Pops in the Park Commemorative Painting by Elaine Coffee Starting Bids!


Item Number: 52

Time Left: CLOSED

Value: $5,000

Online Close: Aug 9, 2013 12:00 PM EDT

Bid History: 0 bids


Description

DSC_0227Painting_web


 


Pops in the Park


GUEST ARTIST Elaine Coffee's Commissioned Commemorative Painting


Ms. Coffee  has been commissioned to create this year's commemorative painting and limited edition lithograph, which was unveiled at a reception in her honor on June 19th as part of the Orleans Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event.  Limited edition prints of the work will be available during the concert on Saturday, August 24th at Eldredge Field in Orleans from 5-7 pm.
 
After earning a degree in fine art Elaine Coffee's journey led her through the worlds of advertising and medical illustration, as well as writing and editing for a food magazine.  This eclectic background afforded her the  opportunity to observe interesting lifestyles and Coffee's desire to capture their individual gesture and mood would define her direction as a painter today.
 
In her own words, Elaine Coffee's mature work is an "exercise in engineering." Working elements from various sources into one coherent picture, she acts like a theater director, casting interesting characters from disparate venues and endeavoring to portray them as part of one harmonious scene. Coffee is careful to articulate that her paintings are more about the individual than the overall arrangement.


LUCKY for our Bidding for Good guests, this auction item will be open to bid upon up until the August 19th Pop in the Park Auction date. These bids will become the STARTING BID AMOUNTS!

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elainecoffee


Presenting Elaine Coffee's Biography:


Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elaine Grant Coffee earned a degree in fine art from the School of Visual Arts in New York, having completed significant coursework in biochemistry, medical illustration and marketing. This combination of study, is manifest in nearly all of Coffee’s work today.

Upon graduation, Coffee worked in the art department of an advertising agency in New York City where she channeled her talents into marketing campaigns for pharmaceutical companies. The advertising world brought her to Geneva, Switzerland, where she created illustrations for the American Women’s Club magazine, and also sharpened her epicurean tastes for art and cuisine. Maintaining her creative passion, she painted many portraits during this time.


An assignment as Art Director for Scottsdale Magazine eventually brought Coffee to Arizona, where she worked for more than a decade as a writer, and eventually became Food Editor. As such, she frequented museums and galleries, interviewed top chefs and sampled food and drink at some of the world’s most renowned restaurants.


These experiences afforded Coffee ample opportunity to observe interesting lifestyles – people engaged in conversations, enjoying haute cuisine, or captivated by an old-world masterpiece. Coffee’s desire to capture their individual gesture and mood would define her direction as a painter.


In her own words, Coffee’s mature work is an “exercise in engineering.” Working elements from various sources into one coherent picture, she acts like a theater director, casting interesting characters from disparate venues and endeavoring to portray them as part of one harmonious scene. Coffee is careful to articulate that her paintings are more about the individual than the overall arrangement. Fashionable interiors simply provide the dark tones, drama or nonchalance she needs to preserve the integrity and spontaneity of the moment or gesture she is trying to capture.


Coffee’s formal approach is decidedly modernist; she uses values to make a statement as much as the narrative elements. In her compositions, linear forms are not strictly defined, but emerge from gradual definition of shaded areas. Within carefully executed, impressionist paintings, her audience delights in small details that define action or light source. For instance, a slice of white along the rim of eyeglasses, or reflected in a line of bottles behind a bar, keeps the eye moving toward the motion in her paintings and invites the viewer to participate in the moment she observed.