Category: September 1

My trip to the NAWA exhibit was unlike any other museum exhibit I have previously attended. I was taken aback by the exterior and interior appearance of the building the NAWA exhibit was held in. All of the exhibits I have attended in the past were modernized, well-painted, and displayed in a spacious room. The NAWA exhibit, however, was in a small, cramped, one floor room. Another difference between the NAWA and many other exhibits I noticed was the popularity of the exhibit. Many times in the past I would experience having to get in between a large crowd of people to view a work of art. At the NAWA I was the only one in the exhibit and to my surprise the individual working at the NAWA stated she was shocked someone actually came to the exhibit since not many do.

Despite all this, as I walking around the exhibit I found the works of art displayed interesting. Each work of art stood out in its own way whether it was an oil painting, photograph, random objects put together, or pencil. The first work of art that drew my attention was What is Seeing by Jill L. Kline, a wall mounted sculpture consisting of buttons differing in size, shape, design, and color to form the design of an eye. I found the use of buttons an interesting object to use for the piece and felt it worked for the artist. As my eyes went further up the wall I noticed the piece right above also used a three-dimensional object for the collage displayed. Puzzled While Flying High by Toby Klein consisted of a puzzle almost put entirely together with the exception of a few missing throughout the puzzle board and scattered around the puzzle board or on white background behind the puzzle board. As mentioned in class prior in regards to why certain things like a white canvas is considered art came to my mind while viewing this piece. In my mind this was just an uncompleted puzzle board. I would never consider it art yet it was in this exhibit and priced for $1,600. The same thought came to mind when viewing Hybrid Harmony by Claudia Flynn which was an assemblage of a toy doll’s head put on the body of fake deer. As I was almost done going through the exhibit I noticed on the wall many of the paintings were of still objects, such as flowers in a vase (Mother’s Favorites by Barbara Kitty Williams). Although aesthetically painted my mind again went to the class discussion of whether exactly painting something like a bowl of fruit or flowers in front of you is considered art. In this case I do consider it art based on the artist’s specifics to detail within the piece and use of contrast with the colors.

My trip to the NAWA wasn’t exciting, but I would describe it as more relaxed. In my opinion I felt I wasn’t in an exhibit at all, but instead viewing un-famous street art that you see people selling on the streets for some quick cash. Overall, the majority of the works of art displayed were interesting to view as well as try to comprehend the reasoning behind the use of specific three-dimensional objects for the work of art created.

The journey to the Sylvia and Pho Gallery exhibit of the National Association of Women Artists didn’t start out that well. It was still summer, but the weather was at its lowest peak that week. It was cold and raining, yet the train was humid. As I made my way into Manhattan, I made the mistake of getting off at Times Square where the headquarters of NAWA was instead of getting off at E 8th street for the actual exhibit.

The day finally got better when I finally arrived at the right location. At first, I was hesitating if I was actually at the right location because small lobby and unstable elevator. My confusion was cleared up once I reached the 4th floor where the exhibit was. I was immediately introduced by one of the fellow artists, Sue Kutosh. She directed me to her graphite drawing of woman who looked very similar to the artist herself. It was an interesting art piece because it looked as though she carved out a sheet of metal for the background. After examining her work, she helped me around the museum because I was so confused on where the descriptions were! Usually the descriptions tags or the information about the artist is right next to the artwork, but at this exhibit, if you wanted to know more about the artwork there was a binder near the entrance.

The Zelda Fitzgerald’s Tumultuous Journey by Barbara Fontaine-White painting was actually the first piece that caught my eye because I understood the background of this painting. I learned about Zelda Fitzgerald from a show called Z: The Beginning of Everything and how she had a tough life. Apparently, Zelda was behind a lot of her husband’s famous work, but she never received any credit nor was asked for permission by her husband to use her words. She began to feel as though her husband’s career was always more important than her own. Her marriage was a chaos of alcoholism, affairs, and emotional abuse to the point that she was sent to a psychiatric facility. Zelda Fitzgerald became a forgotten significant woman in history that needs to be remembered and praised. This is why the artist decided to create this art piece.

The next artwork that caught my eyes was a drawing called Sandy by Janet Tsakis. It was so relatable because when I looked at it, I could exactly recall the many times I was in the same position as the subject! Based on my experience it seemed to me that the subject was young and stressed. I was fascinated about the realness of the the image especially since it was drawn by colored pencils! You can see the shine in the hair!

In the next image, I didn’t really understand the it, but it did remind me of Frida Kahlo’s piece, The Two Hearts, because of the technique of how the heart was drawn in this image and how it’s connected to the theme. Also, the use of nature (the implied position of the flowers) in an unnatural way also reminds of Frida Kahlo’s techniques.

 

Sadly, I had to rush the experience because I had to go all the way back to Staten Island to class, but it was interesting experience to go see art in a untraditional place instead of a museum.