From Armenia to Park City

As an American with Armenian (and Russian) roots, I was given this New York Times article last week. The arts hold such importance for me, and it's wonderful to see others, including fellow Armenian Americans, who feel art and culture should have a vital role in all of our lives. -KT

Unveiling the Hanging Gardens of Armenia
By Michael Kimmelman

YEREVAN, Armenia — Some 20,000 Armenians turned up for the opening of thes Cafesjian Center for the Arts last week. They jammed the new sculpture park and the terraced gardens and galleries, including the first exhibition ever in Armenia of the Armenian-born American great, Arshile Gorky.

The center, a mad work of architectural megalomania and historical recovery, is one of the strangest but most memorable museum buildings to open in ages. Imagine an Art Deco version of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon stretching nearly the height of the Empire State Building, its decorations coded with Armenian symbolism. Did I mention the artificial waterfalls?

Built into a gigantic hill in the commercial heart of this capital city, with a staircase that climbs the outside linking the gardens, the place was originally conceived in Soviet times to be topped by a monument to the Soviet revolution. That it has been turned into a contemporary-art center by a rich American is a twist of history whose symbolism is lost on no one here.

There’s no endowment, no professional board, so it may very well soon fall flat on its face, as so much has in this country where widespread corruption, lethargy and years of isolation have led to an unemployment rate around 40 percent, a crumbling infrastructure and almost no middle class.

But for the time being, at least, it is doing what precious few museums, and even fewer vanity enterprises like it can dream of doing — namely, offering a whole nation a kind of uplift. From morning to evening, as if out on prom night, young Armenians at the opening rode the center’s escalator, in many ways the main attraction, which rises via several grand, plaza-size landings inside to, of all things, a little jazz lounge, where a view of the city unfolds beyond tall windows behind the stage.

Armenia’s president, Serge Sargsyan, surrounded by swarms of security guards (politicians can’t be too careful here) took time out from the debate over opening the border with Turkey. He joined Gerard L. Cafesjian, the 84-year-old Brooklyn-born Armenian-American patron of the center, and the center’s director, Michael De Marsche, among others, to hear the inaugural set. These days Armenian newspaper headlines dwell on the Turkish border opening, which the United States quietly presses for to gain an oil pipeline that can sidestep Russia and Iran. In return Turkey wants to table once and for all any talk about having committed genocide in the killing of more than a million Armenians nearly a century ago. Admitting to genocide has legal ramifications in terms of restitution. So President Obama has lately stopped using the G word, leaving Armenians to choose between desperately needed economic improvement and justice in the defining calamity of their history. (To continue reading, click here.)

Terzian Gallery selected "Best of the West"

"Terzian Galleries features inventive new work," says preeminent Southwest Art magazine in selecting Terzian.

PARK CITY - New works by Kina Crow and Emily McPhie are on view at Terzian Galleries this month. Both artists display a certain sense of whimsy in their works. Crow, a ceramist, has a long-standing interest in the face and figure as subject matter. Her creatures typically tell stories and evoke the artist's passion for paint, color and texture. "My pieces will almost always hold slices of my subconscious and are a window into my personal sense of humor and an exposition of all that I must confess," she says. McPhie was featured in Southwest Art's annual 21 Under 31 article last September. The brightly colored figures in her painting also display an engaging and whimsical sense of humor while often tackling issues such as motherhood and being a woman in today's society.

Angela Bentley Fife selected as "Editors' Choice for Up-and-Coming Talent" in March issue.

Southwest Art.com Editors' Choice for up-and-coming talent is Terzian Galleries' own Angela Bentley Fife. She was selected as "One to Watch".

In high school, Angela Bentley Fife thought about majoring in math when it came time for college. But one day her art teacher pulled her aside and joked, “If you don’t go into art, I’m going to kill you.” Fife began to think more seriously about a career in fine art. When she entered the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, she decided to follow the advice of her art teacher. “I knew it would be sink or swim my first year because it’s an intense program with art classes all day long. Some art majors hated it. But I was in heaven,” Fife says.

Today at 34, the Utah-based painter has no regrets. For the past three years she has been juried into the prestigious Springville Salon at the Springville Museum of Art in Springville, UT. In 2008, she garnered an honorable mention at the show. Although she is equally at home painting figures, still lifes, and landscapes, her artistic heart belongs to creating figurative works. And figures are where viewers discover her most personal work, she says. “Most of this work is based around the balance I try to have in my life between different roles,” Fife explains. “As women we carry many roles like being a wife, mother, daughter, artist, and friend. I think about how to balance these roles and how to be successful in the ones I want to be successful in.”

In paintings such as CONSTANT COMPARISON, Fife expresses her thoughts on how women often compare themselves to others and to unrealistic models. “We put a lot on ourselves. We compare the worst part of ourselves to the best in others,” she explains. For Fife, the mannequin depicted in the painting represents the perfect measurements that no woman can attain. It is not just a reference to the perfect body but also a metaphor for all the other ways women constantly compare themselves to others, from being a good mother to enjoying a successful career.

For inspiration, Fife often turns to Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. “Her work is so personal and so raw. It’s almost ugly, and in a way, that makes it beautiful,” she says. “Kahlo had a lot of courage to make her work ugly.” On the technical side, Fife points to John Singer Sargent as an influence. “I try to introduce both artists into my work. I want it to be technically good but also express who I am and what I think about,” she says. As the mother of three young girls, ranging in age from 1 to 9 years, the artist says she paints when her children are asleep or in school. A painting begins with her sketching a model, but she also shoots photographs for reference material. Towards completion of the piece, she brings back the model because, she says, “there is always a certain punch that is hard to get without a live model.” Although her figurative works are often about a personal journey, she likes to evoke a bit of mystery in the minds of viewers so they can bring their own experiences to the piece. For her, one of the rewarding aspects of being an artist is the act of painting itself. “It is spiritual and soul-satisfying for me. I need to paint. I can’t live without it,” Fife explains. “I liken my need to paint to people who need to exercise.”

In addition to being juried into the prestigious Springville Salon show and winning an award, Fife says she is proudest of her ability to paint and also be a full-time mother. “I’ve been able to do both and do them well,” she says.

She is represented by Terzian Galleries, Park City, UT.