"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 

2012 Summer Membership Show: Celebrating Arizona's Centennial

JEROME ARTISTS’ COOPERATIVE: “CELEBRATING ARIZONA’S CENTENNIAL”

                                                        By J. Yescalis

 

       Members of the Jerome Artists’ Cooperative Gallery will join in Arizona’s state-wide Centennial Celebration when they host their annual Summer Membership Show from July 7^th through August 2nd, 2012. While the weather is warm and visitors from around the country enthusiastically head for higher ground, the artists are proud to show off their own very ‘cool’ mile-high historic Arizona treasure- the old Jerome Hotel which houses the Cooperative Gallery at 502 Main Street in Jerome, Arizona.

    The historical landmark still stands exactly where it was built in 1917 - unlike many of the town’s original buildings which became victims of fires and geological instability brought on by 50 years of mining the mountain. The once elegant and still awe-worthy hotel was constructed just three years after the discovery of a huge “bonanza’ of copper, gold and silver in the Verde Extension Mine- affectionately known by locals as The Little Daisy and provided a luxurious retreat from the busy, often eventful streets of the “Million Dollar Copper Camp” during the town’s ensuing boom years.  

95 years later, the historic structure continues to provide a much revered shelter for the Cooperative all year round, but the gallery’s Summer and Holiday Membership shows mark a departure from normal policy which requires members to display and sell only the medium for which they have been juried at entrance. In these shows, the artists have the freedom to kick up their creative heels and bring out favorite and often surprising non-juried work to display along with the juried collections which have brought acclaim to the Jerome Co-op over the past 16 years.

Who knew that jewelers and fine artists have a secret love for basket making and photographers are sculptors in their spare time! Join the artists for the opening of The Summer Membership Show: “Celebrating Arizona’s Centennial” on Saturday, July 7^th in conjunction with the Jerome First Saturday Art Walk.

The gallery is located at 502 Main Jerome Arizona, and open daily from 10am-6pm . For more information visit : www.jeromeartistscoop.com