Wexler Gallery Current Exhibitions

Historic Works from the Collection of Joel Philip Myers & New Acquisitions

WEXLER GALLERY
July 3 – August 29, 2009

Wexler Gallery proudly presents an exhibition of important works by master glass artists. Joel Philip Myers, this year’s recipient of the Millville Rose Society Award from the Creative Glass Center of America at WheatonArts, will be highlighted during the exhibition. A public opening reception will take place on First Friday, July 3rd from 5 – 8pm.

This historic exhibition will include works from Joel Philip Myers’ personal collection from 1971 to the present. Myers’ work is best known for its expert craftsmanship and exceptional sense of design. According to the artist, his approach to glass is to “allow the material an expression of its own…Press the material to the utmost and it will suggest ideas and creative avenues to the responsive artist." (Joel Philip Myers, Craft Horizons, March/April 1974).

In the early 1990’s, Myers took a break from exhibiting his work in order to take the time to "search for new directions which would require extensive experimentation." This time of maturation marks a period where the artist, who generally focused on themes such as the natural world, landscapes, rivers, and flowers, began to focus on ideas related to “the conditions of our humanity." While the first pieces from this series deal with darker human concepts such as pain, war and suffering, by the late 1990’s Myers had begun two new series called Dialogue and Enticement, which are "more optimistic and cheerful, even amusing." His most recent body of work, the Color Study Series, is an exploration and celebration of the artist’s “long love relationship with color.”

Myers graduated with honors from the Department of Advertising Design at Parsons School of Design in 1954. After spending a year studying ceramic design in Copenhagen, Denmark, Myers earned both a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, NY. From 1963 to 1970, Myers served as Director of Design at Blenko Glass Company, in Milton, WV. From 1970 to 1997, he served as Distinguished Professor of Art at Illinois State University, Normal, IL. Myers has an extensive list of students, including David Huchthausen, who went on to establish themselves as noteworthy artists. His work can also be found in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Decorative Art, Prague, Australian Crafts Council, and Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan. Myers lives and works in Marietta, PA.

Berny Brownstein

As I See

Berny Brownstein, November in Lancaster Pennsylvania, Oil on fabric, 42 X 72”

WEXLER GALLERY
July 29 – August 29, 2009

PHILADELPHIA- On the second floor, WALLS at Wexler Gallery proudly presents an exhibition of new and past works by painter Berny Brownstein. The exhibition will run from July 29th through August 29th, 2009. An opening reception will take place on Thursday, July 29th from 6 – 9pm.

A native Philadelphian, Brownstein is a recorder of decisive moments, personal reflections, and experiences gained through years of travel and observation. An artist who is “excited about the essence of all things; a figure, a landscape, the character of an individual” Brownstein is inspired by the possibilities of “form, color, texture, the transient play of light and shadow.”

According to the artist “even the most commonplace of objects are enduring moments to the limitless subject matter of nature. Looking at works painted in Italy and along the New Jersey shore line, it seems to me the two have more in common than I originally imagined. Evidence of daily rituals and natural and human cycles of renewal is everywhere in them; friends meeting in a village bar for a nightly round of story telling, the ocean’s tides, laundry drying in the Tuscan sun, surrounding hillsides covering the rich olive trees, plants growing through broken asphalt, grapes ripening in a Tuscan vineyard. I feel driven to capture these things before they pass away, for they are what give our lives stability and significance without us really even being aware they exist.”

Brownstein attended the University of the Arts on a full paid, four-year scholarship, earning his degree in Advertising Design in 1957. The artist’s watercolors, drawings and oil paintings have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions and can be found in many private and corporate collections. Today, Brownstein holds the title of Chairman & Chief Creative Officer at Brownstein Group, which he founded in 1964.