Southern Artists Offered Exposure

"Bread and Butter" by me, Monica Crowe

Listen up, artists. The second annual Gulf South Regional Contemporary Art Exhibition has sounded the call for two- and three-dimensional submissions. Those who live in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are encouraged to enter. BECA gallery, a contemporary space in the Warehouse District of New Orleans, will display the juried works from Jan. 3 – Feb. 28, 2009.

This means the display will be on exhibit during Prospect 1, New Orleans tourist-attraction effort at revitalizing its arts and culture identity. To learn more about my perspective of Prospect 1, see the article I wrote for my regular column in the Ruston Daily Leader.

Entry deadline is Nov. 10. Complete information and submission guidelines may be downloaded from http://becagallery.typepad.com/my_weblog/call-to-artists.html.

Mary Drew Breiten

Contemporary portrait by Mary Drew Breiten.

STYLE:
Mary Drew Breiten, currently of Lincoln Parish, is not your typical portrait artist. In fact, she prefers not to be called a portrait artist at all because she said people tend to lump them into the same category-- traditional. Breiten describes her work as contemporary. With charcoal line drawings and pastels injecting loose color, she said she captures the real and abstract qualities of her subjects.

"I try to understand the individual I'm drawing and insert their personality," she said.

Other than charcoal and pastels, Breiten's favorite medium is intaglio printmaking.
"Out of all art's frustration it somehow manages to be relaxing, soothing and almost meditative," she said.

Breiten reflects on her artwork.

DREAM JOB:
When asked what her dream job in the arts would be, Breiten said she didn't know but narrowed it down to being given full creative license.
"... For everybody that could ever ask me to do a commission to want me to do it in my favorite style...and to get paid," she said.

DREAM STUDIO:
When asked what her dream studio would be like, Breiten, this time, did not hesitate. Her wish list includes:
-- printmaking equipment
-- plenty of flat files and storage "(Flat files are) a great way to store paper and copper for print making," she said.
-- big speakers for music and books on CD

Portrait by Mary Drew Breiten

WHAT SHE'S LISTENING TO:
"I like (music) that makes me want to dance and sing really loud," she said. "Oh! I need soundproof walls (in the dream studio) by the way."
-- Muse
-- The Killers
-- Radiohead
-- Eisley
-- Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game (book on CD)

INSPIRATIONS:
-- other people's art work
-- people she knows
-- random people with interesting faces and anatomy

ART INFLUENCES:
-- Marie Bukowski, of Ruston, La. (Breiten studied under her and said she admires her for her abstract qualities and colors)
-- Alice Neel (inspirational in developing Breiten's portrait style)
-- Edgar Degas
-- Egon Schiele
-- Monica Cook

Breiten is currently working on developing a Web site. To commission her for artwork e-mail
mary.d.breiten@gmail.com.