Ellen Granter and Michele Dangelo - July 27 to August 9, 2013

Two new shows open Saturday, July 27 at Left Bank Gallery: Ellen Granter's "Golden Rules" and Michele Dangelo's "moreCOLOR." Both shows are at Left Bank's 25 Commercial Street, Wellfleet location and begin with a reception on July 27 from 6 to 8pm.

Ellen Granter grew up in upstate New York and received a BA in political science and a masters in Chinese history from the University of Vermont. She studied Mandarin Chinese for seven years and lived in Hong Kong and Beijing. The influence of her time in China is always present, and especially evident in this recent collection, "Golden Rules."

“My paintings express my passion for my favorite subjects, and my desire to create images that are beautiful and pure," she says in her artist statement. "For me, the point is not to create a souvenir of a place, or an accurate illustration, but rather to try to capture the barest essence and to create luminous, sparely composed paintings while still revealing emotional undercurrents. I enjoy stripping away detail and balancing the composition over large fields of color, making small spaces between things, and overlooked everyday subjects come more clearly into focus.”

After moving to Boston, Ellen became a graphic designer. As an antidote to the constraints of a computer-intensive graphic design career, she began painting. As time went on Ellen became integrated with painting. To brush dabs of oil on a surface in a human effort to capture the sublime is a challenge that has made her hyperaware of the textures, shapes, and patterns of daily life. She believes that a beautiful painting is both a gift of vision and a testament of appreciation for our short lives here on this beautiful Earth.

Michele Dangelo left a business career to pursue art in 1990. Primarily self-taught, she has spent little time in classes, preferring to look and experiment. Her inspiration is Robert Henri, the American Realist painter, who said, “Let nothing but the things which are of utmost importance to you have any place. The more simply you see, the more simply you will render.”

"Memories inspire my work," she says. "A critical component of my work is a basic icon - a house, dress, or boat - that proposes challenging, thoughtful ideas and speaks to the human condition.  Each picture is a multi-generational storehouse of memory and experience.  Simple, yet complex, iconic images in my work have come to suggest a range of emotions... because the forms are more conceptual than real they reflect the ambiguous and evoke the ambivalent.  Often they trigger a longing for pleasure, comfort, security and permanence, while transcending borders, cultures, and socio-economic class."

Both artists will be at Left Bank gallery for a reception the evening of July 27, from 6 to 8pm.

Ellen Granter: "Golden Rules"
Michele Dangelo: "moreCOLOR"
July 27 - August 9, 2013
Reception July 27, 6-8pm
Left Bank Gallery
25 Commercial Street, Wellfleet

Orleans - it's where the parties are.

We're planning two days of events in December, including an introduction to some of the gallery's neighbors. There are also cookies involved, but you're going to have to stay tuned for more details on that part.

On December 8 we're celebrating several Left Bank artists who will be Home for the Holidays: Phyllis Adams, Amy Brnger, Ed Chesnovitch, Fran Forman, Ellen Granter, Amy Keller, Chris Kelley, Katie Trinkle Legge and Denise Zompa. The Bert Jackson Trio will perform. Reception is Saturday, December 8, from 4 to 7pm.

Two events are scheduled for Sunday, December 9. 

At 12:30, learn the art of ikebana flower arranging with the gallery's neighbor on Cove Road, Flowers by Mary. Owner Mary Garrett is eager to share what she's learned in over 40 years in the industry. Her lectures and demonstrations have been presented at fundraisers and events, including Boston's annual Flower Show. Mary delights her audiences with a new approach to floral design, teaching serious techniques, in an easy-to-apply method. 

Mary Garrett's training began by chance while studying Horticulture at State University of New York, Cobleskill, when she took a side course in Floral Design. Mary has since worked in floral shops up and down the East Coast, learning and sharing with many designers along the way. Her shop on Cove Road in Orleans, Flowers by Mary, upholds all that is dear to her about her craft: integrity, caring, professionalism and a sense of adventure.

At 2pm, Diane Johnson will be at the gallery demonstrating whiteline woodblock printing. The white line process allows all the colors for a woodblock print to come from one block. The design is drawn onto a wood block and each line is carved into a v-shaped groove. Paper is attached to the block. A small area of the block is painted, then the paper is flipped back against it and burnished. This allows the paper to pick up the paint and to be embossed with a white line. The whole block is done in this method.

White line woodblock prints were originally created in Provincetown in the early 1900s by a small group of artists. The artform is also referred to as "Provincetown" prints.

The innkeeper of Nauset House Inn, Diane Johnson will also be signing copies of her book Dreaming Inn Cape Cod.

All three events are at Left Bank's Orleans location, at 8 Cove Road. 

Home for the Holidays

December 8, 4-7pm

Ikebana Workshop with Flowers by Mary

December 9, 12:30-1:30pm

White Line Woodblock demo by Diane Johnson

December 9, 2-3:30pm

Fay Shutzer's show - 2012

Did you miss our opening last weekend? We took some photos for you:

layers of meaning

Our artists are constantly making us look things up (see recent post re: Joanne Williams).

When Graceann Warn first referred to a palimpsest, we nodded knowingly - and then went and looked it up when her back was turned.


Definition of PALIMPSEST (from Merriam-Webster)

1
: writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased
2
: something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface
Examples of PALIMPSEST
The ancient city is an architectural palimpsest.

Here is Graceann's artist statement, to put it all in context:

"I paint and I construct.

Both my paintings and assemblages use the metaphor of excavation. My formal education in landscape architecture and classical archaeology provides structure to artistic flights of fancy that always seem

to revolve around some form of revelation: The attempt to unearth an object or solve a mystery.

Uncovering/Covering. 

Leaving a Trace, a Vestige, a Palimpsest."

Sailing to Byzantium

Joanne Williams' upcoming show, Sailing to Byzantium, is inspired by the Yeats poem of the same name. Our English class memories failed us, so we looked it up. Here it is (in case yours did too):

Sailing to Byzantium

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

-William Butler Yeats

Joanne Williams | Sailing to Byzantium

August 11- 24; opening reception August 11, 6-8pm; Wellfleet

____________________

Yeats wrote in a draft script for a 1931 BBC broadcast:

I am trying to write about the state of my soul, for it is right for an old man to make his soul, and some of my thoughts about that subject I have put into a poem called 'Sailing to Byzantium'. When Irishmen were illuminating the Book of Kells, and making the jeweled croziers in the National Museum, Byzantium was the centre of European civilization and the source of its spiritual philosophy, so I symbolize the search for the spiritual life by a journey to that city.^[1]  

(Wikipedia) 

art therapy

Fay Shutzer's paintings fill us with longing to be in the places she paints. Lights twinkle on the wharf, towels hang on the line, a family stops to tie a shoe or fix a swimsuit.

A visitor to the gallery recently stopped in front of a wall of Fay's paintings and said to her friend, "I just find these so soothing."

We overheard the comment because the paintings were near one of our desks - where we also found them soothing.

We have a bit of a travel bug, and are huge fans of travel photography (like Don Krohn's). Images of Provence, Tuscany and eastern Europe make us yearn for plane tickets, wondering what the places must be like to visit. (We also get hungry for olives and figs, but that's another story).

Paintings do it, too. Not all paintings, but certainly Fay's. The thing is, we are already here - in the place she makes us long to be. Fay takes the scenes we live in, and captures them in their best moments. She paints what we see and feel when we stop to really look. It's the trip, with none of the baggage.

Fay makes us stop and remember that moments can be effortless - right where we are. Isn't that a breath of fresh air?

May your August be full of Fay Shutzer moments.

May you remember to breathe.

Carol Aust's "Journal Entries"

What's in your journal?

It's none of our business, really. Journals are where we work through our fears, spell out our concerns and celebrate our victories.

We're about to get a look at what Carol Aust's journal might look like. At this point we're not sure what we'll find (besides the paintings above and below).


Her new exhibit, "Journal Entries," opens at Left Bank Gallery in Wellfleet on July 28, with a reception from 6 to 8pm that day. The show runs through August 10.

Carol works in acrylic, on canvas and wood panels, from her studio in Oakland, California. Her figurative paintings are emotionally-charged narrative fragments infused with mysterious tension and secrecy. She often places her figures in precarious environments where anything could happen.

"Journal Entries" captures celebratory, tranquil or lonely moments. Carol's paintings express a wide range of human desire and yearning, featuring figures that are both engaging and vulnerable. The influence of Emil Nolde, Marc Chagall, Kathe Kollwitz, and the German expressionists are readily apparent in Carol's paintings.

July 28 - August 10, 2012
Reception: July 28, 6 to 8pm
25 Commercial Street, Wellfleet

Cape Cod, to go

Deborah Howard "In the Distance" oil, 10" x 5"

Deborah Howard paints the Cape's water views - the ones you won't find on postcards. Her oils are more likely to evoke the smell of a salt marsh than the smell of sunscreen. They show the brooding, salt-bitten coastal stretches of the Cape, in a familiar palette of sage, sand and indigo. Observing how the Cape's subtle shift of light impacts color, Howard often captures approaching changes of weather in her paintings. 

Visitors to Cape Cod tell us they feel the stresses of their lives melt away when they walk or bike along the shore. We feel that same evaporation when we look at Deborah's paintings. Even when they depict a tumultuous horizon, these paintings are a kind of salt air stress therapy. They bring you to coastal Cape Cod, no matter where you are.

“With each painting I strive to capture and convey a sense of an experience.  My goal being, to communicate a feeling of this certain time and place to the viewer.  I do this through the use of color, layers and brushstroke.  I record into a sketchbook thoughts, images and colors which relate to specific situations. It is these sketchbooks, as well as my memories, that are the starting point of each piece.” - Deborah Howard

Deborah Howard's show "Incoming..." runs July 14 - 27, 2012. 

Come meet Deborah at her opening reception: July 14, 6 to 8pm, 25 Commercial Street, Wellfleet

Receptions: Jim Holland

Here are a few photos from our opening last Saturday. It was great so see everyone! Come by this weekend for another visit with Jim. Next reception: Saturday, July 7, 6-8pm.

Summer Shows Start Saturday!

Please come say hello to Jim Holland this Saturday evening, and see his latest collection of oils.

With the Fourth of July set right between two weekends, we've invited Jim to come twice this year:

Saturday, June 30, 6-8pm
Saturday, June 30, 6-8pm

We'd all love to see you!

Paintings are available for preview on our website 48 hours before each show opens. Jim's work will be up at 10am this Thursday (6/28).

2012 Summer Show Schedule

Jim Holland  June 30 - July 13; opening reception: June 30 & July 7, 6-8 pm; Wellfleet

Deborah Howard July 14 - 27; opening reception: July 14, 6-8 pm; Wellfleet

Carol Aust July 28 - August 10; opening reception: July 28, 6-8 pm; Wellfleet

Fay Shutzer  August 4 -17; opening reception: August 4,  6-8 pm; Wellfleet

Graceann Warn & Joanne Williams  August 11- 24; opening reception August 11, 6-8pm; Wellfleet

Ellen Granter  August 18 - 31;  opening reception: August 18, 6-8 pm; Wellfleet

Ed Chesnovitch July 21 - August 3; opening reception: July 21, 6-8pm; Orleans

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Looking back at summer 2011

That was fast. Here's what happened....

Deborah Howard

Ellen Granter

Peter Batchelder

Carol Aust

Graceann Warn

Judith Motzkin

Cynthia Kirkwood

Jennifer O'Connell

Brian Kiernan

Maggie Schmidt

Jim Holland

Monique Goetinck

2011 Show Schedule

Join us!

Receptions are 6-8pm on opening day of each show.

Website will be updated 48 hours prior to each opening.

July 2-15

Jim Holland

July 16-29

Carol Aust

Monique Goetinck

Deborah Howard

Judith Motzkin

July 30-August 12

Maggie Schmidt

Jennifer O'Connell

Brian Kiernan

August 13-26

Ellen Granter

Graceann Warn

August 27-September 9

Peter Batchelder

Cynthia Kirkwood

above: Poppy, oil, by Jim Holland

now through August 27

2010 show schedule

July 3-16
Jim Holland

July 17-30
Mary Bourke
Ellen Granter
Katie Trinkle Legge

July 31-August 13
Fay Shutzer
Jennifer O'Connell
Brian Kiernan

August 14-27
Graceann Warn
Peter Batchelder

Saturday receptions 6-8pm
opening day of each show

25 Commercial Street
Wellfleet

above: Jim Holland"Red dory" oil on canvas 36"x 30"

Graceann Warn & Ellen Granter

Ellen Granter: Recent Works
Graceann Warn: Invention
opens Saturday

The 2009 summer season continues at Left Bank Gallery
with shows by Graceann Warn and Ellen Granter,
opening Saturday, August 1 at 10am

Meet the artists at a gallery reception
Saturday evening, August 1
from 6 to 8pm.
The show will be on exhibit through August 14

New paintings are available for preview on our website:
Ellen Granter
Graceann Warn

above: Graceann Warn, "Storyboard," encaustic assemblage, 17" x 49"
below: Ellen Granter, "Sandpipers II," oil, 12" x 36"

Amy Kaufman, Mary Bourke and Jennifer O'Connell - now through Friday

The gallery season continues at Left Bank Gallery with an exhibit by three New England artists: Mary Bourke, Amy Kaufman and Jennifer O'Connell. The show will be on exhibit through July 31.

Mary Bourke's new body of work, Standing in Time, explores recurring themes of family and nostalgia.

"In my paintings I have attempted to carve out a portion of time and space in history , even if it is just my own small history," says Bourke. "These paintings have become a small part of the whole, almost like pieces of a puzzle. They have become my voice."

Amy Kaufman's one-of-a-kind painted monotypes are made by combining direct painting with impressions made using the printing press. With oil-based inks, Kaufman paints on a smooth sheet of plexiglas. The plate is then run through a press so that the image from the plate is transferred to paper. The pressure from the roller of the press determines how much ink from the plate will be imbedded into the paper. Sometimes Kaufman will do an overprint, repeating the process on the same sheet of paper, or she may paint directly on the paper.

Says Kaufman of the process: "The element of surprise as you slowly take the paper off the plate after it is run through the press is always exciting. The unique impression achieved from printmaking has to do with more than just what you paint: the inks, the press, and the paper. I enjoy exploring this printmaking process finding it creative, challenging, intriguing, and satisfying."

Jennifer O'Connell's representational interiors in oil are new to Left Bank Gallery this season.

"Obscure, private visions that alienate the mind in daylight, keep a potent mooring within me," says O'Connell. "Inspired by what the mind conjures, perception is influenced by contemplation. Shadows, objects, and shapes are gateways to memories. Imaginings mingle with perceptions. In dreaming before rooms, I come in contact with transient psychological aspects. Literally and symbolically, the interior space is the self."

Jim Holland - sneak peek!

While the new paintings won't arrive for another few days, you can see them ahead of time on our website!

The Jim's show opens at 10am on Saturday, with an artist reception from 6 to 8pm. Please come by!

The exhibit continues through July 17.

2009 show schedule

July 4 - 17
Jim Holland
Reception:
July 4, 6 to 8pm

July 18 - 31
Mary Bourke
Jennifer O’Connell
Amy Kaufman
Reception:
July 18, 6 to 8pm

August 1- 14
Ellen Granter
Graceann Warn
Reception:
August 1, 6 to 8pm

August 15 - 28
Del-Bourree Bach
Peter Batchelder
Steven Kennedy
Joyce Zavorskas
Reception:
August 15, 6 to 8pm

All shows are at 25 Commercial Street, Wellfleet

Paintings will be posted to the website for preview 48 hours before each show opens.

Pictures from Small Treasures

The opening reception for our Small Treasures show was on Saturday. Here are some pictures: