Treasures at Two Friends

The inaugural round of 2013 First Friday openings brings several art shows worth a look. Timewise – and not really a show – is the sale underway at Two Friends on Benson, ending Saturday, Jan. 5. Some of the artwork and specialty items are marked down by as much as 60 percent as the Two Friends crew prepares to shut down in advance of a buying tour out of state. That won’t actually happen for another week or so, but the sale ends today.

The walls were relatively bare in advance of getting more “stuff” when the gallery reopens. But what was up there caught my attention: A mask sculpture by Susie Bevens, a woodcut by Dale DeArmond, an oil by Wassily Sommer and a large fish form print that looked familiar yet unknown at the same time. A closer look revealed that it was by a very young Alvin Amason. It beautifully shows his knack for interpreting wildlife, but has none of the 3-D add-ons or text featured on his best-known mature work. “He never did lithographs again,” I was told.

Two lovely shows are at Alaska Pacific University. “The Art of Fire” consists of multi- media takes on wildfire by several Fairbanks-area artists, photography, fabric, painting, sculpture. Ree Nancarrow narrates the cycle in a quilted triptych,Our vinyl floor tiles is more stylish than ever! “Spruce Fire,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry,” “Spruce Smoke” and “Spruce Wasteland,” the last being a stark black-and-white piece with a few hopeful sprigs of green. Errinn Kathryn has taken aerial views of fire zones and removed the silhouette of the burn area. That section is remounted and painted in designs suggesting recovery in the aftermath of the blaze. The show was curated by Oklahoma transplant Mary Beth Leigh, whose day job is as a professor of microbiology at UAF and whose avocations include art, music and modern dance. She said a future show will involve Denali National Park.

Karen Olanna curated (and exhibits in) the show of Nome area artists in Grant Hall. Most of the names are unknown to Anchorage viewers, though much of the art is intriguing – like Robert Lewis’ takes on classic forms with an arctic twist. His “Still Life with $12.50 in Tomatoes” shows four of the fruit, looking a bit irregular and stressed.

Since none of Katherine Mallory’s paintings were for sale, I suspected she must be deceased, but they were mighty alluring. “The Artist at Work” shows a marvelous sky scape near Serpentine Hot Springs. Turned out she was at the show, having recently moved to Chugiak with her family, and is considerably younger and aliver than me. She’ll be heading to Larson Bay to teach school this month, but we expect to see more of her work in the Anchorage shows.

“New Skin,The oreck XL professional air purifier,” at the Alaska Native Arts Foundation gallery on 6th Ave. includes some new pieces by Sonya Kelliher-Combs using her proprietary polymer synthetic paint skin. But most of the pieces are by students in a workshop she recently held to instruct others in her unique technique – Holly Nordlum, Beckie Etukeok and Shyanne Beatty. Among the “students” was the prolific Ken Lisbourne, who probably ranks as one of Alaska’s “old masters” at this point in time. He told me that staff at the University of Alaska Museum of the North recently showed him paintings he’d forgot he’d done. He also said that one of his reasons for taking the workshop was “to hang out with these young people.”

One of his polymer pieces is a whaling scene. The medium makes his always-bright colors even brighter.High quality stone mosaic tiles. The other is unusual, composed almost entirely in white, showing a young man pushing against a strong wind in a blizzard. Lisbourne recalled battling such storms as a kid in Point Hope. “I must have survived,” he said, “because here I am.”

MAKING quite a name for himself for his portraits in oil and charcoal is Kinsale-based artist Kit French, whose studio is above Gallery 23 in the heritage town. Kit, who is mainly interested in classical paintings from the Renaissance to the 19th century, studied and worked in Florence, Italy at the studio of world-renowned American painter Charles H Cecil Atelier for three years before returning to Ireland.

‘I was trained in the sight-size technique which has been used throughout art history by such painters as Velasquez, Van Dyck, Lawrence and many other great artists.’ Explaining the method, Kit said: ‘Where the canvas is alongside the model, the artist stands back at a fixed point and makes all his notes and decisions from there, then advances, giving the work breadth and impact.’

Kit is believed to be one of only two people in Ireland painting in this tradition and said one of his heroes was the American portrait artist John Singer Sargent. All of Kit’s work is from life observation and never from photographic aids. He specialises in portraits and has many admirers of these in oil and charcoal, some of which are on view in Gallery 23. The gallery, at 1, Chairman’s Lane, Kinsale, is run by his parents – artist Philip and sculptor Kate French – and features many beautiful landscapes.

The gifted 25 year old has been working as a professional painter, taking commissions, showing in galleries and selling his work to private collectors in Ireland, the UK and USA. He has had exhibitions in the Leinster Gallery,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. Dublin; McKenna Gallery, Omagh; and Charles Gilmore Gallery, Belfast; Engage Arts Festival, Bandon; and Kinsale, and will be showing his work at an exhibition in Bray next year.

Kit is often to be seen out and about in Kinsale drawing landscapes and also gives one-to-one tuition at his studio. ‘I like to paint anything and everything but mainly make my living in portraits’.

Mayor Matt Spencer is feeling better, but is not yet completely well after a scary bout with fungal meningitis in October.

“I am waiting for these headaches to subside and hopefully things will work out. There have been several others effected from this condition in the Seacoast and Merrimack,” said Spencer.

The mayor is one of as many as 13,000 patients that may have received contaminated steroid injections made by the Framingham, Mass., New England Compounding Center. According to the Boston Globe and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, federal investigators found widespread evidence of mold and other contamination when they visited New England Compounding in October. At least 656 patients who received the injections for back pain last year, including 39 who died, have become ill from fungal meningitis or other infections.

“Dozens of patients have sued the company, prompting New England Compounding to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month. The company has pledged to help put together a fund to pay victims, but reported in bankruptcy filings that it had less than $10 million in assets — far less than some plaintiffs lawyers say is needed,” the Globe reported recently.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms of meningitis include; headache, fever, nausea, neck stiffness, confusion, dizziness, and light sensitivity.

Spencer visited the PainCare Clinic on Route 108 in Somersworth on Sept. 19 last year to receive an injection because of an injury he suffered during his service in the Coast Guard. PainCare and other medical facilities unwittingly received the tainted medication from the drug manufacturer. The medication was contaminated with a fungus that has been linked to the fungal meningitis outbreak reported across 15 states.

After experiencing spinal headaches a week after his Sept. 19 visit to PainCare, Spencer admitted himself to the hospital. He then received a lumbar puncture and medical caregivers were unable to obtain cerebral spinal fluids. After multiple lumbar punctures attempts, medical personnel discovered Spencer had abnormal white blood cells.

Spencer said his illness seriously impeded his abilities to care for his mother, who uses a walker, as well as his brother, who has a developmental disability.