Contemporary Art and Dance Interact: Cathy Breslaw's 'Material Visions'...

"February 2015, at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Alexandre Hogue Gallery was an exhibition by Cathy Breslaw, "Material Visions" a mixed media installation. During this exhibition the Advanced Dance Repertory Class came to the gallery and were so moved by the exhibition that each performer chose a piece of Cathy's work that inspired them and they choreographed their own portion of the dance as well as choreographing it together as a group dance. The group came to the gallery and performed"Physical Visions" and we were... lucky enough to have been able to film their performance. We would like to thank Cathy Breslaw for her beautiful art that inspired these young performers. We would also like to thank Professor Jessica Vokoun from the Theater Department for guiding these students in their journey of being inspired by art. Last but certainly not least we would like to thank the performers for their hard work, imagination, and creativity: Harley Dixon, Sara Drost, Maggie O'Gara, Lizzy Rainey, Jillian Schlecht, and John Yuan."

PGK Dance Project Upcoming Performances at Bread and Salt, San Diego

Article by Cathy Breslaw

www.cathybreslaw.com

The PGK Dance Project

PERFORMANCES March 6-8th “San Diego Dances at Bread & Salt” in Logan Heights 

1955 Julian Ave. between Crosby St and Dewey St, San Diego

Friday, March 6^th and Saturday, March 7^th, performances begin at 7:30 pm

Sunday March 8^th, matinee performance at 2:00 pm

It’s a “Party With Dance” – This is how founding Director, Peter Kalivas describes the upcoming PGK Dance program to be held at Bread & Salt in San Diego.  Recently a guest at an informal studio showing of work that will be premiered at the troupe’s 12^th ‘San Diego Dances’ Program, I experienced a unique preview of the works in progress, heard about what inspired this work and listened to various choreographers and dancers talk about the pieces to be performed.  I was struck by the passion, enthusiasm, physical strength and stamina of the dancers and the intuitive and spontaneous ways in which they interacted and responded to one another’s movements in the process of rehearsing each of the four dances performed that afternoon. Equally as intriguing, were the comments and interactions among the choreographers about how each dance could be played out. The experience reminded that the process of creating the program is as critical as the performance itself. Peter Kalivas explained that part of the excitement of this upcoming performance is that they will allow for the fact that the Bread and Salt spaces may evoke new and different ways in how the dancers will perform each work.

World premiers include “The Sound of Dance”, a collaboration conceived and directed by Founding Director Peter G. Kalivas featuring Kristina Cobarubbia (Spanish Flamenco) and Divya Devaguptapu (classical Indian) and John Paul Lawson (American Tap Dance) presenting forms that rely on sound as part of their production. 

A new work by Blythe Barton, Artistic Director of Blythe Barton Dance for The PGK Dance Project also premiers and compliments the expanded version of "Why the Arts Matter/Tell Your Story" by Peter G. Kalivas, the return of Rosalia Lerner’s socially conscious work “Generally, Women Tend To,…” ,the gorgeous “From A Whisper”, by Kim T. Davis, Bay area director of kimdavisdance and “Stay With Me”, a newly re-arranged romantically combative duet choreographed by Peter G. Kalivas for PGK Dancers Megan R. Jenkins and Nguyen Bui featuring Peter on “live” vocals; yes, he sings too. Guest companies include: somebodies dance theater directed by Gina and Kyle Sorensen and independent choreographers Anjanette Maraya-Ramey and Viviana Alcazar Haynes with their respective dancers.  

Tickets at: http://sandiegodancesatbreadandsalt.bpt.me

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Mesa College Exhibits 6 Artists with "Reshaping the 2%: Contemporary Ceramics"

Reshaping the 2%: Contemporary Ceramics

Art Gallery, Mesa College, San Diego

Brian Benfer, Ianna Frisby, Joanne Hayakawa, Rebecca Manson, Brad Schwieger, Julie York

Show Runs Through February 26, 2015

article by Cathy Breslaw

www.cathybreslaw.com

Ianna Frisby

"Luke, I'm Your Mother"   H 11" x L 10" x W 6"   Porcelain, decals and luster   2014

Mesa College Ceramics Professor Nathan Betschart curated this contemporary ceramics exhibition at the college’s Art Gallery. The six artists in the show hail from various parts of the United States and though they use similar materials, their work is distinctively diverse. 

Brian Benfer’s drawing that extends the entire length of one long gallery wall, is part of Benfer’s ‘Chalkboard Series’, where he uses a porcelain composite that mimics ‘chalk’, creating a ‘blackboard’ surface. The result is a static black and white drawing with a richly textured mark-making surface - an overall pattern which the artist produced directly onto the wall.  Ianna Frisby’s two conceptual porcelain wall pieces comment on American history and culture. “Luke, I’m Your Mother”, is a white Darth Vader mask, made from porcelain that is embellished with flowers, showing the opposite more benevolent side of the “Dark Force”(humanity).  Her other work “White Guilt”comments on the dark history of  southern plantations. Joanna Hayakawa uses a combination of porcelain, steel and natural bush branches to explore connections between the biological side of humanity and the natural world.  Her “Inhale, Exhale/Aspiration” works which take the form of ceramic body parts, coupled with the structural imagery of natural bushes,  challenge the viewer to examine these relationships.  Rebecca Manson’s porcelain and epoxy wall pieces appear as ‘sculptural paintings’ in their shape, form and context.  Comprised of many individual small thin elongated ceramic shapes resembling nails, the totality of these works have the physicality of human skeletons and collections of small bones.  Brad Schwieger’s ceramic tabletop sculptures relate to architectural landscapes and are wheel thrown forms that together appear as industrial in content.  There is a certain amount of surface detail and adornment in the colored glazes used that are not evident in most of the other works in the show, but relate to traditional notions of ceramics. Julie York’s wall works relate closely to drawing and painting. Also made from porcelain, York’s works use color, form and perspective drawing to create ceramic architectural interior spaces that possess a meditative quality.  These six artists have unique art practices that taken together portray a complex, evolving and compelling view of the changing face of contemporary ceramic sculpture.

Joanne Hayakawa

“Inhale…Exhale,” 2013, 30”(L) x 28”(W) x 8”(D) (Wall), Porcelain, Beeswax, Steel and Rose Branches and Prismacolor

Being An Artist One Day At A Time

Sometimes being an artist is overwhelming, frustrating and lonely.  If I think about my art practice as an entire career, beginning to end, I am stifled by fears like “What if I don’t make good art?” “What if others don’t like what I DO make?”  “What if I am remembered for not making good art” or more sadly, “What if my work is not remembered at all?”

These questions and many more lead me to a dead end –  better questions are “What do I want to say through my art?" “What is important enough to me to create?" And, “What can I create here – and today, that satisfactorily answers these questions?" Of course the process is more complex and the journey more unsettling than these questions indicate.

Living in the moment and making art of the moment I am in – seems to be the path for me to take. I am not in charge of how people react to or judge what I create. I can only authentically create what I am capable of – here and now, and let others respond. For me, the joy is in the creation.

Joseph Bellows Gallery Exhibits Group Show, Living Arrangements, Photographs Spanning Several Decades

Living Arrangements

Group Exhibition: Rennie Barrow, Bevan Davies, Charles Johnstone, Gene Kennedy, Michael Mulno, Phel Steinmetz

Joseph Bellows Gallery, La Jolla, CA

Article by Cathy Breslaw

Michael Mulno            Multi Unit Residence  Florida Street University Heights   San Diego   2014

Joseph Bellows Gallery brings together the work of eight photographers, emerging and established,  spanning several decades from the 1970’s to the present.  Contemporary and vintage black and white photography are included in this show of gelatin silver and platinum prints ranging in sizes from 7”x7” to 20.5” x 25.5”.  As the title of the show (Living Arrangements) implies, the content of the images relate to domestic sites, picturing developing and existing communities, track homes, neighborhoods and multi-unit dwellings.

The commonality of all the photographers is their straightforward, no frills, depiction of dwellings in their

own particular environment and decade. There are no people or pets, and no views of any interiors of the buildings. With one exception by Scott Davis of night-time views in southern California creating a nocturnal ambiance, all others are daylight depictions.  Regardless of the decade, there is a certain quiet subtly and neutrality to the images, where the photographers want us to form our own opinions about what we are seeing. There is no direct intent to let us in on their point of view. Reenie Barrow’s photographs from the 1970s offer curbside views of homes with trimmed hedges and formal compositions.  Bevan Davies’ photographs show small apartment buildings and large-scale corner views of residential streets in LA in the 1970s’ while Charles Johnstone’s small scale photographs from the early 2000’s depicts mobile homes of coastal communities.  Douglas Gilbert’s photographs show images of Midwest suburban neighborhoods of the 1970’s - revealing natural landscapes transforming into subdivisions, while Gene Kennedy’s large format panoramic frames depict the development of track home communities in the 1980’s in California.  Michael Mulno’s symmetrical compositions of singular buildings taken in the last few years depict multi-unit buildings commonly seen in San Diego neighborhoods, while Phel Steinmetz’s multi-panel panoramic photographs explore the rapid development of real estate housing of the 1970s and 80’s. The photographers in this exhibition provide us with a path to reflect upon what we normally take for granted – the dwellings and places which we call our home.

Quint Gallery's Exhibition of Thomas Glassford's show "Solar Plexus": Mirrored Surfaces, Organic Forms Pushing the Exotic

Orchid   mirrored plexiglass, anodized aluminum    48" x 41 3/8"

Solar Plexus: Exhibition of artist Thomas Glassford

Quint Gallery, La Jolla, CA

Article by Cathy Breslaw

Shiny reflective mirrored materials dominate in Solar Plexus, an exhibition of the work of Thomas Glassford. The viewer is seduced into this work much the same way we might be when we enter a fancy car dealership filled with slick-looking expensive sports cars. Glassford uses mirrored acrylic, anodized aluminum, holographic paper and fluorescent pigment to create these mostly wall reliefs that share the boundaries of painting and sculpture.  Industrial in their overall impression, the works portray organic radial patterns that weave forms that range from animal stripes and leaf structures, to other complex systems of lines and shapes. The title of the show Solar Plexus  hints that perhaps the shapes and forms refer to the human biological term used for the complex sets of nerves located in the abdomen. Or, the Sanskrit reference to the third ‘chakra’, defined as a beacon of light/energy radiating from the center of the body.  Light definitely radiates outward as the viewer sees his/her own reflection as well as that of the surroundings of each work. Though complex in their design, there is a ‘minimalist’ feel and reference to the Op Art and Minimalism art movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s. These rippled shaped metal works share a depth of space within each relief  which is further enhanced by fluorescent paints providing a glow emanating from the metal layers. Undeniably decorative and entertaining, Glassford’s works are also well crafted and elegant.

Zebra   acrylic on holographic paper mounted on anodized aluminum plexi frame