Art Association’s “Talk About Art” returns
From staff reports
The Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) “Talk About Art” series opens its 2016 season Sunday, Jan. 17 in conversation with Fox Television animator Jim Feeley. The interview begins at 2 p.m. at the GAAA, 6031 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor. There is no charge.
Feeley helped create the Fox cult classic “Family Guy.” In 2004, he joined the creative team behind “American Dad,” the animated adventures of Stan Smith, a CIA dad with a peculiar family, which includes a junk food-loving alien named Roger who he picked up at Area 51 and has been harboring ever since. Feeley, a Traverse City dad of three daughters and no aliens, will talk Jan. 17 about doodling in the margins of his school papers and how that distraction evolved into a creative career during the golden age of television animation.
“Talk About Art,” now in its eighth year, is a series of conversational interviews with area artists and makers. The series moves this year to Sunday afternoons from its traditional Thursday evening time slot. The 2016 interviews continue with:
Jerry Gretzinger: For more than 30 years Cedar artist Jerry Gretzinger has been mapping Ukrania, an imaginary place he began envisioning in the 1980s. Using simple tools and humble materials – recycled pasteboard, colored pencils, acrylic paint, magazine images – Gretzinger has created and charted a world comprised of more than 3,000 8” X 10 “ card panels, which cover an estimated 1,500 square feet. Sections of Jerry’s Map have been exhibited in galleries from Frankfort, Michigan, to Paris, France, with many stops along the way. Gretzinger will talk about the project that has sustained his creative focus for three-plus decades on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2 p.m.
Lauren Everett Finn: Honor, Mich., painter Lauren Everett Finn set a goal of painting 100 flower bouquets in 2016. She saw the project as a way to challenge herself by imposing limits on her subject matter. The concept of working in a series is a time-honored practice for studio artists who want to explore a subject deeply and thoroughly. Finn works in both representational and abstract subjects, with acrylic paint and mixed media collage. She’ll talk about her work and how this series has helped her stretch her creative muscles on Sunday, March 20, 2 p.m.
Joan Richmond: Traverse City painter Joan Richmond spent Spring 2015 as a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. This immersive, month-long experience was built around her plan to walk in the footsteps of Jean-Baptiste Corot, a pivotal figure in mid-19th Century landscape painting; then paint with some of his iconic subjects using 21st Century tools from the perspective of a modern artist. Richmond will discuss her working Roman holiday, why an artist undertakes a residency, its benefits, and the ways in which it can influence one’s practice on Sunday, April 24, 2 p.m.
“Talk About Art” interviews are free of charge. For more information about the series, please call the GAAA, 231-334-6112.
