Artist Critique and Converstion at the Maitland Art Center.

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The quarterly Artist Critique and Conversaion took place in the Germaine Marvel Building (210 West Packwood Avenue, Maitland, FL). Critique and Conversation is an exciting initiative to assist in the professional development of local artists.  A bar was available with beer, wine, water and soft drinks. Artists of every medium and skill level are encouraged to participate in the critiques. Each critique reviews up to 9 artists, and all artists must sign up in advance.

The June session focused on commercial art. Illustrators, graphic designers and commercial photographers were invited to have work reviewed by our guest panelists. Everryone was invited to hear the panelists’ insights and learn how they balance artistic vision with client expectations.

The guest panelists were

Doug Berger (REMIXED, Agency Partner). Remixed is a full service, multi-disciplinary marketing design agency that develops marketing strategies and brands. They incorporate a ten-step process to develop comprehensive marketing initiatives with award-winning designs that meet strategic goals.

Scott Donald (Art Director) – Donald is an illustrator, painter and designer. His works are part of a larger narrative involving myth, inherited memory and transient glimpses into nature’s connectedness.

Jim Hobart (Commercial Photographer) – Jim is the man behind Macbeth Photography, a distinctive studio that provides portraits, architectural, product and commercial photography, with offices in Orlando and New York City. His passion for architecture is reflected in his fine art photography.

Angela Henson, an interior designer, showed photography of Roman ruins. The best show depicted the huge shadow on a sculpted angel on the walls of a church. Mike Tipso who shoots event photos for the Orlando Weekly, had some vice photos off a farm to table event that took place during the golden hour as the sun set and everything turned to gold. Delores Haberkorn showed a large painting of a dancer gesturing towards a bird surrounded by Greek columns. Steve Parker, I believe is the artist depicted in my sketch. He showed a painting of a friend of his who has a phobia of moths. There were moths all over the man’s red shirt and around him as well. Some moths were painted so photo real, that they seemed to be standing on the surface off the canvas.

A heated Critique and Conversaiton at the Maitland Art Center.

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Gilbert Vicario was the Guest Panelistat the Artist Critique and Conversation at the Maitland Art Center on March 24th. Gilbert is  the Senior Curator at Des Moines Art Center. Natalie Chikhi who came to 0rlado from France was the first artist to show her work. She had a projector to show us digital images of her work. She creates environmental installations using simple materials. The one piece of hers that I have seen in person involved string converging to a point inside a storage container behind Snap Space. The title of the piece was “Nothingness”.  Another piece used colorful sheets of paper to create a wave like pattern on a gallery floor. She spoke for a while about the challenges in her life, and concluded that the difficult and challenging moment in life are often the most creative.

Martha Lent is the artist who I decided to include in the sketch. She came from a graphic design background and has started producing very large paintings. Gilbert’s comments were rather insipid but he did feel that her smaller works were more refined and complete. I rather admire Martha’s bold large work. It must be liberating to use the whole arm and wrist motion to put down a large stroke rather than the hand and finger movements I use to get color on a sketch.

The one critique that got me the most upset was when Daniella Degulimo showed her work. Danielle went to UCF where she got a BFA in painting. She used to do large paintings of things like the BP oil spill, industry versus the environment and urban sprawl. Recently however she has started a series of smaller works on paper that tackle the same themes. These studies use mixed media and have a bold fresh approach. She showed 15 at the critique and wants to complete at least a hundred to show then all together. Gilbert cut her off and said that she was falling into an art trap by wanting to show a large number of pieces together. I completely disagree. I feel she should do 100 then 200 and keep going. She uses photos she takes of the Orlando sprawl she finds and Gilbert basically felt that the photos might be all she needs. He said, “The materials don’t make it art.” In those few words, he dismissed all of her efforts. I was more than a bit annoyed. I was fuming. I feel she should continue the series but perhaps do more studies on location. Daniella has also done sculptures using straws that replicate the Buckminster Fuller dome. Some of the studies had segmented patterns of the dome incorporated into the sketch. Gilbert dismissed these patterns as being over used and representative of a long lost ideal. I don’t think he is enough of an authority to make that assessment. The entire night he seemed detached and even bored. He never once got out of his chair to inspect the art from a closer vantage point.

Art Car

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March at the Maitland Art Center involved a solid month of artistic events called Art 31, meaning 31 days of art. On March 25th, I arrived early for the Artists Critique and Conversation in the Germaine Marvel Building, 210 W. Packwood Avenue, Maitland. Artist and muralist Andrew Spear had covered a Toyota with symbols and patterns inspired by the many sculpted patterns on the Maitland Art Center campus. The car was silver and some of the panels had been painted white to accentuate the line work added to the car. He made a wonderful use of just one color, orange which  showed up throughout. The car had a pizza delivery or taxi signage with information about Art 31.

Although we never experience fall or winter here in Central Florida, there were plenty of leaves blowing around the carport across from the Art Center. Which reminds, me, it was a very windy day. A couple had taken the afternoon off and were bringing their ten year old son to the museum. He noticed me seated in the car port and kept his eyes on me. His parents never looked anywhere but straight ahead. The building had recently been covered with blue plastic as part of the 31 days of art. The plastic rustled and snapped in the wind.

I was one of the first people to arrive at the Critique which was a blood bath.

Critique and Conversation

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The March Critique and Conversation was held in the Germaine Marvel Building at the Maitland Art Center (210 W. Packwood Avenue, Maitland FL.) The lead panelist was Rebecca Sexton Larson who curates the exhibits in the Maitland Art Center. The guest for the evening was Gallerist Mindy Solomon who has just moved her gallery from Saint Petersburg to Miami. Each artist was given 15 minutes to show their work and get feedback. The critiques were ruthless and informative. The walls of the room were covered with crude mural art that will come down once renovations begin.

The first artist to show her work was Rima Jabbur who is a photo-realist painter. She used a projector to show her paintings. Mindy pointed out the sad truth that photo-realist work isn’t in demand. Abstract work with calming colors is all the rage. There was much discussion on researching galleries. Finding the right gallery is as important as finding the right mate. Rima had one big break when she painted a black man in the pose of Manet’s Olympia. A curator at the Louvre was putting together a show on how Manet’s work has influenced artists, and he found Rima’s painting on the internet. Because of that random internet search, her painting hung in the Louvre.

Jennifer Coop who is a graduate of my Alma matter, SVA, showed photos of her daughter playing hide and seek. Jennifer is a single mom and these artistic shots were essentially her baby album, documenting her daughters life. She explained that there was some angst in the work, but neither panelist saw that angst. The imagery was sinewy and playful. Mindy proclaimed the photos masturbatory and self serving. But from what I saw, they were quite lovely. Jennifer immediately left after her critique, so I never got to see the photos up close.

Martha Lent showed very large paintings of tropical landscapes and a vintage sailboat. Mindy suggested that Martha look for galleries in tourist areas where people might want to buy a painting to remember their trip. Key West was offered up as a possibility along with Charleston S.C. I found it sad that representational work seemed only worthy of being a tourist’s keepsake.

Tony Corbitt showed some of his quick oil studies done on location. Tony is known for doing speed paintings of celebrity faces at events. Tony said, “Art isn’t Art until it is sold, up until then it is an obsession and a storage problem.” Mindy seemed to feel that his studies weren’t detailed enough. A painting of cows in a barn was done primarily in sepia tones and white. She complained that all the whites seemed uniform. “There a million kinds of whites” she said. She complained about the dark frames he put the work in. “When in doubt use white or gold” she said referring to the frames. Tony works quickly from life considering the painting done when he leaves. She explained that Monet often returned to the same location at the same time of day so that he could capture the light. Every critique she threw at Tony’s work could just as well relate to what I do. It would be nice to spend more time on each piece but what I’m documenting is usually over within two hours time. “Fast shouldn’t be part of the vocabulary” she said. She gave me much food for thought.

Danielle DeGuglimo creates paintings that depict chaos, the urban blight that we endure for convenience. I had seen her painting inspired by the Gulf oil spill before. The imagery is surreal and a bit unsettling with grid planes to define the space. She works her paintings obsessively adding layer after layer of paint. She has started documenting each day’s work with photos so she can see what she gained and lost in the course of each day. Mindy wanted to see a stronger center of interest. “Push things beyond normal perception” she said.

The last artist to show her work, I had mistaken for a journalist in the audience. Cat Snapp has just finished graduate school where she did print making, and now she is on the road to find her voice. Most of her pieces were small and jewel-like using bold black and white. A much larger piece was constructed of square wood block prints which were then sewn together like a quilt. The image was double sided with the bold black prints having a primal feeling, “They will suck the life out of you” was scrawled across one side of the piece. Mindy felt that the writing and the bold imagery were at odds. Other pieces also had poetic verse but the words were obscured and at times impossible to read. Art is seldom about camouflage and subterfuge. There was beauty and meaning in the writing so there was no reason to hide it. With my work, I never feel a sketch is complete until I’ve written about the experience.

The Cottage at Lake Lilly

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Dawn Shreiner took over the Artist Critique and Conversation series at the Maitland Art Center from Josh Garrick. Dawn asked me to be a panelist on the evening of January 28th. The Facebook invitation said that the Critique would be at the Cottage at Lake Lilly, 701 Lake Lily Drive, Maitland FL.  I decided to get to the cottage early and sketch. As the sun set, it projected wonderful golden beams across the lawn. Big ugly ducks waddled right up to me to see what I was up to. Maybe they thought the paint was food. They eventually lost interest.

I found it odd that no one entered the cottage as I sketched. It was getting close to the start time of the critique as I finished up. Dawn finally arrived and I joined her on the porch. A small card was taped to the door that said the location had been changed to the Maitland Art Center. “Josh darn it!” Dawn said and she took off. I shouted out that I would be there soon.  I threw down a few more washes on my sketch then packed up to head over.

This artist development series offers artists a unique opportunity to have their work reviewed by a panel of professional artists. Camilo Velasquez was the other panelist. Ironically Camilo was the guest panelist the last time I was a panelist over a year ago. There were only three artists who wanted feedback on their work so the session was quick and to the point. Delores Haberkorn showed a large painting of a Christ like figure floating in space cradling a fetus in his out stretched hands. He stared out at the viewer in an unnerving way. We stressed the need for some soft edges and warmth in the fetal form. I pointed out that Christ should probably look at the child in his grasp. This painting was a big departure for Delores, so it was exciting to see her tackle new ground. Dawn offered insightful feedback on composition and maintaining a center of focus. Another artist showed paintings done from photos and there is always a sort of uncommitted calmness to work filtered through another photographer’s lens. Another artist showed a sumi brush painting of a horse. I thought it was direct and bold but would become simpler and more direct after she did several hundred of them. I encouraged her to find a horse barn and do these brush paintings from life. Camilo advised her not to mimic a culture that developed the style over hundreds of years.

Camilo ended by saying there was plenty of love seen in all the work shown. Our comments were meant to help guide the pieces towards completion, but as long as each new painting was approached with love, then the artist is on the right track.

The next critique takes place on Tuesday, March 25th at 6:00 PM

Featuring Lead Panelist Rebecca Sexton Larson

March Guest Panelists: Famed Gallerist Mindy Solomon

 LOCATION THIS MONTH: GERMAINE MARVEL BUILDING

210 W. Packwood Avenue, Maitland

The Art & History Museums – Maitland (A&H) proudly hosts Artists’ Critique & Conversation,
an exciting initiative to assist in the professional development of
local artists.   Artists’ Critique & Conversation is held
bi-monthly, on the 4th Tuesday of every other month at 6:00 p.m.

Artists’ Critique and Conversation is FREE and the
public is encouraged to attend. A bar is available with beer, wine,
water and soft drinks.  Artists of every medium and skill level are
encouraged to participate in the critiques.  Each critique will review
up to 9 artists, and all artists must sign up in advance. Interested artists can sign up in advance for one of the nine slots by emailing rebecca@artandhistory.org. 

Artist Critique and Conversation

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Tonight, March 26th, between 6Pm and 8PM, I will be a guest panelist at the Art and History Museums of  Maitland, Artist Critiques Evening held in the Art and History Museum’s Germaine Marvel Building. The event is free and open to the Public.  The Artist Critique and Conversation series, is a professional development series that offers artists the opportunity to have their work reviewed. Held on the 4th Tuesday of every month at 6 pm at the Maitland Art Center, the critiques are led by artist and arts writer Josh Garrick, along with guest panelists Thomas Thorspecken and Camilo Velasquez. Each evening is meant to be both entertaining and informative with audience participation encouraged.

Artists of every medium and skill level are encouraged to participate in the critiques.  Each critique will review up to 9 artists, and all artists MUST sign up in advance. Interested artists can sign up in advance for one of the nine slots.  Each artist can only sign up for one of the nine slots every three months.

This sketch was done at the January Critique. A nocturnal painting by Deloris Habencorn is on the easel.  Marion DeJong showed five paintings depicting life in Siri Lanka. She has just recently taken up painting and the pieces which had a folk art flair were quite accomplished. Lorain Del Wood showed several of her fashionable women in large hats. She has been offered a licensing agreement which she is quite excited about. The guest panelists that night were Martha Joe Mahoney and Dr. Victor Locas.

Greg Nielsen showed several small paintings of clouds. Martha liked the pieces but she encouraged him to be bold and work very large. That way he would be more physical in the creative process and perhaps bolder. She wanted him to consider the luscious quality of the paint working fat into lean, with thick juicy strokes. He took in all she said but when asked what he thought of the idea, he said, “The notion of working that large would probably scare my wife.” Everyone laughed.