"Wrapping Up the Season" Opens NOV 15 on Th3

SYRACUSE, New York -- October 29, 2007 --  Delavan Art Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition "Wrapping Up The Season" featuring mixed media works from the series "Archeological Memoir" by Amy E. Bartell and "Conversations With Nature" by Tara Hogan in addition to works by the Syracuse Ceramic Guild. The exhibit opens on Thursday, November 15 from 5-8 p.m. and continues through Saturday, December 22, 2007.

Amy E. Bartell has returned for a second exhibition at Delavan Art Gallery to show a new series of mixed media works titled "Archeological Memoir." In her artist statement she describes the body of work as "a glimpse into memory and a quest for directional clues amidst the maps, signs, mysteries, scraps of writing and the compass of magnetic north." Bartell's art work can be found in the collections of numerous individuals and organizations including Carleton College, California State University, Syracuse University and SUNY New York. She is known as a mural artist around the country and as the former Gallery Coordinator of Delavan Art Gallery. Currently, she is a faculty member of the art department at SUNY Oswego. Bartell's approach in her new series raises the question "What do we see when we scan the horizons of our lives? Where do we dig; does 'X' really mark the spot?"

Amy Bartell, "Crossing Against the Light" mixed media, 6" x 6"

Tara Hogan is exhibiting a collection of monoprints and mixed media from a new series of work titled "Conversations With Nature." The body of work conveys a dialogue between humans, animals and nature inspired by an interest in environmental consciousness. Hogan has been a graphic designer since earning her B.F.A. in Illustration from Syracuse University eight years ago. Her art has been published in American Illustration, CMYK Magazine, Domino Magazine online and on the back of Bear Magazine. About her distinct style, Hogan explains, "I have a loving appreciation for nature's intricate beauty combined with modern urban style."

Tara Hogan, "Conversations with Nature" pencil, monoprint and ink on paper

Syracuse Ceramic Guild has returned for a third exhibition at Delavan Art Gallery, featuring ceramics by ten of its members. Selected works include eclectic ceramics by Lory and Walt Black, porcelain and stoneware by Sue Canizares, Raku sculpture by Dona Flaherty, Raku pottery by Dee Gage, abstract sculptural stoneware by Jane T. Gillett, ceramic story boxes by Amy Patricia Komar, "Biomorpheus," a body of abstract works by Ron Kalinoski, high-fired porcelain and stoneware by Bobbi Lamb and soda fired works by Steven Pilcher. The Syracuse Ceramic Guild, established in 1947, is a not-for-profit organization of potters dedicated to the promotion of awareness and understanding of the ceramic medium.

Representing Syracuse Ceramic Guild:
Jane T. Gillett, "The Unfolding" stoneware, oxide, glaze

Delavan Art Gallery is a 3,800 square foot showcase and sales venue for fine art created by area artists. Conveniently located downtown at 501 West Fayette Street in Syracuse, the gallery is free and open to the public. Off-street parking is available and the gallery is handicapped accessible. Delavan Art Gallery opens “Wrapping Up the Season” from 5 - 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 15, which is also Th3, The Third Thursday. The show is on exhibit through Saturday, December 22 on Thursday and Friday afternoons from 12-6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. -  4 p.m. and at other times by appointment. For more information visit www.DelavanArtGallery.com.


MEET THE ARTISTS!
Artists in Attendance:
Saturday November 17, noon - 3 p.m.- Amy Bartell
Saturday November 24, noon - 3 p.m.- Artists from Syracuse Ceramic Guild (TBA)
Saturday December 1, noon - 3 p.m.- Artists from Syracuse Ceramic Guild (TBA)
Saturday December 15, noon - 3 p.m.- Tara Hogan
Saturday December 22, noon - 3 p.m.- Artists from Syracuse Ceramic Guild (TBA)

Special Events:

Thursday December 20 from 5 - 8 p.m.- Delavan Art Gallery will have several of our featured artists in attendance for Th3, The Third Thursday, Syracuse's citywide visual arts night. For more information on Th3 please visit www.th3syracuse.com

Saturday December 8 at 2 p.m.- Stone Canoe Writers Series featuring Michael Burkard and Chris Kennedy. Michael Burkard was a 2006 Stone Canoe Poetry Editor and faculty member in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University. Chris Kennedy is the director of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at Syracuse University and the author of full-length collections of poetry. For more information on Burkard, Kennedy and the publication Stone Canoe, please visit www.stonecanoejournal.org

– END –

Fantastic Review

The Post-Standard STARS
Color to the Max
Sunday, October 21, 2007
KATHERINE RUSHWORTH
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

There's nothing like a healthy dose of color on one of Syracuse's dank, gray days. The current exhibition on view at the Delavan Art Gallery provides just the mood-altering cure we all need from time to time.

"Maximum Color," on view through Nov. 10, is comprised of glass works by Phil Austin, paintings by Alison Fisher, Jim Loveless and Lutz Scherneck and digital photography by Linda Spatuzzi. The works range from traditional to non-traditional, encompassing realistic and abstract interpretations of the landscape or raucous celebrations of color and form. On a sun-filled day, the Delavan Art Gallery virtually pulsates with color.

Painters Fisher, Loveless and Scherneck dominate the show, both in quantity of work and quality of expression. Fisher exhibits two distinctly different bodies of work - one a set of hard-edged mixed media abstract paintings comprised of acrylic, titanium, pastel, gold ink, tea leafing and copper wire and the other a group of loosely constructed, ethereal acrylic landscapes.

In the mixed media pieces such as "Heavenly Places," "Voice of Truth," and "Middle Ground," Fisher demonstrates a playful hand, with gestural lines guiding your eye across brightly colored, two-dimensional surfaces. Texture is also of greater significance than in the landscape paintings. The latter paintings are equally as concerned with color, but here Fisher engages a more muted and nuanced palette. The strongest of the acrylic pieces leave some of the landscape unresolved, where imagery is implied rather than defined; a definite lesson in less is more.

Loveless also exhibits two bodies of work, which initially seem unrelated but on closer examination demonstrate similar pictorial concerns. Loveless writes that when the two bodies of work "cohere it is more through style than subject matter."

Some of the works utilize lines, spheres and cubes to manipulate various pictorial elements. Other pieces engage the landscape as a vehicle to explore similar design elements. In "Mystical Arrangement" Loveless uses the geometric forms to play with conditions of light and shadow in the way he uses the flat sides and sharp corners of buildings in "White House on Monhegan Island." He also shows a couple of "crossover" paintings, which incorporate more literal landscapes with the geometric forms, but they just seemed to lack focus.

Scherneck grabs on to color and squeezes for all it's worth. His style is bold and expressionistic; sometimes engaging staining techniques and other times moving thick swabs of paint over the canvas with a palette knife or wide brush. Scherneck's paintings are large and loud.

"Red White Blue WMB" is one of the most dynamic of his pieces, vibrating with color and texture. "Red Flow" demonstrates some underlying staining techniques, which Scherneck works back into creating an interesting contrast of textures. In many of the pieces, he sets up implied movement within the picture plane by controlling the flow of paint.

Control is the main concern of digital artist Spatuzzi. She begins by taking photos of everyday objects or settings, which she then turns into abstract imagery through the machinations of digital technology. The pieces are dramatic, high-contrast, carefully constructed abstract forms; but some speak to their figurative origins.

The images in "Floating Leaf," "Royal Insects," and "Roboman" clearly reference their titles, but "Green Abstract," "Sunrise Abstract," and the compelling "Dee's Tablecloth" seem like pure explorations of color and form.

Finally, glass artist Austin exhibits more than two-dozen hand blown functional glass objects featuring vases and bowls in deep blue, warm green and amber tones.

"Maximum Color" lives up to its name and provides something for just about everyone. It's sure to brighten your day even on one of Syracuse's darkest.

View the article at Syracuse.com HERE

Post-Standard article about County Executive candidates at Delavan Art Gallery

The following is a quote from an article just published about the recent appearance of County Executive candidates Magnarelli and Mahoney at Delavan Art Gallery to meet with ACLA.

"Magnarelli, Mahoney talk arts funding

Monday, October 08, 2007
JOHN MARIANI
POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
The scene: a three-deep semicircle of chairs surrounding a "hot seat" in the Delavan Art Gallery.

The players: the major party candidates for Onondaga County executive, Republican Joanie Mahoney and Democrat Bill Magnarelli.

The show: an unscripted discussion of county participation in the arts with the Arts & Culture Leadership Council, a group comprised of executives of Central New York's leading cultural organizations.

One after the other, Magnarelli and Mahoney took the hot seat last week to give their views on the role of the arts in Central New York and to say what they would do as county executive to foster them.

Culture and the arts are personally important to him, Magnarelli said. When he was 7 or 8 years old, his parents started him with music lessons; being Italian-American, he said, the instrument of choice was the accordion. He hadn't picked one up in 20 years, he said, but probably could still squeeze out a tune. More importantly, he said, the lessons gave him a lifelong appreciation of the arts.

Beyond his personal experience, the arts and cultural events are important to the lifeblood and economy of the community, raising spirits, entertaining tourists and attracting new residents, Magnarelli said. "If we're going to bring back downtown Syracuse," he said, "I don't see how we can do it without the arts."

The county should provide more financial support and make the grant process more transparent and predictable, perhaps by strengthening the Cultural Resources Council, so art organizations can plan better, he said.

Mahoney said she saw how important the arts were to economic development when her husband, Marc Overdyk, and his partners wooed Shell Oil Co. to set up a subsidiary in Syracuse. Among the things the people they were dealing with wanted to know about was Syracuse's cultural life, she said.

As county executive, she said, she would lean on alliance members to learn how decisions on arts spending are made and to help come up with a spending plan. She'd be willing to talk about increasing funding, she said. When one alliance member complained that politics plays too great a role in arts funding, she suggested setting up a dedicated pool of money for the arts and a bipartisan council to decide how to spend it.

Cultivating the arts could help retain young adults and encourage expatiates to return to Central New York, Mahoney said. Recent college graduates she's met while campaigning seem almost defensive about their decision to remain here, she said.

"We need to make this city, this region, cooler," Mahoney said.

The arts group will make no endorsement in the race, said Laura Reeder, its chairwoman. The forum was as much to let the candidates get to know the alliance members as is was to let the members get to know the candidates, she said.

For the record, the modified 2008 county budget being voted on Tuesday by the county Legislature includes $1.24 million for 17 arts and cultural groups. That would be a 16 percent increase from this year. It doesn't include $74,000 in extra money the Legislature proposes to set aside in contingency accounts...."

Read the rest of the article on Syracuse.com

Mick Mather and Berman's Community Mural

Cultural Resources Council Special Project Coordinator Mick Mather came by Delavan Center recently to paint with Michael Berman on his community mural. He's recently posted a photo and some comments on his blog http://nomatterwhatshape.blogspot.com/ Please check it out!

Artist Demonstration and Poetry Reading

This Saturday October 6th at Delavan Art Gallery...

Artist Demonstration at 12:30 p.m.


Presentation and demonstration by artist Sandy Clift about the process of creating her series "While I Was Sleeping"

After retiring from thirty-one years of teaching elementary school in Fulton, NY, Sandy Clift returned to the State University College at Oswego to pursue art and has been exhibiting nationally and regionally ever since. This exhibition features a series of art called "While I Was Sleeping." In these works, Clift combines technically detailed drawing with unique surfaces creating using tissue paper, packaging paper, matte medium, glue, pastels, Caran d'Ache, watercolors and acrylics. About the imaginative subject matter, Clift writes in her artist statement, "I had a collection of plastic animals when I was a child. I still have some of them, and it is still amusing to consider what they might be up to while I am busy."


Poetry Reading at 2 p.m.


Stone Canoe Poetry Reading featuring performing poet and sound artist Duriel Harris.

Heralded as one of three Chicago poets for the 21st century by WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, Duriel E. Harris holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, an M.A. from the Graduate Creative Writing Program at NYU and a B.A. in Literature from Yale University. A member of reedist Douglas Ewart’s experimental jazz choir, Inventions, Harris is a co-founder of The Black Took Collective and the Poetry Editor for Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora.

Future Stone Canoe Poetry Readings
Oct 6, 2007- Duriel Harris
November 3, 2007- Phil Memmer
December 8, 2007- Chris Kennedy and Michael Burkard
February 23, 2008- Thom Ward
March 29, 2008- Charles Martin
May 3, 2008- TBA
June 7, 2008- TBA


See you on Saturday!

Maximum Color opens October 11

Press Release:

SYRACUSE, New York -- September 21, 2007 --  Delavan Art Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition "Maximum Color" featuring glass by Phil Austin, paintings by Alison Fisher, landscapes and abstractions by Jim Loveless, non-representational paintings by Lutz Scherneck and creative photography by Linda Spatuzzi. The exhibit opens on Thursday, October 11 and continues through Saturday, November 10, 2007.

Phil Austin is a glass artist and craftsman who works out of his Snake Oil Glassworks studio in Skaneateles, NY. He uses traditional offhand glassblowing techniques to create vases, bowls and a variety of other objects that are popular for their colorful textural surfaces and traditional forms. He also designs and builds glass furnaces, ovens and other equipment used in making blown glass. Austin has an MFA from the School for American Craftsman at Rochester Institute of Technology and is currently a part-time member of the Art faculty at Onondaga Community College.

Phil Austin, Yellow Vase, glass, 7" w x 13.25" h

Alison Fisher's deep love of abstract form is inspired by artists such as Kandinsky and Rothko. Her mixed media paintings use acrylic, titanium, pastel, gold ink, tea leafing and copper wire to explore concepts of balance and perception. In addition to her mixed media paintings, Fisher also creates acrylic on paper impressionistic works that invoke a sense of peace and tranquility. Her art has been exhibited in fine art shows and galleries across the Southwest and East coast and is collected by corporations and private collectors alike. Fisher says her work reflects her own evolution as an artist and the beauty of the quest.

Alison Fisher, Through the Tori, mixed media painting, 37" w x 36" h

Jim Loveless paints acrylic landscapes and abstractions. He is a Professor Emeritas of Colgate University and has been painting and exhibiting for nearly fifty years in universities and museums around the country. Loveless's paintings imply ideas of space and timelessness. Loveless uses geometrical forms as a way of showing force because, he explains, "...they stand outside of time, a little bit. They can be encountered directly but they are divested of a kind of history."

Jim Loveless, Madison County Series IV, acrylic painting, 21” w x 25” h

Lutz Scherneck uses acrylic paints on canvas to create non-representational works of art. Although born in Germany, Scherneck grew up in the Mohawk Valley region of upstate New York and went on to graduate from Syracuse University with a BFA in painting. He explains, "Rather than calculation, creativity should be the result of an artist's intuition... The process of painting is simple yet my goal remains lofty: combine components elemental to painting in a plastic manner and create a high level visual work of art."

Lutz Scherneck, Red Flow, acrylic painting, 63" x 63" diamond

Linda Spatuzzi specializes in creating abstract images from photos of everyday objects or settings. Her creative photography has been shown in the Liverpool Art Show, NYS Fair, Photography Magazine Annual International Competition, Syracuse Post Standard Photo Competition and Vineyard Art Show. Spatuzzi was also an award winner in the Betterphoto.com international competition.

Linda Spatuzzi, Roboman, creative photography, 16" w x 20" h

Delavan Art Gallery is a 3,800 square foot showcase and sales venue for fine art created by area artists. Conveniently located downtown at 501 West Fayette Street in Syracuse, the gallery is free and open to the public. Off-street parking is available and the gallery is handicapped accessible. Delavan Art Gallery opens “Maximum Color” from 5 - 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 11. The show is on exhibit through Saturday, November 10 on Thursday and Friday afternoons from 12-6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. -  4 p.m. and at other times by appointment. For more information visit www.DelavanArtGallery.com.


MEET THE ARTISTS!
Artists in Attendance:
Saturday October 13, noon - 3 p.m.- Lutz Scherneck
Thursday October 18, 5-8 p.m.- All Artists In Attendance for Th3
Saturday October 20, noon - 3 p.m.- Alison Fisher
Saturday October 27, noon - 3 p.m.- Linda Spatuzzi
Saturday November 3, noon - 3 p.m.- Stone Canoe Poetry Reading featuring Phil Memmer
Saturday November 10, noon - 3 p.m.- Jim Loveless

Special Events:
Thursday October 18 from 5 - 8 p.m.- Th3, The Third Thursday, Syracuse's citywide visual arts night. For more information please visit www.th3syracuse.com
Saturday November 3 at 2 p.m.- Stone Canoe Poetry Reading featuring accomplished poet Phil Memmer. Memmer is the author of three collections of poetry, editor of the literary journal Two Rivers Review, director of the Arts Branch of the YWCA and founder of the Downtown Writer's center. For more information on Phil Memmer and the publication Stone Canoe, please visit www.stonecanoejournal.org