"I Live in Orlando But Sometimes I Dream of Other Places" Gallery at Avalon Island

"I Live in Orlando But Sometimes I Dream of Other Places" 

Gallery at Avalon Island

Artist Lesley Silvia with her Paper cut  "Balancing Act" 22x30"

 Lesley Silvia's passion for paper cutting was spurred from her heritage. Scherenschnitte means “scissor cuts” in German, and is the art of paper cutting design which was founded in Switzerland  and Germany in the 1500′s, and brought to Colonial America in the 1700s by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania.
The art of Silvia's paper cuts takes on storytelling. One interesting aspect we discussed  is how she can depict gore, such as a beheading via a Silhouette, utilizing the art of cutting outlines out of black paper where upon the viewer can behold the tale without a bloodied image. Her creations are striking from a distance and even more intriguing up close as you see all of the tiny hand cuttings that make up the original artworks.

See more of the exhibit here The Art of  Lesley Silvia

"We love Orlando, but sometimes we need new adventures. This show is about dreaming and exploring. The artists featured are Bill Tarpley, Lesley Silvia, Chris Tobar Rodriguez, Tess Bo, Natalie Ayala, Mike Linger, Hio Oih, David Cookson, Maxwell Hartley, Richard Arm, Cody Zeigler, me, Adam J. Thaxton and Ivan Riascos. Jared Silvia will be DJing." - Gallery at Avalon Island

 

 

Installation by Sarah Beck

A few of us explored and discussed this installation by Sarah Beck
where I interpreted the shape of the piece to be a city or buildings. 
I like the color blocking and massive draping of this piece
created with trash bags.

 "The City" a series of graphic mixed media artworks by Chris Tobar

Tobar born and raised in Chicago, IL  attended the art Institute at the age of 12; one of the youngest students in many of his classes. He moved to Florida in 2005 to attended Full Sail University for Recording Arts but found his love in type, color and expression in Digital Art and Design. Tobar is a local Orlando multimedia artist and graphic designer, working with spray paint, wallpaper paste, paper and exacto knives.

I like the raw wood ground showing through this series. Tobar's City Series give me the feel of those quick flashes of driving through a city and looking through the glass window. The graphic cityscape pieces attract wanderlust taunting you to desire more.

The Gallery at Avalon Island is a part of the Downtown Arts District. It is a contemporary art space that displays work by emerging and established artists. The gallery is located in the historic Queen Anne style Roger’s building. It was built in 1886, and is the oldest operational building in Orlando.
Gallery at Avalon Island is a Contemporary Art Gallery located at 39 S. Magnolia Avenue, Orlando, FL
Daily Operating Hours – Thursday-Saturday 11:00am-6:00pm

Catch this exhibit in January - mid February 2014

Review

Robin Maria Pedrero is a curator, public speaker, and passionate painter. Pedrero served on the board for the National Women's Caucus for Art.  She is an elected signature member of the Pastel Society of America. She is awarded Best Artist in Florida 2012 by Baterby's Art Auction Gallery, listed in Florida International Magazine’s Florida Artists Hall of Fame, and the winning Artiste Wine Label artist 2012. Pedrero is an award winning artist with work in film, museum permanent collections,  private collections & galleries in America, Great Britain, Bahrain, Italy, Spain, Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia.

 

Florida Overtures, Undertones and Subplots

On July 18th, I went to the opening of "Florida Overtures, Undertones and Sub Plots" at Gallery at Avalon Island ( 39 South Magnolia Avenue, Orlando FL). The opening featured live music from Chris Aycrigg’s group , all nestled inside an Orlando architectural gem, the Rogers Building.

The Florida Overtures, Undertones and Subplots show was a multimedia collection that examined the state’s intricacies and idiosyncrasies through the eyes of 13 artists.The artists included, Gary Monroe, Carmon Colangelo, Therman Statom, Matt Roberts, Brian Phillips, Tamara Cedre, Phillip Estlund, and Jay Flynn. I was intrigued by the black and white photos of Gary Monroe of hasidic Jews in Miami beach. In the front window Phillip Estlund had large sheets of plastic or glass had prints on them and the sheets were bent or melting giving a warped surreal effect.

As I sketched the musicians, one of their wives entered with her daughter.  Her daughter was intrigued. She stood beside me watching as I splashed color onto the sketch of her dad. Once the sketch was done, I treated myself to some nuts which were on the table. As I left, Carl Knickerbocker was just arriving. He told me that one of the artists inside, Gary Monroe, wrote "Extraordinary Interpretations: Florida's Self Taught Artists", published in 2003. Of course this book showcased, Carl's Suburban Primitive work.

I also went over to City Arts Factory which was insanely crowed. The Re Define Gallery had toy Marquette's which were decorated by different artists. I'm pretty sure I recognized a toy by Woolfrich.  Toni Taylor had several of her magnificent futuristic oil paintings on display. I told her that I wished I could take the time to create more refined pieces like hers. She said I should just keep doing what I'm doing. I didn't explore any other galleries. I decided I needed to get home.

Thor
Analog Artist Digital World

Imprint Show

June's Imprint Show at The Gallery at Avalon Island ( 39 S. Magnolia Avenue, Orlando, Florida) featured all women artists. On June 29th the artists talked about their process. The first artist to speak was  Emilie Finney. Her work featured large sheets of drywall with words cut into it. I was sitting in the bay window and when she started talking I realized I was sort of sitting in the midst of her piece. l considered moving but I was well into the sketch at that point.

Emily likes to get to the heart of the matter. She loves reading and writing and she grew up in a bilingual household. She is concerned that literacy is on the decline. A linguist said that it is possible to learn any language if you just memorize the 250 most used words. She began to wonder what the 250 most used words are in English. Around the same time she was reading George Orwell's "1984" where the elimination of language resulted in the elimination of creativity and expression. She carved sayings from "1984" into drywall. She began to wonder, "What defines America?" Is it the Declaration of Independence? The "I have a Dream"speech? The Star Spangled Banner song? What would these look like if they were only written with 250 words? Emily discovered drywall because her uncle was using it. With a single swipe of his blade he could cleanly crack the drywall in two, she was hooked.

I sketched Lesley Silvia as she spoke about her Sherenschitten, or black paper cutouts. She considers herself a recovering photographer. She did some very experimental and creative photography but there are so many photographers which made it hard to be seen. She started with cutting paper because it is part of her European heritage. She discovered that she loved the process. Many of her pieces were based on European Folktales but they are also deeply personal. She brought along a loose leaf binder where she keeps all of her developmental thumbnail sketched and research. I looked through it after her talk and was astounded at the level of organization and how many ideas were taking form and being developed. Every step in the process was preserved. It reminded me of the notebooks that Edward Hopper kept to document his paintings. It was exciting to see her process so clearly preserved. I have so much yet to learn.

- Analog Artist Digital World