The Rickie Report finds ancient sculpture intriguing. Who were these women and where did these pieces stand?  Were they gifts from an admirer or from the imagination of a hired artist?  Did a small child look at one and be inspired to become an artist one day or was it the child’s mother?  Of course, we also wonder about the life of the artist who made each of these ancient relics. We hope you will go to see the newest exhibit at the Griffin Gallery, “Women of Ancient Greece & Rome”.  

 Invites you to:

Opening Reception

Thursday December 13, 2012

6:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M.

The exhibition continues through January 09, 2013. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10:30 A.M. until 5 P.M., Monday by appointment only, Sunday closed.

Roman Marble Cybele

Greek Athena Coin

Roman Bone Attachment

The Griffin Gallery of Ancient Art Reminds you to:

The Original Miami Beach Antique Show

Miami Beach Convention Center

January 31, 2013 – February 04, 2013

Booth 3008

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 knows how lucky we are to live in this area and have so many choices of speakers, gallery openings, and other art related events.  This one is not to be missed!  Vanessa Somers Vreeland is currently working at The Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach on a series that will be featured in Toulouse, France starting in July 2012.

Yellow Orchid (mirror, gold, glass, marble mosaic)

On Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. Vanessa Somers Vreeland will present an illustrated talk on her artistic process and the art of mosaics. Reservations can be made by calling (561) 832-1776 x15.  Free and open to the public.

“My Passion is to create new, exciting and unique mosaic art-drawings on themes of the past, in this recently rediscovered medium.”

Vanessa began her artistic career as a traditional painter in Paris. Her curiosity about transparency led her to experimenting with glass. She studied with Professor Odoardo Anselmi, artistic director of the Vatican Mosaic Studio in Rome. Her very successful career in fused glass mosaic technique and works in marble and cold glass in traditional Roman style paved the way for many international lectures and teaching positions. These include The Corning Museum of Glass, Penland School of Crafts, Columbia Museum of Art, The American Craft Museum, The Getty Museum, and Pilchuck Art School.

In Vitas Veritas: Hand Cut Marble and Glass Mosaic

ASARATON is a mega mosaic recently on view in The Rodin Gallery, Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. Vanessa is exploring the concept of a lecture and exhibition of this piece at both The National Gallery and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has had exhibitions in Paris, New York, Brussels, Rome, Florence and North Africa. Her studio is in Rome.

The Armory’s mission is to provide high-quality visual art school and art gallery services that stimulate personal self-discovery and generate knowledge and awareness of art as part of life. For more information on The Armory Art Center, or to sign up for classes, visit www.ArmoryArt.org or call (561) 832-1776.

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

ArtiGras gets a large crowd of attendees as well as hundreds of applications from artists and artisans to be accepted into this prestigious show each year.   The Rickie Report had the opportunity to speak the judges of Artigras 2012.

Consider these numbers:

Applicants to ArtiGras 2012:  1,100  Accepted:  280

Emerging Artist Applicants:  42  Accepted: 13

The application process for ArtiGras 2013 begins in April!

The day after ArtiGras 2012 is over marks the beginning of the planning process for ArtiGras 2013.  Did you notice that this is truly a “show within a show” in many aspects?  There are the 280 artists’ tents and 13 more to include “emerging artists” ( who have not been in a professionally juried show before).  There are the food and beverage vendors and don’t forget the local non-profit organizations whose presence informs the community.

Add to this the entire local school district’s involvement in the “recycle art” program which enhances the decor of the refuse cans along the ArtiGras route.  We hope you put your coins in the boxes to vote for your favorite!   The top 10 prize winners will get monies for their school arts programs.  There were 20 participants this year, including whimsical and serious “recycle” messages.

The 2012 theme, “One of a Kind”  worked well.  The 30 committee members (all volunteers) and the 1,200 other volunteers needed to make this event happen seamlessly are the true heroes.   A post-event survey will be sent out to help form Artigras 2013 into an even better event.

The Rickie Report often hears grumbling comments about having to pay to walk into ArtiGras, when other art and craft shows on the streets of our communities are free and open. Why is Artigras different?

There is rigorous jurying involved with this event, as you can see from the number of applicants.  Professional judges are involved in the three day-long jurying process.  The Northern Palm Beach Cultural Council accepts applications from April through September.  In October, the jurors meet for an “open jurying” process.  They spend 3 days from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm looking through the digital Zapplication files. 

Did you know that anyone is welcome to be present during the jurying process?  This “‘open jurying” helps artists understand the underpinnings of the heart of this show.  The jewelry applications include the highest number of applicants and can take over 3 hours to go through.  The judges are looking at digital images, one at a time, in each category.  They then record their choices through a numbering system.

If you are applying, you can see not only your work, but your competition’s!   This is a moment you might want to take advantage of…see where you stand in the line up.  Sobering yet a real life learning opportunity.  The staff will let applicants know the approximate hours and day that their category will be judged.

In addition to this exhaustive and intense jurying system, ArtiGras offers live entertainment, demonstrations by the artists, a kids area where they can make show their own budding artistry and painting classes for adults.  All of the monies generated by Artigras stay in the local community, going to schools and area non-profit groups.  The ArtiGras planners try to ensure that there is something for almost everyone, meaning price points ranging from $8.00 to beyond.  In fact, The Rickie Report was impressed with the affordability of this show’s wares.

Once an artist has been accepted to ArtiGras, their judgement days are not over!  There is a different set of judges who walk the entire show, deliberating which artist will be deemed “Best of Show” and awarded  $3,000.  Plus, First Place of each of the 13 mediums will be judged and awarded $1,000. each.

Judith Wood of West Palm Beach, FL was awarded Best in Show with her mixed media jewelry.  “Wow! That is the best adjective I can think of to describe how I feel.  Winning Best in Show was not expected so all I can really say is wow”, she shared.

Necklace by Judith Wood

The winners were selected by three judges who scored each artist and awarded a Best in Show and a first-place winner in each of the 13 categories. The following is a list of the artists who placed first in each category:

Marvin Bower of Boonsboro, MD, in Fiber – Wearable; Jayne Demarcay of Abita Springs, LA, in Jewelry; Shelagh Forrest of Gainesville, FL, in Photography; R.C. Fulwiler of Lakeland, FL, in Digital Art; Peter Gerbert of Dade City, FL, in Painting; Barrie Harding of Dunnellon, FL, in Wood; Corey Johnson of Royal Palm Beach, FL, in Mixed Media; Edward Loedding of Brandon, VT, in Drawing and Printmaking; Don McWhorter of Carrollton, GA, in Ceramics; Richard Ryan of Bourbonnais, IL, in Glass; Alex Santamarina of San Francisco, CA, in Metal; Jean Yao of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, in Fiber – Nonwearable.

Gilded Koi by Corey Johnson

There are so many aspects to ArtiGras that  you need more than one day to walk the show, speak with the artists ( who must be at their booths unless they are relieved by an ArtiGras volunteer for a break), take in all of this creative energy, and hopefully, go home with a new piece of hand made artwork.   The artists also have an opportunity to donate a piece of their work to a children’s sale.  You will see a purple ribbon “thank you” at these artists’ tents.  (As we said, this is truly a “show within a show”).

The winners of the 2012 ArtiGras Youth Art Competition were announced  the first day of the ArtiGras Fine Art Festival presented by Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.  More than 250 students in grades kindergarten – 12^th submitted artwork for the competition in mediums ranging from pencil and crayon to chalk and paint.  Artwork was judged by local artists and art educators who had the daunting task of narrowing down the hundreds of entries to only 77  finalists then selecting a first, second and three place winner along with three honorable mentions for each school grade.

The following is a list of the first, second and third place winners along with three honorable mentions per school grade:

The judges listed below decided on the cash prizes.  It took them almost a full day on Saturday to achieve their goal.  They looked not only at the artists’ work but also their displays.  The Rickie Report has written about this aspect of being in a show previously.  For the artists reading this, please consider how appealing your display is – by the time someone has reached your booth they have probably seen other booths in a similar medium.  What will make yours stand out from the rest?

Meet the jurors:

Andrea Schoen

Andrea Schoen is an accomplished Art Teacher who has now retired and returned to her passion of jewelry design and creation.  From 1988 to 2006, Andrea was a tenured Art Teacher at Spring Valley HS- Art/Comp Graphics and Studio Art.  She taught Primary through High School levels developing specialized programs in darkroom, photography, computer graphics and calligraphy. Upon retiring, she continued her studies in glass and metal work.  She has sharpened or added to her skills in fabrication, stone setting, wax, enameling, hinges, clasps, casting, lapidary, and jewelry repairs.  Andrea is currently the 2011-2012 Vice President of the Florida Society of Goldsmiths SE Chapter.

Ilene Adams

With over 25 years of professional experience in graphic design, print making, illustration, fabric design, and faux finishing, Ilene brings a wealth of information and creativity to her work.  After owning a nationally acclaimed broadcast marketing company in the Northeast for over 20 years, Ilene focused her energy and skills on the creation of wonderful, warm environments for homes and businesses from New York to Miami.  She has over 300 commissions and collections in homes and businesses from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale.  An award winning artist, Ilene has been featured in many design magazines both in the New York metropolitan area and the Palm Beaches.  Ilene’s business and art education spans Harvard University – MA, School of Visual Arts – NY, Temple University, Tyler School of Art – PA, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art, ROME.

Ofra Friedman

Ofra Friedman is a sculptor who works with a unique technique of wire mesh, welded metal and mixed media.  Her sculptures are in public and private collections throughout Florida and in Canada.  In 2009 she created 3 outdoor sculptures for Tampa outdoor kinetic sculpture competition, and was awarded ‘People’s choice’ award for her sculpture.  Ofra is an experienced judge and a prolific art exhibitor throughout Florida. She brings a well rounded and diverse, global art education beginning with Wire Mesh Sculpture gained in Israel, Stone Sculpture acquired in Florida, Visual Arts and Interior Design studied in Maryland and Performing Arts and Dance in New York.  She is a member of a number of professional organizations dedicated to the women and the arts throughout Florida.

Joe Korth

A jewelry artist and metalsmith from Denver, Colorado.  Joe was born in Berkeley, CA.  His first exposure to jewelry creation was in a high school art class.  Joe continued his education at Eastern Michigan University where he earned a B.A. with a dual major in Philosophy and Literature.  After completing his degree in 2002, he moved to Denver and began to explore his love for the arts.  He enrolled in classes at the Clear Creek Academy of Jewelry and Metal Arts (formerly the Denver Jewelry Academy) and began exploring his potential as a jewelry artist.  He has devoted himself completely to jewelry since 2004.  Joe is currently working as an instructor at the Clear Creek Academy, teaching the Introduction and Intermediate level Silversmithing classes as well as a workshops in Chainmaking and Jewelry Photography.  Since 2009, Joe has been on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Metalsmithing Society.

The Rickie Report spoke to each of these jurors to get their impressions of the overall show, the artwork, and personal observations.  They all agreed they enjoyed the experience and would be interested in jurying this as well as other shows in the future.  Each judge, when interviewed, expressed amazement at how well managed ArtiGras is, considering its large scope.

TRR:  How did you prepare for this jurying process?

The Judges:  We met for the first time on Saturday at ArtiGras.  We agreed that there would be a scale from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest).  We tried not to use “4″ unless necessary.  Zapplications provided us with wireless computers to keep track of the scoring and make sure we saw every artist’s tent.  This process eliminated discussion among us and helps eliminate our own personal opinions.  Though there was a learning curve using the new technology, most agreed that this leveled the playing field in terms of scoring.  The computer program also gave thumbnail overviews of each artist’s work.  This turned out to be important not only to help the judges score the correct booth, but to ensure that the work the artist was initially accepted for was indeed in their booth.  Judges disqualified themselves from scoring artists with whom they had personal relationships.

TRR: Tell us about your overall impression of the work you saw this year.

The Judges: Some of it was beautifully crafted, while a large part of the wares the vendors were selling were commercially oriented.  One judge felt that 5-10% was truly fine art and considered it very well done.  The excitement of seeing an artist create a totally new medium impressed all of them.  While one judge may look for emotion, depth and originality, another is looking for craftsmanship and creativity.  There may have been many potters, the ones that stood out were trying new processes and working with new materials.  Though the jurying process was exhausting, it engendered a lot of excitement because of this creative energy.

TRR:  Do you have any suggestions for artists applying to shows such as ArtiGras?

The Judges:  An artist should develop a clear artistic style.  This does not mean they cannot grow or change, but there needs to be a common element in each of their pieces of work.  Maintain your training.  Keep sharing with other artists in your field and accept feedback.  Identifiability is necessary for success but you don’t have to confine yourself.  Consider having a well-rounded approach to what you are offering to the consumers: some semi-commercial pieces which are your “bread and butter” and some one-of-a-kind pieces as well.  Hone your business skills.  If you are not sure how to market yourself, hire someone to do that part of the business while you work on your art.   Most people attending an art show like this are looking at aesthetics and elements of design rather than technical aptitude. Do something with your tent/booth area to draw people in.

The Rickie Report thanks the judges, organizers, and artists of ArtiGras 2012 for sharing their insights.  TRR is honored to have been part of the call not only for artists but judges as well.   For more information about ArtiGras contact: Suzanne@npbchamber.com or 561-748-3945.

ArtiGras 2013 Application is ready – go to:

 www.artigras.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 Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens will present an impressive display of  an artist who made an large impact on our world and society, Edwina Sandys.

March 1st  through April 1st, The Art of Edwina Sandys: A Retrospective    There will a reception to meet the artist  March 8th, Thurs, 6:00 – 8:00 pm  open to Member & Guests

In addition, Sandys’ book, ART will be available for purchase, which chronicles wonderful photographs of her life that illustrate her famous ancestry. This book is the first and only collection of her visionary and artistic endeavors spanning over four decades.

Edwina Sandys

The artistic appeal of Edwina Sandys lies in her diverse subject matter. From the sacred to the secular, to the most essential questions about politics and society, she has tackled big ideas with panache, combining the lighthearted and the profound, at once playful and mind provoking. Her clearly recognizable style uses positive and negative images to powerful effect.

Edwina has created art of international acclaim that includes sculpture, paintings, collage and works on paper. Her work has reached a wide audience far beyond the realm of the private collector. Early in her career, for the 1979 United Nations’ Year of the Child, she created three monumental sculptures, which are now installed at UN centers in New York, Geneva and Vienna. A decade later, she used dismantled sections of the Berlin Wall to create an extraordinary sculpture, Breakthrough, now permanently sited at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where Winston Churchill gave his historic “Iron Curtain” speech.
She does not focus solely on political subjects, but also explores the relationships between man and woman.  Major works include her series The States of Woman, and The Marriage Bed, which is in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art.   From her earliest work of social commentary, which began in London in the 1970’s with lively paintings of the vibrant world she inhabited, Edwina showed her own distinctive style, which readily translated into other materials.

Most notable of her bronzes is Christa, a female Christ figure on the cross, created in 1975.  After being on display in numerous churches, Christa was installed at Easter 1984 in New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The media coverage created a worldwide furor and she experienced the double-edged sword of public debate, as both praise and outrage flooded in.

Edwina Sandys has a formidable reputation as artist and feminist, and has been working for more than 40 years in the arenas of sculpture, painting, collage, drawing and printing.  Her art is playful, witty, and profound while being deeply poetic and constantly challenging convention.  A New Yorker by choice and marriage, Edwina Sandys was born and raised in London.  Her father was Duncan Sandys, the British Cabinet Minister, and her grandfather was Winston Churchill.  It is telling that these major political figures were both talented artists.  Through her richly varied life experience, Ms. Sandys is uniquely situated to create work related to the global issues of our time.

The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens are conveniently located at 253 Barcelona Road, at the corner of Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, FL.  The rare palm and sculpture gardens, exhibition galleries, and artist studio are currently open Wednesday-Sunday from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.   Admission is $7.00 for adults and $5.00 for children ages 5 and over.  For more information contact www.ansg.org  or 561-832-5328.

For coverage of your events, listing of announcements in our events section, 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