While it’s often fun to look back, the omnipresent media retrospectives - year in pictures, stories of the decade, “the oughts in words”, top ten tragedies, “best” of reality TV - have become a little tiresome. So, here at your friendly local, suburban art gallery, we’re looking forward.

We’re looking forward to more art, and less office cubicles. We’re looking forward to more color on walls and less grey concrete under our feet. We’re looking forward to more bold sweeping vistas, and less of the fleeting peeks from someone else’s corner office. We looking forward to abstractions that will envelope and transport us, rather than pictures from the local “skycam” of the local traffic jam. We’re looking forward to discovering new and unique creations, rather than the next “big thing” in reality TV. We’re looking forward to more standard deviations and less of the same-old and the normal. We’re looking forward to decorating more homes with unique and original art and less of the manufactured so-called originals from far-off lands. We looking forward to finding, developing and assisting more “artoholics” like ourselves and lessening our chocaholic tendencies. We’re looking forward to encouraging the next generation to keep the creative spirit alive and kicking rather than letting it be dismissed and quashed.

Yes, we’re looking forward to another great year of… ART.

Yes, art can be fun as well as beautiful. art251’s December exhibit is almost here. We’ll be unveling new paintings by Marnie Vollenhals, a Keller based artist. The exhibit begins with an opening reception on December 11, 6-9pm, and runs until January 16, 2010.

Her playful works are collected by the young and the young at heart. So, bring your children or just your inner child — come and revisit the world that you never really left behind, courtesy of Marnie Vollenhals.

Marnie Vollenhals is a natural born illustrator and a prolific artist — she paints, paints and paints. Her most recent paintings of a group of animal friends, centered around Hawk, the Rocket Dog, a suburban dog with big dreams, is garnering a loyal following both locally and nationally.

Marnie comes from a family of artists, which goes back generations. From an early age she has been surrounded by rich visual arts. This has enabled her to establish a unique illustrative style, melding classic and modern influences, and diverse ideas and media. Marnie’s works balance a keen sense of design with her skills of artistic composition. And, shining through is an underlying sense of happiness and a playful spirit.

Our very own Sean Fitzgerald, photographer extraordinaire, picked up a handful of awards recently courtesy of the Trinity River Corridor Project. The City of Dallas sponsored a photography contest for images from the Trinity River. His four entries won the Professional division for landscapes (1st), wildlife (1st and second), and architecture (1st).

An exhibit of some of Sean’s stunning images is on display at art251 - Man And Nature runs until the end of November 2009. All the more exciting for us, because the Trinity River Audubon Center - home to many of Sean’s beautiful wildlife pictures - is also home to art251 Trinity River.

The Trinity River Corridor Project is the most complex and the largest urban development effort ever undertaken by the city of Dallas. It aims to transform a flood protection solution into an opportunity for community revitalization, economic development and the creation of a world-class greenway.

OK, OK, I admit it, I’m biased, I’m co-owner of art251, I’m a photographer. So, how do I summarize the first few days of our new show Man And Nature, showcasing photographs by Sean Fitzgerald? Well, let me try.

Sean Fitzgerald’s images stand by themselves - beautifully composed, technically adept, faithful and yet almost surreal renditions of our real world. Importantly, his images aren’t just excellent photographs, they are interwoven by an vivid narrative. It’s a multifaceted story - of pristine wilderness, of man’s coexistence with and encroachment upon nature, and of nature’s ability to adjust and ultimately prevail (sometimes with help, sometimes not).

His story takes us on a journey from the untouched, surreal natural landscapes of central African deserts, to the lush growths of Caddo Lake (the only natural lake in Texas) and the encroachment of man in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas; it takes us to the rising and eerily beautiful Devil’s Lake in North Dakota, and on to decaying manmade structures in the Upper Midwest.

It takes us to the ruins of diamond mines in Namibia being subsumed by sand; and then the journey brings us back to wilderness being re-born in our very own Trinity River valley, in East Dallas.

So, if just one of the following questions perks your interest:

intrigued by images of faraway lands?

fascinated by man’s impact on the environment?

interested in nature’s delicate coexistence with humans?

don’t believe wilderness can be reborn on a former waste dumping ground?

like to learn more about your home state (Texas, in this case)?

appreciate technical craft?

sometimes wonder, “how did he do that?”, or “where on Earth is that?”

ever looked closely at the nature right beneath your feet or above your head?

… do this: set aside 25 minutes, drive or cycle or walk (or parachute if you must) to Keller Town Center, open the door to art251 (we’ll even open it for you), and breathe in Sean Fitzgerald’s gorgeous images of this fragile land, both near and far. Man And Nature runs until the end of November 2009.

Earlier this year (Spring 2009) I unveiled the art251 Art Health Index (AHI). You may recall we use the AHI to measure the relative strength of the fine art economy in our area. It’s an objective and subjective measure and includes: smiles on the faces of our customers; periods of quiet contemplation looking at new art; sighs of satisfaction from the artist whose work we are featuring for the first time; simultaneous conversations about art; art teachers within the space; average time visitors spend looking at artwork; ratio of small shoe size (kids) to large shoe size (adults); and empty wine glasses and Italian soda bottles.

So, I’m happy to report that the AHI for October 2009 remains vibrant and stable. This follows our successful Opening Reception for Sean Fitzgerald’s exhibit Man And Nature on October 29. While the wine and refreshments are gone, Sean’s stunning images will remain on our walls until the end of November 2009.

I’m still drafting my definitive answer to the question “what makes great art, great?” As you may guess this is no simple task. After all, the question has taxed philosophers, pitted aesthetes against one another, confounded critics and perplexed mere mortals, such as myself, since cave dwellers first etched and painted on the walls of their prehistoric (more precisely, Mesolithic) European “homes”, over 30,000 years ago. Though, I suspect that one of the qualities of great art is that it is lasting — great art creates a truly lasting impression, both on the individual and on the culture.

So, while recently wondering the canyons of New York city and contemplating the weighty issue of “what is great art”, I stumbled across one of contemporary art’s venerable institutions, the Gagosian. Now, strictly speaking this was the Gagosian Store on Madison Avenue, not one of the famed Gagosian Galleries. Yet, etched on the glass walls I found a simple proclamation. There it was, an anti-definition staring me right in the face, in bold, white  lettering - “Pop Art is:”

More often than not I’ve found that it’s easier to define something by first deciding what it is not; by envisioning its opposite state, and then working backwards towards a solution. So, the “definition” of Pop Art struck me as rather apt. Perhaps, truly great art is not “gimmicky”, it’s certainly not “mass-produced”, it may not be “popular” (initially), and it’s definitely not “transient”. Yes, I believe, thanks to Pop Art, I am somewhat closer to an elusive answer on the nature of great art.

In the meantime, and back to our prehistoric ancestors, I wonder if the artists who created these ancient works had to contend with prehistoric critics (perhaps brandishing clubs), prehistoric gallery directors (perhaps dressed in neutral black animal hides), and prehistoric art lovers wanting the works framed or in a different hue or looking for something in a more “traditional” Paleolithic style.

Were our ancient artistic ancestors misunderstood? Did they have creative tantrums? Did they have second jobs? Did they have good gallery representation, perhaps in the “grand community cave”? Were they concerned that the next big art movement would consign their works to the artistic rubbish heap? Regardless, the passage of 30,000 years has brought some of this great art into the present. It’s interesting to ponder if any of our contemporary or Modern or Pop Art, could withstand the flow of 30 millenia. I think mostly not. It may be “big business”, but it’s certainly not truly great art.

The incredible Trinity River Audubon Center celebrates its 1-year anniversary on October 10-11 with our inaugural Nature Fest and Art Show. We’ll focus on works of art from area artists in our Great Hall, seminars on sustainable living in our classrooms, and nature-related activities on the trails. Admission is free… see you this weekend! Click here for the complete schedule.

What is there to do at Trinity River Audubon Center (TRAC) besides art? PLENTY! Here’s a taste:

•    Hike four miles of trails through restored prairie, wetland and bottomland forest habitats
•    Take a guided nature walk for visitors of all ages
•    Bird more than 100 resident and migrant species
•    Enjoy nature from scenic overlooks and bird blinds
•    Learn about the area’s habitats and history through hands-on exhibits
•    Attend workshops on conservation practices & outdoor skills
•    Join a cool nature club: Bug Club, Bird Club, Frog Club, or Adventure Club
•    Attend a field trip with field-based education programs for students
•    Complete your Eagle Scout or Gold Award project
•    Stretch and relax in a yoga class
•    Open young eyes to nature in the Children’s Discovery Garden
•    Participate in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology eBird tracking program
•    Relax and enjoy refreshments on the overview deck or picnic area by the Trinity River
•    Attend Free Third Thursday lectures and activities
•    Sign up for Summer Camp
•    Join an educational program: Birds of Play, Discover Together, Birding 101, Living Green
•    Become a TRAC Volunteer Naturalist

Where are we?

TRAC is 8 minutes from Downtown Dallas on South Loop 12

Far far south of Museum Mile in Manhattan, home of the Metropolitan Museum, Guggenheim and other venerable institutions, you’ll find a wonderful new venue showcasing bold contemporary art. It’s down on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, at 235 Bowery to be precise.

The New Museum has a very simple mission: new art, new ideas. Happily, my recent visit confirmed the existence of both. From the outset the museum is rather different, from the scrolling LED sign on the exterior to the industrial stairwell, to the somewhat clinical spaces. But on to it’s contents.

Exterior

Interior

Contents

I visited during a recent show titled “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus“, the first exhibition devoted to artists born after 1976. (that is, under the age of 33, Christ’s age at his death).

Covering around 150 works and 25 artists from around the globe the exhibit looks at the output of the often-called Generation Y, sometimes called Generation Me. In countries as diverse as the U.S., China and India this generation represents the largest demographic group to emerge in the last 50 years. So, it’s particularly relevant to examine the diverse artistic output from the successors to the babyboom generation. As one of the exhibit’s curators, Massimiliano Gioni, states,

“The artists in ‘Younger Than Jesus’ reflect a preoccupation with our future, but also with history and tradition: Rather than foreswearing their parents, they seem interested in imagining new communities and alternative families… Their tactics range from role-playing to recycling, from identity tourism to technological archeology, from an hysterical form of realism to an intimate, micro-emotional art.”

And, as I walked the exhibit several times I was taken by the diversity of the work and the rich use of multiple forms of media. That said, while the media was extremely diverse I could see some common elements: a desire for the artist to express a (sometimes complex), outward looking narrative, an ease and familiarity with the digital tools of the last decade, and a tendency for the art to be derived from other objects rather than to be created from a blank canvas. Commendably, the New Museum, published an enormous exhibit catalog of all the art evaluated for the show, which covered a total of 500 artists. This provided a couple of wonderful peeks: first, into lots of great art that unfortunately did not get to see the light, and second, into that otherwise completely obscure process known as selecting and curating art.

Highlights for me included the following:

Choose, a video art piece, by Ciprian Muresan. Here a young boy from Romania, actually the artist’s son, untainted by the laws of global branding and societal norms, combines Pepsi and Coke in a glass, and drinks the mixture. Don’t try this at home, especially if you live in the northeastern U.S. (Pepsi) or America’s deep South (Coke).

Buying Everything On You (zhou shuping) by Liu Chuang. The artist approaches people on street and buys everything they are carrying and wearing. This is a great snapshot that shows us how much materiality we have in common with other cultures. This reminds me of the photographic project from the mid-1990s by photojournalist Peter Menzel, who coordinated an effort to capture images of entire families’ possessions from 3o different nations.

Interregnum Repetition Resolution (Upholstered) by Steven G. Rhodes. A diverse collection of media including aura portraits, reminiscent of “ghostly” images from Victorian photographers, and an assemblage of technological chaos in a chair.

It Doesn’t Matter by Katerina Seda. A “life catalog” consisting of drawings describing sentimental artifacts recalled by the artist’s grandmother over a period of 35 years.

All images are courtesy of the New Museum, and courtesy of New York city (my thoughts are with you on this day).

“A week is a long time in politics”. As goes the quote attributed to British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. So, on the internet, a year must actually seem like several eons (a billion years, give or take). And, that’s about how long the art251 blog has been around. Thus, a face-lift for the blog has been long overdue.

The new look is designed to give you access to more information about art251 and other arts related musing, and to do so more clearly and efficiently. We’ve made the pages wider, so you have more content to read all the while making it more readable, through better use of white space. We’ve added more links to related pages, and made other information more accessible, so you don’t need to scroll as much. We’ve retained our signature art251 colors - turquoise, blue and green - but made them more subtle, and we’ve changed the layout to make it a little sharper. So, I hope you like it.

So, while I wouldn’t say the blog has undergone major surgery, we have, though, performed some delicate skin grafting procedures.

For the sentimental and historically inclined, here’s an image of the art251 blog 1.0, with the 2.0 revision for comparison.

art251 blog 1.0:

art251 blog 2.0:

It’s not too late. Our local paper, the Keller Citizen, is running a Best of the Best. Voting ends midnight on Sunday, August 23. So, you still have time to point and click with a couple of fingers (no other muscles required).

And, you could be a winner too! Two ballots will be drawn from entries submitted online, and the winners will receive a $25 gift certificate to one of the Best Of The Best nominees.

To vote, click here.

There’s only one catch, Unfortunately our local media didn’t add a category for Best Art Gallery. Shame on you Keller Citizen. So, here’s what you can do, After filling out your contact details you can vote for art251 in either of the following categories, or just write us in on the last page.

- Number 15. Best Gift Shop

- Number 53. Best Jewelry Store

The Best of the Best winners will be announced in a special section of The Keller Citizen on September 23.

It’s been a full year since we first opened our doors to art lovers, on August 19, 2008. We really appreciate all the wonderful support from the community. We’ve generated lots of great buzz in the suburbs, met many enthusiastic art lovers, discovered much great art and many exceptional artists.

So, while we wouldn’t (yet) qualify for a comprehensive retrospective on CNN, here’s a visual tour of some of our most memorable milestones over the last 12 months.

We lifted the veil on our cool sign in August 2008.

We installed our cool custom fixtures in August 2008.

We took delivery of our beautiful blue art-o-mat machine in August 2008.

We previewed some of our newly minted gallery walls in August 2008.

We crashed the annual Ft.Worth Gallery night on Saturday September 6, 2008.

We hosted a “Sip and Sew” event with Sara Moe, our local fiber artist, on September 25, 2008.

We had Clark Whittington, National Bureau Chief for Artists in Cellophane, and brains behind the cult Art-o-mat, art vending machine, in the house in September 2008.

We greeted the Fab Four in October 2008.

We took our art buying seminar on the road to local homeowners associations in November 2008.

We opened our first show, Contemporary Elements, featuring the work of James Johnson (forged metal), Scott Young (glass) and Bobbie Nix (couture jewelry) in December 2008.

 We kicked-off our first annual winter sale in January 2009.

We promoted our first show with Keller City Public Arts Board, featuring photography by Mike Gerra (art251) and Matt Tillbury (Young Artists of Texas Gallery) in February 2009.

 We featured Bryan Wetz’s bold original floral paintings in our March 2009 show.

We started measuring the local “art health index” (AHI) in March 2009. The AHI is a quantitative measure of the following: smiles on the faces of our customers; periods of quiet contemplation looking at new art; sighs of satisfaction from the artist whose work we are featuring for the first time; simultaneous conversations about art; art teachers within the space; average time visitors spend looking at artwork; ratio of small shoe size (kids) to large shoe size (adults); and of course, empty wine glasses and Italian soda bottles from our (in)famous opening receptions.

We featured on Home and Lifestyle TV in March 2009.

We opened art251 Trinity River at the Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas, with our friend and partner T Hanson in April 2009. Need directions? Click here.

We exhibited Faith Scott Jessup’s dramatic original Texas landscapes in May 2009.

 We hosted the official book release party for Allison Bottke’s novel “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” in June 2009.

We displayed gorgeously stylish art from nationally recognized, local artist Trish Biddle in our July 2009 show, The Art of Style.

We were voted Best Art Gallery in Tarrant County and placed third in the entire Dallas-Ft.Worth area in a poll of over 60,000 WFAA subscribers, in July 2009.

We were featured in D Magazine’s annual Best of Big D 2009 for “Best Cheap Art”, courtesy of our beautiful blue art-o-mat machine, in August 2009.

So begins year two. We’re ready for another full year of creative adventures and more great art, in the suburbs. Phew!

If you’re in New York, you’re in luck. If not, I recommend you fly to La Guardia, then jump in a cab and drive to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). Buy a ticket, leave the ancient Asian and European artifacts for another day. Climb the beautiful marble staircase, and head straight to the Francis Bacon retrospective.

You will not be disappointed, even if you do not like Francis Bacon’s work. Until the exhibit I had only seen a small fraction of Bacon’s output and was, at best, somewhat disturbed by it. Interestingly, The Met bills the exhibit as “a reevaluation of the artist’s work in light of a range of new interpretations and archival materials that have emerged since his death in 1992″. Regardless of whose interpretation you feel most inclined to accept, it’s clear that Bacon was very artistically erudite, drawing upon numerous classical references. Further, his personal experiences, especially becoming a young adult in war torn Britain of the 1940s, had tremendous impact on his vision of humanity (or lack thereof). I suspect also that a number of his significant works reflected his tongue-very-much-in-cheek attitude at the art establishment, British society and the church.

So, enough said. Check out the exhibit if you possibly can. It features over 60 of Bacon’s original works and lots more accompanying material. The exhibit, Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective end on August 16, 2009. So, be quick, you only have a week to go, and The Met is the only U.S. location for this vast exhibit of Bacon’s work.

Image above: Painting by Francis Bacon, 1946, courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.