Still operating with the same boiler since its opening in 1933, the Seattle Asian Art Museum has reopened after a two-year and $56 million, top-to-bottom renovation. I had a chance to go to the opening night event, and was pleased to see how well they had preserved the beautiful Art Deco building—home to the Seattle Art Museum’s Asian Art collection and set in the midst … Continue reading Seattle Asian Art Museum in Seattle, WA
It’s unusual to get to see the exact same art show in two different cities, only months apart. I first saw “30 Americans” at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, this past summer. Then, right after Art Basel, in December, I went to Philadelphia and saw “30 Americans” again at The Barnes Foundation. It was fun and interesting to see the same work displayed at different venues. The traveling exhibition was conceived of and put on by the Rubell family, The exhibit was first on display at the Rubell Museum in Miami, FL and has been traveling for almost ten years, with only three more locations to go. Continue reading 30 Americans at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO and The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, PA
When my family and I first moved to Seattle in 2006, we began to frequent (and still do) a wonderful restaurant in our neighborhood that had the most stunning paintings. Each time we went, we would talk about how much we liked them. I finally asked who the artist was, and learned it was Fay Jones. I admittedly was a bit in culture shock moving to the West Coast after living on the East Coast my entire adult life, and somehow these paintings always made me feel at home. Continue reading Fay Jones in Seattle, WA
Carol Gouthro is a Seattle-based, Canadian-American ceramic artist and educator, whose work is presently featured in the Forum at the Bellevue Art Museum. Carol creates her own fantastical world, which features extraordinary species from her own imagination. Each piece comes with its own pseudo-scientific name. Writes Gouthro, “After many years of closely observing and collecting plants and constructing vessel forms that transformed into plant forms, I began inventing my own hybrid flower/animal species using botanical nomenclature as my departure point.” Continue reading Carol Gouthro in Bellevue, WA
One of my favorite parts of being involved in the clay and art community is meeting people from all over the country and world, thanks to the Internet. After moving to Seattle from the East Coast in 2006, I’ve been able to explore parts of the country that I frankly had never thought about. I’ve learned that Montana is a hotbed of ceramic artists. I have taken workshops from a range of Montana artists, and on whole have found them… Continue reading Radius Gallery in Missoula, MT
I had not been to the newly expanded San Francisco Museum of Modern Art since it reopened in May of 2016. I was impressed by its beautifully lit gallery spaces, overall size (170,000 square feet of exhibition space) and design. They have over 33,000 works of art in their permanent collection. I was hopeful that they would have one of the two paintings that they own by Bay Area artist Roland Petersen on view, but no such luck. I was enamored nevertheless. Continue reading The SF Museum of Modern Art and SFO Airport in San Francisco, CA
I have been a bit obsessed with the work of Annabeth Rosen for quite some time, yet had never before seen it in person. Best known for her sculptural work, Fired, Broken, Gathered, Heaped, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, chronicles over 20 years of Rosen’s work in ceramics. Raised in Brooklyn, Rosen has taught ceramic art at the college level for 30 … Continue reading Annabeth Rosen in San Francisco, CA
I’m stepping away from the classic Art Basel fairs, to tie in the INK Miami Art Fair. Like Aqua, INK takes place at a Miami motel. The galleries are on the first floor, and many of the gallery owners stay on the second floor. The show has an open courtyard feel, and after all the years of tagging along with my brother and sister-in-law I’ve come to know the different galleries, owners, staff and the work they showcase. INK, on a whole, couldn’t be more welcoming… Continue reading INK Miami Art Fair in Miami Beach, FL
Art Basel Miami Beach takes place in the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Center. I read that there was a new sliding scale pricing system implemented this year that supported the participation of smaller and mid size galleries. Along with the improved lighting… Continue reading Part One: Art Basel Miami Beach in Miami Beach, FL
The Miami Beach Convention Center has been newly renovated, and completed, since last year’s Art Basel. Meridians, curated by Magali Arriola, presented 34 large-scale projects that cannot normally be shown at an art fair. Directly upstairs (via an escalator) from the exhibition hall of Art Basel were large-scale sculptures and paintings, live performances, installations and video projections in about 60,000 square feet of space. Continue reading Meridians at Art Basel in Miami Beach, FL
Art Miami and Context Art Miami are in two adjacent tents located in Miami, FL. They are easy to get to from South Beach, but you have to take into account traffic. It took me an hour to get there, and 12 minutes to get back to my hotel. I went preview night and purposely went to Art Miami first, and to Context with an hour to spare. Art Miami was super… Continue reading Art Miami and Context Art Miami in Miami, FL
Scope Miami Beach is another fair that makes its home in a tent, right on the beach. Scope has 134 exhibitors, and is in its 19th year. Last year they saw 60,000 visitors. The artwork I was drawn to at Scope happened to all include some sort of cool process or the repurposing of materials. I really enjoyed learning about the artists and their processes, whether from the gallery owners, employees, or the artists themselves. Continue reading Scope Miami Beach in Miami Beach, FL
Aqua Art Miami, takes place in a classic South Beach Miami two story motel. The furniture is all removed and each gallery takes over a room. I look forward to going every year but was disappointed this year as some of my favorite galleries from years past were not there, and the work in general wasn’t very appealing to me. Aqua features 47 exhibitions… Continue reading Aqua Art Miami in Miami Beach, FL
UNTITLED, ART is one of many art fairs that are part of Art Basel Miami. The show is set up in a temporary tent, which is more like a building, right on the beach in Miami Beach. UNTITLED features 126 exhibitions and, in 2018, had 48,000 visitors. Continue reading UNTITLED, ART in Miami Beach, FL
I was thrilled to find the Ruby Neri show opening at Salon 94 when I was in NYC in October. I liked it so much I went several times. It’s closing December 21st, so if you can get there, go! The show is full of large scale ceramic vessels adorned with nude female shapes. Upstairs there are some beautiful pastels on paper. Continue reading Ruby Neri in New York, NY
Soon, I’ll be showing more work by Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920), Roland Petersen (b. 1926) and Robert Arneson (1930-92) from other museums that I’ve recently visited in California. I did want you to see these pieces from the show Landscape Without Boundaries: Selections from the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art which runs through December 15, 2019. This is the museum where I’d gone to see the Kathy Butterly show. Continue reading Manetti Shrem permanent collection in Davis, CA
