Monet in New York

If you are not able to travel to Giverny, France to experience the world famous gardens of Claude Monet, you can visit New York. In the Bronx over the next several months, the New York Botanical Garden will offer a taste of Monet’s indisputably radiant living masterpiece — a riotous display of color, plant variety and landscape design.



The exhibition, which runs through Oct. 21, will feature a seasonally changing display of flora, currently a spring kaleidoscope of poppies, roses, foxgloves, irises and delphiniums inside the botanical garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservancy. It also includes two scarcely seen garden-inspired paintings, Monet’s wooden palette, rare photos of Monet in his garden and 30 photographs of Giverny by Elizabeth Murray, who has recorded Monet’s flower oasis for 25 years. These are all located at the botanical garden’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library.

A facade of Monet’s pink stucco house with its bright green shutters — a historically accurate replica by Tony Award-winning set designer Scott Park — marks the start of the exhibition. From there, visitors are led down the Grand Allee, a shorter recreation of Monet’s rose-covered trellis pathway lined on both sides with thick beds of vibrant flowers. The path opens up to a replica of his famous Japanese footbridge arching over a water lily pool encircled by willow trees and flowering shrubs.

In the courtyard outside the Victorian greenhouse, two immense water basins contain a plethora of water lilies.

Claude Monet, artist and avid gardener, lead the Impressionist movement and revolutionized painting in the 1870s.

The story is that Claude Monet noticed the village of Giverny while looking out of a train window. He made up his mind to move there and rented a house and the area surrounding it. In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint.

Talk about the power of imagination!

Collective Visions Gallery Art Exhibit

Iris Family
Joanne Osband
watercolor
18" X 24"

This watercolor painting has been accepted into the 2011 CVG Show, a state-wide juried art show held at the Collective Visions Gallery in Bremerton, Washington. “Iris Family” is one of 129 artworks chosen from over 700 works submitted by artists throughout Washington State by exhibition juror Dennis Peacock. Mr. Peacock is a sculptor and Professor emeritus from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville who is now based in Shelton, Washington. Accepted artists will be competing for $6,000+ in cash prizes plus potential purchase awards and will be on display at CVG during the month of February.

The Collective Visions Gallery is located at 331 Pacific Avenue in downtown Bremerton and will be open 10 to 5 Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 on Sundays during the month of February. The public is invited to vote on a $300 People’s Choice award February 1 through 5, including the First Friday evening gallery walk, February 4.

For a complete schedule of events visit www.collectivevisions.com.

Art In Ecology

A solo Art Exhibit of fifteen watercolor collage paintings are on display until May 15th at the Department of Ecology in Lacey, Washington.

Watercolor paper when torn creates distinct shapes with wonderful uneven edges. In a fleeting ray of inspiration, I decided to tear parts of paintings and recreate a new one; thus, the birth of my collage watercolor paintings. I have always been an avid recycler! The process continued to evolve when I began to tear shapes resembling nature out of older watercolor paintings, assemble the composition, and continue to paint the picture. More recently, I have added water-based oil paint to the collage to provide greater depth and deeper color. Now, I find myself going back and forth between traditional watercolor and collage watercolor painting so much that they have begun to merge as one. This new dimension of painting continues to inspire my creativity and provides me with a unique way to express myself.


Found Treasures At The Seashore
Watercolor Collage
Joanne Osband

Because of the security for the building, you will need to phone ahead for an appointment to view the art.

The main phone number is 360-407-6000 or Jeffree Stewart, art coordinator, 360-407-6521. Other people you might ask for if Jeffree is not available are Janet Hyre or Kim Collins who are art committee colleagues. The hours are weekdays 8AM to 5PM. The Department of Ecology is located at 300 Desmond Drive SE in Lacey just past the Martin Way exit from I-5.

Envision Cascadia

Yesterday I view the exhibit "Envision Cascadia."

It is an exhibition curated by Jake Seniuk for the Port Angeles Fine Art Center that is now on display at Olympia’s Art In Ecology venue.

The show includes works in various media by 33 artists and is subtitled “Artists ponder the Homeland”

The exhibition will remain on display until the end of February.

On January 18 Arts Olympia members and guests gathered for a "Salon Conversation" about the works in the show.

I enjoyed the variety and expressions portrayed by the artists. My favorite pieces were the two sculptures. One was made of cardboard to resemble a large tree stump and the other was a table setting representative of the Pacific Northwest. I apologize for not writing down the artists and titles. Well worth the trip to the Washington State Department of Ecology Headquarters in Lacey at 300 Desmond Drive. This is off Martin Way, across from Top Foods.

An added attraction is art by Maitri Sojourner in the 2nd Floor Gallery. "Meet 'The Polyakovs' " will be on display through February 26th. This is a fabric collage series that illustrates a short story by her daughter, Andrea Mudd. Maitri has an open house on Friday, January 22nd from 3-6 pm. World traveler and storyteller Rebecca Hom will be telling stories starting at 5:15 pm.

Lynnwood Arts Commission Gallery Exhibit

The City of Lynnwood has an active Arts Commission.

I just returned from hanging 20 watercolor paintings and watercolor collage paintings in the Lynnwood Arts Commission Gallery located inside the Lynnwood Library, 19200 44th Ave W, Lynnwood 98036.

Each month a different regional artist exhibits art in this spacious gallery which is free to the public. Artists are juried once a year for this opportunity. I am honored to be selected.

Here is a schedule for the remainder of this year.