An Angel for the Arts

Like so many other artists, my stereotypical struggle to survive professionally has lightened a bit by the touch of Patricia Bell. Not only does she have a “to-die-for” collection of art, she also supports many local art venues as a trustee on the boards of the Center for Visual Arts, Montclair Art Museum, Garden State Arts Center Foundation and the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in Newark.

A Gem Among Her Jewels

Ms. Bell has not gone unnoticed; The Star-Ledger ran an article recently (”South Orange Art Collector’s Home is a Visual Feast“), and Park Place Magazine’s newest issue ran a multi-page article about Ms Bell: “The Art of the Party.”

Both are  wonderful pieces, highlighting her warm hospitality and keen eye for art. With a grateful heart and a  glow of pride, I’m delighted to say that Patricia cites me in both articles as an “artist to watch.”

Here’s a passage from the Star-Ledger’s piece: “Bell also lists the mixed media work of Nancy Tobin, a local contemporary visual artist among her favorites. New Jersey artists Claire Rosen, Willie Cole, Margaret Murphy and Lisa Pressman are also present here.”

And here’s an excerpt from the Park Place article:

Favorite NJ Artists to Watch

“I love new things, and always find a spot for the pieces I love,” says Pat Bell. “When I’m surrounded by all this wonderful work, it’s like living with the souls of the artists.”

Each month, as fresh—and sometimes massively large artwork—arrives at her home, Gabrielle Pulls, Bell’s housekeeper of 17 years, equips herself with an electric drill, a level, and a keen eye. As pieces leave the home, they often are loaned or contributed to non-profit organizations, such as the South Orange Performing Arts Center.

“I’m fortunate to live in this state because we have so many wonderful artists,” says Bell. “I like what’s in my backyard.” To keep au courant with the local art scene, get acquainted with some of her favorites:

Willie Cole, Mine Hill, multi-dimensional
(williecole.com)
Tom Nussbaum, Montclair, sculptor
(tomnussbaum.com)
Claire Rosen, Montclair, photographer
(clairerosenphotography.com)
Margaret Murphy, Jersey City, painter (margaret-murphy.com)
Lisa Pressman, West Orange, painter
(lisapressman.net)
Marcia Kure, Princeton, painter/collage artist
(marciakure.com)
Wayne Roth, Mountain Lakes, digital artist/photographer (2face.com)
Nancy Tobin, Maplewood, collage painter (nancytobin.com)
Dan Fenelon, Madison, painter
(wavedog.com)
Jordan Eagles, Short Hills, painter/installationist (jordaneagles.com)

Tags: Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Center for Visual Arts, Claire Rosen, Dan Fenelon, Garden State Arts Center Foundation, Jordan Eagles, Lisa Pressman, Marcia Kure, Margaret Murphy, Montclair Art Museum, Park Place Magazine, Patricia Bell, South Orange Performing Arts Center, The Star Ledger, Tom Nussbaum, Wayne Roth, Willie Cole

This Week’s West of Chelsea: Lori Field

Children of Lir, by Lori Field    Photo courtesy of the artist and Claire Oliver Gallery

I was delighted to interview Lori Field for my latest West of Chelsea installment for the New York Times Local!

I talked with her about her new gallery in Chelsea (Claire Oliver), her background as a textile designer and illustrator, what inspires her creations, and her “Secret Drawer.”

Stop by and read for yourself how this New Jersey artist traversed the Hudson and wound up on the inside, looking out.

Tags: Claire Oliver, Lori Field, New York Times Local, Secret Drawer, West of Chelsea

Reproducing Your Artwork 101

Fifiteen scans — put together in Photoshop & ready to meld

What would I do without my scanner? I’d either be thousands of dollars poorer or have much crappier images of my work!

I’ve gone around and around on this one: how to get crystal-clear images of my art. It’s a concern for many visual artists and one that isn’t that easy to solve if your work is over 8 by 10 inches.

Here are a few options:

•  Get the work professionally photographed. I still have my doubts about the sharpness of detail you can get with a regular camera, so if you’re going to the expense of having a professional, I would make sure that they will be using a large-format camera. I really don’t have much idea how much this will cost you, but I do know that the cost will go down considerably if you have enough work to hire them out for a half day or a day.

•  Photograph it yourself. Yes, I know it can be done; God knows I’ve tried. But my results are worse than bad. There’s this whole “focus” thing, and then there’s the “shutter speed” thing, and I won’t even mention the “aperture.” All of these terms make me weep with the pain of the photographically inept. So until the time when I can figure all that stuff out, I’m skipping this one.

•  Take your work in to get scans made. This is by far my favorite solution! Many places that do large-format digital printing will also do large-format scanning. For about $100, you can get a high-resolution scan at full size. From there, you can use your image to make posters, enter juried shows, print greeting cards or anything else that you can think of! The price isn’t bad if you consider that even if your painting has sold, you still have the image — which you should own — to do all sorts of things with.

•  Put the painting on your home scanner. As much as I love taking my work into get scanned, $100 a pop starts adding up when you produce 2o to 40 paintings a year — OUCH! So  like many other artists I know, I put the painting on the scanner, and scan it myself. It works great! The resolution is super sharp, and the lighting and color is usually pretty good. Of course, this is all MUCH easier if your work is 8 by 10 inches or smaller — most of my work is not. So I place the painting down, and proceed to take scans of it in pieces.

I’m left with a handful of fairly large files that I need to reconstruct within Photoshop. I don’t know if I would suggest doing this if you’re uncomfortable with image-editing software. It takes some time, and it’s not an exact science. But you can save a ton of money and get really pretty great results.

Above is an image of all of the files put together, before I went in and merged them. As you can see, it isn’t seamless. That’s where some comfort with image-editing is important. I actually enjoy the reconstruction. The part I find tedious is the scanning, but putting the pieces back together is a little like working on a jigsaw puzzle.

Below is the finished image of Kansas, a 30″-by-30″ mixed-media painting on panel I completed recently. I also included an image of Oz. Both were named by my Wizard of Oz-obsessed daughter, who walked into my studio, pointed to the almost-finished paintings and announced,  “That’s Kansas, and that’s Oz.” I thought she was spot on.

Kansas. All the pieces back together again!

Oz!

Tags: image editing, Kansas, oz, Photoshop, scanning artwork, Wizard of Oz

Blasted Cobwebs!

Forest Fog ©2009 Nancy Tobin

I don’t know what’s got my head in a fog these past few days: Maybe it’s the after-winter-holiday blues, or maybe it’s the slowdown of my normally crazy schedule.

Whatever it is, I know it won’t last. I can’t stand standing still for too long. But for now — today — I’m recharging. I’m taking time to check in with favorite Web sites and blogs. I’m looking at pictures. I’m reading stories. I’m watching Hulu. I even made a tiny bear with my daughter!

Tomorrow, I’ll paint.

Tags: bears, Hulu

Walking Peacefully into 2010

Peek III ©2009

I recently finished a new painting; Peek III. It’s 24 inches by 24 inches.

This painting — like the others in the Peek series — is one I’m especially fond of. I think there is something so magical about “the peek”; that moment when you pull back the curtain, the branches, the seaweed … to discover a world that’s new and wonderful.

For the moment, Peek III is happily residing at a very special gallery in New York: Elisa Tucci.

I wanted to take the image a bit further, so I created a limited-edition artwork featuring a snippet of the painting, titled Peace Walk 2009. I thought the new year was the perfect time to introduce the painting and the edition! If you’re interested in the painting, contact Lisa Cooper at Elisa Tucci. If you’re interested in the edition, good news: You can find it on sale at my Etsy shop!

Here’s more info on Peace Walk 2009:

Peace Walk 2009
Limited-Edition Mixed-Media Print
Peace Walk 2009 is an edition limited to 100.
The process behind this print combines many of the
techniques I use in my painting.
The first layer is an archival inkjet print that is laminated
to a panel. Several layers of acrylic medium are added to enhance the surface.
Every print is then silk-screened in two different colors,
each separated by several layers of medium. Hand painting is added to give each piece another layer of detail and additional depth.
A final coat of medium, a signature and date complete each work.

Peace Walk 2009 - Limited Edition Artwork

Each artwork in the edition comes with a black, Shaker-style easel for display.

Tags: Elisa Tucci, Etsy, Lisa Cooper, New Year, Peace Walk 2009, Peek III

An Amazing, Inspiring Event!

Think ©2009

I was delighted to be asked by the New Jersey Center Visual Arts Center to do six special paintings for their Blank Canvas event that was held earlier this month.

The NJVAC’s annual fundraiser is known for it’s high caliber artists, who regularly donate works to for this incredible silent auction. This year was no exception. You can take a look at some of the pieces that were available, on the Art Center’s Flickr page.

Enrich ©2009

Amaze ©2009

Create ©2009

Inspire ©2009

Imagine ©200

Tags: Blank Canvas, New Jersey Center Visual Arts Center, NJVAC

It’s Two-for-One Print-Sale Time!

Nice Dream ©2009

To celebrate the season (and the fact that I am finishing all sorts of work and clearing all sorts of space in my studio!), I’m having a Two-for-One Print Sale!

When you buy one print at regular price, you get another print of the same or less value for FREE!

My shop is bursting with art to warm every cockle (what’s a cockle*?)

When you order one print, just tell me which one you’d like free in the “message to the seller” section.

To whet your appetite, I’ve just posted these brand-new darlings for your viewing pleasure; Nice Dream, Waiting Room and Little Knell.

Stop by the shop, and have a cup of cheer!

*According to Wikipedia, “the phrase warm the cockles of one’s heart may refer to the similarity in shape of the heart valves to the cockle mollusk”.

Waiting Pool ©2009

Little Knell ©2009

Tags: Etsy, Little Knell, Nice Dream, Waiting Pool, wikipedia

Fresh Out of the Studio & Hot Off the Press

Calcifer, mixed media on panel, 10 x 10 inches ©2009

I really have been up to things, while ignoring my beloved blog. Painting, jewelry making, painting, shows, painting, sales, painting and painting.

So, as proof of the “painting” part — I present these three little gems; Calcifer, Glowlightly and Razz.

These brand-spanking-new paintings are available as prints in my Etsy shop, just in time to warm up your holidays!

Glowlightly, mixed media on panel, 12 x 12 inches ©2009

Razz, mixed media on panel, 12 x 12 inches ©2009

Tags: Calcifer, Etsy, Glowlightly, Holidays, painting, Razz

Unnatural Selections & Exquisite Corpses

This is what happens when I neglect my blog — I end up waiting until the last minute to post about all my upcoming events, ending up with a pretty long list. This is no exception.

I guess it’s a formula;

Many shows in future
+ busy getting ready for shows in fututre
(subtotal) too busy to blog
+ wanting to tell the world about all the cool events
(total) really long list of events.
(If that didn’t make any sense, it would explain why I am an artist and not an accountant.)

Please join me for a wine and cheese reception this Saturday at Furbish Home in Millburn, NJ for:

Unnatural Selections
Artwork of Nancy Tobin
November 14, 6:30 – 8:30pm
Show runs from Nov 14 – Dec 7, 2009
Store hours: Mon – Fri: 10am – 6pm, Sat: 10am – 5pm
315C Millburn Ave, Millburn, NJ 973.761.0311
info@furbishhome.com
There will be paintings & prints to fit every budget!

The Exquisite Corpse: Paul Robeson Galleries 30th Anniversary Exhibition
30 collaborative works by 92 New Jersey New York and Pennsylvanian artists
The artist reception for this show will be on Thursday, November 19th from
5pm to 7pm.

I was so excited to be invited to participate in this project! I’ve played this game since I was young, and have always enjoyed the outcome.

If you’re not familiar with the term, Exquisite Corpse, here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

The technique was invented by Surrealists and is similar to an old parlour game called Consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution. Surrealism principal founder André Breton reported that it started in fun, but became playful and eventually enriching. Breton said the diversion started about 1925, but Pierre Reverdy wrote that it started much earlier, at least before 1918.

In a variant now known as picture consequences, instead of sentences, portions of a person were drawn.

Later the game was adapted to drawing and collage, producing a result similar to children’s books in which the pages were cut into thirds, the top third pages showing the head of a person or animal, the middle third the torso, and the bottom third the legs, with children having the ability to “mix and match” by turning pages. (However, the game has been played with the usual orientation of foldings and four or more people, and there have been examples with the game played with only two people and the paper being folded lengthwise and widthwise, resulting in quarters.)^[4] It has also been played by mailing a drawing or collage — in progressive stages of completion — to the players, and this variation is known as “exquisite corpse by airmail”, apparently regardless of whether the game travels by airmail or not.

The name is derived from a phrase that resulted when Surrealists first played the game, “Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau.” (”The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.”)

The finished “corpses” will be a surprise to everyone, artists and guests alike. Come and see the unfolding!

The exhibition will be on display from November 19, 2009 to April 8, 2010.
Paul Robeson Galleries 30th Anniversary Celebration: The Exquisite Corpse
Artists Reception
Thursday, November 19th, 5pm-7pm
Admittance: FREE
Refreshments provided

Your Holiday Gift Shopping Begins Here!

Along with finishing up a studio full of paintings this fall, I’ve also been busy creating some “tiny treasures”; my Art by the Inch, necklaces, rings, earrings — and for the man in your life … Cufflinks!

Here’s where you can find ‘em:

16th Annual Crafts at The Baird
Pierro Gallery of South Orange

Wed, Dec 2, 7pm – 9pm
Preview Sale! Meet the Artist & Opening Reception:
$5 admission for first picks, tasty treats & festive times.

Shop is open daily from12pm – 8pm
Dec 3 – Dec 6, & admission is free

Winter Festival @ South Mountain Elementary School

Sat, Dec 5, 11am – 3pm
admission is free

Art Shop @ Aferro Gallery
73 Market St, Newark, NJ

Tags: 16th Annual Crafts at The Baird, Aferro, Art Shop, Exquisite Corpse, Furbish Home, Millburn, Paul Robeson Galleries, Pierro Gallery of South Orange, Unnnatural Selections, Winter Festival

ArtPrize: My Show at Peaches

Some of the beautiful collages made during last Sunday's Demo Day — what fun!

It’s taken me a while to update. The week in Grand Rapids for ArtPrize was a blur of activity; splitting time between Peaches events, seeing art and seeing family. Lucky for me — the “seeing art” part went well with the “seeing family” part — many of my siblings were determined to view as much art as they could, during the first week of voting.

Peaches was great! The house itself is a grand old Georgian beauty, and was a fun change from the usual spare gallery style walls. Folks I shared the venue with were a delightful and talented bunch. And the owner of Peaches, Jane Lovett, worked tirelessly to promote her artists and make all the events wonderful.

We had good crowds. I was a little worried about being outside of the downtown loop, but every day, folks were waiting at the doors to get in the place before it opened.  I saw old friends and met a lot of new.

The show is still up, so if you find yourself in Grand Rapids, Mich, stop by!

Peaches installation 1

Peaches installation 2

Peaches installation 3

Peaches installation 4

Tags: ArtPrize, Grand Rapids Michigan, Jane Lovett, Peaches Bed and Breakfast