Nicolette Toussaint at The Artists Alley: Under the category of "if life gives you lemons, make art..."
Nicolette's a designer, writer and artist from San Francisco and she's had a pretty rough go of it this year. In the last six months, she's been laid off from her job, fell off a scooter and broke two fingers on her right hand, had her mother diagnosed with Alzheimers, dealt with a major bad boyfriend, screwed out of pay, and dealth with a host of more troubles.
Amazingly, in the midst of life throwing her every stone in its not inconsiderable arsenal, she's continued painting.
In what I hope is the first sign of a turning tide, she's opening at the Artists Alley this month. She's also a fellow blogger and an employee of the Examiner.com but I didn't have to get paid to write this post. Her watercolors are amazing, showing her superb mastery of this very difficult medium. You can buy her work at her Etsy shop or at her show at the Artists Alley. Her work is very reasonably priced and as I always say, think global, shop local and support your local artist.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/NicoletteT
http://comfortandjoydesign.com/
http://www.theartistsalley.com/
We have been extremely fortunate in the Bay Area this year to have so many excellent exhibits, starting with masterpieces for the Musee d'Orsay, now showing at the De Young. What has been a revelation is how influential Japanese design and art has been in the development of modern art. The current show at the De Young showcases many artists who were influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, including Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Gauguin. The Legion of Honor is presenting a show of Japanese prints and the art of western printmakers who were influenced by them. The Berkeley Art Museums incredible show of Japanese art from the Clark collection will close next week and it's worth going out of the way to see.
I have written essays in depth on many of these topics so I won't repeat that here - just clink on through to commentary, information and a few images that don't do justice to the beauties of each exhibit.
Berkeley Art Museum: Flowers of the four seasons: the Clark Collection at the Berkeley Art Museum (ends Dec 12th);
http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/2010/08/flowers-of-four-seasons-ten-centuries.html
Asian Art Museum: Beyond Golden Clouds (through January)
Beyond Golden Clouds - an in-depth look at some of the screens at the Asian Art Museum: http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/2010/10/beyond-golden-clouds-at-asian-begining.html
Things Japanese: http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/2010/10/things-japanese.html
Netsuke at the Asian: http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/2010/11/netsuke-at-asian.html
De Young: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay (ends January 18, 2011)
Post Impressionism: http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/2010/09/post-impressionism-at-de-young.html
Two posts on Gauguin: http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/2010/09/gauguin.html
Legion of Honor: Japanesque: The Japanese Print in the Era of Impressionism (ends Jan 9th, 2011)
Arthur Wesley Dow and the influence of the Japanese print on Western printmakers: http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/
Rain as a theme in uykoy-e prints: http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/2010/10/rainy-day-in-san-francisco-and-rain-in.html
Judith H. Dobrzynski on Max Beckman, an unjustly neglected master
http://www.artsjournal.com/realcleararts/2010/12/beckmann-masterpiece.html
Comments