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BRIC Arts Presents The Bricoleurs, the 4th Annual Artists from the Registry Show

Jan 5th, 2012 Leave a comment

BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn presents The Bricoleurs, an exhibition at BRIC Rotunda Gallery featuring a range of Brooklyn artists who embrace the practice of bricolage and construct visual works from discrepant elements, creating new forms and imagery. Curated by Christian Fuller and Risa Shoup, the exhibition opens Wednesday, January 25 at BRIC Rotunda Gallery, 33 Clinton St, and will be on view through March 3, 2012. Admission to the gallery is free.

The opening reception is Wednesday January 25 from 7 to 9 p.m.

All artists in the show were selected from BRIC’s Contemporary Artists Registry, the oldest registry of visual artists in Brooklyn with more than 16,000 digital submissions from 800 artists. Founded in 1983, the Registry is open to artists living or working in Brooklyn; visit registry.bricartsmedia.org to view a range of artists’ work.

Bricolage is a term used in several disciplines to refer to the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of sometimes seemingly disparate things; a person who engages in bricolage is called a bricoleur. The range of work in this show includes: video, painting, collage, assemblage, sculpture and digital printing.
Christian Maychack Habitant, 2011
According to the curators: “We have chosen artists for the exhibition who pull together styles and materials that might otherwise appear disparate and unattractive save for the artist’s ability to combine them into one cogent, integral whole… With The Bricoleurs, we turn our analytical gaze more to the practice of creating bricolage less than the product, the bricolage itself.”

Artists featured in the exhibition are: Man Bartlett, Andrea Burgay, Danielle Durchslag, Alana Fitzgerald, Joseph Gillette, Max Greis, Cooper Holoweski, MaryKate Maher, Christian Maychack and Troy Michie.

Images: Danielle Durchslag, Relative Unknown 19, 2011

Location and Gallery Hours
BRIC Rotunda Gallery 33 Clinton Street Brooklyn, NY 11201
Hours: Tues – Sat, noon – 6 p.m.
Directions: A/C trains to High St, 2/3 to Clark St, 4/5 to Borough Hall, R to Court St

About BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn
BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn presents contemporary art, performing arts and community media programs that reflect Brooklyn’s creativity and diversity. BRIC also provides resources to launch, nurture and showcase artists and media makers. We advance access to and understanding of arts and media by presenting free and low cost programming, and by offering education and public programs to people of all ages.
BRIC’s contemporary art exhibition program is supported by Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Barclays/Nets Community Alliance; Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation; Lily Auchincloss Foundation; and Robert Lehman Foundation, in addition to numerous individuals. Learn more at bricartsmedia.org

BRIC also acknowledges public funds for its contemporary art programs from Institute of Museum and Library Services; National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York State Senators Velmanette Montgomery and Daniel Squadron; New York State Assembly members Inez Barron, Alec Brook-Krasny, Hakeem Jeffries, and Joan Millman; and New York City Council members Lewis A. Fidler, Brad Lander, Stephen Levin, Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., Albert Vann and Jumaane Williams.

Special thanks to lead sponsor for this exhibition: Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

For more information, please visit bricartsmedia.org
Press contact: Colleen J. Ross, BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn,
cross@bricartsmedia.org 718.683.5629

Happy Holidays

Dec 19th, 2011 Leave a comment

Best wishes to our family and friends this holiday season!

Artist Profile: Miles Wickham aka RESKEW

Dec 14th, 2011 Leave a comment

Artist’s Website
http://www.mileswickham.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mileswickham/

1. Untitled. Acrylic on canvas 18″x24″

2. Reskew in Stone, Acrylic on wood, 2′x4′

3. Animal Kingdom #1 , Gouache on paper 24″x18″

4. Technically Alive , acrylic on paper, 24″x40″

Brian Henson Speaks at MOMI

Dec 12th, 2011 Leave a comment

Last Sunday night, I had the pleasure of hearing Brian Henson, award-winning director, producer, and puppeteer, talk at the Museum of the Moving Image about the evolution of puppetry. The talk was part of the current exhibit entitled Jim Henson’s Fanstastic World. This exhibit, which includes special Henson-created screenings, will be at MOMI until January 16.

Brian’s presentation to a packed audience included an inside look at the history of the revolutionary Henson technique and style of puppetry; examples of the company’s work throughout the years, including behind-the-scenes clips from Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal; recent work on the TV series Sid the Science Kid; a live demonstration of puppetry for the screen; and Q and A from the audience.

The Muppet Technique

Since 1955, Jim Henson always performed puppetry for a camera. (This makes sense since Jim used puppetry as a vehicle to enter the worlds of film and television.) In doing so, Jim and his colleagues turned the television itself into the puppet’s stage. “The performance was always to the camera; the Muppets were always looking to the fourth wall,” Brian explained. He showed a clip of In the Navy as an example. The old television sets were rounded, so the old Muppets, with their rounded heads, complimented that tv shape nicely.

In the Muppet technique, puppeteers are taught to forget that the puppet is on their arm; they are instructed to be on the outside looking in. (See my interview with Sesame performer Martin Robinson, who emphasizes this point.) “You forget yourself completely, ” shared Brian on puppeteering in the Henson style, “and what the character does surprises you [the performer].”

With the introduction of the Emmet Otter characters into the repertoire came Jim Henson’s use of radio-controlled puppets. Jim went on to utilize animatronix when making The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth films. Animatronix, explained Brian, were first used with puppets at Disney theme parks, where you could find robotic characters with sound tracks. Brian showed film clips to demonstrate how animatronix were applied to the character of Hoggle and also the Henson show Dinosaurs.

From animatronix, Jim Henson moved on to also use 3-D digital characters as well as 2-D manipulation of images. Blowing everyone’s mind (well at least my own!), Brian showed a video which explained the technology behind one his newest projects geared toward the pre-school age child, Sid the Science Kid. Sid is produced by motion capture, which “[...]refers to recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation.” (Source: Wikipedia)

The highlight of the evening for me came when Brian inhabited an armadillo puppet, demonstrating the different puppetry styles of some of his colleagues, including that of his father, Jim. “My dad was the bounciest!” exclaimed Brian. (Watch Kermit the Frog and you’ll see what Brian means.) The audience was laughing hard, and there was so much magic and fun in the way Brian brought that puppet to life and made us believe it was real.

A Little Q and A With the Audience
(Here, I paraphrase Brian’s answers.)

Q: How were Miss Piggy and Kermit able to ride bicycles?
A: We are riding bikes from above (the shot) and controlling their motions with strings.

Q: Animate means to bring life to something, to give it soul. How do you give soul to your characters?
A: The idea behind Muppet characters is to take an outrageous concept and turn it into a character that people feel they know.

Q: Do puppeteers train in theater and physical comedy?
A: We teach lip-syncing. The early performers were amazing ad-libbers and improvisers. Muppeteers currently go through a training in Los Angeles.

Q:What’s the word on Dark Crystal II?
A: Lisa Henson [Brian's sister) is driving this project.

Q: What's the scoop on a Fraggle Rock movie?
A: It will probably start shooting at the end of 2012.

Q: How did you make Miss Piggy?
A: We wanted a bunch of pigs, and someone put a wig on one of them. She was unplanned. She is now molded from soft foam with a layer of flocking over it to make her look slightly furry.

[Editor's Note: This is not entirely true. Although Miss Piggy was not drawn first, she was not unplanned.]

Q: What is your earliest memory of working with your dad?”
A: One of my memories is of playing with the Chicken Liver Muppet from Sam and Friends in the sandbox!

Q: What makes up the essence of the Muppets?
A: Characters with a bold, confident, devil-may-care lunacy. They do crazy stuff, which takes confidence, it goes wrong, they feel bad, and they do it again!

Contributed by Eleanor Traubman, http://creativetimes.blogspot.com/

Abe’s Penny and Abe’s Peanut December Release

Dec 11th, 2011 Leave a comment

Poems by Jay Baron Nicorvo paired with images by Matthea Harvey for Abe’s Penny
Instructions in Chocolate Making by the design team Mary & Matt for Abe’s PeanutFrom Abe’s Penny comes a poem by Jay Baron Nicorvo, formerly of the Council of Literary
Magazines and Presses [clmp] and now of Western Michigan University, where he’s faculty
advisor to Third Coast. The poem, Over the Big Top, and Under, an Encore, features Nicorvo’s
Deadbeat, a wiley character explored more fully in his debut poetry collection, Deadbeat,
forthcoming from Four Way Books. Images by Matthea Harvey complement Nicorvo’s text.
Harvey, who is best known for her own writing, has also shot covers for a number of books. The
photographs appearing in Abe’s Penny were all taken for Nicorvo’s Deadbeat collection.

From Abe’s Peanut comes the “How To Make a Chocolate Candy Bar” series by Mary &
Matt. The design team had already been making and selling limited edition chocolate bars
called “Chocolate Editions” when Anna Knoebel of Abe’s Peanut approached them to create
an issue about chocolate for kids. In addition to the simple and fun instructions, complete
with illustrations, Mary & Matt compiled for the issue, subscribers to Abe’s Peanut will receive
a “Chocolate Editions” chocolate bar at the end of December along with their fourth and final
card, or “Step 4: Eat the bar (the best part).”

Abe’s Penny is a magazine paired down to the most essential elements: image and text. Each
issue consists of one story divided into four parts and printed as traditional postcards. “They
are not photographs and they are not texts,” The New Yorker says of Abe’s Penny’s unique
publishing style, “but a combination of both, tangible objects with a heft and significance of their
own.” For more information about Abe’s Penny, visit www.abespenny.com. Abe’s Peanut is the
Abe’s Penny for kids.

Abe’s Peanut is currently campaigning on Kickstarter: http://kck.st/u54DYr. Nowhere near their
goal with only eight days to go, the publishing house still has hope that 4945 people will pledge
one dollar before the December 15th deadline.

Abe’s Penny
Jay Baron Nicorvo with Matthea Harvey

Abe’s Peanut
“How to Make a Chocolate Candy Bar” by Mary & Matt.

Sections: New Work by Hugh Crawford

Dec 11th, 2011 Leave a comment

Opening reception on December 15, 2011 from 6-9 p.m. at The Old Stone House

Hugh Crawford’s photographic tangles of rose bushes, ocean waves, the banks of the Gowanus Canal, architecture, and trees reify the tension between detail closely observed and panoramic vista intrinsic to the act of seeing. Created in the Autumn of 2011, the work addresses the entwinement of growth, death, and rebirth.

Synthesized from multiple exposures reassembled in jagged composition, the work is printed in sections on photographic canvas, some as large as eight feet.

Hugh Crawford studied photography and received a BA from Bard College, and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Tattler, and Newsweek. His fine art work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in NYC and San Francisco. A recipient of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, he was also an artist-in-residence at ArtPark in Buffalo, NY. He is currently at work on a book about Polaroid photographer Jamie Livingston. His photos can be seen daily on the No Words Daily Pix feature of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.

Sections: New Work by Hugh Crawford
Opening reception on December 15, 2011 6-9PM
The show runs through January, 2012
The Old Stone House
Third Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues in Park Slope
718-768-3195

Rose rows, 2011, pigment on canvas, 85″ x 45″

Artist Profile: Helene Mukhtar

Dec 10th, 2011 Leave a comment

My paintings celebrate the resilience and strength of the human spirit.

I am inspired by street, urban and popular art. My work is animated with cartoon-style drawings, symbols, collage, animal and human shapes. I strive towards the use of minimal, bold brush strokes. The forms are expressive and colorful yet simple, offering just a hint of the real image.

The result is a mix of abstract and figurative elements colored with a touch of humor.

I use acrylic paint and my color palette is dominated by muscular, energetic and vibrant colors that reflect the world of cartoons and children fantasies.

I received an MFA from Florida State University. Born in France I now live in Brooklyn. Recent solo shows include the 440 Gallery in Brooklyn, Galerie ArtSud in France and Ion Studio in Soho.

http://www.helenemukhtar.com

Passage
36”x48”
Acrylic paint on canvas

Say Cheese!
36”x48”
Acrylic paint on canvas

Watch Out!
48”x36”
Acrylic paint on canvas

Fierce and Resolute
16”x20”
Acrylic paint on canvas

Leisure at 319 Scholes

Dec 9th, 2011 Leave a comment

Leisure:

Grounded in the belief that art is the best way to navigate the potential of networked culture, we aim to cultivate challenging and experiential modes of engaging with new media. Leisure is an ongoing social exchange exploring electronic music, visual performances, installations and spectacle.

319 Scholes supports digital arts and experimentation through exhibitions, lectures, panels, participatory workshops, and live performances. Established in 2009, 319 Scholes is run by artists and a core group of collaborators, operating out of a renovated warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Artists:

Keith Fullerton Whitman
- http://www.keithfullertonwhitman.com/

Ben Vida
- http://www.kranky.net/artists/birdshow.html

James Fei
- http://jamesfei.com/

Chuck Johnson
- http://www.cirrusoxide.com/

Philip White
- http://www.prwhite.net/

For more information
please see http://319scholes.org/december-9-2011-leisure/

319 Scholes
Brooklyn, New York 11206

Dumbo Arts Center is hosting a Pop-Up Holiday Art Sale!

Dec 6th, 2011 Leave a comment

Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) is hosting a Pop-Up Holiday Art Sale! Prices starting as low as $30!

Dumbo Arts Center is pleased to present our 2011 Holiday Pop Up Sale, featuring more than 50 artists selling art affordably priced, with special selections by each artist at $30! 50% of sales benefit DAC and the creation of new art and 50% of sales benefit the participating artists! So you can get great art and support emerging artists!

DAC will use the funds to continue our cutting edge programming, like building a summer library, making human pyramids that represent the economic system, doing experimental mediations, and more exhibition and events than you can shake a candy cane at. While we can’t say for sure what the artists will do with their share, we are pretty sure it will go to producing more art.

Participating artists include:
Leesa Abahuni, Nicole, Abahuni, Steven Anderson, Nicole Antebi, Bridget Batch, Sarah Bostwick, Jude Broughan, Robmat Butler, Sean Cavanaugh, Barb Choit, Elizabeth Conn, Megan Cump, Kenneth Dale, Rodney Dickson, Tim Dowse, Karl Erickson, Shingo Francis, Gina Fuentes Walker, Jesse Gelaznik, Katy Hamer, Linda Herritt, Cathrin Hoskinson, Patrick Jewell, Aileen Leijten, Catherine Lewis, Jen Liu, Lia Lowenthal, Peter Max Lawrence, Kayla Mohammadi, Kaveri Nair, Rick Parker, Walter Patrick, Tara Romero, Bill Roundy, Jennifer Schwartz, Sam Seawright, Karen Shaw, Janos Stone, Holly Sumner, Gabriela Vainsencher, Michelle Vaughan, Barbara Weissberger, Bradley Wester, Michael Wilson and more!

Check out some the delightful artwork that is coming in on our Flickr page!

Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit contemporary arts organization located in Dumbo, Brooklyn, New York. DAC’s mission is to catalyze interaction between visual artists, the local community and the wider public.

Event Coordinator: Olivia Eckfeld

Directions:
F train to York Street A/C train to High Street
B61 to York and Gold Streets

Dumbo Arts Center
111 Front St. #212
Brooklyn, NY 11201

DAC’s programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, The New York State Council on the Arts, Two Trees Management LLC., and the Board and Members of DAC.

VUU II at K&K Gallery

Dec 4th, 2011 1 Comment

The Vuu Collective, an online platform for emerging artists, is proud to present VUU II—a showcase of visual works from the Summer/Fall 2011 collection. Highlighting fine art and photography from up-and-coming international talent, VUU II will be featured at K&K Gallery in Brooklyn from December 10 through December 18. Vuu invites you to join the celebration at an opening reception on Saturday, December 10 at 7pm.

Red Hook Art Events this Weekend

Dec 3rd, 2011 Leave a comment

Manos de Mexicanos
Grand Opening, with music, food and drink
December 3rd
2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
204 Van Dyke St. in Brooklyn

Manos de Mexicanos, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of traditional Mexican crafts through the promotion, exhibition and sale of Mexican art in the U.S., is pleased to announce the official grand opening of its gallery and showroom.
Sweet Lorraine Gallery “Holiday Group Show”
Come Support Your Local Artists Paintings, Prints, Drawings, Photography, Sculpture, Jewelry, & Ceramics. All at or under $500! Saturday December 3rd from 2-6pm Sweet Lorraine Gallery “Holiday Group Show” opening 6-9pm, Saturday December 3rd ART & Wine & Music & Hors D’Oeuvres Screwball Spaces 183 Lorraine St. 3rd Fl. Brooklyn N.Y. 11231

Holiday Art Sale and Group Show

Nov 29th, 2011 Leave a comment

Come Support Your Local Artists
Paintings, Prints, Drawings, Photography, Sculpture, Jewelry, & Ceramics. All at or under $500!
Saturday December 3rd from 2-6pm

Sweet Lorraine Gallery
“Holiday Group Show”
opening 6-9pm, Saturday December 3rd
ART & Wine & Music & Hors D’Oeuvres

Screwball Spaces 183 Lorraine St. 3rd Fl. Brooklyn N.Y. 11231

Linda Tharp, untitled, oil on panel, 5×7 inches, 2011www.LindaTharp.com

Cat Celebrezze, Laminated Love, Studio 39
Title: Hamilton Avenue, Dimensions: 6″ x 4″ x 1″, Medium: Laminate, paper, acrylite, hex screws,

Joan Lurie, Ceramic Bowl 13″ wide

Geologic City: a Field Guide to the GeoArchitecture of New York takes you to 20 sites where you can sense the geologic pulse of New York City. With the field guide in hand, residents and visitors are able to interact with both unfamiliar and iconic New York architecture and infrastructure in unexpected ways: by sensing for themselves the forces and flows of geologic material that give form to the built environment of the City.
$10, 46 pages, 8.25″ x 4.5 x .25, FSC paper, vegetable inks, smudge studio, 2011 http://smudgestudio.org/smudge/GeoCity.html

Lydia Reinhold, Nature I, 14” x11”, watercolor pen and acrylic on canvas paper, 2011 www.lydiareinhold.com

Julia Whitney Barnes “Dendrochronology” india ink and oil on sewn linen, 10 x 14 x 1.5″, 2011
Website: www.juliawhitneybarnes.com

Title: Hardware, (Square ring, Bicycle chain bracelet, Minus screw head ear stud) Medium: Staring Silver 0.925
Akiko Kato, Studio 86, URL: www.beroepbklyn.com Contact: info@beroepbklyn.com

Steve Riley, Etched silver with gold detail jewelry.
website: www.steverileyart.com
contact: steverileyart@gmail.com

Michael Sorgatz, Neon Cascade, 24×24″, Acrylic on Board, 2011 www.MikeSorgatz.com

Joshua R Marks, Recycled, 2010

Enrico Miguel Thomas “The Subway Artist of New York City”

Spring Hofeldt, The Heights, acrylic on board, 10.75 x 27.5in