Weekend Art Report

First Light, Prambanan Temple Complex, Jogyakarta, Java, Indonesia

The weekend started off with the the Saturday "soft" opening of Maui's newest contemporary art gallery. Located in Kihei on Maui's south shore, Maui Art Hale promises to be a fantastic new showcase for emerging and established island artistic talent. With very little fanfare & publicity, Saturday's opening was respectably attended by artists, friends, family and island visitors alike. Things are coming together here very nicely and the reports I received from those in attendance were that the gallery looked amazing... the art hung beautifully and uncluttered. Kudos go out to owners & directors Ken Norris & Steve Rose for pulling off a really nice event. The collected work presently on display has a distinctive East-West flavor which suits me just fine and has sent me back to the image files for recent images from Asia collected during my visit at the end of last year - perfectly suited to work with the collection currently on display. The studio printer has been working overtime today, getting the new work ready for framing and exhibition. Look for announcements here & elsewhere for the real Grand Opening event, expected to be held sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Gallery Director Ken Norris welcomes guests to Maui Art Hale

Sunday afternoon brought the highly anticipated opening and artists reception of ART MAUI 2012. It's always challenging to gauge the show and the selected work during this event due to the crowd & heavy socializing going on. First impressions are that the show is well put together, most of the work selected of high quality and an amazingly uncluttered arrangement of the work on display thanks to the volunteer installation team headed by Joelle Perz.

The show runs though April 20th. 

Weekend Art Happenings

There's lots going on this weekend in the island's art community. Takes some time, venture out and explore what island artists have been up to...

Friday Evening, March 23rd:

A soft opening for what promises to be Maui's newest contemporary art gallery -  

MAUI ART HALE

95 E. Lipoa Street, #104 A

(located next to Fabiani's Bakery & Pizza)

Kihei, Maui

The Maui Art Hale opens tomorrow night, stop by for a peek at some Great Local Maui Contemporary Art and a have a toast with us if you are on Maui ...6-8pm tomorrow (Friday)

“The Maui Art Hale features contemporary works by local Maui Artists in a clean well lit environment that will showcase the Art as it will be seen in a contemporary setting”, is the way Senior Art Consultant Ken Norris, the Hale’s director of Art and Sales descibes the new venture. He adds, “This approach allows a complex work of Art to be seen the way the Artist envisioned.”

The first show at The Maui Art Hale will feature the paintings of South Maui Artist Kim Mosley. Ms. Mosley is well know on the Maui Art Scene for her sculptures and will for the first time showcase her paintings at the new Gallery.  Her paintings will be joined at The Maui Art Hale with photographs by Maui Photographer Tony Novak-Clifford and two new artists to the Maui Art Scene.

“Ken saw a need for a great space to showcase Art in South Maui . “The Maui Art Hale has long range plans to not only feature many contemporary Maui Artists both famous and upcoming but to also become a center for more Art awareness in South Maui and maybe some wonderful Music and Poetry happenings will also be added in the future”.

The Maui Art Hale is open Mon-Sun,  2PM  till Late Night!


Yes, having new gallery representation is South Maui is a good thing. The folks running the show here are still working on putting the finishing touches on the space and already it is looking sweet... simple, clean, uncluttered and well lit. The work on the walls has room to breathe. Tomorrow night will be a little sneak peak with bigger and more work & events things to come... drop in, see some new work, enjoy a glass of wine and engage with the art & artists on hand. I'll be there and hope to see you there too.

Here's a preview of a couple of the artists already on the roster:

Works by: Travis

Work by: Kim Mosley

Saturday, March 24th

It's that time of year again when Maui's most anticipated, juried exhibition ART MAUI rolls into the Schaefer International Gallery at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Jurying took place last weekend. The monumental task of weeding thru the mass of submitted work, this year, fell to one of the exhibition's founding members, professor emeritus and founding director of the University of Hawaii Art Gallery, Tom Klobe.

Always interesting, usually controversial, this year's show received 513 submitted works of art from 327 of the island's artists. From that work, 128 artists made the cut with 144 pieces selected for the exhibition.

I am happy to say that for the third year in a row, one of my two selected entries made the final cut.

Saturday at 2:00pm, the gallery will host a reception for the selected artists where we can mingle, be recognized and get a sneak peak at the show. The exhibition will officially open the following day and run through Friday, April 20th.

My selected work below:

A Bakers Half-Dozen

This morning's mission - full assault on the local bakery. Telling their story visually was an easy task when I'm surround by the smells of yeasty breads, pastries, and other delightful confections providing the internal inspiration. Staying out of their way as they busily prepared the day's goods was the hard part...

Finally! New Website Completed!

After over a month of daily effort, I'm happy to say that the new website update and galleries are, for all practical purposes, complete. At least complete for the time being... it's always an ongoing process trying to stay fresh and keep the best of the newest work up and on display.

A few screen shots: 

Opening/Home Page:

Architecture Gallery:        

                                                           

Interior Design:

                                                     

Food: 

                                               

And More Food:  

Lifestyle:  

Portrait:

                                           

Music:

            

Product/Still Life/Table Top:

  

Travel:   

                     

      

You can see the whole new site here: http://www.tonynovak-clifford.com   

Comments & feedback are most welcome.

Now it's on to getting the print folio printed and lashed together...

                                                                               

Monday, March 12

M dropped 'round the studio of friday to lend her curator's eye to new website layouts, offering several suggestions for pairings of verticals that made very good sense. Work continues getting together & uploading the last of the new images & layouts and with any luck at all, will be completed today. Took an afternoon meeting with CD @ InfoGrafik to determine a scheme & course of action for a new client's website. Shooting begins this afternoon... Scott & Don dropped by late in the afternoon to borrow the kit of focusing fresnels for a weekend video project.


Wet, chilly & windy weather kept us indoors for much of the weekend, 'cept for a short little gig in town on saturday morning. Artist & inspirator Tom Faught & his lovely bride dropped by the homestead for dinner later that evening. Spinach Salad w/ warm bacon dressing and a pasta made of caramelized onions, garlic, lemon juice, braised chard & roasted pine nuts were served up along with a couple of nice Pinots. Several pressing world problems were solved during the meal. 

Sunday brought drier weather though winds persisted. Best part of the day is the morning walk with Chester & members of the Giggle Hill Canine Social Club though many of the other usual suspects remained absent. Chester didn't mind at all...


After a short afternoon nap, a hearty pot of stew was lashed together & left to simmer as Chester & I took advantage of the dry skies and headed back down the hill for a late afternoon walk amongst picnickers and families enjoying the playgrounds and afternoon sunshine.


Rain & winds have returned this morning. Just as well, really... there's still plenty of indoor work to fill the working hours before today's shoot.

Agencies Share many Of the Same Issues We Do When Pitching Work...

Fantastic read this morning on the issues faced by Ad Agencies when pitching work to clients... it seems many overlap with the issues we face when pitching ourselves and our work to them... loss of IP, budget concerns, clients not understanding our business models, inordinate amounts of useless paperwork, RFP requests & fulfillment.


Of special note in the article are ideas that creatives & clients are entering a partnership, aiming for the start of a long & mutually beneficial relationship... 


I would encourage agencies to remember these very same points when it comes to dealing with the freelancers... we, too, wish to work together, form partnerships and provide work that is beneficial to not only the client, but to the agency brand and to our own businesses. 


Read it here: 

10 Ways To Fix The Agency Pitch Process

Paula Lerner 1960-2012

Being that today is International Women's Day it seems only fitting to mark the loss of Boston-based photojournalist Paula Lerner,  a tireless advocate for women everywhere and especially for the women of Afghanistan, tireless advocate for working photographers, founding member and former president of the Editorial Photographers group.


Though I didn't know her well, I had the opportunity to spend a few days meeting, talking & working with Paula many years ago. She was a close friend of my original mentor, Steven Minkowski. At the time of his untimely death, it was I who was handed the task of calling Paula in Boston to pass on the news. We've sporadically kept in touch over the years and I have followed her career ever since our first encounter. I remember seeing her images of Rwandan refugee camps on the cover of PDN a few years back and calling her to congratulate her. I watched with glee when she was awarded an Emmy for her work on the film Behind the Veil: An Intimate Journey Into the Lives of Kandahar's Women. From the moment I first met Paula, I knew I had encountered not only a new colleague & friend in an ego-driven industry, but a powerhouse of a woman passionate about her craft, an advocate for the things I hold near & dear about this industry and about life in general. During the couple of days we worked together, we laughed, we sweat and I came away from the experience so much richer for having had the opportunity to meet Paula, her trusty Leica always at the ready.


She was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. After initial treatment & surgery, Paula was able to return to a somewhat normal life until it was discovered that the disease had metastasised to her bones and eventually her organs. Paula left us on Tuesday. The world and the photographic industry are a better place for having had her during her all too brief life. Our thoughts & prayers go out to her family and friends.


Aloha Paula...