In describing her creative process, Stahl spoke about a stamp design for the USPS.  “For the 2007 Christmas stamps, I was told only to do something non-religious that would be warm and cozy.  I began drawing angels, elves, ribbons, and kept sketching various holiday items.  At one point, I thought of mittens and then cropped in closer and closer until it became just the knitted motifs.  Knitting is a passion so I was excited to knit my final art in that case.”  Stahl’s assignments have ranged from editorial to packaging, to corporate identity, postage stamps and television commercials; they have brought her work into the mainstream of our everyday visuals.

James Grashow was born in Brooklyn and received his BFA and MFA from Pratt Institute.  After his BFA, he was awarded a Fulbright Travel Grant to Florence, Italy, for painting and graphics.  Creating works that address themes of man, nature and mortality, he has been represented by the Alan Stone Gallery since 1966.

Grashow is a renowned artist who creates in multiple forms.  The scale of his work ranges from large environmental installations to delicate, small constructions.  He is also well known for his powerful woodcuts.  His prints have appeared regularly in The New York Times and virtually every periodical throughout the country.

Last spring, his “Corrugated Fountain” was exhibited at the Aldrich Museum.   Built from cardboard and spanning 17 x 25 x 30 feet, it was inspired by the Trevi Fountain in Rome.  It had traveled since 2007 for exhibitions in this country before coming to the Aldrich, where it was placed outdoors to deteriorate by nature’s design.  From start to finish, this sculptural project was documented by Olympia Stone in her film The Cardboard Bernini. “Making a fountain out of cardboard is absurd, an oxymoron”, says Grashow.  “It is a perfect poetic message.  All things have a lifetime.”    

Jennifer Samet is an art historian, curator and writer, based in New York City.  She received a BA from Barnard and a PhD from The Graduate Center, CUNY, with her dissertation entitled “Painterly Representation in New York, 1945-1975”.  She has curated major exhibitions on the history of the New York Studio School and the Jane Street Group.  Previously she was the director of the Center for Figurative Painting in NYC, and also an associate at Hirschl and Adler Modern.

Samet is currently a professor of art history at the City University of New York.  She also co-directs a gallery on the lower east side, Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects.  Her writings have been published in Hyperallergic, Master Drawings, ArtNet Magazine, the New York Sun, and numerous exhibition catalogues.  Especially interested in the voice of the artist, she has lectured at universities on the subject of “The Role of Empathy in Art”.  She has published in-depth interviews with many artists, recently with Rackstraw Downes last October during his solo exhibition at the Betty Cuningham Gallery.    

Jessica Bartlet MFA '09

 Backyard Wilderness

at First Street Gallery

February 26 - March  23, 2013

 Opening Reception:  March 7, 6 - 8 pm

Backyard, Mid-October (Triptych), oil on panel, 16" x 32"  

 Gallery Hours: 11 am - 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday

526 West 26th Street, Suite 209, New York, New York 10001 646-336-8053,  First Street Gallery is located in the heart of Chelsea, NYC between 10th & 11th Avenues. [Nearest Subways: C,E,R,1,F,V to 23rd St. - crosstown bus to 10th Ave. Nearest Buses:  9th Avenue (#11), 8th Avenue (#10)

Bartlet has been faithfully observing, documenting, and experiencing nature's ebb and flow through her backyard for the last 4 years.  She paints loosely and fluidly feeling the surge of plant life and the destruction caused by weather.  Her brushstrokes and use of natural color convey a confidence and urgency for remembering moments that are as fleeting as the north wind whipping through the landscape in the winter.  The surface treatment of the paintings and the window-like characteristics of diptych's and triptych's allow viewers to see Bartlet's innate desire to understand, love, and preserve nature, as she observes her own backyard wilderness. 

  Click here to see more works by Jessica Bartlet 

Susan Jane Walp received a BA with distinction and honors in painting from Mount Holyoke College.  She also studied at the New York Studio School, Skowhegan, and Brooklyn College.  She is a recipient of numerous awards, among them the Benjamin Altman Prize from the National Academy of Design in NY, the American Academy of Arts and Letter award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

Her luminous, exquisitely balanced still-lifes reflect a contemplative serenity.  They move beyond their humble objects to implications of transcendence.  In an interview with Larry Groff, Walp said "the concentration of working from observation can be similar to a meditation practice. And perhaps with still life, even more so than working from the figure or landscape, the distractions are reduced to a minimum; the objects are still, can’t engage you in conversation, don’t need to take breaks, aren’t subject to changing weather."

Represented by Tibor de Nagy Gallery in NYC, Walp has had extensive exhibitions in the U.S. since 1974.  She has been a visiting artist and lecturer at numerous art schools, including the Vermont Studio Center, the New York Studio School, Dartmouth, Swarthmore, Haverford, and Brooklyn College.