Get Ready to Giggle...

Can you believe it's almost April? Well, a favorite holiday is coming, April Fool's Day! We will be joining in this silly celebration on April 1 with "Fool's Festival - A Collsion of Humor and ART!" Come by to see the whimsical side of the Gallery, with foolish creations like roaming nipplehorns by Theo Sable, bowls that stick their tongues out at you by Mary Ellen Dohrs, mixed media confusion by Linda Manganaro, and tiny people dressed as flying bunnies by Victoria Rose Martin.

We can all use laughter in our lives, and our artists create works that are sure to inspire a chuckle or three...See you at 6:00!

Get Fired Up!

Are you getting ready for the 4th of July? Get the weekend started by coming to the Gallery this Friday night for "Fire Works", Art Created in Flame. The Gallery will be full of amazing works of art, all created using heat. On display will be original works including kiln-fired pottery and sculpture, torch-fired metals and jewelry, fine cloisonne enameled jewelry, fused glass and more. Plus, we have two live art demonstrations--hot glass by Ryan David:Kiss My Glass, and a torch-fired metals demonstration by Gallery artist Karen McGovern.

You won't want to miss this, it's going to be HOT! See you there...

MARCHing Forward

Suddenly it's March! Time is flying and there is so much to see and do on the Avenue! The street painting festival was amazing, Lake Ave was simply transformed and everyone loved it. Crowds lined the street and we thank everyone who stopped by the Gallery while downtown. We invite you to do the same this Friday, March 5th, for a special night in the Gallery with artists Jesse Showalter, Susan Bordas, Doreen Alfaro, and Marsha Christo.

Jesse Showalter’s creative clay process begins on the wheel. “I have tried many media such as wood and metals, but my true love is working with clay. Throwing is like meditation, losing a complete sense of time and finding a quiet place within” he reveals. After years of making excellent functional ware he has discovered the joy and frustrations of the Raku and Saggar firing process using sawdust, seaweed, coconut shells, and even palm fronds as new ways of creating visual interest on elegant vessels.

Doreen Alfaro’s desire to make pottery started 6 years ago as a way to enhance her long career of catering festive occasions by using her handmade plates, cups, and bowls. As her passion for pottery evolved she became more interested in the sculptural aspect of clay while discovering the Raku process of firing. “Working with clay brings an undeniable bond to the earth, achieving great pleasure from the technique of alternative firings and connecting a natural and volatile process. Raku teaches the ability to embrace the results with a love for the element of surprise after every firing” she states.

Susan Bordas found herself falling in love with clay while traveling in the southwest collecting Native American clay art. She creates pieces that balance realistic and invented imagery with the structural textures coming from conversations with the clay. While using a variety of clay bodies the forms flow from organic to whimsical translating human emotions with an appreciation of transformations in life. Susan says “objects of art have the power to awaken our inner spirits and rekindle our spiritual being. I hope in viewing my work it speaks to you of the spirituality of the connection between human hands and the earth”.

Marsha Christo has evolved as a painter, printmaker and textile artist through a combination of mixed media, which encompasses both paper and cloth. “Like life, my work is similar to the ebb and flow of the tide, as it is forever changing, yet bonds together through process and material” she says. Impacted by tropical light, Christo a native New Englander has embraced this shift over the last twenty years, as it has clarified, “my jubilance for pattern, color and line, which pulsates as the catalyst in all that I do.”

Be sure to stop by this Frdiay for a glass of wine and a visit with these talented artists between 6:00 and 9:00 PM!

The BARE Facts...

Just caught this today on Jose Laimiet's "Page 2 Live" blog....THANKS JOSE!!

Remember the old Expose Yourself to Art poster?

Well, a group of local artists have taken that a step further. They’re exposing themselves for their art, Calendar Girls-style.

Twelve artists from Lake Worth’s Clay Glass Metal Stone co-op gallery have posed nude for a 2010 calendar with, or next to, their art. The calendar, says photographer Durga Garcia, a curator at the new Palm Beach Photographic Center in downtown West Palm Beach, is supposed to “get the word out” about relatively unknown artists.

Miss December is Sally Siegel, a glass artist from Jupiter who looks great at 82. Patricia Peters is a shapely sculptor whose body mirrors those of her bronze work, and she is Miss May. And West Palm’s Betty Wilson, also a glass artist, is Miss July as a siren in the drink with her art pieces.

There are dudes, too, and one couple. “No one is really a professional model, but they all are beautiful people,” Garcia said. Garcia made sure to cover the men and women just so. We’re all artists,” Garcia said, “so no one is really that self conscious. They’re covered in the pictures but we all got naked at some point. The only one who walked away is a man who is also a professor at Florida Atlantic University. Everything else went well and now other artists want in for next year.”

Garcia says 1,000 calendars were printed. They’re for sale at the gallery, on Lake Avenue.

Check out some of the photos: