This is not just an art show in Bloomsburg PA but a celebration of some of the people from or some who still reside in it. This is a reminder that there are some amazing people doing some pretty damn amazing things that all have one major thing in common and that is “Bloomsburg”. These people are a vital part to your community and it’s future. So I can only hope that you will come and support this event because without your support nothing that we do really matters. Also just to flat out have some fun! I think we could all use a little bit of that after current events.

Artwork by:
Sarah Mascarah
Gregory Owens
Lee Millard
Jason Farr

Hosted by:
Nicole Good and The Purple Zebra
36 East Main Street
Bloomsburg, PA 17815

Prior to the reception, there will be a presentation by Christina Matthews at 5pm regarding the Vermont Studio residency.

Visit the gallery’s website here.

Below is a press release for the event:

ArtUnleashed:
A Benefit for the University of the Arts

Preview Party:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 5:00-9:00pm

Public Sale:
Thursday, April 14, 2011, 12:00-6:00pm
Friday, April 15, 2011, 12:00-6:00pm
Saturday, April 16, 2011, 12:00-6:00pm

Location:
Dorrance Hamilton Hall
320 South Broad Street
Philadelphia

ArtUnleashed, the University of the Arts’ annual art exhibition and sale featuring original works of art by talented students, faculty and alumni of one of the nation’s top art schools, will open with a preview party on Wednesday, April 13. The public sale will be held Thursday, April 14 through Saturday, April 16.

This will be a unique opportunity to purchase original artwork from dozens of gifted artists and designers. With hundreds of pieces, from a wide spectrum of disciplines, ArtUnleashed has something to offer every level off art enthusiast and collector.

The event features one-of-a-kind paintings; drawings and prints; ceramics and sculptures; photography; mixed and digital media; and crafts (including jewelry/metal work, glass, ceramics, wood and fibers).

Proceeds will support the Sam S. McKeel Promising Young Artists Scholarship Fund that rewards motivated students who show academic and creative excellence. Chairing this year’s event are Pamela Berkman, Anne F. Hamilton, Laurie Marshall and Pia RoyChowdhury.

The first chance to purchase artwork will be at a preview party on Wednesday, April 13 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. There is an admission charge for this event.

The public sale will take place on Thursday, April 14 through Saturday, April 16 from noon to 6 p.m. There is no charge for the public sale days. Please follow the link below to the ArtUnleashed invitation for more details.

Artwork:
You can view all works for sale HERE, or select from a category to the left.

Sponsorship Opportunities:
View the Art Unleashed Sponsorship Opportunities

Invitation Materials:
ArtUnleashed Invitation
ArtUnleashed RSVP

Follow Us on Facebook:
You can follow ArtUnleashed on Facebook by clicking ArtUnleashed and clicking the “Like” button.

The Art Walk-In is tonight only and is free, and open to the public of all ages.

The Bloomsburg Art Walk-In will be located at the Moose Exchange at 203 W. Main St., Bloomsburg, PA.

Click here to visit the Fred P. Giles Gallery website for more information.

NEPA Regional Art 2010 is now on view until November 21. Information for the Suraci Gallery at Marywood University can be found at the website here.

To coincide with the Sculpture Walk, an audio tour by cell phone is also available. To hear LSM talk about his Fresh Air Fresheners, dial (828) 333-9020 then press either 5 or 7, followed by the “#” sign.

What Can We Make From the Pieces?
Friday, July 16th 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

When Marlea Waber (Dan’s mother) died, Dan came into possession of three portfolios of art, mostly from her student days, but some that was done later in life. She never completely stopped making art, but, her life didn’t allow her much time for it. After the family had taken everything they wanted, what was left was a couple of hundred sketches, studies, watercolors, charcoals, oils, collages, finished pieces…a really large array of work. Dan thought about what was going to happen to this work, now that everyone had taken what they wanted. He didn’t like the idea that it would probably just end up in a basement somewhere, and eventually find its way into a dumpster after a flood or a move or who knows what.

So last year he let every artist who donated work to the Anniversary Free Art show go through these portfolios and select pieces, with the intended purpose of using those pieces (in whatever fashion they chose, integrative, inspiration, destructive) to create new work for the July of 2010 show at Paper Kite Press.

This show is called “What Can We Make From the Pieces” and all of the artwork on display has been created using the art Dan’s mother left behind as seed material.

How the show got this title is a long story, but, it’s a good one. It’s actually the intersection of several good stories.

Dan’s mother was an art history major and a practicing artist back in the 60s, and was only a few credit hours short of a degree from the University of Minnesota when she got pregnant with Dan and had to leave school. While Dan was growing up, Marlea spent most of the time working in the accounting department of an insurance company–not the ideal job placement given her artist nature. Whenever she seemed unhappy with it (which was not infrequently), Dan, in the naive way that children possess, would say, “Well, why don’t you just go do what you want to do?” She would answer, “Because I’ve got responsibilities.” It didn’t take Dan long to realize that he was the responsibilities. So when Dan went to college, the first thing he did was call home to tell his mom he’d gotten there safely, and, he said, “OK, you’re on your own now. Do what you want.”

The following semester she enrolled in Chicago Theological Seminary and ended up getting her doctorate in Divinity, and went on to have a very successful (and fulfilling) career as a minister in the Midwest. An artist working in the medium of human lives, and she was very good at it.

She had a favorite story that she found quoted in one article referencing another about the difference between the notion of God the Father and God the Mother. This is a paraphrase of a paraphrase, but I think you’ll get the idea. The story goes:

A little boy hand made a birthday ashtray for his father, who loved to smoke a cigar in the evenings. When the father came home from work that day, the boy was so excited that he ran to greet him. He trips, and falls, and the ashtray hits the floor and breaks. The boy bursts into tears, and the father says, “That’s okay, I understand, it’ll be okay.” And the mother gets down on the floor and weeps with the child and says, “Now, what can we make from the pieces.”

That’s how Dan’s mother ministered, and, really, how she lived her life.

We hope you will join us to see what artists have made from the pieces.

Artists with work in this show include, as of this writing:
Steffi Schairer, Todd Little, Adam Handler, David Hage, Liz Revit, Don Rash, Skip Sensbach, Michele Broton, Dawn Leas, Ryan Leas, Shawn Falchetti, Angela DeMuro, Ellen Jamiolkowski, Lee Millard, Alicia Grega, Michele Kordek, Tara Shoemaker Holdren, Jennifer Hill, Loretta Mestishen, Kenna Tenneale, Stas Wrobel, Allison Maslow, and Billy Brandenburg.

Lee S. Millard vs. Marlea Waber, "Playboy - Special Fine Art Edition (Cover)", 2010, Dye print including scanned pencil drawings

You can see Fresh Air Fresheners in person at the Paper Kite Gallery in Kingston, PA, tonight from 6-8PM.

The reception will be from 6-8PM and you can find directions and more information at their website at www.wordpainting.com.