Imaginings

Exhibit Dates: February 21, 2014 – May 4, 2014

Reception at the gallery, free to the public: Saturday, February 22, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Alamo Danville Artists’ Society will host the opening of Blackhawk Gallery’s Exhibit ‘Imaginings’. The exhibit features 3 guest artists and 42 member artists. Artwork by guest artists include concrete sculptures by Eileen Fitz-Faulkner, glass sculptures by Janice Peacock, and collage wall sculptures by Josef Twirbutt. Member artists’ work include oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, photography, sculpture, ceramic, glass, fiber art and jewelry. New members to the gallery are sculptors Eric Haggin and Douglas Heine, and jewelry artist Julia O’Reilly.

Our Guest Artists:

• Eileen Fitz-Faulkner

From cakes to costumes to concrete mosaics, Eileen Fitz-Faulkner’s life is filled with color and wit. A passionate maker of objects her whole life, she enjoys using various mediums to create fanciful reflections of the world around her. Currently focused on producing concrete artwork, Eileen challenges herself to make larger and more detailed pieces each time. Once formed, her pieces are then painted, stained, or tiled to complete her vision. Her work is playful, exuberant, and humorous. Inspiration comes from her own curiosity, humor, and intense emotions.

Eileen has experimented with a wide range of materials including wood, steel, bronze, and ceramics, but has found a deep love of working with concrete. “The ability to sculpt and shape my art with my hands gives me a lot of satisfaction. I find the intention behind the action to be authentic and quite gratifying. ”

Primarily working 3-dimensionally and in concrete, Eileen creates larger-than-life fruit, eggs, and animal sculptures to enliven gardens and living spaces and to celebrate nature’s zest for life. Eileen has shown work throughout Northern California in variety of exhibitions and has several pieces in private collections.

• Janice Peacock

Much of my recent work is focused on the creation of items that look ancient: African masks used in traditional ceremonies, tiny vessels unearthed from the sea, and treasures gathered by explorers from centuries ago.

Growing up in Southern California, with its miles of tract housing and mega-malls, I longed for history, some sense of the past that had been obliterated. My sculptures attempt to connect, or reconnect, viewers with historical objects and artifacts. My work is about what has been lost, and what can be found. I love the idea of the hunt, the small gleaming shell found in the sand, a gold coin among the brass ones, the lost earring recovered from between the sofa cushions, the un-loved treasures at the side of the road. I am inspired by what can be found through these treasures, and the revelations that they bring:

Wonder, reflection, and connection to the past, to people and to our lost heritage.

• Josef Twirbutt

Turning a scrap of wood that was destined to be buried or burned into challenging, unique and exciting objects of art, is the language of my work. Wood offers an infinite array of grain, shape, color and texture that can be beautiful in its own right, providing boundless possibilities to explore and create. Amidst the chaos and rush of modern culture, nature is full of beauty and mystery, if only we can find a time, place and method to discover it.

I would like my work to spark a sense of connection with the natural world in those who view it.

“To see the world in a Grain of Sand And Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour” William Blake

Born in 1930 in Lithuania. Josef received his MA degree in architecture at the Politechnika Gdanska, Gdansk, Poland in 1957. In 1959 he plugged himself into the New York City Greenwich Village art scene and started creating abstract wood structures in his own unique visual and conceptual vocabulary distinguished by its austere grace, and its consummate use of wood texture to achieve subtle variations within a highly disciplined formal context. Each of his compositions has a distinct feeling, a distilled essence of its own, but the dominant attitude reflected in all of them is one of intense, inner stillness and concentration.

He exhibited in numerous art galleries in the United States, Spain, Monte Carlo, Italy, Belgium, and Mexico. Large scale installations have included murals at New York City Police Headquarters, the Boston Rehabilitation Center, the Kodak Computer Center in Rochester, and a proposal for the International Trade Center in Moscow. His work can be found in a myriad of public and private art collections both in the United States and abroad, and has been seen in numerous exhibitions.

Our exhibiting artists are: Dana Beebe, Claudia Bossert, Barbara Davies, Peter DeFao, Elena Doronkina, Don Eagling, Judy Feins, Jack Garasky, Bobbi Garrop, Lynn Glenn, Gene Gracey, Eric Haggin, Douglas Heine, Debby Koonce, Maryann Kot, Roseann Krane, Walter Krane, Tom Lemmer, Jim Luhmann, Andrea Markus, Claudette McDermott, Mitchell Neto, Wendy Oliver, Julia O’Reilly, Rich Penny, Harika Piccone, Cynthia Pisani, Jane Postiglione, Nola Pardi Proll, George Rammell, Vicky Richardson, Michael Rizza, Joanne Robinson, Diane Rodriguez, Betty Rothaus, Amal Shihabi, Pat Smith, Greg Starnes, Kerima Swain, Lin Teichman, Norma Webb, Charles White.

All exhibits are free to the public and will be on view seven days a week. Monday-Saturday 10AM-8 PM and Sunday 11AM-6 PM.

The exhibit is curated by ADAS Blackhawk Gallery Show Committee Pete DeFao, Debby Koonce, and Kerima Swain.