January 2021

January 2021 Issue Issue ##

65 66

Dec Jan2020 2021

FREE FREE

Zenster

Serving Up Up Art, Art, Music, Music, and Enjoyment Serving Culture for the Metro Area’s Enjoyment 1 GessoMagazine.com Gesso Magazine

Editor's Word

January 2021

Editor’s Word: Straight Up Magazine is now Gesso Magazine and it is here with its 66th edition ‘Serving Up Art, Music and Culture for the Metro Area’s Enjoyment’. The St. Louis Metro deserves its own arts and

before. What a great group of talented artists these many edition covers represent. We couldn't be prouder than we are now to have represented them this last year.

entertainment magazine. And here it is. It’s called Gesso!!!

We have a very special Gesso cover this month. A cover the celebrates The 12 Covers of 2020.

Cover artists this year included (in chronological order) Kevin Pickard, Mark Kensho Rogan, Daniel Nygard, Breanna Trent (Bre Knickless), Larry Spenser, Mark Witzling, Kerry Smith, Maxine Thirteen, Mark Polege, Rog Howard and Zenster. And, of course, the January edition 2020 (much like this January 2021 edition) celebrated the many Gesso Covers that came the year

2

Gesso Magazine

It is truly a pleasure and an honor for us to share with you a small portion every month of the seemingly boundless abundance

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021 of creativity that our local region endlessly exudes.

It has been an “interesting” year for the Gesso Movement. We began the year as a print publication, as

one today. We proudly sponsored and curated three Governor French Gallery exhibitions: "Fridges and Freezers" by Haley Clancy Inyart, “Growth” by Jessica Hill, and “Dreaming in Color” by Jacque Davis. And, again with the advent of Covid, the Gallery has been indefinitely closed.

“Dreaming in Color” is still on display. As all the promotions declare: “You can’t come in but you can see it through the windows”. The windows of The Governor French Gallery are located at 219 W Main Street in beautiful Downtown Belleville, IL. Come by and look in!

has been true since the magazine’s inception in 2006. With the March advent of Covid, Gesso has been an online-only magazine, like this

May we not forget our Gesso sponsored "Pizza, Pencils & Pints" Social Drawing events.

Prior to the advent of Covid, they were the third Tuesday of every month at Bennie's Pizza Pub on Main Street in Belleville. Cosponsors Belleville Screen Print

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

3

Editor's Word

January 2021

Company provided pencils and pens and crayons and markers and drawing paper - tons of art supplies - free of charge as a delectable addition to the family friendly environment that is Bennie's.

Diners drew, conversed and shared their artworks at this refreshing alternative dining experience. Post

the businesses and organizations that support local arts and artists.

We invite you to contact us with ideas, comments, information, etc. that might assist us in our mission

Covid, “Pizza, Pencils & Pints” has been canceled.

We thank our writers for their poignant features and all those who contribute to this project. We appreciate all of those individuals who have submitted their works for publication. And “Likes” to all you followers on Facebook!!! We are grateful to you, the reader, for picking up this latest issue of Gesso Magazine – Issue #66 in the Str8 Up Magazine legacy!!!

Like Straight Up before it, the mission of Gesso Magazine is to support local arts and artists and 4

Gesso Magazine

to serve you, the residents of the St. Louis Metro area.

WE WANT YOU! - All you artistic and creative types out there! You

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021 should contact us. Show us your work. Tell us of your craft and brief personal/artistic history.

Submit any art form that you’d like. Perhaps, you can be one of

month, that could be you!!

Enjoy Gesso! Tell your friends.

Send us your work. And visit our website at GessoMagazine. com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook daily for new and additional events and content.

Unlike the pre-Covid past, you will not see Gesso Magazine at

hundreds of area distribution locations! We will continue online in this brave new world.

Stay safe and be healthy. May your New Year be Joyous and blessed with great art and music.

P.O. Box 412 Belleville, IL 62222 our next published contributors or even a featured cover artist. Check out the Submissions Pages to see who’s featured this month. Next GessoMagazine.com

(314) 266-9199 Editor@GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

5

Credits

January Credits

Staff

January 2021

Editors: Jake Bishop, Dylan Seibert, Paul Seibert Layout Design Artists: Jake Bishop, Dylan Seibert, Mark Polege Sales: Jake Bishop, Jennifer Lynn Reida, William Schmitz, Paul Seibert, Dylan Seibert Ad Artists: Jake Bishop, Mark Polege, Dylan Seibert, Wil Sullivan Calendar: Dylan Seibert, Paul Seibert Website Design & Up-Keep: Mark Polege (MarkusDesignWorks.com), Jake Bishop Photography: Mark Polege (PhotographyofMarkPolege.com)

The Gesso Movement Relies on Your Support!!

We are committed to supporting local artists, musicians, & businesses and providing this material FREE to readers month after month!!

We invite you to reach out to us!!

Together we can discover how we can best help you, your band, your business or organization, etc. and how you can best help us in our continuing mission.

Hit us up on Facebook or Instagram or via GessoMagazine.com Editor@GessoMagazine.com 6

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

Contributors Cover Logo: Jake Bishop Game Page: Dank By Design Fun Page: Jake Bishop Photography/ Images: Corutesy of Tom Blood (p.10-15), Jim Scheller (p.24-27), Gesso Magazine (p.36-41) All material in this publication and its affiiated on-line content are copyrighted to the individual contributors or Gesso Magazine and may not be reproduced without written consent. We are very grateful to those who have submitted material to be considered for publication. However, the opinions and views of those contributing content to Gesso do not necessarily reflect those of Gesso Magazine.

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

7

Table of Contents

January 2021

10 Painting It Forward:

16 Sunday Morning Game Night from Dank by Design

16 January Comics

20 Friends of Gesso Membership Program

Tom Blood at the Good Weather Gallery

by Jake Bishop

8

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

Table of Contents

January 2021

24 Jim Scheller - Artist in Glass by Jim Scheller

36 Gesso 2020 Cover Artists A Retrospective

34 "The Best Bar In The Whole Wide World" - A Story from Sydney Street by Carrie Paul

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

9

January 2021

Painting It Forward How a painting called "Happiness Released" has released a little happiness into a world which could sure use some right now.

Tom Blood, the artist, and gallery owner/curator Brooke Peipert stand in front of the painting, “Happiness Released” at Good Weather Gallery.

T

his is a story about a selftaught artist who couldn’t find a gallery to support his work; a gallery owner trying her best to survive in this Corona Virus induced economy and a painting that seems to generate its own happiness to those who view it.

Tom Blood has been creating art since he was a little kid. Yet he knew

10

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

he probably couldn’t build a career around art, so he chose instead to use his creative talents by creating advertising. Tom’s had a long and successful career, which continues to this day via his business: Blood Lines Creative.

Even though his degree is in journalism, he’s always had a love of art and began painting for fun in the late 1980s. His efforts led to a few gallery shows featuring his surrealistic imagery, inspired by what he considers to be the master of surrealism - Rene Magritte.

Upon the birth of his third child, Tom’s painting room was converted into a downstairs bedroom and his painting came to a halt for more than 17 years. Tom was used to creating large format, airbrush and acrylic art, and without a place for proper ventilation, he simply stopped.

Six Father’s Days ago, Tom’s oldest son gave him two small canvasses and some acrylic paint.

Tom Jr.’s challenge was simple - paint again.

It took a while, but Tom resumed

painting, creating mostly smaller canvasses but still sticking to his surrealistic ways. His skillset seemed to adjust to smaller canvasses and in 2018, Tom had a solo show at 1900 Park - Creative Space and Gallery.

It wasn’t a true art gallery but that mattered not - more than 200 people showed up to the opening to see the 25 different paintings on display.

Tom had another show in 2019 at the Renaissance Airport Hotel. 16 of his newest paintings were featured in the lobby of the hotel. On opening night, a wicked thunderstorm rolled through the area and attendance at the show ended up being a handful of friends and one gallery owner who stopped by to see the work on display.

Efforts to get a show at any St. Louis-based gallery proved futile.

Most gallery owners wouldn’t even respond to queries, others gave the “we’ll keep your request on file” response.

Tom continued painting, always trying to get better. Since he resumed painting in the summer of 2015, he has created more than 80 paintings.

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

11

January 2021

His work has sold on four different continents and on one website alone, he has had more than 40,000 views of his work.

Last September, Tom attended the Grand Opening of Good Weather Gallery in Edwardsville, Illinois. He knew two of the artists who had work on display and decided to make the trek to see their recent works. That was when he met the owner and curator of the gallery, Brooke Peipert.

Brooke is also an artist, yet she always wanted to have her own gallery. Her space on Main Street in Edwardsville is open and inviting.

The Good Weather Gallery’s name is a creation influenced by the 1970’s Simon and Garfunkel song ‘The Only Living Boy in New York.’

“That song has always resonated with me through many stages of my life,” Peipert said. “’Good Weather’ is specifically a play off of a lyric in the song, ‘I get all the news I need from the weather report.’”

12

But she never quite anticipated Gesso Magazine

the reign of the Corona Virus. Good Weather Gallery has now been open longer during the pandemic than before it. The financial impact on the gallery, much like many small businesses have experienced, has been dramatic. Just ‘staying afloat’ has been a challenge considering the significant drop in street traffic, the curtailing of business hours and an economy where purchases like art are no longer high on the wish list.

Tom and Brooke had stayed in contact with each other and after a few online conversations, Brooke invited Tom to visit the gallery again and discuss a potential show.

They decided on a date in late November, not having any idea what kind of turnout they might have at the opening or what level of interest Tom’s work might generate.

The show received some solid press before opening night, including being featured on the front cover of “The Weekend Edge” - an entertainment guide published by the Edwardsville Intelligencer.

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

Of the 32 paintings that were on display, they chose “Happiness Released” as the cover image.

Opening night went well.

Though attendance was dampened by a steady rain and heightened fears of indoor gatherings due to the Corona Virus, people did show up, wearing their masks and following social distancing protocols. There were even straws given out so that attendees could sip their beverages without having to lift or lower their masks.

There was music provided by Tom Blood, Jr. and ultimately, two paintings were sold, along with multiple prints. The next morning, another painting joined the sold column.

About two weeks later, seven more paintings were purchased.

The sale of these paintings could have gone directly through Tom but he opted instead to have the sales go through the gallery. Brooke had taken a flying leap of faith on giving Tom a solo show during what is the key selling season for many galleries. Tom wanted to reward that faith.

That brought the number of paintings sold to a total of ten - a definite success for almost any art show and during the pandemic those numbers looked even better.

Which brings us to “Happiness Released”.

What an opening night reception looks like during the pandemic.

From an executional standpoint, Tom believes this work represents some of his best brushwork ever.

From a conceptual standpoint, he

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

13

January 2021

thinks it’s even better. His wife, Chris, agrees. “It’s my favorite painting he’s done,” said Chris. “I wasn’t too thrilled when he put it into the show but that was his decision.”

a gift to his sister and her husband, Steve, as a joint birthday present, Pat countered with an offer.

The Suttons wanted the original painting and look at it as a painting that they will hand down to one of their children someday. “Seeing those bluebirds of happiness flying into that dramatic sky is so uplifting,” said Pat. “This is a painting that will lift my spirits every time I see it.”

Once again, Tom wanted the sale to go through Good Weather Gallery. He knows that this particular sale isn’t going to make or break the gallery. But it will certainly help make the end of the year a little brighter.

“Happiness Released” 30” x 40”, acrylic on canvas

14

Tom’s sister, Pat Sutton, agreed that the painting was among Tom’s best. When Tom had a metal print of the painting made that he gave as Gesso Magazine

“I’ve seen firsthand how much Brooke supports local artists. She has certainly supported me and as I’ve gotten to know her, her husband and her two awesome little girls, I wanted to help release a little more happiness into their lives,” said Tom. “Art can be magical.

It can lift your spirits, just like those

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

proverbial bluebirds of happiness,” he added.

Brooke agrees and from her perspective, “It’s so awesome to see deserving artists succeed. That brings me great happiness as well.”

During this year of the Corona Virus that has brought so much suffering, death and despair, it’s awesome to be able to use the power of art to not ‘pay it forward’, but rather, to ‘paint it forward’.

“Happiness Released” has been released to lift the spirits of its new owner. It’s made the end of the year a little brighter for Good Weather Gallery. And it’s fired up Tom to continue his quest to get better as an artist.

What more can you ask of a painting?

Tom Blood’s solo art show, “The Idea Painter” will be on display through January 9th, 2021 at Good Weather Gallery, 301 N. Main Street in Edwardsville, Illinois. There will be a closing reception on Saturday, January 9th from 6-9 pm. Social distancing protocols will be in effect.

To arrange a private appointment, visit https://goodweatherartgallery. com/contact-us Tom Blood

https://www.facebook.com/ thblood

Blood Lines Creative

https://www.facebook. com/BloodLinesCreative-225207967561262

Good Weather Gallery https://www.facebook.com/ GoodWeatherArtGallery

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

15

Comics

January 2021

By: Jake Bishop

Facebook.com/GessoMagazine 16

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

Fun FunPage Page

January 2021

Snow, Snow, Snow.

Across 2. the absence of snow. (“It’s been a _______ winter this year.”

4. a machine used to remove snow from roads 6. a flat object that people use to travel in a surf-like position down hills of snow 7. a machine that makes artificial (fake) snow 8. a vehicle that may be driven across snow 9. an avalanche of snow 11. a single piece of snow 13. Look outside! It’s ________.

Down 1. a rounded handful of snow that may be thrown 3. It _______ last night.

4. the adjective form of snow (as in “Stopping by the Woods on a _______ Evening”) 5. something people use to help them walk across snow without falling 7. a type of winter storm 10. a tool people use to remove snow from sidewalks 11. a piece of winter clothing that keeps children warm and dry as they play in the snow 12. a person made out of snow, usually with rocks for eyes and a carrot for a nose

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

17 15

Sunday Morning Game Night

January 2021

‘ �

Â’

‹  � ˆ

Œ Ž Œ Ž

Œ Ž

ˆ

‡

˜ Š  Â?– Â

™�–

Â?  ­€ ‚ƒ „… Â

Â? Â?Â? Â?

�  †€ ‡ˆ ‰…„Š

18

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

Sunday Morning Game Night

January 2021

#22

� �  � ­ € ‚ ƒ„ �… „

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

19

January 2021

Introducing:

The Friends of Gesso membership program * Donate any amount to become a member * Donate $10 or more and receive a Gesso sticker as a thank you gift * Donate $100 or more and receive a Gesso sticker and a T-shirt as a thank you gift All Members will be thanked in print in the next issue (unless they wish to remain anonymous) All members who provide a valid email address will periodically receive invitations to access special bonus content on GessoMagazine.com, as well as other perks!

(No email addresses will be sold to any third party EVER) Gesso Magazine reaches THOUSANDS of people on both sides of the river & serves the local art & music scene by continuing to make this publication available to the public free of charge.

This community project relies on the support of the community it serves. Help us keep LOCAL art and music ALIVE.

20

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January June 2021 2020

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY

To become a member, send us an email at Membership@GessoMagazine.com Or send us a message on Facebook Or cut out this form and mail it to: Gesso Magazine P.O. Box 412 Belleville, IL 62222 Your name, or that of your business, band, group, or organization: Email (optional): Donation amount: Would you like to have your name excluded from print in the next issue?: (those who do not answer will have their name included) GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

21 13

Visit the RenewAudio.com/Music page for links and streaming music for our Artists.

Or Search Renew Audio Music or DrunkMouse Records for Spotify Playlist.

Renew Audio Music is available on all streaming services.

Attention Gesso Readers: This Holiday Season and All Year Around, We are So Very Grateful to You and to

EVERYONE

Who Has Contributed to this Project...

We have some exciting things in the works for the coming year!!!

From All of Us to All of You: Thank You So Much and Please Stay Up with us via Social Media & GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

Jim Scheller - Artist in Glass

After a long career as an engineer and technologist he discovered glass kilnforming in 2012. He has dedicated himself to his craft and art. Extensive study of and experimentation with the medium is a passion and healthy addiction.

Biography: Jim works exclusively in glass; Kilnforming and casting at his Macoupin Prairie Glassworks studio in Staunton, Illinois near his childhood home of Mt. Olive.

In September 2018, After 27 years, he moved from his forest home and studio Chehalem Mountain Glassworks in Schools, Oregon.

Jim finds great pleasure in pushing the limits and developing new techniques.

Employing both “fusing and slumping” and “kiln casting” processes, works are composed with glass sheets, crushed glass (frit) and glass slabs (billets). These are then fired to over 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. Fired works are extensively coldworked for hours to achive the final finish.

( Broadway Boogie Woogie In A Bowl ) 24

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

Artist Statement: Glass vessel designs are informed studying the simplicity and abstraction of neoplasticism beginning with the DeStijl movement of the early 20th century.

Inspiration for cast works comes from a fascination of geological forms, textures and colors found in nature.

The engineer, immersed in the process of making, joins glass, heat and gravity to create works inviting one to view the once molten glass in a dance of light and color.

( Water 6 Tray, 2017 )

( More Bigger Sweet Memories of Childhood Nutrition_2019 ) GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

25

January 2021

CV/resume: Technique development: Museum of Art, Marietta, GA, 2017 • Bullseye Resource Center, Portland, OR • “Pilchuck Auction People’s Choice • Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Award”, Pilchuck Gallery, Seattle. WA, 2015 Artistic development: • FormWorx Design Studio (solo • Pilchuck Kinforming Artist Residence exhibition), 2015, Newberg, OR Fall 2014, Stanwood, WA • Pilchuck Kinforming Artist Residence Fall 2015, Stanwood, WA Juried work shown at: • The Ann Maritz Members Exhibition, St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, MO, 2020 • “Metro Montage XX”. Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, GA, 2020 • Constructed Visions III, St. Louis Artist Guild, St. Louis, MO,, 2020 • ConTEXT III, Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO, 2020 • Glass National 2019, Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA, 2019 • Art St. Louis XXXV, The Exhibition, Saint Louis, Missouri, 2019 • Illinois State Fair Professional Artist Exhibition, Sculpture Honorable Mention, Craft Third Place, Springfield, IL, 2019 • “Metro Montag XVIII:, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, GA, 2018 • “For the Love of Glass”, Marietta Cobb 26

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

( Amber Flow, 2019 )

( Turquoise 16, 2020 )

January 2021

https://jimscheller.com/

https://www.artsy.net/artist/ jim-scheller/works-for-sale

( Vessel Composition 5, 2020 )

Jim’s glasswork is also currently displayed https://www.instagram.com/ at Good Weather Gallery in Edwardsville, schellerjim/ Illinois. https://www.facebook.com/ GoodWeatherArtGallery

or email: jim@jimscheller.com

https://www.facebook.com/jim. scheller.79

https://www.facebook.com/scheljim

( Vessel Composition 10- Color Planes In Shades Of Gray, 2020 )

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

27

January 2021

www.JohnnyBBQSauce.com www.Facebook.com/ Johnny-Sauce-502689276810563/

28

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

(303) 524 5729 GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

29

January 2021

30

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

31

January 2021

32

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

33

History Corner

January 2021

“The Best Bar in the Whole Wide World” - A Story from Sidney Street

by Carrie Paul

A new year can be an immensely powerful occasion, especially when the past year was one of the most difficult and uncertain times in recent memory. Many Americans could not wait to close the chapter on 2020 and usher in the new year of 2021. As I closed the past year with gratitude for my many blessings and welcomed a fresh start with renewed enthusiasm for January, I am truly looking most forward to the potential of many local businesses and restaurants slowly and safely re-opening their doors to the public.

The building (located on 1000 Sidney Street) sits on a corner lot and was built around the mid to late 1800’s, when beer gardens and saloons dotted the city scape and satisfied Saint Louisans’ desire for a good drink, or a fun night out on the town. Local breweries thrived at that time, partly due to the underground caving system in Missouri, and the proximity to the river. Breweries in Saint Louis provided ample employment to the many immigrants who came to settle in the area in the age before prohibition. This three-story building was built as part of Schilling & Schneider Brewing Company, founded by Louis Koch (who had a recipe for what is now called Boston Lager), and was later absorbed with other breweries in the area. These combined breweries were called the Saint Louis Brewing Association (courtesy-historic plaque inside Big Daddy’s).

One of my favorite areas to visit over the holidays is Soulard located just south of Downtown Saint Louis. This past year, due to Covid-19, the usual holiday house tour extravaganza was virtual, and many bars and restaurants closed or were limited to outdoor socially distanced dining.

Bars and restaurants that had patios attempted offering carry out options for patron customers and newcomers alike. One of my top patio restaurants in Soulard is, “The Best Bar in the Whole Wide World” AKA Big Daddy’s! I like this location (there are 4) where “history hits the patio” for a variety of reasons, and the building itself has quite the story to tell.

This building is the only remaining and last vestige structure and therefore an especially important part of the neighborhood and “growler pub” history of Saint Louis. It was later used as an accounting office and tasting room for Green Tree Brewery, owned by Max Feuerbacher who lived in the infamous Soulard “Lion House” as it is sometimes called.

Its ideal location made it, in later years a great corner bar (Wornicke Pub) off the beaten path for workers in the area to have a laugh, a drink, and a smoke with friends. Today Red Brick owns the building, and Jimbo “Big Daddy” Sinovic and his partner Jon Vieluf have been running the successful “eat, drink, ride and party” establishment since 1999.

34

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

History Corner

January 2021

I also like this particular location because of its amazing patio and street views. There is nothing quite like people watching on a sunny afternoon with little to do but pass the time in the company of others. The third, but not final reason, I like this location is its little bit of interesting “haunted history”. There is something about a good spooky story that makes a fanciful old building of brick that much more interesting. I had the pleasure of speaking with Jon Vieluf who told me a ghost story of his own experience while in the building. There is a rather interesting tale of a man named Chief (a bearded fellow who dresses quite like the gentlemen of ages past), a little child who wore a pretty dress and was known for saying, “It’s time….(for dinner)?... and a few other oddities from rolling pennies and electrical flickering which could range from coincidental to just plain strange! Maybe the little girl was onto something.

Big Daddy’s has some of the best wings, burgers, and “Cadillac sandwiches” this side of the river. Come to Soulard and pay a visit to Big Daddy’s (with your mask for safety) for lunch or dinner, or just have a few drinks with your favorite friends on one of the best patio bars in Saint Louis- and “the whole wide world”- 2021 is suddenly seeming a whole lot brighter already!

Photos by Carrie Paul Photo of Max Feurbacher courtesy- find a grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6164864/ max-feuerbacher GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

35

2020 Cover Artists- A Retrospective

January 2021

Kevin Pickard - February http://kmpickardart.com/ I refer to my art as “New Classic Pop Art� and I shoot for a fun, nostalgic feel in every piece I make.

Mark Kensho Rogan - March

36

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

Daniel Nygard - April https://www.facebook.com/nygard. daniel.9 My artistic expressions started with pencil drawing and acrylic paint. I’ve experimented with chalks and watercolors. I love to do photography. A lot of my current work is done with photography and photoshop type layering and editing.

Breanna Trent / Bre Knickless - May https://www.facebook.com/ BreTrentArt A multi media artist that leans towards the more whimsical side of things.

“Forest Friend” Acrylic on canvas, with gold foil

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

37

2020 Cover Artists- A Retrospective Larry Spenser - June https://www.facebook.com/ mousepaintings Larry creates “Mousepaintings” of Fine and Modern Art with today’s computer graphics technology, paintings and portraits expertly drawn using only the mouse as his paintbrush.

Mark Witzling - July https://www.facebook.com/ markwitzlingart “Emerging From Pandemic”, oil and beeswax on wood panel.

38

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

January 2021

Kerry Smith - August https://www.facebook.com/kerry. smith.39948 Kerry Smith is a Metro Area art director, graphic designer and painter.

“Off The Record” combines his love for album art, graphic design, and contemporary art; the series was inspired by Beck’s 2015 Grammy Award for best album.

Maxine Thirteen - September https://www.facebook.com/ maxinethirteen Maxine is a self-taught, figurative painter. Her creations often explore bygone eras, the surreal and the macabre. Her figurative oil paintings embrace the aesthetic appeal of glamorous, vintage expression while sometimes incorporating macabre or

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

39

2020 Cover Artists- A Retrospective

January 2021

Mark Polege - October https://photographyofmarkpolege.com/ Mark Polege is a self-taught photographer and photo-journalist. His photographic artwork is an exploration in perspective and depth, and a story written in a tapestry of light. His pieces capture the past while harnessing color and composition into bookmarks of time and space.

Rog Howard / Golden Hand - November https://www.facebook.com/rog.cain.1 I am a self-trained artist that specializes in portrait art. I’m a perfectionist; so, nothing from me will carry any less value with each creation manifested from my heart and soul. I eat, breathe and sleep art because ART IS ME

40

Gesso Magazine

GessoMagazine.com

January 2021

Zenster - December https://www.facebook.com/ YourLivesAreArt https://www.instagram.com/ Everyday_Zenster/ https://www.patreon.com/ Zenster

As we look back on our cover artists of 2020, we encourage all of our readers, whether they’re beginners or professionals, to submit their art.

From paintings and sculpture, to dance and music, show us what YOUR art is. Who knows, it could one day be on a future cover!

To all of our featured artists over the years: As we move on to a new year we want to thank you for being a part of this magazine. Without you we wouldn’t be here. Your work is the heart and soul of this magazine and we look forward to seeing and sharing any new work you may have!

So here’s to 2021 and all of the brand new art and music to come! Keep creating, Keep performing, and let’s make this a year to remember!

GessoMagazine.com

Gesso Magazine

41

Visit the RenewAudio.com/Music page for links and streaming music for our Artists.

Or Search Renew Audio Music or DrunkMouse Records for Spotify Playlist.

Renew Audio Music is available on all streaming services.

Search “Ian Buechele� on Spotify, iTunes and any streaming platforms to listen to Americana/ Blues songs by Ian Buechele.

Governor French Gallery Exhibition

Dreaming in Color Textile Arts by

Jacque Davis Governor French Gallery 219 West Main Street Belleville IL 62221 Due to the Covid quarantine, the Gallery is closed.

This exhibit is continued indefinitely.

“You can’t come in, but... you can see the exhibit through the windows.”

Sponsored and Curated by Gesso Magazine Regular Gallery Hours: 8am-4pm Monday through Friday or by appointment