**Press Release 7/01/08

LowBrow Meets High-Brow:

Blurring The Lines Of Contemporary Art

Written by: Mike Shearer

LowBrow Fine Art Gallery, in Soquel Village, celebrates a new direction for the gallery with a show by local favorite Michelle Stitz, entitled Bread and Roses.  Owner, Monte Atherton describes his previous curatorial choices and the reason for this new shift in focus, “ My goal with the gallery has been to show fine art I enjoy—my favorite genres being Lowbrow and Urban Contemporary.  I chose the name LowBrow Fine Art because it is such a great juxtaposition, but now I want to break down the barriers between “low-brow” and “high-brow” art.  Art should be more approachable, touchable.”

Until now, the gallery has for the most part shown work that fits in its namesake genre, artists like Mars-1, Scott Saw, Nate Williams, and Audrey Kawasaki. This July, LBFA pushes its sights towards the urban and the contemporary with the work of nationally acclaimed artist Michelle Stitz..

Stitz uses oil paint, encaustic, and resin to create subtle narratives of luminous abstraction. Her work shows in galleries nationwide, but in Santa Cruz (where she calls home) venues have included Felix Kulpa, Many Hands, The Putty Project, The Questionmark Gallery, Full Support Gallery, Ironwood Gallery, and BOE.  Stitz, who graduated in Art from UCSC is also a regular Santa Cruz Open studios participant.

Atherton explains, “I wanted to branch out and highlight some work by Santa Cruz Gems such as Michelle—artists that have shown on a national or international level, but live here in Santa Cruz and show here,  artists that are certainly not “low-brow”, but share an interesting use of materials, aesthetic resolution, and intelligent concept.“

Of course, the artists that Atherton has been showing and selling through the gallery thus far are among the most collectable and recognizable of his favorite genres.  Mars-1 and Jeff Soto both have pieces in the San Jose Museum of Art in their current Robot show and have made their way with paintings, limited edition prints and collectible art toys through museums and galleries around the U.S.

“The Stitz show is a breakthrough for the gallery, a sign of new times.  It’s very exciting”, says Atherton, “She is an amazing artist and I’m excited to be showing her work as well as that of other accomplished Santa Cruz modern artists in the near future.”

Michelle Stitz’s show Bread and Roses will be showing at LowBrow Fine Art Gallery in Soquel Village

From July 15^th to August 15^th.

An opening reception will be held July 17^th from 7 – 10 pm

Gallery hours are Tuesday – Friday 11-5 pm, Saturday 12 – 3pm

Footnote:

Bread and Roses, a poem by James Openheim in 1911, became a strong part of women’s trade union protests in 1912, and synonymous symbolically with union rights and women’s rights all over the world in the following century.  It speaks of the need for women to rise up in society (as in the art world today) and bring love and art and beauty and equality (blurring the lines between low-brow and high-brow).

This sentiment is especially culturally significant today on the cusp of political change, during repressed economic times, and in a society where art in education is often  under-financed. “Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread, but give us roses!”

The Poem, Bread and Roses 1911

    As we come marching, marching in the beauty of the day,

    A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,

    Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,

    For the people hear us singing: "Bread and roses! Bread and roses!"

    As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,

    For they are women's children, and we mother them again.

    Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;

    Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!

    As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead

    Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.

    Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.

    Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for roses, too!

    As we come marching, marching, we bring the greater days.

    The rising of the women means the rising of the race.

    No more the drudge and idler -- ten that toil where one reposes,

    But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses! Bread and roses!