Artist Statements from the
Flights of Fancy
January 2010 exhibit STATEMENT During the three decades I drew political cartoons for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I also dabbled Sunday-painter style at watercolors, oils and acrylics -- old stores, landscapes, a portrait or two. All quite serious -- and really dull. I showed some to my friend, Pittsburgh artist Bob Qualters. Bob has hefty credentials: The Carnegie Museum has bought one of his paintings. Holding up a landscape, he said, like professor to student, “Well, it doesn’t look like you’re having much fun.” His critique was perfect After several more years of landscapes I had an epiphany: Paint what I like and paint how I draw. In the fall of 2006, I was invited to be part of the annual “Gestures” exhibit at the Mattress Factory Art Museum here. I said I would not lug in a batch of cartoons and the museum said, “Excellent.” I did an installation piece: a fake travel agency with my version of those lovely, funky art-deco travel posters. One of mine showed figures slogging through a drizzle, which I titled “London”. But then I thought why pick on London? Pittsburgh and my old hometown Seattle are just as rainy, so I renamed it “Chutney” -- and one of those cartoon thought-balloon light bulbs clicked on. Cartoonists fret over coming up with the perfect idea, as cartoony beads of sweat fly off their brow. When they get one, six more burst forth. The creative process is rarely smooth, but rather lurches along taking this turn and that, hitting roadblocks and icy patches before bursting onto a smooth stretch. The German painter Max Ernst said, and this can apply to any of us, “All good ideas arrive by chance.” I now have folders crammed with thumbnail sketches, rough drawings, scribbles, doodles, notes, ideas and topics. Chutney has lead to other oddball and fanciful places you’ll see in this show, but alas, we will never be able to reach -- Theos, Sirenia, Dahnnere ... Or will we?BIO Tim Menees drew cartoons for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for thirty years. He grew up in Seattle, graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in political science, served as an Air Force officer, then wrote for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He moved to Pittsburgh in 1976. His work appeared in the national newspapers and newsmagazines, cartoon anthologies, and on network TV. He drew three syndicated comic strips, and among his fans was Susan Ford who gave a drawing to her dad, the President. He wrote and illustrated a weekly column for the newspaper, as well as feature stories, including accounts of his 24-hour visit inside Pittsburgh’s old Western Penitentiary, a week aboard a Great Lakes freighter and a two-part series on the arts in prison. In October 2008, the Duquesne Club published a book of his cartoons about a strikingly similar institution, Ye Olde Steele City Clubbe, and celebrated its publication, and his work, with a dinner. In addition to his representation at GalleriE Chiz, and this summer at Pilar Shephard Gallery in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, he has shown his cartoons and paintings at the Andy Warhol Museum, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Wintergarden at PPG Place, Carson Street Gallery and Maine’s Port Clyde Arts and Crafts Society Gallery. The New Works Festival chose his one-act play Father Figure for a seated reading, and picked his children’s one-act play Rex The Mighty Hunter for a full stage production. His one-acts Boots on the Ground, and this past May Lionel Lines, have been included in short-play festivals at the First Stage Theatre in Los Angeles. He is married and has a son and a daughter. He has taught creative writing at a state prison, and plays piano and accordion in a blues-zydeco band that has opened for, among others, the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Roseanne Cash and Marcia Ball.BIO Patty Gallagher, a member of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh since the 1980’s, was born in Ireland and raised in Pittsburgh. She creates art in a variety of mediums, such as costume, performance, installation, photography, video and new media. Her international exhibits have been in Ireland, Great Britain and Canada, and, nationally, she has shown in Denver, Chicago, Portland, OR, Berkeley, CA, and Mesa, AZ. Gallagher’s costumed ladies have appeared locally at The Frick, The Warhol, CMU, the Westmoreland Museum, the Carnegie Museum and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. In addition, her window installations have been featured at the Warhol and other storefronts provided by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. Selected group exhibitions included the Torpedo Factory in the Washington, D.C. area, the Dairy Barn in Athens, Oh, and locally at Studio Z, Concept Gallery, GALLERIE CHIZ, and Three Rivers Arts Festival. She was also a featured artist at the Wood Street Gallery’s Year of American Crafts in 1993. Awards include the “Award of Excellence” at the Dairy Barn, a one person exhibition at the Westmoreland Museum of Art (2005), and numerous juror awards at the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh annual exhibits, as well as at juried shows at Studio Z and Youngstown State University. Her work has been purchased by the Hoyt Institute of Fine Art and, in 2000, she was awarded a foundation grant for excellence in art by The Pittsburgh Foundation. Her costumes have been published by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Ornament Magazine, Threads Magazine, Fiberarts Magazine, Fiberarts Design Book Six, and Kennedy Publication’s The Best of American Artists (mixed media). |
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| For More Information Contact: Ellen Chisdes Neuberg, Owner/Director GalleriE CHIZ 5831 Ellsworth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15232 Tel: 412-441-6005 FAX: 412-661-5662 Internet: galchiz@hotmail.com |
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