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THOMAS BATISTA ~ BIRTHE FLEXNER |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2009
Contact: Joy Reed Belt
405/842-6336
jreedbelt@joyreedbelt.com
AUGUST BRINGS THOMAS BATISTA PAINTINGS & BIRTHE FLEXNER CERAMICS TO JRB ART AT THE ELMS
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – An exhibition featuring paintings by Thomas Batista and ceramics by Birthe Flexner will open with an artist’s reception on Friday, August 7, 2009, from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m., at JRB Art at The Elms during the monthly Gallery Walk in Oklahoma City’s Paseo Arts District. The exhibit runs through August 29th.
Thomas Batista was born in La Guaria, Venezuela and began painting as a young boy. His paintings, which make use of vivid color and fluid movement that are meant to evoke an emotional response, are based upon people and places drawn from his memory and imagination. He holds bachelors and masters degrees in Fine Art from Oklahoma City University and has studied at Atelier Nazaret Charitas in La Guaria, Academia de Arte Power and Universidad Simon Bolivar in Carcaras, Venezuela. He has taught design, color, and drawing at the university level. Batista is creative director, president, and CEO of The Batista Group, an Oklahoma City advertising, design, public relations, and corporate communications firm. His artwork can be found in private and public collections in Venezuela, Italy, and the United States.
In 1987, Batista received the Award of Merit from the Houston Illustrators Society and the Award of Excellence from the Graphic Communications Society of Oklahoma. He was the 1983 and 1984 recipient of the Fritz Ford Art Award at Oklahoma City University. In 1981, he was awarded a four-year full scholarship in the USA by the Fundacion Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho. Batista’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Oklahoma, Texas and Venezuela including a one-man show, Pentimentos, at the Kirkpatrick Center Museum Complex in Oklahoma City.
Birthe Flexner grew up in Denmark and was influenced greatly by the simple lines, love of material, and honest craftsmanship of the Danish Design Movement of the 1950s. Her love of food also serves as a source of inspiration. “I visualize my pots filled with the myriad colors and textures of food,” she says. “Oval platters with fish, large bowls with colorful salads, tureens with stew or soup. And, of course, family and friends gathered around enjoying it all.”
Flexner served as apprentice to potter John Atlee and attended the Kansas City Arts Institute. She has lived in Oklahoma since 1970 and has worked out of her own studio since 1980. She works with white stoneware, throwing and altering the forms as well as hand building with slabs. Much of her work is functional cone-10 reduction. In addition to teapots, pitchers, platters, and bowls, she makes sculptural pieces, including boxes made from slab construction that are inspired by architectural forms. For texture, she presses the clay into paper, metal, or other objects and uses glazes to add depth and to emphasize the shape of the piece. Her pots are fired in a 60 cubic foot gas kiln, which she built herself.
JRB Art at The Elms presents a diverse roster of emerging, established, and internationally exhibited artists who create in a wide range of media including: paintings, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, glass, fine crafts, functional objects, fiber art and photographs. This award winning gallery in Oklahoma City’s Paseo Arts District, with its historic 4,500 square foot exhibition space, changes its exhibits monthly in a gracious environment that fosters a dialogue between the arts and the larger community while providing quality art for first time buyers as well as individual, corporate and museum collections.
JRB Art at The Elms, the former home of Nan Sheets which was built in 1920, is located at 2810 North Walker and is open Monday through Saturday, 10-6, and Sunday 1-5. Phone: (405) 528-6336, website: www.jrbartgallery.com, e-mail: jrb@coxinet.net.
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© Joy Reed Belt 2010
All prices subject to change without notice - not responsible for errors. Availability, price and shipping charges can be confirmed by e-mail or phone prior to purchase. |
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