In this session, curated by Judith Joseph and Dorit Jordan Dotan, we are joined by artists Audrey Frank Anastasi, Alan Lucks, and Joan Myerson Shrager as they offer insight into their creative processes and share the impact of the current social order on the psychological and spiritual content of their work.
As 2020 comes to an end, these artists present their recent work and discuss how they have embraced the notion of Creativity in an Uncertain Time.
In addition to the curators, this program is produced with the support of Jewish Art Salon’s Program Advisor Yona Verwer and team members Cheselyn Amato and Chana Wiesenthal-Elias.
About the artists:
Audrey Frank Anastasi is a prolific feminist artist, working in painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, & printmaking. She is also curator, gallerist, educator and arts advocate. Most of Ms. Anastasi’s figurative works are painted with her non-dominant left hand; other subjects include refugees, birds, animals and birch trees. Over the course of her career, she has had 20 solo & 200 group shows. Her “ref-u-gee” series will be shown at Medgar Evers College and the Valentine Museum of Art, in Brooklyn, NY. Accompanying the show will be a limited-edition monograph w/ over 180 images and a foreword by Phyllis Braff. Ms. Anastasi’s collage series was exhibited at Welancora Gallery, Brooklyn, in May, 2019. In 2018, ten paintings were exhibited in “Painting to Survive,” curated by Yale critic Jonathan Weinberg. “As a feminist artist my first commitment is to painting other women, the human face, and figure. Whatever the subject, I work with furious abandon, at the intersection of disciplined control and randomized instinct to counteract preconceptions and inhibitions.” http://audreyanastasi.com/
Alan Lucks was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and is a graduate of Brooklyn College with a B.A. in Art History. Lucks works in oils, acrylics and collage mediums. His work has been exhibited at The Art League of Long Island, Art Expo N.Y., Guild Hall and The B.J. Spoke Gallery. Alan describes his work as ranging from “…serious to sarcastic with some humor. It’s my intent to encourage thought and conversation when viewing my work.” https://www.instagram.com/alanlucks/
Joan Myerson Shrager was formerly director of ArtForms Gallery Manayunk. For sixteen years she has co-directed The Stained Glass Project: Windows That Open Doors, with Paula Mandel, a volunteer after school art program for Philadelphia Public School students. Shrager also partners with Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D. senior rabbi of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Elkins Park, PA creating 150+ Jewish History PowerPoint presentations. A Penn graduate with an MA from Temple University, Shrager trained at Moore and Tyler Colleges of Art, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, University of the Arts and Abington Art Center. Initially a painter and sculptor, after acquiring an Apple computer in 1992, digital artwork became paramount. Her work is in the collections of Harcum College, University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, the Museum of Computer Art and a textbook on digital art. Her polychromed clay sculpture is also exhibited widely. http://www.joan-myersonshrager.com/
