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Area artists are participating in nationwide happening and it could up your Christmas shopping game

11/22/2022

Artists from Oil City will be taking part in the national "Artist's Sunday" celebration on November 27.

According to the Arts Oil City social media post, "It's an art filled day with a range of mediums, affordable gift items, original art for the collector, and a musical concert spread throughout the day and about town."

There will be open studios at the National Transit Building from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Pam Johnson/Pam's Quilting Corner will have items for sale and visitors can try out a sewing machine or watch Pam work.
CJ Hurley and Barbara Pierce/CJ Hurley Century Arts will have art, prints, cards, puzzles and calendars for sale. Visitors will also be able to work on one of CJ's art puzzles.
Linda Lineman/Lineman's Porcelain Painting and Memories will host an open studio and sale.
Elizabeth Schmude Photography will have cards and puzzles from her work. Elizabeth is also scheduling family photo shoots for that evening.
Maureen James will be in her studio painting the Christmas photo sculptures for Town Square.

Other artists to look for in their studios are

Anissa Gage, Trisha Mock, and Crystal Roser

There will also be local businesses hosting artists showing their wares.

Carol McDonald at Wye Bridge Hobbies on Seneca Street.
Susan McGuire at Core Goods' new location on East First Street. (Opens at 1 p.m.)
Group Show of Plein Air Painting at Woods & River Coffee until 2 p.m.

The local galleries and shops participating include:

Artist's Attic LLC, on the ground floor of the National Transit Building offers art supplies, art-related gifts, and work from over 20 local and regional artists. (Open 1 to 5 p.m.)
Transit Art Gallery and Gifts on the ground floor of the National Transit Building is a co-op gallery, representing the art of member artists. (Open noon to 4 p.m.)

As an added bonus, trained opera singer, Jamie Bastello, who is new to Oil City, will perform Arias at 4 locations, starting at 12:30 p.m. on the Oil City Library steps. See flyer below for more times and locations.

FHS is starting an art collection; needs artist submissions

11/22/2022

Area artists are invited to submit artwork to be considered for the Franklin High School expand its art program through the creation of a permanent collection.

They want to feature artists from the region and they are fundraising to pay artists for their work.

"As the collection grows, it will become a source for the community to tour, be a fundamental tool in instruction, celebrate the arts, and act as an art time capsule for what was relevant to our students the year they selected it," said Franklin art teacher Darrellyn Freeman, who is spearheading this effort.

Freeman said they have had a few submissions thus far, but are hoping for more. The first artwork for the collection will be installed beside the library at the high school.

It will expand from there, she said.

The library is a high-traffic area where many school board meetings are held.

"We do not have size or price limitations set yet. This is something that we will have to consider with the submitted work during the selection process," she said. "We are currently only accepting 2D artwork including painting, drawing, printmaking, digital art and photography."

Artists interested in submitting their work can get more information by visiting the school's website at https://sites.google.com/students.fasd.k12.pa.us/fasdartcollection/home.

The submission deadline for regional artists is December 31, 2022.

The senior class will pick one artwork to purchase.

The work does not need to be framed, they will have it framed locally at Victorian City Art and Frame.

Another way artists can help

The Franklin High School art department will hold a fundraiser from 5 to 7 p.m. on December 21 in the school's auditorium lobby prior to the band and choir holiday concert.

The fundraiser will feature artwork from Franklin high school and elementary school students and teachers. Freeman said they will accept artist donations for this sale as well in hopes this can increase their funds to purchase their first piece of artist's work.

Charcoal drawing that we are planning to donated for the sale.

Artist willing to donate to the art program should contact Freeman at the school or by email.

"The funds that we raise at the winter event will also dictate our budget as well as the need for future fundraiser endeavors to pay for the artwork of choice. We are also accepting monetary donations to help pay for the artwork and framing," Freeman said.

A photograph that we are intending to submit for the art sale.

"Here and There" open's next week

10/26/2022

Artist DP Warner has had a long varied career in the visual and performing arts. A drummer with a passion for “Little Feat,” he’s played in a number of ensembles in recent years.

His early visual arts included large scale social commentary pieces incorporating acrylic paints and building materials. Installations, found objects were often paired with more traditional painting and drawing.

His work had quirk.

Often he had purposeful tongue-in-cheek jokes intermingling with real societal investigations, climate change and humanity’s connection to place.

In recent years, the retired professor of painting and design at Edinboro University, has been quietly exploring the world of plein air landscape painting, a style of painting involving being outside on site and painting from direct observation, usually in one session.
He is also in a small studio space where he elaborates on these observed scenes and other places to make slightly larger paintings based on places he has been and photographed.

“I’m in a different mode these days,” Warner said. “I think my studio work is starting to evolve into a spiritual quest of some sort.”

His work, now done in oil paints primarily, explores many scenes from his travels around local and regional back roads, as well as some scenes from overseas. He works daily, when life doesn’t intervene, working out new paintings. “Time will tell, but I’m kind of interested in where (these recent studio paintings) are going,” Warner said. “Not totally sure about it all, but the big pieces seem to be about presence. They definitely are different than my plain air stuff.”

Though his work may seem quite different from his early work, they still explore humanity’s connection to place.

Warner’s work over the last few years will be featured in a show at the Meadville Council on the Arts on the second floor of historic Market House in Meadville. An opening reception will kick off the month-long exhibition on November 4 from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The show, titled “Here and There” runs through December 3.

Editor’s note: Warner is a former professor of this article’s writer. They have been friends for over 25 years and currently share studio space.

DP was our Featured artist of the month in July 2020. Here are the series of articles we did that month
http://www.8and322.com/eight--322/featured-artist-of-the-july-dp-warner

http://www.8and322.com/eight--322/artist-of-the-month-of-july-dp-warner-sound-check-two

http://www.8and322.com/eight--322/artist-of-july-week-three-dp-warner

http://www.8and322.com/eight--322/artist-of-july-dps-abstractions-of-nature-bridged-old-and-new-work

http://www.8and322.com/eight--322/artist-of-july-what-is-dp-warner-doing-now

We're still here

9/5/2022

"Klee and I are still at it," wrote Rafi Perez. The two artists have been showing an extensive collection of their work in Oil City's Graffiti gallery in August, but with no one filling in the September slot they asked to stay for another month to put on even more events and continue showing off their work..

"We have taken over Graffiti Gallery and we are not ready to let it go! That’s right! We are extending our show through September in Oil City."

Their work includes paintings, jewelry, sculptures, books, music, and more.

They welcome discussions with "creatives and forward thinkers" at all times.

"Come hang out and talk about life, listen to music, look at some art, and have a blast. The show runs through the month of September on Fridays from 4-7 and Saturdays from 11am-2pm. The gallery will also be open for private appointments, contact Rafi and Klee to schedule your private tour.

Below is a snippet from one of their original songs earlier in August.

To see when they are singing or cracking open a bottle of wine this month visit: https://rafiandklee.com/hi-were-still-here-you-cant-get-rid-of-us/

Here is the Eight & 322 post from August to learn more about these artist's and show.
http://www.8and322.com/arts/new-kids-on-the-block

SCOTUS - I didn't know then what I know now

8/19/2022

I did not know in 1997 that the body of work I completed for my grad school thesis was actually about 2022.

This drawing, which at one point was also a painting that I believe no longer exists (I had a bit of a burn cleanse a few years ago of pieces that didn't work that also had been over come from neglectful storage) has been on my mind a lot lately.

My thesis show was called "Issues of Gender" which was horrible title. I was barely intellectually equipped to even know what I was talking about. But that has always been my work - I push into the murky unknown things I don't understand trusting that what I have to say has words somewhere. That the inner dialogue I think makes sense will eventually be deciphered and luminous.

I have been looking at this work since the Supreme Court ruling to overturn the federal protection of women's autonomy was taken away back in May was leaked. This work, though it lacked what I was striving for so many years ago has stayed in my piles of work for a very good reason, because they hadn't yet been truly about what they are, indeed, about. They, sadly were made for this time in history that I wish had never come.

I considered doing new work, and have been slowly transforming some old pieces into new works that directly relate to this time. But some I don't think I can do anything to up-date them - like this one.

I will rename this though: "Supreme Court Justice Samual Alito comes to call."

One line poetry:

8/13/2022

When the vessel weeps it is time to take pause.

New Kids on the Block

7/28/2022

Artists Rafi Perez and Klee Angelie moved from Florida to Oil City in the midst of the pandemic and have set up their home base in a yellow house they call “The Sunflower House.”

Now the artists, who are prolific social media posters and internet creators with videos and music showcasing their crazy takes on life living as perpetual creators.

Next Friday they will give the area a full introduction to their work in an exhibition opening at the Graffiti Gallery in Oil City. They claim it will “knock your socks off.”

They are planning a bit of a retrospective with some work they have never shown before as well. Klee’s jewelry will be displayed with Rafi’s paintings and sculpture pieces. They will also be showing fresh work, some done right in the gallery itself.

The show runs through August featuring a few happenings, art creations, giveaways and several streaming opportunities to join them from afar. They are packing a lot into the month beginning with the opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on August 5 featuring music, food and drink.

The following day they will welcome visitors to the gallery from noon to 6 p.m. to watch them create their work as well as their music. They promise to be available for engaging.

“Enjoy conversations about their travels, art, and why they moved to this amazing area,” they said in a press release. If you can’t attend this event they will live stream from 1 to 2 p.m.

The following Friday, August 12, they will be back in the gallery showcasing their work beginning at 3 p.m..
Then at 5 p.m. they will perform some of their original music.

“This laid back concert will be like hanging out with two friends while they sing and play guitar,” they said. The music too will be live streamed.

The following day Rafi will read from his books and be around to sell and sign copies. The gallery will be open from noon to 6 p.m. with readings from 4 to 5 p.m. The readings will also be live streamed.

The following week, August 19 and 20 they are hoping Bridgefest, a two-day music festival in Oil City, will bring many more visitors to the gallery.

August 27 the doors will be open from noon to 6 p.m. for the show’s final day.

“We will be hanging out talking about art, life, and anywhere else the conversations take us” they said. “We will also be doing some giveaways that day as a big thank you to everyone that came to our exhibition.”

More information: Visit their website at https://rafiandklee.com/hi-were-new-here-rafi-and-klee-exhibition/

Even bad poetry, in the grand scheme of things, has priceless meaning

5/18/2022

There is nothing more poetic than the world inside a droplet of water.

Is that my....

Of sad eyes peering out behind happy ones,
Beneath the old untouched stones of forged roadways,
Beneath the granular dried mud.

Is that who I am?

It’s a baffled relationship of stars and poet's words,
Of lovers tongues and silence,
Of a rapping sound repeating out of sync.

Is that my heart?

The dirt beneath my nails is my signature.
I close my eyes and taste the wind.
nuff' said.

Wait...

Is this the depth of my experience?

—————-//—————--

What do you do with your lines of bad poetry?

I rewrite the ones that had a glimmer of a thought, throw others away. I post some thinking they are not bad only to discover that they really are. Then years later when they pop up in Facebook memories I regret it then try to rewrite it again.

Sometimes a line or two pops out, like a sculptor carving marble, I then have to chip away at the poem to find the art within. hmm there's a bad line to keep for later.) Some lines end up in snippets of paper buried in my pocket for a few days, some are in binary code deep on a hard-drive somewhere and who knows if they'll ever be seen again.

I have millions of words. Painters paint, writers write. I found a line of a poem on an old bank stub under my keyboard the other day. No idea why I wrote it on the stub and it wasn't even that great of a line. It was an old stub and the date and the amount of withdrawal or deposit(likely withdrawal) was faded beyond readability.

"I saw a sparrow eating bugs off a dead cat and thought about resilience."

We should even save the bad lines.

The importance of writing bad poetry is that maybe good poetry will eventually come, that if ideas are engraved, even if poorly, someone, somewhere, sometime can witness an unexpected moment of you. The importance of bad poetry is so much more significant than posting a meme or wasting a perfectly good meet up with a friend bitching about the price of gas. In other words, even bad poetry, in the grander scheme of things, has priceless meaning.

So I write (though these gas prices!!!!)

Snippetts

A bitter woman prays wearing a flowered 70s dress in a house four- blocks away as she listens to sentimental music while smoking long filtered menthol cigarettes and hating liberal commie faggots.
————-
My old teacher's words I finally heard for the first time today, 30 years later, because it was time finally.
———-
I cut this grass out of desperation to fit in.

What bad poetry do you keep around?

New show in Oil City accepting entries

5/2/2022

Artist Maureen James is once again curating a show in the Graffiti Gallery featuring three-dimensional works of arts, crafts and furniture.

The show will run roughly two weeks with an opening reception set for May 13 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Drop-off for the works are this Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.

There is a $20 installation fee for the artists that goes to help keep the gallery operating.

Follow the Graffiti Gallery Facebook page for more happenings at the gallery. They will also be one of the host site for the Oil Heritage Arts Festival.

Recipes to die for and juggling too much

4/25/2022

Ever feel like you're juggling too many things at once?

Well I'd be lying if I didn't say that has been my life of late It seems the candle can burn from both ends.

I've been putting my camera between my eyes and some interesting and fun things. A lot of freelance work for my friends at Allegheny College and last week, in-between AC gigs, a few sports and stories for Eight & 322 I participated in a photographer panel discussion and helped a fellow photographer out with an interesting fun shoot for a cookbook to go along with the Barrow-Civic Theatre production of Nonsense the Musical which will go on sale this week at the theater and hopefully in time for opening night..

Coordinator Jennalee Schenk did the work, I just helped some troubleshooting and snapped a few pics of the project. There will be more promotion for this show over the next few days and weeks and look for an announcement on how to pick up a cookbook.

Look for more on this show coming up and keep and eye of their Facebook page for updates.