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GoggleWorks Artist Amy Stevens is featured in the latest issue of Muze. Muze, is a French quarterly publication for young women. Her work is included in the company of much admired photographers and artists. June 7-10, 2012
Amy will also be participating in a The Big Bloom group show Mercantile Home , 140 Northampton Street Easton, PA. The show runs June 9- Sept 9, 2012.
Raylene would often stop by my studio to keep me apprised of the latest events in her life, Art, Horses, Children, the future and sometimes the past, frequently seemingly to do this all at the same time. Breathless exuberance, sometimes hard to follow but always enchanting.
On one of these occasions I told her of a painting I hoped to paint. The subject was a Pin Oak, a small tree in the middle of a stand of mature trees. The Pin Oak has a unique lifestyle, when fall has come and gone and winter has set in with the tenacity of a Pit Bull, all the trees in the forest shed their leaves, except for one, the Pin Oak, who hold their leaves till Spring. This lonely tree would almost always divert my attention during my commute between Reading and my old studio in Lancaster. I thought the story was worth painting, Raylene agreed I should get to it when I can.
The Saturday before Raylene died she came into the studio and with her usual aplomb found the most comfortable chair in the room. I knew she had something to say, and she did. She was going to readdress her life to accomidate a wonder lust that include her Art and her career. She had sent resumes and corresponded with persons and places of interest, and was flattered and assured by the overwhelmingly positive response. She could see her future and was pleased, somehow completed. She was smiling and had a slight girlish laugh, she was happy. At this point she paused and took a breath and reminded me, when passing the Pin Oaks on her property, my story came to mind.
Some of us by our nature will hold our leaves till Spring and no winter will alter that.
When I heard that Raylene had died that following week I began to paint “The Pin Oak”
Group plans series of 1st Friday events
The initial event likely will be Friday, Dec. 3, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St., said Charles R. Broad, DID executive director.
Plans include live performances by musicians and poets, art shows and food vendors.
Broad said that, as the program for the first Friday of each month develops, it is expected to extend beyond the GoggleWorks onto Penn Street and to incorporate downtown businesses.
Exhibit features GoggleWorks artists
By Ron Schira
Reading Eagle correspondent
Every year at this time, the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts offers an extensive exhibit of its tenants´ artwork, which is to say that if you rent a studio at the facility, you are by default entered into this show, which occupies both rooms of the first floor Cohen Gallery. Typically titled “GoggleWorks Seventh Annual Artist Exhibition,” the presentation will be up through Dec. 31 and contains the creative efforts of more than 30 artists in what is now the organization´s seventh year of operation.
Smartly assembled and easy to traverse, the show holds nearly a hundred pieces and includes painting, photography, graphics and illustration. Included also are fabrics and sculpture, with ample amounts of space to appreciate each individual work without crowding.
In addition to the thoughtful installation, the quality and direction of the art itself has jumped a notch. More than a few artists stepped out of their comfort zone, it seems, and opened the doors to new subject matter and diversity of material.
For instance, the acrylic paintings of Judy Lupas veered sharply from her normal expressive abstraction to embrace a luminous landscape realism that made me do a double take when I realized it was her work.The same applies to the elegant acrylic nudes and figural pottery done by Sandi Giannini, a well-known landscape painter.
Another painter, Elaine Soltis, uses glitter and flocking to render her normally medium-sized nature pieces, but for two diminutive eye catchers, “Branches 1 and 2,” she goes semi-representational and crosses a few painted lines with a spot or two of glitter that gives the work a small but mighty presence.
An installation by sculptor Birdie Zoltan titled “Shoe Store” distributes about 30 pointy-toed slippers along one wall with a handful, or should I say foot-full, on the floor. Each shoe is individually made of all manner of fabric, with differing textures, colors and patterns. They are hung somewhat willy-nilly in singles in what is like a peddler´s shop for elves.
Painter and sculptor Alan Cernak has of late been working with manipulated and painted paper. A wall piece, oddly titled “Tessellation w/Yanki & Yakai,” jutted out in tiny pyramidical formations that were painted piecemeal in order to represent two images. When seen from either right or left of the artwork, a different comical portrait is seen, but when viewed straight on, one sees a mish-mash of angular shapes. In an obtuse manner, he offers three artworks in one.
The acrylic paintings of Adrienne Trafford glow with vibrant color and an intense sense of romantic feminine selfhood. One, titled “She Is That Important,” depicts a young woman as she confronts the viewer and leans headlong into westward wind, her hair thick, golden, laden with flowers and whipping behind her. Slightly above her forehead, a red-breasted robin stands boldly, two blue eggs by her left ear.
Also of note are the inventive collages of Cynthia Thomasset and the rich abstractions by Annalie Hudson, not to mention the excellent photos of Kevin Brett and the delicate fabrics of Janna Carrozza. Included too are works by Dan Gorman, Barbara Thun, Rich Houck, Sharon McGinley, Lauralynn White, Sue Biebuyck and Suzanne Fellows.
A dynamic and inventive exhibit, it demonstrates the creativity and artistic spirit that we all know exists in this area.
Contact Ron Schira: life@readingeagle.com.
Greater Reading Film Festival honors women in film
…McGillis will open the festival with a reception Friday at 5:30 p.m. in conjunction with Berks Women in Crisis at the Cohen Gallery in the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St.
The reception will be followed by a screening of “The Accused” at 7 p.m. across the street at R/C Theatres. She will also attend the 25th anniversary showing of “Witness,” on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both films will be followed by a filmmaker Q&A….
“B Scene” features GoggleWorks 5th Anniversary Gala
GOGGLEWORKS CENTER FOR THE ARTS HELD ITS 5TH ANNIVERSARY GALA, FABULOUS 5! The evening featured 5 floors of art, culture, music, food, live and silent auctions including artwork by GoggleWorks’ artists, a gourmet dinner and performances by GoggleWorks’ Arts Partner organizations. Proceeds benefit the GoggleWorks and help the arts center fulfill its mission to nurture the arts, foster creativity, promote education and enrich the community!
Photos by Donn Shire Photography
GoggleWorks Gala Fabulous 5!
…The evening featured 5 floors of art, culture, music, food, live and silent auctions including artwork by GoggleWorks’ artists, a gourmet dinner and performances by GoggleWorks’ Arts Partner organizations. Proceeds benefit the GoggleWorks and help the arts center fulfill its mission to nurture the arts, foster creativity, promote education and enrich the community!
New nonprofit will help make over homes
The Home Builders Association of Berks County announced Friday the creation of the Restoring Hope Foundation. The nonprofit organization will help families in need with construction projects such as handicap ramps or fixing up an older house, said Dean Ramich, the association´s president…
…The announcement was made at Berks Extreme Weekend, an art show in the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts…
GoggleWorks artists-in-residence focus on wood and ceramic sculpture
The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading has welcomed two new resident sculptural artists to the center.
Jesse Walp and Bethany Krull, who are married, will share a studio and teach classes.
The couple will create a body of work which will be on exhibition at the GoggleWorks at the end of their residency. They have signed a yearlong contract with the center but hope to stay longer…
Reading site of state Holocaust conference
The Pennsylvania Holocaust Education Council is holding its statewide conference in Reading this weekend, with several events open to the public…
…Events open to the public include a free session for high school and middle school students about art and the Holocaust on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St.
That will be followed by a showing of the film “As Seen Through These Eyes” at 3 p.m. in the GoggleWorks theater. There is an $8 charge to see the film…
Reporters’ Notebook:
GoggleWorks success draws imitators
…A residents group is working to change that by copying the success of the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, a large factory reinvented as an arts center…
…”This won´t be exactly the same as the GoggleWorks, but that is the model we´re trying to follow,” said Walk-In director Nena Mazzei-Schmidt.
It´s nice to see that the GoggleWorks is not only benefiting Berks County but serving as an example for neighboring communities to emulate.
Berks, Reading set to shine at film festivals
City airing of ´Location! Location!´ begins marketing effort to make area a film venue
…Reading Mayor Tom McMahon delivered a proclamation after the panel discussion, declaring Oct. 3, 2010, “Greater Reading Film Commission Day.”
A reception followed at the nearby GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, during which autographs were shared, and old and young alike posed for photos with a patient Constantine…
Gust Zogas: From RACC to the GoggleWorks
Learning and education have been the cornerstones of his life, but there is one subject Gust Zogas just can’t seem to master.
“I’ve failed at traditional retirement.” Best known as the president of Reading Area Community College from 1986 to 2003, the 79-year-old recently came out of his second retirement to become interim executive director of the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. In between he spent three years running RACC’s college’s foundation…
…He’s enthusiastic about the many arts-related activities in the GoggleWorks, and sees its potential to attract an artist’s colony…
Fall visual arts preview: A flurry of work will fill galleries throughout the region
The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts (goggleworks.org) is abuzz with all kinds of artsy occurrences, but it opens its exhibit season next Sunday in the Cohen Gallery with The Philadelphia Watercolor Society 110th Anniversary International Exhibition of Works on Paper. This will be followed by the sixth annual GoggleWorks Artist Exhibition, from Nov. 21 until Jan. 2. On the second floor, the Schmidt Gallery will be showing the Reading Sister Cities Exhibit through September, art by Tamara Melcher through October, “Black & White: Brothers” through November and works by the Kutztown University Product Design Class until year´s end…
GoggleWorks marks anniversary with 30-foot totem pole
Artwork depicts history of city arts center; staff looks forward to future developments
Reading´s GoggleWorks Center for the Arts celebrated its fifth anniversary Sunday with the dedication of a 30-foot totem pole.
Why a totem pole in downtown Reading?
“They don´t have an answer for why it´s a totem pole,” Mayor Tom McMahon said at the dedication ceremony. “And people always ask me, ´Why a pagoda?´ ”
The pole dedication was part of an anniversary celebration that included workshop demonstrations, art displays and music. The arts facility at Second and Washington streets opened Sept. 18, 2005…
Artists cite creative synergy at GoggleWorks
“Working at the GoggleWorks has been a very eye-opening experience. I´m surrounded by talented artists that have such diverse fields of interest. They´re interesting to talk to and I´m grateful for their work,” said Gust Zogas, interim director at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading…
GoggleWorks artists, German counterparts exchange work
Artists from the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts are participating in an art exchange with artists from Reutlingen, Germany, Reading´s German sister city.
The city, in the German state of Baden Wuerttemberg, enjoys a rich cultural scene, drawing visitors from the entire region to experience its many museums and galleries…
GoggleWorks Turns Fabulous 5! Anniversary Weekend Sept. 11 & 12
Did you know the country’s largest, most comprehensive, interactive arts center is located right here in Berks County? That’s right! GoggleWorks Center for the Arts has 35 artists’ studios, more than 30 arts and culture organizations, five galleries, a store, a film theatre and Cucina Café. Classes are offered year-round in state-of-the-art facilities for glass, ceramics, metals, wood, jewelry and photography. GoggleWorks After School Arts Program (ASAP) is an innovative, arts-based program for Reading School District students, ages 7-17, and offers FREE art courses in a safe and constructive environment. All this and more within one community arts center! There’s nothing quite like the GoggleWorks.
This September GoggleWorks turns 5! The celebration will include the 5th Anniversary Gala: Fabulous 5 on Saturday, Sept. 11, from 5-10pm. This year’s event will feature 5 floors of art, culture, music, food and drinks!…
PA Artisan Trails Blazing New Path for Artists and Their Communities
Ask glass artist Nate Dubbs what it is about his medium that´s so fascinating, and you´ll get a quick answer–it´s all about the process, he says. The art of glassblowing is centuries old, yet the process, which is almost mesmerizing to watch, has changed very little over time. “Plus there´s the element of danger since there´s fire involved,” Dubbs says. “And glass is sparkly and shiny, and people like things that are sparkly and shiny.”
Dubbs is the Studio Manager of the hot glass shop at the Goggleworks Center for the Arts in Reading, one of the best glass facilities in the country and just one of the venues that are part of the PA Glass Trail which starts at the Center City Reading facility and crosses into the Lehigh Valley.
Cool Art Cool Wine: Explore great taste on the Berks County Wine Trail
…The trail, which includes Berks County and the southwest Lehigh Valley, will feature Pennsylvania-produced wines, gourmet wine creations, and locally created art by the studio artists of the Goggleworks Center for the Arts, Reading… An added bonus during the event weekend: trail visitors can stop by the Goggleworks itself on Aug. 8 during Goggleworks´ “Second Sunday” a monthly open house during which visitors can tour artist galleries and studios. Goggleworks studio artists will also be featuring their work onsite at the wineries…
Downtown Art Revival: Inner-city arts centers bring beauty and energy to neighborhoods
…Now nearly five years later, GoggleWorks has become an important fixture in the life of the city. The center is home to 30 arts and cultural organizations, and 35 studios for working professional artists. The complex also contains five galleries, dance and music studios, a theater that shows mostly independent and art house films, a café, and studios for glass-blowing, warm and cold glass, ceramics, metals, wood, jewelry and photography. After school programs focus on exposing underprivileged inner-city youth to art…
Young people will help create a mural at Inter-City Bus Terminal in Reading
Students have started the work to create a mural on the side of the Inter-City Bus Terminal at Third and Court streets in Reading…The project is part of the GoggleWorks Community Arts Program (GCAP), which is again involving youth in a collaborative team
Coverage of GoggleWorks Community Arts Program (GCAP) 2010 and presentation by students of their initial ideas for the proposed mural.
Interview with GoggleWorks studio artist Daniel Gorman who is overseeing GCAP.
Sip Wine, See Art in Berks County
The newest addition to the event is the Goggleworks Center for the Arts of Reading. On the self-guided tour Aug. 7 and 8, you can enjoy art by several of GoggleWorks artists… As an added bonus, explore exhibitions at the Goggleworks for free. And during the “Second Sunday” open-house Aug. 8, you can tour artist galleries and studios.
GoggleWorks to team up with Berks wine trail
This year, joining the wine trail for this ultra-cool event is the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts of Reading…Enjoy “Cool Art and Cool Wine” while visiting the Berks County Wine Trail during the wine trail’s annual late summer wine trail event on Saturday, Aug. 7 and Sunday Aug. 8, noon to 5 p.m. both days. “Cool Art & Cool Wine” will be a great opportunity to not only taste great locally made wine, but enjoy art by several of The Goggleworks’ own professional studio artists.
What to do, where to go
Exhibition: Design, Drink & Be Merry at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, through Wednesday. For information, visit www.goggleworks.org or call 610-374-4600.
Make a splash at local library
Dive into reading with your local public library´s summer reading program. All Berks County libraries share the common summer theme, “Make a Splash,” and they all have summer reading clubs and programs that run from June 14 through August 21. Each has its own spin on the summer clubs and programs…Bethel-Tulpehocken Community Library´s summer reading program is full of programs that people of all ages can enjoy. These programs take place Thursdays at 11 a.m. and include…Painting and assembling a collage with GoggleWorks.
Suds serve as the inspiration for GoggleWorks exhibition
The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts will be hosting its third-annual craft-beer exhibition, “Design, Drink and Be Merry,” Saturday through July 21. Art from beer labels, cases, brewery Web sites and more will on display in the Cohen Gallery.
Olivet members get hands-on music lessons
…For the past few years, Olivet members have been invited to participate in a digital music program aimed at teaching students how to compose and mix their own music. Clifford A. Starkey teaches the program, which meets for two and a half hours weekly from September through December and January through early June at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading….
Art review: Creating the illusion of movement with cast glass
Last year, a juried exhibit titled “Landscape and Industry” was shown in the GoggleWorks Cohen Gallery, and an award for a solo show in 2010 was given to artist Clark DeCapite Jr. for his cast-glass sculptures. That year has passed, and in a current show titled “Existing and the Existed,” the artist has installed a handful of his glass works and a series of ink prints in the spacious gallery. The exhibit continues through June 14.
Little Black Book: Four Fantastic Foodie Day Trips
You can really have a wonderful getaway without having to hop on a plane or head down the Shore. To make it even easier for you, I’ve put together four of my favorite food and wine-centric day trips to get you out of Philly and into a state of relaxation…
From there, take in Reading’s ever-expanding arts and culture scene. Goggleworks Center for the Arts (201 Washington St.) is at its creative core, an exhibition venue supporting creativity and education in the arts…
Person of the week: Kerry J. Johnson
Since February, Johnson has been a volunteer intern in the marketing and communications department of the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. Part of his internship responsibilities includes preparing press releases and informing the community of what is happening at the GoggleWorks. He has also helped at special events and open house nights for students at area school districts…
Gust Zogas is named GoggleWorks interim director
Marlin Miller, board chairman of the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, has announced that the GoggleWorks Board of Directors has elected former Reading Area Community College president Gust Zogas to serve as the GoggleWorks´ interim director. He will begin June 7…
County artist moves on, from pears to doughnuts
Berks County artist Susan Biebuyck was known for her paintings of pears for quite some time and, even now, some local art lovers bring up pears at the mention of her name.
But she´s moved on to doughnuts these days. “Every 18 months or so, I get a new theme,” Biebuyck said recently in her studio at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. “I don´t pre-plan them or anything. They just take over.”…
´Lights, Camera, Action´ Coming to Berks
Lights, camera, action will soon be said all over Berks County. The Greater Reading Film Commission is preparing to shoot a promotional film about the area and Thursday people dined at the Peanut Bar to raise money for it. Locations such as The GoggleWorks, The West Reading Diner, or the view from the Pagoda will be used. At first glance these locations may not look like movie sets, but they will be…
Music, marches and more cap Reading´s Non-Violence Week
Hundreds of people attended several events Saturday in observance of Reading´s Non-Violence Week, which was held at various locations throughout the area. Dozens of marchers filed through West Reading and Reading as part of the fifth annual Crime Victims´ Rights Walk…
Greater Reading Young Professionals hold first-ever community fair
The targeted twentysomethings and thirtysomethings were appreciative Thursday as they crowded the fourth floor of the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. The shindig was the Greater Reading Young Professionals´ first-ever community fair…
ART REVIEW: Jason Messinger — toying with symbols and perception
…Taking this notion to the hilt is the abstract work of Chicago-based artist Jason Messinger, whose exhibit, “Symbols and Sympathies,” is now on view through April 18 in the GoggleWorks Cohen Gallery. The show occupies the front half of the gallery with literally hundreds of ceramic plates and a handful of free-form pedestal sculptures….
GoggleWorks has way more than paintings and artifacts
How many times have you and your friends found yourselves bored to death on a Sunday afternoon? You´ve been to the mall, seen all the good movies; now what?
How about a trip to Goggleworks Center for the Arts? Conveniently located at 201 Washington St. in Reading, it´s a wonder more people don´t choose to spend a day there in the first place. Not only are the five floors of the abandoned goggle factory filled with art, music, history, fashion, culture and just about everything in between can be found at Goggleworks…
Colorful tiles, sculpture featured at the GoggleWorks
The art of Jason Messinger explores the boundary between identity and abstraction. His exhibition, “Symbols & Sympathies,” on the first floor of the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Second and Washington streets in Reading, runs through April 18…
More Than Fiber Exhibit Opens at GoggleWorks
This exhibit is an explosion of ideas and different applications from 33 artists from across North America.
The juried exhibition, on the first floor of the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Second and Washington streets in Reading, runs through April 18…
“B” Scene: GoggleWorks Giving Society naming contest
GoggleWorks Center for the Arts Board Member and Giving Society Chair Irv Cohen, and Diane LaBelle, GoggleWorks Executive Director, present Kyle Brett with a check as the winner of the Giving Society´s naming contest.
One Tank Trip: GoggleWorks
Toss your coat, hat, and gloves. You won´t need them where we´re going.
Slammed with snow and ice, a bristly winter leaves us longing for the hazy, lazy days of summer.
The upper part of the stands, it´s in the 90s usually, said Nate Dubbs. But it´s comfortable. You can feel the heat from the hole. It´s like a nice fire going.
You can warm up with a tour of The Hot Shop at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading…
Snowy Winter Inspires Artist
These gray days of winter are far from ideal for those of us who are ready for spring. But before you curse the view out your widow, there´s one local man who makes a living selling the scene you´re getting for free.
I´m a motor head, said Steven White of Birdsboro, Berks County. I was an automotive mechanic most of my life. That was until Steven picked up a brush. And for the past three years, he´s made a living selling his watercolor paintings…
…You can get a good look at Steven´s perspective at his studio at the GoggleWorks. And one of his latest works in progress is inspired by one of our recent storms.
Faces in the news: Diane L. LaBelle, executive director of GoggleWorks
Why she´s in the news: LaBelle, 57, heads the downtown arts center that opened in September 2005. The opening marked the beginning of major changes for the neighborhood around Second and Washington streets, including an IMAX movie theater and the expansion of Reading Area Community College. The center is a 150,000-square-foot space for artists, cultural and arts organizations to come together. LaBelle´s job is to make sure all of the activities nurture the arts and foster creativity in a financially responsible way.
Person of the week: Maggie Gallen
…Making a difference: Gallen started as a volunteer intern at the GoggleWorks, Reading, last April. “I actually started doing a cold glass internship,” she explained.
When she was younger, Gallen took up making stained glass ornaments partly because her mother did glasswork as a hobby. Gallen decided to apply for the internship because she thought it would be a good way to expand her knowledge about working with glass.
Even though her internship concluded at the end of last summer, Gallen has continued to volunteer in the cold glass studio….
Originally Published: 1/30/2010
Originally Published: 1/11/2010
Originally Published: 1/11/2010
Originally Published: 9/18/2009