Donald's Top 20 cultural events of 2011 by Donald Munro
In my upcoming Sunday Spotlight column I present one of my annual traditions: my Top 20 list of Fresno cultural events. (Basically, I'm using "cultural" as shorthand for "theater-classical-music-opera-visual-arts." Or, to be more specific: Stuff That Donald Munro Covers.) It was hard to narrow down my list this year, and I'm sure there will be some readers who feel I left something important off it. The hard part becomes figuring what you'd take off the list to include an omitted item. I started with 44 possibilities -- all stuff I quite liked -- and had to whittle it down. Here is my list in abbreviated form in alphabetical order:
1. "The Ballad of Chet," Fresno City College. 2. "Best of the Bay 2," Lively Arts Foundation. 3. Wynn Bullock, Spectrum Art Gallery. 4. "The Comedy of Errors," Woodward Shakespeare Festival. 5. "The Drowsy Chaperone," Roger Rocka's Dinner Theater. 6. Fresno Dance Collective, Rogue Festival. 7. Fresno Philharmonic plays Barber and Rachmoninoff. 8. Juan Diego Florez, Fresno Grand Opera. 9. "Gospel Mass," Fresno Community Chorus. 10. "The Hatchery: East of Fresno," contemporary art exhibition. 11. "The Light in the Piazza," StageWorks Fresno. 12. Live music at "The Nutcracker." 13. Nikolai Lugansky, Keyboard Concerts. 14. Nanete Maki-Dearsan exhibition, Gallery 25. 15. Audra McDonald, Warnors theater. 16. Amalia Mesa-Bains exhibition, Fresno Art Museum. 17. "Les Miserables," Children's Musical Theaterworks. 18. "The Pillowman," The New Ensemble. 19. "Rancho Tesoro," Woodward Park. 20. "Wicked," Saroyan Theatre.
November 10, 2011 10:25 AM
Where will you be 11 a.m. on 11-11-11? by Donaled Munro
Here's an option: Artist Donnalee Dunne is holding an artist's conversation Friday at Gallery 25 in conjunction with her computer-art exhibition titled "Genesis -- In a Beginning." The show is a collection of computer images that have their origins in the late 1980s through early 1990s.
Just think: It was a time before Windows -- remember DOS? -- and when 8MB of RAM was awesomely huge. Dunne has been called a computer-art pioneer. She writes:
For me this is an important show as there was so much going on back in those days when computer art was taking off. Then to think how far it has come in a relatively short time is amazing. It still is magic to me when I watch a print coming off the printer that exactly matches what is on the monitor. Yes, I am still mesmerized watching it print, line by line.
She'll include appetizers and wine (in case you want to get an early start on your weekend) at the 11 a.m. event. Also upcoming: She plans a demonstration of printing on silk and other fabrics 2-4 p.m. Nov. 20 at the gallery.
On the jump: Dunne's artist statement for the show.
ARTIST STATEMENT
It was summer, 1989.
I was a painter and I hated computers.
Then I was challenged to see what was happening in the Art Department of Fresno State in a little closet of a room. Back in the corner was an IBM 286 and on the monitor was pure magic. I didn't pick up a paintbrush or tube of paint for the next eight years.
1989 marked the beginning of the so-called 'middle period' of computer art. Fresno State was the first university in the system to adopt a fledgling computer art program. That dinosaur of a computer had a tiny hard drive and 4 MG of RAM, but we had a color monitor and Apple didn't. It was before Windows, back in the 'World of DOS' when most people didn't know how to turn a computer on, let alone how to make fine art with one. I wouldn't trade those eight years for anything. This was a time of intense exploration and discovery and we felt like we were on the wagon train heading west and someone said gold had been discovered beyond the mountains ahead.
A fellow digital artist then wrote: "Donnalee owns a bit of the compass, which says a lot when confronted by a universe of possibilities on the computer. What if the Oregon Trail pathfinder had come with infrared night vision. We all stand at the Twenty-First Century trail head of technology. . . some stand closer, more up front, some with purpose and credentials, some arrive by the press of the crowd. Donnalee survives to explore and to share and you would be most gratified by parting the crowd and welcoming her through."
For the month of November, my solo exhibit at Gallery 25 will exhibit a collection of computer images which have their origins in the late 1980s - early 1990s. A selection of this early DOS based computer work will be presented as giclee prints on canvas.
Several images from the collection have been re-invented and given re-birth into 2011 as large prints on exotic silks, bamboo fabrics and Belgian linen. I have turned a few of these fabrics into garments which will be displayed. My most recent exploration has been printing directly on leather, and the show includes leather vests.
'CENTRALISM' AT GALLERY 25 Donald Munro
The Fresno Bee, Aug.5 When I walked into Gallery 25 last night for ArtHop, it was so crowded I actually was getting jostled while looking at the works. Talk about a crowd!
A 'Hot Show' for July at Gallery 25
Thursday, Jun. 30, 2011
The Fresno Bee
July 7-31 / Gallery 25, 660 Van Ness Ave. / gallery25.org, (559) 264-4092 / Free
July is usually a scorcher, and Gallery 25 is complying by naming its members exhibition "The Hot Show." Gallery members participating in this exhibit were invited to express their particular take on the word "Hot." One of the responses, Joan Sharma's "Up in Smoke," is shown above. The exhibition opens at ArtHop on Thursday, the monthly open house of studios and galleries in the downtown and Tower District neighborhoods.
SPECIAL TO THE BEE
Gallery 25 is naming its members exhibition from July 7-31 "The Hot Show."
Mike already filled you in on some ArtHop picks. Here are a few more last-minute options with info from the galleries:
GALLERY 25
In "Out of Eden," Barbara Van Arnam exhibits drawings that begin with expressive gestural lines over which charcoal rubbings of ancient Chinese burial urns are collaged. Juxtaposing these fields of interrupted rhythmic gestures and applications of pastel introduce light-infused color. A final addition of acrylic drawings complete these passages. Cynthia Cameron presents a series of regional painted landscapes capturing the essence of the local countryside. Michele Fox exhibits oil paintings of the female figure challenging the conventions of women in art. Carol Tikijian exhibits a collection of figurative "soft" sculptures that are medium to large -scales figures that employ sewn elements in canvas over armatures.
My Sunday Spotlight column focuses on an intriguing exhibition at Gallery 25 by Nanete Maki-Dearsan. The artist, in a series of large paintings, tackles the myth of romantic teen suicide as exemplified by one of Shakespeare's most famous characters, Ophelia.
It's hard to write (and for you to read) a column such as this about the visual arts without seeing the actual works. That's where this post comes in. We'll start off with an image of the main piece in the show, which is a whopping 36 feet wide:
Following more images from the exhibition on the jump, you'll find an extended interview with the artist.
Here's a detail of the bigger painting in which you can better see Ophelia's expression:
The above work is a deconstruction of a famous painting that influenced
the artist in her childhood: John Everett Millais' 1852 painting "Ophelia":
Here's a view of Nanete Maki-Dearsan's "Portrait," which I write about
in my column:
This is "Another Ophelia":
In "Drowning," you can just make out two eerie blue hands:
An important work in the show is "Funeral":
Here's my extended interview with Nanete Maki-Dearsan:
Question: Was the Millais painting of "Ophelia" a triggering factor in your decision to pursue the theme of this show? Or did you think of referencing the work after you decided you wanted to explore the phenomenon of teen-girl suicide?
The original theme of this show was water, particularly Madera County seasonal creeks. I spent two years photographing them in their various phases. Ophelia Wedding started out as a seasonal pond in one particular phase.
Ophelia emerged and took over the exhibition through my observations of my daughter and her friends through high school. Their problems escalated and my daughter wasn't immune to the self-loathing.
A poster of Millais's Ophelia hung over my bed through my own high school years (in fact, my high school Shakespeare class put on a production of Hamlet). Ophelia presented the option of suicide in a romantic way to me back then, she was lovely and the flowers were significant.
Talk a little about the logistics behind producing the biggest piece, "Ophelia (Wedding)." Were you able to line up all the canvases prior to beginning it? Or did you have to paint in pieces?
Prior to deciding on what to do with the water research, I knew I wanted to do a painting as long as my longest wall in my studio. I built the 40' wall for the Warner's Window horse series. Ophelia is 36'. I built my own canvases and bolted them together in sections of 3 and hung them on the wall, all 12 were pushed tightly together, to paint. (my daughter and I could only lift sections of 3 at a time). I didn't bolt all 12 together until we hung it at Gallery 25. (It took about 15 people to lift it onto the wall.)
In the big painting, your paint isn't as thick, and you don't incorporate mixed-media materials (nuts, bolts, etc.) into the surface of the work as you do the smaller paintings in this series. Why the difference?
The large Ophelia is referencing Millais's painting in order to deconstruct the notion that suicide is romantic and lovely. I like how shocking my other paintings are next to this familiar image. I wanted the large Ophelia to be beautiful and haunting, and I wanted my other paintings to jolt the viewer out of that fog of suicide beauty. So her surface is lovely and romantic.
Speaking of those nuts/bolts/hardware on the surface of the smaller paintings: What can you tell me about them? It's interesting how you don't even see them at first when you're standing a comfortable distance from the paintings. It's only when you get up close that the viewer realizes they're there. Thoughts?
The nuts and bolts (etc) are significant. They symbolize that life is messy. Parents frequently want to make everything perfect for their little girls. Little girls grow up wanting to be perfect. They create this perfection-failure dichotomy which they can't live up to except for moments in time because life is messy. Instead of raising girls to be perfect, we need to be raising our girls to forgive themselves for the times they are imperfect. Instead they are ruthless to one another and to themselves.
I love that my paintings are different from 3 inches than they are from 10 feet. I obsess on texture, painting over it and looking at it. I like looking at them from the side and seeing how the light changes them due to the textures. I find it intellectually stimulating and exciting, like highly developed layers of music you can listen to over and over again. They really are like music to me.
I'm intrigued by the work "Portrait." It seems as if you can feel the weight of all of Ophelia's personal issues. And it made me think that even though an outsider might think someone else's issues aren't all that pressing or even trivial, to the person suffering, those issues can be suffocating. Thoughts?
I'm glad you responded to the portrait of Ophelia as you did, seeing the weight of her issues. Young girls issues are frequently trivialized because they can be so dramatic at that age (and annoying) and they seem to have so much going for them based just on their youth and beauty. The painting shows her holding herself the way young girls wrap their arms around themselves. She has darkness behind her and in front of her. She is very young. Sometimes she's a woman, sometimes she's a child, a woman-child. Here she is a child and she does not have the tools to navigate through her problems. This is the place where girls arrive, alone, seeking options, sometimes coming up empty.
In "Another Ophelia" I see similarities to some of your earlier works (the ones of the horses plunging into the water). Am I on the right track? If so, why do you think you're drawn to the theme of plunging into water?)
"Another Ophelia" wasn't preplanned at all, the painting grew into what it became over time. It was exciting to have ideas come to me mid painting. The Ophelia's under the water meant so much when that idea emerged. If a girl wants to be special and unique, she needs to survive and be strong. To be weak and give up, you're just another Ophelia. This is part of deconstructing the romantic myth of teenage suicide.
I'm very drawn to water (and in fact vividly fell deep into the water between our boat and the dock as a child), I think the first serious piece of artwork I did was of a wave. I swam at our rough beach (Oxnard Shores) with my sister almost everyday growing up and spent a lot of time on boats. I grew up with half my world as god-ocean, the other half as humanity. In fact one of our houses was destroyed by the ocean when I was in 6th grade, it was called 'an act of God' so the insurance didn't have to pay.
In your artist statement, you note that people today often seek "clear ideas with quick and simple solutions." Can you expand on this for me? Does this tie in to teen suicide?
I think that clear ideas and quick, simple solutions is tied to the 20 minute sitcom (10 min of commercials), communication moving from the complications of facial features and speaking to texting, the world speeding up and wanting results verses interactions with humanity, things like pieces of songs verses whole album sides or 'bodies of work'. It is difficult to become a whole person in this scenario especially when one mistake can define a kid. It's simple to define someone based on just one thing in this overwhelming world, good or bad.
My students are more comfortable with step by step instructions than they are with thinking and being creative. They want to be successful and in general they have been trained to know answers rather than to think.
Teenagers are developing who they are physically, emotionally intellectually and philosophically and like so many teenagers for generations before them, they want to be a hero, be famous and amazing world changing successes. It can feel hopeless today. Especially if they make mistakes along the way (most either have or think they have). They have a hard time not defining themselves based on their mistakes. This world is so harsh. Winners and losers, not always enough room for normal knuckle-headed kids or girls whose bodies can go from fat to thin in the span of one week.
What has reaction to your show been like?
There has been a positive reaction to my show. The first reaction is to the size of Ophelia, but there are positive responses to the textures too. People have appreciated the symbolism. A few people could not stay long at a particular painting because it disturbed them. The one with the pills on the surface (dead Ophelia) has been some people's favorite and other people have told me they can't be around that painting for long, it bothers them too much. The show has not sparked the dialog I had been hoping for yet. Quite a few people respond emotionally to the horses representing the family and friends helplessly baring witness to Ophelia's actions.
Anything else you'd like to say?
An important painting is the funeral painting. It is starkly different from the other paintings. This is the long term repercussions to Ophelia choosing to commit suicide. The painting is loaded with symbolism. The two little girls to the right have their feet in the grave, they are the next generation, learning from the woman-girls who came before them that suicide is an option, among other symbols.
Valley Artist Creates 36-Foot Statement on Beauty, Struggle
By KSEE News
March 3, 2011 Updated Mar 3, 2011 at 8:00 PM PST
A woman's self-acceptance, internal struggles to measure up to society's notions of beauty, and our collective definition of beauty are addressed by a Central Valley artist who has created a 36-foot painting called Ophelia. Carolyn Bruck introduces us to Nanete Maki-Dearsan and her art.
Gallery 25 is such a big space that it almost always
divides the display area for its monthly exhibitions
among two or more artists. Maki-Dearsan's solo
exhibition, then, is uncommon. She gets to revel in
all that spaNanete Maki-Dearsan doesn't think small in her
newest exhibition. Her biggest oil painting is 36-feet
wide in "Ophelia," which opens Thursday, March 3,
at Gallery 25 as part of ArtHop (fresnoarthop.org), the
monthly open house of galleries and studios that
runs 5-8 p.m. in the downtown and Tower District.
In her body of work she references "Hamlet's"
Ophelia and Sir John Everett Millais' painting "Ophelia."
Maki-Dearsan says the show speaks to the de-
romanticization of adolescent girls in their
self-loathing thoughts of suicide and self-injury.
"The intent is ... to bring some of this out of its
secretive loneliness and into the light," she says
in an artist statement.
In the past, I've raved about some of Maki-Dearsan's
big works, including a 2005 joint exhibition with Lynne
Anderson that made my list of Top 20 cultural events
of the year, calling it "big and bold, with a feel akin to
taking a plunge into a cold, deep lake."
SPECIAL TO THE BEEThis shows a portion of "Ophelia,"
an oil painting by Nanete Maki-Dearsan
Perhaps it was the bitter cold that made scurrying into all those
(mostly) warm galleries so gratifying. Maybe I was just in a highly
receptive mood to partake in the visual arts. Or it could be the
novelty of using my new iPhone to document my journey in real
time on Facebook. Whatever the reason, I had a grand time at
ArtHop last night. Some highlights:
GALLERY 25
From the outside, I can imagine that Gallery 25's vibrant window display will be confusing drivers all month:
Cheap gas, anyone?
Inside, I found a vibrant show laced with a skewering political
sensibility. The Appropriation Project, a group made up of
Gallery 25 member Diran Lyons, Desiree D'Alessandro and
Byron Russell, put together "Oil and War: A Critical Remix
Festival." Entries were solicited for this video genre in
which artists combine video and images from different
sources to make political statements that are often
different from the original intent. The mixes I watched
were pretty scathing: a rendition of Lady Gaga's "Bad
Romance" set to wartime explosions; a cheerful oil-
company commercial sound bite blandly proclaiming
the supremacy of fossil fuels juxtaposed with ravaged
scenes of drilling disasters; a perky energy-conglomerate
spokesperson's soothing words about clean water set to
scenes of frightening skin diseases. I didn't have a chance
to watch all the entries, but I hope to post a link here to a
YouTube page.
Aesthetically, I was more attracted to Lyons' big, imposing petroleum-themed art. He takes iconic logos and toys with them a little -- a backwards "N" in "Exxon," for example -- to interesting effect. You'd think, with all those big, bright primary colors and nostalgic logos -- who doesn't remember as a kid on a road trip pulling into a filling station with your parents, a chance to get out of the car and stretch your legs? -- that Lyons' art would feel almost cheery. But there's something almost cold and menacing about it. I like the subversive streak.
Also in Munro's blog on Jan. 7, G25 member show
You never know what you're going to get with an Ed Gillum show, but chances are it's going to be something that bends the genre. In his show "Shopping Basket Lives," at Spectrum Art Gallery, he uses what he describes as a hybrid narrative of photography, sculpture and installation focused on a familiar object, the shopping basket. He hopes "to instill a sense of dignity for the many people for whom shopping baskets have become an indispensable part of their lives."
The centerpiece of Gillum's installation is a full-size shopping basket covered with photographs. The cart is illuminated from within, giving the piece a bright, ethereal glow. It's as if the ubiquitous but utilitarian cart has been given a starring role. Interesting stuff.
Gillum is joined by Lyssa Bird, whose "toss aside" exhibition of photos -- some of them showing the large and ungainly pieces of heavy equipment that count as trash along with less substantial litter -- is a nice complement to Gillum's work.
For more than three decades, Joy Johnson's art has closely followed events in her life, from the death of her sister from breast cancer to receiving an air compressor and nail gun from her husband. ("A gift better than diamonds," she says.)
Her new exhibition at Gallery 25, where she's sharing the space this month with Jerrie Peters, includes a 20-foot wide installation piece titled "Journey Into Light." The work consists of colorfully painted wooden shapes of various sizes incorporating mixed media adornment. Here's our interview:
Question: Tell us about the piece.
Answer: "Journey Into Light" is a spiritually abstract expression of transitory life, an ever-changing process where art and spirit meet. This has been a two year project that expresses life's adversities and shares epiphanies and hard earned wisdom on the road I call life, keeping faith and overcoming.
What kind of reactions have you had to the work?
[One person said] it was Camelot, another drew the analogy to the Chilean miners -- how they chose a leader and a spiritual advisor to see them through to the light. Another was reminiscent of becoming a breast cancer survivor, another separation from her husband, and others simply shared their feeling of Christmas celebration.
When you're conceiving one of your installation pieces, is it pretty much fully formed in your mind in terms of size, orientation, etc., before you start to make it? Or do you tinker a lot? How tactile is your creative process?
My work is very intuitive inspired by my life. Where I am in my life is where my work is. I
do not follow sketches of plans and the work evolves taking on a life of its own dictating to me where it wants to go. I have been influenced by my travels, by reading, by gifts from family and friends, by childhood memories. The cords in my work are reminiscent of my ties to my mother. The beads were gifts from my mother-in-law when she died (she worked with beads). I am also influenced by my family's construction company.
Artists inevitably are influenced by life events. What have been some of the milestones in your artistic career, and how did you incorporate life changes into your work?
The first great influence on changing my art style was re-entering college at California State University, Fresno when the feminist movement was in full swing at the end of the seventies. It became a vehicle for expressing what I was feeling, thinking, experiencing and I became one with my art. The feminist movement enlightened, strengthened, and forever changed me as a woman in a man's world. The next great influence on my work was when my sister died of breast cancer and my work became spiritually influenced. I constructed a 12-foot temple in the Fresno Art Museum in her honor and organized a fund raiser for breast cancer research.
Your husband bought you a compressor and nail gun. What was your reaction to these gifts?
It was a gift better than diamonds. It has changed my ability to build wood constructions with greater accuracy and speed and it has even influenced my style of layering. I now find myself more often in the demolition refuse pile of materials from our construction company and can shoot nails into larger pieces of wood which are stacked all over my studio. My love for working with wood carries on three past generations of men in my family and I sometimes feel they are looking down on
me as I work, surprised that I -- granddaughter, daughter, sister -- am doing this work!
You say in your artist's statement that the honesty in your work bares your soul "at a price sometimes painful but not negotiable." Has this honesty ever created problems for you -- with, say, personal relationships with family and friends? Do you think it's difficult for artists to truly be honest?
I am dedicated to making art that is sincere and sharing wisdom that is hard earned along the path of life's journey is a given. My family is supportive and as my daughters say, "That's my Mom." My friends and followers are appreciative although may not understand my willingness and need to share.
You share the Gallery 25 space this month with Jerrie Peters, whose work explores artists who have served as inspirations to her work over a long period of time. What can you tell us about her show?
Jerrie Peters' colorful acrylic on wood assemblages were inspired by artists who have been her muses over decades and have inspired this beautiful and elegant body of work. Her audience has been thrilled to see their favorite artists interpreted by Jerrie. In remembering when Jerrie was first inspired to do this body of work, she was originally given the idea of organizing a women's journal project by the curator of the Fresno Art Museum, Jackie Pilar. " Eleven Ways of Working, The Fresno Journal Project" was first exhibited at the museum, and Jackie praised Jerrie on her piece inspired by one of her muses and encouraged her to do a body of work, which grew into this current exhibit at Gallery 25. Our Journal Project has become a traveling exhibit and is currently at the Merced Cultural Center.
July 1, 2010 - The Fresno Bee, Life section
To Do Tonight: ArtHop by Donald Munro
One of the highlights of tonight's monthly ArtHop in the downtown and Tower District is a juried exhibition at Gallery 25 called "Centralism 2." I have a piece in Thursday's Life section that talks a little about the show. The idea: Stand in the middle of it all, take a broad look at trends and styles in the art world, give a sweeping view of the current scene without taking any stand or involving a bias of one's own.
Organizer Edward Gillum coined the term for last year's first "Centralism" show:
"We are not necessarily trying to create a new 'ism' as much as offering an open sense of appreciating all 'isms' within the concept of Centralism," Gillum says. "Being located in the Central Valley and seeking to have as diverse a representation of art being made today serve as the motivation for this show."
April 1, 2010 5:01 PM
'Whether-Weather' exhibit explores global warming
Posted at 12:32 PM on Thursday, Apr. 01, 2010
By Donald Munro / The Fresno Bee
It's fitting that in the opening week of Edward Gillum's exhibition titled "Whether-Weather," now on display at Gallery 25, Fresno had real weather.
Yes, on Wednesday, the day before opening, you could observe substantial meteorological phenomena scooting just above the gallery: billowy clouds, blotches of brilliant blue, crisp gusts of wind, even a few surly raindrops.
On days like this, when the sky seems so unsettled, it's easy to think of weather as being vast and all-encompassing -- something so big that it's outside the bounds of human impact.
Or is it? Gillum's new show -- which is subtitled "Under a Yellow Sun?" -- is certainly itching to get into the thick of that discussion. In recent months, especially, the talk about global warming has intensified, with passionate proponents and opponents about human-caused warming squaring off.
Gillum definitely sides with the human-caused point of view, and one of the aims of his exhibition is to explore the relationship of people to the environment.
JOHN WALKER / THE FRESNO BEE
Gallery 25 member Edward Gillum has a little fun as he sets up a lycra spandex multidimensional screen onto which he'll project five videos, as part of the exhibition "Whether-Weather."
How, he asks, are we dealing with the stewardship of our planet ecologically, socially, economically, politically and artistically?
Those are some of the questions he posed to his fellow participants in the show. Gillum, a longtime professor of art at California State University, Fresno, asked a dozen of his current and former students to contribute to the exhibition.
For his part, Gillum took over the central part of the cavernous gallery, constructing within the four center pillars a sort of stretchable sculpture, vaguely square but with its angled walls akimbo, made of lycra spandex. Hidden within this curvy, tentlike structure are seven projectors. Video images will hit the lycra at various angles, suggesting a really twisted version of a seven-screen multiplex. Themes range from a re-creation of lightning bolts to a replay of a Porky Pig cartoon in which Porky tries to hire a rainmaker.
The rest of the exhibition radiates out from this central piece, with Gillum's students -- many of whom he has stayed in close touch with over the years -- riffing on the weather/stewardship theme in different ways.
Geneven Yang, for example, filled balloons with water, froze them and hand-painted faces on them. As they hang and slowly melt, the paint will drip on paper below, creating a permanent abstract record of an ephemeral event.
Adam Longatti, meanwhile, opts for the extremely subtle: He contributes one of his well-known depictions of Valley agriculture, but if you look closely, you can see the figure of a man in the field grabbing a drink of water from a water jug.
Some pieces are highly political. Others focus on smog. There's even a melting Jesus planned.
All of it, Gillum says, is designed to get people talking and thinking about the weather. Whether they want to or not.
It's easy to think of weather as being vast and all-encompassing -- something so big that it's outside the bounds of human impact. Or is it? Gillum's new show -- which is subtitled "Under a Yellow Sun?" -- is certainly itching to get into the thick of that discussion.
We used two of Bee photographer John Walker's images in the print edition, including the one of Gillum at top. On the jump, check out more photos that didn't get used.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Detail of David Brooks' "More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys" piece.
---------------------------------------------------------------- One of the 24 photographs by Lyssa Bird in "24 Hours, " in which she photographed the Fresno skyline each hour for a day.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Norma Rogers' photographic collage is titled "Water, March 10, 2010."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Yalle Santana's "Tree of Life" is a cast-glass piece.
To Do This Weekend: Celebrate Spring at Gallery 25
March 19, 2010 1:11 PM
Fresno Bee
Donale Munro
Kathy asked earlier today about plans for the first day of spring. Here's a great option: Attend a "Conversation with the Artist" in conjunction with Donnalee Dunne's "Ode to Joy" show at Gallery 25. The event is 1-4 p.m. Saturday. Dunne is exhibiting work along with Jim Campbell, whose show is titled "Footprint." Donnalee writes:
Jim & I have had some wonderful comments, and some sales of the art. It is a good combination of shows. I would like to invite you to attend the 'conversation with the artist' I am getting together for Saturday afternoon. It is the first day of spring and I have planned to celebrate this event for over a year now - my Ode to Joy in the gallery on Primavera! Pictured: Donnalee Dunne's work, above, and Jim Campbell's, below.
Diran Lyons Remix at the Rogue Festival, March 2010
ROGUE REVIEW: Rogue Film 2010
By Rick Bentley, Fresno Bee
The idea of having to sit through the work of a group of amateur filmmakers seemed like a punishment. Generally, these short projects tend to lack originality as the filmmakers just copy their directing influences or write scripts only they find interesting.
What makes this a must see event are the 12 short political remix films. These satirical snippets take footage from news reports, TV broadcasts and films and twists them into smart and funny political jabs. Its similar to the work Michael Moore was doing when he still had a filmmaking hunger. The shorts touch on topics such as water conservation, oil, war and politics. The filmmakers deliver their political punches with such finesse you won't see them coming until they slap you in the face.
Two are particularly strong standouts. Fresno's Diran Lyons has mixed scenes from Jake Gyllenhaal movies with speeches by President Barack Obama. The conversations created from these elements is so seamless it as if the whole thing was filmed at one time. Lyons even slips into the surreal as in the scene where the Gyllenhaal watches himself on television as the dazed and confused soldier in "Jarhead." This short film alone is worth the small price of admission.
But, it gets slightly better. Jonathan McIntosh, a San Francisco filmmaker, has created a brilliant film called "So You Think You Can Be President." He masterfully weaves judging comments from the Fox series "So You Think You Can Dance" with Presidential debates. Along with the incredible craftsmanship he shows in making this film, McIntosh manages to make his points while standing on the political fence. The work is brilliant.
SHOW INFO: 8:15 p.m. tonight, 6:15 p.m. March 12, 8:15 p.m. March 12, 5:15 p.m. March 13, 7 p.m. March 13 at Mike Briggs Properties, 1212 N. Van Nes
Diran Lyons exhibit, Jan. 2010
Gallery 25 show makes distinctive statement
Posted at 03:25 PM on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010
By Donald Munro / The Fresno Bee
Most of the time, we think of art as separate things -- paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, site-specific installations, etc. But there can be another way to look at it: art as the curatorial process itself. By selecting and combining different artistic components into a group, a curator -- the person who picks and organizes the content of an exhibition -- can shape a show or series into a distinctive artistic statement.
That's the idea behind this weekend's "Screenings and Happenings" at Gallery 25. Curator Diran Lyons has assembled three components, including his own feature-length indie film, into a program that he hopes will form a cohesive whole. Lyons is mixing things up at the gallery in several ways:
- He's putting the emphasis on multimedia.
- He's making strong political statements about such hot-button issues as health care and generational inequities along with delving into more esoteric discussions, including the role of illusion and deception in art.
- And he's elevating to exhibition status one of his preferred techniques, the "remix" video, in which artists collide different pop culture visual sources (think the Obama-McCain TV debates combined with judges' comments from "So You Think You Can Dance") to make provocative new meanings.
This political remix video on Obama is called "Jake Gylenhaal Challenges The Winner Of The Nobel Peace Prize," by Diran Lyons. It will be part of the Gallery 25 exhibit this weekend.
This indepedent film called "Goodbye Victoria," is co-directed by Diran Lyons and Matthew Potter. It will be shown as part of a multimedia exhibit at Gallery 25 this weekend.
For Lyons, who resists easy categorization when it comes to his art, the weekend is a chance to flex his curatorial muscles.
"I work in a lot of different media, so classifying me is hard," he says. "I ask myself what would be the best and forceful way to communicate a set of ideas in a project."
Here's more on the weekend's lineup:
Fresno premiere of narrative film
What: "Goodbye Victoria"
Genre: Film
Screens: 6-8 p.m. today
Description: This feature-length narrative film, co-directed and written by Lyons and Matthew Potter, has been a passionate project of Lyons' for a couple of years.
It focuses on a young out-of-work "scenester" who moves from Charleston, S.C., to California to pursue a career as an actor.
The details: Produced for $20,000, the film has played at several film festivals, as well as online. The Gallery 25 screening is the Fresno premiere.
How it fits in: The film dives into issues related to the crumbling of the American dream. Head of state in fresh debateWhat: "Political Remix Video"
Description: Lyons has compiled 40 examples of the remix genre, in which artists combine video and images from different sources to make political statements that are often different from the original intent. One entry is Lyons' "Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize," which juxtaposes scenes from Gyllenhaal's movie "Jarhead" with clips of Barack Obama.
The details: Jonathan McIntosh, a prominent remixing artist and creator of the YouTube hit "Buffy vs Edward: Twilight Remixed," will be on hand.
How it fits in: Like the rest of the weekend, the remix videos have political undertones. Lyons says they're an example of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's view of art as an instrument that employs aesthetic deception, or lying, to evoke deductions on larger issues. Here's your shot at health reform
What: "Bearing Witness: A Pilgrimage for Health Reform"
Genre: Photo show and video presentation
On display: Noon-4 p.m. Saturday
Description: This traveling photo show, compiled by Seth and Hannah Gravette of the national PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing) network, will feature approximately 800 color photographs and accompanying text documenting individuals who have a stake in an improved health-care system.
The details: This ever-increasing exhibit grows at each stop. A photographer will be on hand to document local residents who want to add their images to the collection.
How it fits in: Art is often about illusion, Lyons says. When you look at many of the well-dressed and well-groomed people in these photos, you'd assume they have health insurance. Many don't.
Gallery 25 is marking their 35th Anniversary by an exhibit featuring female artists.
The Fresno Bee
By Donald Munro
September 03, 2009
FRESNO, CA – Anniversaries are by their very definition about looking back. And because our culture is so enamored of them — there’s likely something primal at work having to do with the relentless changing of the seasons and an awareness of our own mortality — we end up spending an inordinate amount of time commemorating the past.
But not the 35th anniversary exhibition at Fresno’s Gallery 25.
This new show, which opens today with an ArtHop reception and continues through Sept. 27, manages to forge into the future even as it acknowledges many of the founding members of the gallery.
“I wanted to honor the original artists and then pass the opportunity on to the younger generation,” says curator Nanete Maki-Dearsan.
To that end, Maki-Dearsan has selected nine local women to highlight as “emerging artists.” Their work joins 10 of the original members of the gallery, which was formed in 1974 as a collective women’s gallery.
The impact of mixing the older and younger artists is striking. Walk into the gallery and you’re struck by the large, cocoon-like fiber art of Genevieve Bartolo, selected as an emerging artist, which dominates the center of the gallery.
There’s an earthy fecundity to Bartolo’s three-dimensional works — a feel of gestation, of imminent birth. Just beyond hangs some of the current work of longtime Fresno artist Joyce Aiken, an original member.
Years ago, Aiken began “preparing” for her own funeral — which, to those knowing her scrappy resilience still seems many years in the future — to the extent of decorating her own pine coffin.
Having the two artists’ works so close together offers an interesting generational contrast.
Gallery 25 was an offshoot of the burgeoning women’s artist movement of the early 1970s. The noted artist Judy Chicago, who had a guest professorship at Fresno State in 1970-71, helped spark the movement when she formed a collaborative women’s art class. (Another current show focuses on Chicago’s students in an exhibition titled “A Studio of Their Own: The Legacy of the Fresno Feminist Experiment, 1970,” on display at Fresno State’s Conley Art Gallery.) After Chicago moved on to the California Institute of the Arts, Aiken continued in the role of teacher and mentor to women artists at Fresno State.
Gallery 25 grew out of one of Aiken’s classes, in fact, after she assigned the students to mount their own exhibitions. There were 16 original artists, including Aiken.
The gallery later went on to admit male members, though a majority of the current Gallery 25 roster are still women.
Maki-Dearsan had a great deal of fun tracking down the original members. Of the 16, she found 12. One was deceased, and she wasn’t able to find three.
As late as last week, she was able to locate Chantal Trauner, who had a key role in establishing the gallery. Trauner is now an artist in Georgia, Maki-Dearsan says, and was “delighted” to be a last-minute addition to the show.
http://www.five-art.com/
August 28th Opening reception
Gallery [5]art presents Fresno G25, a group exhibition from Gallery 25 in Fresno, CA
In the main gallery : [5]art presents their fall season opening exhibition, Fresno G25 a group show featuring artists from Gallery 25 in Fresno, California. This exhibition will debut at Gallery [5]art in West Tampa located in the Old Santaella Cigar Factory and includes work from artists Diran Lyons, Joan K. Sharma, Trude McDermott, Lynn Anderson, Jerrie L. Peters, Donnalee Dunne, Barbara Van Arnam, Karen LeCocq, Joy Johnson, Jim Campbell, Robert Weibel, Ed Gillum ,Kris Kessey, Shannon Bickford, Norma Rogers and Rebecca Barnes.
Gallery 25, one of Fresno's preeminent cooperative art galleries, has been extending its geographic reach.
Gallery 25, one of Fresno's preeminent cooperative art galleries, has been extending its geographic reach.
First Armenia, now Florida.
That's good news for local fans of visual art. It's great to walk into a downtown gallery and see a touring show.
A couple of years ago, Gallery 25 hosted an exchange with a gallery that was named, coincidentally enough, Gallery 25, in Gyumri, Armenia.
And now, in an exhibition that opened Thursday and continues through Aug. 30, the Fresno gallery features an exchange with an art gallery from Tampa, Fla.
Gallery 25 has teamed up with the art gallery to create a show titled "Five + 5 Presenting." It features work from five Tampa artists and five guest artists from the West Coast, including Gallery 25 president Diran Lyons.
Yes, that's a lot of fives (or multiples thereof) all around.
The idea, Lyons says, was to create a show using some works that had already been displayed in Tampa and others specifically created for this new show to fit the mammoth Gallery 25 display space.
As the Fresno representative to the show, Lyons -- who is also an independent filmmaker -- opted to show a series of four paneled photos of artifacts from his newest movie, "Goodbye Victoria," which he describes as a "hipster-flavored homage to [Jean-Luc] Godard." Lyons co-directed the film with Matthew Potter.
The artifacts include a photo of text from the book "The Time Image" by Gilles Deleuze. The recently completed film -- which Lyons has submitted for competition in various film festivals -- tackles the notion of how time is represented in cinema, eventually making the audience reconsider the chronology of the film itself. (It sounds very daring, perhaps in the tradition of "Memento.")
So how did an indie filmmaker hook up with a gallery in Florida?
In the art world, lots of things happen because of personal relationships -- and this exhibition is no exception. Lyons, who got his degree at California State University, Fresno, and went on to teach in several parts of the country, is friends and colleagues with Tracy Midulla Reller, a founding member of art and a full-time faculty member at Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City, Fla.
Midulla Reller suggested to Lyons a collaboration between the two galleries. She arranged the details on her side of the country. Lyons did the same in Fresno. Soon they'd hammered out an arrangement for the current show. Next month, 15 members of Gallery 25 will send work to Tampa for display.
Before traveling to Fresno, the show made stops at galleries in Atlanta and Nashville.
Normally, when an art exhibition travels, pretty much the same pieces are displayed at each venue -- give or take a few items that don't fit because of space or size limitations.
But the creators of this show decided to make each stop more distinctive. A different curator at each venue picked from a large inventory of pieces from the participating 10 artists. The curator used those pieces to create a show that best fit the individual gallery space. Lyons, who curated the Fresno show, had an inventory of 70 pieces from which to choose.
"It's a little bit of an experiment," Midulla Reller says with a laugh from Tampa. (She'd hoped to get out to Fresno to see the show in person, but airfares from Tampa were too expensive this time of year.)
Because Gallery 25 is by far the largest of the four venues for the exhibition, artists were given the opportunity to create large-scale works to take advantage of the space.
To keep shipping costs down, Midulla Reller made one stipulation: all artists had to create works on paper to make it easy to travel.
"Unfortunately because of the economy, everybody is strapped for cash," she says.
The Fresno Bee The prolific and studious Mary Maughelli has a show titled "Being a Woman, Paintings -- Then and Now" that includes a number of her newer works, some from 2009, along with a smattering of some of her earlier works. (There are 22 works in all.) I've written extensively in the past about Maughelli's fascination with motion in her works, and she continues the theme to perhaps even greater velocity, with many of the figures in her paintings spinning, tumbling and almost leaping off the canvas.
The Fresno Bee Hot it was on Thursday night -- hot off the presses, that is. The Fresno art scene doesn't usually boast a gallery opening that includes a printed catalog, but that's what greeted visitors to Gallery 25's "Alchemy" show. (OK, so it was bloody hot, too, but what else is new?) Beehiver Felicia Matlosz was anxious to see "Alchemy," and she says it was worth the wait. Here's her take:
The buzz about the new "Alchemy" exhibit at Gallery 25 turned out to be true. It is a plush, strong, marvelous display of some of the area's most creative talent. With a showcase of 29 artists, there is plenty to visually devour. Make sure you carve out ample time to breathe in the scope of this show.
First, why the title "Alchemy"? The catalog introduction, written by one of the featured artists, Trude McDermott, states: "The contemporary use of the term alchemy is frequently a reference to a mysterious synthesis or fusion of different elements into a new form." From that premise, these artists forged visions from that concept.
The moment you walk through the gallery's front door, you will briefly ponder which way to go. But I think you'll be pulled to the right. On the wall hangs one of Robert Weibel's large-scale gunpowder works of bison. This one is a multiple image, in a lighter, golden-brown tone, that gives the work an ethereal feel, as if aiming for transcendency. To the left is a huge, vertical, three-panel painting by Nanete Maki-Dearsan, called "The Abilities of Butterflies." It's a dramatically dark, textured work, with whiffs of white seemingly struggling from submergence for a separate plane of existence.
But don't neglect the smaller pieces, such as Erin Webster's "The Blackening." It struck me like a mix of surrealist Salvador Dali and that last shot of David Hedison in "The Fly." You know, that moment in the film when the scientific transference of man and fly goes horribly bad, and the man's head is stuck on the fly's body. Except in this painting, it's a woman's alarmed-looking face on top of a brown bird's body, her eyes fixed upon a coffee cup suspended inside a narrow, tall glass container. It's a trippy painting, evoking lots of modern-day angst.
I don't have enough space here to detail other work in "Alchemy," so I plan to go back and write a story about this feast of a show. Sept. 5, 2008
The Fresno Bee
"Alchemy" at Gallery 25 is an art ex-hibit that spotlights work by 29 mem- bers, many of whom are well known in the Fresno-area arts community.
Artist Trude McDermott views this show as an important one for the 34-year-old gallery. She came up with the theme months ago as she was reading about alchemy. She also has a piece in the show -- "Cave of Shamanic Change," a fusion of photo-collage and oil painting -- and wrote the essay for the exhibit's catalog.
"It was really a complex show to pull together. When everyone is doing their own thing, you wonder how this is going to work in an entire installation," McDermott says. "It worked beautifully. ... I think the term 'alchemy' excites artists. They almost see themselves like alchemists, taking one material and combining it with another and coming up with a new aspect. Everybody seemed to pick up on it."
Donnalee Dunne, whose oil painting "Apocalypse" is in the show, curated the exhibition. "To me, it's a milestone," says Dunne, who teaches graphic design and computer art at California State University, Fresno. "It's cohesive. It has depth. It has meaning. It has context. ... With the high caliber of artists in this group, we all knew we would come up with something elegant, deep and beautiful."
The exhibit's final days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The gallery is open only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, but groups of three or more who cannot visit those days can make special appointments by calling (559) 658-8354. You'll see a lot of colorful paintings and multimedia presentations. Here's a look at some.
Dunne's "Apocalypse" is a four-panel piece that harkens to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse but focuses only on the horses. Each animal, in closeup, looks possessed or strikes an intimidating pose as bright blood reds and orange hues vibrate through each panel. One horse has a great horn thrusting from his forehead. Another wears a vikinglike headpiece while his chest cavity is exposed. The piece reflects Dunne's many interests, including history and the work of other artists, such as Francisco Goya's gory "Saturn Devouring His Son."
In Robert Weibel's "American Bi- son," the alchemy comes from creating images from gunpowder. His large-scale piece here is a multiple image in a lighter, golden-brown tone.
The paint in a three-panel painting by Nanete Maki-Dearsan called "The Abilities of Butterflies" has a texture to it, with dark colors and whiffs of white the artist uses to show the butterflies struggling from submergence to another plane of existence.
Ed Gillum's "Regroovable" has an ode to recycling. For Gillum, alchemy goes hand-in-hand with his concerns about the environment. This work starts with a solar panel in the window that helps light up parts of the piece. There are two worn rubber tires that serve as the base. Hearty ligustrum plants sprout from inside the tires. Rising from the plants, plastic water bottles and bamboo shoots help support a flat, bubble-patterned top. A tall, vertical square-shaped melding of colorful glass pieces sits on the top, the pieces being thrown-away remnants from other people's art projects.
"This piece addresses second chances and persistent effort in the cause of change," Gillum writes in the catalog. The catalog is a rare element for a local exhibit. But Dunne and others felt strongly that the show should be permanently documented. The catalog is available for $18.50.
Sept.22, 2008
By Felicia Matlosz
The Fresno Bee Art that clicks
Gallery 25 pieces together a great 'Assemblage' show. By Donald Munro
July 22, 2008
Chemistry is an ephemeral and mysterious thing. Movie-star couples can have it in romantic spades on screen -- or wind up hobbling along like brother and sister. A chef might combine two wildly different menu items and score a hit -- or cause indigestion. A boss and employee might get along famously, or they could wind up at each other's throats.
Art shows rely on chemistry, too. Curators long for it. Museum marketers crave it. Gallery hoppers flock to it. You're never quite sure what will happen when you take works from more than one artist and put them in the same room until you do it. Chemistry between elements can be about so many hard-to-measure concepts: compatability, tension or a combination of the two. Sometimes everything just clicks.
That's the case with "Assemblage," the terrific new exhibition at Gallery 25 that continues through June 30. Curator Karen LeCocq, a Mariposa artist well-known for her own assemblage art, brought together eight artists, including herself -- some familiar to local art lovers, others new names -- known for an interest in assemblage, or putting together found objects.
The different works combine in intriguing ways, from Chris Beards' large-scale works that suggest the fanciful giddiness of a toy store to David Medley's coolly evocative
conglomerations of neon, scrap metal and corrugated roofing that bring to mind a post-apocalyptic drinking establishment.
Part of the chemistry of the show is the color scheme: lots of rust and earth tones, as befitting the many found objects (read: junk) combined in the works -- and here and there a bright and cheery splash, such as the vivid hues in Jerrie Peters' small-scale landscape designs.
There is a sense here of used things, of dignified decay, of the excitement you get when opening an old trunk from the attic and discovering treasures within.
Part of it is the ebb and flow of the traffic pattern in the gallery: The way that the bright buttons on one of Nancy Youdelman's trademark encaustic-slathered dresses pick up the colors in Peters' little worlds directly across; the way the sharp angles of Medley's neon works complement the solid presence of Raphael X. Reichert's big and bold creations; the way the circular pattern of the displays moves the spectator through the room with a kind of spiral energy.
And part is just the tremendous creativity and whimsy of the show.
Take Beards' "Calendar," for example. The Willits artist, whom LeCocq "discovered" at a Merced College exhibition, has crafted a semi-circle of drooping, skinny nylon-mesh sacks weighed down by decorative balls.
Interspersed at various intervals within the sacks are oak galls, which are odd, roundish organic formations that result when wasps interact with oak trees. The fixture from which the sacks hang resembles a court jester's hat, and there is a light-hearted and whimsical feel to the piece.
Then there's Youdelman's remarkable collection of vintage letters from the 1930s that she bought on eBay.
All are addressed to the same man: one Allen H. Watkins of Greensboro, N.C. All are written by different women smitten with him.
Youdelman doesn't know much about Watkins, but it's clear from the tone of the women's letters that he was a charismatic man with a country-club lifestyle.
One thing that is remarkable about the piece is simply how beautiful the letters are with their carefully inked handwriting and formally addressed envelopes. (Can you imagine hanging a bunch of e-mails from today on the wall? Not quite the same aesthetic impact.)
"No doubt you take me for an idiot or just bad," one saddened woman laments.
But this isn't an attempt to re-create a relationship.
The work does nothing more than give a one-sided glimpse of a desirable man. We know his name, and all the rest that remains are the objects -- these precious letters that were likely dumped out by disinterested heirs -- that he left behind.
All the rest of the holes are left for the imagination to fill.
Which is perhaps why the show is so compelling. It makes you look at "junk" -- stuff that we wouldn't look at twice under different circumstances -- in a whole new way. It finds the intensity in the ordinary.
When "Assemblage"' opened at ArtHop earlier this month, the gallery was crammed with viewers. The excitement in the air was palpable. For one of the few times I can remember in this cavernous gallery, which Gallery 25 moved into in 2005, it felt like the space was being used to its full advantage.
The result is a full-blooded, exciting, memorable experience -- and one that reflects admirably on its curator."I think it should be a traveling show," LeCocq says. "It could go to the Guggenheim or the Modern."
Best of Fresno
Gallery 25 has been selected for the 2008 Best of Fresno Award in the Art Galleries & Dealers category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) July 16, 2008 view press release
Awards
Another Addy for G25 Gallery 25 was awarded a prestigious ADDY for the December 2010 exhibition announcement designed by Rebecca Barnes. February 2011
Gallery 25 wins a coveted ADDY award with show announcement.
At the Fresno Advertising Federation ADDY Award Ceremonies held at the The Grand 1401 in Fresno, CA, on Friday, March 12, Gallery 25 received an ADDY Silver Award for the Gallery 25 announcement card for "The Art of Polly Victor" exhibition. This exhibition honored the former Gallery 25 member, Polly Victor by celebrating her creative vision which was an inspiration to the art community extensively.
In 1999, Gallery 25 also won a gold ADDY for our 25th Anniversary Announcement card.
The Best of Fresno has been awarded to Gallery 25 for 2008 and 2009.Given by the U.S. Commerce Association
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WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 -- Gallery 25 has been selected for the 2009 Best of Fresno Award in the Commercial Art Gallery category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).
The USCA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2009 USCA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.
Gallery 25 Exchange
& International Exhibitions
2010
April Gallery 25 in Exhibition in Abu Dhabi
March Gallery 10 ExchangeExhibition, Washington DC
2009
August Five + 5 Exchange Exhibition, Tampa Florida
2007
July Gallery 25 Exchange Exhibition, Yerevan, Armenia
