Join the Conversation with Phillips' Mill ArtTalk

Artist Chee Bravo exactingly builds up layers of color to create energetic, motion-filled prints of musicians playing. Her carefully planned work nevertheless conveys a sense of carefree action. You can almost hear the music. Chee will show us her process for creating her many-layered screen prints.

But the layers aren’t just in Chee’s printing process. Her’s is a very personal body of work that stems from her life experiences. The people who populate her prints are friends from her favorite jazz club in Trenton. We’ll take a look at Chee’s paintings of the people she met on a trip to her husband’s native Cuba, paintings filled with all the character, color and energy of her screen-prints.

Join us as we explore the layers of Chee Bravo’s work.

We’re very proud to present the Youth Art Show. Every year at this time we present the works of students from area high schools.  This year we represent 25 schools, working with art teachers to curate the show. We never fail to be impressed with the art they share with us. They are accomplished artists, even so young. Their work also has a lot to say. At Phillips’ Mill we’ve been exhibiting local art for 93 years. We’re delighted every year when these young artists prove that our future of presenting moving works is secure.

The ArtTalk team, including producers Jen McHugh, Dennis Riley and Jean Mihich, have put together the following video for you.  Youth Art Exhibition Chairs, Susan Brussock and Kathy Schroeher, talk about putting the show together. Some of the award winners have made  videos about their inspiration. And of course we feature the artwork.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoy the show.

Renowned travel photographer Bob Krist has said that a perfect picture is made up of three components: great composition, great light and a sense of moment. That’s true whether you’re a photographer or a painter. Krist’s search for the perfect picture has taken him around the world. We were able to catch him at home to be our guest on a very special ArtTalk. Join us with your questions for Bucks County’s own master photographer and juror for the 2022 Phillips' Mill Photographic Exhibition. Click Here to view the slideshow from the presentation.

Bob Krist

Renowned National Geographic and Smithsonian travel photographer Bob Krist is a freelance photographer and filmmaker whose work has taken him to all seven continents and has won awards in the Pictures of the Year, Communication Arts, and World Press Photo competitions. He was named “Travel Photographer of the Year” by the Society of American Travel Writers three times, in 1994, 2007, and 2008. A late career convert to video storytelling, his short films have been exhibited in film festivals in Italy, Iceland, and the USA and have won several gold and silver Lowell Thomas awards for broadcast travel journalism. Bob was a contributing editor/photographer at National Geographic Traveler magazine and a columnist for Outdoor Photographer magazine and was recently featured as the instructor in a comprehensive course, called Fundamentals of Travel Photography, produced by National Geographic and The Great Courses. www.bobkrist.com

Bill Jersey has been creating for over eight decades. At 11 he was drawing to escape the restrictions of a fundamentalist home. He became a documentary filmmaker to have what he considered a more financially secure and yet still creative career. Jersey’s work in film and on canvas both are his way of exploring the world. He’s a keen observer in both media, looking for the telling moment or perspective.

Jersey’s paintings explore the rural landscape and architecture of the Delaware River Valley. He’s known for a vibrant palette but as a documentarian he often worked in black and white. In film he worked in a two dimensional medium but he says in painting you’re working toward three dimensions. We’ll talk about how his creative philosophy as a documentarian applies to painting, including how photography influences his artwork — and its limitations.

Bill Jersey has won two Emmy’s, three Peabodys and was twice nominated for Oscars. In over 100 films he’s explored race relations in the U.S., religious fundamentalism, criminal justice, evolution. He’s profiled luminaries such as Maya Angelou, Justice Earl Warren, Designer Ray Eames and Mozart. Jersey owns his own production company, Quest Productions. He earned a Masters Degree in Cinema from the University of Southern California. He’s represented by Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, NJ.

Bill Jersey is the juror of the 2022 Youth Art Exhibition, which is now live until February 27, 2022.

Click Here to view the slideshow from the presentation.

A conversation with Frank Hyder could go anywhere. He loves to talk about the cultural influences of art colonies like ours in Bucks County, or the state of art education in the academies. During this ArtTalk, we will ask him about his participation in the sprawling art fair overtaking Miami during Art Basel. His broad contemporary experience and deep knowledge of art history inflect his stories of the international art scene. Frank is always as entertaining as he is informative, and he clearly cares deeply about art and the people who make it. Whenever we chat with Frank, we know it will be fascinating, enlightening and thought-provoking — and we never know where the conversation will go!

Frank is a local artist who has transcended boundaries. We know him as a sculpture juror of the 92nd Phillips’ Mill Art Show. He has shown at the Michener Museum here in Bucks County with his Janis Project — a wandering global public art phenomenon of outsized inflatable heads that carry a humorous message of equality and goodwill. He had a gallery in Philadelphia for many years and maintains strong connections to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. He’s had over 100 solo art exhibitions spanning most continents, although he says he’s particularly popular in Latin America.

Click Here to view the slides from the presentation.

William Lathrop and his wife Annie famously hosted Sunday afternoon tea parties for his colleagues and students. Annie was a gifted cook and a gracious hostess. She took a genuine interest in the students' well-being and would house, feed, and encourage them in a warmly maternal fashion.

The Lathrop's home and the Mill became the intellectual and spiritual center of the art colony. He encouraged other artists and their families to move to the area, as he and Annie did in 1899. The New Hope art community has been comprised of artistic families ever since.

We want to honor the families that have helped to make our regional art community and the Phillips’ Mill Community Association the home for artists that it is today.

We hope you enjoy this special peek into the amazing couples that are part of the community today.

The drawings and paintings of David Stier have been described as introspective, atmospheric, moody and ethereal, like viewing memories and dreams, nuanced and enigmatic. What is it about David’s work that makes it so intriguing? The color? The shapes? The brushstrokes? Viewing his works, one observes that often he uses earth tones, focusing on form, space, light and shade. His color palette is often subdued, which leads to peaceful observation that brings you in with his intuition and emotional exploration. His subjects range from still life forms to interiors, human figures, and landscapes. He cites William Lathrop as a key influence in his work, and one can see the similarities. But how does one look to the work of one artist for inspiration and then make it unique?

When painting, David likes to go to different places and spend a lot of time there at various times of the day doing drawings. In his own words, “I work not only from what I see in the visual world but from my imagination; the two inform each other; that is, your ability to see and process the outer world informs your ability to interpret and completely reinterpret the world through your imagination.”

Click Here to view the slides that were presented during the conversation with David Stier and take a closer look at his works.

View even more of David's work at http://davidstier.com.

Live theater is back! The readings of the winning works from the 4th Annual Emerging Playwright Competition will be held at the Mill on November 20th. During this event you will have an opportunity to meet the playwrights. But what about the people behind the production, specifically the jurors? Join us when Judith Hallberg, Kimberly Kalaja and Wilbert Turner will sit down with Laura Womack to have a conversation about writing for theatre, playwriting competitions and what they have learned through the years.

We asked you, the viewer, which artists in the 92nd Juried Art Show you would like to hear more from and you responded! Here are the three artists selected from your suggestions: Luiz Vilela, Rita Siemienski Smith and Jan Lipes — three very different artists with unique styles and histories with the exhibition. We will discuss their works, inspiration and what the Phillips’ Mill Juried Art Show means to them.

The Patrons’ Awards are the highest honor awarded to the artists in the Phillips’ Mill Juried Art Exhibition. There are three awards given each year: painting; drawing, pastel or printmaking; and sculpture. This year all three winners are women. Mary Ann Bowman’s work, “Beach Grill Ocean City II” won the Patrons’ Award for Painting. Leslie Schlegel’s drawing “Stuck in the Past” won the Patrons’ Award for Drawing, Pastel or Printmaking. The Patrons’ Award for Sculpture was awarded to Tricia Zimic for “Diligence/Kintsugi.” Join us when we meet these women, discuss their works and look into their inspiration.

The Phillips' Mill Juried Art Show is back at the Mill! After a year online we return to the Mill. Join us as we take a sneak peek of the preparations, learn more about the show and hear from our award winners.

The Art Market is notoriously uncertain. We hear of riches made by modest collectors with an eye, extraordinary frauds, market manipulation. And then we’re told to “Buy what you like!” Sure, but prices are all over the place. How do you know what you should pay, whether you’re buying a John Smith or a Rembrandt van Rijn? (It happens!) How do you navigate trends in art?

You probably should buy what you like, but we’ll see if we can get some more tips from David Rago, of Rago Arts in Lambertville.

George Anthonisen is a local artist with an international reputation. His works are in the US Capitol, at the World Health Organization Headquarters in Geneva and at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He’s been called “one of America’s outstanding figurative sculptors.” Much closer, you can see his work at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown and at the Philip & Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College in Collegeville.

The Phillips' Mill Art Committee is proud to name George our 2021 Honored Artist. His work will be featured in our 92nd Juried Art Show, as it has many times in the past.

We’re also proud to have him as our guest on ArtTalk. His work mixes the traditional with the modern in both its aesthetic and its subject matter. George approaches his subject with a refined eye and the tenderness of a humanist. Any conversation with him is a pleasure. We’re happy to be able to share this opportunity with the Phillips’ Mill Community.

Read More about George Anthonisen

Is the act of painting different from taking a photograph? The technical process is different of course, but what about the process of turning inspiration into art? Is writing art? It’s certainly creative. Cooking? How about textile design? Our guest, Sue Ann Rainey, is an artist, a photographer, she’s written a cookbook and she decorates baby clothes for her friends and profit. Sue Ann has breathed deeply the winds of inspiration. She shares with us how she accesses the many muses and channels her creativity energy to pursue these many art forms.

A young woman wearing a blouse made of leaves, a man of bark with branches for horns, a woman with a bird’s nest on her head … Shawn Campbell’s ceramic figures — human, animal, or both — have eyes that are present but not quite here. They are contemplative, sometimes lost, often sweet.

Shawn investigates the human frailties and the stories that connect us. The poetic power of her expressive figures evokes an emotional reaction in the viewer. Shawn’s sculptures speak with humor in their direct face-to-face presence. They are often ethereal, with an innocence that inspires the viewer to also create by supplying a backstory for the characters. In her sculptures and totems, we experience a mysterious vision of the world, a vision that includes a love of the eclectic. Shawn Campbell’s ceramic works suggest a vital interconnection between the human and non-human realms.  

And now during these challenging times Shawn has sculpted in clay 100 faces in 100 days, a tour de force of character invention. Watch the ArtTalk and find out why Shawn Campbell has taken on this ambitious endeavor, adding to her prolific legacy of 3D sculpture creations and totems.