Lisa Macchi took twenty-five years off from art, but now she’s painting Charlottesville red. Sitting in her McGuffey Art Center studio, radiating an energy that belies her eighty years, Lisa Macchi has some advice for young artists stressing over how to start a painting. “You have to break the silence,” she says. “The first thing I do is just get paint on the canvas. I put it there and see if it makes sense. It doesn’t even have to relate to how the painting … Continue reading Lisa Macchi: Disrupting the Paint by Russell Hart→
“I’m always having a conversation with myself between art and craft. Art is for the heart and craft for the wallet,” says fine artist and fine craftsman Alan Box Levine in his studio at the McGuffey Art Center In Charlottesville, Va. “Art is a window to the world. It has nothing to do with money. I also restore old things—windows, tables, chairs, book cases—for a living.” Levine’s compact studio displays the makings of his varied talents. Displayed are wooden benches, boxes of all sizes, dried flowers, toys, vintage family photographs. An antique ladder back chair … Continue reading Fine Art and Craftsman Alan Box Levine→
“I choose to take photos because I liked the idea of being able to stop time for a moment,” says Rhode Island photographer Kate Salvi. “I live with anxiety and manic depression so being able to stop for a minute and focus on something beautiful that takes me away from my thoughts is very intoxicating.” When she was twenty-two, Salvi was given a Canon camera by her mother who appreciated … Continue reading New Photography by Kate Salvi→
For many years my photography was travel-based, focusing on ghost towns and other places in glorious decline. Decay and rust attracted me because of their fabulous color gradients often found in very spectacular light, mainly out west in the Great American desert. Over time, I also became interested in spontaneously occurring subjects of funky material that might be broadly considered to pass for abstract modern art. Outside travel for me then intermittently morphed into a visit to an outdoor museum. The intensive targeted micro forage of a limited area became my modus operandi. This … Continue reading The Eclectic Photography of William C. Crawford→
Artist Barbara MacCallum claims androgyny as her creative terrain. “I’m interested in male and female, nothing too macho or too feminine but the gap in between,” she says. Her highly original, intimate and imaginative work combines sculpture, drawing, textiles and installation. Blending male and female elements, MacCallum’s works are graceful, mysterious, emotional, and challenging. “My work has evolved through a collaborative relationship with my husband (Robert Johnson) who is a physicist; I cast his body and recycle his published papers giving a new existence to the detritus of science,” she says.. Johnson is a professor … Continue reading Barbara MacCallum’s Androgynous Art→
The portraits of Nigerian artist Sholanke Boluwatife Emmanuel reveal his empathy, respect and sensitivity to his subjects. “The suffering and resilience of every African child raised from a poor family background is a theme that resonates deeply with me. I aim to highlight the struggles and triumphs that define our lives,” he says. Initially, Boluwatife says, he didn’t plan to pursue art, discouraged by the street artists he saw. Then, in 2011 in primary school at Holy Trinity School in Ogun state, his teachers and classmates encouraged young Boluwatife to draw. In secondary … Continue reading Portraits by Nigerian Artist Sholanke Boluwatife Emmanuel→
The train whistle trumpets its warning. I watch the woods, meadows and marshland slowly morph into urban views and city skylines. Washington. Baltimore. Philadelphia. Newark. New York will be next. The best of memories surface as I approach Manhattan, the captivating city for which I feel a claim and abiding affection. What, I wonder, does it take to be considered a New Yorker. My first memories of the city date from the 1940s, a formative time and closeness to my parents. We lived on Seventeenth Street near Stuyvesant Park where my mother took me … Continue reading To Be a New Yorker by Elizabeth Meade Howard→
Rachel Turney has traveled the world with curiosity and a camera. It all began in childhood. “I started taking pictures of houses in my Midwest neighborhood when I was in grade school. I was very interested in architecture. Patterns have always intrigued me. Shutters on brick, the placement of windows, the varying colors of paint. “I also spent a lot of time as a child with stacks of National Geographics at my grandparents’ house. My grandparents were big travelers and I loved to look at their photographs and old slide shows. I think the … Continue reading The Photographs of Rachel Turney→
Nigerian printmaker and painter Ojo Olaniyi creates works that reflect his interest in social justice, identity, and community. He often depicts his themes in group portraits and gatherings, especially catching the innocence and curiosity of children in their expressions and interactions. “I highlight social justice,” says Olaniyi, “by showing equality and fairness in my community-focused pieces. Identity is pictured in individuality and self-expression through portraits and everyday scenes and community is showcased in the beauty of human connection and shared experiences.” Olaniyi discovered his love for art during his primary school days (1967-1973) in Nigeria. … Continue reading Prints by Nigerian Artist Ojo Olaniyi→
Michael Roberts describes his delicately conceived photographs as “minimalist.” “Starting last fall,” Roberts remembers, “I wanted to capture the very basic forms and graceful structures I would perceive while hiking in the Sonoran Desert. Carefully composed images with certain lighting and reduced background lent themselves to minimalism in nature and without the intrusion of color that often supersaturates photographs today. I love the simple complexity of natural structures. The images focus on one’s own perceptions and interpretation. “I seek to portray things and scenes that are overlooked or are mere backdrops to everyday … Continue reading Minimalist Photographs by Michael C. Roberts→
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