2010 Artist of the Month July-Dec

 

July SETH DARNELL  I've always needed to create something in order to validate myself. My earliest memories involve tracing Star Wars figures. I remember moving a ball point pen around the contours of Lando's figure onto a piece of cardboard that came in a pack of undershirts. Not art yet but a sincere desire to make something that belonged to me.  Comic books were my next focus. I don't think I ever ended up reading any, but the illustrations were enough to fuel my imagination into creating "Red Bullet". I killed him off when I was in eighth grade after he was thrown into a vat of something green at the hands of "Dark Hood". I never resurrected him, unlike Superman or Captain America. In other words I never sold out to make a buck... not that I could ever really capitalize on a "Red Bullet Returns" comic. I'm going off on tangents, I know. That's how I operate. Stream of consciousness is the main ingredient in my work now. But It wasn't always.   I went to Maryland Institute College of Art for two years as a Fine Arts Major. At some point in my sophomore year I worked on a small film set and fell in love with the process and discipline of a new medium. I left in my junior year to earn a Bachelor’s of Fine Art in film, at the University of the Arts in   Philadelphia.  I still love film and the control and the rigidity and the patience. It still has some appeal to me. Film, however, is not cathartic. I can't go home after a long day at the office and work out my issues by making a movie. Film never satisfied the nagging desire to create out of impulse in order to make me feel like I'm real.  I started painting again with a new fervor and zeal after a long hiatus. Film taught me a few things but I will never be able to pour my body and emotions into it's process. I paint, because like so many other artists, I need to. I need to leave a trail of something tangible behind. My paintings are snapshots of energy and emotion mixed with chaos and thrown onto a canvas. I'm glad to be sharing my paintings with you. Not art yet, but a sincere desire to make something that belongs to me relevant to everyone.

 

August  ZOE SPILIOTIS Zoe Zander Spiliotis is a painter whose work is based on mathematical principles

as a source for form to create ways of experiencing and depicting space: complex spaces, multiple spaces, paradoxical spaces. 

Spiliotis’ work explores the principles of repetition, symmetry, movement and visual perception. The goal is to embody the intricate, 

multiply connected, fluid, and subtly ordered spaces that we feel are part of our realities through the use of recurring 

geometric figures and patterns. The works reflect a recurrent theme in philosophy, theology, art and mathematics, which is 

the ongoing struggle to grasp the iideal and the transcendental and to encompass the infinite.Spiliotis received her 

B.F.A from Moore College of Art & Design   and an M.F.A from New Mexico State. Her work has exhibited 

internationally in Austria, Italy and Japan, nationally in galleries in Philadelphia, New Mexico, Texas and Florida, 

with mural commissions in New Mexico and Texas. She has  recently returned to the Philadelphia area after

 teaching Drawing and Ceramics in Fort Worth, Texas.

 

 

September BUD BOEHRINGER 

Artist Statement on the way

 

 

 

October ESTELLE CARRAZ-BERNABEI  Energy, emotion and organic cosmic elements are subjects I really deliberate over. My work has always been about tapping into the free spirit within. The Earth & Sky elements are the main focus of my paintings. The Balance of both! All is one, one is All... My improvisational painting techniques, which blend ambient movements with cosmic freeforms , has set me on my own path. My paintings are a composition of mixed media : Oils, acrylics, watercolors, charcoals, clays & pastels, organic botanicals & quartz crystals are just to name a few. My freehand brushstrokes are applied on canvas like icing. Layers and layers of smooth, cosmic hues, with lots of blues, greens, earth tones and drips of white are meshed together in organic shapes and textures. . “I see beauty in the most simplest things in life”. The energy of the locals, the spices, the colors, the history, and of course the wonderful nature & cosmos that surrounds them.      

 

November ANGELA STILLETI 

My work is about contrast of colors, shapes and colors, and intense emotions with minimal description on canvas. A flat, sterile effect of acrylic, combined with the intensity of human emotion makes for a powerful combination. My paintings are a representation of my innermost feelings of fear, anger, frustration, hurt, and joy. When painting these emotions I am most inspired by the interaction of color and shape and the way colors and shapes combine to represent such emotions. I like to use contrasting colors to emphasize the intensity of the emotion. When a person is viewing my paintings I hope they will turn thoughts inward and live in the emotion of feeling that is being represented.

 

December LORI FELT Art has always been the essence of who I am. However, I never fully realized this until I became chronically ill and could no longer hold a paintbrush. When my health was restored, I felt as though I was given a second chance and discovered my true purpose: celebrate living and celebrate the beauty of life through my visions. Now anything that I gaze upon appears to have an inner brilliance that I was not able to fully realize before. My color palette intensified to mimic my new blissful passion for life. I found myself experimenting by letting my soul lead the way. Collage infused with paint started to intrigue me and by connecting these completely different mediums, I was able to create infinite possibilities. Collage gives my paintings a timeless illusionary quality, not to mention a new dimension. I find the observer examining where the paint ends and the illusion begins. I now try to look at something familiar to the eye and change the context for which we know it to be. Often I will paint words that are intertwined with my theme into my artwork to reveal hidden messages. Art is the vehicle by which I am able to make a difference in this world. I am blessed to be involved with organizations that raise money for all kinds of causes. By donating my time and then auctioning off my work, I am able to raise money to help these important causes. There are no words to describe the utter bliss that I feel when I make a significant difference in an individual's life. Syracuse University had an art program that gave me the tools to experiment with all kinds of mediums. My professors stirred a passion deep down in my soul that created a burning desire to paint. It is my wish that my artwork will touch as many lives as possible.

 

What is art? Nature concentrated

 

 ~Honore de Balzac