$1,200 Raised for Cathedral School

The generosity of art buying community members in Harrisburg helped Gallery Blu raise $1,200 for the Consolidated Cathedral School in Harrisburg. Our sincere thanks to art teacher, Susan Bircher for helping curate a show of student art. Also I want to thank the students who worked hard creating their art in order to help their school. And of course Jay Risser and Candice Wanner and cathedral chorus students who provided the afternoon musical entertainment.

It's All About Community

In past blogs I have written about neighborhood and community and how the gallery's long term vision is one of neighborhood involvement.

Recently I was asked if the gallery would host a holiday get together for the Engleton neighborhood group. It turned out to be a wonderful evening with about 35 to 40 neighborhood residents bringing food, spirits and companionship to the gallery. We talked, ate, joked and even aired local political news in an atmosphere that sparkled with joie de vivre. This is community in action and is a perfect example of how a few people with a great idea can spread joy and happiness to many. Engleton area residents have shown that community is alive and well in Midtown Harrisburg.

Cathedral Benefit

The Cathedral School benefit held on December 13 was a huge success. Pictured here is art instructor, Susan Bircher with First Grade student, Josie Bianchi. Art from students in grades one through eight was displayed and a few pieces are still available. The remaining art will be on exhibit through Christmas. The goal of Gallery Blu is to raise $1,000.00 for the Cathedral School and we are well on our way with $700.00 raised to date.

Cathedral School Benefit Show

Gallery Blu will be hosting a student art show to benefit the Consolidated Cathedral School of Harrisburg.
The benefit is being held Sunday December 13 from 2 - 4 PM. Music will be provided by Jay Risser and Cathedral School students.
All proceeds from the sale of student art will benefit the Consolidated Cathedral School. In addition 15% of the sale of non-student art will be given to the school from sales made on that day.
Join us for fun and good cheer.

From Jim Woland

This is one of those columns that I wish I had authored. Instead it was written by my dear friend Jim Woland and is one of those reasons why the arts are alive and well in Harrisburg:

"One of my favorite things about living in Midtown is all the creative people; right up the street from me is a terrific photographer, bass player; in the same building is a guy who wrote the definitive book on Harrisburg architecture and architects, a working artist lives over on Herr St. and another up in Capitol Heights. Several years ago, those of us involved with Friends of Midtown decided to "brand" Midtown as an arts friendly area. Now we have the Stage on Herr, Midtown Scholar and Gallery Blu..... it seems some people took us seriously. We coulda been politicians, we believed our own lies.... thank goodness, they were GOOD lies.

So the area has REALLY BECOME artist friendly... performing artists are on the stages in Midtown and visual artists are on the walls of Midtown, Like the new head of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landsman says, "Art Works".

Art certainly works in Midtown. Several years ago we asked 62 artists to DO LUNCH by painting lunch boxes to help raise money for the Salvation Army and for "Loaves of Love" a program of Harris St. Church. Artists worked, created original lunch boxes and over $6,000 was raised to support the food missions of both organizations.
Christina and I are putting Art to Work once again, hoping to raise over $10,000 for the Salvation Army located in our neighborhood on Green St. During these tough economic times the line for breakfast at the Salvation Army is getting longer and longer. Artists like Mary Ludeen and Steve Wetzel and Robert Stadnycki have agreed to participate in SWEET SALVATION, 100 for $100. We'll be opening the show at Gallery Blu with at least 100 original Art Works, which will be available in silent auction for a starting bid of only $100. Feel free to bid more than that, but imagine being able to walk away with an original Bruce Johnson or Li Hidley for $100. Art Works and you and the Salvation Army Win. The show begins Friday February 12th at Gallery Blu and runs for two weeks when the bidding will end. Here's just one of the Art Works available for bid, Jennifer Kane's "Sunken Garden Gazebo" 8x8 framed, that she painted during Gallery Walk.

An Emerging Artist

Dorothea Sarteschi is emerging as an artist in the Harrisburg area. After she had her twin sons safely off to college she began painting in ernest and picks up her paint brush almost every day. She has been inspired by the paintings of Kandinsky, Picasso and Chagall and you can catch glimpses of their colors, brushstrokes and themes in her paintings.

Here in "Domesticated Woman" she speaks of the happiness found in that life. The woman's hand lovingly holds the two babies growing in her womb. She is entirely at peace with her life and herself. Can you see the 3 utensils that dangle from what looks like a marionette wire? Yes, she is the force that controls what may be called a domesticated life - she brings it to life by her careful and caring manipulation of her surroundings. She reclines comfortably on a chair in a brightly colored room - obviously a domesticated woman with good taste! I can imagine the other people living in this home to be perfectly at peace in the surroundings that she has so lovingly arranged.

Dorothea's point of view speaks to the symbolism that she creates in all of her paintings. Look for her work to be shown at Gallery Blu sometime in 2010. We anxiously await her show.

Harrisburg's First Friday event

Harrisburg galleries will be hosting their next First Friday event on November 6. The fun always starts at Arts@510 at 5:10PM. Be sure to check them out on line to see what they have in store. Other galleries usually participating in this event are ArtHouse Lounge, Sprama, Walnut Street gallery, HodgePodgery, Stage on Herr and a few more spaces in town.

Gallery Blu is featuring "From Russia With Love" with Russian born artist, Irina Yastremski showing silkscreening and collage. Marjorie Priceman will feature linoleum block prints, Mary Farr will showcase oils and acrylics and Harriet Rosenberg is adding cut paper art to this show. Opening night entertainment is provided by "The Little Paris Jazz Trio" based out of Lewisburg, PA. Our gallery opens at 7 PM for this opening night event. The show will run through Christmas.

The Painting in the Photo

The view of the gallery window in the banner across the top of my blogspot shows a painting by Joanne Landis. When I first saw this painting entitled "Woman in a Small Boat" I realized how soulfully this painting spoke to me. It is now one of my favorite works by Joanne. Take a moment to study the painting. ......... the woman is standing in a very small boat - her feet actually touch each side. How is she balancing? The stream appears to be moving swiftly carrying her along but she remains calm. Her face shows serenity and her blue clothing suggests peacefulness. Even the light blue rectangle in her heart area will suggest to you an energy or chakra area being lit. She is totally surrounded by a red outline - she is not static but rather actively participating. How does this speak of life? We may find ourself going "against the stream" or maybe allowing ourself to "go with the flow" In either situation we can remain balanced and calm feeling no fear.
PS - it is probably by no accident of display that you can see a Buddha statue sitting to the right of the painting in the corner of the window. This entire placement can give us a message of non attachment and freedom from fear if we so wish to embrace this.

Don't Miss This Event

On Tuesday October 20, Selby Doughty will be presenting a slide show and art discussion "School of Paris" at Arts@510 located at 510 Third Street, Harrisburg from 6-8PM.
Selby is an art historian and educator whose style is legendary to those who have seen her presentations. She combines a thorough understanding of art technique and history with gossipy stories about the artists' lives that make you feel as if you personally know the artist involved.
She normally presents two shows each spring and fall at Arts @ 510 and this is the first of the fall series.
It's really a don't miss evening out in a great setting.

Welcome to the Neighborhood - Revitalizing Harrisburg One Block at a Time

When Gallery Blu moved to Midtown Harrisburg less than a year ago, we knew it was a bold move in this crazy economy. A leap of faith may be a better way to describe the decision. Harrisburg's revitalization process has been moving steadily along over the past few years and businesses are gathering along Third Street, mainly in the Reily Street intersection and downtown toward the State Capitol. Our move two blocks further north from Reily was really pushing the envelope. Two blocks further in Harrisburg is like two miles further in larger cities. But the gift we received for moving here has been heart felt thanks from neighbors in this mostly residential area of Third Street.

In the last blog I posed the question "What is Art" and here again is part of the answer. Art can be a way you chose to live as in the artful life, artful surroundings. Beauty and art are extending further through Midtown. Neighbors always have a friendly hello and I know we are safe in this community. Litter has disappeared, leaves are miraculously swept by neighbors and I feel a sense of community that is equal to the community I feel in the neighborhood in which I live. We become part of a larger family through art and beauty.

What is Art?

The best answer I have ever heard to that question was not in the form of an answer but rather a statement of what art is: Art is anything that grabs your attention and produces a feeling, whether positive or negative. You have reacted, you have noticed and you have commented. That is exactly what art should do - make us pause for a moment and comment on what we are seeing.

Maybe I don't like it, maybe I think it's childish, poorly executed or simply not my taste. But I have paused, noticed and commented. Taking time from my schedule to reflect and question my own set of standards.

Within the art world there is a huge discourse on what is art and what is craft. I find that a lot more difficult to easily compartmentalize. I have an artist friend who believes that if it's not painted, sketched or drawn it belongs in another category besides art. But what about a beautiful one of a kind piece of jewelry. Was not the craftsman also an artisan - is there a difference? Sculpture is considered art but what about pottery, fabric design, calligraphy?
Where does craft end and art begin or is it a continuum or maybe a spiral or circular ideal?

Consider wabi-sabi as an art form. In its pure sense wabi-sabi suggests impermanence, assymetry and imperfection - principles diametrically opposed to those of Western artistic values.

There is an understanted beauty that exists in the modest, rustic and imperfectness of wabi-sabi. It is an aesthetic sensibility that finds beauty in the ordinary. Does this make it less than art? Can we come to an understanding of what art means personally to each of us and maybe even expand our own vision and take a leap into the unknown or untried.

Reduce/Reuse/Recycle

As a society, we are compelled to be part of the greening of this country. In an attempt to bring this to the art world the gallery hosted "Reduce/Reuse/Recycle" as our entry into Harrisburg's annual Gallery Walk.

The root of the show was a photojournalism essay by well-known Master Photographer, Gordon Wenzel. The subject was "what price for progress". His digitized photographic canvases juxtaposed the natural beauty of our earth with traffic jams, junk yards, nuclear plants. The beauty of nature was shot in black and white in a fading of our natural senses while the replacement of junk yards, scrap and trash were presented in bold color. Wenzel brought the problem to our attention.

The problem reaches a beginning to resolution by the artists who exhibited what can be done to reuse our trash and junk to create art. A fiber artist, Susan Ball-Faeder, exhibited beautiful one of a kind wall hangings made from bags of old rags. One piece even doubled as a skirt.

Another artist, Larry Robenolt, showed beautifully restored furniture found in junk piles and curbside disposals.

An artist new to the scene, Shane Morgan, creates sculptures made from discarded metal and car parts.

Shown here is Shane's "Junkyard dog" made completely with scrap car parts beside "Dirty Dog" a character invention of Floyd Stokes and Leland Nelson who is used to promote recycling among children through their kids' activity book "Talking Trash with Dirty Dog and Friends", a publication of The American Literacy Corporation for Young Readers.

The arts are alive and well in Harrisburg, PA

Since opening Gallery Blu in March of this year I am here to say that the arts are making a lively comback in Harrisburg. Yes, there is now a "First Friday" celebration with approximately 8 galleries presenting new shows every month. Recently Harrisburg Art Association sponsored its 21st annual "Gallery Walk" with 27 venues of art, music, food and fun. The turnout was amazing and our gallery counted about 600 people who came to see our offering of art and music that day.
The Third Street Corridor in Harrisburg continues to grow with new shops and eateries. Much of this can be attributed to the beautiful new midtown campus of Harrisburg Area Community College.
Gallery Blu's very energetic decision to host 8 new shows in 10 months has been met with great success. The openings are well attended and people are out and about getting in on the action associated with First Fridays.
So, how can you find us? Head uptown on Third Street and watch for the large brightly painted mural on the side of our building. This mural is part of Harrisburg's Susquecentennial Celebration slated for 2010.
Stay tuned for more insider art discussions and info.