Category Archives: Art

Art by Robert Browning


 

Rob Browning “always loved art,” and had parents who recognized his young talent, buying him books to encourage a budding interest in drawing and painting. Browning, a native of Nahor, a village in Fluvanna County, Virginia, received his BFA in Communications Arts and Design in 1979 from Virginia Commonwealth University. In studying art, he felt most influenced by 20th century illustrators Dean Cornwell, N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle and Andrew Loomis, among others. Browning was also attracted to the work of several American painters. “I like the same thing [Edward] Hopper seems to have liked. I … Continue reading Art by Robert Browning

Art by Robin Braun

bee over flowers with storm clouds
 

  From her window as a child, Robin Braun could look beyond the grassy yard out to the Chesapeake Bay. The water, its tides and artifacts, would fascinate her from then on. Today an accomplished artist, Braun is best known for her fine, small paintings of the ocean, rivers and marshes, and the insects and bees that live in their grassy midst. She also paints scenes of farmland and rivers viewed from her studio in Southern Albemarle County, Virginia. “The water and high tides were deeply embedded in me at an early age,” says Braun, … Continue reading Art by Robin Braun

Suzie dePoo: A Key West Treasure

Suzie dePoo Unicorn scuplture
 

Some years ago in Key West’s Gallery on Greene, I saw a unicorn — sculpted from wire entwined with bits of china, crystal and beach glass — gliding like a giant mobile, catching the light, gently riding the air. Nearby were ethereal, life size angels and jesters clipped from scrap tin or painted onto driftwood. I was intrigued. The artist, I learned, was 82-year-old Suzie dePoo; she lived behind the battered wall on Dey Street and it was okay to drop by. No one answered my knock. Open sheds spilled chicken wire, panels of wood, … Continue reading Suzie dePoo: A Key West Treasure

Art by Avery Lawrence

image of worker with blue box on back
 

  Charlottesville performance artist Avery Lawrence recently claimed the Grand Prize of Art Takes Miami 2012 competition. The “edgy,” contemporary SCOPE art fair was held in early December concurrently with Art Basel. Lawrence’s interactive, winning show, Arranging Suitcases, is an imaginative mix of painting, film and performances based on “personal memories” turned into “visual yarns.” His first daily performance, Assembling the Instrument, was inspired by his paternal grandmother “who picks up with a new man and a new life after her husband’s death (from a brain aneurysm).” Lawrence reenacts a video scene dramatizing his grandmother’s … Continue reading Art by Avery Lawrence

Art Imports from Abroad


 

Streetlight Magazine is going global. We are now pleased to be receiving readers and art submissions from abroad. Among them, are artists Fabio Sassi of Bologna, Italy and Eleanor Leonne Bennett of Manchester, England. Sassi has been a self-taught, visual artist since 1990. ”I’ve been influenced by Andy Warhol and the Pop Art movement, the Arte Povera (literally Poor Art) movement mixed with a bit of Wabi Sabi,” he says. Besides photography, Sassi also works in acrylics, stenciling on canvas, board or vinyl records. “I use the stencil technique and have cut more than 100 patterns. Recently, I am tending to use real … Continue reading Art Imports from Abroad

Art in Albemarle and Beyond…{issue no.3}


 

Streetlight’s third issue features the work of Charlottesville painter Cynthia Burke and photographer John Grant. They talk here about the progression and process of their work. Cynthia Burke SL: Cynthia Burke, how did you come to paint birds and animals, especially ones often dressed in such imaginative finery? CB: Coming from New York City, I didn’t know anything about animals..I didn’t have a chance to be around them…I think I’ve always been a little scared of animals. A lot of my animals are dressed up, maybe to make them humorous and a little more friendly. Some … Continue reading Art in Albemarle and Beyond…{issue no.3}

Art by Cynthia Burke

painting of flamingo
 

    “The Art of the 15th and 16th centuries is a gold mine of inspiration for me as well as the lithographs of the early Naturalists. I am also drawn to textiles and often have backgrounds resembling rich fabrics. The diversity of the natural world yields a never-ending supply of subjects for my paintings, however I never place my subjects in their natural environment. It seems far more interesting to give them a little of ours. The result is sometimes humorous and, I hope, often thought provoking. The accessories in my paintings which seem … Continue reading Art by Cynthia Burke

Art by John Grant

moon flower blossom over dark lake
 

        “In my photographic work I seek to distill and dramatize natural elements, transforming them into symbolic metaphor. I embrace the often clichéd or sentimental botanical portrayal, presenting objects in ways that infuse them with an enigmatic quality that expands expectations and tweaks the imagination. In my career, I’ve now come full circle, back to my original interests and instinctive love of photography. Experimenting with new technological tools and techniques, my work most often focuses on botanical imagery. My work featured in Streetlight ranges from 2006 to 2012. It reflects my continuing … Continue reading Art by John Grant

Art by Robert Bricker

vase with winged women
 

  “The ceramic vase is 5 years young, a complete improvisation, based on the seed crystal of a female model saying that this session was her last, that she would be flying away. Thus I drew the flying female figure thema. This vase is from an exhibition called Deep In Shallow Thoughts.     “The Bucketus Ignobilus is from an exhibition last autumn called Long Winded Short Stories, and the drawing is to be a plate in an upcoming book of drawings. The image is a double self-portrait actually lifted from the back side of … Continue reading Art by Robert Bricker

Art by Chica Tenney

canada goose and amaryllis
 

    “These drawings were done during an experimental period when I was drawing from reality and from my projected photographs (slides). I loved the idea that I could juxtapose images…like a location and geese in a pond with something floating above them. I think the images relate to poetry in that you can have a line in a poem saying one thing and then another saying something else that’s associative. It leaves a lot to your imagination.” Chica Tenney’s work explores themes of ritual, human connection, a sense of place and the evolution of … Continue reading Art by Chica Tenney