THIRDSTONE
CELEBRATES OUR 6TH BIRTHDAY!
MAY 19TH 2002, FROM 1 TIL 5 PM
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Well, our favorite eclectic
electric art emporium of renowned fun and funk has apparently
achieved "local institution" status with the advent
of it's sixth birthday celebration this month...
ThirdStone owner Bruce Cutean
noted that the success of the last two years has finally made
such a celebration feel appropriate saying "I guess I'm
excited to recognize that we've made a real difference in the
art market. And I think it's about time we celebrated this growth
and survival and gave kudos and thanks to all of the many wonderful
friends who've brought us this success over the last six years."
All month long ThirdStone
will be featuring works from all of the artists who've shown
in the Gallery over time and, will be showcasing works from a
number of brand new ThirdStone artists that have recently come
on board as well.
The weekend of May 18th and
19th will see a couple celebratory events... The show opening,
food extravaganza and artists' reception will be on Sunday May
19th from 1 til 5 PM and all are invited. On Saturday, May 18th,
it's "Open House Circus and Carnival Time" with some
wild and somewhat crazy surprises taking place on the ThirdStone
grounds and in the Gallery. |
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Michigan Mark DePree CD
release party |
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Michigan Mark DePree releases
his 3rd CD "Under The Mystic Moon" at ThirdStone Gallery.
Michigan Mark will perform with his band "The Aardvarks
of Soul" from 8-10pm on Saturday evening June 1.
The Aardvarks of soul are Michigan Mark on vocal and guitar,
Bruce Madden on harmonica and vocal, Eddie Eicher on drums, and
Mark Svekric on bass. They play an upbeat mix of Michigan Mark
originals, blues and folk rock. Also, special guest ThirdStone
Owner Bruce Cutean on guitar (& rude noises). There will
be refreshments served and a $4 cover will be charged at the
door.
The CD will be specially priced
on the night of the CD release party at only $12.
(Regular price is $15.) |
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To See Our
recent shows, visit the archive: CLICK HERE
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Other ThirdStone
News:
MAJOR SITE
UPDATE COMING SOON:
The other big news is that
a major update of our site is coming soon. We'll be adding new
works from our regular artists and also many new ThirdStone artists.
We'll also be completing our winter show schedule, a news page
of other upcoming events including workshops, concerts and more,
and we'll be adding many other new features of interest to the
site then too. EMAIL
US to be added to our list so you'll receive notice of all
the big news here..
ONLINE ORDERING
NEWS:
Our new secured online ordering
system is ready at long last. All of our art offerings will now
be available (on a fully satisfaction guaranteed approval basis)
through our shopping cart system... There's a sampling of items
available already that use the new system and we'll be adding
"click to order" links to all of the art soon...Take
a look and let us know what you think!
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Lucy & ThirdStone
Owner Bruce,playing live at ThirdStone, June 2000 Groovinaceous
Gig. By this year's show,
Bruce may actually know how to hold a guitar!!! |
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Longtime local favorite,
singer-songwriter Lucy Webster will be returning for her fourth
annual “Groovinaceous Gig”performance at ThirdStone
Gallery this Saturday evening at 8:30 PM. Bringing a new round
of songs and stories to share, the event promises to be another
winner in ThirdStone’s ongoing “Circus of the Senses”
series…
Lucy’s thoughtful and
thought-provoking songwriting continues to evolve into new forms.
Her songs are a finely blended and tasty stew of stories, insights
and images. This Saturday’s performance will feature accompaniment
by bassist Charlie Hoats and Thirdstone owner and “Assembloid
Guy” will also “sit in” on electric guitar on
a few tunes as well. Some brand new songs will be performed as
well as many favorites from from her 2 popular CD releases, “In
My Opinion” and “Keeping My Fingers Crossed".
Bruce notes that “Lucy’s
shows here have always been some of my favorite events we’ve
ever presented here. It’s a good way for us to be reminded
that the creative spirit comes to us all in many varied forms….
Music and storytelling are art forms that reach us in a different
way than the visual arts that we usually place our emphasis on
here at ThirdStone. Our concert events here demonstrate that
point well and are always a big hit with those fortunate enough
to attend. This year’s show of Lucy’s will, I feel,
be the very best we’ve ever offered. Also, live music is
kind of hard to come by in our little town, and to get a show
of this caliber is a rare treat and a gift. I hope lots of folks
will join us this week to see what I mean by that. It’s
quite simply, an opportunity to be amazed and to go home afterwards
feeling lighter & enriched!”
Admission for this show is
$8 at the door. Folks might want to show up a bit early to chat
with Lucy and be assured of a seat for the performance.
ThirdStone is located at the
corner of 64th St. & 140ht Ave, just north of Saugatuck (I-196
West to exit 41 then north (left at 64th St) 1 mile North of
Saugatuck Dunes State Park.
Call 616.335.8027 for more info.
OUR CURRENT SHOW:
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"Take
a Seat" chair show opens Sunday February 24th
ThirdStone Gallery is coming
out of Winter hibernation several months earlier than usual with
its latest show being something considerably different. "Take
a Seat" will premiere with an open house and artists' reception
on Sunday afternoon February 24th from 1 til 5 PM and this one
is something not to be missed.
"Take a Seat" is
a whimsical look by theThirdStone artists at how we seat our
weary bodies and what we might find ourselves sitting upon if
artists designed our favorite chairs for us. |
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The show features a wide variety
of seating contrivances. Some are ancient battered wooden chairs,
scrounged from the scrapheaps of forlorn and forgotten objects
and lovingly revived with elaborate painting and decoration,
giving them a new life and, in some cases, a decidedly new personality.
Others have been altered and assembled to, in order to tell a
story or evoke a particular feeling … A couple have even
relinquished their former function to become something else entirely.
Other artists have chosen
to redefine the idea of a chair by building an entirely new design
from the ground up and a couple others have added new functions
to augment the idea that a chair can be something other than
just a convenient place to park our posteriors.
According to ThirdStone Owner
and Assembloid artist, Bruce Joel Cutean, the idea for "Take
A Seat" began innocently enough… "One of our artists
brought a chair that had previously been a rickety antique, destined
for the junk heap. It had been repaired to its former strength
and glory then elaborately painted into an entirely new entity.
That gave me the idea to revive an old chair I had saved for
years into my "Fishbird Funk Chair'.
"Once these two pieces
were on display, the other artists who would stop in would invariably
comment "I wanna do a chair" which, I, of course, encouraged
them to do… After awhile, it was apparent that we'd started
something that was rapidly gaining momentum so we opened up the
idea to pretty much everyone we knew. The result is our "Take
A Seat" show. It's something a good bit different for ThirdStone
but it certainly has generated a lot of good art energy and is
really going to be fun!"
Many different artists will
be showing their creations in the show, some with more than one
entry. Some of the artists are longtime ThirdStone regulars while
others are making their first appearance here with their efforts.
Some of the exhibiting regular artists are Tom DePree, Disco,
Meridith Ridl, Sue Mulder, Sue Blaine, Bruce Joel Cutean, Theresa
Gray, Susan Murphy, Persis Faasen, Carrie Andrews and Donna Collins….
Some of the newcomers include Susan Davenport-Geer, Andrea Schwochow,
Al Weener, Robert Ortman, Ingrid Lindfors, Nancy Price, Andrea
Crossman and a few others have promised entries as well.
In addition to the various
actual charming chairs, scintillating seats and bodacious butt-platforms
in the 3D realm, there are also some very fine 2D works featuring
these fetching "posterior placement devices" from several
of the ThirdStone crew.
"Take a Seat" will
open Sunday February 24th, with an open house and reception for
the artists from one until five pm that day... The public is
invited to come and "take a seat"and join in all the
fun. Food and refreshments will be served.
Thirdstone is located at the
corner of 64th St and 140th Avenue 2 miles North of Blue Star
highway. Call the gallery at 616-335-8027 for more information. |
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HERE'S
SOME RECENT SHOWS WE'VE DONE:
"HOLIDAY SHOW AND
PARTY" opens Sunday December 9
ThirdStone
Gallery opens its Sixth annual Holiday Show and Party with an
open house and artists' reception on Sunday afternoon December
9th from 1 til 5 PM.
Featuring
lots of new works from the ThirdStone artists, the show represents
the broadest offering ThirdStone has ever featured in its six
year history. As in the previous five Holiday shows, there'll
be lots of highly affordable art for those shopping for unique
holiday gifts, although a couple interesting new twists have
been added to the proceedings this time.
One of these
twists brings the unusual works of local artist Jessica Bohus
to ThirdStone; a vast array of works from her Blue Roan Studio
are now at ThirdStone including her highly unusual jewelry designs,
her wire creatures and monsters with their flameworked glass
bead heads, many blown glass sculptures and an unruly and peculiar
group of her charming and startling "bugs in jars",
looking like alien entymological specimens housed in jars of
all shapes and sizes, much like the insects we collected as children.
For this show
ThirdStone has also rounded up brand new work from several jewelry
artists including locals Mary Lynn Westenbroek, Cynthia Fetters,
Maria DeLeon and Ann Arbor artist Susan Remington. Local photographer
Joe Dietrich has produced a set of holiday cards of Saugatuck
area photographic images nad there are handmade collage cards
from Susan Reinstein and handmade cards from Local favorite Theresa
Gray featuring images of her oil paintings. ThirdStone owner,
Bruce Cutean has also created several brand new bizarre "Assembloids"
for the event.
Also featured
in this show will be new oil paintings, drawing and works on
paper from Tom Depree and new paintings from Susan Murphy, Victoria
Mullen, Persis Faasen and Holly Fisher. Holly has also produced
new steel sculptures for the show as well as an eclectic assortment
of holiday ornaments and refrigerator magnets featuring images
of dogs and semi trucks on linoleum, many embellished with dangling
golden fringe.
Other ThirdStone
artists will show new work as well including wild new images
from Chicago Pop artist Peter Mars, drawings.mixed media constructions
and fabric "treasure pocket bags from Meridith Ridl and
a variety of small window frame mixed media creations from the
wonderfully wacky Donna Collins. New drawings from Laurene Warren
have again appeared at ThirdStone for this event as well.
"Holiday
Show 2001" will open Sunday December 9th, with an open house
and reception for the artists from one until five pm that day...
The public is invited and food and refreshments will be served
including Admiral Pluto's legendary Salsa Bar and various homemade
treats from the ThirdStone artists.
Thirdstone
is located at the corner of 64th St and 140th Avenue 2 miles
North of Blue Star highway. Call the gallery at 616-335-8027
or visit their website for more information at www.thirdstoneartgallery.com
Our
Previous Show
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October
31, 2001
ThirdStone Gallery Press
Release - "BALANCING ACT" opens Sunday November
11
ThirdStone
Gallery opens "Balancing Act" its newest show with
an open house and artists' reception on Sunday afternoon, November
11th from 1 til 5 PM.
Oil painter
Tom DePree will surprise visitors with some interesting new departures
evident in his highly visionary creations. These works extend
Tom's painting adventures into new realms of his well-known unique
vision and masterful painting. An added surprise for this show
will be the first ever showing of his amazing drawings. |
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Also featured in "Balancing
Act" will be a large variety of brand new works from Chicago
artist, Peter Mars, another longtime ThirdStone mainstay.
Mars has long been known as
the leader of Chicago's quirky avante pop movement. Mars' paintings
often incorporate dreams and psychic imagery with visions of
our everyday life and American popular culture. Critic Jeff Rubin
of the New Orleans Art Review described his work as "A mixture
of spiritual consumerism, banality, and resonant mystery."
Peter was born in Portland
Oregon in 1959 and has been painting since 1982. He frequently
paints in series, using hand-pulled silkscreen techniques on
panels of wood, paper or canvas. His early work is highly sought-after
and more recent works are even stronger. These new works are
definitely breaking some new ground for the artist and include
a broad variety of his best work ever.
His home base, The Mars Gallery,
which Peter owns and operates, is located in downtown Chicago's
historical market district. The Gallery represents many pop and
outsider artists. The gallery has been in operation since 1988. |
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Outsider artist, Tom d. is also
showing new works in "Balancing Act... His peculiar and
refreshing take on many subjects covered in his works along with
his distinctive painting style, have been shown at ThirdStone
since the gallery first opened over five years ago...
Another new artist, Mary Lynn
Westenbroek, will have numerous works in the show. This is her
first outing here with her unusual and diverse paintings....
Mary says about her work: "To me, painting is simply a means
of self-expression, as are singing, dancing, speaking or writing.
That which is being expressed constantly changes. Sometimes it
is merely an exploration of color or shape. Sometimes it is what
I feel, or a visual representation of what I believe. Occasionally
it is what I see; more often it is what I wish I would see. Many
times it is the music I hear, and how I imagine the music would
appear if I could see it. I believe that art is not an end product
in itself, but, like footprints, it serves as a record of where
the soul has traveled." |
Photographer Jim Rasmusson wil
also be showing his newest works in the show... Jim's careful
eye and exquisite printing always yield fascinating and beautiful
images, often with a uniquely skewed perspective... These will
be the first new works from Jim in a while and will inclue his
first mixed-media creation as well... |
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