Category: Art

Haweeli Art

Posted on by NikkiOnTheDaily in Art, The Hamptons

This article first appeared in The Independent Newspaper

 

Steve Haweeli is a Long Island native most commonly affiliated with his public relations firm, WordHampton. Over a decade ago, in December 2007, Haweeli began an artistic journey through painting. His contemporary abstracts, “with a debt to the great abstract expressionists,” have been featured in curated events such as ArtHamptons, New York Art Expo, and the Affordable Art Fair.

 

How has faith played a part in your life? 

It’s a major part of my day. I spend a good hour every morning reading, journaling, praying, and occasionally meditating.

I also write out a gratitude list of five things I’m grateful for every day. I have been doing that for a couple of years; it guarantees you walk out the door with a bounce in your step.

I also practice 15 yoga positions every morning. Every so often, I change things up. Once, I read the entire Psalter (Book of Psalms).

Why did you have an exhibit St. Luke’s?

I’m a cradle Episcopalian, even though I’m also a closet Baptist. So, St. Luke’s was the logical choice when I landed here [after living in Williamsburg]. It’s a very diverse congregation—locals, weekenders, transplants.

I’m also a huge fan of its summer satellite church, St. Peter’s, in Barnes Landing. There’s a 5:30 PM Saturday service that is very “low church.” As a result, it is an incredibly casual and honest service.

Describe the significance of water in your work.

Water is integral to my work. I’m a water guy: I stare at it, fish in it, swim in it, and I used to boat in it. In the summer, I start my day with a dip at Maidstone Beach Park. Every weekend, I’m at the ocean.

It’s about baptism. We come into Lent preparing for not only the crucifixion (Good Friday) but also the resurrection (Easter), which is the reaffirmation of our faith as cited in the Nicene Creed (“On the third day, he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures . . .”) and that statement is also repeated in the Baptismal Covenant, “On the third day he rose again . . .”

When one is baptized, one is either immersed in or has water poured on him or her. Biblically, water represents the Word of God or the knowledge of God and it can be said that the ocean symbolizes the beginning of life on Earth.

Why have a show during Lent?

I’ve been thinking about this show for a couple of years, because I had all these cross works. In fact, one piece, 124 Martyrs, was started on Palm Sunday and finished on Easter Sunday; I recited the Jesus Prayer quietly to myself about 80 percent of the time. I figure, what better time to show crosses than Lent?

What artwork or artist inspires you?

Joan Mitchell, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Helen Frankenthaler. My three favorite pieces (right now) are Mitchell’s Ladybug, de Kooning’s A Tree in Naples, and Pollock’s Number 1.

What is the overall message in your work?

I am enthralled by water—its taste, feel, expanse and color—anchored by God, the sheer depth of God. I am grateful to be alive in this world, but angry that I will have to leave it one day.

What’s your painting process? 

It completely depends on the painting. For instance, one piece I was convinced was done, but I wasn’t sure. So, it sat there for months, perhaps four or five. (I already had put a good six weeks into the piece.) I then returned to the piece, and added several more layers over another six weeks—so in that case it was [worked on for] over six months.

I use a lot of blues, blacks, and a bit of yellow, but also black, gray, and white. It really depends on what I’m painting, because I’ve used just about every color. I love pink, too! I use palette knives, trowels, the ends of paint stirrers, some brushes—sometimes stiff brushes.

Paint yourself/soul in a single image and describe it.

There’s a piece of me—a lot of me—in every work I’ve created. That said, the “me” painting is big—maybe six by 10 feet. It features color over color (blues, orange, black, pink, white), but underneath a good part of the painting runs a dark line, a knot, a perceived skirmish. That’s the part I’m trying to address with prayer.

 

The Cold, Bitter End

Posted on by NikkiOnTheDaily in Art, Fitness & Wellness, Inspiring, New York, Travel

This article first appeared as the cover story in the January 17, 2018 issue of The Independent Newspaper

 

 

Self-taught photographer James Katsipis braves the harshest winters in a location iconically praised during the summer months. He is an ambassador for Montauk Hard Label Whiskey and part of the East Coast Vision Team for A Walk on Water, a foundation that offers surf therapy to special needs children.

His newly released book, The Cold, Bitter End, captures Montauk’s desolate beauty. What others view as “The End” is only this man’s beginning.

Seven years ago, a picturesque series emerged using the hashtag #ColdWaterSurferSeries, showcasing winter surfers from Montauk to Ireland. In 2013 the series landed its own exhibition, which was curated by Scott Bluedorn, at Neoteric Fine Art.

Over four years later, originally published in November 2017, The Cold, Bitter End makes an icy splash as Katsipis’s debut in the publishing world. Portraying cold-water surfers and seemingly abandoned storefronts, these images are making their way from Ditch Plains into the homes, and hearts, of eager page turners.

“This project didn’t start out as a book. It was just me and my camera doing what I do,” Katsipis modestly explained. Admiring the likes of Tom Colla and Matt Clark, the whole book was shot with Canons and AquaTech Water Housings, though he’s recently switched over to Sony mirrorless.

 

“It’s a fine line between passion and obsession. My mind just always seems to be taking pictures even when I don’t have my camera.”

 

Each picture promises 100-percent originality with a few minor color enhancements. This may come as a surprise upon flipping to the scene of, what appears to be, someone skinny-dipping into the ocean. “That wasn’t even planned. I happened to be in the ‘wrong’ place at the right time,” Katsipis jocularly noted.

All the people seen throughout the book are the boys from Whalebone magazine, whom he’s known for most of his life. While he tended to reach out a day prior to catch them in action, half of the time the snaps are purely spontaneous.

Clad in a winter suit, 5mm gloves, and locking up the camera, Katsipis swims out to sea for the perfect shot. He situates himself right in the impact zone, ready. In a moment, he captures a single image of exemplary complexity. The full face of a wave, from trough to crest, at a stand-still.

 

A shot of pure precision, it requires a double-take before realizing it’s not the infamous sandy cliffs but rather their aquatic neighbor. Katsipis recalls, “With a keen eye you can catch brief moments of reprieve from all the beatings.”

 

Katsipis has remained a lifelong resident of the 11954 zip code. Together with his wife, Bella Ornaf, founder of jewelry line FIN Montauk, their dog Samson and little pig, Mako, the four happily call Montauk home — a place of ever-changing seasons.

As locals, they’re the first to admit some things outsiders simply won’t understand. The most underrated thing about Montauk? Winter, clearly. The most overrated? “Range Rovers, sorry Dylan,” Katsipis laughed. And you’re definitely not from the area if “you don’t know what the green bench is.” As for his personal favorite pathway to explore, Camp Hero.

The 146-page “photographic winter journey in Montauk” is currently sold on Amazon with plans to become available to the local East End community soon. Though there are no expectations for a parallel summer photography series, another book in the works is Mermaids of Montauk, to be released at a later time.

Visit http://www.JamesKatsipis.com or follow him on @Letstaukgrams and @mermaidsofmontauk for upcoming signings, in addition to some stellar photography.

Follow me on Instagram & Facebook @NikkiOnTheDaily

 

Check back soon for a story on his wife’s endeavor, FIN Montauk

Yektai: An Ascension Through the Generations

Posted on by NikkiOnTheDaily in Art, Inspiring, Misc., The Hamptons

(This article first appeared in the November 1, 2017 issue of The Independent Newspaper)

 

Growing up in an artistic household creates unique circumstances. Trips to the ballpark are replaced with excursions to European museums. Patriarch of the Yektai family, Manoucher Yektai’s cultural exploration through Iran, France, and the United States has made him a well-known Abstract Expressionist painter for the better part of the last century. Like father like sons, as Nico and Darius followed in their father’s footsteps years later.

The show “Yektai” is running at Guild Hall through December 31. After seeing his sculpture “The Ascension, ” chief curator Christina Strassfield felt Darius should have his own show. It includes his father’s and brother’s works as well.

“In the art world, people like to believe that lightning can’t strike twice in the same place,” contemporary artist, Darius, expressed.

“In a way, I benefitted when my father removed himself from the art world. He had been everywhere and had all the attention that he needed. In fact, he pushed away a lot more attention than he should have. He left room for us to step forward and be artists in our own right.”

As children, Nico, furniture maker, and Darius observed their father working in the studio without distraction. Manoucher’s concentration profoundly relayed the message that a true work needs no approval. “That existential kind of doing of something long enough justifies itself. The ends justify the means,” Darius remembered. “Growing up and seeing him, the devotion he had to his work — he was in the studio, very serious.”

Manoucher’s emphasis of the surface in his works indirectly spoke of art history and the dialogue before him. By leaving the staples on the edge of his work, he reminds the viewer that “it’s a stretched volume.” To his sons, this was an understanding, a lesson based on truth.

Fast forward to today, the language is still being spoken. Darius’s works are open narratives with a magnetic push and pull between sculpture and painting art forms. “In order for a painting to be honest it needs to tell you what it truthfully is. No matter how close you get them [sculpture and painting], they never become sealed to the other.”

Nico’s furniture is reminiscent of their father’s brushstrokes. The planks or blocks of wood are in harmony with Manoucher’s thick, layered canvas pieces. In a circle of influence, Darius sculpts with pieces of wood tossed aside from Nico’s cut off pieces, “the negative space.”

Like many working families encouraging the next generation to follow in their father, or mother’s, footsteps, the possibility of becoming a professional artist was always there for Nico and Darius. In Darius’s case, it took studying geology at Occidental College in California for him to make the transition. “Geology is f***ing awesome!” Darius enthusiastically exclaimed. “It’s like a puzzle and a clue. A lot of the math and the things I studied in the sciences ended up in my paintings. You can go up to the surface of my paintings and you can see the layering.”

It’s through love, respect, and admiration that a father’s passion transcends time and ascends through the generations. Each drop of paint, each new work, a new lesson about life.

Darius smiled. “My father used to say you’re an artist now. You have to get to a place where you’re above all [the drama], that you can be in love with that rock, that tree, and all the love you need is there.”

 

Love and Design in the City of Lights

Posted on by NikkiOnTheDaily in Art, Fashion, Travel

(This article first appeared in the October 11, 2017 issue of The Independent Newspaper)

kasia
With Kasia Dietz 

 (those are her handbags)

 & mutual friend, artist Kevin Berlin (holding up my article in Luxury Living Magazine)

 

It was another gorgeous, warm, sunny day in Westhampton Beach. Main Street was alive with beachgoers, shoppers, and residents strolling through town. I was on my way to meet Kasia Dietz, Westhampton native turned Parisian handbag designer. At an outside table at Beach Bakery Café, there she sat in a white dress, picturesque like the season. After being connected through famed artist Kevin Berlin, who used Dietz as a model in one of his paintings, I came to learn of her many travels which inspired a successful business.

“I started my bag business [in Paris], which I did a bit on the side in New York. And then I started designing,” Dietz, who lived in New York City for 12 years, explained. With labels made in Paris, her prints are from Holland. Each bag is reversible, fun, and funky- and they fold up!

“The beauty of the bags is that they’re really good for traveling.” Fittingly so, as Dietz finds inspiration through countless countries.

After quitting her job in advertising, Dietz visited 32 countries in 13 months in 2006. “I’m always inspired by the tiles in Spain or the colors in Italy.” Her visit to the Andalusian region of Spain, the southern part of the country, created prints like the Cordoba, Granada, and Seville. Drinking our coffees, we swapped stories about the streets in Old Marbella; artistic pathways throughout a historic city with an enriched culture.

However, it was love that galvanized a permanent move to Paris. Upon meeting her now husband on the streets in SoHo over eight years ago, it took a mere five months for an Italian man to convince an American woman to go on a lifelong adventure. “Coming from New York you have that kind of ‘I can do anything’ attitude. I love Paris, it’s an amazing city.”

Walking along the Seine river has become a source of insight for Dietz, sitting alongside the water with paper and pencil during the warmer months. The city of love and lights reveals itself in its evolving neighborhood of the North Marais, awakening her creativity.

With small collections ranging 15 to 25 pieces each, her bags are comparable to art work, “they sell out and then they’re gone.” Having just launched her new Downtown collection, reminiscent of the colors and energy of downtown New York City, Dietz maintains that she is “forever a New Yorker.” Abroad, Dietz collaborated on limited edition shirts with Parisian boutique Aoshida, expanding her line from bags to clothing.

Kenya will be the inspiration behind an upcoming collection, where a portion of the proceeds from sales will go toward saving the elephants in the region. For 2018, fashion lovers can expect more larger totes in stock in addition to expanding her hand-painted collections, incorporating leather as well.

In a world that remains a constant source of creative enrichment, Kasia Dietz follows a “live mindfully and follow your heart” lifestyle. From the beaches of Westhampton, to the streets of New York City and the lights of Paris, this designer is evolving as quickly as the pathway that takes her there.

You can purchase your own Kasia Dietz handbag on the East End at Hope Around the World located at 124 Main Street in Westhampton. Or shop online at http://www.KasiaDietz.com.

Read more about the fascinating life of this designer abroad at her blog http://www.loveinthecityoflights.com

A Passion for Portraiture

Posted on by NikkiOnTheDaily in Art, Long Island, Misc.

(This article first appeared in the September 13, 2017 issue of The Independent Newspaper)

 

When she was only three, Denise Franzino began copying Disney characters with a crayon in hand. Like most children, her first artworks were debuted throughout the walls of her home as curated by her mother, the household favorite being Mickey and friends. She later discovered her passion for art as a teenager growing up in Bellmore. Now, she has worked as a professional portrait artist for over 25 years, capturing her subjects in beautifully-depicted backgrounds with a surreal likeness.

“The one key to painting a portrait is to work from big to small,” Franzino explained. “Drawing is paramount in portraiture. If you go off the slightest bit you lose the character of the sitter. Even if you paint every feature perfectly and you go off on the outside shape of the head, you’ve lost the likeness.”

Franzino earned her bachelor of fine arts degree, with honors, in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, consistently listed as one of the top five art schools in the country.

“The school had a very good reputation. I also chose it because it was next to Brown University,” Franzino described. “I wanted to be near a school that offered football games and an eclectic group of people. I never fit in with the so-called ‘art crowd.’ I was more conservative and felt Brown would fill in that gap. I also liked the reciprocity program they offered. If Brown students wanted to take classes at RISD and if RISD students wanted to take classes at Brown, it was encouraged.”

Upon graduation Franzino landed an illustrious position as an illustrator for The New York Times. Additional resume mentions include Doubleday Books and Harlequin Books, with several other publishing companies. However, not everything was as easy as it seemed. Lacking confidence in her skills led the 26-year-old Franzino to answer an ad in the paper to learn how to paint like “the Old Masters.” Her instructor, John Frederick Murray, changed the course of her life.

“I walked into his studio and felt like I was transported back in time to the Renaissance. The drawings and paintings looked like Michelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci had done them. Right then and there I said to myself ‘I don’t care what it takes, this is what I aspire to do one day,'” Franzino said.

She studied with Murray for 11 years, and upon her completion segued from illustration to portraiture. “His unending guidance and patience gave me the tools to become the artist I am today. I think of him every day, and owe all my accomplishments to him.”

With a style best described as American Impressionism, the artist works on both toned and white canvas, depending on the subject at hand. Formal drawings are posed with the subject looking at the viewer. For interiors, a professional photographer is hired to adjust lighting. Informal portraits are figure impressions, such as playing on the beach with a spontaneous connotation, and typically have as many as 250 pictures taken. The plethora of options allows for composite paintings, taking the best version of individual fragments and blending them into a seamless image. Upon the selection of the best photos, Franzino paints an intricately detailed 8×10 of the blended fragments, allowing clients to physically see her vision and provide any feedback before the final, larger portrait is done.

Whether it’s local or at a home away from home, Franzino will travel to locations of sentimental value to her subjects. “I love using locations on Long Island as backdrops for the paintings. There is such a beautiful abundance to choose from. My clients’ happiness is my number-one priority. It’s their painting that they are going to have forever.”

The process of a typical portrait takes as long as three months to complete, from photo shoot to finished product, with price points ranging from $2500 to $20,000. “Most of my work I utilize photographs. No one can sit for days to complete a portrait from life, especially children.”

For something a little less pricey, the artist sells Victorian style prints of her fine art work in stores throughout the island. “I really do feel I lived back in the turn of the last century. I relate so much to the art and literature of that era. The way people dressed and the craftsmanship of that period are a lost art.”

In her spare time, Franzino enjoys strolling through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, making a beeline for the American Wing.

“My fiancé laughs at me when I take a few days off and take a painting workshop. The beauty of my career is that there is always something to learn. It’s a blessing to love what you do.”

Art aside, she and her fiancé are avid travelers with an affinity for the outdoors, and she also enjoys time spent with her dog, Penny. Recently, Franzino was a finalist in the prestigious Portrait Society of America’s members-only competition where there were over 1100 entries, quite the artistic achievement.

Find Denise Franzino online at http://www.denisefranzino.com, call at 631-385-0192 or email info@denisefranzino.com.