5 picks for May ArtHop
For a comprehensive list of ArtHop venues and shows, don’t forget to check the Fresno Arts Council roundup. ArtHop, the monthly open house of galleries and studios in the downtown and Tower District neighborhoods, is Thursday, May 3. Most venues are open 5-8 p.m.
1.
1821 Gallery & Studios
‘Spaces of Desire’
Nick Potter and Peter Janzen
Both artists are fascinated with modernist architecture, and as this show enters its second ArtHop, you don’t want to miss their works in juxtaposition. From the gallery:
Potter’s paintings use architecture as a prism to examine symbols of power and propaganda. His idealized, pseudo-utopias are often highly seductive.
Janzen’s paintings investigate the mysterious qualities of light and space in mid-century modern interiors. Exploring the underlying tension that pervaded the time and questioning our nostalgia towards it, Janzen creates a precarious balance of anxiety and contemplation, of absence alongside the optimism of modernist thought.
Buildings and interiors can have a power all their own. (Potter’s work has always had the ability to make me feel unsettled, sometimes even spooked, which I consider very compelling.) Our lives are profoundly impacted by built environments. Both artists put the focus on place. Putting them together is a good call.
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Details: The show runs through May 19 at 1821 Gallery & Studios.
2.
A Sense of Place
‘Highway 41 Invitational Show’
Here’s a fun concept: Every painting and photograph will be of a place or thing that can be seen if you are standing on Highway 41 along its 185.6-mile corridor. The gallery will be hung “as though you were driving in your car and looking out the window at a scene that artist has captured along this road.”
Sure will save on gas, right?
Details: An artists’ reception will be 4-7 p.m. May 18.
3.
Spectrum Art Gallery
‘Parts of the Whole’ / Sally Stallings
‘Logic of the Subconscious’ / Steve Dzerigian
In this husband-and-wife show, two accomplished photographers team up in an exhibition of their recent works. Dzerigian’s works featured in this exhibition consist of three dimensionally layered, collage-like constructions. Stallings says she is “drawn to the subtle, the quiet, the everyday, light on the seemingly ordinary.”
She’s right about the light. I’ve gushed in the past about Stallings’ ability to capture the nuance and transcendence of light. She’s got the knack.
Details: The shows open at ArtHop. A “Friday Photography Live” event is 7-8 p.m. May 18.
Ann Leedy’s “Steadfast Right Angle.”
4.
M Street Arts Complex / Gallery 25
Ann Leedy, Cynthia Carter Cameron and Donnalee Dunne
Leedy’s work focuses on “sensual, emotional and thoughtful aspects of living.” Cameron explores her lifelong love of mythology and fairy tales. And Dunne presents a series of paintings with a limited palette of two colors which began as deeply textured geometric forms.
Plus: Don’t miss what else M Street has to offer. Guests artists for the month are Terry Ellsworth (abstract mixed-media paintings) and Art Sarabian (landscape photography). I poked through Sarabian’s Facebook page and particularly enjoyed his Caruthers mini-mart image.
5.
Chris Sorensen Gallery and Studios
‘Celebrating Metal’
Group show
What better place to see a metal arts show than on the home turf of Fresno’s favorite metal man? (Just wandering through the complex can be like an introduction to the discipline. Just ask for goggles if you get too close.) This show includes work that is welded, photographed, sculpted, hammered and forged. Be sure to look for all the ingenious creations that Sorensen has made out of coat hangers.
And remember that the studio is open during the weekdays, too. It’s a great place to wander. You might even bump into the big guy.
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Bruce Kalkowski
Thanks Donald. I hope people come and take time to sign the Parks petition, we need every one we get