Art Shows

The autumn exhibit at the community art league this year is an interpretative show entitled, “OK, Computer.” Participants chose titles from a list provided by an Artificial Intelligence Title Generator, and the artists were thus challenged to interpret and transform the selected title into their genre of work. The exhibit was an experiment to show the personality and imagination of the artists. The BRC craftsman picked-out the title “Playful Moment” from the computer list, as this agenda seemed to lend itself to a musical instrument. Eighty-five works were submitted to the juried show, and 27 were rejected. The Playful Moment entry was among the 58 submissions that were accepted into the competition.

While designing his A.I. titled 5-stringer, the BRC banjoist strove to explore the concepts of music and time. Does music exist when merely transcribed on a written page, or does it actually exist only when played on an instrument that vibrates the listener `s eardrums? Regardless of the instrument, each note has a finite and fleeting existence when performed – like a shooting star. Music is governed by time signatures, and as we all know- time flies, and sometimes with wings.

These concepts are echoed on the upper neck of the instrument. At the gala opening reception, gallery visitors closely study the BRC`s Artificial Intelligence themed banjo.

From the BRC: What might an A.I. generated Scruggs style breakdown sound like?

The business community in our township sponsors a social meeting hall that hosts monthly exhibits by invited area artists. The curator of this private gallery is an erstwhile director of the local art league. This month, the BRC craftsman and his artist wife (below) were invited to present a joint show to mutually display their diverse works.

An evening opening reception included club members and invited guests who milled about studying the unusual admixture of oil paintings and banjos. The crowd delighted in the painter`s commentary of vision and style as translated on her seventeen canvases that were hung in the gallery, and the banjo builder explained the features of his banjos to curious visitors.

The festive event included a Q&A intermission where both the BRC wife and her craftsman spouse addressed the assembled crowd to explain in detail their uniquely individualized media and answer many questions. The BRC musician demonstrated one of his three displayed banjos by taking a 5-stringer down from its wall hook and performing “Greensleeves” in four movements with three successive time signature changes and four styles of finger picking.

Generous applause was offered to both exhibitors concluding a gala opening reception on a warm and humid summer evening. With a wink, the banjoist quietly joked to his artist wife that his nickname for the show was “The Sacred and the Profane.”

From the BRC:  Keep it cool and together. Autumn is just around the corner.

The springtime exhibit at the community art league gallery is entitled “Touch.” Does this subtle message seemingly invite viewers to actually contact the artful items on display with their fingertips or to just imagine what the texture of the submitted works might feel like?

In the spirit of the theme of this juried competition, the BRC founder crafted the “Amity Banjo” displaying touching hands that illustrate friendship and peace- valuable commodities in our troubled world. In concert with the title of the exhibit, a hand inlayed at the fifth fret space points to the 5th tuning peg inviting the viewer to touch it.

The  upper neck fingerboard depicts hands posturing a heart, the peace sign, and an image similar to the Irish Claddagh which traditionally represents love, loyalty, and friendship.

At the opening reception of the exhibit, a curious gallery visitor reaches out to touch the 5th string tuning peg as suggested by the pointing hand.

The “Amity Banjo” was purchased by a local artist who is a masterful oil-on-canvas painter and pictured above (cowboy hat) with his wife while recently meeting the BRC craftsman on a local hiking trail that they all frequent.

From the BRC: Keep in touch with your friends and the world around us.

Every January, the local community art league embarks into the new calendar year with its annual Food Show. The theme of the 2023 juried exhibit is  “Nibble.” This yearly contest is highlighted by an evening fund raiser each February entitled “Let Them Eat Art” where local restauranteurs and brewpub owners compete for awards by concocting tasty treats and beverages based on the themes of the artworks on display in the gallery. For this culinary art show, the BRC craftsman designed the Gone Fishin` banjo. The peg head boldly displays a leaping “lunker” ready to battle any sporting angler. Meanwhile, a peaceful fisherman carefully reels in a fish that nibbled at some bait and fell prey to the hook within it.

The lower fretboard illustrates hungry fish in various stages of eagerly breaching the water`s surface in search of a snack while swimming among hidden barbed hooks clothed in bait. At the fifth fret space, an angler contentedly lands a catch.

In the upper neck, busy fish glide to and fro looking for a meal in waters coursed by attractive lures and thinly disguised hooks.

At the gala January opening reception, exhibit hall guests closely study the features of the Gone Fishin` banjo.

Next month at the Let Them Eat Art fund raiser, gallery visitors will vote on the best food and beverage offerings, and the winners will be ceremoniously announced at the end of the evening.

From the BRC: Have a Happy Groundhog Day.