Arts & Literature

WAM! The Wesleyan Artist Market Goes Virtual in 2021- Julian Tablada Spotlight

Published

4 years ago

April 16, 2021

Patrizia Winsper

Artist Julian Tablada loves to capture memories on his travels. Photo courtesy of Julian Tablada.

Giving precedence to health and safety, the Wesleyan Artist Market is adhering to COVID-19 protocols.

But instead of having to cancel like last year when the pandemic took the world by surprise, this year they’ve had the marvelous idea of using technology to allow a contactless experience.

In the season’s spirit of renewal and rebirth, I present to you the Wesleyan Artist Market, reimagined.

We won’t be deprived of the fine arts, wares and jewelry we’ve all come to look forward to each spring, and 82 professional artists will be able to share their works while bolstering Wesleyan’s admirable art program. Win! Win! Win!

Mark your calendars for April 22 – 29. The show is being hosted by Shopify and will go live to the public at 4pm on the 22nd. Go to wesleyan-artist-market-2021.myshopify.com and enjoy the show!

Julian Tablada

Wanderlust

Does your journal look like anything like this? Neither does mine!

Sketches of Chora, Ios, pen and ink with watercolor from Julian Tablada’s sailing journal.

Whose does, you ask? These are pages from retired architect Julian Tablada’s travel journal. “I’ve always had the habit of carrying a journal to sketch as I experience new places. That’s how I understand the journey, nature and the built environment,” Tablada said.

Whether for work or pleasure, Tablada travels with his journal and his watercolor box on a quest to capture new surroundings.

Up for the watercolor challenge

Tablada selected his mediums of choice — pen, ink and watercolor paint — because he likes how they are easily transportable, and they allow him to capture his environs quickly during his voyages. In stark contrast to the precision and control required in designing architecture, he likes the fact that using watercolor requires a certain abandon to the will of the paint.

Jekyll Sands, watercolor by Julian Tablada.

“Watercolor paint can be quite difficult. It’s a challenge. It has a very dynamic quality; in some ways it wants to do its own thing,” Tablada said. “It allows for spontaneity which is harder to get with other mediums.”

A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind –Webb Chiles

A passion for seafaring has Tablada teaching sailing lessons at the lake and naturally being drawn to coastal locations around the world: The Virgin Islands, the Caribbean, Italy, Greece. One of his favorite places to paint is the low country.

Liberty, pen, ink and watercolor by Julian Tablada.

“Years ago, I fell in love with coastal South Carolina and Georgia marsh scenes,” the artist revealed.

Behind him during our Zoom interview, I could see some of his current work underway — paintings of the Gulf Coast. Tablada captures the simplistic landscape beautifully.

“A coastal, maritime topic is what I’m focusing on now,” Tablada said. “When we’re at a beach or a harbor, the kids and my wife know to watch me. I may be walking and sketching at the same time. I get a lot of things down very quickly using whatever is available. It might be a sketch of sea water or wine from lunch,” Tablada recounted.

Some of his paintings are a combination of memories, so they’re not specific. But most of them are of a particular scene or place.

A symbiotic back and forth

While a background in architecture allows Tablada to instinctively understand proportions and space, there is unquestionably a shift from left brain to right brain activity as he transitions from architect to artist. Tablada describes it as a symbiotic back and forth.

“I’m not classically trained at all. I’ve always drawn, my mother painted. I have sketched, painted and played with art as a hobby. Going into architecture, it was a talent that helped me. I’ve always kept that artistic side to myself as something that I do for my own enjoyment. Now I can focus my time on being a full-time artist,” Tablada beamed.

Tools of the trade

French 140-pound watercolor paper is Tablada’s preference. He likes the cold press as it provides a little texture and pebbling. “When you look at a watercolor, you might see pools of dark paint or skimps where there isn’t paint, a technique to bring out highlights. The textured paper allows that to happen,” Tablada explained.

As for paints, Tablada enjoys Winsor & Newton. “They go back centuries; they’re professional grade watercolors, liquid in a tube. I like the brilliance of the color and the ease of using them. They come in small tubes that are easy to travel with,” he noted.

Growing pains

Having worked for years in a small 7” x 9” notebook, creating larger paintings is proving to be task. “It’s really easy to paint in the notebook,” Tablada said. “I’ve been working this past year to go larger. I’ve experimented going double the size. When you scale up to 24” x 30”, your technique has to change to get the same effect,” Tablada shared.

Going bigger is proving to be a task. Small pieces can be completed in as little as 3 to 10 minutes. Capturing that same fluidity and rapidity in his larger work can be evasive.

Purchase Julian Tablada watercolors

“I’m thrilled and it is an honor when someone shares the love of the subject matter and likes my work enough that they want to purchase it and bring into their office or their home,” Tablada revealed.

You may find his works on display in Alpharetta, at Wild Hope Gallery on Holcomb Bridge Road. Be sure to look him up during the Wesleyan Artist Market.

Also find him at julianwatercolors.com and on Instagram, @JulianWatercolors.

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Patrizia Winsper

Patrizia hails from Toronto, Canada where she earned an Honors B.A. in French and Italian studies at York University, and a B.Ed. at the University of Toronto. This trilingual former French teacher has called Georgia home since 1998. She and her family have enjoyed living, working and playing in Peachtree Corners since 2013.

Around Atlanta

The High Museum to Showcase “Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind”

Published

1 week ago

December 12, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Oil on paper artwork by Terry Winters. A large red circle with smaller blue circles on top of it and gold/yellow accents. All of it on a dark brown background.

The special exhibition of the Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection will run January 17 through May 25, 2025

In the mid-1970s, artist and Georgia State University professor Medford Johnston, along with his wife and collaborator Loraine, began collecting works by artists who were in the vanguard of contemporary art. Today, they hold one of the finest collections of postwar American drawings and related objects of its kind, now numbering more than 85 works.

In 2025, the High Museum of Art will present Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection, featuring their collected works, which is a promised gift to the museum. Featuring artists such as Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Elizabeth Murray, Martin Puryear, Ed Ruscha, Al Taylor, Anne Truitt, Stanley Whitney and Terry Winters, among others, the exhibition will demonstrate how establishing the parameters of an art collection requires infinite patience, focus, discipline and a keen eye.

“The Johnstons have been friends of the High for a very long time. They’ve also built an impressive collection featuring works by many of the 20th century’s most significant abstract artists,” said the High’s Director Rand Suffolk. “We are honored that they have promised to leave their collection to the Museum where it will be preserved for future generations — and we are delighted that they are sharing it with our audiences now, hopefully inspiring the next generation of art collectors and supporters.”

A curated collection

The Johnstons’ story is a testament to, in the words of the High’s Wieland Family Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Michael Rooks, “knowing the difference between what is right and what is almost right” when building a collection.

Although the Johnstons acquired several paintings and objects when they first began collecting in 1972, they quickly narrowed their focus to drawing, primarily by artists working on the frontlines of abstraction in the mid-1960s during a time of great innovation and experimentation.

Ink drawing by Anne Truitt, rectangular lines and shapes made with black ink on off-white background — Anne Truitt (American, born 1921), *Ink Drawing ’59 [11]*, 1959, ink on paper, The Johnston Collection. © Estate of Anne Truitt / The Bridgeman Art Library / Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Rooks added, “Med and Loraine’s collection struck me at once by its single-minded focus on a specific moment in time, which was essentially the time of their contemporaries. The artists in their collection are like close friends to the Johnstons — in fact many are or were. What is equally astonishing about the collection is the Johnstons’ dogged pursuit of quality. Their in-depth knowledge of each artist’s practice combined with their understanding of specific qualities to look for — or more appropriately, to hold out for — will be a revelation to emerging collectors.”

The Johnstons have built their collection with the High in mind as the benefactor of their passion and discernment. For them, their collection “is a labor of love, pursued over more than 50 years, and we are delighted to be able to help the High Museum document and celebrate these important artists working during the same decades as our lives.”

About the exhibit

Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection will be presented in the Special Exhibition Galleries on the second level of the High’s Stent Family Wing.

The exhibit is organized by the High Museum of Art and made possible through the generosity of sponsors:

Premier Exhibition Series Sponsor Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Premier Exhibition Series Supporters Mr. Joseph H. Boland, Jr., The Fay S. and W. Barrett Howell Family Foundation, Harry Norman Realtors and wish Foundation
Benefactor Exhibition Series Supporters Robin and Hilton Howell
Ambassador Exhibition Series Supporters Loomis Charitable Foundation and Mrs. Harriet H. Warren
Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters Farideh and Al Azadi, Mary and Neil Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones, Megan and Garrett Langley, Margot and Danny McCaul, Wade A. Rakes II and Nicholas Miller and Belinda Stanley-Majors and Dwayne Majors.

Support has also been provided by the Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund and USI Insurance Services.

About the High Museum of Art

Located in the heart of Atlanta, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs.

Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 19,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from prehistory through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper.

The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process.

For more information about the High or to purchase tickets, visit high.org.

Top image: (from the collection) Terry Winters (American, born 1949), Orb, 2020, oil on paper, The Johnston Collection. © Terry Winters, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Around Atlanta

City Springs Theatre Company Presents the Hit Musical Jersey Boys

Published

6 months ago

July 3, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

The megahit musical Jersey Boys is making its regional premiere with the City Springs Theatre Company in a five-week run.

The megahit musical Jersey Boys makes its regional premiere in City Springs Theatre Company’s (CSTC) first-ever, five-week run at the Byers Theatre in Sandy Springs.

Directed by Atlanta’s-own Shane DeLancey, and choreographed by Meg Gillentine, Jersey Boys tells the rags-to-riches story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The show details their remarkable journey from the streets to the top of the charts, to their 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Leading the cast of Jersey Boys is Haden Rider as Frankie Valli. Rider is a City Springs Theatre Company veteran, with recent roles in both Legally Blonde (Emmett) and Fiddler on the Roof (Perchik).

Presented by Resurgens Spine Center, Jersey Boys runs from July 12 through August 11, and shines a special spotlight on home-grown talent, as the show’s four leading men are all Atlanta-area residents.

With phenomenal music, memorable characters and great storytelling, Jersey Boys follows the fascinating evolution of four blue-collar kids who became one of the greatest successes in pop-music history.

“City Springs Theatre Company is very proud to be the first in the southeast region to present Jersey Boys,” said CSTC Artistic Director and Tony Award-winner Shuler Hensley. “Our audiences have been asking for this particular show since we opened. The production is truly stacked with talent onstage and off, and we’re pulling out all the stops to bring audiences an experience that will rival any previous version of the show.”

Jersey Boys premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2005, prior to its 13-year Broadway run, from 2005 to 2017. There have been productions of the show in Las Vegas, UK/Ireland, Toronto, Melbourne, Singapore, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Dubai and China.

Jersey Boys features a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, and lyrics by Bob Crewe.

Individual tickets to see Jersey Boys are on sale now ($42 – $108), with discounts for seniors, students, groups and active and retired military personnel.

CSTC’s Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Call 404-477-4365 or visit CitySpringsTheatre.com for more information.

This production contains adult language and is recommended for mature audiences.

Performance schedule:

Arts & Literature

Local Students Show Off Their Artistic Creations

Published

7 months ago

June 2, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Courtney Escorza, Colleen Nikopour, Laura Hwang, Jennifer Jackson, Norcross. Laura ELizabeth Martin, Payton Hirschmann, Paul Duke HS

From May 11 through May 18, the Norcross Gallery & Studios kicked off a fantastic exhibition, Reflections at Rectory, which showcased the works of 36 rising stars: AP and IB art students from our local high schools.

The opening reception celebrated their creativity and dedication. Gallery director Anne Hall presented a dozen awards generously sponsored by the community, a testament to the local support for these young artists.

One prestigious award, the Terri Enfield Memorial Award, holds special significance.

Established by Terri’s daughters, it recognizes not just artistic excellence, but also leadership, work ethic and the spirit of collaboration. Last year’s winner, Aidan Ventimiglia, even played a part in selecting this year’s recipient Jasmine Rodriguez.