Exhibit: Barbara K. Herring

Barbara Herring has always been  one of my favorite painters

 at the Palette and Chisel for cityscapes like this one.

So neat - so orderly -  so gently upbeat - so lonely.

This is her first one woman show.

                                             

She handles these figures nicely, as well.

They're pleasant fellows

but also quite distant and anonymous,

each living in  his own world.

What city cyclist would not want to have this on his  wall?

There's something cheerful

even about this miserable situation

Young strangers conversing in a public place.

They certainly have a firm grasp

on their purses

Even the alleys and dumpsters are fresh, neat and orderly

in Barbara's world

The prices were  quite low at this  exhibition

and the sales were quite brisk.

A lot of people went home with a very good bargain. 

Weidner and Jacobson

Stephanie Weidner

Another great show from Stephanie and Errol 

 who seem to be pushing each other up  to greater heights 

even though their visions are so radically different.

Stephanie is unintentionally re-creating one of the more exciting chapters in Midwestern art -- the above piece bearing some resemblance to one of the Wisconsin Magical Realists:

John Wilde, "Still Life with Melons"

And Stephanie has that ability,

 especially rare among older artists, 

to dramatically improve 

from one painting to the next.

Here are two  examples of her treatment of a similar  subject

Guess which one came first.

It's just some pears on a piece of piece of printed cloth

but there certainly is some magic about it.

Stephanie has a story for this that has something to do with national politics.

It also works, however, just as a strange and wonderful vision.

Meanwhile Errol has been expanding his repertoire as well.

The above piece is almost as large

as its subject matter.

It was displayed on an easel 

making it more like a free standing object

than a window in the gallery wall.

A nice lonely feeling.

Errol's paintings feel as public as Stephanie's feel personal.

She's a Surrealist from seventy years ago;
he's an American-Scene-Regionalist
from the same era.

Which would condemn them as hopelessly outdated,
except that the current fashion for Dada
 dates back to the Cabaret Voltaire of 1916
while all conceptual appropriations
 date back to the Duchamp "Fountain" of 1917.

This is  Chicago -- at least as I know it.

Labor Day 2019

Roberta, a volunteer from the neighborhood, 

 is the best gate-keeper ever.

How the hell does Tony do it ?

On the last day of his show,  Tony demonstrated his technique.

 Having discovered the Ipad,
I'll never draw on paper again

 One knife is cutting onions -- another is being held to my throat.

Possibly this has something to do
with a foolish comment about "women's work"

The grill master
(and the only sculptor to have ever won
the Palette and Chisel Gold Medal award)

all photos by Del Hall

Courtyard Garden

Anyone who wept when Ruth Page tore down the ivy behind our fountain 

will be thrilled by this year’s floral installation,

All glory to the morning glory !!

Above we see the principal gardener at work.

He’s Audry Cramblit’s husband, John.