@ The Barentson Candy Co, 147 Fifth St, Benton Harbor, MI 49022

Gallery Hours:
Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, 10-4
Fri, 10-6

Telephone:
(269) 208-4409
E-mail:
arsieber@sbcglobal.net

Opening reception: Friday, February 17, 2012, 6-8pm
"A not so ordinary faculty exhibit"

A FACULTY EXHIBIT AT ANNA RUSSO SIEBER GALLERY IN THE BENTON HARBOR ARTS DISTRICT…SOME OF THE BEST ART TEACHERS HAPPEN TO BE THE BEST ARTISTS!

ARS Gallery is having an opening reception on Friday, February 17, 6-8pm, for the faculty at ARS. These teachers offer many classes at the gallery from mosaic to sculpture, and the Italian language to summer camps. We are exhibiting paintings, glass, and some sculpture, which will make for a beautiful and interesting exhibit.

Faculty includes:

Mary Broccolo Derr, Painting- Mary has been teaching art in public schools, art centers, and in colleges for over 20 years. She considers herself a painter rather than artist, and a teacher above all. Mary teaches almost all of the summer programs at ARS Gallery.

Susan Henshaw, Drawings- Susan has been a professional artist for over a decade, and exhibits her work in many gallery's, and art centers throughout Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. She has a studio in her home, as well as The Box Factory and works very prolifically in them creating pastels, drawing, oils, photography, and acrylic. Susan teaches adult painting classes of all kinds at ARS Gallery.

Toni Smith, Mixed media-Toni works in art therapy helping others through art. She works in a variety of media and creates not just stunning works in mosaics, but also paintings, and works in mixed media. Toni is a member of Chartreuse co-op Gallery, and also works with The Boys & Girls Club students at the ARS Gallery as well as teaching adult mosaic classes.

Carolyn O’Hearn- Glass, Carolyn is a glass and mosaic artist who shares a professional glass studio with a fellow artist, and exhibits her work, She teaches at Water Street Glass, and ARS Gallery in the summer camp programs and adult mosaic's. Carolyn finds a balance between arting and teaching, and is fantastic at both.

Josh Mason, paintings- Josh is exhibit curator at The Discovery Zone, Curious Kids Museum, and his degree in art helps with his job at the museum. Josh is a wonderful painter and expresses himself on very large canvas using acrylic or oils. Josh teaches Boys and Girls Club, film education, architecture, the summer camp program, and more at the ARS Gallery.

Donna Moynihan- painting, Donna has painted and exhibited her work for many years. She is an interior designer by trade, and a personal chef, and her love of food is also a big part of her life as a caterer, as well as a personal chef. Donna offers "The Art of Entertaining" class a small bites and wine pairing class to help folks learn about what wines to pair with what foods at ARS Gallery. She is a great talent!

Meaghan Burritt- mixed media installation, Meaghan has a graduate degree in arts education and teaches at schools and art centers in Chicago, where she lives, as well as ARS Gallery. She is on the TAD board and is an active artist installing sight specific installations in Chicago, at ARS Gallery, as well as other galleries. Meaghan has taught film education, mixed media, painting, print-making, and Boys and Girls Club at ARS Gallery. Meaghan has a bright future in the world of art!

Ashley Seymour, paintings- Ashley has a degree in art and is the gallery assistant at ARS Gallery, and also teaches classes. She has worked with The Boys and Girls Club, the summer camp program, and much more. Ashley paints various subject in acrylic, works in photography, and drawing. She has a growing interest in teaching but her passion is painting.

Lucia Liano Button, Photography- Lucia teaches the Italian language at the gallery for adults, The Boys and Girls Club, as well as Italian for children. She was born and raised in southern Italy and moved north of Venice when she married, where she raised her children. Lucia also prepares beautiful Italian foods for our classes, and takes photo's of her beautiful Italy when she visits, which is at least once a year. Lucia has been instrumental in the gallery from the beginning. A very big part of what we do is Italian based, and we couldn't do it without her.

Some of our faculty are public school art teachers, museum curators, special program teachers, art center artists, and special education teachers, and come highly qualified in their teaching. These teachers are also studio and professional artists in their own right, and this is the galleries opportunity to share their work, and pay homage to such great and talented teachers.

more info

Opening reception: Friday, November 18, 2011, 6-8pm
"la beauty en toutes choses" - Meredith Schmidt

Meredith Schmidt has a studio at The Box Factory for the Arts, and you can find her painting there most days. Micki as her friends call her, has that rare ability to add light into every piece she touches - you see the saturation of color and brilliance in each piece. In her artist statement, Micki says:

"Each artist has a different view of the world, and this is reflected in the way ideas are expressed.

My art, visual abstraction, comes from my love of beautiful color, shapes and texture. I respond to the emotion and beauty in organic subjects through the use of color, composition and line. Although I also work in the mediums of acrylic and watercolor, I prefer the soft, sensuous feel and intense color of oil paint as it spreads on the canvas, whether by brush, hand or palette knife.

Color and abstract qualities are distinctive features in all of my paintings, but my work is never entirely abstractit falls between the two extremes of abstraction and realism, with an emphasis on the elements of shape, color and texture rather than the subject matter.

From the ages of ten to twelve, I lived with my family in a small rural village in Alsace-Lorraine, surrounded by cherry trees and fields of lavender and poppies. My work, which is introspective and emotional, is heavily influenced by the landscape and culture of southern France but I believe that all of my life experiences and relationships have beenand arein preparation for the work I enjoy."

Opening reception: Friday, September 23, 2011, 6-8pm
"Places of Stone" - Dave Wilkinson

Dave Wilkinson has that natural ability to take a large piece of stone and create wondrous things from it. The process of staring at a large un-carved, raw piece of stone that Dave states, “ I love the notion, as I carve, that I am the first living thing to touch this part of the stone”, and as a sculptor, using Michigan sandstone, and Indiana limestone as his canvas… the sky as they say is the limit. He started sculpting in stone quite some time ago, and also works in encaustic, drawing and painting.

Dave was born in Jackson, Michigan and moved to Benton Harbor in 1997, and he works in his outdoor studio most days under a large shade-tree next to Brammall Supply. Dave states:  “I have created art for almost 30 years but have focused on sculpture for the last 13. I am completely self-taught, and my work reflects a passion for the ancient ruinous, and is very figurative. Not having the opportunity to travel yet to these places of stone, I create my own. I hope to evoke a feeling of incompleteness, a fragment of a larger whole piece.”

His work is all hand carved, and as Dave has said it holds an ancient, fragmented quality in its style and asthetics. These sculptures are stunning, as if from another time and place folks have said as they view his work while visiting in his outdoor studio.

Dave is also a teacher and works at Blossomland Learning Center, making a huge difference in folks lives there, as well as in the community around us. He also volunteers at The Bronson Hill house helping out as an art teacher. Remember, when you drive by his outdoor studio, you see him working proliphically, and always with a smile.

Wine reception: Friday, August 26, 2011, 6-8pm
ARS Gallery is also celebrating it's one year anniversary!

"Concrete and Clay" - Lynne Tan & Matt Sieber

Lynne Tan and Matt Sieber decided to put on a two-person show at the Anna Russo-Sieber Gallery before they had even seen each other's work. They were sure their pieces would complement each other perfectly because of their shared love for modern design - simple elegance in form, and a sensitivity to the material and its function.

Lynne Tan is the clay artist. Her studio is in the Box Factory for the Arts in St Joseph. She has shown her functional pottery regionally at art fairs, juried competitions, and galleries. In addition to place settings, teapot sets, and vases, the ARS show is an opportunity for Lynne to show her table-top and wall sculptures.

Growing up in cosmopolitan Singapore, Lynne's aesthetics remain influenced by the big city, but her inspiration is the natural beauty of her adopted land. Being from the earth, clay is the perfect material for taking on the organic forms of Lynne's imagination - so that the essence of nature can also be enjoyed inside the home.

Lynne says "My life is put on hold when I play with clay...it is the one activity that engages me so totally my thoughts are simply unable to wander. I dream a shape...and I have to make it. I start most of my pieces by throwing on the potter’s wheel, and then alter them to create the organic forms. Although my work can be described as sculptural, most of my pots are functional too. Beauty, for me, lies in undecorated simplicity." Visit Lynne's website at www.lynnetan.com

Matt Sieber is the concrete artist. Matt started his interest in design at an early age like many artists. In middle school he had a huge interest in Frank Lloyd Wright and other architects, and their sense of style and use of materials.  It was looking as if Matt were heading for architectural school once he reach high school, but he changed his focus to Business and Marketing which is perfect for his current business as co-owner of a contracting co., Estrella Enterprise inc. 

Matt studied in New Zealand his third year of college staying there for 6 months, and revisited his love of architecture when exploring the style of New Zealand design. With its minimalist structures and uncluttered architecture, he also focused on the N Z interior which drew him in with stainless and concrete surfaces as well as the simple approach to furniture design. 

That approach to design has stuck with him in his own pursuit of style/design, whether it is building a home or creating furniture, Matt keeps his focus on keeping it simple.
Matt builds planters, concrete tables, and unique benches, pieces he may not find in a store, he just creates himself.  This has evolved into furniture designs to give folks unique options with their interior and exterior design, adding unique and different pieces of furniture that are works of art.
 
Matt Sieber holds a bachelors degree in Business and Marketing.  He has been co-owner of Estrella Enterprise for the past 2 years, and volunteers for Young life with his wife Kaitlin, who is a children’s councilor at Freedom Counseling. 

Matt loves restoring older homes and bringing back the integrity of a building, he also likes surfing, wakeboarding, and anything that involve the beach or outdoors. 

Opening reception: Friday, June 24, 2011, 6-8pm

A Collection of Vacant Proximities - Meaghan Burritt

A Collection of Vacant Proximities presents Chicago based artist and art educator Meaghan Burritts visual investigation of her environment through sound, material, artifact, and installation. Burritts work is often defined as interdisciplinary, site-specific, and autobiographical, as she seeks to engage in critical dialogue about place, culture, identity, and everyday living through the visual arts and arts education. Her background in archaeology reinforces her instinctual process to research sites through material collection, documentation, and audio recordings. This process helps her materialize the personal narratives she believes are hidden within rural and urban landscapes.

Burritt describes her hometown as the nascence that has influenced her relentless desire to understand the beautiful, yet harsh dichotomies of the places she has lived, which has no doubt influenced the direction of her work. Returning to the Midwest after a ten-year stay in Colorado, A Collection of Vacant Proximities is the beginning of a new installation series that reflects on the intersection of local place, memory, and the present moment. In this work, Burritt focuses on how her own personal history is influenced by the diverse social, political, and cultural aspects that surround her; and looks to invite histories other then her own into her work. This series can be described as an accumulation of life experience that continues to formulate and unravel as time moves on.

Burritt has developed and facilitated art projects at Chicago Public Schools and teaches with Hyde Park Art Centers Outreach Program and Pros Arts Studio in Chicago, IL. She also works with young artists from the Boys and Girls club at Anna Russo Seiber Studios in Benton Harbor, MI. You can visit her website at www.meaghanburritt.com

Opening reception: Friday, May 6, 2011, 6-9pm
Gallery talk: TBA

Die Menschenerziehung (The Education of Man) - John Sauv

We are all bodies in space, but where we fit into the scheme of things at large is still an open question. The cumulative effect of seeing the everyday elevated or in a new frame, It is the sense of discovering the same body in different circumstances, so it is less about the subject and more about the content. It has to do with questioning both the status of art and the nature of our built environment. In a time of rising financial and environmental awareness it asks the questions where does the human being fit into the scheme of things, more importantly, who we are and who we have to be.

John Sauv prompted the creation of the Brighton Mayors Commission on Art in Public Places in Brighton, and served as its chairperson. Under Sauve's guidance, the Commission developed the Brighton Biennial Sculpture Exhibit, which installed 28 pieces of large scale public art in the City of Brighton. As a result of the Brighton Biennial, Sauv was asked to curate the City of Birmingham Cityscapes Sculpture Exhibit in which he included the works of Artists Mark di Suvero and Dennis Oppenheim into the show. John Sauv conceived the development of the Green Oak Village Place Sculpture Park, a new outdoor life-style shopping center in Green Oak, Michigan. In 2008 the American Institute of Architects recognized his Design of the Green Oak Village Place Sculpture Park with the Merit Award. Sauv is presently overseeing the sculpture installation in the Stone Ridge Sculpture Park just outside Manhattan in Upstate New York. Sauv is also curating the Blue Water International Sculpture Exhibit between Canada and the United States. Sauvs own work was installed on New York Citys newest City park, the Highline, in the summer of 2010. Previously, he served as Executive Assistant to the founder and Director of the Michigan Council for Arts, E. Ray Scott, with responsibility for the Michigan Commission on Art in Public Places.

Photography by well known fashion photographer, James Moritz: James Moritz is a fashion photographer known for his famous photo shoots of Kate Moss, and celebrities such as Victoria and David Beckham, he also does photography for Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Calvin as in Klein. He is based out of New York, and travels the world over with his photography. James did all the photos for the John Sauve exhibit currently on display at The ARS Gallery. They were of a public art install John did in NYC with a little help from a local group of high school students. James has captured some stunning photos with the students and John's incredible work.

Learn more about the Sauvé Art Foundation founded by John Sauvé.

Opening reception: Friday, March 11, 2011, 6-9pm
Gallery talk: Sunday, March 13, 2011, 3-4 pm

Synthesis: Public Art by Foster Willey Jr.

Public Art is a synthesis of artistic vision, architectural design, and communal interests. It is my desire to create meaningful forms of expression that embrace a communal vision. My commissions include works in bronze, welded steel, cast stone, wood, stone and terra cotta. I have participated in numerous design settings including large-scale projects for various municipalities.

Integration of Site and Art through Metaphor, Abstraction, Symbolism and Representation - For all public art projects, I begin with an assessment of the various themes presented for the project and I consider the setting for which the artwork is intended. In my previous work I have utilized several conceptual ideas as a starting point for making public art. These have included the use of metaphor and abstraction, symbolism and representation, and pictorial narrative. One of my primary concerns has been to address the setting or themes presented in a way that is original, accessible, and aesthetically interesting. Finally, in order to fulfill the desired objectives of the project, I have always emphasized collaboration and dialogue with the parties involved.

Creating Public Art That Enhances the Quality of Urban Living - The Bee Way is a sculptural plaza that is carefully integrated into the site. It offers interactive elements to the viewer, including kinetic sculptural forms and a playful bench. Centrifuge expresses a certain timeless quality, borrowing from the tradition of large-scale bronze sculpture and also representing a very contemporary sensibility. Central Avenue Stelae tell the story of the Central neighborhood through a series of stylized motifs and sculptural forms. These forms along with paving and benches define a gathering space.

I am very interested in the built environment. Public Art is an exciting field because of its range of expression and impact on our surroundings and daily lives. I am committed to the role of public art as a synthesis of artistic vision, architectural design and communal interests. Foster Willey's website.

Crossing the linePiece by Piece is a compilation of mosaic artists banded together by Carolyn OHearn , a very talented mosaic artist and teacher, working at Water Street Glassworks, Anna Russo-Sieber Gallery and Studio. These talented artists have created an array of mosaics in all forms and styles, from abstract to representational to exhibit at the gallery.

Carolyn OHearn is artist and teacher from Australia. Her approach to creating beautiful mosaics is incorporating the use of line, design, and color, using tile and glass that establish these inspiring works. Line is the driving force of the piece, but together the elements of art come into play very well in Carolyns work. She began working in stained glass over 15 years ago, & has also blown glass for several years. Carolyn has been creating and teaching mosaics, glass-fusing, and sandblasting for the past several years as well, at Water St. Glassworks and more recently, mosaics at the ARS gallery. She states Working in mosaic has confirmed my appreciation of line, design & composition that first attracted me to stained glass. I will do this forever; I am committed to it, and am passionate about what I do.

Karen Grayson has worked in art since high school and taken courses at LMC..she first feel in love with mosaics when she was helping her daughter with an art project. Karen's "My Windy City" was inspired by Van Gogh's "Starry Night"..this is the piece folks are talking about that is posted here on the site of a wavy city scape..she has created some very unique and thought provoking pieces which include the yardglobes covered in mirror.

Greta Hurst has studied at The Chicago Mosaic School (an exclusive not for profit, the only one in North America) and is the owner of Tabula Rasa Mosaics. Greta is putting all her artistic efforts these days into creating mosaics, & her use of light & value along with her techniques to cut & shape the glass are all incorporated into her found objects, which could be a vintage mirror or other antique pieces. Her home studio can be found in the rolling hills & vineyards of Southwest Michigan in a refurbished chicken coop, which is an inspiring place to create. Greta has taught and exhibited her work throughout Michigan & the Chicago area.

Terri Cummings has worked with Stained glass for over 20 years. She became interested in mosaics 6 years ago when noticing a concrete/mosaic sculpture at an exhibit while traveling. She then enrolled at Chicago Mosaic School where she has been a student since 2006. Using a wide variety of tessera, including stained glass, vitreous glass, stones, marble, slate, shells, and more she creates mosaics in her Michigan studio. She is a member of SAMA (society for American Mosaic Artists).

Cynthia Alton Fielding, now a resident of Stevensville has most recently been focusing on fused mosaic & stained glass pieces. She states The botanicals express my love of nature in the world around us . Cynthia also incorporates light, creating shape & shadow, form & texture into her works. Her goal is to create up-lifting, peaceful, & calming pieces for folks to enjoy. Cynthia holds a BFA from the Chicago Art Institute, and has taught in Chicago and Water Street Glassworks.

Don Fielding, yes married to Cynthia has caught the mosaic fire over the years and creates work that combines a variety of materials. This gives the viewer an opportunity to look at ordinary objects in a new way. He enjoys creating pieces that extend the range of esthetic sensibility. He states That which is worth doing at all; is worth over doing.

In the Spirit of Renaissance - Matt Payovich

Matt has been working on painted panels, and tile relief installations for various churches in the area for the past several years. He is also known for his still life, portraiture, as well as views of the St. Joseph River and lake, in water color, in his 30 plus years as an artist. He has been teaching at Lake Michigan College, in drawing and painting for the past several years as well as teaching special needs adults for over 20 years.

Matt has exhibited his work throughout Berrien County in various galleries, art centers, and also created many public murals in various businesses throughout the community. He is also known for creating many commission pieces, including paintings on panels and walls, throughout homes in the area. The works he will be exhibiting at the ARS Gallery is a collection/compellation of art he has been developing and working on in recent years titled In the Spirit of Renaissance.