A Week at Chautauqua

Alex and I recently spent a very active week at Chautauqua NY. Besides lectures, music, dance, and great weather, there was a goodly amount of art to take in. At the Strohl Art Center were three shows: 1) "Out of the Blue" on the first floor which presented works all using blue as a unifier of sorts, 2) "Abstraction in America: Forties to Sixties" on the second floor in conjunction with Albright-Knox which had a heavyweight representation of artists of the period but which left me wondering how the same works would be received today, and 3) "Bilateral Trace: Four Emerging Artists from Iran" which let us in on the recent works of four woman artists from Iran. This third show was the more adventurous and interesting of the 3. One of the artists (work "Tantalized" shown above), Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi, gave an insightful lecture later in the week outlining her accelerating artistic journey and providing shots of fellow artist Roshanak Tehrani on a trip back to Iran. The student show at the Fowler-Kellogg across from the Strohl was as outstanding as last year, with the majority of the art marked sold - always a good sign. I also took a daily figure drawing course at Chautauqua led by visiting artist Antonio Petracca which turned out to be time really well spent. "Focus on the core. Focus on the core." Aye, will do.