The Women's City Club of Pasadena - New Art Program

I have been given the unique opportunity to create an Art Program for The Women's City Club of Pasadena at The Blinn House, an historic property located in Pasadena, California.  My plan includes rotating the exhibitions every three months to coincide with the changing seasons and to feature artwork which will compliment the lovely original architectural elements of the home, which was built in 1905.

"Spring Forward" - Celebrating Southern California Women Artists is my first curatorial effort at this venue.  The 56 piece exhibition features the work of seventeen professional women artists - all painters.  Most of the artists are award winners and a few have been painting for over 30 years.

 

Each week during Spring Forward (May 1 through July 30, 2011)  I will profile several of the artists who are participating in the exhibition.  I would like to invite you to follow me on this blog so I can introduce you to them and their work.   

Meet Ruth Olenick

"All my life I have loved art; studying it, creating it and being influenced by its rich exciting past and present. I feel a special affinity to Pierre Bonnard, the post-impressionist who was so uninhibited and filled with such joie de vivre in his approach to painting. I too feel this joy and freedom when I paint. Whether using brush or palette knife, I love oil because of its depth, richness and beauty and the gorgeous colors I can achieve.

My landscapes, interiors, people and florals are drawn from my imagination. They are vibrant, happy paintings that delight the senses with lush color. Though influenced by impressionism, my work is very much my personal statement."  

Biography:  Ruth Olenick is a Chicagoan by birth. She lived for many years in Scottsdale, Arizona and is now a resident of Simi Valley, California. She began her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and then studied privately with Quak Wai Lau and Carl Schwartz at the Fine Arts Center in Chicago and later at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee and the University of Minnesota.

Ruth’s work is loved for its captivating use of light and color and for her subject matters that seduce and delight the senses with their warmth and intimacy.  She has exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions and been represented in galleries all over the United States,  Hawaii, Germany and Sweden. Her paintings are owned by collectors worldwide and reproductions of her work have been published extensively in the United States and Canada. Her work has appeared on the cover of Bigelow Tea Company 's 2007 Christmas Gift Box, for Art in Motion, Inc. and by Haddad Fine Art Publishers, Inc.  Her work was also featured in the movie Risky Business.

Meet Merrilyn Duzy

"My landscape paintings are part of an on-going series expressing my feelings about nature and my response to our environment. I seek to recall my emotional reaction to a scene. In both of the paintings, “Yellow Fields: Humlebaek” and “Gorman Series: Flowering Hills IV,” color drew me in.

I was amazed, delighted and enchanted by the magnificent colors that covered the land as far as I could see. I never saw such intense yellow as I saw in those Danish fields of the flowering canola seeds. Every year the wild flowers bloom in Gorman, but some years they are sparse and scattered. I was lucky in that the one time I visited during the spring blooming it was a very good year, with an abundance of glorious golds, oranges, reds and purples, a rainbow made solid.

In all of the landscapes color plays a primary role. I respond to color in an intense way and it resonates within me. I enjoy and delight in the pure pleasure of painting, the mixing of the colors; the utter sensualness of applying pigment to canvas and paper. Textures and contrasts also intrigue me. I combine the textural use of a palette knife as applied in the land against the smooth, subtle blending of the sky.

I think of my life as an artist like a tapestry woven of many threads, colors and patterns. My feelings about our planet and our environment are part of my life and art making."

Biography:  Merrilyn Duzy is an artist first and foremost; she is also a teacher, lecturer, curator and art collector.  Her formal art education culminated with her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Los Angeles Otis Art Institute.  Her informal education includes extensive traveling, and her on-going arts advocacy.  In addition Ms. Duzy's education is enhanced by her extensive research for her lectures: "Walking Through History: Women Artists Past & Present," "Symbols, Signs & Space: A Personal Journey, " and "Sex in History: A Pictorial View," her most recent lecture, which encompasses 5000 years of erotic art.

The Women's City Club of Pasadena at The Blinn House

160 N. Oakland Avenue

Pasadena, California 91101

"Spring Forward" May 1 - July 30, 2011

Art Viewing Hours: Monday - Friday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Art Chat with the Curator: Fridays from 3 to 5 pm

http://www.womenscityclub.com/

Contact Margaret Danielak at margaret.danielak@gmail.com or 626-683-9922 for pricing information.

Paintings Above:

The Florist
Ruth Olenick, Artist  Oil 20 x 24" 
Gardeners in a Red Field 
Ruth Olenick, Artist  Oil 20" x 24" 
Gardeners in a Blue Field
Ruth Olenick, Artist  Oil  24" x 30"
Country Manor
Ruth Olenick, Artist  Oil  24" x 30"
Gorman Series - Flowering Hills VII
Merrilyn Duzy, Artist  Oil  24" x 36"
Yellow Fields, Humlebaek
Merrilyn Duzy, Artist  Oil  28" x 42"

SPRING FORWARD: CELEBRATING WOMEN ARTISTS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA



"The Florist"
Ruth Olenick, Artist
Oil on Canvas  20" x 24"


The Women's City Club of Pasadena

at the Historic Blinn House
160 N. Oakland Avenue, Pasdena, CA   91101


EXHIBITION: MAY 1 - JULY 30, 2011

RECEPTION FOR THE ARTISTS
THURSDAY, MAY 26 from 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Featured Artists:

Ruth Olenick

Beth Summers

Carol Steinberg

Elizabeth Wallace

Linda Du Pas
Frances C. Muenzer
Ellen Brown

Barbara Thorn-Otto

Julie Snyder

Katie Moriarty
Beverly Lazor

Athena Mantle

Anna T. Kelly

Judy Taussig
Marian Fortunati

Merrilyn Duzy
Robin Neudorfer 







Feminist Tour of The de Young Museum in San Francisco

 

Margaret Danielak, Owner of Pasadena-based DanielakArt and author of A Gallery without Walls, will conduct a Feminist Tour of Women Made Art at The de Young Museum in San Francisco on Saturday, April 2^nd, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.  The tour will highlight the work of the woman artists in the permanent collection including Louise Nevelson, Elizabeth Catlett, Ruth Asawa and others.  Danielak, who is the daughter of artists, will draw upon her experience as an artist representative and curator to introduce these important works of art to tour participants and discuss their relevance in today’s art world.    

Danielak conducted a highly regarded Feminist Tour of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena for the Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art (SCWCA) during their 2009 CONFAB.  A workshop leader and art marketing expert, Danielak holds a B.A. in History from the University of California at Berkeley, and was a Producer Fellow at American Film Institute in Los Angeles.  Her book, A Gallery without Walls, was a featured selection of North Light Book Club.

The Feminist Tour is underwritten by WomenArts of San Francisco in celebration of Support Women Artists Now Day/SWAN Day, an annual international holiday celebrated during March, Women’s History Month. The event is free with museum admission.  RSVP to WomenArts is requested. :

LINK TO REGISTER HERE

For further information contact Martha Richards, Executive Director, WomenArts located at 3739 Balboa Street, Suite 181, San Francisco, CA 94121.  Phone:  (415) 751-2202; Contact Us at www.WomenArts.org/contact_us.php    Website: www.WomenArts.org

CALL FOR ARTISTS: "SPRING FORWARD" - CELEBRATING WOMEN ARTISTS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

CALL FOR ARTISTS

“Spring Forward”

Celebrating Women Artists of Southern California

The Women’s City Club of Pasadena

at The Historic Blinn House

160 N. Oakland Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91101

Show runs May 1, 2011 – July 30, 2011

ENTRY DEADLINE IS APRIL 1, 2011

Theme & Eligibility:

This is an open call to professional women artists based in Los Angeles County and Orange County. The theme of this exhibition is the glory of spring and the heat of summer.

Selection Process:

The Curator of Exhibitions for The Women’s City Club of Pasadena, Margaret Danielak, owner of DanielakArt, and one member of the Board of Directors of The Women’s City Club of Pasadena, will select the artwork. Professional artists may submit up to 8 works of art for consideration of which 3-5 will be considered for acceptance.

Artists must be 18 or older and must be living in Southern California. Professional artists only (no students) are invited to apply. All artwork must have been created in the last three years and not have been exhibited previously at The Blinn House/Women’s City Club of Pasadena.

Media:

Traditional (representational) oil paintings, acrylics, pastels, watercolors and colored pencil drawings will be considered. No photography please. Tabletop sized sculpture in bronze, glass, stone or wood will also be reviewed. Lighter, brighter paintings in gold frames are preferred. Artwork suitable for an historic prairie style home only will be considered. (No nudity) Artists are encouraged to visit the website for the Women’s City Club at www.womenscityclub.com to learn more about the venue.

The Entry Form and administrative fee must be completed and returned to Curator, Margaret Danielak by April 1, 2011 to be considered. It may be mailed to: Margaret Danielak, DanielakArt - P.O. Box 91656, Pasadena, CA 91109 or artists may email the completed form and up to 8 images only to Margaret.danielak@gmail.com. Electronic images should be in JPEG format, sized to 800-1000 pixels wide. The artist’s name should be included in the file name. (e.g. J_Doe_SunsetOverHills.jpg) Clearly indicate medium, size, title, and sales price for each image in the submission. Email subject line should read: SPRING FORWARD SUBMISSION.

All artists are responsible for dropping off (on April 29 at a time to be determined) and picking up their own artwork at the end of the exhibition. No exceptions. No storage is available for artwork, nor are shipping services provided.

Notification: Artists will be notified of acceptance by email on or by April 10, 2011. If no email address is provided, the artist will be notified by telephone.

Liability: Each work is insured while on display at The Blinn House/ Women’s City Club located at 160 N. Oakland Avenue in Pasadena, California. Artists are solely responsible for insuring work while in transit. Only framed artwork or sculptural work on a steady podium ready to display will be accepted.

Photography: DanielakArt and The Women’s City Club reserves the right to photograph works for publicity purposes.

Fee: There is a $30 administrative fee for up to 8 entries.

Award: This is not a contest but an opportunity to show and sell your artwork. No awards will be given.

Artists Reception:  Thursday, May 26 from 6 - 9 pm.

Commission: Artists will receive 50% of all sales of their work. DanielakArt will receive 30%. The Women’s City Club will receive 20%. Artists will be paid by DanielakArt on or by the 30th day after any art sale.

Art buyers will be allowed to come into possession of their artwork as soon as a replacement work by the artist is made available. Artists will be required to maintain inventory sufficient to replace quickly any sold works as The Women’s City Club requires art on the walls at all times.

All sales will be handled by DanielakArt which will take a 50% commission on all sales, of which 20% will be given to The Women’s City Club of Pasadena. By completing the application form, should your artwork be accepted for exhibition, you give your consent for Margaret Danielak of DanielakArt to sell your artwork.

Artists will be encouraged to promote the exhibition. Press, postcards and cross promotion, in addition to social media and special events, will be employed to promote the show. A blog will be created with some images from the exhibition for promotion purposes which will be linked back to the website for The Women’s City Club of Pasadena. No guarantee of art sales is promised.

NOTES: The Women’s City Club of Pasadena has a dress code which is enforced at all times. (No jeans).

To obtain an entry form email margaret.danielak@gmail.com and one will be sent to you.
Questions and information: Margaret Danielak, DanielakArt Phone: 626-683-9922.


Please do not contact The Women’s City Club of Pasadena directly.

POT PAINTINGS BY ROBERT G. STEVENS FEATURED IN JOSE VERA GALLERY BOOTH AT LA POTTERY SHOW

The Los Angeles Pottery Show

February 12-13, 2011

Show hours: Saturday 10 am - 6 pm, Sunday 10 am - 4 pm

Pasadena Convention Center (300 E. Green St., Pasadena, CA)

19,000 Square Feet of Art Pottery & Tile for sale, over 100 exhibitors

http://www.lapotteryshow.com/

Jose Vera Fine Art & Antiques will occupy a booth at the Los Angeles Pottery Show and will be displaying rare antique pottery and tile.   In addition they will be exhibiting the work of Robert G. Stevens' (1926-2004) and his unique "Pot Paintings," a series of seven watercolor paintings depicting the pots, pueblos and traditional headdresses of the indigenous people of the Southwest set against a shaded sky.    

ABOUT THE ARTIST:Robert G. "Bob" Stevens began his artistic career while stationed in the South Pacific during World War II. A Bay Area native, he returned home after the war to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC) in Oakland where he studied under noted California-scene painter, George Post. After graduating from art school in 1950, Stevens applied his drawing skills as a scientific illustrator for the Lawrence Laboratories, working first in Livermore, and then for many years in Berkeley, California. He became Principal Scientific Illustrator for the Lab, working closely with many Nobel Prize-winning scientists on projects which have only recently been declassified.

Stevens fell in love with the Southwest during a vacation to New Mexico in 1971, and in 1984 moved with his wife, Wilkie, to Santa Fe to paint full time. Says his daughter, Pasadena art rep and author, Margaret Danielak, “Artists are amazed when I tell them that my father threw away all of his paints when he moved to New Mexico. He wanted to start over. His goal was to capture the intense colors of the Southwest. To that end, he stopped painting exclusively in watercolor, and started painting in bright acrylics and in gouache. A few of his paintings from this period are almost neon. One from this series was originally called The Blue Road. After I saw the original, I renamed the piece Acid Flashback.”

Stevens was co-founder of the O.L.G.A. Group of Artists, and exhibited and sold his work to collectors through galleries in Santa Fe and Taos. Drawings from Stevens’ many sketchbooks were selected by Mrs. Danielak to illustrate her highly rated handbook for fine artists, A Gallery without Walls: Selling Art in Alternative Venues (ArtNetwork Press 2005), which was a featured selection of North Light Book Club.

Mr. Stevens landscape paintings of the Southwest will be featured in the upcoming exhibition: "From Santa Fe to L.A. - Landscapes of the Southwest by Robert G. Stevens" from May 1 to 31, 2011 at Jose Vera Fine Art & Antiques.  The exhibition will be his first in Los Angeles and the largest exhibition of the artist's work in Southern California.  The reception is Saturday, May 14 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.  Art Rep Margaret Danielak, daughter of the artist, will give a short talk during the reception about her late father’s career.  The event is free and open to the public. 

José Vera Fine Art & Antiques located at www.joseveragallery.com  The gallery is open daily from
11 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

2012 Colorado Blvd.

in Los Angeles, CA 90041.  The phone is 323.258.5050 and website is

The Art of Selling Art Workshop: Saturday January 22nd - Towns Burr Gallery

Aphrodite & The Apple
Oil on Canvas (SOLD 2010) 

Aritst: Julie Synder

A unique workshop with instruction in how to market

and sell art from local Art Rep and Author

Margaret Danielak and painter Julie Snyder.

THE ART OF SELLING ART 

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 9:30-3:30 pm

"Great ideas for reaching clients!"

This workshop gives you two unique perspectives

about creating and selling art.

*  Find a good gallery to represent your work

There is a way to find the perfect gallery that will represent your work to qualified collectors.

*  Close sales by dealing effectively with buyers' objections

Someone is interested in your work. Can you make a collector out of an admirer?

*  Learn new technologies to sell your work in innovative, cost effective ways.

PRACTICE SELLING YOUR WORK!

Have the unique opportunity to practice selling your art! Participate in a roll-playing exercise where you will try to sell your own artwork to a potential collector. This will take place in the non-threatening workshop environment. Find out if you are "shooting yourself in the foot" during a sale.

GENERATE FUTURE SALES !

Did you know that 80% of your future sales will come from pre-existing clients? Learn how to follow up with your "sacred" clients to achieve even greater sales!

Find out more... Click here (http://www.theartengine.com/) The Art Engine for full details.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Margaret is the best, down-to-earth, hands-on expert I know teaching artists how to sell their art. She has certainly been a positive influence in my own career.  Hope you can join us. Spaces are limited, preregistration highly recommended."

-Connie Towns, Towns Burr Gallery

http://www.townsburrgallery.com/

3609 West Magnolia Blvd. (Near Hollywood Way)

Free parking in rear of building off Cordova Street.

818-845-7144

Gallery hours Tu-Fri 11 am - 5 pm Saturday 10 am-3 pm

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN LOOKING FOR A GALLERY

Artists often ask me what they should look for when looking for a gallery to represent them. As an art rep and daughter of a gallery represented artist (the late painter and illustrator Robert G. Stevens) I recommend that you obtain answers to the following questions before you attempt to approach a gallery about representation:

1. How long has the gallery been in business?

As we all know, even in the best of economic times many small businesses including art galleries struggle to find their footing. My advice is to try to find a gallery that has been in business at least four years. In fact, on the Small Business Administration (SBA) website, I found out that…

“Two-thirds of new employer establishments survive at least two years, 44 percent survive at least four years, and 31 percent survive at least seven years, according to a recent study. These results were constant for different industries. … Of special interest, the research found that businesses that survive four years have a better chance of surviving long-term. After the fourth year, the rate of firm closings declines considerably.”

You don’t want to be accepted to a gallery only to find that it is going to close the next month so first and foremost, you want to find a gallery that has a longer term track record.

2. Does the gallery have a good location?

Do they have good foot traffic and adequate parking? If not, how do they bring in new business? You want to get a feel for their clientele and how they handle people coming and going into their physical location.

3. What is the director’s background?

Do the directors have an art background or a marketing background? (Ideally they should have both.) Keep in mind, per the SBA website:
“…the major factors in a firm’s survivability include an ample supply of capital, being large enough to have employees, the owner’s education level, and the owner’s reason for starting the firm.”

I would add to the list above that the gallery owner needs to have a passion for the art they are selling. If they are not passionate about the art, then you don’t want to be in their gallery.

4. Does the gallery cross-promote with other dealers?

Are they part of a gallery group or a regularly scheduled art walk or other event? In other words, do they make an effort to grow their business with each event they do? This is essential to their long term success, and to your assurance that your artwork will be seen.

5. Are you able to obtain a referral for the gallery and the director?

Speak to other represented gallery artists about the gallery’s operations and the people running it. Are they honest? Do they have written contracts and consignment agreements with their artists, and do they pay them on time? What percentage do they take? Even a seasoned gallery artist like my late father had a very bad experience with a prestigious gallery in Taos, New Mexico. Over the four years he was in the gallery, the director increasingly paid the artists very late, sometimes as much as six months after a sale! When the gallery closed suddenly with three of his paintings still in their possession, my father found out about it from a newspaper article. We have never been able to retrieve his lovely paintings from the gallery director who had stolen them.

6. What kind of marketing does the gallery do?

Does the gallery advertise in major art magazines, produce postcard mailings, work the internet and have a great website? Does the director write articles, speak in public or publish catalogues? Do they attend the major art fairs? You need to know how the gallery plans to expose your work to collectors.

7. How are you treated when you go to the gallery?

One of the best stories I’ve heard on this “due diligence” subject was from a sculptor. One Saturday she put on an expensive outfit, armed with her wish list, and spent the day visiting ten galleries in Santa Monica. She decided in advance that she would not mention that she was an artist looking for representation.

At two of the ten galleries she visited the doors were closed. There was no information on the door about their hours or how they could be reached. (She crossed them off her list.) At three of the galleries she was greeted adequately by friendly people who knew absolutely nothing about the art on display, nor about any of the artists who created the work. (She crossed these galleries off her list as well.)

She was ignored completely at four of the galleries she visited. The people working in the galleries didn’t even say hello to her and spent their time talking on the phone or working on the computer. They never even looked at her! (She didn’t like this at all and crossed them off her list, too.)

At the tenth gallery she visited, however, she was greeted by a young man who was knowledgeable about the art. He seemed interested in her and her reactions to the work. He told her engaging stories about the artists and gave her additional information about the media the artists used to create the work. He invited her to their upcoming reception, and asked her for her contact information to add to their mailing list. She decided that, of the ten galleries on her original list, only this last gallery was worthy of her attention.

Remember that in your search for a gallery, one size does not fit all. Each gallery is unique in its location, how it is run, and the style of art the director will accept. Like the shrewd artist mentioned in the story above, before approaching a gallery you need to do some research to determine which gallery will be the best fit for you and your work.


Source Note: SBA Website Quoted: “Business Employment Dynamics Data: Survival and Longevity, II,” by Amy E. Knaup and Merissa C. Piazza, Monthly Labor Review, vol. 30, no. 9 (Sept. 2007), pp. 3-10; “Redefining Business Success: Distinguishing Between Closure and Failure” by Brian Headd, Small Business Economics, vol. 21, no. 1 (August 2003), pp. 51-61.


About the author: Margaret Danielak is the author of artist handbook “A Gallery without Walls” (ArtNetwork Press). She may be reached through her website at http://www.danielakart.com/
or via email at Margaret.danielak@gmail.com.