Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Charles Katzenbach at the Grounds for Sculpture

Charles Katzenbach's piece, "Portatif" will be on display at the Grounds For Sculpture in Member Exhibition 2010 – "Member's Musings".  This new exhibition features artwork in various media by members of Grounds For Sculpture in the Education Gallery of the Seward Johnson Center for the Arts.  On view May 2 through July 18.

"Portatif"
by Charles Katzenbach

And don't forget, Mr. Katzenbach is currently in a 2-man show with Andrew Werth called "Reflections" at Artists' Gallery, running now through May 2.


Artists' Gallery
18 Bridge Street
Lambertville, NJ
map & directions
Gallery hours: every Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 6 pm

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Ellarslie Open XXVIII and The Salon at Artworks

"Train Approaching #1"
by John Treichler

The annual Ellarslie Open at the Trenton City Museum and Artworks in Trenton . As usual, the Artists' Gallery is pretty well represented. Accepted into Ellarslie Open XXVIII were works by Jennifer Cadoff, Jo-Ann Osnoe and Andrew Werth, as well as two pieces by John Treichler. Accepted into the Salon Show were additional works by Jennifer Cadoff and John Treichler.

Juror Michael Cagno chose to include original artwork selected from 576 submissions. Trenton City Museum Director Brian Hill declares that this years' Ellarslie Open at Ellarslie and at Artworks will be like no other. For the first time, the juror selected works for both exhibits. The edgier work selected for Artworks in tandem with the more classical disciplines at Ellarslie has created two individual exhibitions worthy of either venue.

The exhibit at Artworks runs April 23 - June 1, with an Opening reception Friday, April 23 from 6:00 to 9:00pm. The exhibit at Ellarslie Mansion opens April 24 - June 20, with an Opening reception Saturday, May 1, 6:00 to 9:00 pm

Visit the Ellarslie and Artworks websites for directions, and more information.

Artists' Gallery 18 Bridge Street Lambertville, NJ map & directions Gallery hours: every Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 6 pm

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Sri Yantra with Chuck Katzenback, May 2, 2010

- a special workshop -

become familiar with,
explore
& learn to draw
Sri Yantra
Sunday, May 2nd 9-11 am
with Charles Katzenbach
at
Artists' Gallery
18 Bridge Street
Lambertville, NJ

Just before the Gallery's daily opening for the finale of the exhibit "Reflections" by Charles Katzenbach & Andrew Werth.

By Donation. There is no fee. Offer what you'd like. $20 suggested, but anything is fine.  All proceeds to support the service of Princeton Integral Yoga Institute.


Charles Katzenbach is a creative artist who was drawn to the Sri Yantra, and was fascinated with what he discovered as he worked with this amazing geometric figure - what Swami Satchidananda called "the most powerful of all the forms in creation."  He is now sharing his insights and techniques for discovering, exploring
and learning to draw the awesome Sri Yantra. You do not need to be an artist to get the most from this workshop. Come create something special and unique, and possibly discover some of the inner secrets of your very Being.

Please bring a straight edge to the workshop.


Artists' Gallery
18 Bridge Street
Lambertville, NJ
map & directions
Gallery hours: every Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 6 pm

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Maple Syrup, Right Around the Corner

There is a nice article about Artists' Gallery's Charles Katzenbach in the March 31 edition of the U.S.1 newspaper.  And don't forget, Chuck is currently in a 2-man show with Andrew Werth called "Reflections" at Artists' Gallery, running now through May 2.   The article:




Maple Syrup, Right Around the Corner
by Pat Tanner


Only recently have I discovered that great maple syrup is made right here in New Jersey and, even better, right in Hopewell Township. For years I was convinced that there was something unique to Vermont that made its syrup the only worthy one in the U.S. My first inkling otherwise came a couple of years ago in the form of the gift of a Mason jar full of excellent sweet stuff from a farm in northeastern Pennsylvania — Spring Hills Farm in Dalton. I could not believe how tasty it was, even better than most from New England and Canada.

"Disorderly Colors"
oil on glass
by Charles Katzenbach

Shortly afterwards I began hearing about a small but fine maple sugaring operation in Hopewell with the delightful name Sweet Sourland Farms. Armed with what appeared to be explicit directions off the Internet, I spent a good portion of one Sunday afternoon driving up and down Route 518 in the vicinity of Van Dyke Road, but could not find the right driveway — there was no sign — and I gave up.

Last year, newly determined, I finally tracked down Chuck Katzenbach of Sweet Sourland Farms. I could not have been more impressed with both the man and his syrup. In addition to producing maple syrup, honey, and milled lumber on his site, Katzenbach, Princeton Class of 1971, personally built the log cabin that he and his wife, Constance (“Bru”) call home, and he is an accomplished artist. His abstract paintings will be on exhibit at Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, opening with a reception on Saturday, April 10.

Katzenbach was out boiling down the last of this year’s sap last week when I spoke with Bru. At that point it was still unknown how many gallons of his brown gold will be available. In a good year Sweet Sourland Farms’ 150 or so taps produce 20 gallons; a bad year yields as few as nine. Katzenbach boils down the sap — it takes about 40 gallons to produce one gallon of syrup — using firewood from the hundreds of pine trees planted on the property decades ago by his father, C. Buckman Katzenbach, also a Princeton alum, Class of 1934, and a surgeon who worked at Hunterdon Medical Center,

Bru reports, “We had a beautiful season that began early this year with that warm spell in January and ended with the warm weather in mid-March.” Sugar maple sap flows only when daytime temperatures are above freezing and nighttime temperatures return to below freezing. “We had wonderfully consistent weather this year,” she says.

All along the Northeast, from Quebec to Pennsylvania, the previous two winters were inauspicious, which caused the price of 100 percent maple syrup to skyrocket — that and the energy costs related to producing it. Bru says that maple syrup is the most energy-intense agricultural product of all, which is why maple syrup producers are always looking to increase efficiency. Over the last year, Chuck Katzenbach has installed a vacuum system developed by New England dairy farmers that drains the sap out more efficiently. “Chuck figured if it’s gentle enough for cows, it does no damage to the trees,” his wife says. He also installed new, smaller taps that automatically close when warm overnight temperatures come along, and built a boiler that uses steam to preheat the sap coming into the 150-gallon boiling tank, which saves energy.

Looking to the future, the Katzenbachs are replacing the pines they use for milled lumber with 100 saplings of an improved variety of sugar maple called Super Sweets. These have been developed through selective breeding over the last 30 years by RPM Ecosystems of Dryden, New York, and the Cornell Sugar Maple Research & Extension, with funds from a USDA grant. “A normal sugar maple has two percent sap,” explains Bru, “but Super Sweets yield eight percent.”

That’s a good thing, because Sweet Sourland Farms has, as she says, “more business than we know what to do with” and even in a good production year their syrup goes fast. The day I spoke with Bru, Gab Carbone of the Bent Spoon was on her way over to pick up seven gallons.

Amazingly, an ounce-to-ounce comparison of the price of Sweet Sourland Farms maple syrup with Vermont maple syrup available in supermarkets and over the Internet shows that the local syrup is on par or even costs less. Here’s the breakdown, half-pint to half-pint: Maple Grove Vermont Syrup, over the Internet: $7.50 (plus shipping), or through Peapod by Stop & Shop: $6. Trader Joe’s Quebec syrup: $6.39 (i.e. $9.99 for a 12.5 ounce bottle). Sweet Sourland Farms Hopewell syrup: $6.

Sweet Sourland Farms, 90 Lambertville Hopewell Turnpike. (Route 518), Hopewell. Call for directions and availability: 609-466-9241or www.localharvest.org.

Art Exhibit, Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville. Saturday, April 10, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Opening reception for “Reflections,” an exhibit of colorful abstract paintings by Charles Katzenbach and Andrew Werth. In conjunction with Second Saturdays in Lambertville and New Hope. On view to Sunday, May 2. 609-397-4588 or www.lambertvillearts.com.


Artists' Gallery
18 Bridge Street
Lambertville, NJ
map & directions
Gallery hours: every Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 6 pm

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Reflections

"Reflections"
a 2-man show featuring
Charles Katzenbach and Andrew Werth
at Artists' Gallery in Lambertville, NJ
April 9 – May 2, 2010
Opening reception: Saturday, April 10, 2010, 6-9pm


Reflections, an exhibition of colorful, eye-catching abstract paintings by Charles Katzenbach and Andrew Werth, will be on display at Artists' Gallery from Friday, April 9, through Sunday, May 2, 2010. A reception with the artists will be held at the gallery’s new location (18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ) from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. on April's “Second Saturday,” April 10, 2010.

In “Reflections”, Katzenbach and Werth offer viewers a variety of visual experiences through the manipulation of paint, pattern, and surface. As you walk around the gallery, paintings change their appearance depending upon where you stand. In Katzenbach’s oil paintings on glass and mirrors, your angle of view determines which planes of color are revealed and which are hidden, with reflections from one layer interacting with the paint on another. Werth’s acrylic paintings make use of thousands of hand-painted marks of color that the eye integrates differently depending upon how far back you stand from the work. In addition, some works include reflective and pearlescent pigments whose appearance changes as you walk from left to right.

"Ontological Status of a Moonlight Sonata"
Acrylic on panel, 24 x 18
by Andrew Werth

The title of the show, Reflection, also refers to a type of symmetry used by both artists in this exhibition. Katzenbach’s Disorderly Colors, for instance, is reflectively symmetrical in its design both vertically and horizontally, though as the title suggests, not in its dramatic use of color. Werth’s Conceptual Framework has a diagonal reflective symmetry in its geometry, a tessellation of patterns that include rotation and translation as well as reflection.

"Disorderly Colors"
oil on glass
by Charles Katzenbach

In addition to these literal reflections, both artists encourage viewers to consider reflections of a more metaphorical kind. Katzenbach has long been fascinated with Tibetan mandalas and the deeply spiritual and symbolic Sri Yantra. Werth’s paintings are often about how our embodied minds make sense of the world and are inspired by his interest in philosophy and cognitive science.



Artists' Gallery
18 Bridge Street
Lambertville, NJ
map & directions
Gallery hours: every Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 6 pm