The state of all things is pretty much still looking gray and uncertain, which makes the list of shows and exhibits you are about to read possibly the only piece of good and colorful news you hear in a while.
By the time you are done reading this, I predict, there will be several shows competing for your attention. My advice? Write them down.
The artists and creations hitting the local museums and art venues are (lucky us) diverse and fun, ranging in subject from the human body and wildlife to ghosts, gods and Tiffany lamps. By the time the season ends, self-taught artists, glassblowers, printmakers, photographers, painters and designers, among others, will have been represented. They will have brought you explicit interpretations of the human body, tiny Japanese teapots and luxury designer attires, among many other surprises.
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach: Fresh and widely awake from its two-and-a-half week hibernation and record-breaking summer attendance, the museum reopened Saturday with a redesigned wi-fi main lobby and the reinstallation of its American and European galleries.
Photographic works acquired during the past year will be presented in Recent Acquisitions: Photography (Oct. 1-Jan. 1). The works will depict the visions of a younger generation of photographers who will ask us, as the professionals do, to reconsider finding beauty and value in the mundane and the normal.
The end of October will see on display objects — painting, jade, ceramic, glass, and metalwork — that once belonged to one of the greatest art collector in 18th century China, the Qianlong emperor. Running from Oct. 22 to Feb. 19, The Emperor’s Orders: Designs from the Qianlong Imperial Workshop (1736 -1796) will be composed by the museum’s own collection and some loans.
A monumental 15-by-30 foot American flag will be the centerpiece of the Dave Cole: Flags of the World (2008) exhibit opening Nov. 3. The artist is known for grabbing ordinary and familiar materials and turning them into highly-provoking pieces. This particular piece is made up of red, white and blue pieces of fabric taken from the 192 international banners from an official United Nations flag set. They are organized by color and sewn together with gold thread to form the gigantic quilt-like American flag, which will most likely take an entire wall. At the foot of the suspended piece will rest discarded colorful remnants from the flags of the world. This is one piece that promises to make us think.
Following Flags is a show for those not all too concerned with physical appearance. Jenny Saville (Nov. 30-March 4) is the first exhibit of the RAW series the Norton will present — Recognition of Art by Women — and definitely not one to be missed. Prepare to face works of tremendous physicality, volume and mass. They are created by a female British artist whose entire work got purchased by a prestigious art collector (Charles Saatchi) when she was still in her 20s. Her style is said to resemble that of the recently deceased Lucian Freud and seems at times derived from her extensive observation of plastic surgery procedures. Surgical photographs of liposuction, trauma victims, deformity correction, disease states and transgender patients figure in her published sketches.
This selective exhibit of 25 canvases and drawings dating from 1999–2011 will include some works never exhibited before. Among the better-known pieces will be Fulcrum (1999) and Reverse (2002-3). Saville is known to produce works with an “agonizing frankness.” The sense of weight and imperfection she gives to her fleshy subjects — often nudes — is at times unbearable.
Cocktail Culture will open Dec. 15 just in time for the holidays. This is one for the voguistas (Vogue readers) or young future designers who wish to admire the masters. The exhibit, consisting of about 200 objects, will explore the social ritual of drinking and entertainment through fashion and design. Cristobal Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Jeanne Lanvin, Yves Saint-Laurent and Valentino are among the big names that will be featured. Accompanying their cocktail attire designs will be accessories by Tiffany, Christian Dior and Van Cleef & Arpel, among others. The show will run through March 18, 2012.
Contemporary artist Beth Lipman is said to have been inspired by the Norton’s Old Master still life paintings. The result? The museum’s commission of a large-scale glass construction that will be installed in the center of the European galleries. Beth Lipman: A Still Life Installation opens Jan. 18 and runs through May 27. The Wisconsin-based artist creates pieces made of clear glass that stand for the concepts of wealth and consumerism. She is also interested in representing the sumptuousness of life often represented in 17th– and 18th-century European still-life paintings. The commissioned work will be displayed in the context of works by artists Lipman selected, such as Flemish painters Daniel Seghers and Jan Fyt and the Spanish Baroque painter Juan de Arellano. Her installation will be accompanied by The Corning Museum of Glass Hot Glass Roadshow (Jan. 18–March 25). The Roadshow is the world’s premier mobile glassblowing unit housed in a 28-foot-long trailer. The exciting 10-week long program will include live demonstrations and hands-on workshops. Please note that admission for this show is an additional $3, but free to museum members as well as children under 13 years old.
Adding to the glass theme, and running simultaneously with the Lipman exhibit, will be Studio Glass: Works from the Museum Collection (Jan.18- May 27). Among the famous glass artists featured will be Dale Chihuly (whose creations are owned by the Queen of England, Elton John, Mick Jagger and hundreds of museums) William Morris (whose style is considered innovative and provoking) and Toots Zynsky (known for his striking colors).
The season will end pretty much in the same fashion it started: with photography. But this time with works by a British female artist who actually began her journey as a painting student. Tacita Dean (Feb. 3-May 6) will focus on the artworks produced by the Berlin-based artist during the past twenty years. Hers would be conventional photography if it were not for the paint, drawings, or handwritten text that gets often added to the images.
Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach: Howard Chandler Christy and J.C. Leyendecker are two of the best American illustrators of the 20th century. It is no surprise then than the society is highlighting their work with a month-long show titled The Art of Illustration, Original Works of Howard Chandler Christy and J.C. Leyendecker (Dec. 3-Jan. 15). This is for those who respect illustration as a form of art and for those who are still not convinced. Just consider that in one single page an illustrator must convey a message, have an impact.
Running simultaneously to the illustration exhibit will be Andy Warhol, the Bazaar Years 1951-1964 (Dec. 3-Jan. 15). The show focuses on Warhol’s work as an illustrator for magazines and books during the 1950s. Before he became the king of Pop Art with works that keep on living, Warhol collaborated with many prestigious publications including Harper’s Bazaar. The works on display will be shown as originally published and are considered rare, given that very few of his original illustrations exist.
Beginning Feb. 4 you will have the chance to see what is believed to be the only existing image of Billy the Kid. The image, which is preserved on a metal plate, is part of a rarely seen private collection that focuses on the Western expansion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Recapturing the Real West: The Collections of William I. Koch will feature paintings, sculptures, ephemera, and photographs. The collection is made possible by Koch, who bought the rare tintype image of the Kid for $2.3 million at a Denver auction of Wild West memorabilia earlier this year. Koch is a son of Fred Koch, founder of energy conglomerate Koch Industries.
The photo was taken in 1879 or 1880 in Fort Sumner, N.M., before the outlaw’s death, and shows him grasping a 1873 Winchester carbine with one hand and a Colt pistol in a holster. At the time of the purchase Koch was quoted saying “I plan on enjoying it and discreetly sharing it. I think I’ll display it in a few small museums.” The show ends April 5.
Back for a third year is Florida Wetlands, a show of more than 50 photographs that capture the essence of this habitat. It is housed in the Mary Alice Fortin Children’s Art Gallery and will run through June 2013.
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton: If there is something an art crowd never gets tired of is seeing everyday common objects become art. Most of us have at some point done just that, turned something mundane into a curious creation. But how many of us received international recognition because of it? Colombian artist Federico Uribe has. Not one but many times.
His creations will be on display at the museum until Dec. 4 under The World According to Federico Uribe: an exhibit that highlights the humor and irony in his work. It is never too late to catch a show that will make you smile plus give you en exclusive. Uribe’s newest work: life-sized palm trees made from the spines and fanned pages of books and gardens constructed of gardening tools, is debuting here. Also included in the show are works from his 2008 Animal Farm. Farm animals here are made from clothes hangars, corks, pencils, sneaker soles and wood.
Running now to Jan. 8 is an interesting take on the Outsiders. Not the film. I mean the self-taught artists who seem to have escaped every categorization except, perhaps, that of their very nature: self-taught. Outsider Visions: Self-Taught Southern Artists of the 20th Century is a loose and flexible as an exhibit can be. It features more than 15 artists with no formal artistic training/education who come from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The subject matters covered by the 96 works on display range from politics and social commentary to UFOs and sex. Some of the works have never been shown in South Florida. The show is meant as an exploration of a genre that does not exclude anybody. It is commonly known as folk art or outsider art and some of its key figures are featured in the show. They are Purvis Young, Lisa Cain, Clementine Hunter and Jeff Payne among others.
To discover the power of a portrait sometimes it is necessary to stare. Luckily, the subjects depicted in Portraits from the Permanent Collection (Sept. 6-May 13) will not mind. They include artists and public figures such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Mohammed Ali. The 50-plus images on display come in all media — painting, drawing, prints and photography. Take your time taking them in, even with an image you think you have seen before. You might just discover something new about it.
Beginning Dec. 13, you will get to see works on loan from one of America’s finest art museums dedicated expressively to American art. American Treasures: Masterworks from the Butler Institute of American Art will bring 36 pieces representing la crème de la crème of 19th- and 20th- century American masters with their many styles and genres. And here the list gets long, but let me just say Edward Hopper, George Inness, Victor Higgins and Jackson Pollock, figure among the many names that will be featured. The show ends March 18.
The new year will bring the photographic honesty of Martin Schoeller, who was Annie Leibovitz’s assistant in the 1990s before going to work for The New Yorker. Martin Schoeller: Close Up consists of about 48 images of celebrities, politicians and icons such as Angelina Jolie, Bill Clinton and Andre Agassi. The New York-based artist is known for grabbing these famous subjects and showing them with plain sincerity. His style is said to capture the essence and true personality of even those accustomed to masking their true emotions. But just how true and transparent Schoeller’s posers appear through his lenses is for the observer to decide. After all, most of them are trained in the art of acting and can play many different roles on short notice. What bigger challenge than convincing an experienced photographer of their sincerity? You have from Jan. 18 to March 18 to visit and determine just how much truth was captured.
Running at the same time, and continuing with the photography theme, the museum will present Natura Morta: Photographs by Patrizia Zelano (Jan. 18-March 18) a confrontational show focusing on the relationship between man and nature and the consequences derived by the mentality that has them being separate entities. Natura Morta (Still Life) will feature 18 color photographs from three of the Italian photographer’s portfolios: Attesa Silente (Quiet Wait), Cenci (Rags), and In Carne ed Ossa (In Flesh and Bone).
Images of stored hay bales appear in Attesa Silente, while bales of used American clothing make up Cenci. In Carne ed Ossa comes to life with recycled slaughterhouse waste such as heads, hooves, intestines and bones from cattle, sheep, and pigs. Each of the three documents the consumption and discard of society and the humanity-nature conflict.
Works by an American master almost 100 years old and still creating will be on display from March 27-June 3. Will Barnet at 100: Eight Decades of Painting and Printmaking will mark the 100th birthday of this painter and printmaker with about 50 works. The show will takes us through a very important moment in his career, when his art shifted from realism to abstraction. This is one man who is not afraid of reinventing his art and moving on to new styles. Barnet’s career as an artist and America’s foremost printmaker has evolved from 1930s social realism to 1940s cubism to 1950s geometric abstraction, and since 1961, figurative realism.
Glass creations will make an appearance at the museum starting March 27. The pieces featured in Contemporary Glass: The 50th Anniversary of the Studio Glass Movement are not made in glass factories but individual studios. The movement began in the early 1960s, when Harvey Littleton, considered the father of the studio glass movement, built his own glass-making furnaces in a freestanding studio. The exhibit will show the numerous ways in which leading glass artists including Concetta Mason, William Morris and Jay Musler, use glass as a medium for contemporary art. Other artists being featured are Dale Chihuly and Toots Zynsky. The show runs through Oct. 14.
Flagler Museum, Palm Beach: In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Over-Sea Railroad, the museum will bring us an illustrated story of the construction of the railroad to Key West, which was built 1905 and 1912. First Train to Paradise: The Railroad That Went to Sea (Oct. 18-Jan. 8) is based on the accounts of those who risked their lives to make Flagler’s dream come true. And it did. On Jan. 22, 1912, Floridians welcomed Flagler’s arrival aboard the first train to Key West. Best-selling author Les Standiford will hold a gallery talk at noon Dec. 6 for those interested in learning more about the exhibit and legacy of the railroad project.
More than 50 Tiffany lamps, windows, mosaics, enamels and ceramics compose the museum’s next exhibit: A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girl (Jan. 31-April 22). What better way to start the year? The show will introduce research that highlights the many women, including Clara Driscoll, who played an essential part in the design and creation of Tiffany Studios’ masterpieces. Driscoll (1861–1944) managed the women glass cutting department known as “Tiffany Girls” and her letters reveal she was behind some of the most memorable lampshades including Wisteria, Dragonfly and Poppy.
A New Light on Tiffany features numerous objects made under her direction and also sheds light on the experiences of this New York working woman at the turn of the century. The exhibit previously traveled to The Netherlands, Germany and New Mexico. An inside tour by Margaret K. Hofer, decorative arts curator at the New-York Historical Society, will teach you more about the luxury objects produced by the Tiffany Girls. It starts at noon on Feb. 28.
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens: When venerated Zen teachers decided to grab the brush and create art as a vessel to mediation and inner enlightenment the Japanese art genre of Zenga was born. Zenmi — A Taste of Zen: Paintings, Calligraphy, and Ceramics from the Collection of Riva Lee Asbell (Oct. 18-Jan. 22) features more than 80 works associated with the practice of Zen and created by these masters of the 17th to the 20th centuries. The works are noted for their drama, impulsiveness and urgency of expression. Zen is a form of Buddhism that relies on personal introspection to reach enlightenment.
You have heard the beauty is in the details. If that is true, Small Wonders: Japanese Snuff Bottles from the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art (Oct. 18-Jan. 22) is as beautiful an exhibit as they come. It will display more than 40 striking examples of Japanese snuff bottles produced during the Meiji Period (1868–1912). Snuff, a ground tobacco product, was reportedly used in China during the Qing Dynasty to relieve headaches and stomach disorders. Japanese craftsmen began creating the snuff bottles and exporting them to the West in the 1860s. Just as they did then, they have come once again to satisfy our thirst for all things Japanese. The small, intricately designed bottles made of a variety of materials — porcelain, ivory, jade, wood, lacquer, metal, ceramic and glass — demonstrate the fine technical range and artistic sensibility of these men.
Opening Feb. 7 is Old Techniques, New Interpretations: Japanese Prints from the 1950s to the 21st Century, From the Collection of Paul and Christine Meehan, a collection of about 60 prints that will celebrate the 40 years of sosaku hanga masters from Kiyoshi Saitō (1907–1997) to Toko Shinoda (b. 1913), among others. Known as the creative print movement, sōsaku hanga gave artists control of every aspect of their work, from designing the image and carving the block, to inking and printing the paper. As a result, their compositions were also more expressive, experimental and abstract than those produced by the shin hanga and ukiyo-e schools. The works by these well-rounded artists reveal a more contemporary view of the world. The exhibit runs through May 6.
Running simultaneously to Old Techniques will be Mariko Kusumoto: Unfolding Stories (Feb. 7-May 6) which is an introduction of this Japanese artist’s extraordinary metal sculptures and transformations of found objects into music boxes, clocks and other visions. Kusumoto’s father is a Buddhist priest and she grew up in a temple that was founded 400 years ago. She often uses brass in her metal work because it resembles the colors of the ornaments in the temple. Her magical witty world is among my favorite ones to explore this season.
Another one I am looking forward to is Ghosts, Goblin, and Gods: The Supernatural in Japanese Art (May 22–Sept. 16). This exhibit will bring an array of paintings, colorful woodblock prints, sculptures and masks depicting a host of legendary ghosts, gods, and other-worldly beings. Japan’s native religion, Shinto, is a belief that spirits inhabit the natural world, both animate and inanimate objects including rocks, mountains, trees, rivers and lakes. Among the bad ones are the tengu, half-man, half-bird forest creatures with long noses that are said to abduct children. The better-intentioned ones are regarded as guardian spirits and include Ebisu, the god of fishermen, Daikoku, the god of agriculture, Fukurokuju, the god of wisdom and long life and Hotei, the god of happiness. Do not forget to stop by the fuzzy goblins from the popular Pokemon series before you leave.
Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach: The center will open with the Armory Faculty Exhibition (Oct. 7-Nov. 11) which will present works in all media. Natural and informative photos of wetland birds will follow with Wildlife Photographs of Rosalie Winard (Dec. 16-Jan. 21) Winard is an award-winning photographer and ornithologist. Large-scale steel sculptures will take over also on Dec. 16 with Curved: Herbert Mehler Sculptures. Nature is the main inspiration behind Mehler’s sculptures, which show a clear reference to it with their cylindrical body, spindles, circles, spheres and spirals. The show runs through April 6.
The Lighthouse ArtCenter: Gallery owner Holden Luntz serves as judge for Photo Now! (Sept. 9-Oct. 15), a juried exhibit that focuses on photography and digitally created and/or enhanced images. Two more shows will run at the same time: Le Petit Art Exhibition by Ted Matz (School of Art instructor) and SoFlo Ceramics Invitational Exhibition: a showcase of 15 talented South Florida ceramic artists and educators.
Starting Nov. 17 until Dec. 31, you will get a change of pace with Landscapes 2011, compiled through a call for artists to submit their imagined and realistic landscapes in any medium. Running simultaneously to the photographic show are the School of Art Faculty Show and Fong Choo: The Artful Teapot, which will include the artist’s internationally renowned and beautifully glazed miniature teapots. A native of Singapore, Choo has always been fascinated by the teapot in its miniature form and has spent more than a decade exploring it.
Contempo (Jan. 6-Feb. 11) will mark the new year with contemporary art produced in the last two years and compiled through a call-to-artist. Mindy Solomon of Mindy Solomon Galleries in St. Petersburg will act as judge. Right after Valentine’s Day realistic painter JoAnne Berkow and nonrepresentational painter Rita Shapiro will pair up to bring us Realism: A Stringing Together of Abstractions.
At the same time, polar bears, sea dragons and more sea creatures will make a stop at the center. They are the protagonists of Sea Creatures Above and Below: Photography by Ruth Petzold who has devoted herself to capturing nature and wildlife above and below the water since getting her first camera at age seven. If you ever wondered how nature looks like in the most remote places, make sure you attend this show and her talk March 15. Starting March 30 center members will exhibit and sell their work throughout the entire museum in a show running through April 25: Lighthouse ArtCenter Member Show and Sale.
Cornell Museum: Coloring Outside the Lines, which runs through Oct. 23 at the downtown Delray Beach museum, is a cheerful show featuring the creations of renowned crayon artists Don Marco and Jeffrey Robert. This is the first time that father and son have exhibited together. Their combined works aim to gain some respect for this medium, usually underestimated and dismissed.
Running from Oct. 27 to Jan. 8 is The American Society of Marine Artists 15th National Exhibition, a national juried exhibition of 100 oils, watercolors, acrylics, bronzes and more depicting the beauty of the marine world. The Cornell Museum is the first of eight stops nationwide for this traveling exhibit. The Brazilian rain forest and the Vatican gardens are among the many subjects featured in Diana Nicosia: A Retrospective (Jan. 12-April 15). This is a solo show comprising about 45 original oil paintings from 1985-2011.
Opening at the same time is Burlini Studio of Art: a two-part exhibit featuring 50-70 works by local artists currently studying with nationally recognized artist Christopher J. Burlini. A solo show focusing on Burlini’s pop-surrealist works will actually open Feb. 28.
Florida Atlantic University: The Schmidt Center Gallery (Boca Raton campus) is housing several shows beginning with the 2011 Biennial Faculty Exhibition (Sept. 17-Nov. 12) which features a wide range of recent artworks by 37 artists/professors from three university departments: Visual Arts and Art History, Communication and Multimedia and Architecture. Drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography and video will be represented. The exhibit and opening reception on Sept. 16 are free to the public and a great chance to see the art being produced and taught at FAU. Following it will be Figured Spaces: Selections from the John Morrissey Collection (Nov. 29-Feb. 11), which will display photographs, figurative paintings and drawings by several internationally recognized artists such as Hilary Harkness, Natalie Frank, Anj Smith and Mickalene Thomas.
Tibetan Sand Mandala: A Ritual Art of Peace (Feb. 25-March 3) will provide a peaceful break and call for meditation before we move on to the world of sea gladiators with Surfing Florida: A Photographic History, which some of you may have caught this year. The exhibit and book project exploring the history of the state’s surf culture and community will come back March 17. Its purpose remains the same: to communicate the core values and accomplishments of this daring community. The show runs through May 12.
The Ritter Art Gallery (Boca Raton campus) will house the Fall Bachelor Fine Arts Exhibition (running Nov. 19- Dec. 9) and the Spring Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition (April 21-May 4). Also the Annual Juried Student Exhibition, which comes a month earlier this season, running Feb. 10-25, 2012. Photographic works by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County will be on display for two days, March 9 and 10, 2012. Masters of Fine Arts Exhibition: Tabitha Pennekamp will run March 24 through April 7.
FAU’s Jupiter campus will house several shows in its library gallery, including Shifting Nature (Jan. 6-March 9), a site-specific video and sound installation from Miami filmmaker Juan Carlos Zaldivar that will develop into a feature film over the next year. The two-person show Flightscapes will bring us ceramics by Karla Walter, curator of the Eissey Art Gallery at Palm Beach State College and photographs of professor Dennis Tishkowsky.
Fort Lauderdale sculptor Peter Symons will present a series of mixed-media works in Earth Drinkers (March 23-May11). At the same time, one of the university’s past vice presidents, Kristen Murtaugh, will show a series of black-and-white photographs in Nature. Retired professor John McCoyp will have his pottery on display during Works in Clay (May 25 to Aug. 10). Coinciding with it will be Diva, highlighting Miami-based artist Patricia Gutierrez’s works.
Art fairs: Several events will return to the Palm Beach Convention Center, starting with Art Palm Beach (Jan. 20-23, preview Jan.19). Now entering its 15th year, the fair is known for showcasing contemporary art in the form of design, public sculpture, photography, video and installation art and for its educational lecture series. Its 2011 installment welcomed a record 28,000 attendees during the five-day run and was marked by strong sales. The year before that saw similar response. If the trend continues, this will be an even better year. Among the 2012 highlights will be a dynamic light installation titled Transformation, by celebrated German artist Hans Kotter. Also featured will be Klari Reis’s Hypochondria, a project comprised of a series of petri dishes that are hand-painted using reflective epoxy polymer to depict electron microscope images of viruses, viscera and pharmaceuticals reacting with the human body. Japanese sculpture artist Jun Kaneko will also make an appearance.
The following month American International Fine Art Fair (Feb. 4-12, preview Feb. 3) will bring us French galleries, artwork, jewelry, food, and wines to go in harmony with its theme: “Paris — Palm Beach.” The fair’s well received lecture series will be broadened in 2012 with Victoria Wyeth, granddaughter of “America’s Painter” Andrew Wyeth, sharing her personal insights and family memories. New to the fair is a special exhibit by Fabergé, which has decided to pay homage to the legendary Imperial Eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé for the Romanov family. The collection of one-of-a-kind high jewelry egg pendants, Les Fameux de Fabergé, also intends to celebrate the egg as a timeless universal symbol of life. Fabergé has designed each illustrating a traditional Russian proverb. Ancillary social events including evening activities hosted by dealers — first introduced in 2009 – will return to the 2012 schedule. Fair organizers reported a highly successful 2011 edition with an increased number of long-time dealers reported record sales results.
Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Fair: The ninth annual fair returns Feb. 18 with a special preview on Feb. 17 for those who cannot wait to get their hands on something precious. Featuring the world’s finest antique dealers the fair will also hold a lecture series with discussions on Signed Jewelry: How it Drives the Market and When Does it Add Value and The Uffizi: Against All Odds. World War II and the Florence Flood, among others. The fair runs through Feb. 21. Daily tickets cost $15.
Palm Beach Fine Craft Show: If your art fix is anything limited edition or the one-of-a-kind then this is the show for you. Running March 2-4, the show will feature 115 of the nation’s top contemporary craft artists offering unique and inspiring work in ceramics; silver, bronze, and copper; mixed media; decorative and wearable textiles; jewelry; paper; wood; and glass. General admission is $15.