Book of the Gospels, updated!

Self-taught artist Laura James got quite an unusual request from the Catholic Church! Could she make 34 paintings for a new authorized version of the Book of The Gospels? Leaning on her Antiguan heritage, Laura produced a body of work that is simply breathtaking. When completed it was show at the Divinity School at Yale University to very high acclaim. This elegant book is now actively being used in the Catholic Church throughout the country. The richly embossed gold and leather cover depicting an angel and a lion on a background of green, red, brown and gold, are a mere hint of what is inside. No longer is this a simply a white man's tale......all races are depicted, and the Gospel according to Christ is greatly enhanced by the inclusion.

Laura James writes:

As a child I had a big book of Bible stories where everyone was sort of a yellow ochre color, except for the blond and blue-eyed Jesus and servants who were gray and strangely apelike. Even then I recognized that this was a racist depiction.

Later, I felt vindicated when I saw Ethiopian iconography and impressed with Ethiopia’s ancient Christian heritage… and I decided that painting in that style was a good way to show multicultural diversity in Biblical figures to a western audience.

To this end my work has been used worldwide by numerous Christian denominations and is at the forefront of the movement toward more inclusion in religious art. To me the work is traditional but still contemporary because of the time it’s being done and because it’s being done by me, a Black woman from Brooklyn, who’s never even been to Ethiopia!

Inga Moijson, From Childhood to Here

Although as a child, Inga Moijson attended art lessons on the weekends, she is basically a self-taught artist. She delves deeply into her childhood for subject matter and emotions. In her bio she writes:

"To me painting is a way of expressing my innermost self. By giving it form, I give others an opportunity to share that sacred space. I allow the beholder to peer into a subconscious parallel world that coexists with ‘reality’. Naturally, there are points of contact with reality; we are all influenced by what happens around us. But my soul is strong enough and wilful enough to retain its individuality. For the outsider, it is difficult to remain indifferent. With a little luck, my work will grip him to such an extent that he will truly feel it and be able to make my world his own."

Moijson's complex, brightly painted and edgy works are sometimes confrontational, but always appealing. Their fairy tale exterior belies a deeper and profound meaning, and yet the works are accessible on many levels. You can tell yourself the story or search for that of the artist. Either way, they are fascinating paintings with a lot of staying power. The artist lives in Belgium with her husband and two talking parakeets, and has been painting full time for eight years.

Sculpture in The Garden Show

The Sculpture in The Garden Show is almost here ! Mark down Saturday, June 11th and Sunday June 12th in your calendars. I'm introducing three new artists who, relying almost entirely on recycled materials, have created some remarkable works of art. And the regular crew, whom you've come to expect, will be bringing tantalizing new pieces.

William Brock will be returning from Tennessee, and his birds, seen to the right, were one of the highlights of the show last year. Wait till you see what I've collected for this year!

Birds, fish, masks, stone sculpture, robots, musicians, horses, birdhouses, and even handmade and quite quirky dolls by Sandy Mastroni will be offered. You will now be able to order handcrafted metal stands for the popular stone heads, should you want to bring them inside. Mine stay out all year and give the garden interest even in the winter. (We won't always get 64 inches of snow!)

This year, to mix things up a bit, Maishe Dickman is showing his elegant redware pottery, which has made the cover of Ceramics Monthly.

This is a fun visit for the whole family.

9am to 4pm each day

See you there!

Bev

Beverly Kaye

15 Lorraine Dr.

Woodbridge, CT

203 387 5700

Gallery: http://www.artbrut.com

Blog: http://www.BeverlyKayeGallery.blogspot.com

Sales Blog: http://www.ArtbrutAndOutsiderArt.blogspot.com

Transmutations and Metamorphosis, The Collages of Ann Irwin

This announcement was just sent to me by Ann Irwin's husband, Roy Zipris, who has worked tirelessly to make this posthumous exhibition a reality. I strongly encourage everyone to make the trip to the Michener Art Museum to see this extraordinary work!

July 9 through October 16, 2011

Pfundt Gallery

In Ann Irwin's universe, the unexpected becomes commonplace and the commonplace is never exactly what you expect. Houses sprout heads and rays of fire. Hills bristle with stick figures. Trees grow ribs and skulls. These transformations can be both ominous and optimistic, witty and wise; they arose from a life committed to creativity and represented a daily triumph over adversity.

Born in 1942 in New York, Irwin grew up in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Boston Museum School and the Tyler School of Art. After years of travel, she settled in Bucks County where she apprenticed at the Moravian Tile Works, and began to create highly-detailed, meticulously crafted collages, using old books, fabric, and found objects. Over several decades she quietly produced an extensive body of work, rich in a deeply personal mythology that featured imaginative images of birds, houses, trees, and flowers. In spite of serious and ongoing health problems, she continued to visit her studio every day, making complex works that sometimes expressed her fears and troubles, but were often whimsical and light-hearted as well. Even during her final illness in 2005, when she was confined to a hospital bed for several weeks, she continued to draw and make collages until just a few days before she died.

Organized by the Michener Art Museum, this exhibition is drawn from the private collection of Irwin's family and samples several decades of her collage work.

Engineer, Fighter Pilot, Painter

Bill Rabinovitch was an engineering student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute when we first met. Then he went on to become a fighter pilot, and then a hippy painter living in the Haight Ashbury section of San Francisco. He came to visit once and left the kitchen sink filled with unwashed paintbrushes sitting next to my baby's sterilized bottles. I was not amused.

Eventually he moved to New York and created over 2,000 hours of video archives of all the museum, high end gallery and alternative space openings in the city. This invaluable footage included interviews with the top artists, their collectors, the gallerists, the directors and the curators. This footage became fodder for Bill's cable show "ArtSeen" which proved highly popular for many years.

Our paths crossed again while waiting for admission to the Outsider Art Fair one bitterly cold winter day. I learned that he had become somewhat of a NY legend. He had just written a film called Pollack Squared which was to open at the New York Independent Film Festival. His very appealing paintings now hung in NY galleries. He composed respectable music. I forgave him for the mess in my California kitchen and we resumed our friendship. I learned that Bill also wrote some exceptional screen plays about artists, including the highly acclaimed Picasso and the Weeping Women. If you can get a copy of his films, or watch them on the internet, you will be delighted. In the meantime, here's one of my favorite Rabinovitch paintings for you to enjoy. I think I remember that shade of orange in my sink!

Mail Art Show About Jesus!

Sharon Silverman is hosting a fantastic Mail Art show in Haverhill, MA from March through May 2011. The subject is The Face of Jesus and below is the information so that you, too can be part of this exhibit. Outsider artists, tattoo artists and graffiti artists are also welcome to submit your art. When this show is over, Sharon will search for another city, and another state.
She writes to me, "Since none of the work is for sale and it is shown to the public for free, I can usually get great press and large audiences....which ultimately gives both me and my fellow artists more publicity. I can't do these shows all the time, but it certainly has proved very worthwhile for me to do them once in awhile. I always choose a topic / theme that interests me as an artist or some kind of message I am interested in putting out to the world...staying true to myself gives me the energy and stamina I need to sustain moving this show around."

Here are three mail art pieces which have come from Greece, Kentucky and Belgium. Come join the fun! This will be a marvelous and powerful show!

An International MailArt Gallery Exhibition

Theme : The Face of Jesus

Medium : Open

Size : Open

All works must be sent by mail. No email entries. Artists may submit up to 4 pieces. No fee. No jury. No returns.

All works must be signed by the artist and include the artist's address or some sort of contact information.

The Gallery Exhibition will take place March-May 2011 at Angles and Art Gallery, 80 Wingate Street in Haverhill, Massachusetts. This Show is a traveling exhibition. All artists will receive printed documentation, as well as the names and addresses of all participating artists from around the world. Artists will receive publicity online, as well as through the mail. The Show will be open to the public FREE of charge. This is art for art's sake... to be enjoyed by everyone. I am not looking for your political views on Christianity or the Catholic Church. I am specifically documenting the creative ways contemporary artists / mailartists depict the Face of Jesus in the 20th & 21st Century. Do not send shock art or Jesus humor to this mailart call or artwork promoting hate or intolerance. Please pass this on and invite other artists to participate.

Send work to:

The Face of Jesus – An International MailArt Exhibition

c/o Sharon Silverman

P.O. Box 1212

Haverhill, MA 01831

USA