|
| courtesy of Caragh O' Connor |
 Under where? Caragh O' Connor will show "Awakening" in her February exhibition at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council. |
|
Painter Caragh O'Connor wanted to use her parents as models for portraits. The problem was, they were feeling a little self-conscious.
"My work can be a little existential and not exactly flattering, so the only way they would pose for me is if it was just their feet," O'Connor said.
It turned into the beginning of O'Connor's mini-series of hands and feet - just part of the Juneau resident's February exhibition at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, 206 North Franklin St.
O'Connor, a 1995 graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School, moved back here in December 2005 from Texas.
Her show opens at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, as part of the downtown First Friday gallery walk.
"I wanted to have a show in Juneau where I could thank people that taught me along the way when I grew up here in Juneau, and just let them see where I've been in terms of painting," O'Connor said.
O'Connor's last Juneau show was at the old Artists' Cove gallery when she was in still high school. Back then, JDHS teacher and mentor Tom Manning encouraged O'Connor and friend Susan H. Watson to take drawing classes at the University of Alaska Southeast with professor Jane Terzis. Those classes, combined with the help of Mary Watson, proved to be pivotal.
|
| courtesy of Alli Rosen |
| Alli Rosen knit this Nintendo DS carrying-case. It's part of a craft-themed showing this month at the Ruby Room. |
|
O'Connor graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts.
"Mr. Manning was very encouraging and wonderful," O'Connor said. "There are just some really good teachers here. You might take them for granted and not realize what a good thing Juneau has going on."
O'Connor's show will have approximately 12 paintings. Another mini-series includes a selection of figures searching for light. She began that collection on Sept. 11, 2001, while living in Baltimore.
JADED, 51 Egan Drive: Juneau photograper John M. Nylen will exhibit his latest work - a three-dimensional, in-motion spin on modern photography.
JUNEAU ARTISTS GALLERY, 175 South Franklin St.: Juneau photographer Shar Fox will show "3Weeks," an assortment of Alaska photographs mixed in with shots from her three-week holiday vacation to the Bahamas and Miami.
That collection includes photographs of life around Harbour Island and a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture exhibit at Fairchild Gardens.
Some of the works are abstract, and some are illustrated with pencil and pastel.
|
| courtesy of Richard Reichenbach |
| Richard Reichenbach's work appears through February at Two Crow Studios. |
|
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS CITY MUSEUM, Fourth and Main streets: The museum will celebrate Juneau cartoonist Tony "Toe" Newman, with a retrospective of his work over the last decade.
His work has been featured in the Juneau Empire, the Capital City Weekly and an assortment of other publications.
KTOO, 360 Egan Drive: Ten-year Juneau resident Jason Soza returns with "Alaska: A Demonstration of Light and Color in Photographic Art," an exploration of the subtlety of light and color in Alaska landscapes.
The show - through the month at KTOO - includes framed pieces, and other work on stretched, unframed canvas.
Soza has lived in Alaska for 12 years. The exhibition includes more than 20 works - glaciers, flies, skunk cabbage, waterfalls and assorted Alaska flora, fauna and landscapes.
RUBY ROOM, Emporium Mall, downstairs: Crafts are the theme of the month at the glass-enclosed gallery adjacent to Lucid Reverie, between Heritage Coffee and the Gold Town Nickelodeon.
Andrew Krueger, Eve Southworth, Caroline LeVeque, Laura Stone and Cristina Reitz are just some of the artists expected to show their functional works. The complete lineup was unknown at presstime.
|
| courtesy of Richard Reichenbach |
|
TWO CROW STUDIO, 245 Marine Way #14: Juneau artist Richard Reichenbach, an employee of the U.S. Coast Guard, will display approximately 14 oil paintings of people on canvas and burlap. Some are friends, some are his daughters.
The work has a cartoonish quality, yet a warm and undeniably charming intimacy. Most of the pieces measure about 18-by-24 inches.
"I don't look for anything, I just see it," Reichenbach said. "My daughters will give me an expression, and I'll say, 'Hold that.' Sometimes the paintings don't even come out as I intended. They're totally opposite."
Reichenbach started out with an interest in photography, but moved into painting after taking lessons in Louisiana in 1990. He now studies at University of Alaska Southeast.
His creations begin from sketches that he maps out with a pen on the end of a flexible bamboo stick.
"Matisse used to do that," Reichenbach said. "We did that in class. We did these rough sketches of still lifes, and mine were the best things I did all semester. It was the looseness and the freshness of the lines."
