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Art & Design

Matisse Cut-Outs move from London to New York by

December 2014 – Late in the life of artist Henri Matisse, as battles with illness and a decrease in mobility set in, he turned from paintbrush to scissors. The process of cutting his abstract images from large pieces of painted paper allowed infinite possibilities of arrangement while the artist was largely confined to a wheelchair; (a single image might contain 1,000 or more pin holes resulting from multiple repositionings by students and assistants). full story

Rembrandt: The Late Works by

December 2014 – Like the aforementioned Matisse exhibition, Rembrandt: The Late Works focuses on the final phase of the artist’s life. Although 17th century Dutch master Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) enjoyed fairly early fame as a portrait painter, it was the last 2 decades of the artist’s life which perhaps best defined his career; a period marked by both personal and financial struggles. full story

Modern Nature – Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George (de Young Museum) by

March 2014 – Closely following the success of “David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition,” works focus on the years O’Keeffe spent visiting photographer and future husband Alfred Stieglitz’s family estate (1918-1930). First displayed in 2013 at the little known Hyde Collection, the exhibition attracted the attention of the NY Times’ Jesse McKinley who notes, “It’s an exhibition- drawn from more than three dozen collections- that its organizers hope will undeniably establish a connection between O’Keeffe and the lake” (located in upstate NY). Although sometimes resentful of her frequent feminist classification, the artist was the first woman to have a solo retrospective at MoMA in 1946. O’Keeffe (left, in 1918) as photographed by Alfred Stieglitz prior to her better known years in New Mexico. Works on display through May 11, 2014 at the de Young, San Francisco.

The Bay Lights by

March 2014 – Designed by artist Leo Villareal, the world’s largest light sculpture contains 25,000 LED’s and celebrates the Bay Bridge’s 75th anniversary. Programmed to never repeat the same pattern or sequence, the installation is scheduled to remain on view until Spring 2015. Of course, efforts are already under way to maintain the enchanting display permanently. See the dusk to dawn live stream via Instagram: thebaylights.org

Sculptor Jane Jaskevich by

November 2013 – Atlanta based sculptor Jane Jaskevich is a direct carver; her work evolving from one stage to the next. She’s influenced by Picasso, Brancusi and the artist down the street. Jaskevich explains, “I read a lot of artist bios about the struggle to create and be true to yourself and it hits a chord in my creative self.”

Recent works are composed of a combination of materials. Additionally, Jaskevich finds herself experimenting with a combination of flat silhouette and rounded sculpture. “There has always been the important concept of sculpture being in the round…interesting on all sides. As an artist one wants to push that concept to the limit…”

Jane began her career in the late seventies after receiving her Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Georgia and her Master of Art Education from Florida State University. Her work is shown in galleries, museums and corporate collections around the U.S. She’s included in the recently published Contemporary Sculptors: 84 International Artists by Kracun and McFadden. For more about Jane Jaskevich: jaskevich@mindspring.com or atlantasculpture.com

The Art of Portrait Photography by

June 2013 – Florida based photographer C. Michael Potthast just returned home from a week long teaching assignment at the Florida Professional Photography School in Daytona.  Earlier this year, his work was featured on the covers of both Florida Professional Photographer and Professional Photographer magazines. Potthast holds Best of Show Portrait awards (Florida and Southeast United States) for 2012 and the list of awards and accolades goes on.  In Mike’s words, his thoughts on a few photography related topics:

Influential photographers (& artists):

Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002)- He could see light in a beautiful, simple manner.  He was wonderful at capturing the moment in a shot that best portrays each subject he photographed. Irving Penn (1917-2009)- I love the composition he builds in his portrait work as well as his playfulness in creating situations that make for unique portraits. full story

Artist Maggie Taylor by

March 2013 – Artist Maggie Taylor combines history and imagination to create beautiful narratives of sophisticated fantasy. From her studio in Gainesville, FL, Taylor uses an array of source material, from plastic figurines to dead insects, to construct digital collages that incite a sense of storytelling. No Ordinary Days, currently on view at Polk Museum of Art, is a survey of Taylor’s work and includes 49 pigmented digital prints. This exhibition coincides with the release of the similarly titled catalogue raisonné of Taylor’s works.

Taylor received her Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Yale University and her Master’s degree in photography from the University of Florida. full story

Louviere+Vanessa by

March 2013 – The camera has often been described as a sort of mechanical extension of the artist’s body. Or, as critic Paul Rosenfeld once described it, “a machine in perfect obedience to the human spirit.”[1] Sharing this sentiment in 1902, the legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz formed a movement he called Photo-Secession, which reevaluated photography not by the subject, but by how the individual artist manipulated the image according to his/her subjective visions. These were early steps in the progression that defined photography as an essential link between art, invention, and the human psyche. Throughout the 20th century, and into the 21st, photography has experienced steady and relatively rapid growth as a serious art form. Because of its late recognition as an art form, as compared to painting or sculpture, and its wide accessibility as a mechanical, and nowadays digital, process, some may prescribe photography as a ‘safer’ art, both in terms of production and interpretation. But photography, by its very nature, has occurred completely out of artists’ ingenious and technical sensibilities, and as such, is the only art form that is completely open to a vast range of experimentation. full story

Strang Architecture by

January 2013 – Max Strang’s self-described architectural style is Environmental Modernism. Critics and peers have named him AIA Miami Firm of the Year, DCOTA Star of Design for Architecture and (2 time) AIA Miami Young Architect of the Year. His work has appeared in Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal full story

Abstract Expressionism as defined by Elizabeth Clement by

January 2013 – Wikipedia definition: an American post-World War 2 art movement. PBS.org definition: The dominant trend in western painting throughout the 1950s began with a handful of American artists later termed Abstract Expressionists. Their paintings were often made of shapes, lines and forms not meant to depict a “reality” from the visible world. full story

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Culta Vitae (´kül-ta ´vē•tī)
1. A lifestyle enriched by continuing exploration and appreciation of the fine arts and humanities.
2. Personal enhancement and gratification achieved through intellectual, creative and aesthetic cultivation.
Latin, lit. "cultivated mode of life."