PUMPKIN CARVING at Zahra's Studio

Go to Zahra's Studio in October and carve some pumpkins!!! Check out all Beacon's Harvest month events at beaconarts.org

The Faeries are flying to Beacon!

Picture this: A beautiful raven hair woman is walking through the thick of the woods. It's almost twilight, it's a little misty. The bats just started to come out from their daytime slumber, and the crows are nesting down to sleep in the darkness. You see the woman walking towards you. She is astonishing, her hair seems to sparkle in the night air. Her dress is layers and layers of the thinnest fabric that seems to have been woven by pixies. Her eyes are so piercing that for a minute when she turns around you think your eyes aren't focused. Or, maybe it's the night approaching and the shadows are playing tricks on you. You then focus and realize you ARE seeing correctly, wings.
Zahra's Studio Gallery is more than proud to present Finding Faerie: the Fantasy art of Janîce M. Leotti from October 1st to November 15th. Opening reception will be Saturday, October 11th, 6 to 10 pm. We have all sorts of events for you for the evening. Roland Capalbo will read from his new book, The Dragon & the Faerie featuring Jaince's artwork on the cover.http://www.rolandcap.com/ Musical guests The Gentling will play beginning around 8:30 p.m. We will have Faerietinis. The Groovy Baker will be providing Faerie Cakes. This show is a must see because of the sheer talent that Janice brings to the table. Come a party with us and support the local art scene. This is going to be a magickal show.Janice's bio and artist statement is below, make sure you read it.
See you at the party

(I'll be the one with the wings)
Vanessa Tellez
Zahra's Studio Gallery Curator
zahrastudio.com
Bio
Janîce M. Leotti has always been inspired by the20faerie folk. Hermother has pictures she painted when she was five years old of faerieswith glitter trailing their skirts and star wands. However, it wasn'tuntil her late teens that she became conscious of them. On herseventeenth birthday, she was given a copy of "Faeries" by Brian Froudand Alan Lee. She hid the book between her math and English books, andthroughout the school day poured over every page, not hearing a wordher teachers said. She didn't know what to do with this newinformation, so s he went on to paint portraits. After a while, shenoticed every time she painted a little girl or boy or wife of awealthy patron, or the wealthy patron himself, she had the urge togive them pointy ears. It was then she knew the path she shouldfollow, and she's been painting and sculpting images of faerie eversince.
Janîce is fascinated by the Celtic Wheel Of The Year myth, and one ofher first paintings, "Birth of the Sun King" or "Yule Goddess"inspired by that myth, became popular greeting cards among those whowish to celebrate the holidays with an emphasis on nature. Herinspiration comes from everywhere, as seen in her painting, "Alas PoorYorik," which gives the Shakespeare quote a little jolt. To date, herimages have been licensed by Heaven & Earth Designs, Blue Moon Candlesand The Fairy Society. Her fantasy sculptures have been published inContemporary Doll Collector Magazine, American Mi niaturist Magazine,and Dollhouse Miniatures Magazine. She was recently interviewed by YeOlde Witches Brew online magazine for their 2008 Autumn Equinox issue.Currently, she sells her work on eBay and through her web site. InOctober 2008 she will have her first one woman show at Zahra's Studioin Beacon New York. Janîce lives on Long Island, New York with herhusband, Paul Bachem, who is an accomplished landscape painter.
Artist’s Statement:
I’ve alwa ys been fascinated by fantasy, myth and legend. I believethey are connected to the heart and soul of the human experiencebecause they involve the imagination, and imagination has alwaysintrigued me: why have one? Why were human beings given imagination?Since this question cannot (yet) be answered, my answer has alwaysbeen simple: to enjoy this precious gift.
Imagination is the beginning of everything we create in the sciences,math, architecture, government, philosophy, the arts—everything humanshave created began with the question “What if?”
This question has propelled me to explore fantasy, myth, legend andthe folktales of different cultures, and to use them as backgrounds tomy own creative impulses. Sometimes the effect will be pure sugar:something sweet for pure enjoyment. Other times the effect is moreprofound, urging me to explore deeper and darker questions. Eitherway, my art is=2 0affected by the world around, above and below me, andinspiration can come from anywhere. From the time I was a young girlthe wonders of this planet have soaked into me, and my hope is that myart brings enjoyment, sparks imagination, and gives wonder back to allwho view it.
J.M.LeottiWeb Site Faerie Moon Dream: http://www.faeriemoondream.com/eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Faerie-Moon-DreamWeb Site JM Leotti Dolls: http://www.jmleotti.com/Visit My Epilogue Gallery:http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/list.pl?gallery=14534E1E1,0505,E3E3Visit MyEBSQ Gallery:http://www.ebsqart.com/Artists/cmd_8130_profile_portfolio.htmD2D2,1313,FFFFReadMyspace: myspace.com/niragirlwww.myspace.com/niragirl8A8A,1515,FFFFRead MyLive Journal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/faeriemoondream
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Getting ready for Saturday!!!

Remember Oni Sakti's Opening Party is this Saturday at Zahra's Gallery in Beacon.
6-10 pm
496 Main St.
Beacon, NY
(845)838-6311

Here's a little upsetting news. The following is a post from Molly Crabapple's bulletin on myspace. It's something that everyone in the art scene should be sympathetic to as most of us do not have health insurance. Do what you can to help a fellow artist.


Awful news from the Dr. Sketchy's community. I'd appreciate if you guys could send your well wishes. As someone without health insurance myself, I know how devastating healthcare costs can be, particularly for a victim of a violent assault.Thank you,-Molly---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Katie Diamond ..Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 4:31 PMSubject: Dr.Sketchy's Portland - Model AttackedTo: Molly Crabapple ..Hi Molly,We've had a pretty upsetting event happen this past weekend here in Portland--my September model was attacked. Two men approached him around midnight on Friday, and started saying homophobic slurs to him, and then proceeded to beat him enough to concuss him and cause bleeding of the brain.You can read more about it here: http://news. mainetoday. com/updates/032723. htmlThis is, of course, very scary and outrageous. Already, local Portland queers and artists alike have rallied around what happened, and are doing their best to organize and educate, and the police are searching for the attackers.A close friend of our model has created a website -- healportland. com -- to let people know about our model's status, donate money (since he has no healthcare), and leave well-wishing messages. I was wondering if it would be possible to send this out to the Sketchy's list, so we could, at minimum, let our art community know what has happened.Thanks,Katie

September at Zahra's Studio Gallery

Silencio by
ONI SAKTI

September 1-30, 2008

OPENING
PARTY
Saturday,
September
13th

6-10 pm
496 Main St.
Beacon, NY
(845)
838-6311

The Party is
Free to the
Public

Prices range
from $10-$250
for Original
Artwork




East meets east. Oni Sakti is bringing his work to the easy coast. Zahra's Studio Gallery is more than proud to present SILENCIO by Oni Sakti for the month of September.
So if you had to order Oni's art in a restaurant it would be the Asian Sex Noir Fusion Entree with a side of fries. Well, maybe skip the fries and add a little fetish. You know how those fusion joints usually charge you $80 for a very beautiful plate of nothing; not the case here. The price list is more Blue Plate Special. Take a look at Oni Sakti's work at onisakti.com. He also has a myspace page. Can't wait to see all of you for our infamous opening parties!
Oni Sakti Is a multi-talented artist with 8 arms and eyes made out of coal. Most of Oni’s childhood was spent falling asleep in snow, watching old horror and sci-fi films, and hiding. Oni Attended a vocational high school where he studied data processing and graphic design, which is still present in his works today.After moving to Boston in 1996 Oni’s interest in photography started, working with various models and lighting techniques the roots to his artwork begun. In 1998 Oni started working on large mixed media pieces with acrylic paint, charcoal, and pen and ink pointillism. Once he worked out his technique with pointillism larger pieces started to appear. After some turbulence in 1999 Oni left Boston in favor for New York City where he started to send postcard sized originals to various galleries, 4 weeks later he was contacted for his first exhibit. 1999 Also saw the start of “The Book Of Ascension” and several recording projects.
2002 featured Oni at his height, doing 5 or 6 exhibits a month in 3 or 4 different states, starting Shinto Room Studios, and the “Bring The Noise” event (along with Shepard Fairey from Obey). At the highlight of his exhibitions Oni decided to no long show his work. In 2004 Oni started to rework his style and technique and worked on several commissions for collectors such as David Carridine, Aria Giovanni, Traci Lords and more.
Oni Sakti has exhibited his work in group and solo shows on both coasts, as well as some places in the middle, his work is in collections throughout Europe and Asia as well as the United States. Starting in 2007 Oni began to exhibit his work again, and he also finished his first book of writing, a 240+ page collection of surrealistic poetry and prose. 5 albums of his music were also released in 2007 and 3 more to be released in late 2008/early 2009.
Currently Oni is painting as always, working on several new albums under different project names, writing his second book of poetry, taking more photographs, compiling two books of his photography works, creating ACEO cards, avoiding talking about his work, and when able to, sleeping.

Well deserved press for an artist that just exhibited at Zahra's

Chris Pappan just exhibited at the gallery in July and August. His show was amazing and I was actually sad to send his work back. But I can't be selfish, I guess he has to show at other galleries. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I received a link for a review of a group show he was a part of, along with this wife Debra Yepa-Pappan. Follow this link http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/art-design/54711/transfusion, and you can read all about some of the talent that is out there in the world. Congratulations to the Pappans, and the other artists that were part of Transfusion. Keep an eye out for more news on the Pappans, they are a talented couple that will receive more praises from the art world. -Vanessa

My first day in the Blogging World!

Welcome all to my blog! I am the curator for Zahra's Studio Gallery in Beacon, NY. For those of you that haven't been to the gallery, I will give you a brief description of art that hangs on our walls.



We display Alternative artwork that is made by hand and eye. When I seek out artists my first question is the process in which it was created. If a computer was the MAIN tool in creating the work then I do decline it. I actively seek out original artists with talent of the mind, hand and soul. There is no bullshit when it comes to the subject matter. If it comes from an honest, talented, conceptual artist we are good to go!



Now, I suppose I should mention what "Alternative" means to me. It is usually sub-culture, many exhibits have a dark theme (not all but many). In the past some exhibits have been: Custom S&M paraphernalia, Restriction themed Porcelain, Straight-up Character Painting, Self-loathing expression, Tarot, Graffiti, Native American Porn Star Pop Art, Asian Fetish pen and ink, and much more. We are not limited to any particular type of medium or theme. As long as the artwork displays talent, work, and original thought we embrace it.



The reason I started this blog is to let people know that the Hudson Valley Art Scene is not just about landscapes and Dia. We are here in Beacon, we are strong of mind and integrity, and we invite you to come and join us!





I will post info about our art shows and links to the artists. Please visit our website zahrastudio.com. I invite any questions or inquiries. For any of you that what to know more about All of Beacon and not just our gallery please do check out maykr.com, his blog is pretty complete on the goings ons in Beacon.



Our next Art Opening is Saturday, September 13th, 6-10pm.

Silencio by Oni Sakti.

My next post will have all the info on his show and what the future will hold for the rest of 2008!



Thanks, Vanessa Tellez, Curator at Zahra's Studio Gallery