Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

DOSE

frei will be at Dose market this coming Sunday selling
deeply discounted past season items
along with current fall pieces.
Come check us out!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Outlaws and Patriots







CURRENTLY SHOWING AT PACKER-SCHOPF GALLERY
NOW THROUGH OCTOBER 22ND

Bill Harrison specializes in doing highly realistic life size charcoal pencil portraits. His new series of portraits of bikers (Harley, not Schwinn), is called Outlaws and Patriots. His goal is to do an "unsympathetic portrait;" that is, a portrait in which his sympathies lie neither with nor against the subject. No mocking, nor glory; He simply portrays them as they appear, in high detail, and lets their own innate dignity carry the piece. His subjects are older, generally in their fifties or more. Someone once said, "When we are young, we wear the face God gave us. By 50, we wear the face we deserve." Harrison finds that the faces of people in their middle age or older are full of character, evidence of a life lived well or badly or both, and this is what is portrayed. What really interests him about the bikers is the tribal aspect of the subculture. Their hair, their leathers, their patches and pins all function to set them apart from the typical citizen. In many ways they're the kind of people who would've been cowboys back in the old West. They are generally tough independent men, often misfits to some degree, who generally want nothing more than to be left to live their lives as they see fit.

Bill Harrison received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the University of Illinois in 1977 and spent the next 20 years as an illustrator. Working almost exclusively in 'stipple', constructing nearly photo-realistic drawings of food, people, and products using only little tiny black dots. Since the bottom has dropped out of the illustration world, he is making the transition to the fine art arena.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

seasoned stars






































Thursday, September 8th
Angela Finney-Hoffman (proprietress of the lovely Post 27)
and I hosted a "studio warming/ fall 2011 debut party" at the shop
all kinds of friends and fans came out to view the new fall collection, sip on
a seasonal cocktail of apple cider, cognac, sparkling wine, and rum garnished with slices of apple,
and take in the installation/ performance

I had several ladies with artistic backgrounds come in to create a celestial installation grounded
by seasonings, grains, and seeds
It was very autumnal and harvest-y
I had a few ladies making paper stars, while another lady created a large mandala of seeds and dried grains on my cutting table
another station consisted of two gals wheat-pasting the paper stars and adhering grains and dried seasonings to them to decorate them
another lady hung the seasoned stars to dry
all of this was installed among Post 27's interior vignettes and home accessories
it was magical and fun and the fall collection worked perfectly
in the mix
the fall collection is for sale currently at Post 27 in Chicago
and will be up online at www.workshop-chicago.com shortly
a special thanks to all the help and involvement of my multi-talented posse:
Colleen O'Sullivan lent her hair and makeup talents
Stephanie Acosta made it all happen
My gorgeous models Chiara Keeling, Marisa Munoz, Joy Davis, Karen Faith,
 Leslie Bembinster, and Nadine Lolino
Krisite Kahns took the amazing photos above....
such a talented crew- what would I do without you??