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[Lovely County Citizen]
Eureka Springs, Arkansas ~ Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Blogs
Art As Prayer at Studio 62
Posted Wednesday, May 14, at 3:58 PM
The Second Annual Art as Prayer Show at Studio 62 is installed for the month of May. These invited artists have been getting ready all year to share their inner selves.

After enjoying small-sized versions of Jody Stephenson's art in Faltering Towards Perfection, it was nice to see the full sized originals Jody is capable of. In the landscapes, local favorite Dale Caldwell was the model for Prophet of the Woods. The prophet shouts his spirituality out. Jody's photographer husband Ron Lutz took the photo study.

Dale's shout out is for real, as demonstrated by his own installation, a prayer wall. It now contains about fifty prayer requests in the nine categories Dale offered, which he prays for every day.

As for the spiritual end of Jody Stephenson's works, What Cannot be Shaken had interesting multiple horizons and all the colors of the rainbow. Could it be suggesting all the levels of spiritual understanding contained from one viewpoint? Each viewer must decide for him/herself.

My two favorites of the show, however, were the two girls, whoever they are, in Jack Miller's Serenity and Anticipation. A yellow and pink lit bare breasted woman accompanies a greenlit companion. So simple, yet so powerful.

But it is Diana Harvey who, for me, stole the show with Prayers. On a black ground feathers fall over a simple Hopi pot decorated with the traditional Hopi eagle tail design. The painting above it, Thanks for a Beautiful Spring contained a Budha of jade no larger than a thumb, in real life and in this painting. Diana has left the cats out of these still lives, as she says she plans to do from now on.

Mary Springer's Annunciation featured a visiting angel. The casually draped woman seated in the foreground is so involving you hardly notice the angel until it appears out of the light from beyond, rendered in vivid colorful strokes.

Mel Shipley's gleaming spiritual bronzes flank the doorway. Charles Pierce lets the words paint the picture in elegant calligraphy. Mr. Shrine and Terry Russell contributed shrines. Terry's is a zen interior behind Mardi Gras beads. Ralph's is a mish-mash of everything you might think of in prayer, including good old Uncle Sam as a low flying painted wooden figurine. Sarah Russell contributes meditative wall sconces. There are other fine works of art of a spiritual nature here as well.



Zeek Taylor Matchbox Shrine Winner of 10th Zark's Invitational
Posted Sunday, May 11, at 3:50 PM

Zeek Taylor's Middle of the Night Lucinda Wainwright won the popular vote at Zark's. The deep blue ground and yellow stars were as enchanting as the lady in question, a finely festooned shrimp-size chimp. Zeek gave his matchbox shrine a shorter title than the title he gave the Arkansas Democrat which included the phrase ...who visits me at 2 am. Zeek stayed within the rules and kept his shrine to the size of the matchbox...



Shows in Town
Posted Wednesday, May 7, at 7:34 PM

Carol Dickie's paintings are just gorgeous. She puts high intensity hues, like purple and apple green, in her landscape palette. The color plays are just sumptuous. Her brushwork is varied and well chosen to the task. In a Colorado landscape, washes illumine the deep spot in a mountain stream while the surface water is illustrated in flowing curvilinear chalk strokes. ...



Naughty Notecards by Jack Miller
Posted Monday, February 25, at 2:45 PM

Naughty Notecards by Jack Miller are original drawings on 5 x 7 cards. Done in pen and ink or in felt tip pen, they are naughty and fun. Jack makes several renditions of each one of his naughty themes, recreating each naughty moment with subtle or not so subtle variations...



A Few Abstract Paintings by John Robert Willer
Posted Wednesday, January 9, at 1:51 PM

John Robert Willer had an open house at WilloSpring this past Dec. 1-2. I hope you were lucky enough to catch it. My impression of this show of over one month ago brings to mind my favorites: the larger abstractions. Willer displays his command of painting, for example, in 2007's Point of No Memory, 23" by 48". ...



Art Reviews from Eureka Springs
Carol Saari
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