“I learned through the COVID shutdown how you really can experience art if you’re at home.” “It was an opportunity for us to learn to become a lot more electronic,” she says. This was especially true during COVID, when she had to do most of her showcasing online. So how has Koelsch kept a gallery (which has moved several times in the Montrose area) afloat for so long? Well, when times changed, she knew she had to change with it. One of the pieces featured in the new exhibit Catherine Colangelo: star guardians at Koelsch Gallery Catherine Colangelo “I thought it was fabulous, but I thought you had to be a de Menil to live with art.” “I had grown up with a relative of the de Menils, and I really noticed their art collection,” says Koelsch, 55, also via Zoom. For a time, she didn’t think she was sophisticated or wealthy enough to collect art, until she bought a couple pieces by the late San Antonio artist Frank Freed at a benefit auction. Along with husband John Jefferies, Koelsch brings in artwork from both inside and outside of state borders. “So I’m hoping this association will last for a long time.”Ĭonsidering how Koelsch has been running the gallery for nearly three decades, this could very well be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. “They all tend to either close or retire on me,” says Colangelo, laughing. She's had work shown at the Art League Houston (which is down the street from Koelsch), and held shows at Cindy Lisica Gallery and DARKE Gallery, two Montrose spots that closed up shop a long time ago. “I also really like working with color and thinking about how it can kind of help to uplift you when you’re going through troubling times.”Īlthough it’s her first time at Koelsch, Colangelo is no stranger to the Montrose area. “The busy-ness of the patterns and the recurring theme of watchful eyes and zigzag shapes are things that are supposed to confuse evil spirits in these Ethiopian magic scrolls,” she says. So I’ve always kind of been attracted to the idea of artwork that’s used for healing or as protection devices.”Ĭolangelo also drew influence for guardians from her college professors, feminists who were part of the Pattern and Decoration movement of the '70s, as well as books on Ethiopian magic scrolls. But when they get older, you can’t really do that as a parent. “When your kid is little-bitty, you can physically protect them from falling off the slide at the playground. “I started painting these shield paintings that were kind of made like talismans, to protect her,” says Colangelo, 53, on a Zoom call. She mostly designed these pieces as “metaphysical protection devices” for her college-age daughter. The show will be on display through Saturday, June 17.įor guardians, Colangelo once again uses gouache and graphite to make kaleidoscopic images. Today, Colangelo premieres Catherine Colangelo: star guardians at Koelsch Gallery, the boutique art gallery Koelsch runs in Montrose. How is it that Catherine Colangelo and Franny Koelsch have never joined forces before? The outsider artist and the outsider art dealer are both veteran fixtures of the Houston art scene, but their creative paths haven't crossed. The artist Catherine Colangelo, whose new show, Catherine Colangelo: star guardians, is now up at Koelsch Gallery in Montrose.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |