Engagenent and Wedding Ideas at SmithKlein Gallery

The wedding season is nearly upon us. If you are looking for beautiful, hand-made, unique engagement rings, wedding bands, special occasion necklaces or earring, check out the wonderful selection of jewelry at SmithKlein Gallery.


Engagement Rings:

Ayesha Mayadas

Ayesha Mayadas

D'Ette

Fullerton Bahr 

Todd Reed

Sarah Graham

David and Ronnie

Martha Sullivan

Bruce Cascia 2014

SmithKlein Gallery presents new works by Bruce Cascia during the month of April 2014.

And Away We Go! Oil painting by Bruce Cascia.

We were interested to know a little bit more about the artist, so here is an interview with Bruce and a few of his latest oil paintings:


(Q:) Are there any subjects that inspire you more than others or are you open to painting anything?

Bruce: I like painting nostalgic imagery. Actually, the more challenging something is, the more intrigued with it I am.

(Q) Do you paint on location or by photograph?

Bruce: Most of the time I paint from a photograph. I've done watercolors on location. They lend themselves to quick completion, so I'm done before the light changes

(Q:) Do you see any trends unfolding in your art - developing techniques, use of color, particular abstractions, etc.?

Bruce: I like painting metallic objects, reflections and brightly colored compositions. 

(Q:) Do you paint full time? What is your studio space like?

Bruce: I try to paint every day, but when sales are down I have to compensate my income with web design and art direction.

Bruce's studio.

(Q:) Is there anything you would like to highlight about your work in general? Do you feel like you have a message that you are trying to convey through your art?

Bruce: I've been painting Chicago Hot Dog Stands for a while. Since a lot of them have been torn down, I'm trying to preserve them on canvas.

(Q:) What inspired you to become an artist? How old were you when you started painting?

Bruce: I always liked drawing. As a kid, I thought if I could draw a dollar bill and change the denomination I could be rich! I practiced for weeks, and then my dad told me I could go to jail for counterfeiting. In the end, I used my talents to create school bulletin boards.

(Q:) How did you develop as an artist? Did you take classes or read about painting to improve your technique over the years?

Bruce: I'm pretty much self taught. At 12 yrs old, I took my first oil painting class at the local Y. I also painted from art history books checked out from the library to learn different techniques.


(Q:) What advice would you give to anyone who is thinking about going into art?

Bruce: Paint what you like and be the best at it.

Going Nowhere. Oil painting by Bruce Cascia

Chicken and Waffles. Oil Painting by Bruce Cascia.

Nancy Linkin

Nancy Linkin Jewelry

"The essential quality of my work is harmony of form. I want my sculptures to stir the observer's inner sense of beauty. To be peaceful in their simplicity. I want my jewelry to soothe. To be elegant, casual, and comfortable “ like fine silk and soft blue jeans."

Nancy's passion for metalsmithing began over 35 years ago. She was captivated by the age old process of forming the metal directly with hammers. "The hammer is simply an extension of my hand..." Her exploration of the traditional smithing techniques, raising holloware and forging, started with traditional vessels forms. Soon she began to push the envelope both technically and visually, leaving the rotation form and functional form behind. Asymmetrical table top sculptures and wall pieces were a natural progression for her nature based aesthetic. "Natural forms have always fascinated and excited me: plant forms, earth forms, human forms."

Sculptural jewelry was the next step, taking the sculpture off the pedestal and putting it on then body. Nancy did a series of one of a kind sculptural bracelets over the course of two years in the mid 1980s. The tremendous success of this direction encouraged her to repeat the designs, adding earrings, neck pieces, and pins to her line of bracelets. Over the last 20 years the line has grown with over 80 different designs, each made in a variety of sizes, available in both a Sterling & 18K combination and solid 18K gold.

To create each piece, flat patterns are cut from sheets of gold and silver and hammered systematically over specialized tools. Once a piece has been hammered into its final form, it's filed and sanded, then buffed to a high polish. This fine finish accentuates the simple sculptural lines of her jewelry.

Nancy in her studio.

Nancy working on creating jewelry.

Bracelet

Earrings

Lela Kay "Show in Red"

Lela Kay
Show in Red
February 1-28, 2014


Red has so many shades and nuances that I find it to always be new,
fresh and engaging. The color red is a metaphor for life: it is vibrant,
strong, passionate, bold, and intense, makes a statement and stands
out. When I paint in red I am truly absorbed in my work. As an artist, I
love all colors, but painting in red is really my signature color.

As an artist, my work is constantly evolving. This is by intention and by
choice. I can’t imagine painting the same ideas over and over again; my
art would become stale a boring. Painting is a journey in progress for
me, a chance to explore, take risks, challenge myself and grow. Art
emulates my life, my journey, my goal to always adapt and learn from
the past and move towards something new and exciting.

This red series of paintings represents a new direction in my abstract art.
I am digging deeper within myself, sorting through all the confusion,
reinventing the old me and discovering new layers of relevance and
meaning in my life. I push and probe to open up untouched passages,
hiding others, deciding what inner truths to reveal and what to keep
mysterious and veiled. Each painting is an autobiography of where I am
at that present moment and reflects feelings, thoughts and emotions.
For that reason, no two paintings I create are alike or can be alike.

Since moving into a new studio, my art has taken on a new direction.
The space is larger, with expansive windows, and the openness allows
me to be freer in expressing my ideas with larger, bolder gestures. I am
less inhibited and more open. Painting and creating has been a life long
passion and necessity. I am always painting and creating something
new, always thinking about the next painting.

New Artists

SmithKlein Gallery is happy to announce that we are showing the works of a few new artists.

We welcome to the gallery:

Calvin Lai

Artist bio:  Calvin Lai would describe his relationship to art as the “monkey on my back” which climbed on during a self portrait in kindergarten. It was in drawing the shoelaces that day that got the “monkey” to climb on, and he remembered the care and feeling he had while attempting to make the loops of the laces just right. This fascination with representing things accurately drove him towards rendering realistic images, and he began teaching himself the basics of value and perspective at a very young age. Growing up in Los Angeles, his addiction to art progressed, and people became his main and his favorite subject. His passion for art eventually led Calvin to San Francisco in order to pursue his studies at San Francisco State University, in addition to The Academy of Art. But it wasn't until 2008, at the Academy, that Calvin began to really study painting. Now, oils are his main medium. Since taking classes, he has been pursuing a non-stop development of his painting skills, showing in galleries, group shows and juried exhibitions. He also was featured in the January 2013 edition of Southwest Art magazine. Though Calvin mainly focuses on figurative and portrait painting, he is driven to capture all that he finds compelling through his paints, brushes, and determination. 

Oil paintings:

SOLD

Deborah Bays

Artist Statement: I have been blessed with a life in the Arts. I was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1951 and spent my early years in the formal study of music, playing both violin and viola. In college my focus shifted to making visual art. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Costume Design for the Theatre at the University of Texas at Austin then went on to complete a Master of Arts in Scenography at Purdue University. I worked for two and one half decades designing costumes and sets for the theatre and television.

After many years of making art as a member of a team I longed for a more personal expression. This led to studying drawing and painting with many fine artists and teachers at the Art Student's League of Denver. While I still have a passion for both theatre and music, nothing has proved as profound a challenge or as rewarding as painting.

My work has been featured in Southwest Art, The Pastel Journal and The Artist's Magazine. One of my paintings is included in Pure Color: the Best of Pastel published by North Light Books and I have contributed a pastel painting demonstration to Painting with Pastels written by Maggie Price. Most recently my work is featured in Les Maitre du Pastel, le Livre 2011 published by Diverti Editions, the publisher of the French artist's magazine, Pratique de Arts. I am honored to have been given Master Pastelist status by the Pastel Society of America and to have exhibited paintings and won awards at the Pastel Society of America Annual Pastel Exhibitions in New York as well as to have had paintings selected to represent the PSA at The Butler Institute of American Art. I have also exhibited with the International Association of Pastel Societies where in 2010 my painting won the First Place Award at the 17th Juried Exhibition, the Web Show.


Pastel paintings: 

Susan Beaupre

All of Susan Beaupre’s jewelry work is handmade and created from start to finish by the artist. She uses the traditional lost wax process and additional hand-crafted fabrication. In her Colorado studio, she works primarily in silver and embellishes her work with semi-precious stones. She is attracted to the natural world around her, which is clearly displayed in her organic-looking pieces. Susan enjoys the process of creating and the surprises that are at every turn when working with metal.


Jewelry:

Eric Candee

                                                                  

Acrylic Medium

                                             
                                             Eric Candee

Living in the breathtaking mountains of Colorado, Eric Candee gathers inspiration from his surroundings. Eric has been a full-time artist for the last 15 years, concentrating mostly on sculpture. His interest in art started at a much younger age, though, when he experimented with watercolors and other media. His father, who was an environmental artist, had a big influence on the direction Eric took in art, and it prompted the young artist to express his ideas about the macrocosm through his art. Eric's appreciation for the environment continued to grow throughout his early years. When his father introduced Eric to the works of Edward Abbey, noted author and environmental activist, the exposure pushed him to consider more strongly the fate of our planet. It was through reading Desert Solitude that Eric began to better understand where humans are in relation to the Earth and where we are heading. For Eric, it became important to convey the preciousness of the environment and the relationship between industry and nature in his sculptures. Two other noteworthy artists who inspired him were the profound sculptor and environmentalist, Andy Goldworthy and the enigmatic jewelry designer, James Olsen.


Sculpture was what initially caught Eric's attention, and he created large mixed media pieces that could be hung on the wall for display. He used metals, rocks, woods and other natural elements in his thought-provoking pieces that looked simple and elegant but were extremely complex both in technique and meaning. Through his work, he explored nature combined with that which was man made. Over time, Eric began to realize that he wanted to embrace different media. His desire was to present his work in a new context, producing art that kept his message alive but was created in a calmer, more quiet way. The result was something that could be made on canvas, a much lighter and more delicate creation.

For Eric, it was important to show shadows and subtleties by layering and working with an acrylic medium on the canvas. In this new and exciting technique that he created, he develops texture by building and combining the pigmented medium in strata and then abrading areas to reveal specific layers underneath. In a way, he has found a method that allows him to show what would be virtually imperceptible using two-dimensional instruments such as charcoal or pencil.

Eric believes that art can touch and inspire people. He strongly feels that we are emerging into an important time in history, a pivotal point on which a significant event may unfold. How we choose to treat our environment and what we do now will greatly affect the next generation. Eric makes every effort to provide a positive role model and attempts to inspire others to appreciate what we have. His hope is that through his art he can excite and encourage others to explore their own passions and creative juices. He feels we all have the ability to express our inner creativity through different media. For Eric, being in and appreciating the environment is a reminder that we are all connected and should strive to have greater compassion for each other and the planet. 


 From the artist on his new series:

Eric Candee is a mixed media artist living in CO, who creates environmental art and symbolic objects. A life-long passion for the rivers, forests and deserts of the West inspires his artistic focus on natural themes. “Through the Trees” is a new series that reflects the sublime beauty of Colorado’s aspen forests. Earth friendly and sustainable materials are used to create these highly realistic “ aspen trees” in an abstracted format. A combination of many layers, “Through the Trees” embraces the feeling of an aspen grove with a contemporary and architectural presentation that echoes society’s connection to nature. Eric’s individual blend of symbolic media with an emphasis on natural elements is dedicated to the beauty and peace of Colorado’s wild places. Believe in Art! 

More new work: 

Some of Eric's older sculptures: 

 

Jackson Pollock

Love him or hate him, Jackson Pollock is one of the most talked about artists in history. His art has been studied, dissected, discussed and criticized, but there's no doubt that he was influential in the abstract expressionist movement that swept America in the 1940's. Famous for being a tortured alcoholic who purportedly poured his subconscious onto canvases while fans, photographers and critics watched, Pollock certainly made his mark as an artist.

It's not uncommon in any gallery or museum to hear someone say, "I could do that," when looking at a piece of art work, and when it comes to the paintings of Jackson Pollock, this seems to happen more. But assuming one can do it and actually doing it are two very different things. What most people fail to realize it that Jackson Pollock studied art before he stepped into the world of abstract expressionism. It's as if he had to learn and practice the rules in order to know how to break them. To anyone who believes that he could create something like a Pollock, I encourage him to try.

One can see the influence of Pollock's teacher, Thomas Hart Benton, on his early work.

For Pollock, painting was about the technique as much as the end result. He studied methods of sand painting and muralists in order to perfect his own drip technique. In the end, though, he stated, "It doesn't make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement." Still, it was important for him to create a technique that could deliver his statement in the best possible way. Pollock described his experiences paintings as almost trance like. He wanted to become part of the work and let any expression move through him onto the canvas. In turn, abstract expressionism influenced many major art movements including pop art, lyrical abstraction, postminimalism, color field painting, tachisme and others. Rather than capturing images, abstract impressionists were out to capture events and emotions. What to some may appear haphazard is actually something deeper, a moment in time frozen on the canvas. It is with this understanding that a viewer can truly appreciate and get lost in Pollock's paintings.

Pollock's progression to abstract art:

Landscape with Steer

Red and Blue

Moon woman