AT THE ART INSTITUTE OF SAN ANTONIO

You see, the Surrealists would get together and write stuff randomly and then string it together. I guess it was an early way of channeling divine energies or, in the very least, a way of engineering new thoughts that were unfamiliar to society. Anyway, these collaged sentences became known as exquisite corpses. As time went on, this group got bored with just words and started incorporating images. Drawings were placed together randomly to make new world visions. These visions were often bizarre.

So here we are post millenium... and GAGAists are creating a womanly thing, an exquisite quilt. It is made of wooden cradled panels randomly strung together in keeping with the tradition of the Surrealist's corpse. 'Cept, we thought the word corpse sounded a little harsh. So in the process of creating ours, we abandoned convention--keeping the word exquisite and introducing the word quilt. We got rid of the word corpse. Of course, we could have played on another altogether different word and called it corps... Oh well. That would have worked also by referencing our organization of talented women artists.

The Art Institute of San Antonio is hosting the Flora and Fauna Exquisite Quilt. It is a huge, site-specific installation by any stretch of the imagination. Created through an all members artist call, it represents the artistic contributions from many GAGAists living in the greater San Antonio area. 

We are extremely grateful to AISA for giving us the opportunity to exhibit this installation that calls to mind a historical art movement as well as the time honored artistic tradition that the Surrealists invented.   

Please stay tuned for the reception date. AISA is also a culinary institute and their receptions are exceptional! They are prepared by AISA's newly forming chefs-to-be and promise to be a lot of fun. They are also deliciously visual, and exquisitely palatable! We hope you will join us for this wonderful feast!

Sylvia Benitez, President and Founder/GAGA

Transforming discarded glass, 'recycling', into beautiful art is my current passion. These works are made from a discarded tempered glass shelf and colored powdered glass.

As an artist, I like to explore the bonds that connect us with the cycles of the natural world. I aim to visually capture nature both on a large and intimate scale. It is my hope that viewers of my work will come to appreciate the wonderful complexities of nature.

Mulligan is an abstract painter.

Small details are important to this work as color and texture set the layered background of each piece.

Stefani Job Spears' work crosses various media boundaries.  Her watercolors, prints and oil paintings reflect her love of the delicate fractal beauty found in nature. 

While visiting Dauphin Island in south Alabama, I felt the urge to paint the brown pelican, and share my experience of utter awe, watching these majestic birds nose diving into the gulf for a meal. When I painted the sandpiper prowling in a swamp at dawn, I was taken to a very peaceful space.

 

Susan Jean Michael paints in an abstract flowing style, working with layers of color and form to create an emotional response in the viewer.

 

With this work, I imagine myself becoming very small. Like Alice in Wonderland, I partake of the drink that shrinks my body so that I am able to enter the picture plane.