A THOUSAND WORDS

STORY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

MIGRATION

MIGRATION IS A MOVEMENT from one location to another. It can be birds, people, data, ink, ideas, anything. I don’t see it in standard definitions, but I think migration has a reason. A pull or a push. Migration is the theme of this year’s Woodmere Annual Juried Art Exhibition. The Woodmere is a vibrant art museum in Chestnut Hill with a mission to enrich and inspire people through the work of Philadelphia regional artists. That show is a big date on the calendar.

Some art shows have developed a style over time that speaks to a period and place. An art show in Bucks County can look like a Bucks County art show, which can be self-determining. An artist who does unusual or non-mainstream

exhibitions

Rhonda Garland, A Joyful Path, 12x12,” acrylic on board

Outside The Lines Silverman Gallery 4920 York Rd., (In Buckingham Green) Rte. 202, Holicong, PA 215-794-4300 Silvermangallery.com Wed.–Sat. 11–6 & Sun. 11–4 Artist meet and Greet 4/23, 5–8 & 4/24, 1–4

Silverman Gallery of Bucks County Impressionist Art will feature a collection of contemporary work by mosaic artist Jonathan Mandell and abstract artist and gallery owner, Rhonda Garland. The title, Outside the Lines is a nod to both artists’ work springing from experimentation with vibrant color, line and form.

Browse the collection on the gallery’s website, silvermangallery.com

Jonathan Mandell, Nature Study X, 25 x 24 x 3,” mosaic with blown glass shards The Hunterdon Art Tour (THAT) Various locations in Hunterdon County, NJ TheHunterdonArtTour.com April 30 & May 1 Reception, Exhibit, Sale of Artwork:4/29, 7–9

The Hunterdon Art Tour is a free countywide driving tour of artists’ open studios. It cultivates awareness and builds connections with Hunterdon County’s creative community and increases recognition of the county as a vital home and destination for the arts.

Close to 90 artists will participate at over 40 locations, and showcase painters, jewelers, sculptors, ceramics, glass, mixed media, photography, textiles and woodworking. Go

to TheHunterdonArtTour.com for details, maps and updates.

Dairy Twist, Emily Thompson, 8x8, Oil

Side by Side: A Celebration of Work from the Studio of Emily & George Thompson The Stover Mill Gallery 852 River Rd., Erwinna, PA 610-294-9420 Sat. & Sun., 4/9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 05/1 Hours 1-5 PM Artists Reception: Sat., 4/9, 1–5 PM

The exhibit will feature works created in Emily and George’s Plumsteadville, PA studio. As two artists that share a studio, they are motivated by each other. While they rarely collaborate, they benefit from each other’s influence and feedback. Inspiring each other has always been an important part of how they work. This show will highlight their different painting styles and techniques ranging from traditional to contemporary. As they embrace the art community that they have now been a part of for 22 years, they reflect on the work they’ve done and continue to do, “side by side.” Both are nationally recognized, award-winning artists.

Their work on Instagram: @emilythompsonpaintings and @georgethompsonpaintings.

exhibitions

Rachel Calderin, Burning Branch.

Tyler Spring Arts and Culture Festival

10 Stable Mill Trail, Richboro, PA (Google maps works best) TylerParkArts.org 267-218-0290 May 14 & 15, 10–4

A new twist on an iconic festival, Tyler Spring Arts & Culture Festival is celebrating diverse cultural traditions, including fine art, craft, sculpture, music, dance and hands-on demonstrations in a festival for the senses. Branching out from the more traditional Crafts in the Meadow annual show with a collaboration of site-specific choreography, we welcome interdisciplinary artist Donia Salem Harhoor, who will create opportunities for the public to engage in performance that is inspired and intrinsically connected to the land, artworks and history of the place.

All are invited to enjoy a beautiful spring weekend nestled in Tyler State Park surrounded by a large-scale sculpture exhibit complete with live musical entertainment. Proceeds contribute to the TPCA art camp scholarship fund benefitting Rainbow Room, PFLAG, and Welcome Project, partner organizations based in Bucks and Montgomery Counties offering outreach to area youth.

Follow Tyler Park Arts FB & Instagram. Advance and day of tickets. Members and children free.

Michael Cho

Annual Bethlehem Fine Art and Craft Show Historic Downtown Bethlehem, PA Bfac-lv.org May 7, 10–5 & May 8, 11–5 Saturday evening reception & awards

This sidewalk art show along Main Street celebrates the finest local and regional artists. Over 80 juried artists and craft artisans participate in the two-day outdoor free event. Judging is on Saturday for Best of Show, 2nd and 3rd Prize, and Best Display.

Artist in Residence is The Bethlehem Palette Club, who presents various artists throughout the show. Children’s art activities include creating a handmade gift or card. Local musicians will perform along the show route.

The Fine Art & Craft Show is sponsored by Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission.

Joan Humble, OAM (Australia) Sleeping Beauty from the Huon River, oil, 2 5/8” x 4 1/2” (detail)

The Art of the Miniature XXX

The Snow Goose Gallery 470 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 610-974-9099 thesnowgoosegallery.com May 1–June 12 Opening Reception: May 1, 1–5 Tuesday- Saturday: 10–5; Sunday 11–4.

We’re celebrating our 30th anniversary this year. Join us for this very special exhibition of fine art miniatures from around the world. Featuring more than 90 award-winning artists from the U.S. and nine other countries, this show is the only one of its kind in the area, and is considered one of the top miniature shows in the country. Feast your eyes on oils, acrylics, watercolors, mixed media, drawings, etchings and sculptures, all smaller than 64 square inches in total. More than 400 works will be featured on the gallery website: thesnowgoosegallery.com.

exhibitions

I saw the Keith Haring Exhibit at the Michener

iTHE PR SAYS HE was the most accomplished and prominent artist of the ’80s. That was a heady time and the list is sizable, so I have reservations. Think Warhol, Basquiat, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Hockney, and many more. But Haring was unlike anyone else.

There’s a lot of great stuff in this show. Like a lot of artists, Haring responded to opportunities as they occurred. Back in the early ’80s the people who managed the ads in the subway would cover the ones that had run out their subscriptions with black paper. Keith would draw on them with chalk like they were a blackboard. People started stealing them. There are two of those black cover sheets with his original drawings in the exhibit. The fact they exist at all boggles my mind.

I’ve been told that this show is one person’s collection. That gives a depth and critical significance to the term collector. Some people buy a lot of art. Some people accumulate pieces with an illuminating theme; a collection worthy of a museum exhibition. This show is composed of visual narratives that form an understanding of why Haring was important, not just in his time but in ours. Which is precisely why we have museums. I came away feeling I’d experienced a comprehensive cross-section of Haring’s work that felt clear, complete, and compelling. If you don’t read the texts, you miss the good stuff, so bring your glasses.

But what’s with the blocky cartoon figures? The hearts, the babies, the barking dogs? This exhibition is where you find out. Haring studied semiotics—the study of symbols— which was at the root of all his work moving forward. Those figures formed his vocabulary, but the significance is in how he used it. Haring went in a lot of directions and ended up at the top. All the more astonishing when you consider it took place between the age of 21 and 31, when he died from AIDS complications. Ten years. Thirtyone years old.

Like all art, Haring’s prints are in their way images of us. Not romanticized, realistic constructions, but graphic exposés of our cultural

Here’s why you should too

Keith Haring at work in his New York studio in October 1982. Photograph: Allan Tannenbaum/Polaris/eyevine there and then. Part of the work in this show is cautioned as mature subject matter. Those pieces have been placed in a separate enclosure to keep people from accidentally looking at them and turning to salt. The most remarkable piece in that group is a large b&w Annie Liebovitz photo of Haring, nude, camouflaged by his own work; which is brilliant. This double-tap of artistic octane is one of the strongest pieces in the exhibition and it should be out where people can engage it from their personal distance.

But that’s not the important part. Haring used his art and the proceeds from it to make things better for other people. He made posters and prints to benefit organizations and events. The branding and the merchandizing weren’t for yachts, it was for all of us. He worked with kids, the sick, and the poor. He believed art belonged to everybody, and he used his to fight drug addiction, AIDS, and other societal afflictions. I came away from my visit to the Michener with a new and profound respect for Keith Haring.

This exhibition is located in a room that often feels uncomfortably large but Haring’s work stands up to it. That’s a clue to how strong it is. A big congratulation and thanks to Joshua Lessard, Director of Exhibitions, whose job it was to mount this show. Well done. Here’s the test. I will go back. And I will tell my friends that they should go.

This is the kind of exhibit that lets you peek into the head of an artist. And if you already are one it gets you thinking about your own work. Haring wasn’t of a genre; he was a unique form. A form he invented; or discovered in himself. His was a time of commodification of art. A time of artist as brand. He was a post-war, pre-flat screen, post-hippie/Viet Nam, post-modern/abstract pop artist from rural Pennsylvania who broke things down to their basics, turned the system back on itself, was presented the world on a platter, and gave everybody a slice. n

Keith Haring: A Radiant Legacy exhibition at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, March 12 through July 31. michenerartmuseum.org