January thru February Featured Artist Show

  Flower Power in Full Bloom at Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery

Attention former and future Flower Children: the Age of Aquarius is more than a musical relic from days of yore; indeed, it is a movement that is as relevant today as it was in 1965 when Beat Poet, Allen Ginsberg advocated using “masses of flowers” as weapons of peaceful protest to be handed out to policemen, the press and spectators. He called his action plan “Flower Power,” and an entire subculture based on Art, Peace, Love, and Rock and Roll was born.

 In the first Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery exhibition of the new year, JAC artists Christy Fisher and Christine Ryback invite all peaceniks (and everyone else) to revisit the time of the Flower Children as they pay homage in their art to the ideals of the time.                                                                                              

 The “Flower Power,” exhibition opens on January 3rd in conjunction with the First Saturday Art Walk of 2015 and will run through March 4^th.  Opening night hours are 5-8 pm. Refreshments will be served, and the house will be rockin’!

 Providing entertainment for the evening will be the very popular music duo, The Black Forest Society. William Schwab and Dave Rentz bring a unique original music experience of vocal and instrumental storytelling which they describe as “musical Soul Food.”

 Christy Fisher – designer seamstress and jewelry maker for some of the most beloved Rock and Roll icons of the 60’s and 70’s will showcase her popular clothing and jewelry designs inspired by the avante-garde /psychedelic art, symbolism and Rock N Roll stylings of the times. She dressed musicians Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, has designed a line of knitwear for Macy’s and created jewelry for the Smithsonian and Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Using the rich vivid colors inherent in the art of the late 60’s, Christy draws from such artistic influences as Heinz Edelmann (art director for Yellow Submarine), Milton Glaser, Peter Max and Dr. Seuss. 

“I believe there are three things that will never go out of style: Peace, Love and Music; those were the backbone of the Flower Power movement…but things have been brought into the 21^st century. This is Flower Power 2.0,” says Christy.

“You will see dresses inspired by bumper stickers and digitally engineered fabric prints using pop festival poster illustrations and photographs. My new jewelry designs explode in rainbow colors using titanium coated crystals and colorful recycled glass.”

For Christine Ryback, Art and Peace come from her love of the natural world. On the opposite coast from the birthplace of Flower Power and following many years as a drapery/window treatment alteration seamstress, Chris took advantage of the diverse New Jersey flora surrounding her, and, before relocating to Arizona, began casting leaves in concrete.

“My love of nature gets me outdoors and I am always on the lookout for leaves to cast. Each finished piece shows all the veins and markings of the real leaf, so each one is unique.”

Chris recently completed several very large hanging pieces, including a huge flower – a special nod to the Flower Power theme. The artist continues to add new works to her collection and in the exhibition, she will be showing her latest addition, wearable ‘minis’ fashion and hat pins. “I also have a few 3-D pieces –something new in my collection, and a new birdbath as well as another surprise. Come to the show and see!”