The New Traditionalists
Leslie Brown,Athena Hahn, Gina Stepaniuk, Joy McAllister,
Susan Joseph, Yolanda Gonzalez
Exhibition Dates:
January 9 to January 30, 2010
Artists Preview Party: Thursday, January 7, 6–9pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 9, 6-10pm (2nd Saturday Artwalk)
Closing Reception: Saturday, January 30, 6-8pm
Special Events
Saturday, January 30, 8pm free concert with The Sugar Mountain Mamas
Exhibition Location: The dA Center for the Arts, 252 S Main St., Pomona Arts Colony, CA 91766
Press release December 2009
In January 2008, curator Rolo Castillo brought 6 male artists together for an exhibit titled The New Traditionalists. Now, 2 years later, Jaclyn Dierking and Terry Taylor Castillo have brought 6 established women artists together for another exhibit, titled The New Traditionalists. The spark of inspiration came from their mutual admiration for artist Leslie Brown’s work. The idea evolved to include other women artists that represent new traditionalism.
Leslie Brown’s artist statement for this exhibit captures the essence of “new traditionalism”:
Painting by traditional method entails years of practice and apprenticeship, understanding of form and depiction of illusion of space in relation to the appreciation of “The Renaissance Masters.”
My understanding of form and space has evolved almost entirely by study of and response to the human figure. The practice, that is my painting, entails constant searching, continually challenging my mastery of skill in the craft of painting representational form and the creation of ambiguity in two dimensional space. Metaphorical association to the object is the aspect in my imagery that intuitively connects me to the spiritual, the past and the present.
For me, “new traditionalism” unites the past and the present. Mastery of technical facility in contemporary mediums and media, appreciation of the great masters, incorporation of images of pop culture and the conscious interpretation of objects and people from my everyday experience culminate as “The New Traditionalist.”