Lori Koprowski's "XO" series.

Nothing like being where the action is!  It may not be New York, but it’s the city to me.  Being down here sea-side, off the West Maui Mountain hill is more than exciting.  The smell of coffee next door.  People milling about.  Traffic lights, laughter, energy.  Our new gallery location is awesome!  Here in Paia is the newest, up and coming hot spot on Maui.  We have a wonderful courtyard adorned with sculpture.  Come see the 15 foot giraffe (still looking for names), a bronze elephant, an onyx mother and child, a little boy chasing a butterfly, and a limestone fountain.   Turnbull Fine Art has souring ceilings, a red mahogany wood floor, movable partitions, contemporary art and Turnbull sculpture.

Beach Stone earrings by Carol Schwarz

Chocolate Pearl by Cathleen BuntRaw ruby rings by Shelly KingRaw ruby rings by Shelly King

Turnbull Fine Art in Paia

Welcome inside the gallery.

 

 

 

The Turnbull touch again.

Well, we have always said change is good.  Yes it is. It can be challenging to say the least and of course not cheap.  I am referring to our new entry into “Steve and Christine’s Gallery and Studios” .  Bruce has decided he wants to have his own space that is seperate from ours.  We think it just may work.  It will be like arriving at a destination with two stops to make.  Yes, two stops.  Two store fronts. One will be Bruce Turnbull’s studio and gallery and the other Steve and Christine’s place.  They are next door to eachother.  Isn’t that exciting!  We can call it “Turnbull Blvd. or “Turnbull Town”.  There is going to be a nice shaded bench to sit upon outside the entries so people can take a break from the sun and of course have a sip of water.  Both galleries will still feature your favorite artists, but Steve and Christine will be carrying the talented works of 15 other artists besides their own sculptures.  

The famous "Turnbull Touche" adorns the entry beam.

On your next  visit, be sure to make a stop to check out the new art and scenery.  We will be fully functioning without construction mess by the end of next week. 

Turnbull Studios would like to welcome a new classical art school to the island..

Even the sushi is excellent!

The Artists

Opening reception for Bend Show with the featured artists.

Steve Turnbull, Donna Young, and Marcello

NEW PREVIEW SERVICE FOR TURNBULL STUDIOS…TSPreViewBlog

Is this full enough?

If you can, you need to stop at the farm, it’s beautiful.  Krista and Ian take such perfect care of their flowers. The orchids are spectacular and one can tell they are grown with love.

Hana Tropicals

The flower nursery seems to go on forever and is a peaceful place to inspect the orchids.

gorgeous flowers from Hana

Orchids, orchids, and more orchids

The next morning, we were up early and had to set up our tent. Lucky for us, we were in the middle, between our good friends, Meile (a talented author of childrens books) and Sigal, a jewelry maker and textiles designer.  It was warm and sunny, a perfect Hana day. This is the place to go if you want real Hawaii, with real Hula, lots of culture, love, and aloha.

Taro Fest

Masks and bronze

Steve's work.

The day went fast, with rhythmic music, and great food!  Sales were small, but its the overall experience that makes it worth it.

Back to the cottage and off we went of Hana Tropicals jeep tour. Fun for the whole family.

Eli in the bamboo forest

Back to the real world…but had to stop again in Nihiku for some yummy tacos of your choice.

See ya next year Hana……………

Tacos, chili, and dogs..yum.

Recently I have been playing around with my kiln and doing some experiments.  I have a fabulous artist, Marylynn Holland that makes these beautiful dishes with melted glass in them, not to mention her monks and other ceramics.  She has been a mentor to me in this new world of wet clay.  I have been wanting to make some ornaments and thought the melted glass thing looks so sparkly and Christmasy that I decided to put myself to the test.

I crushed up wine bottles and found some other recycled glass and just started putting it in little forms I made and voila!  Ornaments!  Now there has been quite a lot of trial and error, but patience my friends.  I do this in between the intense work of portrait work I do.  Sometimes I just need a break from all that detail.    Here are a few samples of what I am creating. ….

Two kinds of glaze and melted glass made this Hibiscus.

Humhumu...what?? Blue vodka bottle and green wine bottle melting. Cool way to recycle, but wear your safety glasses.

Meet Osden.  This gorgeous little guy is my latest portrait.  He is almost finished.    Once he is complete I will pack him up ( he is made out of oil based clay) and send him to the foundry to be cast in bronze.  A process that takes up to 3 months after I send it.   This is a wonderful way to capture the likeness of your child or grandchildren and have it passed down through the family.  Go to turnbullstudios.org and see Christine’s work. 

Rest assured, we make use of down time and that included new construction on old space. Yes!!  That is right, more studio space. We are thrilled to say we created a “Garden Room”.  This is a place where everything is organic…or, art from the earth. A water fountain is on schedule as well, which will create a very tranquil tone while perusing the gallery of beautiful art.   

Mr. Fred Turner is one of the most gracious hosts I have ever experienced.  Not only was it a business trip, but filled with fun and relaxation.  We went to the best Jazz clubs, best dining, and not to mention a Cubs game where we sat behind the dug-out on a fantastic sunny day!!  It doesn’t get any better than that.

The Museum of Modern Art was incredible. The show was a “Color is Relative” theme.  The Art Institute was so amazing we went twice in one day!!  Once before the Cubs game and then after the game.  Art and sports…needless to say our brains and bodies were overwhelmed and tipsy turvy after that.   The art, WOW, I could sleep there.  The Contemporary Circa was breathtaking.  Never have I experienced and seen art like that.   I wish I could visit when no one else is around just to take in each piece.  Standing in front of the Gaugins and Van Goughs brought tears to my eyes.  No one paints like that anymore.  The textures, the colors, the strokes and movements…amazing.  Who paints a sky in several shades of green with short single strokes?  Van Gough.

I have to say that the only artist that I compared the work to was our artist Lisa Kaspryski.  She is an emerging artist and her work echoes that of the Masters.  Her textures and colors are as breathtaking as those in the Art Institute.  Another is Ken Kennell’s Pointillism.  His work has more color and energy that Saurat.  Though of course Saurat was a man standing alone in his art.  I am honored to have Ken’s work in our Gallery at Turnbull Studios.

Maui Sunset on Kaanapali Beach

Oahi wood and stone by Gunnar Turnbull.

There are two ways in which art is sold in a gallery.  Art is purchased by the gallery and given a retail markup price and art consigned by the artist where the sale is split between gallery and artist.  If you are a savvy art buyer, you should ask if the piece you art interested in is consigned or purchased. 

Usually if the art is consigned, there is no extra gallery mark-up to permit price negotiations.  If, however, the gallery owns  the artwork and needs to turn over inventory, there is sometimes an opportunity to bargain for a better price.  However, a painting or a sculpture is not the same as a used car or toaster.  So this must be dealt with gently.  Most artwork is priced at the market value, so it is not often that work is “over-priced”.

So..How do you establish the value?

1.  REPUTATION;

The reputation of the artist is considered to be the most important of all.  The value of art comes down to who did it, what is it made of

Problem is…their are all these opportunities for other “normal” day to day hard workers for refinance, get lower interests, get loans etc…to get them through these tough times.  Artists were wiped off the scene when they took the “stated income” off the table.  Anyway, more later…lots to think about.