#WhatMatters
Who are you? What is at the center of your universe? What matters to you? Why? How is that reflected in your work? Can you share it with us for the world to see? Who you are and what you contribute matters. Don’t forget it! See. Sense. Create. Connect. We need each other...
Who are you? What is at the center of your universe? What matters to you? Why? How is that reflected in your work? Can you share it with us for the world to see? Who you are and what you contribute matters. Don’t forget it! See. Sense. Create. Connect. We need each other...
#What Matters
JJ Galloway
When I’m not in my studio painting, I’m working at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. In that job, I study and talk a lot about other artists work. And I’ve learned how important it is to be authentic to yourself in your art. There’s an artist and a collector for everybody but you will never find each other until you are true to the art.
I paint food because it makes me feel good. I’m fascinated with the beautiful foods that come from our Earth and equally fascinated by what the creative mind of a chef does with that food. Making paints of food and playing with that concept feels so completely full circle and natural to me.
People ask me all the time if I like to cook. The answer is NO! I can cook, but I’m not very good at it. My husband is the chef in our house.
I paint food because it makes me feel good. I’m fascinated with the beautiful foods that come from our Earth and equally fascinated by what the creative mind of a chef does with that food. Making paints of food and playing with that concept feels so completely full circle and natural to me.
People ask me all the time if I like to cook. The answer is NO! I can cook, but I’m not very good at it. My husband is the chef in our house.
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"At the start of 2018 I gave myself permission to paint what only what I wanted to paint and not worry about whether or not anyone else liked it…and my business took off.”
JJ Galloway, an Annapolis, Maryland based artist, has been touring art shows throughout the country including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Miami.
JJ’s food themed art ranges from whimsical, like a pigeon with a ramen nest on his head, to figurative, like a chef at work in a kitchen, to traditional food still life paintings. “I make paintings of food. People have such interesting connections to food. Memories, sensations, emotions…all the senses are tapped in paintings of food.”
Her original watercolor and oil paintings can be found in public and private collections around the world and prints of her images are licensed to companies including Bed, Bath and Beyond, One Kings Lane, and a large European paper and calendar producer. Don't miss the chance to enjoy JJ Galloway's art at the Affordable Art Fair in March 2019 or her solo show at The ArtExpo New York in April 2019. But here's More...
JJ Galloway, an Annapolis, Maryland based artist, has been touring art shows throughout the country including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Miami.
JJ’s food themed art ranges from whimsical, like a pigeon with a ramen nest on his head, to figurative, like a chef at work in a kitchen, to traditional food still life paintings. “I make paintings of food. People have such interesting connections to food. Memories, sensations, emotions…all the senses are tapped in paintings of food.”
Her original watercolor and oil paintings can be found in public and private collections around the world and prints of her images are licensed to companies including Bed, Bath and Beyond, One Kings Lane, and a large European paper and calendar producer. Don't miss the chance to enjoy JJ Galloway's art at the Affordable Art Fair in March 2019 or her solo show at The ArtExpo New York in April 2019. But here's More...
With Strings (#WhatMatters)
Jeff Morris
"The more I build my own interactive musical worlds, the more I can see how the world we share is a constructed thing. I see that we can learn the most by exploring its “seams,” the points where the mundane breaks down and we can glimpse the true surprising nature of the thing, what’s behind the veil. It’s worth pursuing any search for knowledge until we find those seams, those telling anomalies, and we see what we can learn from them. I see that if we don’t question and probe the constructed worlds in which we live, then they shape us instead; we’re not the ones in control (even as they put controls in our hands). Just like how word processors lead us to write differently and electronic communications shape how we see ourselves and connect with each other, I’ve seen how different tools for making music make certain thoughts natural and suppress others.
That’s why I prefer to program my own software for performances and to make a different scenario for each composition. I try to make each one probe the boundaries of its own native situation, exploring whatever “seams” it can expose. This could mean site-specific performances or music from real-world data. In my live sampling performances, my instruments can’t make any sounds of their own; they only steal sounds from my musical partners onstage, live in the moment. This way, listeners can hear the digitally copied sounds, they can remember that they witnessed the original moment and that a copy is somehow missing something, and then they can watch as that lifeless copy gains a new life as I transform it into something new that influences the other performers in turn. They also hear the glitches and noise from the recording process itself—things we’re conditioned to ignore—turned into expressive elements. These performances play the “liveness” of the performance itself as an expressive medium."
That’s why I prefer to program my own software for performances and to make a different scenario for each composition. I try to make each one probe the boundaries of its own native situation, exploring whatever “seams” it can expose. This could mean site-specific performances or music from real-world data. In my live sampling performances, my instruments can’t make any sounds of their own; they only steal sounds from my musical partners onstage, live in the moment. This way, listeners can hear the digitally copied sounds, they can remember that they witnessed the original moment and that a copy is somehow missing something, and then they can watch as that lifeless copy gains a new life as I transform it into something new that influences the other performers in turn. They also hear the glitches and noise from the recording process itself—things we’re conditioned to ignore—turned into expressive elements. These performances play the “liveness” of the performance itself as an expressive medium."
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JEFF MORRIS creates experiences that pop audiences’ minds out of the ordinary to notice new things about the sounds, technology, and culture around them. His performances, installations, lectures, and writings appear in international venues known for cutting-edge arts and for asking deep questions in the arts. He has won awards for making art emerge from unusual situations: music tailored to architecture and cityscapes, performance art for the radio, and serious concert music for toy piano, slide whistle, robot, Sudoku puzzles, and paranormal electronic voice phenomena. His work has appeared in the Onassis Cultural Center (Athens), Triennale Museum (Milan), D-22 (Beijing’s avant-garde music scene), the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum (Austin), the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s “Open House Chicago,” and the Boston Microtonal Society. Morris’s writings exploring the aesthetic questions raised by his music have appeared at the International Symposium on Electronic Art, International Computer Music Conference, Generative Art International Conference, and Computer Art Congress, as well as in publications by Leonardo Music Journal, Springer, and IGI Global. For more click HERE |
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Escape into ART #WhatMatters
by Lynette Redner
Hi, I am Lynette Redner and I live in the heart of rural Wisconsin. I grew up on a farm, became a nurse, traveled the country as a travel nurse for 5 years. Settled into Arizona for over 20 yrs and then returned to Wisconsin 7 years ago, to assist ailing parents (who have now passed).
Just this past July I called my boss after an art workshop by Joe Paquet, and informed her that I would not be returning to work. Now I am finally a full time artist after years of trying to run my "train" down both tracks of art creation and medical work. So, now every day I am living my own truth. Truth, integrity and encouraging others are pivotal to creating my art and living my life.
When viewers gaze at my work, I desire that they be able to escape into the painting and relieve some of the pressures of daily life. As a child, I was often sick and I used a painting in my parents home to "escape into", as I endured the illness. I want others to feel a sense of joy, contentment and renewal when they look at my work.
Throughout my nursing career I have used my art with patients as well as staff to relieve the pressures of the moment. Art is a mood changer and has so much power. I choose this power to help heal the heart and find something positive to hang on to. Many people have told me they have found humor and happiness in my paintings. These feelings just find their own way in. I pour my heart into every painting. I can not NOT create art. It has called me and I am following!
For more about Lynette Redner's art, visit her website here.
Just this past July I called my boss after an art workshop by Joe Paquet, and informed her that I would not be returning to work. Now I am finally a full time artist after years of trying to run my "train" down both tracks of art creation and medical work. So, now every day I am living my own truth. Truth, integrity and encouraging others are pivotal to creating my art and living my life.
When viewers gaze at my work, I desire that they be able to escape into the painting and relieve some of the pressures of daily life. As a child, I was often sick and I used a painting in my parents home to "escape into", as I endured the illness. I want others to feel a sense of joy, contentment and renewal when they look at my work.
Throughout my nursing career I have used my art with patients as well as staff to relieve the pressures of the moment. Art is a mood changer and has so much power. I choose this power to help heal the heart and find something positive to hang on to. Many people have told me they have found humor and happiness in my paintings. These feelings just find their own way in. I pour my heart into every painting. I can not NOT create art. It has called me and I am following!
For more about Lynette Redner's art, visit her website here.
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Painting Life, From Life (#WhatMatters)
by Philine van der Vegte
Every fresh canvas is a challenge. Especially in portraiture. Someone is sitting for you for several days - the resulting painting has to be good to be worthwhile. This is what makes painting exhilarating to me.
Painting in the open air is something else again. Every time I’m out there with my easel, I ask myself: what is the essence and the spirit of this landscape? What fascinates me about what I see and how do I capture the beauty of this view in my painting? For me that’s what it is all about: showing the beauty of the Dutch landscape.
I paint fast, and I like to keep the freshness of the first look into my paintings. I love the immediacy of the perfect brushstroke that represents exactly what I want it to do. Tone and form are key.
I want to be very close to my subjects, and prefer to paint from life. The starting point for my paintings is always in the real world. Painting from observation is important to me and I will choose to do so whenever possible. Whatever the practical drawbacks, I feel it is better to capture the essence of a person, a landscape or an object in this way. I am committed to finding the truth through the observation of reality.
When starting a painting, I look for the things that have lasted. The area I live in has a rich and long cultural history. I paint people, landscapes, animals. I try to show them the way they are now, framing them in their rapidly changing surroundings. I keep trying to capture the character of a person or a landscape through light and dark. How do you paint the "human-ness" of the sitter, their vulnerability, their strength?
The art I want to make will grab people, because it is close to real life. It carries soul and intent. My mission as an artist is to bring real life to life.
Philine van der Vegte is a Dutch figurative painter. For more about her work, visit the artist's website here.
Painting in the open air is something else again. Every time I’m out there with my easel, I ask myself: what is the essence and the spirit of this landscape? What fascinates me about what I see and how do I capture the beauty of this view in my painting? For me that’s what it is all about: showing the beauty of the Dutch landscape.
I paint fast, and I like to keep the freshness of the first look into my paintings. I love the immediacy of the perfect brushstroke that represents exactly what I want it to do. Tone and form are key.
I want to be very close to my subjects, and prefer to paint from life. The starting point for my paintings is always in the real world. Painting from observation is important to me and I will choose to do so whenever possible. Whatever the practical drawbacks, I feel it is better to capture the essence of a person, a landscape or an object in this way. I am committed to finding the truth through the observation of reality.
When starting a painting, I look for the things that have lasted. The area I live in has a rich and long cultural history. I paint people, landscapes, animals. I try to show them the way they are now, framing them in their rapidly changing surroundings. I keep trying to capture the character of a person or a landscape through light and dark. How do you paint the "human-ness" of the sitter, their vulnerability, their strength?
The art I want to make will grab people, because it is close to real life. It carries soul and intent. My mission as an artist is to bring real life to life.
Philine van der Vegte is a Dutch figurative painter. For more about her work, visit the artist's website here.
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#WhatMatters
Sheyi N. Alabi
When creating a body of work, #WhatMatters is being in the right state of mind, in the right environment and listening to the right music. As an artist, most of my pieces are about my life’s journey.
"I basically paint African stories. I exhibit a nation and her future by painting children of African narratives. Children are believed to be the leaders of tomorrow. I come from a part of Africa where it is believed that children are the light of every household. African mothers would rather enjoy their houses being turned upside down than having a home with no children. Children are the source of joy and they bring life into every home. All I see and experience is showcased in my work. This is what matters."
"I basically paint African stories. I exhibit a nation and her future by painting children of African narratives. Children are believed to be the leaders of tomorrow. I come from a part of Africa where it is believed that children are the light of every household. African mothers would rather enjoy their houses being turned upside down than having a home with no children. Children are the source of joy and they bring life into every home. All I see and experience is showcased in my work. This is what matters."
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Sheyi Alabi's artwork is inspired by the lost narratives of the old, their innocence, their child-like aura fused with African heritage, culture, and tradition. His skill is evident in his ability to effortlessly portray Africa and her children, all-powerful and visibly present. His genre is Hyper-realism. Every single one of his pieces is painstakingly detailed and time-consuming but the end result is so worth the effort. With Africanism central to his oeuvre, Sheyi Alabi succeeds in portraying both young and old. Above all, he captures and highlights the beauty of Africanism.
For more follow @Sheyi_pencilz
For more follow @Sheyi_pencilz
#WhatMatters
by Capucine Safir
When I create a piece, what matters is my instinct. I rarely know where I’m going. I‘m driven by the feelings at the moment M. Direct carving and abstraction allow that. To determine whether a piece is finished or not, what matters is if I understand it and if I’m able to stand up for it.
What matters to me is that people think beyond good, bad; like or dislike. My sculptures contain deep emotions and I want them to be transmitted. Art must challenge people!
What matters to me is that people think beyond good, bad; like or dislike. My sculptures contain deep emotions and I want them to be transmitted. Art must challenge people!
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Capucine Safir is a Miami-based French Artist, born in Paris. After many years working in the movie industry, Capucine graduated in interior design in Sydney, Australia where she lived for a few years. In 2011, back in her country, she started carving her first block of limestone and it instantly triggered a deep emotion. Capucine soon found her own style through soft rounded shapes. "Soothing", "pure" and "atypical" are, some of the adjectives, which best define her work.
For more information on Capucine Safir, visit here. Enjoy!
For more information on Capucine Safir, visit here. Enjoy!
Invisible Room & Colors
by Kyoko Takei
#WhatMatters
Invisible space between objects or conversations and the flow of time are my interests in my architecture projects and art works. Even though the medium has been changing, I have kept these themes throughout creative process.
Designing houses was my childhood dream. I always drew a floor plan after getting back from somebody’s house. That was much more fun for me than drawing dolls or flowers like other girls. It was a 2-D rendering of B&W pencil lines on paper, however, I could imagine the rooms and colors all over the drawing. I also played around making my own tiny house using the Japanese folding mattress.
My model has just 3 simple walls. Such minimal room creation from my childhood has influenced my most recent art works ‘Architecture Project’ and embroidery 'Book Project'. If we have 6 plates, it would be fine. Half of 6 will work just as well. Even 2 or 1 would be ok. However, a lot of people do not even have 1.
On the other hand, my paintings and resin covered sculpture art works are all about color reaction and interaction. That’s when I try to concentrate on straight forward artistic expressions.
Invisible space between objects or conversations and the flow of time are my interests in my architecture projects and art works. Even though the medium has been changing, I have kept these themes throughout creative process.
Designing houses was my childhood dream. I always drew a floor plan after getting back from somebody’s house. That was much more fun for me than drawing dolls or flowers like other girls. It was a 2-D rendering of B&W pencil lines on paper, however, I could imagine the rooms and colors all over the drawing. I also played around making my own tiny house using the Japanese folding mattress.
My model has just 3 simple walls. Such minimal room creation from my childhood has influenced my most recent art works ‘Architecture Project’ and embroidery 'Book Project'. If we have 6 plates, it would be fine. Half of 6 will work just as well. Even 2 or 1 would be ok. However, a lot of people do not even have 1.
On the other hand, my paintings and resin covered sculpture art works are all about color reaction and interaction. That’s when I try to concentrate on straight forward artistic expressions.
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#WhatMatters
to Marcella Stranieri
Hello! My name is Marcella and I am the artist behind @marcella.draws. I have dark brown hair and am very proud of my left handedness. I am an avid reader, currently reading "Madame Bovary", I am also an avid museum goer, I consider the National Gallery of Art in DC to be my home away from home. When I go there, nothing in the world is bad. I start every day with a piping hot shot of espresso, and from there I can conquer the world.
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When I was in school, I truly believed that the only things that mattered were art, and the feelings behind them. I had such visceral reactions to art, I felt the weight of the importance of Titian, the raw emotion of Rothko, the significance and enduring beauty of Giotto, that smaller details like graduating with a job and having a financial plan just seemed to melt away. That didn't end up working out for me, so while I looked for a sustainable life, I took all that I loved from high art: the looks in the eyes, minute motives of a background character, the beauty, the alms to the past, and I looked for them in real life and in myself. It wasn't until much later that I started drawing those observations and posting them online.
My drawings are everything I observe and feel both within myself and strangers on the street. I owe this to the art that has shaped my perspective throughout my life. Art and human creation are still what's most important to me, now I just see it everywhere instead of only on a page or in a museum.
Turning in Time
by Kinga Augustyn
As a concert violinist and recording artist, I try to communicate something significant with every concert I perform and with every album I record. I search for meaning and depth. Lately, it’s not just on a subconscious level. I think, analyze, and then make decisions regarding program choices and interpretation.
The most important aspect of music making is communication. Music is for all people. Its purpose is to touch hearts and communicate feelings, experiences, knowledge, and more. We have to remind ourselves of that although it is actually so obvious.
The most important aspect of music making is communication. Music is for all people. Its purpose is to touch hearts and communicate feelings, experiences, knowledge, and more. We have to remind ourselves of that although it is actually so obvious.
Among my most recent activities is the Naxos release of an album featuring music for violin and orchestra by Romuald Twardowski. He is a Polish composer, living and working in Poland. Mr. Twardowski studied with Nadia Boulanger. His musical journey was influenced by various cultures and composers. I first got acquainted with his repertoire about three years ago. I immediately liked what I heard. A year ago, I initiated the recording of his violin works. I collaborated on it with Torun Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Mariusz Smolij. Romuald Twardowski’s music is full of beautiful tunes showing serious compositional skills. Every piece, of the four works I recorded, is different in terms of the musical language, harmony, character, and structure, among others. Each is unique. I especially love his Violin Concerto as it has depth. Spanish Fantasy, Niggunim and Capriccio in Blue are lighter. All are audience-pleasers.
Unfortunately, Mr. Twardowski’s music is not that well known outside of Poland. I would like to help change that. I think that his compositions are quite wonderful. They are definitely worth listening. Helping to popularize Romuald Twardowski’s violin works is my purpose (or at least one of my goals) with this album. It is what matters to me with this project. Recently, I received a message from Mr. Twardowski saying he loves the album. His message matters to me, too. It made me happy. Read more...
Unfortunately, Mr. Twardowski’s music is not that well known outside of Poland. I would like to help change that. I think that his compositions are quite wonderful. They are definitely worth listening. Helping to popularize Romuald Twardowski’s violin works is my purpose (or at least one of my goals) with this album. It is what matters to me with this project. Recently, I received a message from Mr. Twardowski saying he loves the album. His message matters to me, too. It made me happy. Read more...
#WhatMatters
by Jan Clizer
My paintings and music are personal expressions of appreciation for cultures I was not born to, but oddly feel very much at home in. Created in response to the overwhelmingly strong influences of my own Scottish/Cornish/Irish and German ties, they are my way of honoring not only my own, but a large world population sector's visceral connection to the culture, landscape and history of Scotland and Cornwall, in addition to inspiring rural spots in the US.
I try to capture and ’lift up,’ if you will, some of the good bits of the ‘real’ landscape and culture ― dramatic leaden skies, misty shorelines, wide grins, soul-wrenching music, salty cod and chip, vivid blooms, centuries-old customs, dank mossy churchyards, ancient buildings, weathered boats, cream teas!
It is my emphatic belief that providing education and fostering interest in the preservation and growth of our various cultures is vitally important to the healthy existence of mankind and the planet, wherever we may find ourselves.
I try to capture and ’lift up,’ if you will, some of the good bits of the ‘real’ landscape and culture ― dramatic leaden skies, misty shorelines, wide grins, soul-wrenching music, salty cod and chip, vivid blooms, centuries-old customs, dank mossy churchyards, ancient buildings, weathered boats, cream teas!
It is my emphatic belief that providing education and fostering interest in the preservation and growth of our various cultures is vitally important to the healthy existence of mankind and the planet, wherever we may find ourselves.
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Jan Clizer's professional painting career stretches over two and a half decades and far from the Pacific Northwest, across the Atlantic Ocean. Her latest focus has been a large commissioned series of representational landscape work celebrating the beautiful, rugged Okanogan Country of her native Washington State, made possible by Scottish musical connections! A lifelong passion for Scottish and Celtic cultures strongly influences this versatile painter’s subject matter. She paints, exhibits and plays fiddle in both Scotland and Northern Idaho, as time and painting responsibilities permit. Her paintings are collected and commissioned on both sides of the Atlantic, while selected images are available as quality reproductions. For more info, visit Jan's website.
#WhatMatters
by Peter Burr
"What matters is being able to parse an idea from an object. As an artist, I like to play in that messy in-between where something is both. in 2018 there have been so many examples of conflict erupting because of the tension between the idea of something/someone and the presence of it. It feels important, as an image-maker, to embrace that tension and weave together experiences that challenge us to experience both simultaneously."
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Dirtscraper by Peter Burr
This Friday, December 14th, Peter Burr will be taking over his favorite cinema in New York: The Redstone at the Museum of the Moving Image. He will be presenting Dirtscraper on loop from 9 pm to midnight as part of the museum's SIGNAL TO NOISE evening program. In addition to the installation, Peter will be performing a live AV set with Laura Ortman, and Martha Colburn will be showing off a triple-projector film performance. The event is free and includes an open bar, so RSVP here to make sure you get in.
Dirtscraper is one of Peter Burr's newest work and it is one of 2019 Sundance Festival Selections. We share Peter's excitement about this well-deserved achievement. Bravo Peter! Dirtscraper will be featured at the Sundance New Frontier exhibition for the duration of the festival. If you find yourself in the festival zone in January know that Peter plans to be there with the work and he always likes to see and greet friendly faces.
#WhatMatters
by Jared Hendler
We live in an incredible time. The democratization of media has enabled anyone to broadcast and connect directly with likeminded individuals and communities that are most meaningful to them. My work documents the effects that technology and social media culture have on our society. I am fascinated by our need and obsession with creating our own identities; banal, creative or just plain ludicrous. From individuals simply seeking connection - to others with wider ambitions who make a living by growing audiences that eclipse those associated with traditional celebrity. While some are driven by pure narcissism, the underlying human need to connect with others on some intimate level is the most interesting as it requires us to publicly expose a part of ourselves not often seen. The public creation of personal identity, combined with the emergence of a ‘new’ celebrity for a new era is what I bring to life in my work. In homage of traditional portraiture as a representation of our times, my work is a reflection of who we are now.
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My portraiture celebrates the online personalities who are impacting our society and shaping our culture.
Drawing & painting throughout childhood, I emigrated to the United States receiving my BFA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
Following my education, I moved to New York and worked within the advertising industry on digital and social media campaigns for large, multi-national brands. I witnessed the seismic effects of technology and the unprecedented power and opportunity it gave individuals to reach large audiences directly. Many communities who were previously unrecognized or misrepresented now had a voice. Working with online influencers lead me to portray the online personalities shaping our culture.
More information is on my website or via my Instagram