GALLERY NORTH FEBRUARY ART EXHIBIT

"Process Portrait" a group exhibition of interdisciplinary and
multidimensional works by Eve Arbel, Caity Ballister, Anjelica Colliard, Hannah Lee Hoffman, and Smith|Allen.

What: Group Exhibition: Process Portrait
Where: Firehouse Art Collective, 1790 Shattuck AveBerkeley, CA 94709
Exhibition Dates: February 8 – March 2, 2013
Reception: Friday, February 8, 7-9 pm
Press Contact: Stephanie Smith, slsmith538@gmail.com

"Process Portrait" is an exhibition of works that focus on the process of art making, where the final product reflects exploration and growth throughout time, functioning equally as a portrait of the process and as an independent work of art. Ranging from Eve Arbel’s textured oil paintings and Caity Ballister’s folded tortilla installation to Anjelica Colliard’s drawn animations, Hannah Lee Hoffman’s sewn paper works, and Smith|Allen’s 3d printed drawings, it is a cross section of the possibilities of art, materials, and self-expression.

Upcoming Event dates  for "Process Portrait" at Firehouse Gallery North:

Storytelling Night: February 13, 7-9pm
Drink and Draw: February 20, 7-9pm
Closing Reception: March 2, 7-10pm

Texture, dimension, and color saturate Eve Arbel’s canvases, their sheer materiality captivating to the
viewer. Her work is dynamic, oscillating between abstracted and representational imagery and between
dimensions, building up layers of paint, dripping solvents, or collaging paper. The artist describes her
process as “a surrender to the process of applying paint,” and her work as “a diary entry.” Arbel’s paintings
are dynamic and introspective, each piece capturing a moment within her unconscious or a specific emotion
as it arises, though its form could reveal itself as a precariously balanced castle in Utopia (2012), or with
textured paint application in Peace and Quiet (2012). United as one, her works paint a comprehensive and
open portrait of the artist herself. Eve Arbel recently graduated from University of California at Berkeley
(UC Berkeley), where she was awarded an Excellence in Painting. She is currently an Artist in Resident at
Foundry Nights in West Berkeley, and has exhibited at the Worth Ryder Gallery and the Alchemy Café. In
2013, she will exhibit in Nabolom Bakery, Foundry Nights, Wine on Piedmont, and Sweet Adeline Bakeshop.
She lives and works in her home studio in Oakland.
Caity Ballister is an interdisciplinary artist who embraces art and practice, finding inspiration
in relationships, history, memories and the everyday: objects, moments, and emotions, her
work reflects life experience. Ranging from whimsical performance and bizarre video to
abstract painting and minimal sculpture, her work is raw and honest in its exploration of the
world around her, using accessible materials and her own experience as a guide: a compressed
ball of earplugs gradually grows and inflates to the soundtrack of her own masturbation;
discarded objects and clothes dismantled, reassembled, and repurposed in a wall-size
installation. Ballister plays with art history and expands on moments of surprise allowing the
viewer to rethink their own reality and to share in a common understanding. Through her
broad practice, Ballister tells stories, equally poetic and accessible, and paints a portrait not only of herself, but of the human experience. Caity Ballister recently graduated from UC Berkeley where she was a member of the honors studio and also received the certificate of Excellence in New Genres. She lives and works in the East Bay.
Skewed perspective, quirky narratives, and delicate line work capture the essence of Anjelica Colliard’s
work, which strives to “capture and understand an essence of experience that is uncanny or unexpected.”
Through the delicacy of the free drawn line, her work expresses the imperfections of human relationships
with the environment, with others, and with oneself. Originally a two-dimensional artist, she has begun
combining digital media with the hand-drawn, literally bringing life to her narratives that “visually layer
time” and confuse past, present and future. Colliard is interested in capturing an aspect of authenticity of the
world, creating portraits of relationships through her drawings, wordless comics, and intaglio prints. Anjelica
Colliard recently graduated UC Berkeley with honors and was awarded Excellence in Printmaking. She currently lives and works in Oakland.
Hannah Lee Hoffman is an artist who works with imagination and the environment, drawing from
nature and its elements, from herself and her community, and the world and its materials. Whether
hand sewing organic flowers out of discarded magazine pages or hosting community art events at
Make Harmony in San Francisco, Hoffman engages in an art practice that is social and collaborative,
creating portraits of community and human connection. Her work focuses on art as a continual, daily
practice, where the final product embraces its process, showing seams and the connections that hold it
together. Hannah Lee Hoffman graduated from UC Berkeley, and has shown at the Worth Ryder
Gallery in Berkeley.
Smith|Allen is a collaborative duo that combines the possibilities of hand and the digital and the
process of translation, juxtaposing hand drawings with 3-D printing technology and novel materials.
Combing Smith’s interest in installation, material, and dimension with Allen’s architectural background
and computer modeling skills, the duo is focused on work that is visually and experientially engaging
for the viewer. Examining forms such as dysfunctional ladders or tree cells, their work is a portrait of
functionality, translation, and change. Bryan Allen received his Masters in Architecture from University
of California at Berkeley, and currently is a post-graduate researcher at UC Berkeley. He has exhibited
at Wurster Hall and Headquarters Gallery in Berkeley, and at numerous spaces in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Bryan Allen lives and works in Oakland. Stephanie Smith is a Bay Area artist who graduated from UC
Berkeley with honors. She has shown at Yerba Buena Gardens, the Worth Ryder Gallery, Headquarters Gallery, and Café Local 123 in Berkeley; she lives and works in Oakland.

Posted by julia lazar, let us know what you think, your comment counts.

All about perspective and rhythm, video art by Dorian Cohen

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Art commentary by Molly Walls

I don’t know at what age art became untouchable. In my early years, art was about passion and making mistakes—messy blurs of paint and crayons, wildflowers bleeding and blooming out of watercolor and ink. But at a certain point, some separation occurred, a layer of self judgment and discrimination between myself and the work, like looking through frosted glass.

The world around me seemed to confirm this criticism—art had a distinct stigma, sets of unspoken rules on how to view it, how to experience it, and how to create it. Gone were the days of childlike wonder, where everything beautiful and everything ugly could be transformed.

Since interning at Firehouse, art has begun to shed this layer of pretension and division, and become an experience again—something to be excited about, a way to ask a question or receive an answer, a way to release and to give. 

Tom Franco’s Art Attack at the YBCA embodied this playful collaboration. 

Performers experimented and communicated through their work; the line between the viewer and the artist blurred until every guest was participating in some larger piece, a sustained and pure moment of beauty and expression. 

I began to notice this collective experience with Sha Sha Higby’s moving sculpture performance, her intricate costume and the ambient sound filling the room melded together to create a lyrical and captivating narrative—a conversation between the audience and the artist. 

The absence of a stage and the inclusive seating encouraged this creative progression, and each consecutive artist used the space to converse and to give, without the removed or condescending aura that contemporary art can sometimes emit. In short, the evening brought me back to the art of my childhood—sidewalk chalk kisses on the knees, every living thing as moving, breathing sculpture—but with the maturity and artistic acumen of adults. 

Art can fill a moment, give time a heavy ripeness, sound, light, and movement rushing together in eloquent freedom, and the Art Attack took full advantage of this possibility for collective experience and collaboration.

Posted by Molly Walls

From Portland, Molly studies liberal arts in Vermont at Bennington College

To view Mollie's photography click here.

Comments are always welcome, let us know what you think.

Women in museums: over-represented and underpaid

...our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.

President Barack Obama

As soon as the 2012 AAM National Comparative Museum Salary Study came out, I was on their website downloading my free copy. It's the first publication of its kind for the museum field and I'm thrilled to have access to a resource like this. You can download it for free too if you're an AAM member.  The biggest downfall of the study, which is admitted outright in Chapter 1, is its omission of the Mid-Atlantic and the West Coast. Without their representation this study leaves out New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC, three of the top five "Most [Economically] Important Cities" ranked by Business Insider. As disappointing as that is, I'm confident the next Salary Study AAM publishes will include all 50 states. My real disappointment (note: not surprise) came later when I started to read the data.

Two thirds of the survey respondents were women and they outnumbered men in all but 8 of the 48 positions highlighted in the survey. And yet, a quick scan down each page reveals that, "Although women usually fill the majority of jobs in each position, it is clear from these tables that they typically receive less pay than their male peers." (26) Even though 60% of CFOs in museums are women and even though 57% of executive directors are women, men are making higher salaries. Not only are women not compensated equally, it's often women who are involved in making those decisions.

There are a lot of reasons why women make less than men. Not one of them is a good excuse. Change won't happen overnight, but there are a few things we can start doing right away. I recommend reading, Women Don't Ask by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever. Regardless of how victim-blamey the title sounds, it's a useful book for anyone who avoids negotiation or could use some advice on self-advocacy.

Here's my call to arms, fellow Emerging Museum Professionals: let's take on those director-level positions, mentor the women in our lives in self-advocacy, then ensure that the women we hire receive the same salaries as men in the same positions. While we're at it we need to hire people of color (according to AAM's "data snapshot", the museum workforce is 79.4% white) and recognize the artistic and scientific achievement of women and people of color in our museums, but that's another blog post (or rather a whole lot of other blog posts).

It's unacceptable for any field, let alone a female-dominated one, to pay women less than men and it is completely within our power as museum professionals to change this. In fact, we're the only ones who can.

TOM FRANCO'S ART ATTACK

Celebrating a new year 2013!

At YBCA's ConVerge program, a monthly open door event, bringing artists and peeps of all stripes and disciplines together...more in their own words here*. How to find it here.

Tom Franco and Julia Lazar host the January 17th ConVerge afternoon, 4-8pm, in celebration of a New Year of Art, the victory of collaboration over competition, value over profit, and have invited several close artist friends and collaborators to co create an experience of current culture only live art can give.

Posted below are the performance artists in order of their appearance:

A big shout out to our intern Molly Walsh, who created the slides for this post!

Performances start at 4 pm in the Grand Lobby by the 'Small Room for Big Ideas Gallery".

Get directions here.

Live event support

 Live video projection and recording

 Hosts

 Audio and eclectic sounds all around

 Culinary artisans par excellence!

*The YBCA:ConVerge series is a free monthly public gathering featuring creative and generative social art practices. ConVerge is where community and innovative multi- and inter-disciplinary arts practices come together in our free and public spaces in a fluid, interactive, experimental format designed to engage audiences. YBCA's Grand Lobby and Room for Big Ideas will come alive during ConVerge events with social art, live music and inspiring curated performances, as well as drinks prepared by YBCA mixologists.
Posted by Julia Lazar and Molly Walsh

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LIVE ART EXHIBITS & EVENTS

Continue at Public Market in Emeryville 

curated by Firehouse Art Collaborative co directors 

Tom Franco and Julia Lazar

The winning combination of local emerging artists exhibiting stellar work in a public space, live music and art making workshops hosted by various east bay groups invited by FAC is whats up this year every last Friday of the month.

Next to the "Kid's Play Space", the area is coming alive as a meet and greet, mingle and create your own fun art card or pieces to take home. Public Market's new ownership has indicated an interest in FAC's continued presence and we are making plans, proposals and time to create the best outcome for everyone involved.

Our best interest is the larger Emeryville community, peeps living in the area, to have a swell spot to eat, meet and experience community and culture live, every time they visit Public Market. A place we can go to chill and stroll, eat and some of us creative types even do some online work outside our own pajama lounge called home. 

Opening nights are listed on our facebook events page.

Next up are two artists who complement each other with completely different styles. View their visuals below.

Be sure to come by, Friday, January 25, 6-8pm and say Hi!
Tom Franco will be your Emcee and there will be an art making table with the supplies donated by "Sticky Art Lab" of Berkeley fame hosted by the lovely Pollyanna Lee.

Posted by Julia Lazar
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MARKO YAMAGATA EXHIBIT GALLERY NORTH January 2013

"Dactylformes and Slumberines" 

"Sounding the Depths" alluringly strange dreamscapes by Marko Yamagata seem to chunnel between the ocean's dark abyss and the vacuum of deep space; between ancient ruins of surrealistic (Etruscan?) grandeur and a fantastical future designed by Pataphysicians. See it to disbelieve it." 

Opening night:

Friday, January 11, 7-9pm

1790 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley Gourmet Ghetto

Meet and greet the artist, plus a slice of Firehouse art collaborators who plan to come to help celebrate a new year. Snacks, bevvy donation bar, Marko's eclectic selected tunes and always a surprise or two. 

Marko Yamagata was born in January, a true pragmatist, who is also a principal Firehouse Artist and has had his art studio at the Firehouse Gallery North location for over 5 years.
With a BA of fine art from the University of Reno Nevada he is primarily drawing & painting mono print plus creates collages. His 3D work includes puppet type sculptures with deep sea themes. Paradoxes.

Keeping a balance between the grotesque and the comic his influences range widely. Alfred Jarry. Ken Price. Max Ernst and Art Clokey creator of Gumby...to name just a few.

He has had gallery shows in east bay since 1985.

We look forward to showing off one of our finest artists for the month of January 2013.
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