|
Art Reviews
Peering inside at Sweetwaters: 'Mind's Eye/Different Views' on until March 2 by John Carlos
Cantú | News Special Writer Saturday February 07, 2009, 10:59 PM ...Meanwhile, another trio of local artists - Judy Enright, Barbara Goodsitt and Nicki Griffith -
is on display at Sweetwaters Cafe. And their show, "The Mind's Eye/Different Views," highlights creativity that resides mostly in the inner
world. ...
Goodsitt's
art on first approximation seems the most objective in this show, until the precision with which she works indicates that
her interest in realism is more subjectively based than her inspection. Her work presents the viewer with the additional paradox
of determining the point at which observation turns fanciful. Goodsitt's "Macaw Breaking Through," reprised from January
2008's Washtenaw Colored Pencil Artists' "Getting Real" exhibit at the Malletts Creek
branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, depicts this handsome tropical parrot posed against a frond and abetted with vibrant blue flowers and a fluttering red butterfly
breaking through the drawing's compositional frame. It is, obviously, as subjective as it objective - just like
her "Fall Still-Life" heads of corn and autumnal gourd further illustrate her penchant for interpreting what she
paints... |  | |
|
 
| |
Area
colored pencil artists
'Getting Real' Sunday, January 13, 2008
BY JOHN CARLOS CANTU
News Special Write
The Washtenaw Colored Pencil Artists' "Getting Real'' exhibit at the
Ann Arbor District Library
Malletts Creek Branch richly illustrates
this local art circle's fascination what it calls "love of
nature''
and "the beauty of the world around us.''he six artists in the display - Barbara Goodsitt,
Kathleen Kelley, Patti Mitchell, Dee Overly, Linda Schumacher and Dianna Soisson - are united
by their penchant for colorful realism. Yet each artist portrays the
world as she sees it - and
each sees it differently from the others.Overly's "Rain Beads'' is a meticulous magnified
view of two translucent raindrops balanced on the edge of a leaf. Schumacher's diminutive "Whiskey Mountain Cowboy''
features a cowpoke's profile with super-real fidelity. Kelly's architecturally rich "Casa da Pergola'' captures its subject
with an equally profound detail.
By contrast, Mitchell's playfully expansive "Fruit Medley in Purple'' and
"Fruit Medley in Green'' are geometrically sliced for visual effect. And Soisson's oversized "Rachel's Lilies''
are painstaking interpretations of this beautiful flower.
For sheer pleasure, Goodsitt's "Macaw'' is nearly in a class of its own. Goodsitt's depicted this magnificent
tropical bird against a frond with vibrant blue flowers and a fluttering red butterfly dramatically breaking through the compositional
frame. "Macaw,'' like the other 35 artworks in this exhilarating display of art, is full of life.
"Getting Real: A Realism Exhibit with the Washtenaw Colored Pencil Artists'' will continue through
Jan. 30 at the Ann Arbor District Library Malletts Creek Branch, 3090 E. Eisenhower Pkwy. Exhibit hours are 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Monday; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 734-327-4200.
| |
October 12, 2008 the Ann Arbor Chronicle:
Local artists raise money for Obama campaign By Mary Morgan If you’re
an artist who’s passionate about politics, and you’re looking to contribute in
a concrete way to the presidential campaign, what do you do? That was the question six local
artists kicked around this summer. They’d been meeting as a critique group, but “being a bunch of liberal Democrats,
we’d been talking politics, too,” says Leslie Sobel. As for that question, she says, “Well, the obvious
answer is to sell art.” So sell
art they did. Saturday night’s Obama Art-O-Rama fundraiser featured a silent auction of donated work from more than
80 local artists. The event was held at the Ann Arbor home of Carl Rinne and Tamara Real, executive director of the Arts Alliance. Before a single piece of art had been sold, they were already halfway
to their goal of $10,000. (An update from Sobel came a bit after midnight – their
total reached $10,500 for the evening.)
Supporters of Barack Obama streamed into the Fountain
Street neighborhood, quickly filling all three levels of the renovated 1907 former church. Each guest paid a $25 entrance
fee – an amount they could apply to their bid on art – then entered the house to roam through the rooms, check
out the art on display, buy Obama T-shirts or decals, nosh and drink and chat with other Obama supporters while listening
to the Pete Siers trio and, later in the evening, a set by guitarist Dick Siegel. Martha
Ceccio and Leslie Sobel check in guests for the Obama Art-O-Rama. The original group of
six – Sobel, Lynda Cole, Connie Cronenwett, Martha Ceccio, Candace Pappas and Betty Schwartz – had been joined
by artists Pat Truzzi and Madeleine Vallier to form the core group of organizers. They used their own networks as well as
the local Obama campaign website to publicize the event. As word got out, people jumped on board to contribute art or volunteer
in other ways. “It just had an energy of its own,” Sobel says. Not surprisingly, the area’s creative community was well represented.
Local artist Margaret Parker, chair of the city’s Commission on Art in Public Places, had donated a piece of her work, and praised both the artists who
organized the event as well as Tamara Real. Parker described Real as “one of the columns who holds up the arts community
in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County.”
Bill Worzel – Sobel’s husband and
CEO of Genetics Squared – served as MC for the evening. Among the more than 200 people who attended were Eileen Spring,
executive director of Food Gatherers, and Stephen Rapundalo, Ann Arbor city council member and president of the trade group
MichBio. Here’s
a list of other artists who contributed their work for the fundraiser: Paul Hickman, Debbie Golden, Lois Lovejoy, Anne Kirvan,
Barbara Goodsitt, Barbara Brown, Judy Spike,
Joan Plohr, Marge Pacer, Corinne Vivian, Jim and Angie George, Annette Baron, Carol Morris, Michelle Hegyi, Christy Kelly
Bengten, Marsi and Bill Parker Darwin, Adrienne Kaplan, Kate Tremel, Norma Penchasky Glasser, Jon Wilson, IB Remson, Royce
Disbrow, Ava Gilzow, Victoria Schon, Esther Kirschenbaum, Laurie Wechter, Tammy Bourque, Dorothy Eshelman, Janet Gallup, Karen
Gallup, Liz Brauer, Jean Lau, Beth Colaner-Kenney, Paul Malbeauf, Ryan Forrey, Gail Rucker, Betsy Emrich, Jaye Schlesinger,
Jayna Eckler, Ethel Potts, Susan Moran, Ilona Brustad, Anne Savage, Chris Savage, Michael Andes, Kent Walton, Idelle Hammond-Sass,
Laura Strowe, Jill Love, Joy Shannon, Janet Kellman, Rebecca Lambers, Carol Furtado, Michael Rodemer, Julie Fremuth, Joan
Rosenblum, John Savistsky and Donna Novack | |
|
