also represented, including Egyptian tent panels and embroideries from Uzbekistan. Archival photographs, schematic drawings, and an architectural model of the estate also are included. Shangri La is curated by Donald Albrecht and Tom Mellins.

About Doris Duke:

 Born on Nov. 22, 1912 in New York City, Doris Duke was the only child of John Buchanan (J.B.) Duke, a founder of the American Tobacco Company and Duke Energy Company. Upon his death in 1925, his fortune was divided between Doris, who was only 12, and the Duke Endowment—a foundation he established to serve the people of the Carolinas. Intelligent, daring, and independent, Doris Duke used her wealth to pursue her interests, many of which were considered unconventional at the time, but today reveal her prescience as a free-thinking adventurer. She was an environmentalist long before it was fashionable; a war correspondent in Italy during World War II; a horticulturist who bred a new hybrid of orchid; a bold experimenter who learned to surf before the sport was widely known outside of Hawaii; and an early funder of AIDS research. She died in 1993.

Shangri La program highlights

The Norton Museum’s presentation of Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art will feature a varied schedule of related programs for all ages.  Program highlights include:

Marion Sims Wyeth: An Architecture Tour, 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, 2013.

Dr. Jane Day, president of Research Atlantica, Inc., and preservation consultant to the Town of Palm Beach since 1992 leads a tour of local homes designed by Wyeth, who designed Doris Duke’s Shangri La estate as well as the original Norton Museum building.  The tour begins at the Norton with refreshments and a brief lecture on Wyeth’s esthetics and life as a society architect. By 2 p.m., participants will board a bus for Palm Beach to tour Wyeth’s remarkable designs. Enrollment is limited. Register by calling (561) 832-5196 x 1132.

Family Studio: Geometric Genius, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 6, 2013.

This month, the Museum’s popular Family Studio explores the architecture and visual arts of Muslim societies. Participants will then travel to the Armory Art Center to create a ceramic piece and decorate it with geometric designs.  Enrollment is limited. Register by calling (561) 832-5196, x1196 or  www.norton.org.

DIY Art Project: Islamic Inspiration

1 – 4 p.m. Saturday, April 6, 2013

 Young visitors and their parents will view works in the Chinese Collection influenced by the arts of the Middle East and Central Asia, then draw colorful, arabesque designs using markers and paper.  DIY Art Projects are free with Museum admission.

Lecture by Linda Komaroff, Curator of Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and contributor to the book, Doris Duke’s Shangri La: A House in Paradise,

3 p.m. Sunday, April 7, 2013

 Her talk focuses upon the cultural and artistic exchanges between Islamic lands and China, relating both to Shangri La and the Museum’s installation, The Middle East and Middle Kingdom: Islamic and Chinese Art Exchanges.

Lecture by internationally-renowned artist Shahzia Sikander  

 3 pm. Sunday, May 5, 2013

  Educated at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, Sikander received her MFA in 1995 from the Rhode Island School of Design. A MacArthur Fellow, Sikander specializes in Indo-Persian miniature painting, an ancient tradition that she re-contextualizes in relation to contemporary issues.  In 2008, Sikander was an artist in residence at Shangri La.

Lectures by Komaroff and Sikander are free with Museum admission.

About the Norton Museum

The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida, and internationally known for its distinguished Permanent Collection featuring American Art, Chinese Art, Contemporary Art, European Art and Photography. The Norton is located at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, FL., and  is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays and major Holidays). General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students with a valid ID, and free for Members and children ages 12 and under.  Special group rates are available. West Palm Beach residents receive free admission every Saturday with proof of residency. Palm Beach County residents receive free admission the first Saturday of each month with proof of residency. For additional information, please call (561) 832-5196, or visit   www.norton.org. 

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

The Rickie Report loves that the Norton Museum of Art keeps stepping out to bring new and innovative exhibits to our community.  The latest is Radical Camera! Check it out on March 14th. A real slice of history with photographic drama.

The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936 – 1951                      

March 14, 2013 – June 16, 2013

Two Great Photo League Collections Are Combined                                                                        for First Comprehensive Museum Exhibition in Three Decades

 The Norton Museum of Art’s newest special exhibition,  The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936 – 1951, is a formidable survey of the League’s history, and its artistic, cultural, social, and political significance. Opening March 14 and on view through June 16, 2013, this striking exhibition includes nearly 150 vintage photographs from Photo League collections at the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, and The Jewish Museum in New York City.

League members Sonia Handelman Meyer, Marvin Newman, and Ida Wyman will participate in a panel discussion at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 16, 2013 at the Museum. Assistant Director Charles Stainback will serve as moderator. The program is free with Museum admission.

Liebling- Butterfly Boy

New York Photo League members / Radical Camera panelists                           

3 p.m. Saturday, March 16, 2013

Ida Wyman: United States, born 1926

When I began working in the 1940s, few women were doing magazine photography in a field that was almost exclusively male. As I progressed from box camera to Speed Graphic (my first professional camera), and then to a Rolleiflex, I stopped thinking about the mechanics of film speed, f-stops, shutter speed, and began focusing on subject matter that interested me. What interested me so much were ordinary people and their everyday activities. Early on, I had documented children’s games and unusual architectural details in my Bronx neighborhood. I decided to expand, to go elsewhere, taking the subway to Harlem, Chinatown, and lower Manhattan, exploring those neighborhoods and looking for photos. 

I became a member of the Photo League in 1946. I considered myself a documentary photographer and the League’s philosophy of honest photography appealed to me. I also began to understand the power of photos to help improve the social order by showing the conditions under which many people lived and worked. Even after leaving the League the following year, I continued to emphasize visual and social realities in my straightforward photographs. 

Beginning with my earliest photos seeing New York City with my feet, and in whatever part of the country I was in, I continued my own walkabout, learning the area, engaging my subject, listening, and respecting their dignity. This continued to be my approach when taking photos. My photographs depicted daily life in America’s modern metropolitan centers, including Chicago and Los Angeles as well as New York. 

http://www.idawyman.com

Sonia Handelman Meyer: United States, born 1920

I first heard of the Photo League from Lou Stoumen in Puerto Rico in 1942.   I was working for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and Lou was preparing to join Yank Magazine.  When I returned to New York City, I walked up the rickety stairs to League Headquarters and took a beginners class with Johnny Ebstel. I bought a used Rolleicord for a precious $100, and dared to go out on the city streets to photograph the life around me.

Soon the guys began to come back from the war and the heady life of Photo League workshops, exhibits, lectures, photo hunts, and committee assignments intensified.  I took eye-heart-soul opening workshops with Sid Grossman, worked as the paid (!) secretary for a year or so, and worked on the Lewis Hine Committee under Marynn Ausubel.

I photographed in Spanish Harlem, Greenwich Village, midtown Manhattan, at the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society, at an anti-lynching rally in Madison Square Park, at a Jehovah’s Witness convention in Yankee Stadium, and on Coney Island. Mostly, I photographed children and reflections of my city— rough-edged, tender, and very beautiful in its diversity. Some of this work was shown in the major 1949 exhibition, This is the Photo League.

The heartbreaking end of the League coincided with a huge change in my personal life.  I got married and my husband began to go to college and we were out of NY for a while. And then the biggest change: our own family arrived and the joys of our son, and later our daughter, absorbed my time. Prints and negatives were stashed away in boxes and I lost track of all the old friends at the League. 

After so many years of being in the shadows, you can imagine my pleasure, at 90+ years of age, to have my photographs out of their boxes and onto walls where they can be seen, thought about, and enjoyed – and perhaps again take their place in the history of the Photo League.

http://soniahandelmanmeyer.com 

Marvin Newman: United States, born 1927 

Born in New York; Newman attended Brooklyn College, where he studied sculpture with Burgoyne Diller and photography with Walter Rosenblum. Following Rosenblum’s suggestion, he joined the Photo League in 1948, taking classes with John Ebstel. The Photo League, founded in 1936, blazed a trail for serious photographers for 15 years, providing a forum for ideas, cheap darkroom space, and the vision of using the art of picture taking to change the world. Newman then attended the Institute of Design, Chicago (1949-52), where, after studying with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind, he received one of the first MS degrees in photography (1952). 

During this time, Newman won national contests, including one sponsored by American Photography (1950) and another by Time, Inc. (1951). His work appeared in the Always a Young Stranger exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and in a one-man show at Roy De Carava’s A Photographer’s Gallery (1956). Well-known as a photojournalist, Newman has been a major contributor to Sports Illustrated since its inception (1953), as well as to Life, Look, Newsweek, and Smithsonian magazines. In addition, he has been the national president of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, authored or coauthored eight books on photography, and received the Art Director’s Gold Medal for Editorial Photography. He continues to live and work in New York. 

http://www.brucesilverstein.com/documents.php?id=152 

The exhibition, organized by Mason Klein, Curator of Fine Arts at The Jewish Museum and Catherine Evans, the William and Sarah Ross Soter Curator of Photography of the Columbus Museum of Art, premiered last year at The Jewish Museum to rave reviews. The New York Times called The Radical Camera a “stirring show,” and the New York Photo Review hailed it as “nothing short of splendid.” The New Yorker named the exhibition one of the top 10 photography exhibitions of 2011.  The Norton is the last venue on the exhibition’s tour.

The exhibition explores the fascinating blend of aesthetics and social activism at the heart of the Photo League. League members were known for capturing sharply revealing, compelling moments from everyday life. The League focused on New York City and its vibrant streets – a shoeshine boy, a brass band on a bustling corner, a crowded beach at Coney Island.  Many of the images are beautiful, yet harbor strong social commentary on issues of class, race, and opportunity. The organization’s members included some of the most noted photographers of the mid-20th century—W. Eugene Smith, Weegee (Arthur Fellig), Lisette Model, Berenice Abbott and Aaron Siskind, to name a few.

The innovative contributions of the Photo League during its 15-year existence (1936–1951) were significant. As it grew, the League mirrored monumental shifts in the world starting with the Depression, through World War II, and ending with the Red Scare. Born of the worker’s movement, the Photo League was an organization of young, idealistic, first-generation American photographers, most of them Jewish, who believed in documentary photography as an expressive medium and powerful tool for exposing social problems. It was also a school with teachers such as Sid Grossman, who encouraged students to take their cameras to the streets and discover the meaning of their work as well as their relationship to it. The League had a darkroom for printing, published an acclaimed newsletter called Photo Notes, offered exhibition space, and was a place to socialize.

The Photo League helped validate photography as a fine art, presenting student work and guest exhibitions by established photographers such as Eugène Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Edward Weston, among others. These affecting black and white photographs show life as it was lived mostly on the streets, sidewalks and subways of New York. Joy and playfulness as well as poverty and hardship are in evidence.

In addition to their urban focus, “Leaguers” photographed rural America, and during World War II, took their cameras to Latin America and Europe. The exhibition also addresses the active participation of women who found rare access and recognition at the League. The Radical Camera presents the League within a critical, historical context. Developments in photojournalism were catalyzing a new information era in which photo essays were appearing for the first time in magazines such as Life and Look. As time went on, its social documentary roots evolved toward a more experimental approach, laying the foundation for the next generation of street photographers.

In 1947, the League came under the pall of McCarthyism and was blacklisted for its alleged involvement with the Communist Party.  Ironically, the Photo League had just begun a national campaign to broaden its base as a “Center for American Photography.” Despite the support of Ansel Adams, Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, Paul Strand, and many other national figures, this vision of a national photography center could not overcome the Red Scare. As paranoia and fear spread, the Photo League was forced to disband in 1951.

The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936-1951 has been organized by The Jewish Museum, New York, and the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio. Major support was provided by the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Limited Brands Foundation.

About the Norton Museum

The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida, and internationally known for its distinguished Permanent Collection featuring American Art, Chinese Art, Contemporary Art, European Art and Photography. The Norton is located at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, FL., and  is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays and major Holidays). General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students with a valid ID, and free for Members and children ages 12 and under.  Special group rates are available. West Palm Beach residents receive free admission every Saturday with proof of residency. Palm Beach County residents receive free admission the first Saturday of each month with proof of residency. For additional information, please call (561) 832-5196, or visit www.norton.org. 

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

 BIJOUX! returns to the Norton Museum and even if you are not in the market for a piece of jewelry, The Rickie Report knows you  won’t want to miss this event!  The artists are based in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Israel, as well as the U.S. and other countries.  They work in gold, silver, porcelain, beads, acrylic, glass, iron, steel, diamonds, and other materials. Their designs range from very conservative to avant garde. Read this article for an interview with Andrea Janosik, whose necklace appears below. BIJOUX!  BE THERE!

BIJOUX!!!

Norton’s contemporary art jewelry sale returns!

Five-day fundraiser features work of more than 40 international artists 

Necklace by Andrea Janosik

 The Norton Museum of Art is presenting BIJOUX!, a contemporary art jewelry fundraiser, offering the public the chance to purchase unique contemporary art jewelry pieces directly from their creators. At least two dozen of the more than 40 international artists represented at BIJOUX! are expected to attend the event, which is open to the public during regular Museum hours (with regular admission) Feb. 27 – March 3, 2013. BIJOUX! also includes a Feb. 26 dinner for patrons and artists at a private home, and a Feb. 27 preview cocktail party at the Museum. Proceeds from BIJOUX! benefit the Norton’s exhibition and education programs.

BIJOUX Chair, Donna Scheier

With the goal of “introducing the community to the best of the international art jewelry world,” BIJOUX! Chair Donna Schneier once again visited one of the world’s preeminent art jewelry fairs held annually in Munich, Germany, and traveled Europe researching and reviewing the work of the continent’s leading art jewelers. The result, Schneier says, “is an assembly of prominent artists from around the world, who are bringing their work to the Norton. It’s a rare opportunity to meet leading art jewelers from around the world and buy the work directly from the artists.”

The artists, based in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Israel, as well as the U.S. and other countries, work in gold, silver, porcelain, beads, acrylic, glass, iron, steel, diamonds, and other materials. Their designs range from very conservative to avant garde. “I tried to choose artists who would show well here,” Schneier said, adding that BIJOUX! is as much about education as sales.

Andrea Janosik, whose necklace is seen on the BIJOUX! invitation is new to Palm Beach County, FL.  The Rickie Report spoke with Andrea about her jewelry.

 AJ:  In college. I was very indecisive, but I knew that 3D was my thing. As much as I loved drawing and painting – building and constructing something with my hands came more naturally, gave me a bigger thrill. I like to imagine objects in space, not on a flat surface. While spending a year in the product design department and a year in sculpture, I took a course in metalsmithing and knew that was it! Small-scaled sculptures that were not styrofoam models but actual end-products, and could even be pieces of art.

That ‘beauty’ ring was just a simple idea, but it started my years-long silver/leather obsession. I first stretched suede or patent over foam, and let it protrude out of perfectly clean, even structures. After using solid, bold colors, I played around with earthy tones. Patterns were next – on both the hard and the soft surfaces. I utilized abstract shapes, then built in literal, humorous references to the African wildlife, since I ran into so many animal prints on leather. One collection turned out sweet, and light-hearted, with soft-petaled flowers, the next was dark and heavy, with only black leather and oxidized silver clusters.

Technically, my aim is to challenge myself to find yet new ways of holding the combo together: squeezing, pulling, stacking, stitching, tension-fitting. Visually, I strive to create designs that are bold, unconventional and different, or try to give an old idea a new twist. Repetition bores me. New inspiration usually evolves from the last piece I finish. One idea comes out of another – it’s a constant discovery, and hopefully, improvement.

TRR: How has you living in other cultures affected your work?

AJ:   Growing up in places so vastly different from each other has, above all, made me appreciate diversity and change, extremes and contrasts. There is no country I could call mine – patriotism is a strange concept to me. It is not a coincidence that I have lived in NY longer than any other city (17 years), feeling more comfortable in the cultural mix of my neighborhood (Williamsburg, Brooklyn) than any other place I’ve seen.

My background has taught me a thing or two about personal rights and liberties: Seen through the eyes of a child and a teenager, Slovakia was controlled (back then the socialist Czechoslovakia), Zambia was wild, Germany was ordered.  In comparison, New York felt free, has let me be whoever I wanted to become – What a great spot!

Notables from the art jewelry world who will be represented at BIJOUX! include Nirit Dekel, Bruce Metcalf, and Kim Rawdin.

Related programs include:

• A demonstration by glass jewelry artist Nirit Dekel at 1:00 p.m. daily,  Feb. 28 – March 3.
• A lecture by artist Bruce Metcalf at 2 p.m. on Feb. 28.
• A tour of BIJOUX! led by Davira Taragin, Consultative Curator of Decorative Arts at the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, 3 p.m. daily, Feb. 28- March 3.

BIJOUX! is open to the public Feb. 28 – March 3, 2013 during regular Museum hours and is free with Museum admission. BIJIOUX! programs are also free with regular Museum admission. Tickets for the Feb. 27 preview cocktail party are $250 per couple or $175 per person. Patron sponsorships are $1,000 per couple or $600 per person, and include the Feb. 26 dinner with the artists and the Feb. 27 preview cocktail party. For tickets, or more information, call Rebecca Levine at (561) 832-5196 x 1121.

The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida, and internationally known for its distinguished Permanent Collection featuring American Art, Chinese Art, Contemporary Art, European Art and Photography. The Norton is located at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, FL., and  is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays and major Holidays). General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students with a valid ID, and free for Members and children ages 12 and under.  Special group rates are available. West Palm Beach residents receive free admission every Saturday with proof of residency. Palm Beach County residents receive free admission the first Saturday of each month with proof of residency. For additional information, please call (561) 832-5196, or visit www.norton.org. 

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

We most often connect “legacy” with the amount of money left in a will.  Emily Fisher Landau’s legacy is one that we can share and The Norton Museum of Art is opening this special exhibit next week.  The Rickie Report is anxious to see this collection not only because of its breadth but because Landau’s foresight allows us to see the maturation of these artists over a period of time.

Norton presents

Legacy,

a comprehensive overview

of iconic, contemporary art collected

by

Emily Fisher Landau

Exhibit Runs

 February 19 – June 2, 2013

The Norton Museum of Art presents the special exhibition, Legacy: The Emily Fisher Landau Collection, beginning Feb. 19, 2013. Not only is it truly special because it includes remarkable contemporary artwork by American icons such as Jasper Johns, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Susan Rothenberg, Ed Ruscha, Cy Twombly, Kiki Smith, and Andy Warhol, but it is part of a formidable collection of more than 350 works part-time Palm Beacher Emily Fisher Landau pledged to the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2010. (She is a Whitney Trustee.)

Ed Ruscha, 2002 “Lion in Oil” Synthetic polymer on canvas with Tape
Photo by Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art.com

South Florida residents will be able to see an astounding array of dozens of contemporary works – paintings, sculptures, drawings, and photographs – that Landau presciently collected when many of these artists were still relatively unknown. Legacy runs through June 2, 2013.

“The Norton Museum of Art is grateful to Emily Fisher Landau and the Whitney Museum for bringing this extraordinary exhibition of contemporary art to Palm Beach County,” said Norton Executive Director Hope Alswang. “Ms. Landau has assembled one of the great collections of contemporary art, and museum visitors have an amazing opportunity to see very important work by significant artists of our time.”

Andy Warhol, 1982                    ”Emily Fisher Landau”               Gelatin Silver Print                      Photo by: Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art.com

Emily Fisher Landau was first a member of the Whitney Museum’s Painting and Sculpture Acquisitions Committee in 1987 before becoming a Board member. She stated early on: “I like the fact that the Whitney isn’t afraid to expose the public to the work of young artists before they are accepted.” That approach guided her when collecting work by artists who were yet to gain wide acceptance and were sometimes pushing beyond conventional tastes. Landau summed up her enthusiasm for the untested art of our time: “Artists like Kiki Smith and Glen Ligon portray the world we are living in now … whether you like it or not is beside the point.”

Neil Jenney, 1969 “Threat and Sanctuary” Oil on canvas
Photo by Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art.com

Collecting the work of an artist over a period of several years, if not decades, is a characteristic of Mrs. Landau’s approach. In this exhibition, three artists are seen in depth: Richard Artschwager, Jasper Johns, and Ed Ruscha. Los Angeles-based Ruscha said of Landau: “To the greatest degree, she’s the friend of the artist…. Some collectors would prefer not to meet the artist and I can understand that they don’t want to crack an illusion about somebody whose work they are collecting…. She’s different. She’s not afraid to know the artist personally.”

Ed Ruscha “Give Him Anything and he’ll Sign It” 1965  Oil on Canvas

Legacy represents an historic collection of art as well as the remarkable vision of Emily Fisher Landau. It is organized by Donna De Salvo, the Whitney’s Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs, and David Kiehl, the Museum’s Curator of Prints and Special Collections.

About the Norton Museum

The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida, and internationally known for its distinguished Permanent Collection featuring American Art, Chinese Art, Contemporary Art, European Art and Photography. The Norton is located at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, FL., and  is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays and major Holidays). General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students with a valid ID, and free for Members and children ages 12 and under.  Special group rates are available. West Palm Beach residents receive free admission every Saturday with proof of residency. Palm Beach County residents receive free admission the first Saturday of each month with proof of residency. For additional information, please call (561) 832-5196, or visit www.norton.org. 

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

When the Norton Museum starts 2013, it certainly does it in style!  Now you can see 39 works by the renowned photographer, Annie Leibovitz, which have recently been acquired by the Norton.  A new exhibition to honor this momentous occasion will take place on January 17th during the Museum’s Art After Dark.  The Rickie Report is anxious to see the work of this famous photographer, a trailblazer in our time.

NORTON MUSEUM OF ART

Presents

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ PHOTOGRAPHS 

Leibovitz Exhibition Opens Jan. 17, 2013 and runs through June 9, 2013

January 17, 2013   5:00pm

Acquisitions Add to Norton’s Encyclopedic Photography Collection

The Norton Museum of Art has acquired a collection of 39 works by the renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, and will present Annie Leibovitz, an exhibition of these new acquisitions that will open at 5 p.m. Jan. 17, 2013 (during the Museum’s weekly Art After Dark) and run through June 9, 2013. The exhibition of these photographs, which date from the late 1960s through the early 2000s, is made possible through the generosity of Muriel and Ralph Saltzman and BMO Private Bank. Additional support was provided by The Mr. and Mrs. Hamish Maxwell Exhibition Endowment.

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris

“The Norton’s photography collection of more than 3,000 works spans the entire history of the medium. Annie Leibovitz is one of the most important portrait photographers of our time and as such deserves a prominent place in our encyclopedic permanent collection,” said Charles Stainback, Assistant Director of the Norton Museum of Art and exhibition curator. “The photographs we’ve chosen demonstrate the quiet power of the photograph and the vital connection between the artist and the subject—the essential element of all great portraits.”

Stainback worked closely with Leibovitz to narrow the selection to the final 39 photographs, which include a mixture of well-known and lesser-known works that range from the 1970s to the present. Both Stainback and Leibovitz felt it was important to select a grouping that emphasized the scope of her portraiture—from her images of celebrated figures to less familiar subjects. The black-and-white and color images on view will include: American Soldiers and Mary, Queen of the Negritos, Clark Air Base, The Philippines (1968); Cindy Sherman, New York City (1992); R2-D2, Pinewood Studios, London (2000), and The Reverend Al Sharpton, Prima Donna Beauty Care Center, Brooklyn, New York (1988). There are also iconic portraits of actors, musicians, and artists, from Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt to Allen Ginsberg and Andy Warhol.

Cindy Sherman

“The Norton has made a sophisticated selection,” Leibovitz said. “While there are several portraits of very famous people, they are not my most famous portraits. There are some surprises.”

“We are fortunate to have generous donors that provide us with the means to continually enhance our collection,” said Norton Executive Director Hope Alswang. “We were able to acquire the Leibovitz portraits with the support of individual contributions as well as the Norton’s special endowment funds. Ralph Norton built an incredible collection that is the basis for the Norton Museum of Art, and it is our responsibility to the community to continue to acquire great art.”

One of the most celebrated photographers of our time, Annie Leibovitz has been documenting American popular culture since the early 1970s, when her work began appearing in Rolling Stone. For nearly 30 years her photos have appeared regularly in Vanity Fair and Vogue.

According to an article in Vanity Fair Magazine,”Annie Leibovitz was born on October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut. While studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, she took night classes in photography, and in 1970, she began doing work for Rolling Stone magazine. She became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer in 1973. By the time she left the magazine, 10 years later, she had shot 142 covers. In 1983, she joined the staff at Vanity Fair, and in 1998, she also began working for Vogue. In addition to her magazine editorial work, Leibovitz has created influential advertising campaigns for American Express and the Gap and has contributed frequently to the Got Milk? campaign. For more information visit: http://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/annie-leibovitz

Al Sharpton

A retrospective of her work from 1970 to 1990 was presented by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the International Center of Photography in New York. A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005 opened at the Brooklyn Museum and toured widely, including the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Leibovitz’s most recent exhibition, Pilgrimage, opened at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. early this year.

Leibovitz is the recipient of many honors, including the rank of Commandeur in the French government’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the International Center of Photography’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2000, and received the 2012 Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts.

About the Norton Museum

The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida, and internationally known for its distinguished Permanent Collection featuring American Art, Chinese Art, Contemporary Art, European Art and Photography. The Norton is located at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, FL., and  is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays and major Holidays). General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students with a valid ID, and free for Members and children ages 12 and under.  Special group rates are available. West Palm Beach residents receive free admission every Saturday with proof of residency. Palm Beach County residents receive free admission the first Saturday of each month with proof of residency. For additional information, please call (561) 832-5196, or visit www.norton.org. 

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

Describing someone’s artwork is a sensitive matter. While The Rickie Report is not acting as critic, asking an artist to share themselves with our readers takes trust.  We started to share Debbie Mostel’s story in a previous post when she was inducted into NAWA (National Association of Women Artists) in New York City and announced that she would be showing at Red Dot in Miami soon after. The depth of Debbie’s personality and her artwork call for this extended interview.  Debbie’s work will be shown at Solo Exhibition at the Palm Beach Gardens City Hall and again in March at the Palm Beach Fine Craft Show.  Here, she shares her advice to artists and art lovers about maneuvering your way through sizable shows; some tips for artists to network; and some insights into her larger-than-life pieces.

Globe : “Baja Bound”

Most of Debbie’s work has interactive qualities such as spinning VCR motors, trap doors,wind-up toys and even a pair of Slinky’s!   Tom Shadyac, director of Jim Carey movies and more recently the revered film “I Am”, was presented one of Debbie’s Globes as an appreciation for the message that both director and artist hold in getting the message that “we are all connected”.  Debbie has been a guest demonstrator at the Norton Museum’s Art After Dark, a Best of Show winner twice at the Lighthouse ArtCenter and has numerous newspaper articles written about her. She is a member of the Artists of Palm Beach County

TRR: Tell our readers about your experience as an exhibitor at Red Dot in Miami.

DM:  The experience was awesome and I was extremely proud to be part of the show.

Hindu Tornadic Activity

TRR: What suggestions would you give an artist who has not done such a large show before?

DM:  First, you should scope out each show. Do your homework – this is a business, like any other business trade show.  I believe in “Go Large Or Go Home”.  Let me explain: Once you figure out what show is the best show for YOU, put everything you have into  making it successful.  Don’t skimp or try to cut corners to try to save money.  This isn’t necessarily about selling, though if you do, that is a nice perk.

Once you are committed to a show, you must put in your best work.  Create and print a full catalog.  Invest in good lighting and good quality signage.  I actually added more signage once I arrived at Red Dot and saw what other artists had in addition to what I had already planned.

During the show, have a seat.  Art show-goers don’t like to be followed around in your booth.  Let them know that if they have questions, you are there to help them.  Remember your business cards and postcards!   You have to have the right attitude and stay positive.  You are spending 6 days and long hours to promote your art!  Be professional!

Feeling the Squeeze

TRR: What about after the show?

DM:  You MUST follow up with the people who signed your guest book, with other artists you networked with during the show, and gallery owners who stopped by.  This is a lot of WORK!   This year, there were over 27 shows including Red Dot, Art Miami, and Art Basel.  I felt that Red Dot seemed to focus on emerging artists.  In looking at the statistics from 2011, the number of shows has grown. I would expect 2013 to continue to grow annually.  That offers a lot of opportunities to a lot more artists.

TRR: Any advice for the show attendees?

DM:  For art lovers and buyers, you have to pace yourselves because the sheer amount of art work can be overwhelming.  You really need to plan on more than just one day and you still will not see it all!  To avoid having your eyes glaze over from seeing too much art, book a hotel.  Take a break.  Each show has different fees.  Personally, I believe it is hardest for the Gallery owners and Buyers.  They have to look at everything in consideration for their collectors and clients.

Tower of Youth

TRR:  When we first met, you were anxious to show me a science-related article.  What types of materials do you enjoy reading?

DM:  I will read anything that has to do with science.  I always read the New York Times, Scientific American and I think that Smithsonian Magazine is the best out there.  National Geographic has engrossing articles, but I also watch a lot of television!  Again, anything science-related, so obviously NOVA, PBS, Science Channel.

I have always been fascinated with how things are made and where something comes from. I enjoy visually stimulating shows like “Orangutan Island”,  underwater series, “Oddities”.  I never know when an idea will spark and where it will lead me!

New Monarchy

TRR:  Do you ever relax?

DM:  I actually relax when I am playing golf!  I just love how beautiful nature is.  I can really take it all in when I walk my dog before sunset.  My background in landscape design has given me a better appreciation for some of the Audubon areas in Palm Beach County.

TRR: Does your son share your artistic  interests?

DM: Not really.  He loves music and plays drums in a local band, Abolish Oasis.  He wants to go to college to pursue a career in the music business.

Trilobite Surfing

TRR: What inspires you to create such a breadth of artwork?

 DM: Everything!  Really.  I can be staring a gym ceiling and an idea for a new piece of artwork will pop into my head.  We have to remember why we are artists.  We can tune into the minutia of the every-day and go and create art. The synapses in my brain flip all the time!

Mind Reader

To see Debbie’s artwork, the public is invited to a reception at Palm Beach Gardens City Hall Lobby on January 18 from 6 – 8 pm.  The building is located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens 33410.  Her SOLO exhibit is called “Technology Deconstructed-Nature Reconstructed”.  The exhibit continues through February 21st.  City Hall is open from 8 am – 5 pm Monday through Friday.

Debbie will also be at the 2013 Palm Beach Fine Craft Show from March 1st – 3rd, which takes place at the Palm Beach County Convention Center 650 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach.  The Palm Beach Fine Crafts Show is professionally juried to ensure the highest level of excellence and originality in the work presented. Every piece is designed and made in artists’ studios across the U.S. www.PalmBeahFineCraftShow.com  For more details about Debbie’s work contact: 561-779-0030 or go to:www.debbieleemostel.com

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

Celebrating the Norton Museum of Art’s collection of African and African-American artists is reason enough to check out the newest exhibit, “Say It Loud”.  If you need more motivation, The Rickie Report knows you won’t want to miss this Art After Dark with Greg Jackson and the Mojo Band! Plus, the Norton’s gift to the community is FREE ADMISSION to the Museum  on Thursday  December 27th! Motown sounds, hundreds of pieces of artwork from the Norton collection, free admission – don’t keep this a secret – Say it loud!

Say it Loud  Exhibition

Celebrate The Norton’s Collection Of

Art by African and African-American artists

Opening kicks off at Art After Dark with Greg Jackson & the Mojo Band

Dec. 27, 2012

5-9 PM

Exhibit runs through March 3, 2013

The Norton Museum of Art is thrilled to announce the opening of Say it Loud: Art by African and African-American Artists in the Collection at 5 p.m. on Dec. 27, 2012 during Art After Dark.  The exhibition, which runs through March 3, 2013, includes dozens of paintings, sculptures, photographs, and works on paper spanning much of the past 100 years.

Shonibare Figures

“This exhibition celebrates the diversity of the Museum’s Collection, and features more than 20 artists working in a variety of media and representing an array of styles, ideas, and issues inspired by personal and artistic concerns,” said Norton Executive Director Hope Alswang.

Nick Cave: Soundsuit

Among the works in the exhibition will be rarely-seen photographs by James Van Der Zee and Gordon Parks, sculpture by Augusta Savage, paintings by Jacob Lawrence and Charles Henry Alston, and contemporary works by Nick Cave, Al Loving, Faith Ringgold, Yinka Shonabare, Mary Sibande, Kara Walker, and others. (Ringgold is scheduled to discuss her life’s work as artist, activist, author, and teacher at 4 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2013 at the Museum.)

The Norton’s gift to the community for the holidays is free admission all day Thursday, Dec. 27th, which is also an Art After Dark evening when the Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The new Say it Loud exhibition also opens that evening.  December 27 edition of Art After Dark, the Norton’s Thursday night series—“Where Culture and Entertainment Meet”—will have a distinctly Say it Loud theme. Greg Jackson and the Mojo Band will rekindle the “Motown Sound” as well as the songs of James Brown, Otis Redding, and other soulful and funky classics from the ‘60s and ‘70s.  Multi-instrumentalist Dave Harris will deliver exhilarating blues licks on guitar, harmonica and keyboards. The evening also will include tours of Say it Loud and other exhibitions, art activities for all ages, and a menu from Café 1451.

About the Norton Museum:  The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida, and internationally known for its distinguished Permanent Collection featuring American Art, Chinese Art, Contemporary Art, European Art and Photography. The Norton is located at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, FL., and  is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays and major Holidays). General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students with a valid ID, and free for Members and children ages 12 and under.  Special group rates are available. West Palm Beach residents receive free admission every Saturday with proof of residency. Palm Beach County residents receive free admission the first Saturday of each month with proof of residency. For additional information, please call (561) 832-5196, or visit www.norton.org.

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

The Rickie Report hopes you will go to the Norton Museum of Art to see their newest exhibit, RAW. Artist Sylvia Plimack Mangold’s work will be highlighted in this solo exhibit. RAW (Recognition of Art by Women) is a series devoted to living female artists.

Norton Museum Announces 2012 RAW Artist:

Sylvia Plimack Mangold

Series Features Solo Exhibitions of Important Work by Living Female Artists

 December 9, 2012  through March 3, 2013

Meet the artist:

Sylvia Plimack Mangold in Conversation

with Cheryl Brutvan

Dec. 9, 2012   3:00 PM

Norton Director of Curatorial Affairs Cheryl Brutvan and artist Sylvia Plimack Mangold discuss the artist’s motivations, body of work, and meditations on landscape.  Sylvia Plimack Mangold is the second artist in the Recognition of Art by Women (RAW) program.  Free with Museum admission. No RSVP required. Limited seating.

The Norton Museum of Art has announced Sylvia Plimack Mangold as the artist selected for its second annual RAW (Recognition of Art by Women) exhibition, a  series devoted to living female artists. Opening Dec. 9, 2012 and on view through March 3, 2013, Sylvia Plimack Mangold: Landscape and Trees will feature 60 paintings, drawings, watercolors, and prints concentrating on the artist’s devotion to the natural world and her return to specific motifs over nearly three decades. The exhibition is organized by Cheryl Brutvan, the Norton’s Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Contemporary Art.

“The Norton is committed to recognizing important contributions by living artists at all stages of their careers,” said Hope Alswang, director and CEO of the Norton Museum of Art. “In this iteration of RAW, we celebrate an established woman artist. We look forward to presenting the beauty created by Sylvia Plimack Mangold’s study of landscape for nearly three decades.”

Plimack Mangold became known in the late 1960’s for her meticulous depictions of floors, walls, and mirrors, and later, measures and tapes in canvases that are exceptional for their illusion.  This work revealed a concern—shared with her Minimalist peers–with space and materials.

“The Maple Tree With Pine”  Photograph by Joerg Lohse  Courtesy Alexander and Bonin, New York

While this early work has recently received increased attention, the landscape and individual elm, locust, pin oak and maple trees surrounding her studio have occupied her longer than any other subject. She has depicted them throughout the seasons and over the course of years. Collectively, this body of work is a meditation on time manifest in the changes discovered in her scrupulous study of her subjects.

“It is a privilege to work once again with Sylvia and consider her efforts,” said Brutvan, who organized a Plimack Mangold retrospective in 1994. “Remarkably, these canvases of landscape and trees remain an unexplored body of her work. They reveal her evolving concern with illusion, the plane of the canvas, and the passage of time.”

“The Maple Tree, Summer”  Photograph by Joerg Lohse  Private Collection

Sylvia Plimack Mangold is best known for her representational depictions of interiors and landscapes. Her retrospective premiered at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo and circulated to Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  A survey of her works on paper was organized by the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor before circulating.  Her work is held in the permanent collections of numerous institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland and Yale University Art Gallery among others.  She studied at Cooper Union and Yale University.

About RAW

The mission of RAW (Recognition of Art by Women) is to highlight and promote living women artists working in painting and sculpture. The program is made possible by a grant from the Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund/ML Dauray Arts Initiative that allows the Norton to organize six special exhibitions, one each year from 2011 through 2016. The grant encompasses funding for exhibitions, publications, research, and educational programming, and includes the funding of the first Sophie Davis Curatorial Fellow. The inaugural RAW exhibition in 2011 featured the first Museum survey in the United States and England of the rarely-exhibited paintings and drawings of British artist Jenny Saville.

About the Norton Museum

The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida, and internationally known for its distinguished Permanent Collection featuring American Art, Chinese Art, Contemporary Art, European Art and Photography. The Norton is located at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, FL., and  is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays and major Holidays). General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students with a valid ID, and free for Members and children ages 12 and under.  Special group rates are available. West Palm Beach residents receive free admission every Saturday with proof of residency. Palm Beach County residents receive free admission the first Saturday of each month with proof of residency. For additional information, please call (561) 832-5196, or visit www.norton.org. 

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291

The Rickie Report looks forward to seeing The Norton Art Museum’s newest installations and “Keep Calm and Carry On”, an exhibit celebrating Britain’s fashion and design response during WWII.

 Keep Calm and Carry On:

World War II and the British Home Front, 1938-1951 

Norton Highlights British Fashion and Design During WWII                      

When the British government produced the poster “Keep Calm and Carry On” in 1939, it was a rallying cry for the public, and a demonstration of a new collaboration between the government and the creative class. The Norton Museum of Art opens its special exhibition season exploring the ways in which artists, designers, architects, and filmmakers in Great Britain bolstered a nation and helped win the war on the home front.  Keep Calm and Carry On: World War II and the British Home Front, 1938-1951, opens Nov. 1, 2012 and runs through Jan. 20, 2013. (Companion programming includes the four-part series, Keep Calm and Carry On: British Films with Scott Eyman. Eyman, literary critic and arts writer for The Palm Beach Post, is a noted film historian and author.)  

“Virtually every member of England’s creative class, from fashion designer Hardy Amies to arts leader Kenneth Clark and writer Noel Coward, helped fight the war at home, not only by creating innovative designs that saved essential wartime materials, but also by injecting style, beauty, and high culture into the harsh realities of wartime life,” said Donald Albrecht, curator of the exhibition.

Albrecht will discuss the exhibition at 6:30 p.m.

at

Art After Dark on Nov. 29.

American/British Forces Scarf

Keep Calm and Carry On examines design between 1938 and 1951, the years immediately before, during, and after England’s participation in the war.  The exhibition is divided into three sections:

Design for Fashion and Beauty, which features women’s dresses—some by couturier to the royal family Hardy Amies—and uniforms from the era, a clothing rations book, and copies of British Vogue.

Design for Shelter and Protection, which highlights air-raid shelter designs and drawings, and domestic objects, including utility furniture.

Design for Entertainment and Propaganda, which demonstrates the ways graphic designers and filmmakers shaped the nation’s behaviors and attitudes from encouraging women to enter the workforce and plant victory gardens to imploring everyone to “keep calm and carry on.”

For greater context of the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the struggles on the home front, the exhibition will include clips from films and radio programs that were popular during the era. Vintage photographs also will help visitors understand what daily life on the home front looked like.

The exhibition will begin with the preparations for war in 1938 and will end with a coda devoted to the major design events in the years directly following the war that were pivotal in Britain’s conversion from a wartime nation to a peacetime nation. Included are objects and images from the 1946 Britain Can Make It exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the 1948 Olympics, the 1948 Earl’s Court Auto Show, and the 1951 Festival of Britain, a government organized exhibition that highlighted Britain’s contributions to industrial design, architecture, science, technology, and the arts.

“The Norton exhibition will continue to explore the ideas and work presented in the MFA Boston’s excellent, focused exhibition Beauty as Duty: Textiles and the Home Front in WWII Britain,” said Norton Executive Director Hope Alswang. “World War II and the austerity measures that came along with it were pivotal in ushering a new era of modernism in Great Britain. The British creative class came together to support the war effort, unify the nation, and maintain morale, and, in the process, created a more egalitarian society.  It’s been a fascinating road of discovery and we’re eager to share our new knowledge with our visitors.”

Victory Print Dress

Exhibition Support

Keep Calm and Carry On is made possible by the generous support of Fred and Jean Scharf.

Catalogue

A 96-page, hard-cover catalog, featuring essays by Donald Albrecht, Fred Sharf, and Erin McKeller will accompany the exhibition.

About the Norton Museum

The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida, and internationally known for its distinguished Permanent Collection featuring American Art, Chinese Art, Contemporary Art, European Art and Photography. The Norton is located at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, FL., and  is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays and major Holidays). General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students with a valid ID, and free for Members and children ages 12 and under.  Special group rates are available. West Palm Beach residents receive free admission every Saturday with proof of residency. Palm Beach County residents receive free admission the first Saturday of each month with proof of residency. For additional information, please call (561) 832-5196, or visit www.norton.org. 

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