{"id":2402,"date":"2011-03-10T10:15:44","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T18:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2012-11-20T14:15:01","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T22:15:01","slug":"the-sky-is-the-limit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/10\/the-sky-is-the-limit-2402\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sky Is the Limit"},"content":{"rendered":"
This article originally appeared on March 10, 2011 in The Island. Michele Ellson, editor.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Nancy Husari, La G\u00e9ode, 2001. Photograph.<\/p><\/div>\n

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You\u2019ve got your limitations; let them sing,<\/em>
\nAnd all your life will waken with a cry:<\/em>
\nWhy should you halt when rapture\u2019s on the wing<\/em>
\nAnd you\u2019ve no limit but the cloud-flocked sky?<\/em><\/p>\n

-\u201cPicture-Show,\u201d Siegfried Sassoon<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The painter Antonio Santin said in a recent interview: \u201cJust as important as having a talent is betting on it, not only one day but every day\u201d (Hi-Fructose, Vol.18). Perhaps the theme of the Alameda Women Artists (AWA) exhibit at the Alameda Free Library, \u201cThe Sky Is the Limit,\u201d is a pep talk to its members, an admonition to bet on their talent, and get out of their comfort zone. To be brave. The art world is no place for the shrinking violet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sky Is the Limit\u201d<\/strong> is on display in the Regina K. Stafford Meeting Room in the library\u2019s main branch. A reception was held there on March 6.<\/p>\n

Nancy Husari<\/strong> went out of her comfort zone in this exhibit. She identifies herself as a cartoonist, and her artist statement refers to other visual media, but never mentions photography. But her photograph \u201cLa G\u00e9ode\u201d is stunning. She is modest in recalling capturing it:<\/p>\n

Well I really don\u2019t do much photography these days. I used to be more interested in it in the old days \u2026 but that was a long time ago. That was actually taken with a disposable camera. I was in Paris for a month, wandering around, a lot by myself, and wandered over to that park (Parc de la Villette). I loved that image and so I just took it with a disposable camera and it came out really nice. People have been asking me if I Photoshopped it, or how did I get it to look like that and I said, \u2018It just looked like that.\u2019<\/p>\n

But it means a lot to me personally, though. There\u2019s a lot of optimism there \u2026 I come from San Francisco and when I was in Paris I just felt like, this is the way San Francisco used to be. There was an attitude of being more carefree, and art was everywhere, all over on the streets. It was so much a part of life there. And so that\u2019s what I guess it symbolizes for me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hopefully the response to this photo will encourage Husari to return to photography in earnest, and perhaps identify herself as a photographer. \u201cI think I have a good eye, so when I do have a camera, I like the pictures that come out,\u201d she conceded. \u201cMaybe, looking at that, I would like to do more photography.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wendy Lee Gadzuk, The Offering (detail), 2010. Mixed-media.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe Offering\u201d is Wendy Lee Gadzuk\u2019s<\/strong> elaborate mixed-media Valentine, but this is not your mother\u2019s Hallmark card. Ringed by red roses, it promises romantic love. Toward the center of the piece rests an ornate heart fashioned from pieces of cut steel, laced together into a corset. And in a twist on protecting one\u2019s heart, here it is the heavily armored heart that guards what lies within, the offer of sexual love. As the artist said, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Do you hope to make her see you, fool?<\/em>
\nDo you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?<\/em><\/p>\n

– \u201cHello, I Love You,\u201d The Doors<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Mi\u2019Chelle Fredrick, Partly Cloudy #10, 2011. Photograph.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mi\u2019Chelle Fredrick\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cPartly Cloudy #10\u201d was a nice visual pairing alongside \u201cThe Offering.\u201d It is an example of what she calls her \u201cexperiments in cloning,\u201d where several copies of the same photo are flipped and combined to create a new image.<\/p>\n

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In her statement Fredrick wrote, \u201cFor this exhibit, I have chosen a photograph that interprets the theme, \u2018The Sky is the Limit\u2019, quite literally. It takes me back to that childhood game of searching billowing clouds for fantastic figures. What do you see?\u201d<\/p>\n

At the reception the consensus seemed to be angel wings. I see a pair of albino apes playing patty cake. Hopefully there are no wrong answers.<\/p>\n

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Deborah Griffin, Metamorph, 2011. Digital painting.<\/p><\/div>\n

Deborah Griffin<\/strong> digitally combines vintage postcards and other late 19th and early 20th century source materials with her own drawings and photography in a series \u201cthat explores archetypes in metaphoric environments.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The title of her digital painting \u201cMetamorph\u201d refers not only to its subject but also, like the theme of the exhibit itself, may be a challenge, urging the viewer to evolve. The cycle of caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly takes place all around the seated figure, who becomes part of the process. The patterns on his suit take form and take flight. His hands beginning to rise from his pant legs as though floating suggest that he himself might be next.<\/p>\n

Griffin embeds an image of a gryphon in each of her digital paintings. You\u2019ll find more than one in this piece, but you may need to visit the exhibit in person in order to spot them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sky Is the Limit\u201d includes the work of 16 artists. Other highlights include Patricia Edith<\/strong>\u2019s photo and pastel \u201cLost\u201d (2011) which looks out at the Port of Oakland as though through a prison cell whose walls bear Kafka\u2019s words, \u201cYou are free and that is why you are lost,\u201d and Briana Learnihan<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cThreads\u201d (2009), a collage of artist trading cards embroidered with patterns.<\/p>\n

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From left: Patrick Apodaca, Daniel Garcia, Lawrence Grant, Art teacher Kathy Duncan, and AWA co-founder Bonnie Randall Boller. Photo by Michael Singman-Aste.<\/p><\/div>\n

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During the reception, Bonnie Randall Boller presented the AWA First Annual Scholarship Awards to three artists from Island High School \u2014 Patrick Apodaca<\/strong>, Daniel Garcia<\/strong>, and Lawrence Grant<\/strong> \u2014 whose work was also on display.<\/p>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

The exhibition runs through March 26. The library is located at 1550 Oak Street. The Regina K. Stafford Meeting Room is open during library hours, which are noon to 8 p.m. Monday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n

Michael Singman-Aste
\nPostdiluvian Photo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on March 10, 2011 in The Island. Michele Ellson, editor. \u00a0 \u00a0 You\u2019ve got your limitations; let them sing, And all your life will waken with a cry: Why should you halt when rapture\u2019s on the wing And you\u2019ve no limit but the cloud-flocked sky? -\u201cPicture-Show,\u201d Siegfried Sassoon The painter Antonio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23,6,4],"tags":[73,222,231,243,274,276,187,234,277,122,272,273,275,72,232],"class_list":["post-2402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","category-events","category-raves","tag-alameda","tag-alameda-free-library","tag-alameda-women-artists","tag-bonnie-randall-boller","tag-briana-learnihan","tag-daniel-garcia","tag-deborah-griffin","tag-kathy-duncan","tag-lawrence-grant","tag-michelle-fredrick","tag-nancy-husari","tag-patricia-edith","tag-patrick-apodaca","tag-the-island","tag-wendy-lee-gadzuk"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pPxQO-CK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2452,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/2452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}