Chances are, if you had New England relatives, there was a ‘Frank Vining Smith’ in the house somewhere. Seems like I’ve spoken to more that one New England man in the last few weeks with a clear recollection of a Frank Vining Smith print in their childhood bedroom. Much like Norman Rockwell or Andrew Wyeth, the word on Frank Vining Smith just keeps gaining momentum and his work is enjoying a new generation’s admiration. (The mounting auction prices say it all.)
So, here it is, hot off the presses: the new, complete, definitive, comprehensive survey of the works of Frank Vining Smith. The publication coincides with a major exhibit of his work at the Heritage Museum and Gardens this summer (2010) in Sandwich, MA. I’m also lining up a bunch of lectures for author James Craig (from the opening of the exhibit at the Heritage Museum and Gardens to the Rockport Library, the Mariner’s Museum, the Hingham Historical Society with more to come).
Smith has great childhood ties to Hingham, Massachusetts and this rugged, untouched New England shoreline helped to inspire Smith’s palette and imagination on canvas. To support his painting, Smith worked as an illustrator for magazines such as Field and Stream and Outdoors and his illustrations really set the tone for defining that post world-war, peace-time pastime of leisure. Frank Vining Smith was able to enjoy critical and financial success in his lifetime, but it wasn’t until he was 47 that he actually felt comfortable enough to leave his day job and pursue painting full-time.
If I can figure out how to do it, I’ll feature a couple of interior spreads by designer Michelle Quigley here, in a couple of days.
What is there to say about Jerry that hasn’t already been said — or that he hasn’t already said himself? Jerry’s got his finger on the pulse of the NY art scene ( and I think it extends a little further afield than that) — but he’s also extremely down to earth. He loves what he does, and maybe loves coffee a little bit more! This book has you chuckling the whole way through. I just had to break out my laptop to google all of the artwork. It was like my own private tutorial. We’ve put together some great engagements for him from X-initative (for the book launch) to the New York Foundation of the Arts that hosted him at Barnes & Noble on 86th Street. He’ll be visting the Southwest in just a few weeks — Site Santa Fe will be hosting him on June 29th and then it’s on to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in October. In between, he’s been given an honorary PhD by New York Academy of Fine Arts, and has also made his break into TV as ‘THE’ art critic for the latest in a long line of reality shows: “A Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.” Don’t miss it on Bravo starting June 9th. (That’s Jerry reclining.)
This is, by far, one of the most stunning books Hard Press Editions has produced. Kenneth Snelson is so multi-faceted — he’s at once, photographer, sculptor, engineer, physicist artist and inventor. Forces Made Visible explores 5 decades of his work. The publication coincided with an exhibit at the Marlborough Gallery in NYC.
I didn’t actually work on the production of this book ( I was with newborn at the time) but I’ve been working with Mike a lot since this baby was born. If you aren’t familiar with his painting, I’d suggest it’s time to get acquainted. Mike Glier is represented by Gerald Peters gallery in New York and Santa Fe. He is also a professor of art at Williams College, which, I guess, allows him to trapse off into these swaths of landscape for extended periods of time (something not all of us can do). Just picture yourself with an easel, your laptop, and a giant backpack — oh, let’s say, in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador, or next to wildlife in Botswana. 
Hard Press Editions was approached by a private collector and admirer of George Stengel to catalogue his collection. Stengel was an American painter taken with the French Impressionists, who returned to Pennsylvania and imitated their technique on American soil. The results are colorful snapshots of a time in American history when Industry greets pristine nature — waterways a-buzzing. Stengel’s eye for his surroundings comes together in this book to present a well-rounded portrait of Northeast landscape.
Every once in a while at Hard Press Editions, we have the chance to bring someone’s work back to center stage. Marjorie Strider was a female pop artist exhbiting with some of the biggest artists at the time; working with rubber and producing some pretty exciting three dimensional larger than life art such as a giant unraveling orange peel.
