PULL: MICHAEL ZELEHOSKI @ArtScopeMagazine.com
MICHAEL ZELEHOSKI: FRESH VISION
Keith Shaw
THE CONTEMPORARY ART MARKET ESSENTIALLY OFFERS PUBLIC SHARES IN THE CAREERS IN THE CAREERS OF INDIVIDUAL. WHILE UNDERPERFORMERS ABOUND, OCCASIONALLY AN ARTIST WINS THE GROWING CONFIDENCE OF COLLECTORS. MICHAEL ZELEHOSKI FITS INTO THAT PORTFOLIO.
At age 30, this Berkshire native and Pittsfield resident has had eight solo shows since earning a 2003 BFA from universidad Finis Terrae in Chile; nearly all of his pieces sell either during or shortly after exhibits. In a six-year span, his price range jumped from $400-800 to $2,800-$20,000. Also gaining institutional recognition, zelehoski just received a major Massachusetts Cultural Council grant and took second prize in a national competition sponsored by Artslant.
PULL: MICHAEL BORONIEC @ Rural Intelligence.com
Portrait of the Pittsfield Artist as a Young Man
“Michael Boroniec calls himself an Art Soldier, which is fitting since he’s on the front lines of Pittsfield’s cultural revolution. A ceramic artist and painter who graduated from Taconic High School and went to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) on full scholarship, he returned to his hometown after graduating from RISD in 2006 to teach ceramics at his alma mater. “It was an offer that was too good to be true,” he says. “When you leave college, you lose your studio, your wheel and your kiln, and my teaching job provides me with that. My being a working artist is very inspirational for my students.” Boroniec gives lie to the old notion that those who can’t do teach.
He is part of a two-person exhibition, The Things They Left Behind, with Gerit Grimm, which opens on Saturday, April 10, at Pittsfield’s Ferrin Gallery, which is one of the leading dealers in contemporary ceramics in the United States.
The exhibition is timed to coordinate with Pittsfield’s Big Read Project in which the entire city is encouraged to read Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a collection of short stories about the Vietnam War, and participate in events that address the war (including an exhibition of photographs of contemporary Vietnam by Joe Wheaton in the Berkshire Museum and staged readings of the book directed by Julianne Boyd at Barrington Stage Company on April 16 & 17.)”
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Enjoy.
RW
PULL: PAUL GRAUBARD @ ARTDAILY.ORG
ONGOING: PAUL GRAUBARD-STORIES FROM THE BIBLE AND OTHER PLACES @ FERRIN GALLERY
ON VIEW: March 13th -May 8th 2010.
RECEPTION: Wednesday, April 7th, 6:30pm
ARTIST INTERVIEW AND DISCUSSION: Wednesday, April 7th, 7:30pm
Paul Graubard will discuss his long career and Pittsfield’s development in conversation with his wife and poet, Karen Chase, moderated by gallery co-owner, Donald Clark
CLOSING CONVERSATION: Saturday, May 8th, 5:00 pm
With the artist and Ute Stebich, expert in Haitian and outsider art, and Director of the Ute Stebich Gallery, Lenox, 1990 – 2004
Stories from the Bible and Other Places is a show of both recent and older works by artist Paul Graubard of Lenox MA. The work, created in acrylic paint, fabric, paper and objects arranged on canvas and wood, depicts personal experiences, ethnic traditions and Biblical stories. Like other Folk and Outsider Artists, Graubard employs rich colors and simple forms in complex compositions to create narratives built from a straightforward aesthetic and process. “Like dance and music, painting requires rhythm and flow, movement, action and tension. I work to make my paintings twirl and surprise,” says Graubard. “There is a Chassidic belief that one can thank the Lord for the gift of life and its bounties by singing, dancing and engaging in joyful creation. This philosophy is a guiding force behind my paintings. My work comes out of a need to celebrate life. This in turn is inspired by my experience of marriage, the Sabbath and Festivals. The spirit is universal.”
Graubard’s upbringing in a traditional Romanian household and his interests in music, religion, fantasy and folk stories are the subjects of his paintings. Not formally trained as an artist, he worked as a teacher, professor, and a psychologist until abandoning his practice and working as a painter full time. In 2000 he participated in a residency at the Vermont Studio Center and in 2004 traveled to Delhi, India for a residency with the Sanskriti Foundation which impacted his paintings immensely.
Paul Graubard’s mixed media paintings have been exhibited extensively throughout the Northeast in group and solo exhibitions including the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. This is his first solo show with Ferrin Gallery.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON GRAUBARD.
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DISH & DINE @ Ferrin Gallery
Ferrin Gallery just does not stop. Last Saturday, they kicked off their newest endeavor, Dish and Dine, a series of evening dinners in the gallery pairing local food with local artists. Delicious!
Here’s the break down of what when down:
ARTIST: Jason Houston Spoke about works on display “Family of Mine” and “Food & Farm”
DINE: The Market provided locally sourced tasty eats from Clover Town Baker, Pittsfield, MA, Equinox Farms, Housantonic MA, Ioka Farms, Hancock, MA, Czajkowski Farms, Westfield, MA, Woodstock Farms, Woodstock NY, Holiday Farms, Dalton MA
DISH: MaryAnne Davis functional porcelain tableware from just over the border in Chatham, NY graced the table
WHO CAME TO DINNER?
Paul Graubard who will be having a solo showing at the galley, Stories from the Bible and Other Places, March 13th – May 8th; Noted photographer, author and documenter of Pittsfield’s own Colonial Theatre renovations, Nicholas Whitman; Project Art Resident Artist Gerit Grimm on visit from Germany, the ever present paper cutter Eric Drury; Watercolorist, June Ferrin; and Performer/Farmer Billie Best of Crazy Wife Farm.
“Art and life come together at a table. Using handmade dishes to set a table provides the opportunity to express private creativity: ephemeral and memorable. The social fabric, the relationships built one meal at a time becomes the real art and the meal has an energy of a higher order. Conversation is magic, bringing each individual at the table into a personal bond.”
Jay Elling pics coming soon!
Stay tuned for upcoming Dish & Dine @ Ferrin!
RW
Umbrella Digital