Self-taught Photographer, Redux

When the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented a photography show, one of Daniel Farber's reflection photographs was used as the banner advertisement. This self-taught photographer, in the leather business with his brothers, started making his art later in his life. The results of this hobby, turned obsession, are held in over 123 museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Yale University Museum, and so on.

He also had his images used in the movie "Tommy", as well as on the covers of multiple classical music albums. Farber was named one of the top ten photographers in the decade from the 1960's through 70's, and his nature photographs are in many private collections. Since he utilized the process called color separation, these vintage images are as brilliant today as they were when they were first printed.

A book of his images called "Reflections on a Trail Taken", published in 1991, is a stunning record of his photography with very interesting text. Farber generously revealed all his camera, film and exposure information and gave very helpful pointers on how to create similar images.

Silhouettes of winter trees, starkly portrayed in black and white, were among his favorite subjects and photo-silkscreens were made of several of these striking images. A small portfolio of them (image size 16" x 16", printed on Arches paper) are now available, each of which is published, and several of which are held in permanent museum collections. Contact the Beverly Kaye Gallery for more information.

Anyone Can Dine With the Queen

Therese James has a zest for life paired with a sense of humor, which is evident in each of her paintings. Her work would be considered Naive, and since 1993 she has given in to a compulsion to paint full time. She records scenes of everyday life with an unbounded joy which makes the viewer feel like jumping in to join the fun. Therese gets much of her inspiration from the places and literature of her native Wales and the West Country.

According to her bio, "Relying purely on an instinctive approach to her art she has developed her own style with representative characters who inhabit the world of her paintings." A simple seashore scene, double decker red busses in traffic, or even a family sharing their Christmas dinner with the Queen (on TV of course), become fodder for a new painting. Her subjects move at angles and dance across the canvas in a dizzying tango. Her work can be seen in galleries throughout the UK and she is represented in the Affordable Art Fairs by Wren Fine Art, and was selected for the prestigious "Artist of the Year" award.

Perry Morgan lives, loves, and paints New Orleans

Savannah, Ga. born artist, Perry Morgan 111, has an MA in psychology and is a winner of the Absolute Vodka Art Search. He has successfully owned an art gallery on Magazine Street, a very well known New Orleans haunt, and he's employed as an artist by the House of Blues, which boasts the largest folk and self-taught collection in the US. Quite a varied resume!

Mr. Morgan has worked in clay, assemblage, painted silk, canvas, and wood. He paints his own frames and has a friend construct them. His works clearly reflect the melting pot that is New Orleans, and the joyfulness of his immersion in the music, art and architecture there is apparent. I will let these very appealing works speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Beauty from The Earth

Of all Pueblo pottery, the thin walled storage jugs, medicine bowls, seed jars and canteens from Acoma, have reigned supreme. For over 600 years the residents of this pueblo, also known as Sky City, in the western desert of New Mexico, have gathered local clay from secret areas, and shards from old pottery. After traditional and tedious methods, they have turned this gift from Mother Earth into pottery which holds it's head high in the field of hand made art. Special stones are ground with native vegetation to create a paint which is then applied with brushes made from local plants, chewed down to a few long strands. After air drying, the pots are dung fired and with a prayer are pronounced complete.

The earth tone color at the bottom of many of these pots and the thin black and white lines denoting rain and thunderclouds are familiar iconography used by the artisans here. Each Pueblo has their own symbols. Some of the contemporary makers have included designs from their ancestors after having been introduced to these Mimbres symbols at local museums. Both men and woman create pots here on top of and in the three small towns at the foot of Sky City, and they are among the finest in the world. More examples can be seen by clicking on the title.

Ronald Sloan's Situation.........

Ronald Sloan has been obsessively painting his private world for over forty years. An examination of this almost intact, and vast body of work, exposes an alternate reality painted in a masterful and unique style. The human figure, deconstructed and then reconstructed into skeletal form, often exists in a world of fear, pain, trauma and sexual abuse. Geometric figures, grids, boxes, far off center lines, and numbers appear hand in hand with quasi human figures struggling to make sense of an unsettling world. The disturbing themes share the canvas with recurring symbols of comfort. The mathematical elements, along with tropical vegetation, and an extraordinary talent for laying down paint in a seductive manner give you a reprieve, allowing you to catch your breath, and gather courage to look once more.

Each painting is a mini drama, audience not required. Ronald Sloan paints his world to survive yet one more day in it. On the canvas, survival often depends upon being both mute and deaf. Mother is portrayed with her mouth covered, unable to speak out about the untenable life she leads. In one painting, words warn, "Do not HEAR the Forest Burning." The inclusion of explanatory text offers precious access to this curious reality. In response to questions about the nature or purpose of his work, Ronald simply states, "I paint."