LIFE SUPPORT

This month, Bill Lowe Gallery is focusing on the healing function of art and its effects on the human body.

In recent years there has been a surge of research in organizations dedicated to the practice of art as a way of healing. Though it may not appear to be common in medicine, it’s far more prevalent than you would think. According to “Arts in Health Care”, a 2009 state of the field report from the Arts and Health Alliance, almost half of all hospitals have already implemented art programs.

In addition to regularly prescribed means of healing, art related programs are being integrated into heath practices because of its positive effects on a patient’s mental and emotional well being. It offers a peaceful reprieve from the daily stress and anguish.

A recent case study outlined the key benefits of using art in the recovery process from post-traumatic stress disorder to autism, mental health, chronic illnesses, Alzheimer’s and dementia, neurological disorders and brain injuries, premature infants, and physical disabilities.

The case study findings concluded the following:

• Focusing on art provides relaxation and positive distraction
• Improves mental health and well being and will decrease mental distress
• Helps connect with others in a supportive environment
• Aids in self expression and self acceptance
• It offers a sense of pride and achievement

Our most recent exhibition displays the work of sculptor Susannah Zucker.  Her work explores the effects of trauma on the human body: how we transcend, survive and thrive when it breaks us, and how we achieve meaning through this process. With this body of work, she illustrates the strength that is required from within to overcome the most intense of obstacles, as well as the extraordinary quietude and joy that is often experienced in its wake.

Her work exemplifies the notion of art as a way of not only healing the body but the spirit and soul of humanity. She masterfully offers a visual exploration of pain and resilience. Through her sculpture we see the power of art as a form of life support.

To see examples of her work, please visit http://www.lowegallery.com/. Our current exhibition, Avian, will be exhibited through November 29^th.

“Life Support” beguines a blog series where we look at art not just in theory but in practice, focusing on the healing effect of art.

Stay tuned next month where we explore art and its positive effects on those with Alzheimer’s.

Bill Lowe Gallery celebrates the new location in Miami Circle

It is no coincidence that on the Summer Solstice, Bill Lowe Gallery hosted a celebratory Open House at our new gallery space at 764 Miami Circle. From 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM, we celebrated with some of our closest clients, friends, and family, dined on delectable tapas and drinks from the South’s finest tapas restaurant, Eclipse di Luna, listened to a lively mix of music, and were surrounded by a captivating collection of art.

 

 From all of us at Bill Lowe Gallery, we would like to thank everyone who attended our Open House and celebrated our new location in Miami Circle. We look forward to seeing you around the gallery!

 

Joyful Hearts Gala: A Night Out For A Good Cause

Founded by actress and activist Mariska Hargitay, the Joyful Hearts foundation is an organization dedicated to the advancement of humanity. Their mission is to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues.

Since being founded in 2004, the Joyful Hearts foundation has been gaining recognition for spreading the universal message of hope around the world through their cause.

A recent event the foundation hosted was their annual Gala entitled The 2014 10^th Anniversary Joyful Revolution Gala: Are We There Yet?”. Bill Lowe was grateful and honored to be invited this year by Mariska herself.  He shares his thoughts of a truly life changing experience:

“Mariska Hargitay’s invitation to me to sit at her table at the Joyful Hearts Foundation Gala at Cipriani in New York was a life-changing event for me.  I anticipated the usual glitterati and entertainment titans but was not prepared for the enormous impact of the powerful and essential work this magnificent organization performs.  Their advocacy relates to sexual abuse and domestic abuse.

The thrust of their efforts to shift the collective mind about these matters is reflected in the launch of their “No More” campaign.  At the event, we were introduced to this new campaign and the visceral emotional impact is beyond words.  The Chairman of Viacom was seated at our table and he commented upon his organization’s vast capability to project this message out.  Notable that evening was the riveting story told to the crowd by Peter Hermann, Mariska Hargitay’s husband, about his own sexual abuse during his early adolescence. His courage and strength shone through as he recounted in vivid detail the progression of the process his abuser employed to snare him.  I cannot begin to convey how this impacted the room.
Seated at our table were other voices for this movement, ranging from Alec Baldwin to Harry Connick, Jr., Debra Messing, Ice-T & Coco to George Stefanopoulos and his wife, Allie.  All were there in heart and exhibited a core commitment to helping end violence in our culture.  The room was filled with 750 wonderfully motivated people, all of whom made real contributions to the success of Joyful Hearts.”

 

Bill Lowe Gallery intends to reach out to provide a platform for raising funds for this advocacy in the Southern United States. Stay tuned for more details.

http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/

Bill Lowe Gallery Celebrates a New Location

Bill Lowe Gallery Installation, Kathleen Morris works on Canvas, Boukil works on Panel/Steel

Bill Lowe Gallery is happy to now be a part of the Miami Circle Arts & Design District. For years Miami Circle has been one of Atlanta’s top shopping destinations. It is one of the few places in the city where you can find an extensive and diverse selection of galleries and shops to suit any home décor need. While the shops provide high end retail, the atmosphere is far from stuffy. There is a casual and inviting air about Miami Circle that welcomes everyone.

This kinetic concentration of kaleidoscopic and creative entities is a one-of-a-kind community in Atlanta. The street is filled with opportunities to glimpse into other times, different places and varied frames of mind expressed in art, furnishings, home improvement, activities – from ballroom dancing to cross-training fitness and “couture bowling” – to eclectic dining at Eclipse Di Luna, the South’s finest tapas restaurant, and more. One can easily spend several hours – or the entire day – roaming through the endless array of visual stimulation.

Bill Lowe Gallery Installation From Left: Thornton Dial Early Works , Banama Tribe – Boli, Pierre-Marie Brisson works on Canvas

For Bill Lowe Gallery, this relaxed atmosphere was a key factor when deciding to make the move to Miami Circle: “My decision to move to Miami Circle was inspired by a desire to lend additional support to the evolution of this street as the heart of the Atlanta’s Arts District. I was also interested in creating a more accessible and user-friendly experience of high-art in the cultural capital of the South.”

Jung Kwang Sik granite works, Bamana Tribe – Boli

Bill Lowe Gallery is eager to invite old and new friends to this amazing new space. On Saturday, June 21st – the Summer Solstice – we welcome the official start of summer with an innovative approach to the experience of art. We will host an Open House at our beautiful new gallery at 764 Miami Circle, Suite 210, from Noon until 5 PM.

The gallery will provide traffic police to make certain your access to Miami Circle is unencumbered and that you find your way to the gallery location with ease. We are located at the very end of the street in the 764 Building. You must enter the front of the 764 Building (where the numbers are) and proceed down the wide central corridor to our front door.

We encourage you to peruse the shops that strike your interest while on the street. It is our hope that you and your family will drop in to savor the magnificent art, easy conversation and excellent food/drink on Saturday, June 21st, from 12 Noon until 5 PM. Please feel free to bring your friends and neighbors.

From Left: Susannah Zucker – Life Support – Ceramic and Elk Bones, Bill Lowe – Owner,  Pierre-Marie Brisson – Scarletts – Mixed Media on Canvas (photo credit: Phil Bekker http://www.bekker.com)

 

 

In the Mood of Matisse – Afterglow

 

In The Mood of Matisse 04/04/2014

Matisse would have been proud of his namesake event that took place at the gallery on the 4^th of April 2014. Bill Lowe Gallery hosted an exhilarating evening reception that showcased the work of Parisian painter Pierre-Marie Brisson in his southern debut.  The whimsically named event, “In the Mood of Matisse,” was a kinetic interaction of the multi-faceted crowd punctuated by colorful conversations that seemed to reflect the jubilation of Brisson’s vibrant figurative and organic patterns.  The diverse crowd savored exceptional food and wine as they were enchanted by the artist’s explanation of his work and his world, which centers in the South of France.

In the words of Goethe, “Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.” Gallery patrons inspected the meticulously crafted archaeology of Brisson’s work, only to stand in awe moments later once they comprehended the history that informed his work.  It was at this point that Brisson would connect with them and explain his inspiration behind the work.  He took great joy in learning from his admirers what they thought of the paintings, and what it meant to them.

World renowned art critic, Donald Kuspit, commetnts that “Brisson’s works have a certain classical calm and completeness even as they are informed by a modernist aesthetic. Brisson has roots in both the French decorative tradition, with what might be called its grand sensuous manner, and in modernist Primitivism, with its aggressive emotionality and forthright expressiveness.”  He goes on to say, “Brisson’s dancers are not Degas’ “little rats” nor Matisse’s naked “rustics,” not vulgar urban dancers struggling to be theatrically suave, nor percussive and perverse Stravinsky-like orgiasts; but rather figures who are not entirely at home in their white dresses – suggesting their purity and innocence – nor in their naked flesh, for they have been “corrupted,” as it were by Western ideal of dance art.”

Brisson combines various elements of life, which we have all observed in different moments. Yet, except through his art, never before have they been experienced at a single instant and place. His motifs imbue the awesomeness of the natural world and the unfinished continuum of human history, continuing to unfold.  With their well-aged patina and Mediterranean glow, Brisson’s works are reminiscent of the fresh, early frescos from Pompeii and offer viewers a site of visual pleasure, existing across time.  The harmony and vision of Brisson’s work continues to transcend modes of contemporary culture while carrying the air of  an old world aesthetic.  A master of unearthing the primordial instincts of freedom and expression, Brisson’s work will continue to fascinate and delight the fancy in all of us and grant reverence to the human spirit.  Atlanta’s euphoric embrace of Brisson’s “In the Mood of Matisse” underscored the Southern sensibility of his work as it forged a unique bridge between  the classic and the contemporary.