Friday, February 26, 2010

New Paintings by Ginny Speirs

Press Release from the AFG:

“A Sliver of Life: New Paintings by Ginny Speirs”
March 5 to April 9, 2010
Architectural Foundation Gallery

Opening Reception: Friday, March 5, 5-7 pm

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present “A Sliver of Life: New Paintings by Ginny Speirs,” on display from March 5 to April 9, 2010. You are invited to attend a festive opening reception for the artist on Friday, March 5th from 5-7 pm. Refreshments will be served.

Taking a fresh look at ordinary botanical subjects, Ginny Speirs reveals the inner beauty and life force of individual flowers and vegetables. Focusing our attention on the essential growth structure unique to each natural object, the artist creates a dialogue between representational and abstract elements. Though intimate in scope, these works take on a monumental quality through their vibrant colors and powerful compositions. With a contemporary take on the traditional still life genre, Speirs successfully captures the inherent vitality of her plant-based subjects.

Ginny Speirs has consistently explored still life images in her artistic career, from trompe l’oeil paintings on furniture and walls, to the boards and canvases she paints today. After extended travels in Italy and France, the love of a local region’s produce became a central theme in her work. Since moving to Santa Barbara 11 years ago, Speirs has been inspired by the beauty of the area’s organic objects just outside our doors and at the farmers market. She endeavors to portray in her oil paintings the amazing close up views of individual vegetables, fruit or flowers that are easily overlooked. Speirs’ compositions encompass bold forms and lines to elevate even the most mundane subjects. The artist observes, “Everything that I paint once had a life, and continues to {live} in my paintings.”

Ginny Agee Speirs holds an MFA from the University of Georgia at Athens, and a BFA from Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She participated in the Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. Her paintings have been exhibited in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and California. In addition to oil paintings, Speirs has created murals and theatre sets. Her murals are located at All Saints-by-the-Sea Church Nursery in Santa Barbara and in Highpoint, North Carolina, and she recently painted theatre sets for Crane School. Speirs regularly participates in group art exhibitions, and her work may be found in numerous private and corporate collections. Additional information is available on the artist’s website, www.ginnyspeirs.com

The Architectural Foundation Gallery is located in the historic Acheson House at the corner of Garden and East Victoria Streets in Santa Barbara, with an entrance on Garden Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 9 am to 2 pm, or by appointment.

Images are available upon request. Please call 805-965-6307 for more information. We look forward to seeing you in the gallery!



Architectural Foundation Gallery
229 East Victoria Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
805-965-6307
www.afsb.org

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Affordable Web Presence

The amazing web gal, Amy Love, fabuloso designer and web programmer for Santa Barbara Printmakers has a special offer to anyone needing a website. She has put together a fantastic package deal, a website that has up to five pages (such as, about the artist, gallery and contact page) the gallery pages would include up to 16 images all for $500.


Here is a SAMPLE of what the web site would look like. It's a very clean template, easy to navigate and read. If you want more images or pages she can do that as well she would charge an hourly rate or by project if you want something more complicated.

The only thing NOT included in this $500 package is your domain name... which would cost $10 a year to register and the web hosting ( you must have a big main frame site that hosts your inclusion in the ethers) which would cost approximately $50 a year, both of which Amy could help you establish.

Amy has worked with many artists building their websites, mine included. Here are a few links if you want to see more of what she can do for you.


www.roeannewhite.com
www.valorifussell.com

Amy's own website with many more samples graphicengineering.com

Not only is Amy an incredible web person but she was first trained in print. She has designed and project managed business cards, postcards, announcements, greeting cards and advertisements. She is a one stop shop for your graphic needs. I can't recommend her highly enough, she is one of the easiest people to work with and gets the job done quickly and efficiently.

To get in touch with her you can either reach her through her website OR send an email to amy.love@gmail.com

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

What a cool idea!

If you are in Santa Barbara.... Tuesday printing will be at the Humanities Building Room H221 at City College and on Wednesday in front of the Bookstore from 1-5pm (it is Wednesday, there was a correction from the poster's announced Thursday date). Bravo... take your art on the road.

A campus MAP if you need to find your way there

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative

REMINDER: DIRECT-TO-ARTIST GRANTS
A reminder that the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative’s First Direct-to-Artist Grants application process will be ending at midnight, February 28, 2010. These grants are made possible with support from the Santa Barbara Foundation and the Santa Barbara Redevelopment Agency. At least two grants in four different categories (Literary, Performing, Visual and New Media/Film) will be awarded. Grant winners will be announced at the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission’s Annual Art Symposium on April 16th – a great opportunity for additional exposure for the awardees.

WHAT A RESPONSE!
Over 100 additional musicians, writers, sculptors, filmmakers, composers, painters and artists of all varieties, have registered on our new website since we first announced these grants, and we’re now closing in on a total of 350 registered members! Let’s give special notice to Justin Hyland Williams, a visual artist who was our 300th registered member. Welcome Justin! Now we’re wondering who’ll be #350?

HOW TO APPLY
The grant application is available on our website. Start by clicking or pasting this link into your browser: http://bit.ly/a1LLCs

You'll need to be registered on our site and logged in to see the guidelines and apply. If you're not registered yet, you'll get a screen prompting you to log in. Go to the bottom of the page and click on "register."

Once you're registered, the application will show up on the home page. Just read and follow the instructions. If you have any questions, please submit them to webmaster@sbartscollaborative.org.

GRANT CRITERIA
We have kept the grant criteria very simple. The goal was to invite surprises - encourage the creative community to do what they do best. The only criteria are you must reside in Santa Barbara County and agree to have your art interact with the city of Santa Barbara in some way of your choosing, and we ask that you describe that. Beyond that, we simply ask that you to tell us who you are, which of the four categories you're applying for, and what you intend to do with the money. We also give you a chance to share examples of your previous work or other supporting materials by attaching files online. That's it!

Once the application process is closed on the deadline, all eligible applications will be equally considered by an independent peer-review panel within each artistic discipline.

We hope this will be the first small step toward creating innovative and truly sustainable funding models for direct financial support to artists from all disciplines in our community. We welcome your participation and support, and look forward to collaborating with you.

SB Arts Collaborative

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Blessed Garden

The back garden is near ready for planting. We are now waiting for the soil to dry out some (says our fabuloso design expert Billy Goodnick) before we start installation. Billy was here this morning showing off the showy front garden and then stayed to anoint the new plants for the back garden.


the wide shot of yard... planting to go around the border of what will someday be grass

a small water feature near the studio window

purples, deep burgundy, blue greys and a lacey vine

leading around to the side yard which will eventually
have a raised bed for vegies and room for the potted fruit trees
with a few succulents on the side

Friday, February 19, 2010

Two Thousand Three

Fears abounding,
racing, pounding
old friends - a comfortable fearful blanket.

Take me by surprise.
Fearful of where I have been
Fearful of decisions made
Fearful of love lost
and fearless fear.

Alarmed at the manner
I allowed myself
to be diminished -
I'm finished - soaked
socked, doped.

Take me by surprise
Desire, passion
possession, wont
craving attention
crave of retention
want of unrelenting
convention. Love.

Fear not, wanting.
Fear not, longing.
Fear not, dependence.

Take me by surprise
seasons pass
time extends
heart releases
and road bends.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Beauty Buzz


Roe Anne White showing her beautiful Flora images at Arigato in Santa Barbara through the end of April. Images and notecards can also be found at the fabulous Imagine stores in Santa Barbara & Montecito.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Passing Storms

After 2 weeks of illness, I'm at last on my feet and today, finally, in the studio. There is a kick ass virus making the rounds and my wish for everyone is that you avoid it!

While convalescing under a blanket it rained and rained outside. The cold was horrible but the reading was good, snuggling with the pooch was great and hearing the rain outside divine.

In between all the storms there were epic days at the beach (yes, I went anyway, with pockets full of tissue). The winter surf has taken a lot of the sand and uncovered some dear friends at the point. I've painted these rocks many winters and this year they have a new coat of moss, beautiful against the blue of the sky.

The pooch didn't mind the low tide either. Plenty of ball, frisbee and swimming several days in a row blissed out the border collie.

...and Devereux Point never looked so beautiful. Crystal clear and sparkling, seemed like you could see forever.

Looking forward to getting back to the easel. It's time to focus before the bustle of spring starts. Oh to be well, such a delight.
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