Press Release #27 September 2007 NEW HOPE SIDETRACKS ART GALLERY 2A STOCKTON AVENUE NEW HOPE, PA 18938 215 862 4586 newhopesidetrackscomcast.net nhsidetracks.com New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery Presents: Naked in New Hope A Group Show Janet Bishop, McWillie Chambers, Eric Rhein. September 1 to October 21, 2007 Artist Reception Saturday, September 8, 2007, 6-9 PM Sunday, September 9, 2007, 3-6 PM New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery its first major group show, Naked in New Hope, celebrating the facts and foibles of the human body, with a formal opening on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, September 1, 2007. An Artists Reception will follow one week later as part of Celebrating Second Saturdays in New Hope, on Saturday, September 8, from 5 until 9 PM, continuing Sunday afternoon, September 9, from 3 until 6 PM. Headlining the exhibition is the work of three principal artists: sculpture by Janet Bishop (bio) of nearby Quakertown, PA; paintings, drawings and woodcuts by McWillie Chambers (bio) of New York City; and wire drawings and constructions by Eric Rhein (bio) of Manhattan. Thirty-eight other artists will participate-12 Sidetracks Gallery artists, as well as invited guest artists both from Bucks Country and from other parts of the country. Their work for Naked in New Hope ranges from oil to encaustic, pastel to photography, ceramic to reverse glass painting, and mixed media on paper to found-object construction. As a special feature, Sidetracks Gallery from time to time during the show, will present featured work from private collections - which will not be for sale. As of press time, promised works include, but will not be limited to, a nude female drawing by New Hope Impressionist Robert Spencer, an early 20th century Edward Steichen Camera Clix rotogravure of a Matisse male nude and a special photo of (not by) Robert Mapplethorpe. Sculptor Janet Bishop is a 40-year resident of neighboring Quakertown, and a long-time art student at the Baum School of Art in Allentown. Miss Janet works principally with stoneware, experimenting with a wide variety of glazes and other surface treatments. The major selection of small nude sculpture in the Sidetracks show gives evidence of this inquisitive and inventive approach, with little repetition of either form or surface. In addition, one special work, Oak Torso, will illuminate her skill at wood carving. And one oil painting, Seraglio, will illustrate her proficiency in other media. A native of Jamaica, New York, Miss Janet's early training in textile design and fabrication was enriched by additional art studies at Cooper Union. A long career as a surgical nurse in and around Quakertown put her art career (but not her studies) on hold for some time. Since her retirement, she has returned to making art - with gusto! She has shown her work at fairs, fêtes and feasts; in banks, offices and theatres; and in restaurants and galleries. Over the past five years, her sculpture has been exhibited and won numerous awards in the Bucks County Sculpture Annual, the Doylestown Art League (1st prize in the 2004 membership show), at Stover Mill Gallery, Mixed Media Gallery and the Baum School - capped with the 2005 1st prize Bill Baker Memorial Award in Quakertown. Janet Bishop's work has most recently been sampled in 2006 at Barone's Gallery, Perkasie, and Broad Street Gallery, Quakertown; and in 2007 at the Greenshire Arts Consortium. The artwork of McWillie Chambers is both a work and a play - of light and of life. The work is in the rigorous anatomy and the graceful line, in the mastery of color and the attention to contrast. The play is in the cheerful spirit and the joy of the moment, in the narrative interrupted and the resulting interaction with the viewer. Light comes alive. And life is enlightened. The spirit of the artwork is joyful. In the words of the artist, "I'll never paint if I have feelings of anger or frustration. I'm always waiting for the days when my spirit is at its happiest. Fortunately, most days I'm very happy!" Sidetracks Gallery is pleased to present this selection of paintings, monotypes, woodcuts and drawings from Chambers' long career as a professional artist specializing in the male nude in natural settings. (His second specialty with nautical themes awaits another showing.) From the largest canvas to the smallest sheet of drawing paper, work and play are both in evidence. McWillie Chambers' prints - monotypes, blockprints and woodcuts - are self-produced with a hand press. This laborious and exacting procedure results in small editions, with subjects in multiple states and colors, even unique ghost prints made with the remnants of color left at the end of the run. At Sidetracks, the woodcut Ken and Curtis is shown both in 2 colors and in 5; the woodcut Taking Off II appears both as a unique ghost print as well as in 8 colors; and Arcadia I, also a woodcut, is in 5 colors. Chambers hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with art studies at the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, the Kansas City Art Institute, the New York Studio School and the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain. His career exhibitions have been centered in the New York City area, with recent one-person shows at Pegasus Gallery of Manhattan in 2001, the Fischbach Gallery of Manhattan and the Barbara Levy Gallery of Cherry Grove during 2002, and at the John Davis Gallery in Hudson - which continues to represent his work - earlier this year. Eric Rhein uses the precision of a jeweler to create delicate constructions from wire, paper, monofilament and appropriated objects. Drawing on his Southern-gothic heritage from Appalachian Kentucky. Rhein explores the delicate and powerful connections between people and nature within the spiritual world where death and rebirth connect past with future. His wire drawings and wire and thread constructs evoke a transcendental universe inhabited by leaves, by birds and animals and by human figures that present the many metamorphoses of human relations and experiences. The hand of the artist, although known, is hardly apparent. Eric Rhein also weaves personal stories into thematic bodies of work. This includes The Leaf Project which Rhein conceived in 1996 to pay tribute to people he has known who have died of complications from AIDS. As observed by noted AIDS activist and art historian, Robert Atkins, Art has always played a role in coming to terms with collective tragedy, and the role of the artist has frequently been to bear witness. Surely an art of memory like Eric Rhein's can help harmonize our views by suggesting that honoring the past is one way to live more fully in the present. (Sidetracks hopes to host The Leaf Project sometime in the near future.) Through art making, Rhein has found a gateway to look past the shadows cast by his heritage (and our own) and has discovered a spark of light reflected in the human condition. His sculptural explorations often merge glimmers of sexuality, beauty and mortality. Holland Carter of The New York Times has written that in Rhein's work, the combination of art and craft, delicacy and resiliency, feminine and masculine is exquisitely wrought and is, as it should be, seductive and disturbing. Based in Manhattan, Eric Rhein has exhibited his sculptures and wire drawings for over 20 years in New York, across the United States and in London, Paris, Munich, Stockholm and Tokyo. Publications that have reviewed or reproduced his artwork include Art in America, Interview, The New York Times, Village Voice, Metrosource, POZ, The James White Review, Elle from Amsterdam, and Vanity Fair. Rhein holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. He has received grants from the Pollock/Krasner Foundation, from Adolph and Esther Gottlieb and from Art Matters. Sidetracks Gallery Artists exhibiting in Naked in New Hope include: the late Jack Rosen of New Hope, Marc Deasy and Betty Jacobsen of Doylestown, Yvonne Love of Chalfont, Leah K. Tomaino of Randolph, NJ, Irén Hanschuh of Truro, MA, Selina Trieff of Wellfleet, MA, Jefferson Hayman of Tappan, NY, and from Manhattan, Charles Devigne, Rachel Friedberg, Jane Henry and Norma Holt. Local Guest Artists include: John Augustine and Ted Garrison of Pipersville; Charloemlap Aunsontiwong and John Huber of Doylestown; Michael Barone of Perkasie; Lonn Braender of Washington Crossing (proprietor of Boi's of New Hope); Edgar Hall of Quakertown; Christine McHugh of Richlandtown; and from New Hope, Dwayne Dunlevy (owner of Paper Plate Café), Ricky Godinez (for purposes of full disclosure, owner of Sidetracks Gallery), Aaron Kreydt, Billy McNamara and Harry Swavely. Additional Guest Artists include: from Pennsylvania, Steven Evans of Philadelphia and Will Hübscher of Easton; from New Jersey, Ali Glickman of Princeton Junction, Diane Koss of Westmont, Cara London of Flemington, Paul Matthews of Lambertville and Ramón Robledo of Kingston (proprieter of A Stage of Time in New Hope); from Minnesota, Tina Blondell of Minneapolis; from Massachusetts, Robert Henry of Wellfleet; and from New York City, Blaine Anderson of Brooklyn, Danny Jock of Queens and Duane Bousfield of Manhattan. New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery is located in the New Hope Arts Center, 2A Stockton Avenue, where Bridge Street and the New Hope-Ivyland Railroad intersect, neighboring El Taco Loco Restaurant. Fall Gallery Hours: Sunday, Monday & Thursday 11AM - 6PM, Friday 11AM - 7PM. Saturday 11AM - 9PM Celebrating Second Saturdays in New Hope 5PM - 9PM. Closed Tuesday & Wednesday. 215 862 4586 www.nhsidetracks.com newhopesidetrackscomcast.net ARTWORK CAPTIONS: A) Cogitation, stoneware on wood base, by Janet Bishop. B) Sculptor Janet Bishop, of Quakertown. C) Back View, monotype on paper, by McWillie Chambers. D) Birdman, Looking West, wire drawing by Eric Rhein.