WSG artist, Valerie Mann, is keynote speaker, visiting artist at Saline High School

Gallery artist Valerie Mann was the keynote speaker and art project facilitator for the 1st ever "Art Day" at Saline High School, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. The art career day was organized by 2 moms who have daughters interested in art careers and/or interested in keeping art a vibrant part of their lives, if they major in another subject. Mann spoke to them about managing their 2 most important assets, their health and identities, to prepare for whatever career they choose. She encouraged them to find ways to manage stress in their lives, and added that making art was one way to do that. Her message of "art is really about problem-solving" was intended to open the students' minds to the importance of making art a part of their lives.
After her keynote speech, the students broke into 3 groups, rotating between a hands-on public art project with Mann, a panel discussion with recent Saline grads who've gone on to study art in college, and a "getting into art school" discussion with a few college reps. Read more and see the photos at this link: http://www.annarbor.com/news/saline-high-schoolers-explore-a-future-in-art/

Art Fair news for WSG artists

As you venture out into the streets for Art Fair this week, look for WSG landscape painter Karin Coron Wagner at the South University portion of the fairs. Her spectacular landscapes will take you somewhere else and you'll have to take one home!
http://www.wagnercoronart.com

When Friday rolls around and you're ready for a slower-paced break from downtown Ann Arbor, head on out to charming downtown Dexter, 15 min. from downtown A2, to Valerie Mann's reception at The Side Door Gallery http://www.thesidedoorgallery.com

Gallery Artists at U of M Hospitals' Gifts of Art program

Gallery artists Norma Penchansky-Glasser and Valerie Mann have work at University of Michigan Hospitals right now as a part of the Gifts of Art program. Penchansky-Glasser's bronze figures and Mann's Evening Bags for the Midwestern Woman Series will be on display through June 13, 2011. Find out the details: http://www.med.umich.edu/goa/exhibits.htm

"Faces" goes up at WSG

Look in the windows at WSG the next couple of days, and you might see gallery members Norma Penchansky-Glasser and Nora Venturelli carefully arranging and hanging the new show "Faces". This show features self-portraits by gallery owners/artists in all the different ways they've interpreted self. (Also, Steve Coron's Community High School art students will have work featured in the current show.)

Above is Valerie Mann's self-portrait "Self-Portrait, 43" in one stage of its development. The piece is on re-purposed maple plywood, drawn and routed out with a Dremel tool at the stage above. The finished piece has had an encaustic treatment painted onto it and it's been scraped down so that the black encaustic is almost solely in the carved-out lines.

Stop by the gallery when the show opens Tuesday at noon to see all the pieces! The reception for this show is Friday, March 4, 6-9pm. Join us!