Women with Attitude and Men who like Women with Attitude

at Jega Gallery and Nuwandart

Woman with Attitude and Men Who Like Women With Attitude, juried exhibit, is in its 7th year at the JEGA Gallery & Sculpture Garden during March's women's History Month.

This year, JEGA will be collaborating with Nuwandart. Dual openings will coincide with the AGA's First Friday Art Walk, March 1st from 5-8 pm, with special performances during the evening and throughout the month.

Woman with Attitude offers the opportunity to see, hear and experience a variety of media as artists portray their visions of the theme.

Jochen Ziems of Nuwandart states "attitude doesn't necessarily mean feisty, vicious women. I think 'attitude' means self-respect, self-trust and the ability to create. I think all women hate 'attitude.' They are a beautiful, feminine species," Ziems continues, adding, "all sizes too. It doesn't matter. Attitude is not based on some fashion statement or the modeling outlook."

J. Ellen Austin, of the JEGA Gallery and Sculpture Garden envisions "women with attitude as seekers and givers, who take control of their own development and are helping to make this a better world. They are looking to gain new skill and/or knowledge, plus researching and exploring all their choices, and the men that love them are doing the same ... with an openness for learning, listening and honoring others perspectives."

Okwin Enwezor, the curator of Documenta 2002 sees "art as a reflection and expression of political and social changes now under way around the world."

By opening the entries to a variety of the arts and media, JEGA Gallery's intent has been and still is to open new doors, open new windows, sos that ideals that do not lend themselves to just visual representation can be heard and discussed -- contemporary art designed to make you think.

Performances at opening include: Cassondra's Improv, The Voodoo Child's Band, The Fire Dancers at 8 pm, The Vagina Monologues, and other surprises.

Keep in touch for other performances during the month celebrating women making their own choices at JEGA Gallery on 5th and A Street, 488-2474, jega4art@opendoor.com or NUWANDART 258 A Street, 488-4278.

BIG ART

Davis and Cline Gallery 552, 552 A Street Suite 1, Ashland, OR 97520

Dates: March 1 to 30, 2002

Opening reception: Friday March 1, 2002 from 5 to 8 pm

The Davis and Cline Gallery 552 will present only three paintings in its March show entitled BIG ART. The three paintings, each by a different artist, clearly demonstrate that in some cases size counts.

"Standing in front of a very large painting seems to create feelings independent of the image itself." says John Davis, owner of the Davis and Cline Gallery. "That's why we are presenting the work of three different artists with three different painting styles and three different subjects."

Local artist Janice Gabriel will be showing her new work "Roots" a massive oil painting four feet high by twelve feet long. This realistic painting of a tree trunk and its roots, is a tightly detailed study of texture, rhythm, and structure, and is clearly a metaphor for life in the 21st century. She has been working on the piece for over a year. Gabriel attended UCLA and UC Santa Barbara where she received her BA in Fine Art in 1970. She received her MS in Art Education from Massachusetts College of Fine Arts, Boston in 1973 and her MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1976. She has exhibited nationally and continues to teach art as she has since 1972.

Dan Mish moved to the Rogue Valley two years ago from Los Angeles where he was born in 1951. In 1973 he received his BA in Graphic Arts from California State University, Los Angeles and has been an exhibiting artist in Los Angeles since then. The painting he will exhibit "I saw flowers in the dream" is a mixed media on canvas piece six feet high by eight feet long. This realist based expressionist artwork is rich in layered subtlety.

The third artist, Sam Gimbel was raised as a bi-coastal child between Los Angeles and New York City. Now living in Ashland, Gimbel studied at the Otis Parsons School of Design, Los Angeles & Paris under Emerson Wolfer and Lita Albacurque. He paints in the "Action School" style of abstract expressionism, where color, feeling, mood and line form the basis of the compositions. The non-objective nature of non-representational (abstract) paintings, accentuate the drama of large paintings best. The fact that there is no identifiable point of reference in one of Gimbel's paintings allows the unique effect of size to stand out.