Tom Uttech in Smithsonian Exhibition through February 2015

Birds have long been a source of mystery and awe. Today, a growing desire to meaningfully connect with the natural world has fostered a resurgence of popular interest in the winged creatures that surround us daily. The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art examines mankind’s relationship to birds and the natural world through the eyes of twelve major contemporary American artists, including David Beck, Rachel Berwick, Lorna Bieber, Barbara Bosworth, Joann Brennan, Petah Coyne, Walton Ford, Paula McCartney, James Prosek, Laurel Roth Hope, Fred Tomaselli, and Tom Uttech.

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Terrence Coffman "Van Gogh Live" at Charles Allis Museum - October, 2014 Fall

Artist, author, playwright and 2014 Forward Grand Prize Winner Terrence James Coffman brings his play, Van Gogh Live to the Charles Allis Art Museum during its Plein Air exhibition running through January 11. This one-night performance, based on Coffman’s fictional book of missing Van Gogh journals, is a riveting and emotional glimpse into the torment and ecstasy of Vincent’s life. The audience experiences the complicated life of this lonely man as Coffman examines his obsessions, madness, and love of art and humanity and is given the chance to question Van Gogh at the end of the evening. Watch to discover two local persons you might know filling the cameo roles of a minister and a French prostitute. Coffman’s book will be available for purchase with part of book sales going to support CAVT.

Admission is $25 in advance/$30 at the door. Call Ann at 414 278 8295 x5 or email RSVP@cavtmuseums.org.

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Mulhern & Martin, Shepherd Express - September 2014

Two new exhibitions at the Tory Folliard Gallery (233 N. Milwaukee St.) each introduce the everyday into their art. Cathy Martin comes to her craft from an earthy angle, which steered clear of the contemporary artist’s traditional MFA-lined path. She is an artist whose day job puts food on her table by putting food on other people’s tables. Indeed, her oil paintings on display in the exhibit “This & That” reveal a sensitivity to nature no doubt nurtured by her years as a Wisconsin farmer. Although she is self-taught, the technical execution of her work indicates a rare talent.

Mark Mulhern’s “New Work” uncovers a different domain of reality by means of a different technical approach. Photographic accuracy is here exchanged for figurativeness and atmosphere, which evoke a more primal, immediate stratum of experience. From dog walkers, pigeons amongst passing crowds and the backs of people’s heads, the subject matter also belongs to the everyday world.

The exhibitions open with an artists reception on Friday, Sept. 12 from 5-7:30 p.m. You have until Oct. 11 to make these images part of your everyday.

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Derrick Buisch at Southern Georgia University - September, 2014

The Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art at Georgia Southern University presents Derrick Buisch: Off Season from August 18 – September 19 on campus in the University Gallery of the Center for Art & Theatre. The exhibition includes an artist lecture Thursday, September 18, at 5 p.m. in the Visual Arts Building, Room 2071, followed immediately by an artist reception in the gallery. The events are free, and the public is welcome.

Derrick Buisch: Off Season features imagery culled from pedestrian subjects including maps, album covers, roadside signs, and commercial products. Informed through his practice of maintaining sketchbooks, Buisch creates distinctive images that present an extensive exploration of graphic motifs. Often influenced by aspects of music, such as LPs and zines, Buisch’s paintings and drawings are simultaneously playful, celebratory, and subversive.

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