“Moments like this Mike are what makes the creation of my art worthwhile.
Without individuals like you, this would not have been possible”
That’s how my friend, artist Susan Olmetti chose to start a recent email.
What have I done to deserve such praise?
Frankly, very little.
All I did, and continue to do, is try and support Susan in her latest charitable venture.
Over 25 of Susan’s works and installations will be offered up for auction during the “Andersonville Arts Weekend” and proceeds from the sales will benefit the “The Chicago House“, a well renowned charity that provide housing and supportive services to HIV-affected families and individuals who may also be impacted by poverty, substance abuse, and mental illness.
The event will take place on the 2nd of October from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m, and is generously hosted at the SIR Spa at (5151 N Clark St. Chicago)
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For inquiries just email Susan at
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or call Pete Hillman, the SIR Spa’s owner at 773-271-7000.
Susan says that:
Life provides us so many opportunities to help others.
I guess this is something I believe in too.
With all my heart.
Which is exactly why I’m asking you to share this post onwards and spread the word.
This evening I went to Garagegeeks. Arianna Huffington was Yossi Vardi’s guest speaker for the evening. In a nutshell the evening was a yet another case in favor of the whole Garagegeeks concept and I personally had a blast.
For those of you who don’t know GarageGeeks is an Israeli based not-profit physical and virtual space for innovative and creative people to introduce, network, expose, create, brainstorm, innovate and build. People that take part in the activities come from different disciplines such as electronics, software, mechanical, art, design, music, hacking and gaming. The spirit of GarageGeeks promotes building non-commercial projects that would otherwise may not have come to life.
Yossi Vardi makes a point of bringing his most distinguished guests (Sergey Brin and Tim Armstrong to name a few)…
…to a mildly dilapidated old garage in the middle of Holon’s Industrial zone for an evening full of geekish fun and booze. The presentations are usually pretty good too… ; )
You can see all my photos from the event below.
If you want to make use of any of my pictures feel free to do so but please credit me & link to http://DigitalArtPrintGallery.com
One of the things I love most about the Web is how it has enabled all of us to connect and foster friendships with people we’ve never met.
People living in our apartment block, and people halfway round the globe.
People we wouldn’t grace with a glance on the street, and people we’ve admired from afar our entire life. People.
Susan Olmetti - artist and friend
I can’t recall how Susan and I met and frankly it doesn’t matter. I do remember the huge murals she created that were the reason for my initial fascination with her. Anyone with the energy to paint on such a colossal scale has my respect. Susan’s Biblical inspiration, vibrant colors and fundamental “Joie de vivre” are all things I relate to personally so our naturally a friendship developed.
Susan
About a week ago Susan emailed me and asked me to help her with the online publicity for her upcoming show. I’ve long thought it would be interesting to do an interview her here on my blog and this seemed like a great opportunity. I hope you enjoy it…
An interview with Susan
M:
“So Susan what was your inspiration for the ‘The Jonah Series?’”
Susan:
“My inspiration is my determination to overcome all adversity through my creation and live a happy and healthy existence by letting go of negativity. My new series is very chaotic in flow. I see it as an explosion of color.”
M:
“Sounds like we share that much in common. - I’ve long said that:
‘I do art because it makes me happy. Everything else is a bonus…’”
Susan:
“I’ve adapted over time.
I’ve developed a ‘You can’t hurt what you can’t touch (my heart)’ attitude, although I always struggled with maintaining this protective barrier in interactions with people close to me.
God forgave Jonah. From my perspective, it takes a lot to forgive people.
I have a personal secret with Jonah. I finds myself everyday uttering the words, ‘Not today,Jonah’ whenever I feel myself being pulled under by others around me. I find I’d prefer to say goodbye and let go because they people don’t change.”
Jonah
M:
“Which is your favorite piece in your coming exhibition and why?”
Susan:
“Well Mike they all are the same to me. I look at my art like they are my children and I do my best to love each and every one of them. They’re all different yet the same.”
M:
“Where did you meet Rachel Cohen-Lunning and Merrille Lichenstien-Cohen and how did the joint exhibition come about?”
Susan:
“Rachel and Merrille are sisters and they both lived in the Chelsea Hotel at one time. Rachel still lives there and Merrille moved right around the corner. I’ve known them for a decade and we all admire each others work and have wanted to do a joint exhibition for a long time. We’ve been working closely for a year now on this one.”
M:
“How did your relationship with the Tappan Z Gallery begin?”
Susan:
“I stumbled across his Gallery online. I contacted the gallery director and told him a bit about myself, my art, my long term goals. We clicked right away and I’ve been simply going with the flow.”
M:
“Well I wish you all the best of luck it’s been great chatting to you and I hope you send me pictures form the opening : )”
Well, that’s all for this morning…
As always, if you’ve enjoyed reading I’d appreciate it if you’d link back and share this with your friends.
Also if you’re an artist and would like to feature in an interview on my blog, or if you’re familiar with an artist whom you think might be interested, be sure to give me a holler. I’m always on the lookout for cool people to talk to… : )
Acclaimed artist Susan Olmetti will return to New York in the summer of 2009 for the unveiling of the Jonah series. Olmetti’s newest series of oil paintings are intertwined in a fluid movement and frantic energy.
Olmetti commonly refers to tackling a new creation as: “Setting out to kill the canvas”.
Her passion becomes interwoven with twists and turns of color communicated from the depths of her minds emotional darkness. The strength of her strokes gives life to her works with a mood akin madness. A menagerie of comically exaggerated characters take on a whimsical and humorous light. The obscurity of the figures reflect the bridling of spirit and entrapment of soul from those who want to be set free of that which binds them.
After the events of last night it was time to get back to the art, so we took to the road and enjoyed the open skies and the closed tunnels.
Because I am so interested in Political Pop Art the SOWA Artists Guild didn’t arrange that I meet Abraham Obama and a freakish yet friendly dog. We all smelled each other politely after which I left my scent on Obama.
After investing my assets in some really yummy cuttlefish sushi at a cutting edge Banq I meandered down to Boston’s kitschy river bank where I discovered that sometimes even grass grates.
Later on in the day I commissioned Genzyme to help me with some corporate art. After all they might be giants but for the tree…
If none of this makes sense to you then I suggest you click on the slide-show and visit the Picasa album where you’ll find the captions I wrote for these photos…
As always, if you want to download a photo you can click on the slide-show and that will lead you to the album with the higher res images. You can use the photos in any way you choose but I’d appreciate it if you gave me credit and provided a link to my website or blog - MikeDarnell.name.
All the best,
Mike
PS
My one regret is that I missed the SOWA artwalk - maybe next time…
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