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Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Bev Richey/Artist Bio Wikapedia format - Google Docs

Bev Richey/Artist Bio

My undergraduate degree in psychology is from the University of Connecticut and in 2008 I began advanced studies in art history at UW-Milwaukee. From 1978 to 1994, I had an active public art career in the New Haven, Ct area.

A 1995 move to a rural Wisconsin farm town, from this east coast urban center within commuting distance to NYC, allowed me to rest and recuperate.

My early art life included many socially conscious and feminist site-specific performances, installations, exhibitions, and social engagement projects. I worked as an arts administrator, an arts organizer, and an artist. While creating in various transient media and later influenced by Judy Chicago I became best known for working in the feminist medium of cake.

In 2020 ARTSPACE a contemporary gallery in New Haven, Ct included a retrospective exhibit of one of my large-scale works (1988) called “The Amazing Bureaucratic Birthday Cake” serving the people in a group exhibition titled “Who Governs?” That same year The New Haven Museum included another early project of mine in an exhibition titled “Factory”. This work was a group exhibition I organized titled the “First Show of 1984” based on George Orwell’s novel.

“Later, experimental artist Beverly Richey took over PMVI and developed groundbreaking work in feminist art and the subject of food as a political statement. She was the driving force behind PMVI's legendary one-day “1984” exhibition in the former factory, which had crowds of visitors lined up around the block.” NHM

"PMVI- The Papier Mache Video Institute, New Haven’s premier DIY avant-garde artists collective that hosted the legendary “1984” exhibition, the largest Elm City underground art show in the 1980s." The New Haven Museum 2020

Relocating from a populated urban area to a rural Wisconsin town (in the Driftless Region) of under one hundred residents, resulted in developing an intimate relationship with natural time and space. This led to a deep interest in nature’s impact on the human experience. Now after several decade-long investigations into these insights, my work identifies as the “Human/Nature/Series”. These interests in psychology and the natural world gave birth to my current creative process and project.

In 2015 I added a “painting” practice to my studio life. Shortly after that, I introduced the “FIRST HUNDRED PAINTING SERIES” 2015-2022 In this project, I committed in advance to painting a hundred paintings as a way of trying something new. I recently completed #50 of the series. These paintings range in size but average around 3x4FT. They are organic abstract forms done in a wide range of colors. They reflect a variety of psychological concepts including Carl Jung's theory of missing psychological parts to contemporary ideas about brain plasticity.

More about my 4 decades as a working artist:

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Women’s History Month Exhibit - bevrichey@gmail.com - Gmail

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Trailblazer: Connecticut Jewish Women Making History

Now on view through March 31

For Women’s History Month, the New Haven Museum hosts this traveling exhibit from the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford. Featuring 12 trailblazing Connecticut Jewish women who overcame obstacles of gender, social class,

and religious identity to carve their own paths, the exhibit tells stories of perseverance despite untold challenges. From women’s rights activists to artists, journalists, and health and education reformers, each overcame barriers to make

changes that still impact lives today.

Three of the women will be of particular interest to New Haveners: the artist Anni Albers; Ellen Ash Peters, the first female faculty member at Yale Law School and the first female justice of the State Supreme Court; and Florence Wald, considered the mother of the American hospice movement.

Photographs, publications, and objects related to City Historian Judith Ann Schiff (1937–2022) can be seen in the Community Case in the Museum’s rotunda and are from the collection of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven (JHSGNH). A New Haven Museum board member as well as the City Historian, Judy Schiff was a Yale University archivist and a founder of the JHSGNH and the Ethnic Heritage Center, among other local organizations.

Museum hours: Wed–Fri, 10 am–5 pm; Sat, noon–5 pm

Upcoming Talk: Sunday, March 19, 2 pm

Trailblazing Jewish Women from New Haven: The First Annual Judith Ann Schiff Women's History Program

Friday, June 24, 2022

Demise of Local Arts Scene in New Haven - bevrichey@gmail.com - Gmail

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Suffering From Anxiety? Try Visiting a Museum

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

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Thursday, June 2, 2022

Pandemic art and more – local Jewish artists featured at Urban Ecology Center exhibition | Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

Sofia Rubinson | June 2, 2022 | 3 Sivan 5782

After years of social distancing and independent creation, the Urban Ecology Center will feature artwork created by Milwaukee artists throughout the pandemic.

Four local Jewish artists are hosting an exhibit at the Riverside Park location, open now through July 31, 2022, titled “Four The First Time,” with the underlying themes of nature and abstract expressionism. This exhibit marks the first time these artists are collaborating to create an immersive experience for visitors.

Bev Richey, one of those artists, is a New Haven native with a strong background in psychology and art. When she settled in Milwaukee as an adult, she acclimated to the Milwaukee art scene by getting involved in the Jewish Artists Lab, of the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center. The program put Jewish artists together regionally to create an exhibition after a 10-month learning experience.

Richey creates abstract expressionist paintings based on what it means to live as a liberated human being.

“In Judaism, the task, like in most spiritual situations, is ultimately to liberate the soul,” Richey said. “If you take apart the Passover story, it’s about developing relationships with a liberated self.”

At the exhibition, Richey will feature a series based on the COVID-19 pandemic. In the true form of an abstract expressionist, she does not have a premeditated design or title and will step up to the canvas and let the painting come out.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, we had no idea what was going on and things were falling apart,” Richey said. “If you look at the piece, I am squeezing paint out of a tube, almost like I am patching the world back together, similar to the repair side of Judaism.”

Miriam Sushman specializes in stained glass mosaics and was the initial organizer of the group. Her artwork is inspired by nature, and she did a series on houseplants and Wisconsin birds for the exhibition.

“There’s a lot in the Talmud concerning Jewish law about how to handle land with respect to the land, but also the effects nature has on people,” Sushman said. “That’s how I incorporate Jewish values into my art.”

Although she had always been active as an artist, she discovered her passion for mosaics when she moved to Wisconsin in the early 2000s. Since then, she has been teaching others at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, the senior living community Saint John’s On The Lake and the Grand Avenue Club.

“The Grand Avenue Club is a resource center for people who experience mental illness,” Sushman said. “I taught members how to create a mosaic through a community mural featuring fish from Lake Michigan.”

At the exhibit, Sushman is excited to share her artwork not just on the walls, but also interactive on the ground with her stepping stones.

“It’s at the Urban Ecology Center, which tries to bring nature education to children and adults in Milwaukee, so the stepping stones are a perfect match, even though usually in an exhibit art goes on the walls,” Sushman said.

The other artists include Adria Rose, whose artwork is also inspired by nature and uses mixed media and watercolor to create fine art. Jonathan Ellis is a visual artist who develops a contemporary style rooted in truth, love, humor and theory.

“The pandemic was really isolating, and as artists, we spend a lot of time working alone anyway,” Sushman said. “Human nature and human connection, those are the most important aspects of our work,” Richey added.

* * *

How to go

What: “Four The First Time,” with art by Jonathan Ellis, Beverly Richey, Miriam Sushman and Adria Willenson.

Where: Urban Ecology Center, Riverside Park location, 1500 E. Park Place,
Milwaukee

Contact: 414-964-8505, UrbanEcologyCenter.org

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Information about paintings

Shared Painting labels - Google Docs

FOFOUR THE FIRST TIME EXHIBIT LABELS

May 18-July 31,2022