Our Glass Obsession: New Works by Isabel Mathieson and Fred Reinhardt. October 5th through December 5th 2013

 

“Our Glass Obsession” :

New Works by Isabel Mathieson and Fred Reinhardt.

Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery

PO Box 233/ 503 Main St

Jerome AZ 86331

www.jeromecoop.com

928-639-4276

Publicity Chairperson: Ellen Jo Roberts

ejdroberts@yahoo.com

 

 

For Immediate Release:

“Our Glass Obsession” : New Works by Isabel Mathieson and Fred Reinhardt. Opens at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery on October 5th

“Glass has always intrigued me. I have always loved glass and collected glass,” said Isabel “Chacha” Mathieson, in trying to explain her obsession with this amazing material. Even when cooled to a solid form it manages to retain its liquid appearance, a swirl of colors and clarity. Chacha and fellow glass artist Fred Reinhardt will share their mutual fascination by showcasing new works in “Our Glass Obsession”, a featured show at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery opening Saturday, October 5^th.

Both long-time members of the co-op, Mathieson and Reinhardt have very different styles when it comes to glass, yet both share a brilliant color sense and passion for pattern and texture.

Isabel Mathieson, known by many as Chacha, is a third generation Arizonan, born in Jerome’s United Verde Hospital, now known as the Jerome Grand Hotel. Jerome plays an important part in Chacha’s family history. Her grandparents were both originally from Jalisco, Mexico, and met and married in El Paso, Texas. They moved to Jerome when Arizona was only a territory, settling on Main Street in 1910 where they lived with their children, one of which was Chacha’s mother. Chacha’s parents met in Jerome, married in 1940 and their family grew there for a time, prior to moving to San Manuel in Pinal County northeast of Tucson. After World War II, plexi-glass became plentiful and Chacha’s father, Frank Gallego began experimenting with it. He started out making lamps with shades and matching picture frames, carving roses and cactus into the plexi-glass. When orders were plentiful he created his art studio, Gallego Carvings, specializing in jewelry. “I remember watching him as he carved roses and cactus for pendants and earrings,” Chacha recalls, inspired by his talents, “As we were able to handle it, my dad taught us to use the grinder, buffer, and drills, and attach findings on the earrings and pendants. My dad and mother were always teaching and encouraging us to develop our own artistic talents.”

 

By the time Chacha was in high school, she acquired her father’s skill for plexi-glass carving. She continued to live in the surrounding area of San Manuel, carving out a career in city and county government while also managing to raise a family. During her 41-year career, Chacha took evening classes, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Office Management. Three years prior to retiring, she decided to learn about stained glass, “a lifelong desire.” One instructor introduced her to fused glass, also referred to as kiln-formed glass, and she fell in love with it.

Her fused glass is an assemblage based on a design or pattern,“ I draw out my patterns and select glass colors. Either way, I hand cut each piece of glass and sometimes I use machinery for curves and intricate cuts.  Then I grind, clean the pieces and assemble them like a puzzle.” The assembled piece is put in the kiln to fuse, a process which takes 15 to 18 hours to complete, depending on the size and thickness of the piece..  A second process called the slump phase shapes the piece, “After the full fuse, in order to shape the glass into a pre-selected plate or bowl I use a mold for the slumping phase. ”

 Upon retirement, with her children grown, Chacha returned to her roots in the Verde Valley, and furthered her education in the art via additional glass classes.

Chacha states, “I love Jerome and the Verde Valley— it brings back so many happy memories of my family and childhood days. With the love of glass art, my wish is that my creations will bring as much joy to all those who use them as they do for me in creating them.”  

Nebraska-native Fred Reinhardt has been involved with photography, printing and graphic arts since he was honorably discharged from the US Navy in 1969. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Omaha’s Creighton University in 1972. The Reinhardts moved to Cottonwood, Arizona in 1981 and soon after purchased a small print shop and started the local ads and TV-listings publication, The Ad King. Fred retired from his newspaper business in 2007, allowing him more time to devote to his glass art.

“My glass obsession started in the late fall of 1996 when the owner of the local stained glass shops persuaded me to take a stained glass class, explained Mr. Reinhardt.The six week course covered the basics: glass selection, grinding, foiling, soldering and finishing. Fred enjoyed the results of those early lessons and continued to develop his skills with more complex designs. “The more complicated the piece the more imagination, and the more imagination the more time you take to select your glass. At a certain time you realize that the local stained glass shops have a limited supply, so you venture out to the big city to see a larger selection of glass colors and textures. That is the time you develop an obsession with glass…You can never have enough glass.”

Though he has no formal training in fine art, his innate knack for graphics, color and composition are evident in the bold style of his stained glass. His glasswork often depicts sunny desert landscapes, starry nights and other easily recognizable nature scenes, though Reinhardt also showcases fine mastery of abstract designs as well. He exhibits a keen sense of whimsy with many of his pieces, including his popular snowflake and star pieces. A fan favorite? His small terra-cotta pot-bound cactus plants.
“Glass isn’t just for windows!” he exclaims cheerfully. Using traditional stained-glass methods, Fred’s work is a blend of both classic and modern. “The stained glass medium not only deals in colors but also in texture, both of which can lend a dimensional effect to a piece, as well as one that will change with the intensity of the light throughout the day.”

“Our Glass Obsession” opens Saturday, October 5^th, 2013, 5:30pm-8:30pm in conjunction with Jerome’s popular first Saturday ARTwalk event. The Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery is located at 502 Main, in the former Hotel Jerome. Gallery hours are 10am-6pm daily. The show runs through December 5th.

 

For more information visit  www.jeromecoop.com or call 928-639-4276

 

 

 

 

Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery Set to Rock the Mountain with Annual Summer Membership Show: “Jerome Rocks!”

 

      The now infamous attention-grabbing bumper sticker that proudly proclaims, “Jerome, Arizona- Population: Strange” is only part of the story; the whole truth is, Jerome rocks! The member-artists of the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery on Main Street are preparing to prove why their historic hotel gallery is a major contributor to the town’s popularity when they unleash their artistic interpretations of “Jerome Rocks” in the annual Summer Membership Show next month. The exhibition will open on Saturday, July 6^th in conjunction with the town’s First Saturday Art Walk and continue until August 1^st.

 Many of the 35 artists especially look forward to the annual membership shows- the first of which falls during the fall holiday season, and the second in the summer- because only then are they allowed by gallery regulation to show works from media other than their specific juried category. It is not unusual to see a painter show off secret talents in ceramics or a glassblower showcase a jewelry series . Of course, visitors can also look forward to catching up with favorite artists and their latest juried works as well.

  The Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery currently boasts several members who signed on 17 years ago at its inception, many others who joined and have stayed on over the ensuing years, and juried newcomers who have waited patiently for their turn to claim a space inside the beloved gallery. The one attribute shared by all, however, is a personal and professional commitment to continued innovation, industry and creative thinking when it comes to new ideas and production of their own art. The group recently welcomed two new member/artists, Don Voss and Christine Ryback. Don’s acrylic paintings which center on the form of sacred geometric mandalas and Christine’s very unique and ironically delicate cement leaves are most welcome additions to the gallery collection.  

The 2013 Summer Membership Show, “Jerome Rocks!”  opens on Saturday July 6^th, with a reception from 5:00pm- 8:00pm. Join the artists for a rockin’ good time!

The gallery is open daily from 10am-6pm and located at 502 Main, in the former Hotel Jerome. For more information visit http://www.jeromecoop.com  or call 928-639-4276.

Capturing the Light: Yesterday and Today in Fine Art Photography.

Capturing the Light: 

Yesterday and Today in Fine Art Photography

New Work by Ellen Jo Roberts and David Neely

Featured Artist Show at Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery, 

March 2-May 2, 2013

Opening reception March 2nd, 2013, 5:30pm-8:30pm. 

A camera is a tool a photographer uses to make images and whether it’s a simple box with a pinhole or a mega-pixel DSLR a certain vision is required behind the lens to make an interesting photograph.

“Capturing the Light: Yesterday and Today in Fine Art Photography” features new works by Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery members Ellen Jo Roberts and David Neely.

Utilizing cameras both ultra modern and vintage mid-century, these two photographers come from different generations and complement each other's distinct styles. Prescott-area resident Neely is a dark-room trained professional photographer who went digital in 2006. He captures compelling scenery and social landscapes in high tech fashion, infusing the images onto a variety of surfaces, from paper to metal. Clarkdale's Roberts is best known as a painter, but over the past 10 years has developed more than a passing interest in photography. In “Capturing the Light” she shares instant film images, born from a 1950s Polaroid Pathfinder Land Camera and blown up into large-sized prints.

       David Neely, native to Washington DC, first developed an interest in photography when he was a junior college student prior to attending the University of Maryland, “I had friends who came back from Vietnam with 35mm cameras they purchased at the PX. I was always artistic, but could not draw or paint so photography was a natural avenue for me to pursue.”

      He worked in photography professionally for just over 40 years, starting in Washington DC as a commercial photographer. In 1982 he moved his studio to Dallas, Texas where he worked for many of the top commercial clients nationwide including Neiman Marcus, Sears, JC Penney’s and Saks 5th Ave as well as many magazines and ad agencies.  Neely was also a contributing photographer for Playboy magazine from the late 1970s until the mid-1990s. “I was sent out on all kinds of assignments for them and traveled extensively,” he recalls, “I have pictures of my one year-old son with about ten bunnies in Atlantic City, and many nice memories and wonderful people I met and worked with. But let me tell you, it was very demanding and difficult work and back in the film days it took some serious skills and lighting to achieve the images they expected.”

    In 1995 he and his wife Sheila arrived in Arizona where Neely attained teaching credentials. He taught photography for several years at Metro Tech, a career technical education high school in central Phoenix. Living full time in Prescott for the past four years, he was an Adjunct Professor at Yavapai College teaching photography courses prior to budget cuts at the school. His son carries the family tradition of education as a math teacher and head basketball coach at Prescott High School.

           Now in his fourth year as a member of the cooperative, David Neely uses his keen photographic eye for art rather than advertising. “I try to interpret things I see and am moved by,” he explains, “I look for shapes, texture, lines and balance in every image I take. I want people to feel what I felt, see the composition and be excited by things that we may walk right past. I use photography as a way ‘to speak’ to others and let them know something about me and how I see and feel about things in our world.”

David Neely

       How did he transition from dark room to digital? “I was an old-time darkroom and film-based photographer! So I kind of went kicking and screaming into digital imaging,” says Neely, “But it did not take me long to adjust and fall in love with digital. It made so many aspects of photography so much easier and for me, more creative.  There is something still special about black and white prints made on top-notch paper in a darkroom. The feel, the tonal quality and the surface of the papers is still special to me, But, I don't miss the smell, the long hours and the tedious work required by expert black and white printers. PhotoShop and similar programs have just opened up so many new creative avenues to pursue!”
 Utilizing many different software tools and plug-ins, Neely says, “I can get so involved I spend hours and hours tinkering and working on new effects and the ‘feeling’ I can bring out in selected images.”
    As digital cameras continue to evolve, results that once could only be achieved on film now are possible electronically. “The mega-pixel count is so high now the ability to achieve super high detail and tonal quality, thought only possible with an eye like that of Ansel Adams with an 8x10 view camera, is now being achieved with the top end digital cameras.”

David Neely

        Complementing the high tech future, Ellen Jo Roberts lands from an opposite direction, entrenched somewhere deep in the 20th century, though with images no less instantaneous. “I probably have a tendency to be anachronistic in general, and I think this is what initially fueled my interest in vintage cameras and film photography. Though, as I learned more and became more skilled with the equipment, I grew to adore the results obtained from shooting on film,” the painter explains, “The capturing of the light burning images onto the analog materials lends a sense of time that is very human and tangible.” Though many imagine film has gone extinct, a vast culture of film photography remains active. “Ironically,” says Roberts, “it’s the internet that keeps film alive, with on-line communities devoted to analog photography. The enthusiasm for film is similar to the music scene’s vinyl album culture. Teenagers are shooting photos with cheap plastic 35mm Holgas and The Impossible Project’s SX-70 instant film.”

       A native to Chicago, Roberts graduated from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and soon afterwards married and moved west, arriving in Arizona in 1995. She and her husband Chad lived in Flagstaff and Jerome prior to settling into a historic brick bungalow in Clarkdale in 2001. She has been a member of the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery since 1997. With a stable of analog cameras at her disposal, Roberts is never without one, always at the ready to capture the joy of the world around us. “As a painter, I have a natural enthusiasm for color, composition and the play between light and dark, but I also like to capture funny juxtapositions. The little moments of small town life out west. Roadside America. Arizona. Vintage cars, motels and old signs. Double exposures, color flashes and long nighttime exposures are fun. ”



Ellen Jo Roberts

She is also perhaps known for photographing her three small dogs, Floyd, Ivan and Hazel, each of them very patient for the lens. “I am definitely inspired by William Wegman, and the creative costume work he did with his Weimaraners.”  Her 1950s-era Polaroid Pathfinder Land Camera is quite the conversation piece, always attracting attention when popped open, bellows extended. “People go nuts when they see the camera,” she laughs, “It’s as big as a Buick, very cinematic and eye-catching. They say, ‘Oh! I haven’t seen one of those in years! Where do you get film for it?’ ”



Ellen Jo Roberts

     Originally made to take a now extinct instant roll film, the camera was modified to take pack film, which is still manufactured. Though she counts her 1954 Argus C3 35mm as her other favorite camera, all of Roberts’ work in Capturing the Light was created with instant film, either expired Polaroid or new Fuji. “Though Polaroid quit producing instant film in 2009, Fuji still makes new peel-apart instant film which fuels many of my Polaroid cameras. ‘The Impossible Project’ is a New York based company which bought Polaroid’s factory in the Netherlands so that they could manufacture integral instant film again.”
Roberts does no post-editing to the images other than straighten the scans and remove wayward dust.
“Photography is a bit like life in that you’re continually solving puzzles and problems,” she says, “As I size up a shot I have to make adjustments to the speed and the aperture, the angle and the distance, to best capture and share what I am seeing and what feeling I am trying to convey. Because it’s film, it’s expensive, and I have to put extra thought into each image before I click the shutter. If it works as I saw it in my mind, it’s a victory.”

Ellen Jo Roberts

Both Neely and Roberts share an admiration for each other’s photography and can appreciate the skills, ideas, experience and vision shared. “David captures an electric quality of light in his images that makes the viewer feel a calming energy. His photographs are always very uplifting,” said Roberts of her show partner, “He’s a great champion of photography in general, always very enthusiastic and encouraging.”
Says Neely of Roberts, “I love her approach to image making and her desire to keep the older tools of the trade alive and prospering! Once I saw some of her Polaroids and images from her vast array of vintage cameras I knew we were a perfect match.”

The opening reception for “Capturing the Light: Yesterday and Today in Fine Art Photography” takes place from 5:30pm –8:30pm on Saturday, March 2nd, coinciding with Jerome’s popular ARTwalk. Refreshments will be served. The show runs through May 2nd. The Jerome Artists Cooperative is open daily 10am-6pm. For more information visit jeromecoop.com

"Envisioned Realism": Featuring the Works of Bernie Lopez

                                            

Painter Bernie Lopez Celebrates Two Years at

Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery

with Solo Show, “Envisioned Realism”

 

As the holiday season cools down, the buzz about the eye-catching works of acrylic painter, Bernie Lopez, continues to heat up the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery.  In January, the Prescott artist will celebrate his second year as a Jerome Coop member with his own personal exhibition, ‘‘Envisioned Realism” which will open on January 5th, 2013 and run until the end of February.

 

Although originally from California, the artist has resided for eight years in Prescott. Arizona where he and his wife are raising their 3 children in his ‘home-studio.’ In addition to showing his work in Jerome, Lopez is also represented by the Arts Prescott Gallery.

 

Like many young people, Lopez was inspired early in life to describe the natural world around him in sketches, but unlike most, he chose to pursue his artistic interests on his own. In his twenties, he combined a love for traveling the vast expanses of the western U.S. with a keen eye for color and form in the landscapes he encountered along the way.

 

As he grew as an artist and added to his personal artistic encyclopedia, Lopez created a portfolio of realistic paintings in acrylic from photographs, but soon became interested in abstract art as well. In the intervening years, he has embraced both interests and the two stylistic elements often fight for center stage in his current body of work. The resulting display in the Jerome gallery is dramatic, to say the least!

 

In the artist’s words, “I like to combine a balance of natural landscapes, precise geometric elements, and monochromatic colors in my paintings.” While one painting may broadly showcase the colors of an eye-popping blood-orange Arizona sky at sunset, the one next to it will command the viewer’s eye to focus squarely on a single raven backed by the perfect circle of a pure white full moon, a trio of Pronghorn antelope or a distant gathering of horses- all painted with laser -cut precision against a muted palette of monochromatic mood-altering grays.

Another unique element in many of Lopez’s pieces is the incorporation of painted off-set geometric panels and bars that serve the dual purpose of geometric interest and framing device.    

 

In “Envisioned Realism,” Lopez will revisit existing series, Sunset, Moonlight Silhouettes and Landscapes and present a varied showcase of original acrylics, Canvas Giclees and Archival prints. As for the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery official opening night of his exhibition, he guarantees“a good time at the best co-op in the world!”

 

Join Lopez and the artists of the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery for “Envisioned Realism” during the First Saturday Art Walk:  5-8 pm Jan. 5th for food and “a good time” at the Hotel Jerome, 502 Main Street, Jerome, Az 86331 (928) 639-4276

www.jeromeartistscoop.com  

A Season of Giving: Holiday Membership Show 2012

A Season for Giving:

Holiday Membership Show

at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery

December 1st 2012 through January 3rd, 2013

The annual holiday membership show at the Jerome Artists Cooperative features an extra bit of seasonal good cheer this year. “A Season of Giving” will share proceeds from participating artists with charities of their choices. Shop local this Christmas and your dollars will also help support good causes both near and far. Shipping available, making the hectic holiday season easier for frenzied shoppers.

The gallery members showcase a great array of hand-crafted goodies in this group show. Ranging from large canvases and ceramics to tiny stocking stuffers, cards and ornaments, this seasonal favorite event brings locals and visitors alike together to enjoy the festive spirit of Jerome. The picturesque mountainside community is lit up with twinkly lights, luminaria and warm beverages to keep the chill at bay. A pretty dusting of snow often times hugs the mountain for a truly Christmastime flavor.

This year's Holiday Membership Show opens in conjunction with Jerome's popular ARTwalk, Saturday, December 1st, 2012, from 5pm-8pm. Enjoy holiday treats and a chance to rub elbows with the artists. The show will run through January 3rd, 2013.

Since 1996 the gallery has been a town cornerstone, located in the old Hotel Jerome. Open daily from 10am-6pm. Visit the galley online at Jeromecoop.com or call 928-639-4276 for more details.

"Visions of Arizona": New works by Birgitta Lapides

 

"Visions of Arizona"- New works by Birgitta Lapides at the

Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery

October 6^th through Nov. 28, 2012

“I don't try to paint or make my mixed media collage the way things look. For me what is important is to catch the essence of the subject. That will say how I feel about it - not how it looks,” says mixed-media artist Birgitta Lapides of her soothing desert scenes, “I also want to create a feeling of simplicity and serenity, especially in my meditation landscapes.”

 

By using layers of thin Japanese papers that she paints and collages into her works, she is able to create landscapes that capture a mood or an essence of her beloved subject: Arizona. Her rusty oranges, warm earth tones and bright blues are clearly inspired by her visions of her adopted home state. A native of Sweden, where sunshine is a rare commodity, Lapides is enamored with the fantastic light of the desert.

   "I never go out and take photos or sketch before I start a painting,” she explains, “I listen to classical music and just try to be receptive to my feelings about what I am doing." This form of painting, from the inside out, is felt as an adventure to the artist. It's her artistic journey that excites her, and it's the adventure into the unknown that inspires her.

 

      Her beautiful materials meld perfectly with her lovely visions. “Since I took a workshop in making paper at the Haystack School in Maine I fell in love with paper- making the Asian way with very thin, delicate paper, many made from organic materials like sea weed, banana peels, etc. It is a very time-consuming but fascinating process that I cannot do at home. But I always try to find very thin white papers, often Japanese, that I paint always myself and use in my collage. By experimenting with very thin paper you can get transparency and interesting effects by super-imposing papers in different colors.”

 “Visions of Arizona” opening reception starts at 5:30pm on October 6^th, in conjunction with Jerome’s popular ARTwalk, and runs through Thanksgiving. The Jerome Artists Cooperative is located at 502 Main, and is open from 10am-6pm, daily. The opening night party will feature refreshments and a chance to chat with the artist.

“I love strong colors, simple forms, which I think adapt very well to the landscapes here in Arizona,” says Lapides,“For me it's the creation of a piece that I get completely absorbed in that is the reward in itself.”

 

For more information call 928-639-4276 or visit the gallery online at jeromecoop.com

Signs and Wonders 2012: Featured artist, RV Lovelace

"Signs and Wonders 2012"
RV Lovelace at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery
August 4th- October 4th, 2012

        R.V. Lovelace doesn't believe that world will end in 2012. “It is the Year of the Dragon and I was born in the Year of the Dragon," he explains the strength he feels exists inherently. "It's biblical. There's something in Revelations. Some biblical reference to end of times. The reason that I'm doing this show is because I'm not in agreement with people who say the Mayan Calendar predicts the end of the world. 
Don’t believe in the age of fear.”

       Mr. Lovelace's current featured artist show at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery, "Signs and Wonders 2012", opening August 4th, is a surreal cross-cultural mash-up of Asian, Native American and pop cultures. "Signs, dreams, experiences and visions I've had," the artist explains the symbolism, both spiritual and surreal as well as mundane day to day symbols such as highway road signs, "Signs of all kinds." Arriving in Jerome was a sign, "It was a sign. I came here and I felt I'd been here before." A psychic aunt told him he'd had a past life in Jerome, living there before as a merchant.
     Raised in Santa Clara, California, Lovelace is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute and owned his own screen printing business in Oakland prior to his permanent arrival in Jerome in 1991. A founding member of the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery since its inception in 1996, Lovelace has work in collections nationwide, including the home of Maria Elena Holly, Buddy Holly’s widow in Texas. Inspired by film noir, surrealism, Mid-Century Modern, Populuxe and Googie styles, primitive art and mythology, petroglyphs and pictographs, roadside signs and science fiction, Lovelace says "I'm a blender. I find things in different cultures that relate and I blend them together. Hopi, Navajo, Asian, American pop culture."

The artist's dreamlike images, created with airbrush, water-based pigments, mixed media and colored pencil convey an intensity, an electricity, a kinetic energy. His "Retro-Vision Lexicon", as he calls it (matching his initials, R.V.L.), is enigmatic storytelling, “It is a magical invention of mysterious suggestion, " he says, "The stream of consciousness is filled with the flotsam and jetsam of dreams and everyday events.”   

      In keeping with the Year of the Dragon inspiration, Lovelace's customary mash-up of the past, present and future is blended with mystical Asian motifs, including dragons, symbols of luck and elements from Chinese "joss paper". Joss paper is gift-wrap for the dead, covered with pictures of jewelry, automobiles, cars, candy, appliances. The paper is an offering, burnt to share the symbolic gifts with the spirit world. Growing up near San Francisco's famous Chinatown, Lovelace says, “I was always trying to talk my dad into taking me there. Mostly to buy fireworks.”


         Science fiction is always a topic of interest to the artist, who enjoys creature features from his large library of mid-century monster movies. As a child of the 1950s and '60s "Atomic Age", sci-fi themes frequent his art. “There will be some monsters in the show,” says Lovelace, "To me it’s always been about xenophobia. Fear of the unknown, that’s what monsters represent. I didn’t want to know the everyday activities. I wanted to know about the other side. The unknown. Abstract expressionism practically frightened me! But I loved it!”


"Signs and Wonders 2012" opens August 4th during Jerome's popular ARTwalk from 5:00pm 'til 8:00pm, and runs through October 4th. The Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery is open from 10am-6pm daily, at 502 Main Street in the old Hotel Jerome building. For more information call (928)639-4276, or visit www.jeromecoop.com 

Bassett Does Jerome: Featuring New Works of Fabled Jerome Arizona

“Bassett Does Jerome: Featuring New Works of Fabled Jerome Arizona”by Anne Bassett at Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery. Opens on May 5th 2012

       Documenting the unique architecture haphazardly perched on the mountainside of this National Historic Landmark town, Anne Bassett’s blend of wild and controlled line perfectly captures the personality of Jerome. “Bassett Does Jerome” is the artist’s newest series, and will be featured at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery beginning on May 5th. 

         Raised and educated in the Valley of the Sun, the daughter of renowned artist Don Bassett, studied art at ASU in Tempe. She arrived in Jerome in 1980 and bought her historic home on “the boardwalk” of Company Hill by the end of the decade. Looking over the entire town and Verde Valley below, she has a perfect vantage point to keep an eye on her beloved community. Over the last thirty years Bassett has woven her bold personality into the fabric of Jerome. An avid participant in town politics, she’s been elected many times to the town council. Currently acting as Vice Mayor, she was recently re-elected to her next two-year council term which begins in June. Her primary focus is always what is best for the preservation and future of Jerome. 

        

“These artworks of Jerome are the climax of three decades of visual studies of our beautiful Town,” explains the artist, prolific at capturing the town’s structures and unique details in paint and ink. It is only fitting that the Jerome Historic Home and Building Tour will take place during the show’s run.  

“Bassett Does Jerome” was inspired by a special project, “For some years I have been planning to create a map of Jerome with each residence and business building and show the historic walkways, walls and stairs,” explains the artist, “To begin, I drew plein-air in ink scenes capturing neighborhoods. These all stand alone, but then I used them, plus all the individual building portraits I have done since 1980, plus aerial and ground photographs, to create my ink of the whole Town of Jerome! What a huge job!”

          The map also includes ink drawings of each of the front view of the town’s three commercial blocks. 

“Each of these will be available in limited-edition of 500 black and white prints on a lovely acid-free paper.

I got some of each drawing printed on superior quality watercolor paper,” says Bassett.

 After the initial drawings were complete, she returned to the sites of the area drawings with an easel and paints, “I painted each scene, set them up in my studio, and painted the big map. Another giant job!”

In addition to original works and limited edition giclée prints, open-edition archival prints of the water-colored paintings will also so be available, as well as small prints and cards. “Something for every level of art patronage!” explains Anne Bassett.

    “Bassett Does Jerome” opens on the 5th of May during Jerome’s popular first Saturday ARTwalk. 

The opening fiesta will take place from 5:30pm-8:30pm, and include refreshments and a chance to meet with the artist and discuss her invaluable documentation of the fabled town. The show will run ‘til early July at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery.

For more information call 928-639-4276, or visit the gallery’s website at www.jeromecoop.com . 

The Jerome Artists Cooperative Galley is located at 502 Main, and open daily from 10am-6pm.