This fall, Salus University will host ARTsisters for a bold, thoughtprovoking art exhibition, combining colorful brushstrokes with an optometric spin. The show, inventively named, “VISIONARY,” fuses fine art with imagery centered on the sense of sight. ARTsisters, founded in December 2005, is a group of 26 professional female artists who empower each other and the community through their artwork. Sharing resources and offering support to each other, members now have individual and group exhibitions scheduled across the Philadelphia region for the next year. Their mission is to unite, support, and encourage members in the creative process, as well as share artistic energy within the community through exhibitions, workshops, and art donations.
VISIONARY EXHIBITION OCTOBER 4, 2016 - NOVEMBER 9, 2016
HOSTED BY SALUS UNIVERSITY
The “VISIONARY” exhibition will be on display at the Hafter Student Center on the campus of Salus University from October 4 through November 9. The showing will kick off on Thursday, October 6 at 4:30pm with a lecture titled “Vision and Perception Art” presented by ARTsister, Elynne Rosenfeld and Dr. Lynne Greenspan, asisstant professor at Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry. An opening reception will also be held on Sunday, October 9 from 1-3pm. Both events will be held at the Hafter Student Center, located at 50 Breyer Drive in Elkins Park, PA. ARTsisters has generously agreed to donate 20% of sales from their month-long exhibition to the University’s tenth annual “Looking Out For Kids” charity fundraiser, scheduled for Saturday, October 29, 2016. The “Looking Out For Kids” vision care initiative provides comprehensive vision exams and eyeglasses to uninsured and underinsured children in the Philadelphia area. In addition, ARTsisters has kindly doated silent auction items for the events, including matted original drawings, paintings, and monotypes. For more information on the “Looking Out For Kids” vision care initiative visit SalusUhealth.com/LOFK For more information on ARTsisters, visit artsisters.org
BLANCHE
LEVITT
TORPHY
Blanche Levitt Torphy is a professional visual artist from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She was a scientist and clinical pharmacologist who turned to painting in 2000. Torphy works in watercolor, pastels, acrylics, mixed media and collage. She has exhibited her paintings at numerous juried and invitational shows in the Philadelphia area for the past 14 years. Torphy’s works include landscape, abstract and still-life paintings. A common theme throughout her art is her use of warm, vibrant colors and the capture of her emotional resonance to a subject. She enjoys using different techniques and the use of collage to create a specific mood in her paintings. The collage elements introduce subtle textures and mystery beneath the painted images that invite the viewer to step in closer.
EDWINA BRENNA I start with a mark, simple and straightforward, but then there is another and another, a splotch of color and some scraping. The tools are uncomplicated, but, as in any interaction, it is the relationship, that is where the intricacy begins. The drawing itself is the experience. Although my artwork is relatively large in scale, some of my drawings are quite subtle and minimal, while others are bold and expansive. The artwork unfolds, inviting the viewer to share in the conversation, looking at and responding to marks and layers as they move over the surface.
KAREN LIEBMAN Karen holds a BA in art from Temple University in Philadelphia. She continues to study art and experiment with new media and subject matter. Karen’s work has been accepted to many juried exhibits, including the Philadelphia Watercolor Society, Greater Norristown Art League, Oreland Art Center, Phillips Mill, and the Bucks County Byers Choice shows, and her work has won numerous awards.
ELYNNE ROSENFELD My current work starts with original photographs of succulent plants taken during travels. I try to capture some aspect of the plant that speaks to spirit. I alter the settings of these plants using glass beads and beach glass to create abstract locales. The plants themselves are built with layered spirals of acrylic applied with the smallest possible script brush. While slow, the process is meditative and I believe to be infused with the Reiki healing I practice.
PRISCILLA BOHLEN LINNIE GREENBERG I feel rather blessed to be here and though it’s only a short while, I’m most happy when it’s filled with plenty of laughter. Humor is nourishment and very important to me. I love bright colors, practical jokes, puzzles and games of all sorts. I have fun when making art. I often giggle. I love hiding images within each picture. I cut or tear fragments of hand-painted paper and all manner of ephemera. It’s then merely arranged as simply as a child cutting and posing paper dolls. When the picture makes me smile or better yet, gets a viewer’s smile, I feel good. Creating fun is then worthwhile.
I like to work in series. I find that by developing an idea over time, I am able to explore its possibilities more fully. Shapes combined with color intrigue me, forever changing with the light. I like to apply resist to an active, colorful background. Then, with a palette knife, I cover it with a complementary color of paint. When the resist is removed, taking part of the top layer with it, the underneath activity is revealed. From there, I enjoy the challenge of resolving the painting. It often requires many layers of paint and resist until I am satisfied. I love the ‘happy accidents’ and the surprise element of this method of working.
DEB K SIMON Deb K Simon strives to convey a sense of spirituality and atmosphere in her work that invites a personal interpretation from the viewer. She is drawn in by her surroundings, be it seascapes, the figure or landscape.
ELLEN ABRAHAM Ellen’s art is a hybrid of the figurative and the abstract. The satire and cartoon imagery of her youthful artwork began to evolve as she grew more familiar with German Expressionism, American Social Realism and Abstract Expressionism. The sketches of people drawn from life that she does daily provide constant fodder for her humorous paintings, drawings and prints. Her work is a synthesis of humor and fine art. She is quite serious about being silly. Her goal is to create art that is sown from the depths of comic outrageousness, satirical observation and mild misanthropy. If Matisse had the “sun in his belly,” Ellen has a banana peel permanently attached to her shoe.
by North End Trilogy, NJ, ADM Gallery, Newtown Square, PA, Berwyn Art and Photo Gallery, Berwyn PA, Hardcastle Gallery, Centreville, DE, and Rodney Pratt ‘s Gallery in New Castle, DE. Artist Statement: I have always enjoyed taking raw materials and turning them into something beautiful. I discovered painting late in life and was thrilled to find this challenging creative process trying to capture the beauty and serenity I experience in nature.
SUE STEFANSKI Award winning artist, Susan Stefanski has studied art at Villanova University, and local art centers since 1999. However for the William Jeanes Memorial Library Susan delved into Encaustic Abstract Expression.. Susan is drawn generally to representational painting in oil, watercolor and pastel. Painting is spiritual and serene and promotes a feeling of contentment and joy to be shared with others. Susan has had several large solo shows at Thomas Moser Gallery, Waverly Heights, Jenkin’s Arboretum and Villanova University, resulting in a several commissions including a Philadelphia restaurant. Her representational work, predominately landscapes, capture light, color and feelings falling under an umbrella of “God’s Gifts”. Susan has enjoyed awards at the Brandywine Plein Air, and many awards from different shows with the Delaware Valley Art League. Susan is a member of ARTsisters, Delaware Valley Art League, and Haverford Guild of Craftsmen. She is represented
Painting has made me see the world differently paying attention to shadows and colors like never before. I am more aware of my surroundings and most drawn to painting outside. Fields, streams, flowers in the landscape, and shorelines call me to take brush and knife to canvas capturing light, air, and space. I get lost in the cool and warm colors, the soft and hard edges of my representational, slightly impressionistic work. I hope to convey to the viewer feelings of peace, contentment and serenity. The challenges of my craft are a thrill and will continue to evolve. If I am not painting I am thinking about how to render a subject, be it a flower or a child. I am so grateful for God’s gifts which can be found all around. www.susanstefanskiart.com sstefansk@aol.com 610-789-1755
MARY KANE I love the physicality of paint as it goes like icing on the canvas ..color on top of color. I found early on that painting from life was limiting, so I began a struggle to paint the essence of what was seen. Now, I begin a work without knowing, daring to let the process and the paint guide me to some conclusion. Always struggIing to keep a painting fresh and open and exciting, I consider a work successful when I have surprised myself and “created life�.
RACHEL ISAAC This is a contemporary interpretation of the ancient art form of paper cutting. These pieces are oneof-a-kind and cut by hand with sharp blades and scissors. The imagery includes the family of humans and creatures.
LOUISE M. HERRING Louise M. Herring is a professional fine artist who works in oils and mixed-media. Her lively abstractions are inspired by nature and travel. Her paintings reflect her love of color and involvement in the process of art-making.
NANCY FREEMAN TABAS I love the process of art and rejoice in every medium I work with. My artwork is a projection of my personality-energetic, spontaneous full of life and passion. Every painting, like every day, is new and exciting to me. Shopping Day is a realistic abstraction portraying a shopping day in a small town in Provence.
MONIQUE SARKESSIAN
MARJIE LEWIS QUINT
My work has an expressive nature shown via vibrant color, bold brush stroke, and expressive lines which seek to recreate the emotion I feel as I am inspired by my subjects. I create in oils, encaustic wax and icons using traditional egg tempera as well as a new love of welded salvage sculpture. I work mainly in oils and encaustic wax as they are best suited to my artistic temperament. I am in love with color so the expressive nature and unbeatable vibrant color of these mediums happily do my bidding. I am a prolific worker devoted to my full time art career and continued artistic growth. I paint because I am overwhelmed by beauty and the miracle of nature. These encounters move me to see life with a brand new sense of joy and wonder. I paint to express the truth of inspired design. When I paint natural subjects in person, that truth is undeniable. The lush beauty of nature sends us on a journey every time we experience it. This is an encounter with the divine.
I work primarily in oil paints, a medium I prefer because of the richness of its colors and the flexibility it offers for experimentation. I find myself drawn to strong color hues and contrasts to evoke mood. I also love drawing and enjoy incorporating illustration in my paintings. I have recently begun experimenting with assemblage as a way to create 3 dimensional internal worlds. All artists have some fundamental intent in their art. Many want to inspire, compel, shock or excite. I want to explore the wonder and beauty of nature, using literal landscapes as evocative abstractions. I am interested in the hidden landscape, the floating house, the portal to another world. Quite simply, I want to draw the viewer into an altered sense of space, time and atmosphere.
SANDI NEIMAN LOVITZ My subject matter is actually the “process” of painting itself. Each layer I use gives me information for the next. I continue to explore the dance between paint and marks by using experimental methods of application that demand spontaneity in gesture and thought, while maintaining an informed reason for every action that is taken. I find this a challenging and illuminating experience because it pushes me further into the discovery of new possibilities.”
SANDRA BENHAIM After having worked in a representational manner for many years, I am now creating purely abstract images from the many varied and exuberant colors found in nature. I am also exploring collage more fully, experimenting with other media from rice paper to magazine cutouts and maps.While the works are about place and may be landscape inspired, they are not a representation of a specific location. The visitor is welcome to enter by imagination, memory and reverie.
“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” -Marcel Proust In the early 90’s, I took a printmaking course and fell in love with the process. Unlike other passionate relationships that fade with time, the passion and love I had for printmaking has only gotten more intense. Several years ago, I started exploring mixed media and have found that combining collage and monotype is another relationship that works for me. I also enjoy combining photography and digital imaging with traditional printmaking techniques. The process leads to rich palimpsests using a vocabulary of shapes and motifs. The possibilities are exponential.
LINDA DUBIN GARFIELD Award-winning printmaker and mixed media artist, creates visual memoirs exploring the mystery of memory and the magic of place, using hand-pulled printmaking techniques, photography, collage and digital imaging. Her abstract and dynamic works use multiple layers of ink that waver between background and foreground creating a fusion of surface design and abstract expressionism She also creates installations that include public participatory art, especially when she is exploring themes relating to women in today’s culture. In 2005 she founded ARTsisters, a group of professional artists who empower each other and their community through art. In 2007 she started smART business consulting, helping emerging artists reach their goals and their audience, providing consulting and coaching on the business side of art through individual sessions, small groups, and workshop experiences as well as providing opportunities to exhibit work. Today she serves on several non-profit boards and appreciates her good fortune to be able to make art every chance she gets.
Nature nurtures and inspires me. I combine elements of nature, texture and design along with the magic of the press. I am intrigued by memory and what remains in our mind’s eye. My work reflects scenes from travel near and far. More than a report on how it was exactly, I am interested in my expressive and passionate response to the color and pattern of the landscape, experience or image. Rather than representing every detail, I evoke the hidden and reveal the atmosphere, creating personal visual memoirs. My focus on the process, not the outcome, frees me to be experimental. Following my passion and living my dream energizes me to be productive and alive. I feel like I am now living out loud. I want to share that passion and joie de vivre with those seeing my work, triggering a memory or experience for the viewer. www.lindadubingarfield.com garf621@aol.com 610.649.3174
JOYE SCHWARTZ
My colorful oil, “Firmament” was painted with the feeling of mystical forces coming together to eventually create and unite the universe. Everything in our world is in flux, but paradoxically there is always a steadiness there to fall back on.
LAUREN DADDONA I have always been an artist. It is something that’s been a part ofme since I was a child. Scribbling on walls or finger painting with pudding was a means of expression. I pursued art as my major in college and have continued on that creative path all my life. Painting has enabled me to be more observant and appreciative of the beauty and richness of everyday life. Painting inspires and motivates me and is my personal way of expressing my joy with life and all God has given us. Art is a journey and I am loving the ride. There is so much to learn and so many ways of expressing oneself through art.
MARGE FELDMAN
EDNA SANTIAGO I have always been an artist. It is something that’s been a part of me since I was a child. Scribbling on walls or finger painting with pudding was a means of expression. I pursued art as my major in college and have continued on that creative path all my life. Painting has enabled me to be more observant and appreciative of the beauty and richness of everyday life. Painting inspires and
I have always made art. I started formal art education before college at Philadelphia’s Museum School and Moore Institute of Art. I earned my BFA in Visual Communicatons at Syracuse University and continued learning in private classes and at Towson University (MFA-equivalent in Art Teaching), Maryland Institute College of Art, Philadelphia Art Institute and even more private classes. When I wasn’t learning, I was teaching art in many venues, to children K-12 and to adults. I also founded Women Artists Forum in Baltimore, created a gallery for them at Carroll Museums in Baltimore, and have kept active in several art organizations in Philadelphia. After closing my Promotional Graphics business in 1998, I started painting in earnest. I have been exhibiting and winning honors since 1973. We have lived in 7 states, visited the many cultures on 5 continents, and raised 2 children. All of this life experience fertilizes my artwork. The work illustrates the solutions to my personal questions and often makes political or environmental statements. It is my voice.
LAURIE LAMONT MURRAY
JEANNE GUERIN-DALEY