Negret Wine Company Art Fair

Flower Essence series, the Laughing Lotus, and Pagka-pinay series on display at Negret Wine Co. Art Fair, June 11 &12.

Negret Wine Company in Hudson Wisconsin, hosted a two-day art fair exhibiting local artists from the St. Croix River Valley on June 11 & 12.  Anna Koosmann's Flower Essence series and her new version of Hersley Casero's Ha? project, Laughing Lotus, were on display.  It was a wonderfully warm summer weekend to share in art, wine, and friendship at Negret.

Laughing Lotus, Anna Koosmann's latest version of Hersley Casero's collaborative art movement, the Ha? project.

This video shows the transformation of Anna Koosmann's Laughing Boy portrait created in 2014 at Art at the Heart in Hudson, WI into the Laughing Lotus portrait 2016.  The process is about re-creating your story, transform the old and out-dated into something new - Create to Elevate!

Vincent Negret, owner and wine maker, holds up his new Ha? project t-shirt.

Pagka-pinay "being Filipino" at Global M.A.D.E Gallery 120

Pagka-pinay series: Saging (banana) and Balloon series paintings beyond

It was a cold and brisk evening for May during Artful Friday's opening at Global M.A.D.E Gallery 120 in River Falls, Wisconsin last Friday.  We all managed to warm up inside among the colorful display of artworks created by local artists in the St. Croix river valley.  I was one of five local artists to exhibit the architecture work and paintings created in the Philippines.  It was great to see the works up on the wall and share the adventures with everyone who came to the opening.  I was reconnected with so many faces from my childhood that night, and many new faces from the local community.  Artworks are up and for sale through May 31, 2016.  Get down to Global M.A.D.E if you haven't, it's a fun store to check out all the fair trade arts and crafts from around the globe.

Pagka-pinay paintings are Koosmann's visual story as a foreigner living and working abroad for nearly two years in the Philippines (2012-14).  The term pagka-pinay means "being Filipino". The series has been exhibited in galleries around the Philippines, including Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues V-day event and art exhibit entitled, Herstory, on February 14, 2014.

Balloon paintings are meditations in art making which unveil layers of colors and shapes by removing paint from the canvas.  Debuted at Qube Gallery Cebu, Philippines for the Mientras Tanto, or "in the mean time", group exhibit September 2013.

Pagka-pinay paintings displayed among Estudio Damgo architecture photographs highlighting four community projects in the Philippines.

Balloon series displayed brilliantly on a complimentary orange wall at Global M.A.D.E. Gallery 120 River Falls, WI.

It was nice to have friends and family show up for the event.

And to meet new faces to hear about their adventures in the Philippines.

Balloon Series - "I hear you, I see you, I feel you"

The Balloon Series painting, "I feel you" now on display at Negret Wine Company Hudson, Wisconsin. - Photo courtesy of Eva Branson

The Balloon Series paintings, "I hear you, I see you, I feel you" are on display at Negret Wine Company downtown Hudson, Wisconsin.  I'm so grateful to the wine maker and tasting manager, Vincent Negret and Harout Doghradmadjian, for opening the doors and welcoming the balloons into their new wine production space.  Negret Wine Company is a great addition to Hudson's main street.  It was timely to display the balloons for the Hudson Hot Air Affair over the weekend and I enjoyed getting to know the wine maker and hearing the Negret family legacy in wine making rooted in Columbia, South America. 

Pictured with wine maker Vincet Negret and the Balloon Series paintings at Negret Wine Company Hudson, Wisconsin. - Photo courtesy of Eva Branson

Negret Wine Company tasting room with Harout Doghradmadjian.

webs: www.negretwinecompany.com

the Ha? project Hudson, Wisconsin USA

C L I C K the I M A G E

Pleased to announce the first Ha? project was organized on USA soil (June 20-21), at the Heart of the River Art Opening in Hudson, Wisconsin.  Fourteen versions were created on Friday for display and silent auction on Saturday.  The People's Choice Award went to Sarah Stolzenburg, receiving many compliments throughout the event.  Thanks to the Heart of the River for inviting us to share the Ha? in the USA and continuing the movement to spread laughter and joy that comes from the arts. Learn more about the Ha? by liking our facebook page.

Create to Elevate!

Ha? facebook

Ha? video

The HA experiment's painting, if you are in it you are E, has inspired Filipino writer, Arkay Timonera.  His work was recently published in the book, Interstices.  The passage is a personal and verbatim recount of the artwork.  We are humbled by what we read and are pleased to share it! Create to Elevate!

From Interstices:

Some Notes on Painting

by 

Arkay Timonera

1. It is more or less happy.
2. I have never seen such color and such lack of color in the same place.
3. The skins of balloons must be very thin. Every gaze passes right through them.
4. The cut end of a woman's head reappears on the other side of the world.
5. The world was very likely a sphere once.  It has never been so flat or as whole.
6. There is a couch the shape of a horse.  The couple is riding it, banging drums.
7. Everyone is a stone. Except that penguin.
8. The ones who are not stones are entirely made of lines.  They contain the sky and each place they have ever walked in.
9. Someone is a yellow outline hugging himself.
10. Everyone keeps their mouth open for the balloons' dripping hues.
11. They are trying to catch colors on the tips of their absent tongues.
12. The sun is turning, the sun dangles on a string.
13. Either the balloons are bleeding or they are the ghosts of our blood.
14. Nobody keeps his eyes open.  Nobody has to.
15. Somebody doesn't mind having fallen into a pit.  He's spending the rest of his life singing about it.
16. The family that flies together fades together.
17. Those two faces are like twin tombs.
18. There is a house with no windows and no doors.  The man inside can see the rest of the universe.