Even during this economic downturn in Europe the members of Fivan, Szyb Gallery and Jacques Dubois particularly, has manage to pull off the impossible – another successful Naive Art Festival in Katowice, Poland.   As this exhibition is continuing into August I sincerely hope that you will try to some and see it.

This painting “Playing hide and seek” was in last year’s festival in Poland and crisscrossed the world as it ended up selling to a Japanese client.

This exhibition whereby artists from 32 countries around the world are chosen to take part is only the 5^th Art Naif Festival held in Poland and the host gallery is again the amazing Szyb Wilson Gallery.  It is the privately owned gallery in Poland and I would think one of the largest if not the largest private gallery in the world at 2500 square meters on two big halls and a balcony.  It is situated 10 minutes away from the city center in the Nikiszowiec district which is a historical settlement of Katowice.

The area where Szyb Wilson Gallery stands was in fact an old coal mine construction, a virtual wasteland.  As Jacques says it is very fitting that the naive festival is held in this place: “to change the image of a dirty and black city into a place where happiness and colors are together to warm the heart.  There’s nothing like naive artists to believe in things like that.  Improve the world, little by little and all together.”

ARTnBED

Last year Cuba was the guest country and this year we celebrate Israel and their wonderful Naive artists, they have a great history of Naive art with a terrific gallery that supports them in Tel Aviv called Gina Gallery of International Naive Art.  It is also from Israel that my latest venture with ARTnBED comes from with art works on duvet and shams (quilt covers and pillowcases) that were recently released both in Israel and USA.

NAIVE ART IN ISRAEL

The philosophy of Dan Chill the owner of Gina Gallery is as follows “GINA Gallery seeks to support the naïve artists‘ quest for “Paradise Lost;” to encourage them to share their timeless vision of everyday life; and to provide them with a forum to bare the child-like ruminations of their hearts and souls. In parallel, GINA Gallery hopes to facilitate the entry into this field of talented, mostly self-taught artists (young and old) who strive to relate – by means of brush, paint and canvas — the fairy tale figments of their fertile imaginations.

ART WORLD

GINA Gallery also seeks — by gathering and displaying worldwide naïve art — to expand the existing art lovers‘ awareness and appreciation of this multifaceted art form, and to introduce the wondrous beauty of this unique, easily-accessible genre to those who have been reluctant (for whatever the reason) to visit art galleries, thereby allowing naïve art, and those who paint it, to assume their proper place in the pantheon of the art world.”

ART WINNER

Last year’s winner of the Grand Prize of the Public 2011 was Stefen Lewis from Tanzania which means he has the honor of designing this year’s poster for the Festival.  This year Museum PASZIN, located in south eastern Poland was invited to submit 100 sculptures dating back from the early 60s.  Also the Museum of Lodz followed suit and presents 50 pieces on the theme of Mary, mother of Jesus.

This year even the best major Taxi companies have gotten behind the festival and are acting as “Ambassadors” handing out cards to the tourists with naive paintings on the back.  This is another ingenious idea by Jacques Dubois and his wonderful team from Fivan, Szyb Wilson Gallery and helpers from Poland and France.  We salute you!

Here is a great quote from Danny Kaye that I love;

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

If you enjoyed this art blog you may also like this one: 117 Henri Rousseau Naive Artist

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

One of the most important festivals for Naive art is currently underway in Katowice, Poland where until August 17, you will be able to see more than 190 naive artists from all over the world and 40 of the artists participating are from Cuba this year.   Cuba is this year’s guest country and the Cuban Vice Minister of Culture was in attendance at the opening which was a cultural feast.  The highlight was a 4 piece Cuban band dressed in white suits, hats and black t-shirts with 2 dancers complete with headdress and costumes in yellow and green straight from a carnival.

ARTLINK MAGAZINE

This detail image is from one of my paintings on the cover of an art magazine called Artlink, this addition was dedicated to naive & outsider art, if you look closely there is homage to Picasso there too.  If you would like to see one of my own artworks on show in Katowice here is a link to it and another art blog 73 Snack attack at hungry jacks

MONDIAL D’ART NAIF

Oh I so would have wanted to attend myself – all of us; exhibiting artists were invited to attend and they had even organized a special artist dinner.  The timing wasn’t right for us this year as we are in the middle of renovations and also planning a trip to Europe for next year.  Here is a link to this wonderful exhibition and website Mondial d’art naif

SZYB WILSON ART GALLERY

It is my idea of total bliss to have so many wonderful naive artists work on show in the same place, at the same time, all that wonderful, innocent and colorful work under one roof.  That is so exciting too, the place itself that is housing this exhibition – which is the Szyb Wilson Gallery in Katowice.  It is the largest privately owned gallery in Poland and I think it would be rivaling most private galleries in the world as it offers more than 2000 square meters on two levels and it’s a huge building, 10 minutes away from the city centre in the district of  Nikiszowiec the historical settlement of Katowice. Another fascinating place to have a look at there would be the “Spodek” which means flying saucer in Polish and is a multipurpose arena complex which can hold up to 11,500 people.

The area of Szyb Wilson Gallery was in fact an old coal mine construction, a virtual wasteland of late.   It so happens too that one of the naive artists participating in this festival was a mine worker at this very mine for some 35 years, where now his work hangs on their walls.  His name is Erwin Sowka and he is part of the legendary group Janowska in Poland and he was awarded a special prize at the opening of the show.  (Erwin Sowka is the only surviving member of Janowska – “Amateur Painters Circle” whos origins date back to the 1930’s and there was even a film made about them in Poland called Angelus.)

ART PRIZE WINNERS

Other prize winners were artist Sylvie Marcel from Marseille in France, who won the “people’s vote” during the 2010 festival and was therefore invited to create the poster for this year’s festival, her image was also used for the large banners advertising the show, and she attended and picked up her trophy; Grand Prix du Public 2010.

Another prize awarded was to a sculptor Eugene Zegadlo who has during the last 52 years made nearly 3000 sculptures and exhibited in 20 countries in over 150 separate exhibitions.

JACQUES DUBOIS & NAIVE ART

Of course this naive  art exhibition could never have existed without the hard work of many and it is the French non-profit association Fivan that has organized it in conjunction with the Szyb Wilson Gallery.  They have designed this event to promote naive art and to sell paintings in a festive atmosphere, which is something they have totally achieved.  There are without doubt many people to thank for this wonderful event but I would like to mention one very special man Jacques Dubois who has worked tirelessly and could not have been more accommodating and nicer liaising with all the artists, so Thank you Jac!

Naive art is currently experiencing resurgence in its popularity and there were some 2000 people who attended this year’s opening with many people flying in from across the world.  Naive art has become a status symbol for many professionals and collectors and the waiting rooms of doctors and dentists just are not complete without one.  We can thank the naive artists that paved the way for us current artists,  ones like Henri Rousseau and Grandma Moses and the like and also of course Pablo Picasso who was the one that discovered Henri Rousseau in the first place.

So here is a quote from Pablo Picasso that I think the naive artist has actually mastered;

“Every child is an artist.  The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up” and this one

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

However it is perhaps this Picasso quote that will make all of us feel better;

“We don’t grow older we grow riper.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxxx      (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Isn’t it a drag that we can’t just eat whatever we want and not put on weight!

This ceramic and mosaic artwork “Snax attack at Hungry Jack’s” was a delight to make.  I do love food, although for the most part I do eat healthy, I too dream about all the naughty foods that I enjoy, hamburgers with the lot (although in my case, without the meat, lol chips, milkshakes and yummy pizza.)  I had so much fun sculpting all the food out of the clay and then painting it all, I was constantly hungry the whole time!!   So when whilst in the kiln the breast exploded and fell off on this artwork I instead of feeling upset, thought it was just karma and decided it fitted very well with this subject matter.  That could happen if you eat too much,lol.

The  Snax attack artwork sold at  The 4th “Festival Mondial d’Art Naif” in Katowice, Poland along with some other artists paintings for the worldwide naive exhibition at the Szub Wilson Gallery during 17th June – 14th August 2011.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

How nice would it be to wake up to a Buffet every day, you know the one that you get on holidays,  a whole room full of food, there is 6 different types of cereals, yogurts in every flavor, low fat, full fat and birch. Then you see a tropical color delight with all the different fruits of the world. Oh I know it all sounds pretty healthy so far – but wait a minute then we go to the fry ups, sausages of every country, and ham and then as you get in some of the Asian countries there is beef ham-what the?

Fried eggs, sunny side up, poached, scrambled, boiled or an omelet with whatever you wish thrown in. Never mind all the different breads, white, whole meal, mixed, kibbled, rye, sourdough, lavash, damper, bagels, pita & naan.

Then there is all the really Asian food – now I for one absolutely love my stir-fry’s and curries, sushi, laksa and all the rest.  However I must draw the line at eating fried fish and miso soup first thing in the morning and what about the porridge?  Nothing wrong with porridge I hear you say; that is good old fashioned food.

THE ART OF THE DIET

Well perhaps it is just me being a vegetarian that I cannot stomach the combination of breakfast porridge and chicken – that you get in Bali and Malaysia – what’s with that?  My stomach is a bit delicate in the morning, but show me all the delicacies and I am all yours if it is later in the day! I have always loved food and at times been totally obsessed with it.  Most probably it all stems from my modeling days and the fact that you seemed to be on a constant diet.  In a way though later on in life I am glad of that discipline as I have been reliable informed that most people increase their weight by 2 kilograms each year.

The funny thing is that just 2 kg is nothing that you would really notice over a 12 month period, but then the next year rolls around and suddenly there is another 2 and that makes 4, right?  Most people put these kilos on during the Christmas – New Year period or holiday time.  All of us have good intentions to lose the weight but somehow or another suddenly there is the holiday coming up again and here we go again.  So it’s no wonder then that so many people become obese over time- 2 innocent little kilos over say a 20 year period suddenly amounts to 40 kilos of fat!  Oh what a bugger!

THE ART OF FOOD & EXERCISE

Perhaps you need to surround yourself with a few more brazen thieves whilst you have your brekky, so that you can finish the meal of with a hearty run up stairs and all around the hotel lobby to try to catch him. Well that is what we did on a family holiday in Penang recently.

My husband is one of these people that “people watch” and that keeps him amused no end and he can always spot when something is not quite right. So there we were enjoying one of these wonderful Buffet breakfasts when hubby pointed out this fellow to me – he was sort of skulking around, but I put that down to that he was looking for his group or family.  Then there was the fact that in the very hot Malaysian morning he was wearing long pants and a light cream jacket, well again I said to Bryan some people feel the cold more than others.

So it goes without saying that I got a surprise when this fellow made a very swift move and dove like a swan onto the back of the chair of the couple a few tables up and made off with a handbag, quick as a flash and he was gone up the stairs into the lobby.  Of course hubby saw the whole thing and both he and I and the kids ran after him but to no avail – as far as we could understand he must have had an accomplice with a car waiting to scurry him away. The lady tourist in question wasn’t too bothered, the thief had made off with some change, a comb and a lipstick but what did irk her were the scripts for some heart medication, so I think he would have been rather a disappointed thief that day, looking at the loot he ran so fast for,lol.

If you feel like having a look at another art blog on the topic of food here is 83 Are you fond of Fondue and here are some other ceramic and mosaics for sale  Ceramics for sale

So here is a quote I think fits in rather well here, in relation to that thief, lol, said by Ernest Hemingway (writer)

“Never confuse movement with action”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx   (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALEand SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.