ABRAZO artists explore the vastness of expression and Verum embraces it all to celebrate a decade of being...
Malcom Glass
"An embrace implies affection, love. Also respect, often tenderness. But full expression of these feelings for another being is not possible unless we first honor and respect ourselves. Without self-acceptance and self-love, the love of others will be flawed and diminished."
Malcom Glass
Earl Grenville Killeen
"I embrace the challenge of coaxing (sometimes wrestling) a creation into being — in spite of the physical pain that entails. Making art nudges me to envision and depict things — and to express ideas and feelings — that I otherwise would not venture into, to open my arms and my heart to my whole self without (much) trepidation or self-censorship. At those moments when I look at my painting and am overcome by tears welling up, I guess I could say that my art is hugging me back."
Earl Grenville Killeen
Andrew Binder
"I'm interested in creating work that is expressive in nature. I want to evoke a sense of mood, inner feeling, and existential human experience. In order to achieve this, to allow for a sense of my own inner life to be reflected in the work -there is a certain amount of chaos and improvisation that I embrace in my process."
Andrew Binder
Leona Gamble
"We are driven to connect to others, to find each other in the ever-shifting spaces we call life. “Common Ground” is that moment of connectivity that we find in others to ourselves, it is the river that shifts between each one of us, from one moment to the next, as we strive to connect and understand each other's perspectives, even as that perspective shifts around us. In each moment, we shift and our understanding moves from where it was to a new point of understanding, like a fast river flowing around us, always new, always moving forward. Thus, we find that new point of recognition and common ground again and again between each of us."
Leona Gamble
Katy Bishop
"My ongoing journey as an artist is to capture and embrace the spirit, thereby allowing the viewer to join and live it in the moment."
Katy Bishop
Adele Knowler
"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to"
Jim Jarmusch
Quote shared by Adele Knowler
Gordon Nealy
"I have a strong anatomical background and that is why this work is composed of two sets of somewhat ethereal cellular appearing objects. They are being drawn to each other magnetically through a substance. Perhaps they are moving towards a collision or maybe they are moving towards an embrace."
Gordon Nealy
Bob Conge
"The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime."
Ray Bradbury
Quote shared by Bob Conge
Jocelyn Greer Weeks
"I honestly was drawn to this exhibition because living in a culturally isolated area, it seemed to be a rare opportunity to be seen and to see what's going on with other artists in a wider Art Community. To sort of "catch up"perhaps.
I came to realize "Abrazo" is a brilliant, beautiful, very generous concept of Verum Ultimum, and will always treasure this experience."
Jocelyn Greer Weeks
Robert Najlis
"I embrace the myriad connections that make up the thread that connects all life. The permeability whereby all aspects of life touch and interconnect with each other, embracing us in a resonant conversation."
Robert Najlis
Chris Cinque
"My work reflects the layering we experience in a complex world, what is seen, what is forgotten, what might be. One of the tasks of art is to help create a world where everyone is welcome, where everyone can breathe and live free."
Chris Cinque
Sharon Dundee
"I embrace the entire creative process – which isn’t always easy. It means trusting the unknown and following your instincts to guide you to an end you cannot see. And yet, I don’t know any other way to create or succeed."
Sharon Dundee
Ellen Zimmerman "There are unexpected encounters in nature that feel like fleeting hugs. Like when the rising sun embeds a single swoosh of gorgeous peachy pink into a cloudy sky – and is gone in seconds, as it was this morning. Or when the late afternoon sun sets sparkles ablaze on a lake. I had that same sense of hold-my-breath awe when I saw the light on these twigs, illuminating their simple beauty, bringing me to the magic of the moment."
Ellen Zimmerman
Charlene Walker
"Exploring the beauty and depth of the Australian landscape, I hope to imbue my art with a reflective intimacy, a deeply personal reaction to my environment. I strive to create an internal world, an internal logic, within each piece. In painting I hope to uncover the undiscovered within the work."
Charlene Walker
Jeffrey Melzack
"Embrace: A spiritual balance...
Harmonious Accord, to touch, to move closer to the intimacy of the intangible.
To hold and know instinctively when to let go."
Jeffrey Melzack
Peggy Curtis
"I embrace the beauty of the overlooked. My subject grows all by itself in clumps by the edge of the road and in open fields, challenging me to make an image that sparks another dimension in the viewer’s imagination—a mood or a mystery."
Peggy Curtis
Maria Botti Villegas
"The word ABRAZO resonates with nature and countless moments of change.
Witnessing how EARTH transforms a falling leaf into available food to enrich the
soil invites me to honor nature and believe in the life process of death and rebirth."
Maria Botti Villegas
Susanne Tierney
"IS ON BOTH SIDES OF increasing ebb and flow...
is visible on the little print.
Marks encircled in gold on pristine white rag, are forever pressed into place
& much like life's moments are etched within us all."
Susanne Tierney
John Ferrell
LOVE
"This painting is parallel to the pictograph’s and meaning the way it exposes and ties its own perceptual operations to the icon. The work never becomes something we are sure . Instead, there is a reconciliation of diverse elements such as gunpowder, gold leaf, and paint , that have been melded together to create a visual flow."
John Ferrell
John Douthit
"We all share the space created by light."
John Douthit
Gary Westford
"INTERMISSION: six friends enjoy each other’s company on a beach at night. Miraculously, the planet Saturn looms behind them. They embrace each other, and the universe embraces them. A small dog is aware that we are watching.
ABRAZO."
Gary Westford
Silke Wolff
"With my fine art I share my broader consciousness (by meditation) showing a metaphysical, supranatural, paranormal world."
Silke Wolff
"I am fascinated by the processes through which form emerges from formlessness, and unity from fragmentation. In my art, as in my practice of psychotherapy, I am most deeply drawn toward ways of seeing and of listening which draw together what is shattered and scattered into new forms of wholeness."
Donna Henderson
Nicole Martinelli
"Abrazo, meaning embrace, caught my attention for its perfect representation of the inspiration and purpose behind my photography and artworks. My goal as artist is to capture the often overlooked beauty, comfort, and fleeting moments in nature that we tend to take for granted in our busy lives . As a photographer, my aim is to capture these fleeting moments of nature's beauty that surround us, allowing viewers to fully embrace and appreciate the tranquility and solace it provides. By doing so, I enable the viewer to wholeheartedly immerse themselves and fully embrace these beautiful breathtaking moments that nature generously offers us, allowing us to appreciate, nurture, and celebrate both nature and our planet. Water, being the quintessence of life, holds a profound significance for me and for life itself. Through my lens, I am able to freeze in time the crashing waves against a backdrop of a breathtaking sunset - a moment that is typically only stored in our minds as a memory.
Nature offers us the opportunity to stand still and bask in its warm embrace, providing a constant source of comfort and serenity. It serves as a reminder that no matter how difficult life may become, there will always be a stream or ocean to catch our tears and a sunset to brighten our spirits and lives."
Nicole Martinelli
