Dandelion featured an Art Opening for the Berrios-Myers Project 52.

Posted on by Thor

I went to an art opening at Dandelion Communitea Cafe (618 N Thornton Ave, Orlando FL). At the start of 2014, friends and artists Deliz Berrios and Bethany Myers challenged each other to complete one small piece of art each week for an entire year. The result is Project 52, a show 12 months in the making, featuring the 104 works created by Deliz and Bethany as they met their weekly deadlines. Originally, it was an exercise in motivation. Along the way, it became an art show.

Bethany Myers’ style changed dramatically throughout the year, ranging from reality to abstract surrealism. A concussion in January influenced strange paintings. By spring her art returned to her familiar style of blind contour drawing and bold colored paintings.“It wasn’t easy to think of subject matter that was cohesive. I gave up on that early on and moved forward with a variety of ideas.“

Deliz Berrios’ work reflects her personal life and perspective on a variety of subjects ranging from current states of mind to figurative work. Patterns and color emerge in her art, a clear reference to her

graphic design background. “Working at this small scale I was able to experiment and be playful. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was able to convey.” Besides having all 52 originals from both artists on the walls, there was also a box full of prints which made for a very affordable way to purchase art.

At the opening I got to meet both artists in person. It was my first time meeting Deliz and her skills as a figurative artist are inspiring. I have met Bethany a few times at artist critiques, and again, I identify with her work which feeds off of direct observation. Bethany’s husband Jim is the drummer for the “Milk Carton Superstars” which is a rock group I sketched several times before. They also performed at this opening. Bethany, Jim and guitarist Guy Larmay came to my art opening the other night. It is so encouraging that artists support each others exhibitions.

Lucy Sky performed first on guitar and he was then joined by his wife Heather Ashworth Pereira. Heather is another artist I have met at artist critiques. The last painting she showed featured a man holding a gun and the barrel of the gun felt uncomfortably close to the edge of the painting. Ironically I’m working on a movie poster right now which had the same issue. I had no idea Heather was also a talented singer.

August Critique Group

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Parker Sketch organized a monthly Art Critique group at The Barefoot Spa (801 Virginia Dr., Orlando, Fl). The group is a supportive and constructive discussion group about art. Work of about 12 artists is looked at and discussed. The opportunity to show art is on a first-come, first served basis. You do not have to show art to participate. You do not have to be an artist to participate. If you are interested in art and want to meet other people who also enjoy art, this is a great event.

The group looks for newer art, that is relevant to what you are doing now. If you bring more than one, please make them all be part of a series. We are either looking to talk about one piece, or several together as a group.

It doesn’t matter what kind of art you do, we have had oil painters, paper makers, glass artists, found object sculptors, video artists, watercolor painters, ceramicists, artists who draw and collage, jewelry artists, print makers, etc. It also doesn’t matter how much experience you have. We have included artists who have never shown and artists who are nationally recognized competition winners.

The point is to get people from many different styles, backgrounds, and experience levels together to talk about everyones’ work!

This is a group of artists talking as peers.The discussions have included pricing, finding materials, technique, framing, exhibition opportunities, and, yes, traditional critique. We are trying to mix different artists and get them talking about art! We will be looking at art individually, and talk about it for about 10 minutes. Though time is short, the idea is  to spend the evening talking about everyone’s art!

I arrived at the critique a bit late but I was astounded to find a front row seat still open. The first artist who’s work I saw was Heather Ashworth.  She had a portrait and a diptych of a woman who’s hair blew aside and became tree branches and blossoms. There was some concern that she didn’t spend much time on the clouds painted in the portrait. Some artists wanted to see a smoother transition between hair and branches as well. Bethany Taylor Myers showed a Hopperesque painting of a neighborhood. She wanted advice on perspective and since I had just been writing on the subject, I offered her a thumbnail and brief advice. She was concerned about painting telephone lines that would cross in front of the house. Several artist agreed that if the lines don’t add to the story they could be left out. Jean Claude showed a bold black and white depiction of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He got an amazing amount of detail with the scratch off technique. Thomas Jacobson Artist showed a huge painting of a yellow sun flower. A mysterious orange glow hinted at illumination by fire. A skull and flowers painting was creepy and mesmerizing in its detail. He is also a tattoo artist and his work is intricate and amazing.

Parker Sketch was the last to show his art he had a large roll of canvas that unfurled depicted a cup of gin and tonic. He did the painting by walking around it on the floor and attacking it like Jackson Pollack. There were some wonderful abstract passages that came from the sheer physicality of the process. Mark Your Calendar! Parker plans to pin this huge canvas to the wall as part of his joint show with Shannon Holt called “Just One More…” The opening is September 19th from 6pm to 9pm at City Arts Factory (29 South Orange Avenue, Orlando, Fl). The next critique group is September 26th from 6-9pm at Barefoot Spa.