Thursday, May 27, 2010

"Dreams" -2010 Summer Membership Show


"Dreams"
Summer Membership Show-
June 5th - July 15th 2010

If you’ve been dreaming of visiting historical Jerome, AZ, then wait no longer!
This quaint mountain town offers some of the region’s best shopping experiences. Home to unique shops, galleries and restaurants, Jerome is sure to provide you with a memorable experience.

The Jerome Artist’s Cooperative Gallery invites you to visit on June 5th, for the opening night of their popular annual summer membership show. This year’s theme, as voted by the membership, is “Dreams”. With endless possibilities to interpret the theme, and with over 30 unique and individual artists participating, this show is guaranteed to provide you with a delightful experience. Art works exhibited will be in a variety of media including fiber, wood, ceramic, painting, photography, mixed media, jewelry and wearable art.

The Gallery’s evening reception coincides with the popular Jerome Artist’s Art Walk on June 5th when many of the local shops and galleries will be open later than usual, until 8pm.
Refreshments will be served at the Jerome Artist’s Coop from 5-8pm.
Please visit and allow this show to inspire you and your dreams.

If you cannot attend the opening reception, catch the “Dreams” show during the gallery’s regular business hours. This summer membership show runs from June 5th until July 15th.
The Jerome Artist’s Cooperative Gallery, located at 502 Main, is open daily from 10am to 6pm seven days a week. For more information, please call (928) 639-4276, or visit http://www.jeromeartistscoop.com/



Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Looking the Other Way



"Looking the Other Way"
Photography by Mark Foltz
April 23rd-June 2nd, 2010

Opening night party on SaturdayMay 1st, 2010


Mark Foltz is a man of many talents and many hats. He is a jazz musician, a gourd artist, a photographer, and he truly does have a great collection of unique chapeaus. You may see him sporting many different styles upon his noggin. “I've worn a lot of different hats. They've all fit me at one time or another," said Foltz, a member of the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery since 2004. Perhaps best known for his gourd art, photography currently “resonates” the deepest with him, and is the medium he chooses to explore in his newest show at the gallery. “Looking the Other Way” opens May 1st, in conjunction with the popular Jerome ARTwalk.
“Photography is my ‘second creative incarnation’, after music,” says Foltz, “Gourds are my ‘third incarnation’. The last few years I’ve been splitting my head in two directions with photography and gourds. I thought it was time to focus on one thing for a bit.”

The title of the show comes from a conversation he and his wife frequently have while reviewing photos of place they’ve visited together.
“Later she sees the photos, and says something like ‘Where was THAT? I didn’t see THAT!’ We then concur that I must have been ‘looking the other way’.

What appeals to Foltz most about photography is, what he refers to as “The Moment”…
“I love finding that tiny fraction of a second Where All Is Revealed. This especially fascinates me in portraiture. When you interact with a subject, a revealing expression can pass over a face in less than a second. I love lying in wait for that, and trying to intuitively anticipate its coming. It's the photographer's job to facilitate and precipitate those moments in the sitter. That's the Real Secret of portraiture, to hear me tell it. You have to cultivate a relationship with the sitter, so that a trust develops. When people trust you, they open and reveal themselves. You just have to be ready when that happens! Sometimes, you only get a couple minutes to accomplish this.
“Equally thrilling to me is using a tool that disappears in my hand. Once I settle in to a subject, I don't think about the camera--It disappears! I know the machine well enough that it doesn't require much conscious attention.” Foltz also counts tonality as an important component of good photography, “I cut my photographic teeth on Ansel Adams' Basic Photo Series, and I've never forgotten that aspect of photography.”

"Looking the Other Way" will feature much of what Foltz refers to as "The Moment", "Whether it's a fleeting expression on a face, or lighting on a rock that hasn't moved in a thousand years, there's a moment. A moment of my choosing where the essence hides. I'm always looking for that. The show will be a gaggle of these moments.”


Foltz was born in Akron, OH. and raised in Cuyahoga Falls. He was an MP in the US Army in 1969-1970, and later graduated from Kent State with a B.S. in Photo-Illustration in 1975. He moved to Los Angeles in 1976, making a career as a computer whiz and graphics genius. "16 years in L.A. was a major education for me in the School Of Life!," exclaims Foltz. In 1992, he and Diana moved back to Akron, and in 2003, they finally landed in Lake Montezuma, AZ, which he refers to lovingly as "Mayberry-of-the-Desert". Diana runs "Two Feathers Healing Arts" in Lake Montezuma.

"I got my first camera about 1960, an Imperial Mark IV. Got my first 'real camera', a Pentax Spotmatic around 1968," recalls Foltz, "In those days, I was still a working musician, so my photography only happened sporadically. I really started to concentrate on photography in 1971 when I started at Kent State. I had decided to let go of music for a while, and declared my major in photo-illustration. The photography program was within the School of Journalism and a little too straight for me, so I usually had a silk-screen printing class going at the School of Art's print studio right down the hill from my photo classes and darkroom. It was a nice balance."
Foltz currently operates from a small stable of cameras, both film and digital. He uses two Nikon film cameras that he's owned since 1976, with four different lenses, a handful of filters, and Tri-X film. "Just this year I got a Canon digital camera, with a whopping big zoom lens; 12 megapixel. It's the first digital camera I've felt good about! I'll have both film and digital work in my show".


"Looking the Other Way" opens May 1st, 2010. A gala fiesta will take place opening night from 5:30-8:30pm, featuring refreshments, jazz tunes, and a chance to meet the artist, a most interesting and charming fellow. The show runs through June 2nd. The Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery is located at 502 Main, Jerome AZ 86331, and open daily from 10am-6pm. For more information, visit www.jeromeartistscoop.com or call 928-639-4276.

Monday, March 1, 2010

3 Ring Circus! March 13-April 21, 2010

“3 Ring Circus”
Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery
March 13-April 21st, 2010
featuring:
Fashions by Christy Fisher,
Jewelry by Sarah Harms,
and Paintings by Ellen J.D. Roberts
-Opening Gala Saturday March 13th-


Kicking off the spring season in a wild collective romp, three artists with very distinctive styles and inspirations will join forces for a much-anticipated featured exhibit at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery. The show, aptly titled “3 Ring Circus”, will showcase fashions from Jerome’s Christy Fisher, paintings and photos from Clarkdale’s Ellen Jo Roberts, and jewelry and metalwork from Camp Verde’s Sarah Harms.

“Our individual styles all vary quite a bit, but will complement each other in an awesome way when grouped together,” says jeweler Sarah Harms, “Having a common theme, and completely different works will make the show all that much more interesting to view.”

Christy Fisher, a Jerome resident since 1990, is well known and followed for her popular jewelry designs, boutique fashions, and ever-multiplying offshoots into new creativity. A coop member for 10 years, Fisher was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Prior to Arizona, she lived in Florida, both in the Tampa Bay area and Gainesville, Florida –as well as Boston, Boulder, Los Angeles and Atlanta. “I like living on the side of a mountain,” she explains of her home on Cleopatra Hill, ”I love the sunrises and sunsets-- the view here in Jerome is incredible.”

Fisher has an eclectic rock n’ roll history. “I started designing clothing when I was in junior high school, and sold my first garments when I was in high school. I have always loved the fashion industry...even as a child, I designed clothing for paper dolls”. Fisher modeled for Seventeen Magazine in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, where she met many interesting and helpful mentors in the fashion industry. She soon was creating stage clothing for many rock bands, and folks like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and Wings, and Frank Zappa's “Mothers of Invention”. “I owned a couple of shops in the ‘80s where I sold clothing to people like Leon Russell and Minnie Ripperton,” says Fisher, “I also performed in a few bands and did clothing for the tours. Some of the guys went on to perform with the Buddy Miles Express, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.”

Fisher continued on in the fashion business, where her lines were carried in places as varied as Macy's, Dillard's, Disney World, and the Smithsonian gift shop. She started her popular jewelry line in the early 1980s. By the late ‘80s, Fisher decided she wanted to concentrate more on the artistic side of design, rather than mass production pieces, so she began selling her work through art galleries and boutiques. Christy Fisher’s work is available through over 80 accounts across the US--including the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery. Fisher also owns 2 shops in Jerome: the Fool on the Hill, and Magpie, where she test markets newdesigns.

Why “3 Ring Circus”? Fisher responds, “One of my first summer jobs? I was the gorilla girl in the side show of a carnival”. Her other inspirations for the show are equally colorful: tattooed women, derby girls, sideshow wonders, clowns and carnival lights.

“I think the three of us are making a great bunch of clowns!” exclaims Sarah Harms.
A fan of the Rolling Stones, motorcycles, and fiery hot metal, Harms is one of the co-op’s newer members, having joined the gallery in May 2008. Born in Chicago and raised in Evanston, Illinois, Harms moved to rural Camp Verde, Arizona, 3 years ago with her husband and two young sons. “The Arizona landscape is very inspiring for me right now, and I have included some 'landscapes in metal' in the show. I also enjoy working with rocks, and AZ offers a slew of 'em!” Harms’ jewelry features hand-forged steel, beach stones, river pebbles, and gracious curves.
“I think forging steel is the coolest thing ever!”, she says with her typical high spirited enthusiasm.

Her spiral and heart series, in varying styles, are her most popular sellers. She is also creating brand new pieces withstainless steel washers, with a ring element, using sterling, copper, and gold overlays, as well as bells, to chime in on the “three ring” circus theme.

“For as long as I can remember, I have always liked jewelry,” says Harms. During her freshman year in high school a friend working on a ring for the jewelry design class inspired her. “The light bulb went on for me then. I quickly talked with my guidance counselor, to see what I had to do to get into that class, and made it happen. Senior year, I got a job apprenticing with another jeweler in her studio, where I worked for ten years. Originally, what probably inspired me to make jewelry was just me love of it. The sparkle, noise, and joy of wearing something cool. I still am inspired by the adornment aspect, but I am now more interested in the symbolism included in the work, and wearing jewelry as talismans on some level.”

The third ringmaster in this “3 Ring Circus” is painter Ellen Jo Roberts, member of the gallery since 1997. “This show is going to be outrageous,” Roberts declares, “We all share a common joyfulness that’s so cheerful and light-hearted.” Roberts also shares several other common links with Fisher, and Harms. She and Fisher were Verde Street neighbors in Jerome, and have joined forces for a successful featured artist show in the past. She and Harms share an Illinois connection. Roberts was born in Evanston and grew up in Chicago.

“Christy and Sarah were both my ‘neighbors’ at one time or another. Plus they’re both Virgos, and I seem to have an affinity for partnering up with Virgos. I’m married to one.” Roberts has lived in Clarkdale since 2001, where she shares a vintage brick bungalow with her husband, Chad, and an assortment of pets. She has a bachelor of fine arts degree from Northern Illinois University, and works as Group Coordinator for the Verde Canyon Railroad.

Roberts’ paintings are small economical canvases, ranging from 6x8 up to 12x12, brightly colored and cheery, in durable heavy-bodied acrylics. “I call it ‘maximum artwork for minimum prices.’” Roberts finds inspiration in the American roadsides, western highways, vintage travel trailers, nature, and neon signs. “I think the traveling aspect of the circus is the element I bring to the show. The romance of the vagabond life. Plus, I am really quite fond of this here valley we all call home, being so close to the natural world, the river, and the interesting local history we have. ” An avid shutterbug with a collection of vintage analog cameras, she will also mix some photographs into the show, including several images that were captured with vintage Polaroid Land Cameras.

How will the three artists mesh for the show?
“Are you kidding?,” asks Fisher, “We are the best sidekicks EVER---- All three of us have a strong sense of humor that we bring to our art.”

“3 Ring Circus” opens Saturday, March 13th, with a festive party from 5:30pm-8:30pm. Come one come all to the party under the big top! Refreshments and amusements will be provided.
The show runs through April 21st, 2010. The Jerome Artists Cooperative is located at 502 Main, Jerome Arizona, and open daily from 10am-6pm. For more information call 639-4276, or visit the gallery’s website at http://www.jeromeartistscoop.com/

Monday, January 18, 2010

"Interpretive Landscapes" -Bob Chadwick- January 30- March 11, 2010




Interpretive Landscapes:
Through the Lens of Photographer, Robert Chadwick

The Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery will feature the works of southwest photographer Robert Chadwick in a six week exhibition, opening on Saturday, January 30th, 2010. Chadwick and his fellow artists will welcome the public during extended hours of 5 to 8 pm. Known locally for his expert tips on hiking both nearby and far-flung areas of northern Arizona and southern Utah, ‘Bob’ promises interesting discussion for photographers, artists, geologists and area visitors.

Robert Chadwick has had a camera in his hands since his teens and has often put it to good use in his life- during an Army tour in the Middle East, as journalism teacher and unofficial photographer for his high school sports teams, music and dance ensembles, and play productions, directed by his wife, Dee, but it was the advent of digital photography, coupled with a move from Montana to Flagstaff, Arizona, 26 years ago that turned the life-long ‘cameraman’ into an artist.

After applying his teaching/counseling skills at Flagstaff High School for two decades where he and Dee worked side by side, the couple chose the Village of Oak Creek as a retirement locale, leaving the pines and mountain slopes behind in 2003 to build a new home in the shadows of the towering cliffs of Red Rock Country.

The new retiree lost no time pursuing two of his favorite interests: tennis and hiking the local trails, always with camera in hand. Often accompanied by his best friend and 4- footed hiking partner, Woody, and armed with an ever-expanding knowledge and interest in geological forms, the artist photographed the vast land and skyscapes, hidden pools and secreted canyons of ancient embedded cultures while simultaneously studying the formal elements of landscape photography and painting along the way.


Chadwick’s fascination with the geology of the southwest and continuing passion for photography turned to professional endeavor when he was accepted 5 years ago as a member-artist at the internationally known Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery. His eye-catching vistas of red rock and turquoise sky accented by reflected water, delicate spring wildflowers and drifts of winter snow on cactus have subsequently found homes far and wide in the US and beyond. The artist’s work is currently displayed at the Jerome Co-op and at the Village Gallery of Local Artists in the Village of Oak Creek, Sedona.


Among the artist’s most memorable adventures are his early exploratory trips through the expansive northern plateau of Arizona and beyond. Often in the company of knowledgeable friends and armed with a desire to explore new regions, a long time interest in geology and his ever-present camera and film, he ‘discovered’ and photographed such wild areas as the Grand Escalante Staircase in the Glen Canyon Recreation Area, the Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area and the Paria Plateau before these sites were designated as treasures by federal authorization.

Most recently, the artist has begun to re-focus his lens to search within the larger landscape- in a sense, to extract and showcase the ‘abstract’ elements that create line, color, texture, and geometric form in a rock overhang, a mineral-stained cliff, or an undulating slickrock surface. Always fascinated by a silent reflecting pool, his work also explores the impressionistic effects water produces on these shimmering surfaces. To those ends, Chadwick has been busily creating a completely new body of work based on a more analytical photographic interpretation of the natural elements which surround us and which he has come to know so intimately. It is this collection of ‘reinvented’ landscapes that will form the core of his upcoming 6 week exhibition as the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery featured artist.


"Interpretive Landscapes" opens January 30th, 2010 5-8 pm in the old Hotel Jerome,
502 Main St., Jerome, AZ. 928-639-4276
http://www.jeromecoop.com/ jacooperative@qwest.net