The 2012 Flatbush Artists’ Studio Tour will take place on Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20 from noon to 6:00 p.m. in Ditmas Park, one of New York City’s most architecturally interesting and historic neighborhoods.
Established contemporary artists will welcome visitors into their homes and studios, most of which are located in century-old Victorian houses surrounded by gardens and an arboretum of leafy trees. This will be the group’s third studio tour with previous tours having attracted hundreds of visitors.
The free event will showcase artists working in a variety of media. Visitors will have the chance to both see and collect art and talk to the artists about their work. In some of the studios, artists will also give demonstrations. Many of the studios will host more than one artist.
The range of both art and artists is diverse and includes acrylic and oil painting, carved sculpture from fallen neighborhood trees, drawings, mixed media, collage, polished abstract frescoes, photography from international locations, Japanese ink brush painting and artisanal jewelry made from precious metals, gems and ethnic beads.Three of the artists who will be participating are Olivia Jackson, Paul Catalonotto, Zane Treimanis, Arturo Garcia and Olivia Jackson.
Paul Catalanotto has reinvented the ancient art of frescoes to express his abstract compositions. While paint was applied over fresh plaster in ancient frescoes, Catalanotto uses his 17 years of experience as an artisan plasterer to mix colors into the plaster itself and apply it in successive layers of color in a sequence that parallels the light spectrum and the progressive realms of the earth.
Zane Treimanis’ sculptures radiate a lively, playful energy regardless whether she is working in natural wood tones, color or black and white. Her sculptures are composed of many pieces of wood that are cut on a bandsaw and nailed or glued in a grid to form vibrant abstract forms drawn from the natural world.
Treimanis says that because the bandsaw allows her to fluidly cut highly detailed shapes, it has become a close companion in her artistic journey. Recently she has been exploring racial differences and commonalities using different shades of wood to express her ideas. She exhibited these new sculptures in her 30-year retrospective exhibition at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists’ Coalition last fall. Many of these sculptures and others will be on display at her Victorian home.
Arturo Garcia is trained in the school of Classical Realism painting, a school that requires mastery of anatomy, botany and light as well as the structure of ordinary objects. His paintings have an extraordinary clarity that is simultaneously classic and very modern. Born in Mexico City, his family moved to Barcelona while he was a young boy where he fell in love with the paintings of the Spanish masters and knew he wanted to be a painter.
Garcia has also won several coveted fellowships to study landscape painting with the Hudson River School Fellowship. His art has won numerous awards.
Olivia Jackson creates powerful collages that distill vivid images; often from her own life and family. Her collages are a synthesis of paper and computer art. After creating the paper collage, Jackson scans the image and uses the computer to alter and enhance background colors and textures.
Jackson has a BA in art and is currently studying art at Cooper Union. Her work has been exhibited at the Clinton Hill Gallery.
Location: Victorian Flatbush is located in the heart of Brooklyn, just a few blocks south of Prospect Park. Transportation is easy and direct. BUS: B68, B16, B35, and several other buses.
Subway: Q train to Beverley Rd., Cortelyou Rd. or Newkirk Plaza CAR: Parking is plentiful
