WOMEN& ART, ART & WOMEN

This is in Women's history/herstory month. YOU MAY WANT TO READ THE PREFACE WHICH IS TOWARD THE BOTTOM Art dances on . I dedicatethe Edna Boies Hopkins piece to my cousin Jill .

SHORT NORTH:ART & WOMEN:MARCIA & LAURIE, WOMEN & ART

Celebrate MARCIA EVANS, Petite, talented, courageous Art Consultant 8 East Lincoln, who, in cooperation with the Puffin Foundation, will show Eva Andry's solemn and interactive exhibit PUTTING FACES TO THE NAMES . The exhibit consists of 300 original photographs representing the (American) Iraq war Fallen.. This interactive event is a witnessing. Educator and consultant Evans comprehends public and private needs for art enhancement in all communities. She is to be commended for sharing her upscale professional gallery with Putting Faces to the Names. The exhibit, if not the war, will close on April 15. See the current Short North Gazette for more. See the April Gazette for my review of LAURIE VON ENDT's imaginative LAY OF THE LAND, an exhibit of colored infrared photographs at JUNG HAUS GALLERY 59 West Third Avenue. This exhibit closes on April 28.

WOMEN&ART: BERNICE TAKES OFF!

THE PAINTERLY BERNICE KOFF "took off" like sparks from a comet's tail--with Explorations in Color, original works that augmented Dale Chihuly's glass culpture at Franklin Park Conservatory thru Feburary 25. Koff's responses, her "associations," --with growing things, with her daily life, and with glass sculpture--have been expressed thru bold, not rash, brush work--and thru tiny spots and dribbles. Her use of bright greens, oranges, reds--all the colors -- is exciting yet balanced. Her sense of design is unfailing, yet her affect is that of spontaneity. Koff is basically an abstractionist--but her representative side came thru, if slightly, in this show, and I wish I could have covered the Explorations earlier. Always a strong painter, Koff is a tireless artist and an excellent docent. Her "Franklin park paintings" danced on the walls; they were never trite.

WOMEN&ART AT RIFFE: ANN WITH TWO VASES

Art is a journey, and FAR, NEAR, HERE presents a treasure trove of varied selections from the Columbus Museum of Art. AT RIFFE CENTER GALLERY until April 15. The curatorial guidelines stipulated that selected works had not been exhibited for at least five years. Viewers are soon greeted by ANN DEWALD's Beyond the Limit, one of her neon and aluminum structures. The shiny "sign" resembles, well, a shape,a quirky road sign! Two red lights, cocky as leprechaun ears, blink on and off. BTL plugs into a socket.--You could have bought a Dewald for your home, and connoisseurs did! Dewald (1930-2003) was a meteroic influence on the Columbus art scene, and famous for her parties. She was kind, yet outspoken. Frail, neurotic ,driven, she lived "Beyond the Limit."--I can see her flashing now.
For whatever reason, whenever I think of the Far/Near show, I recall with delight two slender VASES poised like ballerinas, side by side in a glass case. I've recalled them frequently.
Simple, curved, glistening. Jade, turquoise,sky, lavender. Unadorned. Their label? "Tiffany glass and Decorating Co. or Studio or attributed to Tiffany Studios, American. blue iridescent glass, possibly favrile, the gift of MRS. RALPH H. TRIVELLA in 1978."--I wondered if, possibly, Mrs. Trivella gave wonderful parties, or if she ever met Edna Boies Hopkins, or Ann Dewald.--Maybe I'll find out! Whatever. I'm glad she gave the vases to the Museum! Again: The Riffe show, Far Near Here, runs to April 15 and exhibits a panoply of valuable paintings, including such contemporary heavies as Toldstedt, Rauschenberg, Shineman.--Yeah, they're guys, but they're darn good. The exhibit includes tiny Japanese Traveling Shrines and an Anasazi pueblo Jar from the 13th-14th century, as well as Apache coiled baskets, and you will find much to consider, much that will dazzle you!

ART & WOMEN, WOMEN & ART: EDNA

KENY GALLERY, 300 Beck Street, recently offered one of the most beautiful and varied exhibits ever. Kindred Spirits: Cross Currents in Modernism at the Pennsylvania Academy 1907-1930 closed at Keny on March 2. It was at Kindred Spirits that I "met" EDNA BOIES HOPKINS (1872-1937). At the opening I heard other viewers oohing and ahhing about Edna too! Boies Hopkins' woodcut prints--many of them of familiar garden flowers --"Cineraria," "Zinnias" and "Sweet William" --were executed around 1915. The dusty, luminous oranges and yellows, the chalky lavenders and pouty greens, reveal an elegant "palette."--Woodcuts are a most difficult medium, yet, Boies Hopkins' prints manage to be warm and delicate, cool and sharp--all at the same time!--In 1917 Edna crafted the simple but moving "Homeward Trail/The Circuit Rider." In it a gangling, slouch hatted man leads a mule down hill against monochromatic sections of rural land. The sky is a dull lemon; the white mule points his ears toward the tall man's white shirt. This cut, and some other Boies Hopkins, remind me not only of pastel paintings, but of charming quilt designs, appliques! --I've seen no woodcuts like hers!
In 1904 Edna Boies, from Michigan, married James Hopkins from Ohio. (of the Ohio State University's Hopkins Hall.) Edna and James were able to live in Paris for months each year, "during the formative years of European Modernism."--Roughly the same time Fitzgerald and Hemingway hung out there. If the Hopkins gave a New Years party, Edna made gorgeous invitations, and Keny Gallery owns them!
Boies Hopkins became a member of the French Engraving Society and the Society National des Beaux Arts.--Her extensive list of permanent collections includes The National Museum of Stockholm and the Biblioteque d'Art et Archeology in Paris, France.--I want to see more of Edna's prints and learn more about her. (She's a permanent resident at Keny, but you may have to ask.) The Keny opening included a real-live-in-the-flesh TAMIE BELDUE. Beldue accompanied her own large Fine Drawings, Graphite Watercolors(!) of semi nude women. These full length portraits suggest a classical past; they are poetic , serious. Fetching. First rate.
ALAN GOUGH. The master painter Alan Gough, --yeah, I know he's a guy--opens at Keny on March 9 and runs thru April 2 in Alan Gough: Recent Landscapes. "Little Red Bud Tune; Pond Pads; Paint Creek" emit the vibes of Mid West Rural, yet, they're universal, like a William Blake phrase about eternity. Curators and owners, James Keny and Timothy Keny--yeah, they're guys, brothers,--run a superb gallery, and I'm always a better art person when I've been there.

ART & WOMEN, WOMEN & ART : PREFACE

preface: March is women's history, or herstory, month, so I've been trying to write a woman-honoring collage, a paste and cut from current and recent shows. --To say that the last few weeks have been heavy with technical glitches and bad weather, is an understatement. However, better late than never. --I am actually having difficulties as I type on March 21st from the out of home office.