Always Be An Emerging Artist: September 2013

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Buffalo's Outer Harbor Wind Sculptures

I visited this new park off of route 5 going south the other day. I was really impressed. I didn't think I write a blog about this patch of grass and sand before I got there... but I think it deserves some recognition.

Some thoughts...

The kinetic wind sculptures are so beautiful and mesmerizing. I don't know if this is standard for wind sculptures but I've been to many parks and never seen any quite like this

I could not determine the artist who created these... for all I know they can be mass produced and made in China for cheap (hopefully not true). If you know who made these let me know please

The design of these wonderful and imaginative structures is minimal... nothing fancy about them... they just move in interesting ways and their simplicity of construction and design is so elegant that those qualities alone are enough to attract and excite the viewer/park-goer

Of course I couldn't help myself taking a few pictures of those cool looking trash cans and slides. The view of the city from that location is interesting too... the grain elevators and skyway are front and center and the City Hall appears peaking over a few smaller buildings giving it an odd skinny kind of look

Friday, September 20, 2013

William Y Cooper: Painting the Music of Jazz

William or Bill Cooper is a new friend of mine. We both have our studios at Buffalo Arts Studio in the TriMain Center. A few reasons why I like Bill so much... he's got a killer hat, he loves Jazz, and he's learning to play the Blues (I guess he reminds me of myself a bit). I checked out his solo show of paintings at Niagara County Community College.

Here are some thoughts...

In my opinion his most exciting work blurs representation with abstraction in a rhythmic explosion of organic shapes and psychedelic weaving
I prefer his "all over" compositions to ones with a clearly defined figure and ground composition
His work is an interesting pairing of a cartoon/flatness quality and afro-centric influence

Here is Bill's bio from www.buffaloartsstudio.org/WilliamYCooper.html...

William Y. Cooper classifies himself as an Artist and an Art Teacher . Cooper is not only a teacher but a painter, printmaker, and muralist in his own right. He is a professionally trained artist and a State Certified Art Teacher who received his bachelor of fine arts degree from the University at Buffalo in 1975 . Among his accomplishments are various commissioned murals, including the I Have a Dream mural in 1982 , The Beauty of Relationships in 1988 and the BFNC Centennial Mural in 1992 . Cooper has also been active in exhibitions, and has had fifteen one-man shows and participated in twenty-six group exhibitions since 1969 . William Y. Cooper has been honored by the Arts Council of Buffalo & Erie County’s DEC/CIP Grant in 1996 , a Professional Artist Award in 1997 , and by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., who awarded him with their Community Artist Recognition Award in 1997 . Cooper is a member of NCA , the National Conference of Artists, and has been a member of the Alliance of African American Artists in America from 1990 - 1992 , and founded the Afrocentric Artists’ Collective which he ran from 1979 - 1981 .

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Echo Art Fair: Buffalo, New York

I apologize for not having wrote a blog in a month. I've been working tirelessly on my solo show that opened this past Saturday. Now that I have some time I'm going to be catching up and writing about some shows that I've seen in the past few weeks. Anyway, on Saturday September 7th I visited the Echo Art Fair in downtown Buffalo, NY at the Central Library. Here are some thoughts...

This was the best art fair I've been to because the art was was not crafty or pretentious, nor was it too out of date or too pushing the boundaries... it was diverse and of high quality... Boom. Also, the fair was busy but not over crowded, in a great space, and I thought there was an excellent mix of galleries and individual artists represented.

Artists work that caught my attention were: Joe Bochynski, Rich Tomasello, Catherine Koenig, Gigi Gatewood, Jan Nagle, Heidi Leverty, Julian Montague, Peter Stephens, and Katherine Sehr

Liz Rywelsk receipt for Carman

Pieces that were especially unique were the veteran Buffalo artist Charles Clough's 100 person painting, Shasti O'Leary Soudant's light installation, and Liz Rywelsk exciting and original performance piece in which you walk into a sort of "store" or seller booth and are approached by people dressed in white asking what you want... I told them I want "Carman" and they wrote me up a receipt for her... a neat idea as a way to get a free "work of art" during a visit

Can't wait to have my shot at being in the fair next year.

According to the Echo Art Fair website...

echo Art Fair, a juried fine art exposition, connects experienced collectors and first-time buyers with established and emerging local, regional and international artists in a centralized and creative environment.

echo Art Fair showcases a broad scope of fine-art disciplines, including painting, photography, sculpture, print, works on paper, video and mixed media.

Artists and galleries exhibiting at the fair are evaluated and selected by a jury of contemporary art experts—ensuring that attendees enjoy the highest quality viewing and buying experience.

About the Founder...

E. Frits Abell is an entrepreneur who has helped establish several companies over the past decade. The current venture, Northside Advisors, is a New York City-based boutique investment bank. With each business, he manages all aspects of new business formation, develops targeted strategic and financial investor bases, and drives marketing, business/corporate development and operations.

Abell, a native Western New Yorker, founded the Buffalo Expat Network (BEN) in 2010; BEN is a social network whose mission is to build a community of Buffalo expats around the world and from this network, drive opportunity back to Buffalo. As a result of his work with BEN, he has become fully reengaged in the city's revitalization, and now divides his time between Buffalo and New York City.