What's in your garden?
Join the South Haven Center for the Arts online for the opening of the 2020 Regional Juried Exhibition: "Fantastical Flora and Fauna," on Friday, September 25, 2020, 5:00–6:00 p.m.
Artists will speak about their work and prizes will be awarded during the Zoom opening. Visit southhavenarts.org to register. All are welcome!
This year the art center is focusing on Frida Kahlo’s garden at Casa Azul, her lifelong refuge and inspiration. In celebration of indigenous Mexican culture, Frida Kahlo's garden is full of plants and animals native to her home country. In her studio, Frida painted still lifes and self-portraits exploding with the colors and shapes of these plants and animals.
Artists from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin will give us a glimpse into the gardens of their imaginations centered around the the theme of Kahlo's work. Juror Stephanie Lewis Robertson juried in 55 pieces of artwork, chosen from over 199 submissions.
Robertson is an accomplished, award-winning artist who
sings to her hand-dyed and –printed fabrics while she works. Spirituality, ritual, nature, music, the concept of the “last worst time” and the current state of the world serve as the inspiration for her fabric and paper constructions.
This year's winners are from top left: First Place, St. Persephone (Medical Trials of the Saints) by MANDEM. Second place, Beginnings of Fall by Gemma Fletcher; Third Place: Till Death Don't Us Part . . . Pushin' Up Daisies/Roses 4U4Ever by Christine B. Miller; Honorable Mentions, from bottom left: Now by Nancy DeJoy by Samatha Earley; Flora and Fauna in Your Heart by Robin Haller, and The Magician's Door by Anna Wooden.
"These photographic composites were created during the long months of the Covid-19 virus quarantine," said Ryn Clarke, creator of Trumpet Honeysuckle. "Taking to the woods everyday with my dogs, I began shooting images of the beautiful flora and fauna all around me. As isolation can quickly become dark and depressing, I used these images to create make-believe landscapes, exaggerating the truth a bit to make you smile."
"Each of my three entries contain a 'mythical creation' that lives among the flowers in their fantiscape," said South Haven's Dorris Akers' of I Dream of Frida, photographed by Krystin Grenon. "They are meant to be a whimsical, childlike, portrait of an imaginary, funny and kind monster that could easily be a child's imaginary friend, or a creative self portrait. I completely resonate with Frida Kahlo's work due to her intense use of color and the way she incorporates nature, whimsy, and self portraiture into her work."
The South Haven Center for the Arts congratulates the winners and all who were chosen for the show, and all who submitted their work.
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