Archive

HVCA HOSTS SHOP IN HIGHLAND FESTIVAL OF TREES ARTIST MARKET

One-of-a-kind artwork and fine crafts are on display at Huron Valley Council for the Arts’ Shop in Highland Festival of Trees Artist Market Thursday, Dec. 1- Friday, Dec. 23.

Festivities start with an artist reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9 in HVCA’s gallery space, 205 W. Livingston Rd.

The gallery will be decked out in holiday splendor for the December market, said Leah Ohmer, HVCA executive director.

 “This year’s exhibition will follow a Festival of Trees theme,” Ohmer added. “Christmas trees within the gallery space will be decorated with art from many of our Arts & Greens Holiday Artists’ Market participants.”

The market will be open the following hours Dec. 1-23: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, call HVCA at 248-889-8660.

-Written by Anne Seebaldt

The reception, which takes place from 7 to 9 p.m., is free and open to the public; it also  features refreshments crafted by students of The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Michigan.

“Lately, I have been focusing on painting people and figures, especially children and the elderly,” said Garcelon. “I paint because it helps me express feelings and ideas when words cannot.  I often see something that I appreciate in a person and want to express that in my work.  Sometimes it’s the stories behind the people that motivate me to paint them.  I want to tell these stories without words, using my brush, paints, and paper.”

Raised in Worthington, Ohio, Garcelon started painting in high school and graduated in 1991 with a pharmacy degree from The Ohio State University. Primarily self-taught, she didn’t seriously pursue painting until 2005.

She has studied with Arne Westerman of Portland, Oregon and Joe Fettingis of Logansport, Indiana. Currently she is studying with Mark Mehaffey of Williamston, Michigan and teaches watercolor painting in Brighton and Howell. 

Garcelon teaches watercolor classes in Brighton and Howell; she has won several awards, including Livingston Fine Art Association Artist of the Year 2008, “Best of Show” for Mid-Michigan Art Guild’s 2009 winter exhibit, a blue ribbon in Brighton Art Guild’s 2010 Spring Kaleidoscope show, and a blue ribbon in Brighton Art Guild’s 2010 Art Harvest juried exhibition.

A member of Livingston Fine Art Association, Brighton Art Guild, Ann Arbor Women Artists, Michigan Watercolor Society, and National Watercolor Society, she is represented by Blue Heron Gallery in Elk Rapids, MI and Casa De Amici in South Lyon, MI.  Her work can be seen at loragarcelon.com.

Gallery hours for the exhibit are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

The Fascination with Fibers exhibit is a culmination of an extensive call to local Michigan fiber artists that started in August of 2010. The show was developed to give focus to the Fiber Artist community in our region that is often time overlooked in the gallery setting. This show focuses on the fine art of using fibers as a unique medium to create “paintings” and sculpture. Artists submitted photos and digital images of their work for a jury of local artists to review. Works from 29 talented artists were selected and will be part of this year’s exhibition and sale. The work ranges from art quilts to sculpture, to weavings, to basketry all crafted in distinctive and sometimes surprising materials. This exhibition will also be a focal addition to the annual Black Sheep Weavers Spring Fling sale that occurs annually at the HVCA and this year falls on April 16 (10am-5pm) & 17 (11am-3pm).

Face to Face, an exhibition featuring the paintings by Rochester-based artist Judy Munro, includes an opening gallery reception from 7-9 p.m. Friday, June 3 at Huron Valley Council for the Arts, 205 W. Livingston Rd. in Highland.

The reception gives those attending a chance to meet the artist as well as to enjoy refreshments crafted by students of The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Michigan.

“Face to Face is about people and faces that persist in my mind until I can get them onto canvas,” Munro explained. “Once on canvas, I am free, to become engaged by the next face and the cycle repeats itself.” She added, “My figurative work is extremely personal. Although my paintings are usually inspired by a face or faces that I've seen and have to interpret through paint, none of them are about “portraiture.” Once I've placed the “inspiration face”, each painting evolves into a story.”

The artist says she can't recall a time when she wasn't involved with art. She added, “When I was in grade school I drew a picture of a horse. My teacher showed it to the school principal, the principal called my parents to advise them to encourage my artistic ability and my parents became my biggest supporters, looking for every opportunity to get me involved in art, on any level.”

After completing grade school, Munro “was accepted into Cass Technical High School's art department, where I leaned all the basics, how to “see” and how to draw what I saw. The fundamentals of color, perspective, figure drawing and art appreciation were instilled in me at Cass.” As a Cass senior, she earned a competitive scholarship and Pratt Institute in New York, for two years, but completed a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree at Wayne State University.

Her work experience includes corporate design, starting as an artist for The Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 1974; she worked there 23 years in various positions, moving on to hold the positions of designer, supervisor and manager of the graphic services department.

“In 1998 I joined the Lionel LLC (yes the train maker) as manager of creative services. I spent the next 10 years with Lionel, eventually becoming director of marketing services.”

Then life took a sudden change. “In January 2009, after a corporate downsizing, which resulted in the elimination of my entire department, I was presented with the choice of continuing to pursue my corporate career or take a huge risk and pursue my passion of becoming a professional artist. Life is short. I chose to pursue my passion. In March 2009, I picked up a paintbrush and recommitted myself to me and my art. History will write the rest.”

The show will be open until July 1 in HVCA's gallery during its regular hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

JULY HVCA EXHIBIT FEATURES STUDENT ARTIST’S WORK

Laura Wartel, an Eastern Michigan University freshman from West Bloomfield, features sculpture inspired by nature in the July gallery exhibit at Huron Valley Council for the Arts.

Wartel’s exhibit, titled It’s Just My Nature: Sculptures by Laura Wartel, starts with a free opening reception in HVCA’s gallery, located at 205 W. Livingston Road in Highland, from 7-9 p.m. Friday, July 8.

Those attending the reception will have the opportunity to meet the artist and buy her work while enjoying light refreshments.

 “The show is nature inspired and concentrates on fluidity, form and texture,” Wartel said. But sculpture isn’t her only medium. “I am still choosing but I have really enjoyed painting mediums. I want people to know that I have just begun and that I am brimming with new ideas…. When asked what she wants people to know about her work, she responded: “I want to ask people, ‘Do you see what I see?’”

The artist, who currently is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at EMU, received multiple scholastic awards for her artwork throughout high school, including 2009’s West Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Big Fish event.

She also took part in the following 2008, 2009 and 2010 exhibitions: the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center Exhibit and Bloomfield Hills Schools District Art Show; in 2009 and 2010, her work was displayed in the Scholastic Art Awards Exhibit.

The exhibit also may be viewed during HVCA’s regular gallery hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays through July 30.

“Emerging Masters”

Elementary School Celebration of the Arts!!!

Huron Valley Schools Elementary Art Department in partnership with HVCA is honored to showcase art work from students from all of our ten elementary schools. This exhibit is the culmination of a year’s worth of art education and creativity on behalf of both our art teachers and our students. There will be a wide variety of art on display both two and three dimensional, from the elements and principals of art, to realism and abstraction to world cultures.

There will be two opening receptions for this show Wednesday March 2nd from 6:00pm-7:30pm and Friday March 4th from 6:00pm- 7:30pm. This is a month long exhibition and will close on March 30th.

The Schools participating are:

Highland – Ms. Powell

Spring Mills – Mrs. Rolls

Brooks – Ms. Powell and Mrs. Krupa

Kurtz – Mrs. Kaczor

Country Oaks – Mrs. Forrest and Ms. Turner

Lakewood – Mrs.Warner

Johnson – Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Rolls

Heritage – Mrs. Fortson and Mrs. Kaczor

Oxbow – Mrs. Krupa

“The watercolor images are from my early travels within the United States. They will date from 1951 to present day,” said McKee, a White Lake resident. “After my retirement, I decided to rekindle my life-long passion for painting watercolors,” he added. “Although I do venture into other mediums like pen and ink, oil and pastels, watercolor is my medium of choice.

“Transparent watercolor provides exciting accidents of color blends,” he explained. “I paint for personal gratification. It's what makes me who I am.”

The free opening night reception includes light refreshments as well as the opportunity to meet the artist and purchase his work, which, in the past, has been exhibited at various U.S. galleries. 

McKee worked 40 years as a graphic designer for General Motors. “My experience as a graphic designer at GM allowed me the opportunity to work on many corporate identification programs, some of which received national recognition,” he said. “Individually, I received an award for a flag I designed for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art's "New Glory" flag contest.” New York Museum of Modern Art, the Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. and the Grand Rapids Art Museum exhibited the flag, which toured America with the SITES (Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Service) program.

He also has created logos for several civic organizations and municipalities, including the city of Battle Creek and Milford Township, to project their desired images.Since his retirement in 1995, McKee has been active in the local artistic community. He is a founding member of HVCA, where he occasionally teaches art classes and serves on its board of directors. He also is a member of the Village Fine Arts Association (VFAA).

One-of-a-kind artwork and fine crafts are on display at the Dec. 3 opening of Shop in Highland Holiday Market.

Festivities start with an artist reception from 7 to 9 p.m. in HVCA’s gallery space, 205 W. Livingston Rd.

The gallery will be decked out in holiday splendor for the December market, said Leah Ohmer, HVCA executive director.

 “This year’s exhibition will follow a Festival of Trees theme,” Ohmer added. “Christmas trees within the gallery space will be decorated with art from many of our Holiday Art Market participants.”

The market will be open the following hours Dec. 1-23: Monday and Tuesday by appointment, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It also will be open for limited hours on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24 from 10am-1pm.

Huron Valley Council for the Arts and Bogie Lake Green House owners Patty and Mark Watkins present the annual event. The greenhouse, an extraordinary 28,000 square foot facility located at 1525 Bogie Lake Road in White Lake, features natural lighting, plants, flowers and lovely holiday greens. Arts & Greens Holiday Art Market gives artists a helping hand to sell their work at a low cost in an inviting venue.  The event includes a central checkout, so that all artists can accept credit cards and can focus on helping customers. In addition, friendly HVCA volunteers are available to assist customers throughout the weekend.

Art and All That Jazz, the opening night celebration and awards ceremony for the 15th annual Views and Visions competition and exhibit, takes place Friday, Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Huron Valley Council for the Arts (HVCA) gallery, located at 205 W. Livingston Road in Highland.

“The evening will include delicious finger foods, wine and other beverages plus live jazz entertainment by local musicians Gary Weisenberg & Company,” says Susan Gollon, Village Fine Arts Association (VFAA) executive director. The International Culinary School is providing  the food for this event.

Art and All That Jazz is sponsored by the VFAA in collaboration with HVCA and runs through Nov. 28. Admission for the reception, which benefits VFAA’s programs, is $10 for adults and $5 for children ages five to 17. (Children four and younger are admitted free of charge.)  A portion of the proceeds of artwork sold during the exhibit will benefit the HVCA for its outreach programs.

According to Gollon, “2010 marks the 15th year of this show and the first year of a closer collaboration with the Huron Valley Council for the Arts …” In addition to the awards distributed Nov. 5, the public will select “people’s choice” awards for one adult artist and one youth artist.

ELIGIBILITY: 

A Natural Divergence

What do photography and sculpture have to do with one another? A Natural Divergence, a gallery exhibit which combines photographer Frances R. Johnson’s photo’s with Nicholas Sikma’s sculpture this August at Huron Valley Council for the Arts, may provide the answer.

Sikma commented on the show’s theme and how it relates to his sculptures that will appear in A Natural Divergence. The show’s opening reception takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6 at HVCA, 205 W. Livingston Road in Highland.

“Natural divergence. What is that about? I often ask myself a lot of questions when I work, and usually end up asking more questions to answer the questions,” Sikma says. “How does one connect photography and sculpture? I feel that our work is connected through natural elements found in forms. The photos depict nature, capturing unique volumes and lines in which I apply to my sculpture. As the work transforms, the photography becomes more natural, fluid, classic, whereas the sculpture becomes more rigid, structured, and modern. As time progresses, new lines are created while others end, volume is created.

“When I work, I try to use what is there to create volume in the negative and positive space. My work is often about the interaction of two or three objects, I like to think of the forms as people interacting with one another. What kind of connections do they make? Together what do they create?”

A 2004 MHS graduate who also attended Oak Valley Middle School and Baker Elementary School, Sikma has moved a lot throughout his life, living in Highland, Lansing and Grand Rapids, MI as well as Carpinteria, CA and Placerville, GA, while growing up. He earned an art degree at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, NY.

Johnson, who received education from the Ann Arbor Public Schools, earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising design and two postgraduate degrees in educational psychology from the University of Michigan. In addition, she completed a bachelor’s in art education through Wayne State University. She spent three years as an art teacher in Detroit before coming to Huron Valley Schools, where served as an art teacher and counselor at Milford High School until her 1984 retirement.

“I always referred to my classes as my garden,” Johnson explains. “I learned as much or more from my students. Each student and each class was different. I have always thought of teaching as an art, because nothing is ever the same and those differences are so interesting to see develop and grow. …my photography is me expressing my thoughtful observations that I like to catch in the fleeting moment of time, growth and the beauty all around us.When I take my camera out I go into a different view of the world.”

Sikma adds, “My parents always taught me to be creative, which has had a significant impact. I have always liked making things: I can remember as a young child hammering nails into boards trying to make something. As I got older, I learned a lot from my grandfather. He was a very good woodworker —we used to build toys together in his wood shop. I also learned a lot from my dad. My first metal casting experience was with my father. We used to heat lead washers on the stove top and cast it into a hardwood mold to make sinkers. Maybe that is why I am a little crazy. The sinkers were a T-shape, which prevented your fishing line from rolling across the ocean floor. My dad also used to make me skim boards and repair surf boards for me while we lived in California. I have learned to create, not out of choice but out of necessity.”

In 1976, Johnson became inspired by Ansel Adams’ last show to rush back to Michigan, buy a camera, and use her photography as a means of meditation. During this time, she discovered her new medium of expression and a style.

“I went home and gota camera and went into the fields and shot a roll of 36 and came home and felt like I had had a 24 hour nap.It was at that time that I realized this was what I was looking for: making time to treasure hunt for all the beauty around me; people, animals, color, flowers, designs and more. I also found that people liked my photographs.I knew when I looked at my prints and said ‘ah’ they were good, but when I ‘held my breath in,’ they were really good.I had finally found my style and could lose myself in it like I did with my teaching.”

Sikma’s education inspired him pursue art as a profession, “My middle and high schools offered several art classes, of which I took advantage,” he explains. “Actually, I did it to avoid having to take band class or choir. In high school, I took creative metals and pottery classes, but really got hooked on pottery. When it was time to look at colleges, I was told that Alfred was the place to go for pottery. Once I was at Alfred, many doors were opened — I was able to take many different types of art studio classes. I soon got into metal sculpture, and was caught hook, line, and sinker. I began to feel the bigger, the better. I aspire to someday make sculptures that are sixty feet tall.”

Both artists have taken part in several past exhibitions.

Sikma’s exhibitions include: Midwest Sculpture Initiative 2010, Dearborn, MI; ArtPrize 2009, Grand Rapids, MI; Gridlock senior BFA exposition, Alfred, NY; curator of Jones Memorial Hospital Sculpture Show, Wellsville, NY; Drinking Town with an Art Problem, Alfred, NY; Foundry Spring Outdoor Exhibition, Alfred, NY; Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Art Auction, Wellsville, NY and Foundry Fall Outdoor Exhibition, Alfred, NY.

In 1977, Johnson was accepted into her first show, which launched her rise within the photographic community. In 1978 she won her first Best of Show and Purchase Award in a juried Michigan Art Education Association exhibition. Her other awards include multiple purchase prizes in Michigan and Arizona-based juried art shows; three more MAEA-R juried purchase prize awards; Museum Director’s Award of Merit from the Tubac Art Institute, of Arizona; League of American Pen Women of Arizona “Award of Excellence”; National League of American Pen Women “Award of Excellence”; Michigan State Fair First place and Best of Show awards in 2000; First Place prize for the 2008 VFAA Poetry and Art Night (P.A.N) Exhibition and a juried exhibition of two poems and photos in the 2009 VFAA P.A.N. Exhibit.

MOSAIC ARTISTS’ EXHIBIT BEGINS JULY 9

Huron Valley Council for the Arts’ July gallery show features Mosaic Artists of Michigan, a collaborative group from nearby Clarkston.

Pieces, Contemporary Mosaic Works, featuring the Mosaic Artists of Michigan opens Friday, July 9 with a gallery open house from 7 to 9 p.m. at HVCA, 205 W. Livingston Road in Highland.

Jacqueline Beauvais, one of the participating artists, explains that MAM began “an informal group of mosaic artists whose purpose was to share and teach each other.

“Each member has their own unique style and many works can be found on our website: www.mosaicartistsofmichigan.com,” she adds. “Each mosaic is as individual as the artist that created it. Some styles will be simple while others will be very complex. The materials from each piece will vary, even from the same artist. Mosaic is an art form that can be very labor intensive and each piece created is unique. This art form allows you to think outside the box and create what has not been created yet. Lots of imagination and heart go into each one.

“In 2008 we donated a mosaic to the Children’s Hospital in Detroit, which was a collaboration between two elementary schools and 18 artists,” Beavais says. Members formally organized as a club in 2009, which has grown to include more than 40 mosaic artists.

Participating artists include Beauvais, Shonda Bottke, Ilona Brustad, JoAnn Guile, Sherry Jantz, Sue Majewski, Liz Messer, Larry Mobley, Dona Olden, Theresa Ruby, Ski, Renee Spears, Marlies Wandres and Marilyn Willingham.

There is no charge for this exhibit, which runs through July 31. Gallery hours are Monday and Tuesday by appointment, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Friday April 2, brings “Fibers of Our Lives” exhibit and sale with opening reception at Huron Valley Council for the Arts 7-9pm.  “Fibers of Our Lives” features local artist members of Black Sheep Weavers Guild and leads to the Annual Spring Fling sale running April 24 and 25. Free admission, free parking, 205 W. Livingston Road, Highland.

Now centered in Hartland, Michigan, Black Sheep Weavers Guild represents our region’s rich fiber arts history.  Beginning in 1937 with Livingston County Weavers, the group rented looms and then member Ayliffe Ochs became instrumental in developing the Michigan League of Weavers which is still in operation today.

"Painting is a passion that started very early with my first watercolor set and a burning desire to paint what I saw around me,” Larson said. “I would spend hours in the basement of our house where frogs lived in a damp window well. It was my own private ‘nature under glass,’ and the frogs sat still for hours so that I could observe and paint them in the changing light.
 
“If, as an artist, you can retain the eyes of a child, there is beauty even in the most mundane and ordinary. One very dark and cold winter morning, I looked out my window to see the first faint glow of light coming through the trees, and I got the distinct feeling that the trees were looking at it too. In the silence, these ‘beings’ were witnesses to the coming sunrise. After that day, I started looking at all of nature differently.…”

The Huron Valley Council for the Arts Once Again Presents Fabulous Fibers

The Huron Valley Council for the Arts (HVCA) is pleased to announce the Fabulous Fiber Exhibition and Sale on Friday, January 8^th, from 7PM to 9PM.  HVCA is located at 205 Livingston Road, Highland, Michigan.   The exhibit will be comprised of “fabulous” fiber art such as quilts, baskets, scarves, hats and numerous other unique items.  Some of the organizations that will be exhibiting are Black Sheep Weavers, Adventurous Quilters, Basket Sampler, Village Fine Arts Association and Paradigm.  The talent of these artists will truly amaze the attendees at this not to missed event.

Admission is complimentary and appetizers and beverages will be served.  This exhibition and sale was so successful last year at HVCA that we are bringing back Fabulous Fibers by popular demand.

Some of these artists will be demonstrating their fiber techniques on January 30^th, from noon to 4PM at the Huron Valley Council for the Arts.  These demonstrations are assured to captivate your interest.  Items will be available for sale at this event as well.

We look forward to seeing you at these events where your artistic senses will be fulfilled.      

Come into the HVCA Art Shop today to fill out your Holiday Wish List so that your special someone gets just the right item.

The event makes an early start to the holiday season at the Huron Valley Council for the Arts with a dressy attire opening reception and gala Nov. 6 supporting the “Empty Bowls” project while kicking off Uncharted, an exhibit featuring the Fischers' work. The exhibit will continue until the day before Thanksgiving.

HVCA and Huron Valley Schools have joined together to raise funds for "EmptyBowls” to benefit Community Sharing Outreach Center of Highland.

Milford High School students, professional potters and community residents will craft beautiful pottery bowls for this event, which will be sold for a $10 donation to attendees. John Hartom, founder of Empty Bowls, is flying up from North Carolina to give a presentation at the event.

“This exhibit has been a great collaboration between Helen and Grant Fischer, the Huron Valley Council for the Arts and Milford High School,” said Mary Ann Peters, gallery chairwoman and HVCA board member of the opening night. “The amazing talents of the Fischers and the creativity of the students will make this event a truly spectacular evening.The community will have the opportunity to experience the exhibition and purchase the empty bowls with proceeds going to Community Sharing.”