Vote for the TMA

Well, our wonderful Toledo Museum of Art has made it to the final round of the America's Favorite Museum contest.

Click to vote: http://blogs.artinfo.com/modernartnotes/2010/08/americas-favorite-art-museum-the-final/#comments

Great Read

Wonderful post by Lee Gaizak Brooks in The Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet regarding Scott Darlington's glass hammer on display in the area artists exhibit at the TMA.
And, in my opinion the most remarkable piece in the current exhibit.

Taking a first place award at the 92nd Toledo Area Artists Exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art (and on display through August 22nd), Scott Darlington’s Genetically Modified Corn Hammer (2010) may be one of the artist’s most compelling works to date. The hammer’s self-descriptive title and simple premise belie- click here for the entire post

New Gallery Artist - Ladislav Hanka

We have introduced new gallery artist Ladislav Hanka to many of you over the past few months. And, your response has been overwhelmingly positive to his skillful and amazing etchings.

Brook Trout I

We have just received these gorgeous etchings of native Michigan Brook trout. Brook trout require cool, spring fed streams and pools. They can be found under cover of rocks, logs and undercut stream banks.

From "On Fishing" by Ladislav Hanka

"Bodies of water and their rivers of fish are a truly foreign realm, where we are but the most temporary of visitors. As I glance into the world of fish, with its own physiology and rules and an emotional life that I will never share, their disinterested distance is fascinating. We matter little to the fish, except as predators to avoid. My world here, above the waves, seems, in large part, to be ordered, recorded, managed, documented, confirmed, verified, catalogued and somewhere totted up, preserved on a hard drive and numb. It is a breathtaking gift when the sacred unexpectedly shows one of its myriad faces - coming in from that mysterious other place to break the spell. When I peer into the water and a salmon emerges, I awaken from the circuitous worries about money or how things are going to hell in a hand basket. I feel blessed. One moment the salmon is just an unremarkable shadow in my peripheral vision and in the next, a flashing window onto a parrallel, timeless world."

Au Sable Brook Trout

These fine etchings are perfect examples of Hanka's mastery of technique and shine light upon his deep love and respect for the subject. If you have a place in your heart for trout and all the beauty and life that surround them you'll want to see these glorious prints.

Brook Trout VI