For more information & images of Matthew Johansson's "Suburban Still Life" click on "Current Show" option under "Kortman Gallery" on the left
On Saturday evening (Sept. 18) D J Fuzz kept the After Hours Party jumpin' @ Point! Bar at this year's Greenwich Village Art Fair. This 62 year old art fair is one of Rockford's premier arts events that benefits the Rockford Art Museum. The Kortman Gallery sponsors Point! Bar with all proceeds going to RAM. Sarah Lindvall and her friends also appear in the video along with Dan Minick (D J Fuzz).
See & buy great art @ Greenwich Village Art Fair. Relax over a colorful ARTini and meet intriguing people at this year's Point! Bar all on the grounds of the Rockford Art Museum this weekend, September 18th & 19th. Point! Bar features bartenders Mike LaLoggia, Jr on Saturday, and Chris Doyle and Chad Hobbs on Sunday. AND this year, you are invited to an AFTER HOURS PARTY on Saturday evening from 5 to at least 8pm @ POINT! BAR featuring great music by D.J. FUZZ (Dan Minick), and bartender Dennis Horton. Point! Bar, located right in the middle of the art fair, is brought to you by Kortman Gallery. All proceeds benefit the Rockford Art Museum.
The crazy "On The Waterfront" weekend is over, and after a relaxing Labor Day time-out, we are back to our regular hours here at J. R. Kortman Center for Design. We are happy to say that the Kortman Gallery Main Street Lounge was a grand success this year featuring ARTini's. The Love Lemon, Red Cosmo, and Blue Cool were enjoyed by all who imbibed...and we look forward to offering them again at the Kortman Gallery "Point! Bar" at the Greenwich Village Art Fair coming up September 18–19 on the Rockford Art Museum grounds.
The new Main Street turned out to work very well for us for this year's OTW. It provided a pleasant strolling area for festival goers and great people watching for our outside Lounge patrons. Speaking of our patrons, it was so nice to see so many of you here over the weekend having such a good time. We appreciate your business, and it is good to enjoy such a wonderful event. We thought this years line-up of performers at OTW attracted a more sophisticated and interesting crowd.
We also appreciate the efforts of all OTW staff and volunteers who helped make this the cleanest OTW ever.
The streets and sidewalks were kept clean during the entire festival with no overflowing garbage bins anywhere. At the end of the evening the festival grounds looked great even before the final clean-up crew came through!
Most of all we would like to say thank you to our bar manager Chris Doyle... bartenders Chad Hobbs and Erin Knoll, store manager Nancy Froelich, and Michael LaLoggia (set-up), and Don Bissel and Kyle Bevers (tear-down). Without their generous help we would not have been able to have such a successful weekend.
Hope to see you all at the Greenwich Village Art Fair, September 18–19 @ the Kortman Gallery "Point! Bar."
The new Main Street turned out to work very well for us for this year's OTW. It provided a pleasant strolling area for festival goers and great people watching for our outside Lounge patrons. Speaking of our patrons, it was so nice to see so many of you here over the weekend having such a good time. We appreciate your business, and it is good to enjoy such a wonderful event. We thought this years line-up of performers at OTW attracted a more sophisticated and interesting crowd.
We also appreciate the efforts of all OTW staff and volunteers who helped make this the cleanest OTW ever.
The streets and sidewalks were kept clean during the entire festival with no overflowing garbage bins anywhere. At the end of the evening the festival grounds looked great even before the final clean-up crew came through!
Most of all we would like to say thank you to our bar manager Chris Doyle... bartenders Chad Hobbs and Erin Knoll, store manager Nancy Froelich, and Michael LaLoggia (set-up), and Don Bissel and Kyle Bevers (tear-down). Without their generous help we would not have been able to have such a successful weekend.
Hope to see you all at the Greenwich Village Art Fair, September 18–19 @ the Kortman Gallery "Point! Bar."
New ARTini’s created for Kortman Gallery “Lounge” @ OTW
At this year’s On The Waterfront celebration, the Kortman Gallery will create a sexy, outdoor cocktail lounge on North Main Street in front of J.R. Kortman Center for Design. The “Kortman Gallery Lounge” will feature ARTini’s including the now classic Love Lemon Martini, along with two new cocktails, the Red Cosmo and Blue Cool.
These colorful ARTini’s are all mixed with Rokk Vodka of Sweden.
The upstairs Kortman Gallery will be open during most of the festival hours and is presenting the exuberant acrylic paintings of Rockford Artist Michelle Dorr in an exhibit titled “Happy Hour!”...a great exhibit for the entire family.
The Red Cosmo is a blend of Rokk Vodka, cranberry juice, triple sec, lime juice and grenadine, garnished with fresh lime and lemon candy stick. The Blue Cool is mixed with Rokk Vodka, blue curacao, and a splash of cool blue Gatorade, garnished with an orange slice and candy stick.
“All these colorful, refreshing ARTini’s were created not only for their great taste but, like art, their visual appeal,” said Doc Slafkosky, co-owner of J.R. Kortman. “A good cocktail must be as fun to see as it is to drink.”
The Love Lemon Martini was created in homage to Love Lemons which were a festival treat at the Greenwich Village Art Fairs back in the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Love Lemons consisted of a whole chilled fresh lemon which is pierced by a candy peppermint stick. The candy stick is porous so you can suck the juice from the lemon through the candy like a straw. The candy sweetens the lemon juice, and the peppermint flavor adds a cool refreshing taste.
The Love Lemon Martini is a blend of Vodka, Limoncello (a liqueur from Italy), fresh lemon juice, and garnished with a lemon wedge and peppermint stick. Yum! When life hands you lemons...have a martini!
Check out this video shot by Michael LaLoggia...Doc & Chris share the ingredients of a Blue Cool:
Party faces, lovable dogs, and vibrant insects are the subjects of Michelle Dorr’s colorful portraits which will go on exhibit Friday, August 27th in the Kortman Gallery. Dorr’s exhibition appropriately titled, “Happy Hour!” features paintings of acrylic on canvas that are dazzling and exuberant works of art.
Dorr is a self-taught artist who was greatly influenced by her father who was a graphic designer with a home studio. “I grew up in a family of artists and especially loved watching my father create portraits of people and animals,” said Dorr. “I always paid special attention to the way he did eyes and I never forgot it.”
Dorr has also applied her images to jewelry that she hand makes. “My jewelry is created from miniatures of my paintings that I cast in resin and adorn with glass seed beads,” says Dorr. “The pieces are casual, fun, wearable art.”
“Because Michelle Dorr’s art is so visually entertaining we thought this would be a great art show to have in the gallery during On The Waterfront,” says Kortman Gallery director Doc Salfkosky. “The whole family will enjoy Michelle’s colorful paintings.”
The August 27th opening reception for “Happy Hour!” by Michelle Dorr will be from 5:30 to 9:00pm upstairs in the Kortman Gallery at J.R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford. For more information call 815/968-0123 or visit www. jrkortman.com.
What: “Happy Hour!,” an exhibition of portrait art by Michelle Dorr
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J.R.Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main, Downtown Rockford
When: Opening reception, Friday, August 27, 5:30pm-9:00pm. Gallery open Monday–Saturday, 10am–6pm. Exhibition runs through September 27, 2010.
Free admission.
Information: 815-968-0123 or www.jrkortman.com
To see images of Michelle Dorr's "Happy Hour!" exhibit, click on the "Current Show" option to the left under Kortman Gallery
"When I was with my father, when I was just a child, the world was filed with wonder and every place was wild. And every day was magic, and Santa Claus was true, and all the things that mattered were things my father knew." –Marsha Jeffrey Hendrickson, from the book "Dad, My Hero" available at J. R. Kortman Center for Design
Rockford artist Jeanne Ludeke will present her classic still life paintings in a Kortman Gallery exhibition titled “The Sibylline Still Life: A Return to Painting” opening Friday, June 4th. Ludeke, who is best known for her portraits, has created luscious new oil paintings of food and ordinary objects inspired by such masters of still life as Adriaen Coorte and Hovsep Pushman.
“Like Pushman, I am interested in dramatizing the relationships of objects in a meditative atmosphere,” Ludeke writes in her artist's statement. “ And like Coorte, I prefer to center and elevate my subjects on a platform to enhance and dignify the ordinary.”
Ludeke began her studies in drawing, painting and art history at NIU and the University of Salzburg, Austria, and completed a Masters in drawing at NIU in 1983. She has worked as a commissioned portrait artist and also taught art for many years. Only recently she has returned to her personal work as an artist.
Many of her current paintings include alluring images of food, such as a red velvet cupcake placed in front of a background of a well known painting. “These works are visually warm and inviting, and also stimulate your sense of taste and smell because of the realistic quality of the paintings,” says Kortman Gallery director Doc Slafkosky. “Inspired by Jeanne’s art, we thought we’d take the gallery experience a step further and have freshly baked cupcakes available at the opening. Caked, a new Rockford baking company, will be selling not only red velvet, but other artistically inspired cupcakes during the event.
The June 4th opening reception for “The Sibylline Still Life: A Return to Painting” by Jeanne Ludeke will be from 5:30 to 9:00pm upstairs in the Kortman Gallery at J.R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford. For more information call 815/968-0123 or visit www. jrkortman.com.
What: “The Sibylline Still Life: A Return to Painting” exhibition of classical art by Jeanne Ludeke
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J.R.Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main, Downtown Rockford
When: Opening reception, Friday, June 4th, 5:30pm-9:00pm. Gallery open Monday–Saturday, 10am–6pm. Exhibition runs through July 15, 2010.
Free admission.
Information: 815-968-0123 or www.jrkortman.com
See images of Jeanne Ludeke's art... click on the "Current Show" option under Kortman Gallery on the left.