Artwalk in Lancaster City

I've been trying to spread the word- about the lancaster city art scene..... People usually look at me blankly, like I'm not speaking English, or they say something about it being Amish country.

But First Fridays in Lancaster are exciting! Especially when it is nice out- with 40 galleries within walking distance and live music and art performances scattered throughout!

A couple of weeks ago I attended ARTWALK , an event that happens twice a year, which is like first friday except that it lasts a whole weekend!
Most of my pictures are at Gallery 141 (check out their website by clicking), a personal favorite of mine located on Water Street behind the A-plus.

Above right is a picture of local artist/musician, J.C. leaving his mark on the wall outside the gallery. Gallery 141 invites all its artist friends to paint a bubble in the underwater mural originally painted by Andrew Strode.I thoroughly enjoyed myself leaving my contribution to this Evolving Mural Project(right).


Below are some pictures of the movement performance by Kate of Catcow Yoga. What was most fun about this day is the way that J.C. and Kate combined their artistic activities as J.C. used her as inspiration for his 'bubble'.





































I did walk around to some other galleries and one that I really enjoyed was The Living Light gallery on Prince St. They have a wonderful variety of paintings and sculptures with very different styles and techniques with one thing in common, they are all very well done. Below are a couple of my favorites by three different artists but visit their website to see more by clicking on the name.
I love the orchids in this one. The style reminds me of Van Gogh.

I strive to create the light and dimension found in this abstract piece, in my own work.

And the serene beauty and skillful painting of this work caught my attention.

Another gallery on Prince Street that I enjoy is the Red Raven Art Company. This gallery had a lot of beautiful collages, prints, and watercolors out for art walk. Some of the ones I enjoyed were:

The piece with the birds was especially enjoyable in person. I think my favorite pieces were by this artist:

I guess what I'm saying is, Lancaster may be much smaller than philly, but I almost think its art scene is just as big!

The Chicken and First Person Arts

This is the Chicken

I have been invited by miss koco and First Person Arts to participate in the Salon tonight at the Gershwin Y. Miss Koco is doing a project called "Pieces of Koco" that takes objects that were once a part of her life and ejects them into someone else's experience.

A week and a half ago I selected, from her collection of things, a glass chicken. i was attracted to this object for a few reasons:

1. the strangeness of a glass, headless, de-feathered chicken
like, why did someone make this?
2. the color: red- such a strong, passionate color
3. the material: glass- oooooooooo, so pretty
4. the place it came from: Bucks Rock, a place that I had heard so much about before meeting Miss Koco....
5. and the thought: "wow, that would probably be hard to draw"


So I decided to do a week's worth of studies of my new glass chicken. Lately art has been an itch that I just have to scratch. The work I am always planning in my head is conceptual and autobiographical. But I don't believe in art that is just conceptual and not technical. So I am on a mission to hone my drawing and painting skills. If you can draw- you can do anything. This means a lot of quick studies and this is where Miss Koco's glass chicken fits into my life. What better challenge of my skills then a glass chicken?

So my first sketch was done at home, in Philadelphia, with ebony pencil. In the middle of these two sketches, there was an accident and the chicken lost a leg (see above pic). Very sad. So these are the only drawings done when the chicken had both legs.



Next, I decided to use colored pencil. I believe this work was done in Maryland, while visiting my mother. Chicken spent the day before with me at my friend's Gallery 141 in Lancaster City, PA.

I am fond of the shadow in this one.





The next two works I did were in charcoal. The first was a quick sketch I did on a break at a figure drawing class at Fleischer Art Memorial. One of the best 30-second sketches I ever did! I did the next one on Saturday before leaving for New York City. This might be my favorite of the bunch. I like the softness and I like the tail view for some reason!

Oh! and I almost forgot the one with oil pastel that I did at work! this one got kind of messed up because i never use oil pastels but everything is a learning experience! It was also large and therefore fun!

This last watercolor was done after driving home from a friend's house in Jersey.

Honestly, I had bigger plans for this project that a sudden cold prevented. I wanted to do an oil painting, a print, and a very large drawing. with an egg. i bought 3x4 foot paper. I honestly am no where near board with studying this chicken!

It's interesting, Miss Koco made me think about objects and the reasons we hold on to them. And documentation as art. I mean, all these drawings are, are documented moments between me and the chicken. I could easily part with this object because now the art has become the object. Whatever meaning I had in the chicken has now moved into the art. I think that it is time for the chicken to move on to its next adventure...