A&D NEWS

May 16, 2013

Endi Poskovic Featured in Ann Arbor News and Current Magazine

Reviews of Endi Poskovic’s exhibition, Big Triumph|Majestic Land, at Chelsea River Gallery are featured in the May issue of Ann Arbor News (“River Gallery showcasing imaginative landscapes of U-M’s Endi Poskovic”, by John Carlos Cantu) and the May issue of Current Magazine (“Here Comes the Sun”, by Louis Meldman).

May 15, 2013

TJ O’Keefe Presents at ICFF May 18-21

TJ O’Keefe (BFA 2004) will present original furniture designs at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, May 18-21.
http://icff.com/exhibitor/tjokeefe

To learn more about O’Keefe’s work, visit PLAY to read a 2010 interview.

TJOKEEFE is an American furniture and object design company founded in 2010. With an emphasis on integrity and efficiency of both design and manufacturing, we strive to create powerful objects through compelling minimalism. Driven by philosophies in architecture, industrial design, and graphic design, our office applies the merit and parameters of all three to every object we produce.

People form relationships with the objects around them. After an object is decidedly functional, we are left with its presence. Ultimately, we aim to enhance the world by creating essentially functional objects that are calming in their simplicity and confident in their form. The resulting products blur the line between sculpture and furniture.

International Contemporary Furniture Fair
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
11th Avenue at 38th Street, New York, NY 10001

May 15, 2013

Nancy Lorenz Exhibits at Morgan Lehman NYC

Nancy Lorenz (BFA 1985) exhibits new work at Morgan Lehman in New York City from May 2 to June 29. This show marks Lorenz’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and features work related to her experience at the Cill Rialaig artist residency in South West County Kerry, Ireland. Lorenz’s new work evokes the tumultuous spirit of 19th century American landscapes painters such as Winslow Homer and the frenetic immediacy of Minimalism’s icon Cy Twombly.

Morgan Lehman
535 West 22nd Street
Between 10th and 11th Avenues
New York, NY 10011

May 2 - June 29, 2013

Gallery Hours: 10am - 6pm, Tuesday - Saturday and by appointment.

http://www.nancy-lorenz.com

May 15, 2013

text+message Art Show in NYC

Please join Sara Radin (BFA 2011) and her co-curator Rachel Stekson at the opening reception for text+message: The Demise of Texts + The Rise of Textual Artwork in New York City on May 16 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.

Featuring work by alums Sara Radin and Ellen Rosengard as well as 8 other contemporary artists. 

Acumen Project Space
37-18 Northern Boulevard, Long Island City
Queens, NY

May 16 - June 27, 2013

Opening Reception: May 16, 5:30 - 8:30 pm
Drinks and food will be provided by Acumen Capital Partners LLC.
Gallery hours: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

http://textplusmessage.tumblr.com

May 14, 2013

paper+art by Alyse Solomon Debuts at ICFF, May 18-21

Alyse Solomon (BFA 2000) is pleased to announce the launch of paper+art, her new line of wall coverings and carpets. This series will feature exciting patterns derived from her photography. paper+art will be presented at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, booth #939, from May 18-21.

International Contemporary Furniture Fair
Saturday & Sunday, May 18 & 19, 10am-5pm trade only
Monday, May 20, 10am-5pm trade only
Tuesday, May 21, 10am-4pm open to the public

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
11th Avenue at 38th Street, New York, NY 10001

http://www.alysesolomon.com

http://www.icff.com/exhibitor/paperart-alyse-solomon

May 14, 2013

Ken Aptekar Exhibits “DON’T STOP” in Birmingham, Michigan

A solo show of work by Ken Aptekar (BFA 1973) opens Saturday, May 18th with an artist’s reception from 5 - 8 pm at Wasserman Projects in Birmingham, Michigan.  DONT STOP:  New Digital Works and Paintings by Ken Aptekar uses the history of art, primarily classical painting, to bring the past into the present by appropriating images from existing works, then transforming the composition, color, and scale, often radically. Sometimes humorous, always dissonant, the effect is powerful, and often reverberates in viewers’ experiences contemplating other historical works.  The exhibition continues through June 21, 2013.

DON’T STOP: New Digital Works & Paintings by Ken Aptekar
May 18 - June 21, 2013
Wasserman Projects
2163 Cole Street, Birmingham, MI 48009

Artist Reception:  Saturday, 18 May, 5-8 pm

About DON’T STOP, Aptekar writes: “Living in both Paris and New York, I have been lucky to experience the cultures of Europe and America with the perspective of an outsider. When I am in Paris, I see life there as an American who was born in Detroit and has lived for nearly 40 years in New York. Back in the States, I look through the lens of the last fifteen years of living more in Paris than New York.

“The works in this series, DON’T STOP, developed out of a desire to reconcile two important differences between life in the two countries. France, the oldest country in Europe, has had kings in charge for most of its existence. Even though it became a republic after the French Revolution, its culture is steeped in its royal origins. Life in France is marked by class, highly developed codes of behavior, easy sensuality, significant state art patronage, refined taste, and strong federal government.

“In contrast Americans regard class difference with skepticism if not denial, and privilege as nothing more than a lucky break. In the US we feel we can become anybody we want unhindered by our family’s past, our race or personal history or gender. State support of the arts is deemed a luxury we can’t afford. And finally, government in America is a constant battle between State and Federal positions.

“I tried to mash up these differences in my series, DON’T STOP. Fifteen large glossy pictures set democratic American pleasure-taking—disco!—against princely French refinement.”

Included in Aptekar’s exhibition is a special project for which the artist produced a new work based on a major painting on loan to the gallery from the Detroit Historical Society. Together the works create a dialogue between the past and present, pointing to the struggle to decide how to make Detroit once again.

French explorer, Antoine de la Mothe, known also as Lord Cadillac, set sail for France in 1698 in order to convince King Louis to allow him to found a new settlement in the Great Lakes. Specifically, he was interested in the area south of Lake Huron known as le détroit, or the straits.

Returning to the New World, Cadillac and his men reached the Detroit River on July 23, 1701. The following day, July 24, 1701, the group traveled north on the Detroit River and chose a place to build the settlement. Cadillac named the settlement Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit in honor of King Louis’s Minister of Marine.

Ken Aptekar set out to make a work that highlights the artist’s home town and his present life divided between the US and France. He hoped to honor Detroit’s French past, and and also its identity as the birthplace of Motown, a defining feature of his childhood in the 50s and 60’s. Reversing Fernand LeQuesne’s 1902 painting, “Louis XIV Delivering to Chevallier de Cadillac the Ordinance & Grant for the Foundation of the City of Detroit,” to shift the focus from Louis XIV to Cadillac, Aptekar splashed across his image the title of the 1981 Rick James disco hit, “Give It To Me Baby.” Irreverent and jarring in its confrontation with a courtly scene in Versailles, the song title sandblasted on glass over Aptekar’s painting reflects both the wild ambitions of Cadillac and Berry Gordy, not to mention the desire to make something out of nothing that drives any artist.

May 13, 2013

Retaining Identity at UM Matthaei Botanical Gardens

Retaining Identity captures the spirit of creativity and embraces a shared experience. Partnering with UM Geriatric Center’s Silver Club Mild Memory Loss Program club members, including the newer Elderberry (barely elder) group, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design students guided members in the art making. Professor Anne Mondro’s students and club members shared experiences and expertise to create one-of-a kind works of art.

Exhibition Dates: May 11- June 23, 2013
Reception: May 28, 2:30 - 4:00 pm
Matthaei Botanical Gardens
1800 N. Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor MI 48105

http://www.retainingidentity.com

May 13, 2013

Michael Flynn: Flint Public Art Fest

Stamps School Lecturer Michael Flynn‘s Cooperative Phonograph helped to activate an extended sense of community through cooperative play at The Flint Public Art Festival, May 3rd through 5th. The festival served as the inaugural opening of parkland reclaimed for public use from the former General Motors manufacturing site (in a riverside valley) known as “Chevy in the Hole”.

Review published in Flint Journal: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flint/index.ssf/2013/05/free_city_art_festival_ann_arb.html
Flint Journal photos: http://photos.mlive.com/flint-journal/2013/05/free_city_art_festival_takes_o_24.html

May 8, 2013

Celebrate the Return of Wildwood Press in St. Louis

Maryanne Ellison Simmons (BFA 1971) will celebrate the return of her Wildwood Press, LLC to downtown St. Louis with a gathering on Friday, May 17, 2013 from 4 to 8 p.m. on the 4th Floor of The City Museum.
Founded by Simmons, who serves as both publisher and master printer, Wildwood Press operates on the principle of collaboration between artist and printer. Come and learn what’s next for Wildwood Press.

City Museum
701 North 15th Street 403E
St. Louis, MO 63103

http://www.wildwoodpress.us

May 6, 2013

Claudia Hershman: New Work Show

Prints and paintings by Claudia Hershman (BSDES 1964) are featured in an exhibition with Janis Walker at Level One Bank gallery in Ferndale, Michigan. The exhibition will run through July 8th.

Claudia Barak Hershman & Janis Walker: New Work
Level One Bank Gallery
22635 Woodward Ave, Ferndale, MI
May 17 - July 8, 2013
Opening reception May 17th 5-8PM

http://www.claudiahershman.etsy.com