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Angelica Sotiriou, “The Sound of Breath” @ Wonzimer, Windswept Group Exhibition, 2025
Art by Angelica Sotirious @ Pacific Unitarian Church, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, 2025
Time From Other Places – Carried by Windswept at Wonzimer Gallery
Originally posted here.
Time From Other Places – Carried by Windswept at Wonzimer Gallery by Juri Koll
Wind is potent and prescient, bringing time to us from other places, in precious moments we feel, see, smell. With this in mind, Genie Davis has curated an excellent new show, Windswept, at Wonzimer (a great space and crew) opening on March 21.
Windswept builds on 15 works from international artist’s Susan Ossman’s career as a painter with 14 other artists’ work of equally formidable insight and acumen. These works allow us to be in the moment, to stop and look at the fleeting, illusory elements, the bits and pieces we’re all made of.
Ossman’s “Pin The Wind,” represents for this writer the origin of the concept Davis has so adeptly assembled here. Made up of 2 panels that look as if they are 3, the beautiful and momentary view of sky blue above protects the orange under it, illuminates the earthy feel of each edge, and allows us to be here with it.
Motion, flow, and lush color combine in each of Ossman’s works, creating the sensation of a wind made of color and contrasts, including the wild wind that emanates from her “Dark Winds,” an astonishing oil and linen work that was created specificially for this exhibition.
Angelica Sotiriou’s collage “The Sound of Breath,” like much of her work, brings the moment forward with her free, open command of the brush and the elements she uses that sparkle, layer, and reach toward us, while Bruce Cockerill’s photograph, “Tumbleweed Sky,” below, is fleeting, transitory and yet starkly “now” as a photograph.
Diane Cockerill’s photographic image “Flurry” uses stop-motion technique to capture an image that makes you wait to see what happens next, and gives time and voice to the birds in flight.
“The Answer My Friend (Blowing in the Wind),” is Beth Elliott’s sculptural work, which brings a challenging number of physical elements to an equally challenging subject. How do we hold the fort, and keep the sail aloft, as it were, in a windstorm? How do we remember the things that might be taken away from us when forces out of our control overtake us? The cyanotype element, like a flag, makes us hope we do remember, and that the image will survive.
Each of the other works in this show deserve study, and equally anchor the show, the concept, and the time spent with it, including newly created installations by Dani Dodge, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic, and Jason Jenn, each utilizing a variety of different elements, including, in one case, an actual tumbleweed.
Clouds, also windswept, as depicted utilizing recycled plastics from Nancy Voegeli-Curran, above.
The winds of personal change are a central part of Nancy Kay Turner‘s work, below.
There are also neon works that relate to the recent catastrophic windstorms in LA from Linda Sue Price, along with sculptural works that seem to have arrived as if carried by the wind from Scott Meskill and Eileen Oda, among the many fine artists exhibiting. In many ways, this entire exhibition is a wind-blown surprise.
In all, this immersive group exhibition features painted works by Susan Ossman in conjunction with sculptural, photographic, collage, video, and installation works by artists including Dani Dodge, Angelica Sotiriou, Beth Elliott, Linda Sue Price, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic, Diane Cockerill, Bruce Cockerill, Scott Meskill, Eileen Oda, Jason Jenn, Nancy Kay Turner, Nancy Voegeli-Curan, and a video work from David Isakson. The show explores each artist’s own unique vision of wind, from oil and acrylic to otherworldly mixed media.
Don’t miss the opening Friday, March 21 from 5 to 10 p.m., or the artist’s talk scheduled for Sunday, March 30 at 3 -5 p.m. The show closes with a curatorial walk through on Thursday, April 17 with the gallery open all day and the walk through scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Regular gallery hours are 12-7 W-Sun, March 21 through April 20th. Go see it.
Wonzimer Gallery is located at 341-B S Avenue 17, Los Angeles, CA 90031 Website: https://www.wonzimer.com/
- Juri Koll, VICA; photos by Genie Davis and as provided by the artists
Art Show: Windswept | March 21 – April 18, 20325
Windswept
Wonzimer Art Gallery
341 S Ave 17
Los Angeles, CA
Curated by Genie Davis
Opening Reception: Friday, March 21st, 5-10 PM
Exhibition Dates: March 21st – April 18th, 2025
Featuring:
- Diane Cockerill
- Bruce Cockerill
- Angelica Sotiriou
- Scott Meskill
- Eileen Oda
- Jason Jenn
- Nancy Kay Turner
- Nancy Voegeli-Curan
- Susan Ossman
- Dani Dodge
- Beth Elliot
- Linda Sue Price
- Snezana Saraswati Petrovic
Landscapes of the Mind – Thresholds at Gallery of Hermosa
Originally published here.
Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything.
Albert Einstein
The earth has music for those that listen.
William Shakespeare
Nature is clearly the star in Thresholds – bountiful, fecund, benevolent, a treasure to behold. Humans rarely appear and when they do, they are tiny specks in the immense universe – small and insignificant. They seem newly formed and not yet dangerous to the planet. There are no cars, planes, buses, cruise ships or tourism. This earth is still a paradise, unspoiled and pristine. Clearly a balm for a troubled soul.
– Nancy Kay Turner; photos: Nancy Kay Turner, Genie Davis, Dani Dodge
Pasadena, CA.
60 Over 60: Angelica Sotiriou
Originally published at Art and Cake
Studio, work in progress, “Scala” 6′ x 4′, acrylic, water soluble graphite 2024
Angelica Sotiriou
Redondo Beach, CA
Age 71
What keeps you excited in the studio?
I love working on new processes for my paintings and drawings. The challenge to clarify my initial vision for the work keeps me focused as I work through resolutions on the canvas or paper.
Looking back at your trajectory as an artist, how would you say your work has developed?
Hmmm…My work now has the comfort in using any medium. I have absolutely no fear to take a risk, to make an error, to use a medium in an unorthodox way, to fear judgement or rejection, to no longer need the approval of my audience to know when my work has found resolution. My clarity in what the vision of my work is, has become second nature. I now work in tandem with my materials, my artist hand, my creative vision and my heart. It truly sometimes feels seamless in the execution of my work. The process has become my language. There is comfort in creating my works that I never experienced as a young artist.
What role do you think the artist has in today’s society?
The Artist’s role is so very important in our society, especially in our world today as it is. Art keeps tab on our present day and who we have become or are becoming. Art often brings attention to social injustices, it brings healing to the artist and to those engaged as an audience, it creates commonality among despairing societal groups, it brings attention to the sacredness of Beauty, it creates cultural bridges, it softens the hardened heart, it has the potential to unify a broken world, it invites others to be empathetic and to become “listeners”.
What’s the most important advice you could give to an aspiring artist?
The best advice for an aspiring artist is…Show up and do the work. Keep doing your work no matter what life throws at you….even if on a given day all you can do is prep your canvas. Also be patient with yourself and know that your lifelong passion may never pay all your bills but it will change the way you see the world and how you live in the world.
Does age matter in art? Why or why not?
Hmmmmm….Indeed, as a younger artist I was full of energy, I could take on multiple tasks and still find time to do my work extravagantly. I knew I had a window of time to be considered as a young emerging artist the “du Jour du faire”. Many decades later, I have physically slowed down. I am more apt to stay home working in the studio, rather than go to a crowded Opening Event. Unfortunately there is “ageism”. Older artists are perceived as such…Older. It is a curious life stage…because in your heart you are the still same 25 year old with the same dream of sharing your art with the world!!!! As an older artist your wisdom and creative clarity is finely honed and your esthetics are defined.
What can we look forward to from you next?
I keep working and working daily in my studio, trying to work in a smaller format with different materials. I have gone back to drawing. Curiously I have rediscovered my first love, 100% rag paper using soluble graphite. I am simultaneously using these same drawing techniques, acrylic transfers and drawing materials in tandem with my acrylic transparencies on my large 7″x 4″ canvases. I am very excited about these new works. As I stated earlier, with age, I am patient with myself and allow time to let my creative resolutions take form.
Is there anything else you would like to share about being an artist later in life?
It is both a blessing and a curse to be a lifelong artist. There is still so much more I would like to do with my art. I would love to be 30 years younger so I could have the stamina and time to do everything I want to as an artist. The best is, I know there is no other life path I would have chosen. Being an artist has given me the gift to live life fully…for that I am forever grateful. The greatest gift of all is that I seek “Beauty” in everything.
angelicasotiriou.com
@angelica_sotiriou_artist
“Hiraeth” #1 from series, rag paper, colored graphite, watercolor pencils, acrylic wash, acrylic image transfer, gold leaf. 10″ x 10″, 2024.
New Paper Works Series: HIRAETH
“The word ‘Hiraeth,’ is a word for homesickness and nostalgia, a longing for a home that never was, perhaps only in your head, a feeling, a sense of something good that you thought existed, but only ever drew breath inside your own imagination, a place that made you feel safe …”
All works below: rag paper, graphite, colored pencil, metallic pencils, gold leaf, acrylic transfer.
Hiraeth No.1: Landscape, 8″ x 8″
Hiraeth #2, 10″ x 12″
Hiraeth #3, 10″ x 10″
New Painting: “SCALA”
SCALA. February 2024. Media: acrylic, caran d’ache, grease pencil, interference powders, graphite.
“Intelligent silence is the mother of prayer, a recall from captivity, preservation of fire, an overseer of thoughts, a watch against enemies, a prison of mourning, a friend of tears, effective remembrance of death, a depicter of punishment, a delver into judgment, a minister of sorrow, an enemy of freedom of speech, a companion of stillness, an opponent of dogmatism, increase of knowledge, a creator of divine vision, hidden progress, secret ascent.”
– John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Watch the process video below:
In the Studio with Angelica Sotiriou – From Shoebox Arts
[Originally published at shoeboxarts.com]
What does a day in your practice look like?
My day painting starts weeks before my brush ever touches the canvas. Most of my works are a melding of world events, personal prayers, favorite passages from what I am reading. Each painting starts from sitting silently and allowing myself to make visual the things that loom largest in my days. The images are often amorphous.. defined by color and movement and at times adopting natural shapes. I go to my sketch book and quickly document the images and the dominant theme with graphite, color and side notes. I allow myself time to step back and rework the final sketch. Days prior to painting my work, I set up my paints, colors, graphite, water soluble drawing mediums…I set up my canvas and move my studio around as to allow me some freedom in working on my new work. The night comes and that is when the most satisfying work begins…I allow those hours before falling asleep to walk through the process of creating my painting.. familiarizing myself with what tools and media to use…and modifying my composition. The next day starts early. I stand in front of my canvas and one layer at a time, I patiently define my envisioned composition. I allow a day or two between layers of interference paints and transparencies…there is much time spent visiting the work in progress and allowing myself the joy of “listening” to my work…I always am amazed at the fullness of my heart when a work is done…I often learn far more from my painting than any shared conversation with my closest friend. The process often is a melding of eyes, hand and heart.
Through a Glass Darkly, “Approaching Light”, a.sotiriou
What would life be like without art?
I am so very grateful that Art found me as a very young child. I was a very shy and insecure gentle child. I was an empath very early in life…I was not a very outgoing child but I was a very happy child. I was in second grade when I discovered the joy that painting, drawing and sculpture gave to me. I was and am very visual. I grew into a creative empath, often a thoughtful observer-adult and on occasion, when necessary, I am able to muster up being social and at times mimic being eccentric and outgoing. I realized quickly the place I feel most comfortable and the most seen, is in making my art, looking at art, reading, writing, watching a beautiful choreography, listening to a sublime piece of orchestration, engulfed in a Byzantine chant, hiking in an overgrown forest, standing on a precipice looking at the ocean…eventually everything becomes art, a feast for the soul…the language of the heart…that all eventually find a way and become my art.
What is the best advice you have been given?
A dear friend of many years and she herself an incredible and accomplished artist visited my studio one day. We both had studio spaces in the same building. Her studio space was upstairs from mine. Sometimes I would see her coming downstairs to leave, and I would grab her and demand she look at my new work before she left for the day. Her response was always the same. “Keep painting Angelica, you know what you are doing. Your work is beautiful…keep following it…let it take you. Keep showing up, even on the days you don’t want to work. Show up, sweep your studio, wash your brushes…keep showing up.”
Through a Glass Darkly Series, #3, a.sotiriou
If you could change anything about the art world, what would it be?
Wow, 7 decades later I could write a thesis. I started making art in the late seventies. Then it was “a good-old-boys-club” in the California art scene. So much has changed for the better for women artists but there are still residual “ceilings” that have stayed around from those days in the 70’s and 80’s. There is a hierarchy (not always art-makers…but, end product bottom liners) that deems what is “in” and what is not “in”…shrouded in money, power, status, what is-flavor-of-the-week, and many diverse “isms”. The fall-out from these anchors on the artist is not always conducive to the purity of the artistic language.
I often wonder what the art world would look like if making a living at our craft was not an issue and we could spend our days seeking, preserving and making beauty. Most artists, speaking for myself, have zero business sense.. the hustle is not a natural part of the artistic personality. For some artists, they are able to do both with great success… but, for others, it dampens their spirit.
Studio 11/23, p.rausch
What inspires you the most?
Everything I see, smell, hear, feel, remember, pray eventually becomes my works. Living in a broken world. My works are created in a reciprocal choreography between my heart and the world outside of me. Both the external world and my interior self seamlessly converse…my art through my use of color, texture, movement, light and darkness create a palatable reality for me.
A beautiful hike, a sublime piece of music, holding a child, reading a fluid prophetic poem, a beautiful work of art that takes me deeply into the mystery of life and gives me a glimpse into eternity, the aroma of soup on the stove, the sunlight through the trees, the kindness of a stranger, all are pure gold and crack open my heart and fuel my desire to make my works. My works, for me, create order out of the external chaos of the world. I can meander in the surface of my painting for hours and revel in the beauty of the many colors of a reflected blue. I can surprise myself when taking a dot of red or gold leaf and be beside myself on how compositionally the work is pulled together. I seek beauty in the most mundane places, and I always find it… my work does the same often for me…
Through a Glass Darkly, “Manna”, a.sotiriou
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
I have no choice. Art is how I process the world around me. Making my art keeps me sane and hopeful…my art has become my lens on how see the world. My husband shares with me that when I have been too long away from making art, I am unsettled and sad. I love obsessively thinking about what my next work will look like when done…the creative process is a bit like being a co-creator with the “powers that be”…there is alchemy, there is divinity, there is unity, there is humanity, there is reverence, there is humility, there is accountability in the creative process. As my art studio friend shared with me, continue to “show up” and do the work.
Through a Glass Darkly, #2, a.sotiriou