An Observing Eye: Artist Tom Fairs pencil drawings show

For those with an appreciation for the patience of an artful observer, an artist with a passion for drawing from nature has an exhibition of his sketchbook drawings.

My interest is primarily in things seen: landscape, interiors, still life where, in the light of the imagination, the commonplace may be transformed into the extraordinary. The ever- present transforming principle moves me. I have no theories, no special techniques and no information to communicate. I try to achieve a brief glimpse of the implicit order that lies beneath what we perceive as reality.
- Tom Fairs 

Tom Fair lived a life highly suspicious and with a complete lack of interest in showing his work. He turned down any suggestion to show his exquisite, complex pencil drawings in his lifetime. To many artists, who spent their careers working to get their work out of their studios and in front of appreciative eyes, it is inexplicable.
After his death, in 2007, Tom's sketchbooks of drawings were given to a friend, Bobbie, who appreciated and treasured them. And was determined to find a gallerist with the vision to recognize their importance.

Tom spent most of his career as a teacher, and when he retired in 1987, he devoted the last twenty years of his life to making his own art. KS ART gallery website
http://www.kerryschuss.com/cexrelease.html

"Each vividly realized scene is a fresh proposition, with its own felicitous arrangement of forms and its own set of exuberant notational marks. Fairs was an extraordinarily inventive draftsman, with a repertoire of wavering contour lines, staccato dashes and thick scribbles with which to conjure not only the city's compacted jumble of nature and culture, but the sounds of rustling leaves and far away traffic, the smells of coal smoke and grass, and even the colors of wet earth and overcast skies. Every encounter with the world generated a burst of individualized loops, squiggles, and shadings, which speak of an unselfconscious absorption in a place at the moment of its depiction and give the works a physical and emotional presence out of proportion to their scale."

Painting Party: Several friends open shows at Chelsea galleries on Friday May 7th

  At least once a week, the streets of West Chelsea in Manhattan, stretching from 29th Street down to 22nd become a street party of sorts, when galleries host openings of different exhibitions. It is the most fun for my husband and I to go together, when one (or more) of the openings involve dear friends. On a night, such as last night Friday, May 7th, when several friends had shows that opened, it is particularly exciting. And last night the buzz on the street was all about paintings.

Untitled, 2011. Oil on canvas, 96 x 80 inches

 My husband, Kerry and I had three gallery destinations last night. First up was a one-person show of the paintings of downtown New York artist, Alex Ross (David Nolan Gallery, 527 West 29th Street). We know him well, and have followed his career and seen some of his shows. His fascinating, quirky and colorful paintings have intrigued me for many years.
  For this show, the subject matter was familiar, yet the work had more of a look of landscape than I've found in the past. He talks about this in a recent HuffPost Art interview I've linked in below, "For this show I invented a colorful family of "abstract naturals," forms that are vaguely suggestive of landscape fundamentals such as coral, tree, boulder, mushroom, log, butte, and spire." I've always found Alex's process fascinating, because although the works are essentially abstract, he actually creates clay models of clay, which he then photographs and then finally paints from. Marina Cashdan, Arts and lifestyle writer for the HuffPost Arts did a piece a couple of days before the opening.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marina-cashdan/alex-ross-the-art-worlds-_b_856089.html

The opening was lively,  fun and packed with artists, friends and family of the artist. I even ran into an old friend from the East Village days, Jennifer Bolande and her husband artist Canon Hudson, in town for a show of Canon's.

We then stopped by a pop-up gallery that was doing a huge show of women abstract painters, which

Joanne Greenbaum (and Sheeba) at "A Painting Show"
with her painting on her left.

 Polly Apfellbaum's floor painting "L'A-ZP" 

   included a painting of our friend (and neighbor) Joanne Greenbaum. Her neon pink abstract piece with complex drawing and map-looking patterning really stood out in a room full of paintings of more subdued tones. The three large rooms of the Harris Lieberman space at 508 West 26th Street were full of the artists, friends, collectors and writers. It was fantastic to see so many really strong American women artists, being celebrated and acknowledged for their work in the communal venue. The buzz about the show was very good.

"Silver Donald" by Joyce Pensato (left), Joanne Greenbaum's
painting (center) and four pieces by Kristin Baker in The Painting Show.

Finally, we stopped by our main destination of the night, D'Amelio Terras gallery (525 West 22nd Street) to see a show of works on paper by Robert Moskowitz. His work was hung in the smaller gallery, with the large east wall filled with a grid hanging of rows of twenty-one black and white painted works on paper, devoted to the theme of New York.  The center piece was a minimal work with the recognizable spire of the Empire State Building. Other pieces had the top of a smokestack, and flying birds.

The artist Matt Keegan opened his show "I Love NY" in the main space with an installation of photographs taken in NYC and the two shows complimented each other very nicely. After Robert's opening the gallery directors of D'Amelio Terres kindly invited my husband Kerry and I to celebrate at a dinner at a Chelsea neighborhood restaurant. The mood at Izakaya was buoyant, the Sake flowed and their traditional Japanese pub food was very good. Oustanding dishes included the Fried Oysters, the Spicy cucumbers and the pork fried rice was one of the best friend rice dishes I've had.

Congratulations to our friends on their wonderful shows!

--Monica Forrestall

Don't Let it Rain on our Parade! The art of the Easter Bonnet at the famous Fifth Avenue Easter Parade 2011 in New York City

A deluge of rain was predicted for Easter Sunday, but the clouds parted Saturday night and Sunday the brilliant sun shone down (with 73 degree F weather) on the thousands of people congregated on Fifth Avenue for the historically famous Easter Day Parade. Thousands of people strolled up and down Fifth between 57th and 48th streets with bonnet central on the steps of Saint Patrick's Cathedral.

My favorite bonnet of the day? This marvelous mechanized ferris wheel perched firmly atop a straw hat worn jauntily by a young man, who completed the festive ensemble with a whimsical rainbow-stripped jacket.









The young lady, below had created a somewhat sheer dress and hat of silk flowers and had even decorated the teacup she carried with purple posies. Such a sweet touch! Everything here worked so well, and her Audrey Hepburn figure suited this form-fitting floral fantasy. Her charming curly-cropped do peeked out from under the purple flowers on her cap.

Below: A very complicated (and heavy) hat inspired by the children's film "Up." Although the woman wearing it struggled to keep her head upright with it on, she smiled and posed for everyone who wanted to take her photo.

Below: The fantastic creativity of hat making was evident in this paper collage hat and jacket combo. The back of the jacket was themed with bunnies and imagery of the cruxifixion of Christ. 

Below: Festive Easter lilies sprout from a large walking silver watering can.

Below: It was particularly fun and festive when groups of friends dressed similarly and made matching themed hats and walked together! Here four super stylish ladies strolled down Fifth decked out in the new nude and pale colors of the season, a couple carrying their sorbet-colored hat boxes with them.

Below: A dynamic duo took it a step further and wore their hat boxes 

keeping their fluffy white chapeaux tucked inside.

Below: A jaunty trio of stylish lads with a gal pal. Loved that the boys hats matched their shirts or vests. Adore the cap with bunny ears made of brown floral fabric on the far left!

Below: Five friends chose moss green and turquoise as their color theme, 

while one of their friends went rogue red.

Loved all the textures this young lady included in her ensemble, from sequins
and fluffy scarf to feathers and stitched on green vines.

Below: These two ladies did the black and white theme best, with stripes, saucer hats and cool shades.

Below: A fanciful characther who complemented his plumed Mad Hatter hat with a fantastic costume. He offered Easter treats and wishes to Max, who sported a hat he decorated with water squirters. His joke was his hat was designed to water the flowers on all the other hats.

Below: This Versailles-like characther posed appropriately in front of the Versace boutique on Fifth.

Below: One of my favorite ladies from last year, pannier-skirt girl made a re-appearance wearing another fanciful skirt, this time embellished with roses. Her companion's head piece was a perfect match!

This dapper dog was sporting a tux and top hat.

Robin's egg blue Bugaboo stroller embellished with flowers carried the sweetest treat of all,
a wee little man in an Easter egg trimmed boater. 

My bonnet was fashioned of an Irish black bowler picked up in a Dublin market

festooned with orange silk flowers and a butterfly finger puppet, worn with my favorite fifties-style sundress patterned with gray and black roses.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!
-Monica Forrestall

PS A few more chapeaux on The Examiner site. Enjoy! http://www.examiner.com/culture-in-new-york/the-new-york-city-2011-easter-bonnet-parade-on-5th-avenue-picture#slide=32391251

March 13th, 2011 In loving memory

Five years ago we lost our loving mother and wife. Although a day doesn't pass that we don't think of our little mother, on the fifth anniversary of her passing, we took time as a family to reflect on this extraordinary lady, whom we had the privilege of loving and her life.

As my sister Renee reminds us, "The most important thing in our mother's life was her faith and living a life that was true to her beliefs. A devoted Catholic, mom chose to become a Franciscan because of her passionate love of Saint Francis of Assisi. Our mother loved animals and was dedicated to a life of simplicity. She adopted vows of poverty and went to church every day. She emptied her pockets for anyone in need. My brother Frank said, "Every day I get to experience mom's boundless capacity for love through her grandchildren, who still affectionately recall her as Grandmaman." Monica remembers her lifelong commitments to good works, for which she insisted on not discussing or promoting herself for doing. From the fifteen years she served meals to homeless gentlemen at Hope Cottage to her home visits and tireless work for the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. Anyone who stopped and and asked her for change she dug into her pocket or handbag. Natalie truly believed everyone was equal in the eyes of god, and she treated everyone the same, from the Premier of Canada to the man who found their way to Hope Cottage for a meal. Mom selflessly supported the work and dreams of her husband, children and grandchildren with a heart filled with love.
My dad, Tom Forrestall sums it all up, "To this darling lady, I owe everything I have."
We love you mom, then, now and always.


Natalie LeBlanc Forrestall on her wedding day.

Dad's 75th Birthday today

Dad celebrated his birthday today by painting and having a party with his family.

Tom in Karsdale, Nova Scotia. He is standing near the end of a rainbow.

Frank Forrestall's short film of his and dad's adventure in Israel in late 2010.

For six weeks my dad, Tom Forrestall had an amazing adventure traveling all over Israel with my brother Frank. Along the way Frank photographed and filmed their journey from the Dead Sea , north to the Golan Heights. Back in Nova Scotia, Frank created this beautiful film of their trio together, giving us all a window into their fascinating trip. Robinson Kinsman Gallery, who represent dad in Toronto, posted it on their website.

http://www.kinsmanrobinson.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=4&ShowVideo=TRUE

--Monica Forrestall

Tom Forrestall's painting hangs at The Armory show

Tom Forrestall's painting of a figure in a landscape scene on the far right.

Dad's egg tempera painting was chosen as one of the pieces to be exhibited in the Contemporary Canadian Art show in The Art Dealer's Association of Canada booth at Pier 94 at The Armory 2011. The painting was loaned by his Toronto gallery Robinson Kinsman, who had this painting in a one- person show of dad's a few months back.

I visited the booth on the very busy Saturday afternoon to see the painting installed and take some photos of dad's beautiful painting. The imagery in this egg tempera painting is a quiet scene of downtown Dartmouth. Here are some shots of the booth (above).

Close-up of the painting.

Max taking an upclose look at his
grandfather's painting in the booth.

Here's an overview shot of part of the Armory from the stairwell that leads to the modern wing on Pier 92. This are is mainly contemporary European and South American galleries.

The Armory show as seen from stairwell leading to Pier 92. 

--Monica Forrestall