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.

Cynthia Rogers, a recycler of memories.......

Assemblage constructions are what Cynthia Rogers creates from "found objects, juxtaposed in surprising ways, subverting reason and bringing to the forefront subconscious associations, meanings and metaphors that express (Cynthia's) response to contemporary life."

This California artist has quite a vocabulary, made up of simple treasures and bits of flotsam and jetsam which are familiar and yet a little strange at the same time. She spent endless hours as a child, beach-combing, in hopes of finding the illusive and colorful hand blown glass globes used in the Sea of Japan in fishing nets, and on her walks she collected the sea's offerings, as many of us have done. But, instead of just existing as a collection decorating a shelf, some of these items have found their way into her assemblages. Cynthia has returned to these roots and adds to her bounty "discarded objects once loved, now abandoned. It is a kind of consumer recycling program, where psychologically, all things are considered." Click on the title link and explore her site, which is filled with wondrous surprises.

With love from Bonwit Teller.......

First collect engravings.....the older the better. Then dissect them and place into various categories. Then assemble them into fanciful collages. Then comes the hand painting. Then the sponged mats. Finally the flea market frames and the tongue in cheek titles. Or maybe that came first. Anyway, this is the art of Anthony Guyther. His works have been seen in fashion windows in NY since the 1960's, and now they decorate the walls of many collectors who always have to have more than one. He is a master at what he does, an artist's artist. And he is still going strong. The collage illustrated here is "Birdman and His Birddog", which utilizes 9 engravings. More of his work can be seen at Beverly Kaye Gallery and by clicking on the title.

The real Mckoy comes to CT......

Karl Mckoy's assemblage faces are filled with elements that grab your attention, and keep it. Strong portraits that stare you in the face and sorta make you want to look away.......and yet you don't. Very artbrut in feel, loaded with texture, sand, paper, wire, grids, photographs, stones, and so on. When the Outsider Art fair was at the Puck Building in New York City, this self-taught artist used to stand, braving the frigid Winter nights, and sell his pieces on the street, to collectors who would save some of their cash each year, to acquire a new example of his work. He had a very loyal following. But then the show moved to another location, which forbids street "vendors", and the collectors had to go without. Well, now his work is available here, and more is on it's way. I am thrilled to have this powerful work at the gallery.

Pedro Martin DeClet, homage to heros

The collage "Portrait de Genocide", a powerful statement by Pedro Martin DeClet, is typical of his works which examine his personal struggles and those of society. He first started exploring art while incarcerated, and a liberal prison system encouraged his efforts and allowed him to leave the premisses to attend his first show, beyond prison walls. This monumental work honors fallen heros, Latino as well as American Indian. The red pictograph of the human spirit bleeds for them and their sacrifices. Much of Pedro's work is in diary form, and he excels at collage as well as assemblages.
His prison years and his involvement with the Latin Kings are far behind him, only occasionally resurfacing as fodder for his art. Pedro is exquisitely aware of the art world, and the poetry and prose of the most renowned authors and wordsmiths; however, his work is not at all derivative. It is purely his own vision, his own pain. Although completely self-taught, his frequent use of both Latin and Spanish text within his work gives it a unique sophistication. His self-portraits reveal him as he is, sweet, moody, confrontational, scarred, and hopeful. $2500

Self-taught collage, Kathy Carvellas

This lovely collage was created by California artist Kathy Carvellas, and I will be happy to put you in touch with her directly for it's sale. The title is "The Diver" and is 15" wide x 12.5" high (framed -shadowbox) $375.00 This work is proof that a great piece of  art can still be had at an affordable price.