Leading a Discussion about Mira La Luna series during ArtVenture

Hosted by the

Racine Arts Council

316 Sixth Street
Racine, WI

Saturday, June 18
6 to 9 pm

Please join us at Racine Arts Council artspace for the very first ArtVenture––featuring discussions and demonstrations with the artists of Aqua Bleu.

Between 7 and 8 pm, I will discuss how I captured the dreamlike colors of her series of images entitled “Mira La Luna.” Hint: no Photoshop involved.

Also, Milwaukee artist Pamela Anderson will being painting LIVE at Aqua Bleu from 6 to 9 pm, and will discuss her technique and inspiration. Learn more about Pamala’s work at http://www.paintmysky.com

The Downtown Racine Corporation launches this new series of art-focused community events, designed to combine the focus of Racine’s gallery nights with the popularity of Downtown Racine First Fridays.

Aqua Bleu ends on Saturday, June 25.

Aqua Bleu honors the continuing influence and inspiration of water on all of us living with a Great Lake. Our days and nights are enhanced by a lake view. Michigan quenches our thirst and sets our internal compasses to a true east, rather than a true north. We are drawn to bodies of water wherever we travel or move. Aqua Bleu reflects the imprint made by living with water, in all its containers – lakes, oceans, seas, rivers, pools, puddles and glasses.

Featuring:

Photographers:

Eddee Daniel
Lora Ellingson
Laura Gorzek
Karina Schafer
Marc Wollman

Painters:

Stephanie Barenz
Heidi Keyes
Beki Borman Lloyd
Suellyn Scoon
Greg Helding
Joyce Ottum

Sculptor:

Carrie Chimenti

Organized for Racine Arts Council by arts advocate and curator, Jessica Zalewski.

Aqua Bleu

Upcoming Group Exhibition: Aqua Bleu

Hosted by the

Racine Arts Council

316 Sixth Street
Racine, WI

Opening reception:
Downtown Racine First Friday
May 6, 2011
6:00 – 9:00 pm

Aqua Bleu honors the continuing influence and inspiration of water on all of us living with a Great Lake. Our days and nights are enhanced by a lake view. Michigan quenches our thirst and sets our internal compasses to a true east, rather than a true north. We are drawn to bodies of water wherever we travel or move.

Aqua Bleu reflects the imprint made by living with water, in all its containers – lakes, oceans, seas, rivers, pools, puddles and glasses.

Featuring:

Photographers:

Eddee Daniel
Lora Ellingson
Laura Gorzek
Karina Schafer
Marc Wollman

Painters:

Stephanie Barenz
Heidi Keyes
Beki Borman Lloyd
Suellyn Scoon
Greg Helding
Joyce Ottum

Sculptor:

Carrie Chimenti

Organized for Racine Arts Council by arts advocate and curator, Jessica Zalewski.

Live Music
with Chicago songsmith
Rob Reid
on Friday, June 3rd
6 to 9 pm
for Downtown Racine’s First Friday Art Event.

A Valentine’s Day Family Portrait

Last year on Valentine’s Day, I posted zombie pics I had taken for a Romeo & Juliet-esque themed zombie video. This year, I’m going with something more traditionally heartfelt: a beautiful, young family expecting a new member any day.

Shannon is one of those amazing women whose gentle, sincere, caring nature immediately presents itself to you. Her fun-loving spirit shines around children. (It was a hoot to see her and her partner, TJ, act our scenes from movies with their daughter, Victoria.) She is also a certified doula, a person who provides emotional, educational, and non-medical support to mothers before, during, and after their births. It is easy to see why this is such a perfect profession for her. She is currently studying to become a midwife, and is a board member of Mothering the Mother, a local doula organization. The organization has an outreach program that assists single teen moms at their birth, and as Shannon says, “what an important time for a woman to have a doula,” so that teen moms are not alone during this significant and life-changing moment.

Thank you Shannon, TJ, and Victoria for sharing your day with me, and getting a glimpse into the special bond your family shares.

Here’s just a couple of my favorite pics from today.

a 150 miles is but a blip on the map…

My twenty-fourth birthday was one of the best days of my life. Scott, my love, threw me a big birthday party and we snuck in a surprise anniversary party for my folks under the canopy of my birthday celebration. The following year Scott threw me another birthday party, but this one was much different. He knew he had lymphomic leukemia. He had been diagnosed fifteen days earlier. The doctors didn’t give him much more than a year to live. He didn’t want to tell anyone, he just wanted to enjoy the party and spend time with people he cared about without putting a damper on the occasion. Scott was a fighter, a wonderfully stubborn man. He took the doctors prediction and added on another sixteen months, just for good measure, or maybe just to spite them.

But on October 5, 1999, leukemia won and the world lost a brilliant mind, a tenacious journalist and an inspired writer. He was the iconic old-school journalist, with a robust gusto to bring progressive change to environmental and humanitarian causes, and shed light on political abuses with wit, flair, and cutting humor.

I will ride 150 miles, from Mequon to Door County, on July 24th and 25th in his memory as part of a fundraiser for The Leukemia & Lymphomia Society. Mile after mile I will ride with hundreds of other riders in a collective effort to defeat leukemia once and for all: so no more individuals have to have their lives derailed, no more families have to endure the tragic loss of loved ones, and to bring hope and cures to those currently battling this devastating demon. When I look back on our relationship,  I am grateful beyond compare for his steadfast support and belief in me. It is the energy of this gift that I will cling to when I get tired. I will be refueled by the memory of how bravely he dealt with chemo as it zapped his tremendous energy, and inspired by the dignity and pride he commanded till the very end.

And when the ride is done, I will raise a glass in his honor, and reflect on all the joy he graced me and many others with, and think how a 150 miles is but a blip on the map compared to the distance I would go if I could bring him back home.

For more information or to donate, please visit:

http://wi.llsevent.org/pledge/index.cfm?mid=KARINASCHAFER

Watch my progress as I train for the 150!

http://www.dailymile.com/people/karinaschafer

FLOW

On Gallery Night

Friday, April 16th

6 to 9 pm
Guildess hosts

FLOW

an art exhibition showcasing diverse artwork
in honor of Earth Day, with an emphasis on water.
Entry to Art Exhibition is FREE!

Live Artists Studio

228 S. 1st Street, #302

As Gallery Night exhibitions slow down,
FLOW heats up and transforms into the

EBB After Party

9 pm to Midnight
Featuring entertainment

by Eat the Mystery a la Carte

and local djs.
Just $5 for EBB After Party.

In honor of Earth Day and our commitment
to the breathtakingly beautiful Great Lakes,

Guildess will donate 25% of any piece sold at FLOW

to UWM’s Great Lakes WATER Institute (GLWI)
A portion of the EBB After Party admission will also support GLWI.

Juror’s Choices selected by Naomi Shersty,
a mixed media artist who lives and works in Milwaukee,
and currently teaches at UWM and MIAD.

FLOW Juror’s Choice Artists:
Byron Becker
Coree Coppinger
Kelly Crandall
C.M. DeSpears
Shana Goetsch
Kileigh Hannah
Sue Lukas
Mandy Mahaffey
Erica Meier
John O’Hara
Amanda Rochwite
Michael Waraksa

FLOW Art Exhibition will also include work by:
Kasia Drake-Hames
Michelle Dube’
Julie Feierstein
Jessica Fuchs
Grace Matson
Bruce McNabb
Mary Prince
John Schafer
Cheryl Schommer
Becky Tesch
Donald Urness
Steven Yeo
Bill Zuback

FLOW will also feature work by Guildess Members:
April Heding
Karina Schafer
Jessica Zalewski

In Honor of Valentine’s Day…

A Zombie Romeo & Juliet Love Story in a Strangely Familiar Location…

Video for Danny Price & the Loose Change’s “Don’t Let The Storm Get In Your Way”

directed by Ken Zanowski.

Click here to see more photos I took of the video shoot & the Zombie School Portraits!

Guildess Call for Entries – Flow – Apr Gallery Night Exhibition

Guildess invites all artists, in all media, to submit art pieces for FLOW,
Guildess’ April Gallery Night juried exhibition.

On Friday, April 16, 2010, Guildess hosts this sparkling event and exhibition, juried by Naomi Shersty during Gallery Night and After Hours at Live Artists Studio, on the border of the Third and Fifth Wards.

Submit your artwork about all things that ebb and flow by March 2, 2010
(our minds drift naturally to water and energy, but it’s creatively up to you..)

In honor of Earth Day and our commitment to the breathtakingly beautiful Great Lakes,
Guildess will donate 25% of any piece sold at FLOW
to UWM’s Great Lakes Water Institute (GLWI).
A portion of the entry fee will also support GLWI.

See below for further details about entering your artwork.

—

FLOW Submission Basics:

1. Email artist information, artist statement and jpgs of artwork by Tuesday, March 2, 2010
to guildess@sbcglobal.net with “FLOW Entry” as the subject line

2. Maximum of 2 entries per artist

3. Artist information must include:

• Artist Name
• Artist Email Address
• Artwork Title
• Date
• Medium
• Sale Price (if not for sale, please indicate NFS)

4. Please submit clearly identified .jpg images of artwork, at 72 ppi, maximum of 1000 pixels on the longest side

5. $15 non-refundable entry fee ($5 to GLWI) -
a request for fee will be sent via PayPal upon entry receipt.

6. Guildess will inform all applicants of the results of the jurying by Wednesday, March 11, 2010

7. Be available to deliver accepted pieces, wired properly for hanging,
on Friday, April 10, 2010, 5:30-8:00 pm
to Live Artists Studio, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Incomplete entries will not be considered.

Questions: email us

a sneak preview…

confessions in smokey bars from the Lalitta series, photo by Karina Schafer 2006

“her streets are well ployed“

the elder advised
the young romeo
courting the eye
of the jejune juliet,

“her streets are well plowed,
my boy.“

but she, orphaned,
desperately searched,
settled more often
than not
for 2am romance
and truncated serenades:

love that never sees
the light.

the boys,
they harshly judge,
only after

at the morning’s blue
mist / pink sunrise,
as they drive down
one-way streets
and forget
where they came from.

*************************
[[[ Karina Schafer will read poetry from her book, v.1: captured poems and some that got away, along with some new poems at The Coffee House (19th & Wisconsin) TONIGHT at 8pm for the Food Pantry Benefit with Barbara Chudnow, Sarah Rosenblatt and Sandy Weisto. $4 and 2 Cans of Food ]]

Reflections on the Loss of an East Side Institution

I was reflecting this morning on the aftermath of the North Avenue fire and people’s response to it. The loss is personal for so many reasons.

Beyond the substantial loss of people’s homes, businesses and jobs, a friend and I were discussing architecturally the significance of this and how that corner will be forever changed. I was thinking about the inlay tile that is on the building, how they just don’t pay attention to details like that anymore. It’s details like this that make the East Side and numerous neighborhoods of Milwaukee so special: it isn’t a strip mall, it isn’t cookie cutter – the architecture has personality and style – just like the residents … and the businesses. The majority of businesses on North Ave are run by individuals, not chains (though sadly more and more are creeping in), and this effects a person’s relationship with a business – it makes it more personal – it is what creates a community. The Pizza Man staff and owners considered themselves a family, and I think customers felt like a part of that extended family.

I think “ma & pa” businesses also effect a person’s identity. It helps give people “permission” to be unique, to be true to themselves and be accepted for that – not feeling the pressure to have to morph into the latest fad or corporate trend. Personally, this is one of the things I have always treasured about the East Side. Admittedly, the East Side does not have a monopoly on open-mindedness (or even an untarnished record – far from it) – Riverwest is far more diverse – and Bay View is experiencing a Renaissance, but the East Side is where I came from, so it is what I know best. When I travel, I find so many other U.S. cities, victims of urban sprawl, are carbon copies of each other, indistinguishable and lacking soul. I often return respecting Milwaukee (and Lake Michigan) a little bit more. Sure, Milwaukee has some notable warts (and for the sake of this love letter to the city, I will not enumerate them now), but it has tremendous soul and an enduring identity.

If Pizza Hut were to burn to the ground, I’m sure no one would shed a tear.

*********************

I’d also like to give a big shout out to the brave Milwaukee Fireman who risk their life and did such an amazing job tackling this fire and preventing it from becoming an even bigger tragedy… and under so many obstacles! Thank you!

Click here to see my full photo essay on yesterday’s fire

Guildess Guide to Gallery Night – Jan. 2010 Edition

Here’s a little Gallery Night Guide I put together for Guildess. Also includes info on a couple of Gallery Night shows I am participating in:

The Guildess ladies will be out and about on Gallery Night – this Friday, January 15th – enjoying the various exhibits our members have going on, and checking out the many other exciting shows going on across town. One of the things we adore about Milwaukee is the diverse group of talented artists that reside here. If you see us, say hello – we’d love to meet you and talk about art!

Here’s a snippet of our itinerary …

Body Awareness Center

1234 N. Prospect Ave.
Milwaukee, WI
6:00 to 9:00 pm – Gallery Night – Fri., Jan. 15th
12:00 to 3:00 pm – Gallery Day – Sat., Jan. 16th

Features Guildess members

Laura Gorzek

Karina Schafer

Jessica Zalewski

and also

Kathleen Hale
Jamie Krutsch
Erica Meier
Tom Schulteis
Dante’ N. Smith

See diverse works by emerging artists reflecting the spirit and beauty of Body Awareness Center, a holistic wellness center in a rejuvenated Victorian mansion on Milwaukee’s lower east side.

Enjoy the calming atmosphere, relax into a chair massage.

Donations from chair massages benefit Walnut Way Conservation Corp.

Delight your taste buds, while you relax, with raw herb cheese balls, chocolate tarts, chai lattes, and apple cider.

CoPA’s 3rd Annual Juried Exhibition

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts (WPCA)

911 W. National Avenue
5:00 – 9:00 pm

Join Milwaukee’s Coalition of Photographic Arts (CoPA) on Winter Gallery Night for the closing reception of its 3rd Annual Juried Photography Exhibit!

See these stunning photos by regional artists before they’re gone.

This annual juried exhibition offers local and regional artists (from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota) an opportunity to have their work evaluated by a carefully selected, renowned juror – a specialist of an impeccable reputation in the field of contemporary photography. Since its inception, the show has been growing exponentially. By rigorously maintaining the standards of photographic excellence, CoPA’s show continues to draw attention, interest and praise to the Milwaukee’s fine art scene.

This year, over 90 individual artists submitted their work for jurying. 47 images by 34 artists were chosen for the exhibition.

The photographers invited to participate in the show are: PJ Boylan, Richard Bublitz, Eddee Daniel, Patricia Delker, C.M. DeSpears, David Draeger, Michael Dvorak, Mary Familant, Susan Foley, Marcia Getto, John Hart, Perry Heideman, Kurt Kamka, Kristen Keshena, John Koeppen, John Kohl-Riggs, Susan Lukas, Terrence Molter, Trevor McNaughton, Jill Newton Moore, Chris Norris, Ashley Rick Quinn, Robb Quinn, Mike Reinders, Karl Schroeder, Bernard Spinelli, Mike Starling, Benjamin Stewart, Miriam Sushman, Rikki Thompson, Ruth Yasko, Jessica Zalewski, Yong-ran Zhu, and William Zuback.

This year’s juror is Paul Ha, the Director of the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (the Contemporary). Under his leadership, the Contemporary has become a vibrant center for contemporary art and a prominent national venue. Prior to the Contemporary, Ha was the Deputy Director of Programs and External Affairs at Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.

YamaYoga

(Detail from “Respect” from the series,
The Ballad of John and Kinoko
by Guildess member Karina Schafer)

YamaYoga

231 E. Buffalo St.
6:00 – 9:30 pm

YamaYoga, in the heart of the 3rd Ward, will transform from a yoga studio into an art studio displaying a variety of work from talented artists, including:

Donna Weiss

Dan Herro

and Guildess Members

Karina Schafer

Jessica Zalewski

and more.

Firestarter Films

Illustration by Guildess Member Brittany Farina

Firestarter Films #7

at Live Artists Studio
228 S. 1st Street
6 pm to 12 am?

Firestarter Films is a unique event in the Milwaukee area for local filmmakers to screen their work and chat with the audience. Breaks are taken regularly between short films to give the audience a chance to talk to filmmakers while the films are still fresh in everyone’s mind. Firestarter Films is a very interactive event, the audience is encouraged to bring films of their own to show the night of the event. Films begin at 7pm and will run until or past midnight.

RedLine Milwaukee

RedLine Milwaukee

1422 N. 4th St.
414.491.9088
Friday: 6 to 9pm, Saturday: 10 to 5pm
Exhibition January 8 through March 12.

Featuring Amos Kennedy, Jr.

Kennedy is an internationally recognized printing press artist whose posters are socially, politically and racially charged. His work stirs up strong emotions and encourages people to think in previously unexplored ways.

Portrait Society Gallery

The Portrait Society

207 E. Buffalo Street, Suite 526
Milwaukee, WI 53202
414.870.9930
Opening Gallery Night: Friday, January 15, 2010
Closing: March 13, 2010

Gallery A: Boris Ostrerov

Boris Ostrerov is a young painter who works with white paper and black ink. His new, large scale works deal with boundaries and empty spaces, borders, fringes, the here and there, often focusing on what is at the edges rather than at the center. Originally from Russia, Ostrerov is a graduate of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He currently lives in Milwaukee.