May 26th- June 10th

Touch Art & Craft Gallery is pleased to present Arabesque, a solo exhibition of paintings by Charyl Weissbach, a Boston local artist.

Artist Reception:

Sunday, May 26, 2013

4:00-7:00 PM

Charyl Weissbach works in encaustic creating botanical, arboreal-based and color field paintings incorporating a variety of techniques and materials, including gilding with metal leaf, metal, metallic powdered pigments and resin. Charyl received a BFA from Masachusetts College of Art & Design with a concentration in painting and art history. Her studio is located in the SoWa artist district in the South End of Boston where she is a participating artist in the semi-annual South End Open Studios event.

Her artwork is represented in galleries and many corporate collections including Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Winchester Hospital, UPenn, Acme Packet, and Novacare Pharmaceuticals. She is featured in 100 Artists of New England and Encaustic Works 2012: A Biennial Exhibition in Print, and her paintings have been purchased by many private collectors throughout the United States.

Please join us on Saturday May 26^th for the exhibition and to meet the artist.

Artist’s Statement:

In 2002, I took a month-long artist’s retreat deep in the woods of British Columbia, living in a tent on a mountainside with no electricity or running water.  I intended to focus on photography, which had been a passion of mine for at least a decade, but when my camera broke on the first day there I purchased some paints and started painting in earnest.

Initially, I worked exclusively with a palette knife and acrylics on found wood and now primarily paint with oil, as well as enjoy experimenting with the sculptural qualities of encaustic/mixed media pieces.

I think a lot about color and composition when I work, although much of the process is intuitive and often serendipitous. I often begin a painting by moving colors around until an image reveals itself, having no idea at the outset what the final image might be.  Other times, my work is a bit more calculated, and I have an idea of where I’d like to end up, although I frequently arrive at a different destination. And I find that exciting.

As was the case with photography, painting reminds me to take time to absorb the natural world, and my hope is that my work somehow reflects bits of beauty I have taken in.  In particular, I am fascinated with how visually pleasing nature’s randomness can be; the way an erratic row of trees is capriciously arranged, how chance groupings of flowers pepper a field, the incidental patterns created by swaths of color in a landscape, the seemingly arbitrary twists and turns branches choose to make – configurations that present themselves with confidence; as if there could be no other way.  And when I am fortunate enough to be painting outdoors in their midst, I am able to borrow from that hand. The challenge comes when I am creating work in the confines of my studio with no guide to the “the beauty of randomness” except my own imaginings…and chance…

Oh…and when I am not painting, I am a high school math teacher.

Opening Reception Featuring “Priscilla Levesque”

Saturday June 8^th

4:00 – 7:00pm

Touch Art & Craft Gallery is pleased to present the June 2013 group exhibition showcasing 14 artists, including established gallery regulars and several newcomers to the gallery. The exhibition will feature painting, collage, and drawing, with works by the following artists:

Priscilla Levesque; Painter  

She paints with transparent watercolor and casein. She usually works outdoors on location in order to accurately record the qualities of her subject. She portray the atmosphere, weather, contrasts of warm versus cool; bright versus subdued; light versus shadow; sharply focused foreground versus blurred distance.

By working on location, she can capture fleeting effects such as rain; fog or snow flurries, as well as gradual transitions such as the ebb and flow of the tide.

Ron Pruett; Painter

Ron entered art through the backdoor. Born in Philadelphia of an artist mother, He began oil painting during the last two years of grammar school. A course at the Montserrat College of Art, followed by working in group sessions with Ron Straka at the Rockport Art Association and with watercolorist Natalie Bacheler of the Beverly Guild of Artists, relighted the flame. He soon thereafter started face and figure painting with Fred Jilson’s group, also at Rockport Art. Gallery and Museum visits, voracious reading and study, careful observation of the work of others, solicitation of crits and enthusiastic exploration and experimentation with various tools, materials, styles and subjects have opened his mind to both the past and future of fine art.

Skip Treglia; Visual Artist, Sculptor of repurposed materials

Artist Statement: I live by the sea which provides most of my materials and ideas. Nature and its elements have started a process for me to continue. Each piece of wood, metal or bone has a unique character – aged, weathered, pitted, twisted or polished. When I’m out gathering materials, I don’t know what the outcome will be – it’s almost like a puzzle that eventually comes together. I try to combine these randomly offered pieces in a form or design that reflects their organic origins. Making sculptures from found objects is a form of artistic recycling in which I’m connecting my sense of design with nature’s.
Since so much of my material has spent some time in the ocean, it seems natural to incorporate my love of fishing and sailing into my work. The whimsical shaman spirit figures are influenced by African and Native American art.

Andreea Vasiliu, Painter

Andreea Vasiliu was born in Bucharest, Romania, where she began her artistic path. She is both licensed as an artist and as a Pharmacist and she is now living and working in Massachusetts, USA. She patiently gathered ideas during her research years. Her finding wrap around an essentially dualistic notion: the light, the dual wave-particle manifestation of the matter. The light is responsible for our sense of sight, light reveals the forms, the colors and the motion. It is a painter’s magic instrument,  just as the sound is a musician’s ally. It can become a symbolic instrument, as light penetrates the darkness and unveils the inner truths, the true self, both good and bad. A form wrapped in light become a bearer of concepts, symbol. Andreea calls this a “Conceptual Realism”, a dualistic bondage of the matter and the uncreated.

Valerie Maser-Flanagan; Fiber Artist

She is intrigued with the lines and shapes observed in natural settings and city architecture. Her designs are influenced by bold lines formed in venerable forests, refined lines flowing in stone and wood grains, complex ice crystals, and unusual shapes formed by stone walls, asymmetric holes in tree trunks, and worn brick walls in old New England mills.

Her approach is improvisational, starting with a general idea, a palette of colors, and a blank design wall. Freely cut lines in cloth blend shape and color into an initial composition. She finds this approach intriguing because of the fluid motion created when freely cutting lines and shapes. It is a dynamic approach because the interaction of line, shape and color cause unexpected results that the artist needs to continually respond to.

Jim Kociuba; Painter

Artist statement: Painting the local landscape has always held a fascination for me.  My latest work has been inspired by the manmade and natural environments in and around Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The interaction of land, sky, and water is a continual source of inspiration to view and attempt to capture. Lately, my interest has been on the wetland environments that are often passed by each day with little notice.  These places are filled with plants and creatures of all sizes which depend on these habitats for nourishment and protection.  With these paintings, I am hoping to bring the viewer closer to these spaces.

The process of painting brings me a closer to my neighborhood.  When painting, it is easy to disconnect from the external and internal distractions of this civilized world.  Working with paint creates a state of mind that is devoid of words, numbers, and problems.  It is a wonderful state of being to explore and I believe that the world would be a better place if everyone could somehow find such peace.

Lynda Goldberg; Painter

“Her work is informed by nature. Whether working at the coast, in the colors of autumn, in the freshness of spring, or in the radiance of sunlight, I come to know myself and my goals as an artist.”

Her monotypes, oils, pastels, and watercolors focus on nature and her fascination with it. Her prints are one-of-a-kind; using monotype, monoprint, or collagraph techniques. She starts with an idea or feeling which she expresses in textures and colors using natural and manmade found objects. She is a tactile person, always touching things and feeling their texture. Because she is a printmaker she sees an item’s potential by how it might appear after color and pressure has been applied.

Fernando DeOliveira; Painter

In the amorphous of his painting, forms are either incoherent of irrelevant. The challenge of forming one of his painting is a succession of color and texture in pursuit of bringing light and life to the canvas. Thought the images are abstract, tangible feeling are provoked, which despite appearances are based on a rational structure, and bring the viewer inside his pictorial world… to his dimension.

Sharon L Smith; Figurative and Equine Sculptor

Among her favorite subjects are both horses and women, she love showing both their beauty and their strength. Her sculpture’s start with a feeling, emotion or movement she would like to convey. She was recently announced a winner in the “one of a kind” search of the magazine “Exploring TOSCA”. This magazine covers Theater, Opera, Shakespeare, Culture and Art for the Minnesota twin cities. Also, she was accepted a second time into the American Academy of Equine Art show, the first being in 2002.

June 11th- June 25th

Touch Art & Craft Gallery is pleased to present “Flora”, a solo exhibition of paintings by Patricia Busso, a Boston local artist.

Artist Reception:

Saturday, June 15, 2013

5:00-9:00 PM

Please join us on Saturday June 11th for the exhibition and to meet the artist.

Charyl Weissbach

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Charyl Weissbach works in encaustic creating botanical, arboreal-based and color field paintings incorporating a variety of techniques and materials, including gilding with metal leaf, metal, metallic powdered pigments and resin. Charyl received a BFA from Masachusetts College of Art & Design with a concentration in painting and art history. Her studio is located in the SoWa artist district in the South End of Boston where she is a participating artist in the semi-annual South End Open Studios event.

Her artwork is represented in galleries and many corporate collections including Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Winchester Hospital, UPenn, Acme Packet, and Novacare Pharmaceuticals. She is featured in 100 Artists of New England and Encaustic Works 2012: A Biennial Exhibition in Print, and her paintings have been purchased by many private collectors throughout the United States.

ARTIST STATEMENT

With minimal color, arboreal-based imagery, and pattern, I explore nature’s vastness, movement, and distinguished beauty.

“Balsam Poplar Series” is work based on a western balsam poplar tree located in Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum. This series is an exploration of leaf motion in time and space. It is also about leaf pattern and its beauty. Stenciled wax, polymer resin, mica pigments, and accents consisting of different types of metal leaf are incorporated within these paintings. The patterned sgrafitto effects are created with a batiking tool known as an Indonesian Tjap.

A World Known Artist

Founder of the Persian School of Surrealism in Painting

Ovissi is born in 1934, one of the living legends of Contemporary Iranian art, initiating the modern art movement in the 1960s in Iran and has continued to be an inspiration in the field. With exhibitions spanning across the globe from Brazil to Japan, Europe and the United States. Ovissi has firmly established himself as a brilliant and versatile international artist whose passionate work presents a unique blend of European, Persian and contemporary art. A painter, sculptor, engraver, designer and goldsmith, he has published over seventeen books in Italian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Persian and English, and is the recipient of numerous international awards and prizes. Starting in 2007, Ovissi’s works have been selling at record prices in international art auctions. His works continue to pull in record prices and demand for his work has been rising in the last five years.

Ovissi has been honored to receive the First Prize award at the Tehran Biennale in 1957, Grand Prize at the International Art Exhibition in Monaco in 1974 and Gold Medal in Venice Biennale in 1979. Ovissi has partipated in three Biennale: Tehran, Venice & Sao Paolo.

Dr. Richard Ettinghausen, head of the Islamic Art Section of the Metropolitan Museum, gave this opinion on Ovissi for his exhibition at the Museum Columbia University in 1992: “Ovissi’s works count among the best modern paintings, but at the same time they reflect Persian art…..Ovissi has a message for both the East and the West.”

His work is part of major museum collections such as the National Gallery of Athens, the New York University Art Museum, the Fine Art Museum of North Carolina, the Contemporary Art Museum of Madrid, and the National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome, and is included in over 300 private collections worldwide. Nasser Ovissi has over a dozen books published and is also featured in E. Benezit’s “Dictionaire des Peintures, Sculpteurs, Dessinatrurs et Graveurs” Vol. 9, Librurie Grand, Paris.

Ovissi is famous for his symbols of the horse, the beautiful mysterious woman and pomegranates. He has found a language on his canvas that blends the rich history of Persian art and the emotive, color-driven strokes of contemporary art. One of the horses he painted in 1964 has been copied by UNICEF 5 million times for a benefit for the childeren’s fund. It was a green horse.

Ovissi has been painting and exhibiting successfully since the 1970s. Starting in 2001, Ovissi’s works have been selling at record prices in international art auctions. His work has been considered as one of the best investment tool among art lovers and investors. Ovissi’s works have been sold in different international art auctions (see below for listing). Each year, there are more demands for his original works and every piece has been sold with higher price tag from previous years.

“Ovissi is an artist who is fond of the traditional culture of his country. His works are not a mere expression of the mythology and folklore of Iran captured in the atmosphere of the one thousand and one nights but from the artistic viewpoint he has strong expression and the personal symbols and images prevalent in his works distinguish his works from others. The symbols and effects of Ovissi’s works are not objective but are saturated with the fantastic memories, furthermore, on a whole he has a poetical concept expressed in lines and colors. Symbols and effects in Ovissi’s works are of a quality that resembles his work to a beautiful piece of calligraphy”.

Wolds Encyclopedia of Modern Paintings, vol, IV, 1970, Milan, Italy

“Persian inspiration and Western techniques are constantly combined in Ovissi’s work: oriental leitmotifs are interlaced using pure or mixed mediums; ladies, lovers, historical figures on horseback or playing the lute, surrounded by flowers, come to life in controlled balance, in lithographies, etchings, or glodwork. Subjects painted in series, such as the bullfights already referred to lovers- the series inspired by the Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam which the lithographist Olmos considers to be one of the etching masterpieces of the 20^th century- and those strange to tributes to the great painters Velazquez, El Greco and de la Tour”.

De Sauvage, Art Critic, Montreal. 

“His color has magic and charm”. Carlos Arean, Directo of the contemporary art museum, Madrid, 1980

Nasser Ovissi transmutes Persian calligraphy into an incandescent explosion of absolute spiritual joy”. Nanccy Berq; Robert Fullerton Art Museum; California State University, San Bernardino

Last Painting Event with Louise Weinberg

Last Painting Event with Andreea  Vasiliu

Touch Gallery, 281 Concord Ave, will host a “Wine and Design” painting event on Saturday, June 8th from 7:00 – 9:30.  Create your own masterpiece with a local artist, Jim Kociuba.  An expressive painting entitled “Meadow” will be produced.

Meadow, Acrylic on canvas, 14 x 18

No prior painting experience is needed.

Topics include: perspective, reflections, color mixing, and the corner-loaded brush stroke.  Participants are encouraged to BYOB. Snacks will be provided. Space is limited, so register as soon as possible by calling (617) 547 – 0017.  A fee of $25 per person to cover your canvas, paint, and more tools such as brushes, easels, and aprons is required.

Special Reception: Saturday, May 18^th, 2013 5-9 PM

Showdown party with music, dance performance and artist talk

Touch Art & Craft Gallery is pleased to present “Dream of Shahrzad”, a solo exhibition of paintings by Nasser Ovissi a legendry artist. Please join us on Saturday May 18^th for the exhibition and to meet the artist. In the exhibition Ovissi presents a series of oil paintings that explore of love.

Ovissi is born in 1934, one of the living legends of Contemporary Iranian art, initiating the modern art movement in the 1960s in Iran and has continued to be an inspiration in the field. With exhibitions spanning across the globe from Brazil to Japan, Europe and the United States, Ovissi has firmly established himself as a brilliant and versatile international artist whose passionate work presents a unique blend of European, Persian and contemporary art. A painter, sculptor, engraver, designer and goldsmith, he has published over seventeen books in Italian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Persian and English, and is the recipient of numerous international awards and prizes.

Starting in 2007, Ovissi’s works have been selling at record prices in international art auctions. His works continue to pull in record prices and demand for his work has been rising in the last five years. His work is part of major museum collections such as the National Gallery of Athens, the New York University Art Museum, the Fine Art Museum of North Carolina, the Contemporary Art Museum of Madrid, and the National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome, and is included in over 300 private collections worldwide. Nasser Ovissi has over a dozen books published and is also featured in E. Benezit’s “Dictionaire des Peintures, Sculpteurs, Dessinatrurs et Graveurs” Vol. 9, Librurie Grand, Paris. Ovissi has been painting and exhibiting successfully since the 1970s. Starting in 2001, Ovissi’s works have been selling at record prices in international art auctions. His work has been considered as one of the best investment tool among art lovers and investors. Ovissi’s works have been sold in different international art auctions (see below for listing). Each year, there are more demands for his original works and every piece has been sold with higher price tag from previous years.

The Music Appreciation course used to be available in all the universities in the 50′s 60′s and 70′s. On this event, one can listen to the greatest compositions of all time with a description about the composer of the piece, the style and the important details about that music. This Event also discusses the world music with an emphasis on the Persian music and over all Middle Eastern music.

Second session: Monday, May 20^th 6:30-8:00 PM

Admission Fee: $5.00 student and $10.00 non-students

Opening Reception Featuring “Louise Weinberg”

Sunday April 7^th

4:00 – 7:00pm

Touch Art & Craft Gallery is pleased to present the April 2013 Group Exhibition showcasing 22 artists, including established gallery regulars and several newcomers to the gallery. The exhibition will feature painting, collage, and drawing, with works by the following artists:

Louise Weinberg; Painter  

Louise Weinberg’s work is concerned with the ebb and flow of human relationships. These new paintings suggest the sometimes ambivalent paths we must navigate in our relationships with others. The themes of closeness/ distance, connection/ disconnection, and containment/ freedom are of great interest to her. Much of her past work has focused on the issue of containment -the very basic human desire for the safety of enclosure and structure vs. the terror of entrapment. The images which reoccur in her nebulous abstract paintings -spheres, eggs, buildings, grids, bowls, bottles, jugs serve as metaphors. These images suggest that containers are ambiguous; they can protect, imprison or do both. In this new series of paintings, the focus is on how one navigates the issue of closeness/distance in a relationship.

These works are mixed media (oil paint, charcoal, and marker) on polymer. Weinberg literally paints with her hands. She does not use brushes and only on occasion will she use a painting knife. Many “happy accidents” occur because the surface is so very unpredictable.  She finds that some loss of control, the continuous making of surprising discoveries, and an unpredictable end result are all essential parts of the painting process for her.

Skip Treglia; Visual Artist, Sculptor of repurposed materials

Artist Statement: I live by the sea which provides most of my materials and ideas. Nature and its elements have started a process for me to continue. Each piece of wood, metal or bone has a unique character – aged, weathered, pitted, twisted or polished. When I’m out gathering materials, I don’t know what the outcome will be – it’s almost like a puzzle that eventually comes together. I try to combine these randomly offered pieces in a form or design that reflects their organic origins. Making sculptures from found objects is a form of artistic recycling in which I’m connecting my sense of design with nature’s.
Since so much of my material has spent some time in the ocean, it seems natural to incorporate my love of fishing and sailing into my work. The whimsical shaman spirit figures are influenced by African and Native American art.

Andreea Vasiliu, Painter

Andreea Vasiliu was born in Bucharest, Romania, where she began her artistic path. She is both licensed as an artist and as a Pharmacist and she is now living and working in Massachusetts, USA. She patiently gathered ideas during her research years. Her finding wrap around an essentially dualistic notion: the light, the dual wave-particle manifestation of the matter. The light is responsible for our sense of sight, light reveals the forms, the colors and the motion. It is a painter’s magic instrument,  just as the sound is a musician’s ally. It can become a symbolic instrument, as light penetrates the darkness and unveils the inner truths, the true self, both good and bad. A form wrapped in light become a bearer of concepts, symbol. Andreea calls this a “Conceptual Realism”, a dualistic bondage of the matter and the uncreated.

Valerie Maser-Flanagan; Fiber Artist

She is intrigued with the lines and shapes observed in natural settings and city architecture. Her designs are influenced by bold lines formed in venerable forests, refined lines flowing in stone and wood grains, complex ice crystals, and unusual shapes formed by stone walls, asymmetric holes in tree trunks, and worn brick walls in old New England mills.

Her approach is improvisational, starting with a general idea, a palette of colors, and a blank design wall. Freely cut lines in cloth blend shape and color into an initial composition. She finds this approach intriguing because of the fluid motion created when freely cutting lines and shapes. It is a dynamic approach because the interaction of line, shape and color cause unexpected results that the artist needs to continually respond to.

Jim Kociuba; Painter

Artist statement: Painting the local landscape has always held a fascination for me.  My latest work has been inspired by the manmade and natural environments in and around Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The interaction of land, sky, and water is a continual source of inspiration to view and attempt to capture. Lately, my interest has been on the wetland environments that are often passed by each day with little notice.  These places are filled with plants and creatures of all sizes which depend on these habitats for nourishment and protection.  With these paintings, I am hoping to bring the viewer closer to these spaces.

The process of painting brings me a closer to my neighborhood.  When painting, it is easy to disconnect from the external and internal distractions of this civilized world.  Working with paint creates a state of mind that is devoid of words, numbers, and problems.  It is a wonderful state of being to explore and I believe that the world would be a better place if everyone could somehow find such peace.

Lynda Goldberg; Painter

“Her work is informed by nature. Whether working at the coast, in the colors of autumn, in the freshness of spring, or in the radiance of sunlight, I come to know myself and my goals as an artist.”

Her monotypes, oils, pastels, and watercolors focus on nature and her fascination with it. Her prints are one-of-a-kind; using monotype, monoprint, or collagraph techniques. She starts with an idea or feeling which she expresses in textures and colors using natural and manmade found objects. She is a tactile person, always touching things and feeling their texture. Because she is a printmaker she sees an item’s potential by how it might appear after color and pressure has been applied.

Fernando DeOliveira; Painter

In the amorphous of his painting, forms are either incoherent of irrelevant. The challenge of forming one of his painting is a succession of color and texture in pursuit of bringing light and life to the canvas. Thought the images are abstract, tangible feeling are provoked, which despite appearances are based on a rational structure, and bring the viewer inside his pictorial world… to his dimension.

Sharon L Smith; Figurative and Equine Sculptor

Among her favorite subjects are both horses and women, she love showing both their beauty and their strength. Her sculpture’s start with a feeling, emotion or movement she would like to convey. She was recently announced a winner in the “one of a kind” search of the magazine “Exploring TOSCA”. This magazine covers Theater, Opera, Shakespeare, Culture and Art for the Minnesota twin cities. Also, she was accepted a second time into the American Academy of Equine Art show, the first being in 2002.

The February Group Exhibition will present work by a number of artists who will return for solo shows over the coming months or the artist who past the solo show. Painter John Lobosco, whose colorful, contemporary takes on silkscreen will kick off March 14- April 10 in a solo exhibition at the gallery.