{"id":6360,"date":"2016-01-26T14:39:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T19:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=6360"},"modified":"2016-01-26T13:49:30","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T18:49:30","slug":"art-watch-a-master-of-abstraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=6360","title":{"rendered":"Art Watch: A master of abstraction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><em><strong>Also: Book signing features Robert Jackson<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>By Lele Galer<\/strong><\/span>, <span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\"><em>Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/UTColLogoGaler-251x300.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1268575\" src=\"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/UTColLogoGaler-251x300.jpg\" alt=\"UTColLogoGaler\" width=\"210\" height=\"251\" \/><\/a>Start your art weekend off Friday in West Chester with a visit to <strong>Church Street Galler<\/strong>y&#8217;s &#8220;Master of Abstraction&#8221; exhibit. Friday January 29 at 5pm, the gallery will have an opening reception for artist <strong>Alan Soffer<\/strong>&#8216;s latest collection of abstract acrylic and encaustic paintings. Beautiful arrangements of color and shape hover in shaded layers of wax and paint. Alan Sofer&#8217;s colors are marvelous, and it is very exciting indeed to see a solo show of this extraordinary artist&#8217;s work. Expect a packed opening event! Other week highlights include original artwork for sale by <strong>Robert Jackson <\/strong>and <strong>Antelo Devereux<\/strong> at <strong>Galer Estate<\/strong> <strong>Winery<\/strong>, art discussions at <strong>Oxford Arts Alliance <\/strong>and <strong>The Brandywine River Museum of Art<\/strong>, as well as a huge &#8220;Radius&#8221; show in <strong>Phoenixville<\/strong>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1268570\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Alan-Sofer-Church-Street-Gallery-300x216.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1268570\" class=\"wp-image-1268570 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Alan-Sofer-Church-Street-Gallery-300x216.jpg\" alt=\"Alan Sofer, Church Street Gallery\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1268570\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An abstract painting by Alan Sofer, who will be showing at the Church Street Gallery.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The art weekend continues in Phoenixville at the <strong>Art Gallery at Franklin Commons<\/strong>. A very engaging opening event is planned for the &#8220;Radius&#8221; Art show Saturday January 30, from 1-4pm. &#8220;Radius&#8221; combines the artistic talents from 9 local arts organizations into one big show. The title &#8220;Radius&#8221; refers to the radius miles that each of these art centers are from Phoenixville.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/managewp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Radius-Postcard.jpe\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1268571\" src=\"http:\/\/managewp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Radius-Postcard-300x233.jpe\" alt=\"Radius-Postcard\" \/><\/a>At the show opening this Saturday, there will be a collaborative art project event to blend the organizations&#8217; artists together, as well as an opportunity for each organization to talk about who they are and what they do in their communities through the arts.<\/p>\n<p>There will be plenty of food, wine, and live music to set the tone for a very lively, interactive art opening event. The curator, Katie Naber, included many art organizations that may be off our radar. Art organizations including, <strong>The Pottstown Area Artists Guild<\/strong>, <strong>The Phoenix Village Art Center<\/strong>, <strong>The Greater Norristown Art League<\/strong>, and <strong>Art Fusion 19464<\/strong> will all be represented, offering us a rare glimpse of local artwork that is a bit beyond our usual county borders. Most of these art associations have less than 100 members, and offer a variety of different programming, including artist workshops, art show opportunities, public art and outreach as well as classes and gallery space. All of these art groups play a dynamic role in their respective communities. Katie Naber said, that she was so &#8220;Excited about this show, as it is bringing the art community together in a new way!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During this week, in Oxford, at the <strong>Oxford Arts Allia<\/strong>nce, remember to check out the &#8220;Architect&#8217;s Roundtable&#8221; discussion with architects <strong>Ed Rahme<\/strong>, <strong>Wayne Simpson<\/strong> and <strong>Todd Tully Danner <\/strong>this Wednesday evening January 27th at 7pm. This roundtable discussion is part of the exciting art show &#8220;Architectural Sketches: Building an Idea&#8221; which will stay in the gallery until February 13.<\/p>\n<p>Also this Wednesday at 2pm, January 27, The <strong>Brandywine River Museum of<\/strong> Art&#8217;s Curator of Collections, Virginia O&#8217;Hara will lead a tour through the museum&#8217;s exhibition &#8220;Natural Selections: <strong>Andrew Wyeth<\/strong> Plant Studies&#8221;. Andrew Wyeth&#8217;s plant studies are detailed glimpses of nature that appear to have caught his eye. Most of the images are simple studies of a grassy outcroppings, weeds or wild flowers. While each is a lovely image, you can&#8217;t help but think about the artist&#8217;s choice in subject matter: what made the artist hone in on this? did he use this in a painting? I love it when a museum show encourages you to see the main galleries with new eyes, and with a new appreciation.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1268573\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/flower-market-by-Robert-Jackson-2-300x199.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1268573\" class=\"wp-image-1268573 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/flower-market-by-Robert-Jackson-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"flower-market by Robert Jackson 2\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1268573\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Flower market&#8221; by Robert Jackson, as seen on the poster for the Wilmington Flower Show 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>On Sunday January 31, a rare writing and art treat from 3-5pm at <strong>Galer Estate W<\/strong>inery in Kennett Square. As a part of the January art theme for &#8220;The Art of Writing&#8221; along <strong>The Brandywine Artisan Wine Tra<\/strong>il, the winery welcomes the editors of <strong>Schiffer Publishing<\/strong> House to discuss the what it takes to get a book published, and what they look for.<\/p>\n<p>After a question and answer session, the event will move to the main tasting room where artist <strong>Robert Jackson<\/strong> will be there to sell and sign his two Schiffer art books, AND sell some new original art works. That is very exciting! Robert has just completed a series of delightful and fun painted images on vintage postcards for sale on Sunday. Photographer <strong>Antelo Devereux<\/strong> will also be on site with original photographs to sell, as well as sign and sell copies of his Schiffer books. When I first was introduced to Mr. Devereux, I was told that he was the finest photographer in Chester County, and took the best pictures of this area that have ever been published. This will be a rare treat to mingle with two wonderful artists, buy great books and artwork too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Also: Book signing features Robert Jackson By Lele Galer, Columnist, The Times Start your art weekend off Friday in West Chester with a visit to Church Street Gallery&#8217;s &#8220;Master of Abstraction&#8221; exhibit. Friday January 29 at 5pm, the gallery will have an opening reception for artist Alan Soffer&#8216;s latest collection of abstract acrylic and encaustic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[3878,3881,3880,3879],"class_list":["post-6360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-featured","tag-alan-soffer","tag-andrew-wyeth","tag-art-gallery-franklin-commons","tag-robert-jackson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6361,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6360\/revisions\/6361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}