by Sandy | Apr 8, 2011 | Art, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
Oakland Museum of California has re opened after an extensive renovation.
California art and design is the Oakland Museum’s reason for being – “representing the region’s creative output and its relationship to, and influences on, the nation and the world, from the mid-1800s to the present…The new Gallery of California Art showcases more than 800 works from the Oakland Museum of California’s collection…”
Landscape paintings from the 1850s, photographs by Dorothea Lange, furniture, crafts and sculpture are all collected here to showcase the diversity of California art.
Gallery of California Art – Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland, CA
(Images: “Oranges (Portrait of a Red Haired Girl)”, 1910 – Lucia K. Mathews and “Figure on a Porch, 1959” – Richard Diebenkorn)
by Bob Martin | Apr 1, 2011 | Art, Exhibits, Museums
A collaboration between the Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography University of Arizona, “Inspired Vision” is an exhibit of two photographers, Brett Weston and Sonya Noskowiak who’s work is glorious in its simplicity while making you aware that what they achieved was far more complicated. The work on display is beautiful.
© 1981 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents CCP Rights & Reproductions
I’ve seen many of the photographs before and seeing them all together impressed me even more. Not sure how long this exhibit will be up, the original end date was March 13th. If you are in the area, its well worth the visit.
by Sandy | Mar 31, 2011 | Art, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
The Museum of the African Diaspora, MoAD, presents a visual celebration of Jazz and quilts. 
“The exhibition unites two of the most well known and popular artistic forms in African American culture, jazz and quilts. The exhibition of 64 quilts includes work from some of America’s best known African American quilters, Michael Cummings, Ed Johnetta Fowler-Miller, Tina Brewer, and Jim Smoote as well as quilts by top Bay Area quilters, Marion Coleman and Alice M. Beasley.”
“Textural Rhythms: Constructing the Jazz Tradition, Contemporary African American Quilts”
MoAD – The Museum of the African Diaspora * Until April 24, 2011
685 Mission Street San Francisco, CA
by Bob Martin | Mar 27, 2011 | Art, Artist, Creativity, Exhibits
Joan Waters open studio, exhibition and sale at 2141 E. Cedar Street, #1, Tempe, AZ 85281, April 16th from 9am to 5pm.
New sculpture and paintings, works in progress, unique functional and gift items, original
calendar watercolors, refreshments and more.
blog: http://joanwaters.wordpress.com
by Bob Martin | Mar 25, 2011 | Artist, Events, Exhibits, Galleries
Last night was the artist reception for Patsy Lowry at Riva Yares Gallery and I stopped by to say hello to my new and very impressive friend, and to enjoy the brilliance of her work. When I arrived Patsy was standing outside of the gallery greeting each visitor with her joyous smile and energy. A great show with an appreciative crowd.
by Bob Martin | Mar 21, 2011 | Art, Museums
2010 Martinis and Masterpieces
Martinis & Masterpieces is The Annual cocktail party and fund-raising auction celebrating the Phoenix Arizona Arts & Business Council’s work in supporting the nonprofit arts and health and human services communities. This years event is once again at the Phoenix Children’s Museum, a great backdrop for this fun event.
by Bob Martin | Mar 11, 2011 | Artist, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Live Performance
Julie Taymor stepping down or away from “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” was expected. In her talk at TED 2011, last week there seemed to be a hint that she was expecting a downturn in events and was cushioning her admirers and supporters for a possible fall.
In Broadway history it is not unusual for directors or writers to be removed from projects that they’ve started. Possibly the one difference here is that Julie Taymor’s visual style is so unique that it would seem impossible for someone else to supplant the original intent of the play. Ms. Taymor’s work for me has always been about magic, our accepting something that we knew was not real, like an elephant disappearing in smoke or in her case turning puppets in lions and giraffes (“The Lion King”). Taymor is a brilliant illusionist and feeds our visual fantasies.
“Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” may have been too large of a project for right now, plus no one is immune to some failure and Ms. Taymor will be back to Amaze us once more.
by Sandy | Mar 9, 2011 | Art, Artist, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is currently featuring its collection of paintings by Swiss artist Paul Klee (1879-1940). 
“…Revered as one of the most original and inventive modern artists, Klee made his name in Germany, where he was associated with the Blaue Reiter group and became an influential instructor at the Bauhaus before being denounced as a “degenerate” artist by the Nazis. This exhibition presents a diverse array of works made between the two World Wars.”
Paul Klee’s style was influenced by expressionism, cubism and surrealism.
Paul Klee * SF MOMA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art/ SF MOMA
151 Third Street, San Francisco, CA
by Sandy | Mar 1, 2011 | Art, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums, Photograhy
“Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography” at MoMA
“For much of photography’s 170-year history, women have expanded its roles by experimenting with every aspect of the medium. Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography presents a selection of outstanding photographs by women artists, charting the medium’s history from the dawn of the modern period to the present. Including over two hundred works, this exhibition features celebrated masterworks and new acquisitions from the collection by such figures as Diane Arbus, Berenice Abbott, Claude Cahun, Imogen Cunningham, Rineke Dijkstra, Florence Henri, Roni Horn, Nan Goldin, Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, Lucia Moholy, Tina Modotti, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, and Carrie Mae Weems, among many others. “
“Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography” – now until 2011
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street, New York, NY
(Images: Tina Modotti- “Workers Parade”, 1926 and Ilse Bing- “Self-Portrait in Mirrors”’ 1931)
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by Sandy | Feb 26, 2011 | Art, Artist, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Creativity, Exhibits, Museums
“Abstract Expressionist New York” at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC highlights work from some of the most influential artists of the 40’s thru the 60’s that gravitated to one spot with “…a merger of ideas and styles called abstract expressionism and made New York the center of the art world…”
The MoMA presentation is “a vibrant, energizing show that’s far more than a greatest-hits collection. Sure, you’ll recognize some of the 250 or so works here — Pollock’s drip paintings, Louise Nevelson’s black boxes, Barnett Newman’s stripes. But with them are works by less familiar artists (William Baziotes, Bradley Walker Tomlin) plus early pieces by the masters we know.”
“Abstract Expressionist New York” – Until April 2011
Museum of Modern Art, NYC
(Images: “Number 1A” , 1948 Jackson Pollock and “Woman”, 1950 Willem de Kooning)
California art and design is the Oakland Museum’s reason for being – “representing the region’s creative output and its relationship to, and influences on, the nation and the world, from the mid-1800s to the present…The new Gallery of California Art showcases more than 800 works from the Oakland Museum of California’s collection…” 
