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Seltzer’s cityscapes dazzle in ‘Arte’ show
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BY: MARIILYN H. KARFELD Senior Staff Reporter
Exuberant color, as intense as the hues of the Renaissance masters whose palette inspires her work, is the hallmark of Cleveland painter and printmaker Phyllis Seltzer.
“Arte” is a new exhibit of 37 of her vibrant cityscapes of Cleveland, New York and Italy. They dazzle on the white walls of Convivium33 Gallery at Josaphat Arts Hall in Cleveland’s newly designated Art Quarter.
Seltzer takes liberties in her cityscapes, not only with color, but also with perspective and space. The resulting images are far more her impression of a city than a realistic rendition.
The artist, who earned a master’s degree in printmaking from The University of Iowa and took post-graduate classes in architecture at the University of Michigan, uses a Canon color printer and a heat-transfer press to create prints that are 70% or 100% of the size of her original oil paintings.
First, she prints 11-inch by 17-inch sections of the painting, she explains. While the image is still hot, she turns it over and transfers the ink onto acid-free, archival paper. She then meticulously glues together the smaller sections to create the whole piece.
Despite the unbridled color n purple sunset, magenta river, green and orange skyscrapers n the effect is not chaotic. Discipline is as important in Seltzer’s work as it is in her life.
“Phyllis is the only person who has developed this heat-transfer method on this scale,” notes Alenka Banco, Convivium33 Gallery curator and owner. “This is a very tedious process.”
When young artists ask Banco how they can make a living at art, she tells them there’s no quick formula and points to Seltzer’s example. “It’s hard work. Phyllis goes into the studio every day.”
The Detroit-born artist, who moved to Cleveland at age 3, maintains a rigorous schedule. She paints nearly every day, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in her Detroit Avenue studio. Rolling up her linen canvas, she then returns to her West Side home near Edgewater Park to paint some more.
She used to run, and still exercises each day, attending step-aerobic classes and following along with calisthenics and stretches on DVDs. “Discipline is very important,” she says in an interview in her West Side studio, hung nearly floor to ceiling with her work. “I’m very consistent.”
Venice, where she spends two months a year (one in summer and one in winter) has transformed her art, she says. Since Seltzer and her husband Gerard bought their Venice apartment 20 years ago, the brilliant color of Venetian masters has found its way into her work. Her home is only five minutes from the Academy Gallery in Venice, home to paintings by Titian, Veronese and Tiepolo.
Inspired by the Renaissance painters, she manipulates her versions of the masterpieces, often juxtaposing them with scenes of Italian villages.
While the Cleveland Heights High graduate and Beth Israel-The West Temple member attributes her longevity to good genes, she also notes that her successful career stems in part from her openness to new art movements and trends. “I keep current with everything, the New York market, the California market. I have a huge library and read everything.”
She’s also spent years training herself, first as a printmaker in classic techniques of lithography, intaglio, and seriography. But heat-transfer printing, which she discovered 25 years ago, has opened up a new world, says Seltzer, who spent over three decades as an interior designer, working with architects.
With the heat transfer process, Seltzer and her studio assistant Zoya Trofimova can pull an edition of three prints in a day. The two women touch up the prints with colored pencils if necessary.
“It is not a reproduction,” Seltzer insists. “It’s a handmade fine-art print.” A chemical in the heat-transfer process sets the ink, and Seltzer maintains the works will not fade, even if hung in a window.
Of late, with a large inventory of prints, she’s concentrated on her painting. When galleries in China started contacting her, she realized a new market was emerging. In 2005, she painted a China series, working from photographs her husband took when the couple visited the country 20 years ago.
In her studio, she’s now painting another New York scene, featuring people playing ball in Central Park surrounded by skyscrapers, and one of Venice at high water, with bathers frolicking in a canal. Despite her affection for those places, she considers herself lucky to live and work in Cleveland, a beautiful city with its lakefront, parks and industrial core.
The petite artist says she has no plans to retire. “Artists don’t stop. That’s what makes life important.”
mkarfeld@cjn.org
“Arte” is on view through May 27 at Convivium33 Gallery at
Josaphat Arts Hall, 1433 E. 33rd St. 216-881-7838. Seltzer will give an artist’s talk Sun., May 20, at 1 p.m.
“Arte” is a new exhibit of 37 of her vibrant cityscapes of Cleveland, New York and Italy. They dazzle on the white walls of Convivium33 Gallery at Josaphat Arts Hall in Cleveland’s newly designated Art Quarter.
Seltzer takes liberties in her cityscapes, not only with color, but also with perspective and space. The resulting images are far more her impression of a city than a realistic rendition.
The artist, who earned a master’s degree in printmaking from The University of Iowa and took post-graduate classes in architecture at the University of Michigan, uses a Canon color printer and a heat-transfer press to create prints that are 70% or 100% of the size of her original oil paintings.
First, she prints 11-inch by 17-inch sections of the painting, she explains. While the image is still hot, she turns it over and transfers the ink onto acid-free, archival paper. She then meticulously glues together the smaller sections to create the whole piece.
Despite the unbridled color n purple sunset, magenta river, green and orange skyscrapers n the effect is not chaotic. Discipline is as important in Seltzer’s work as it is in her life.
“Phyllis is the only person who has developed this heat-transfer method on this scale,” notes Alenka Banco, Convivium33 Gallery curator and owner. “This is a very tedious process.”
When young artists ask Banco how they can make a living at art, she tells them there’s no quick formula and points to Seltzer’s example. “It’s hard work. Phyllis goes into the studio every day.”
The Detroit-born artist, who moved to Cleveland at age 3, maintains a rigorous schedule. She paints nearly every day, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in her Detroit Avenue studio. Rolling up her linen canvas, she then returns to her West Side home near Edgewater Park to paint some more.
She used to run, and still exercises each day, attending step-aerobic classes and following along with calisthenics and stretches on DVDs. “Discipline is very important,” she says in an interview in her West Side studio, hung nearly floor to ceiling with her work. “I’m very consistent.”
Venice, where she spends two months a year (one in summer and one in winter) has transformed her art, she says. Since Seltzer and her husband Gerard bought their Venice apartment 20 years ago, the brilliant color of Venetian masters has found its way into her work. Her home is only five minutes from the Academy Gallery in Venice, home to paintings by Titian, Veronese and Tiepolo.
Inspired by the Renaissance painters, she manipulates her versions of the masterpieces, often juxtaposing them with scenes of Italian villages.
While the Cleveland Heights High graduate and Beth Israel-The West Temple member attributes her longevity to good genes, she also notes that her successful career stems in part from her openness to new art movements and trends. “I keep current with everything, the New York market, the California market. I have a huge library and read everything.”
She’s also spent years training herself, first as a printmaker in classic techniques of lithography, intaglio, and seriography. But heat-transfer printing, which she discovered 25 years ago, has opened up a new world, says Seltzer, who spent over three decades as an interior designer, working with architects.
With the heat transfer process, Seltzer and her studio assistant Zoya Trofimova can pull an edition of three prints in a day. The two women touch up the prints with colored pencils if necessary.
“It is not a reproduction,” Seltzer insists. “It’s a handmade fine-art print.” A chemical in the heat-transfer process sets the ink, and Seltzer maintains the works will not fade, even if hung in a window.
Of late, with a large inventory of prints, she’s concentrated on her painting. When galleries in China started contacting her, she realized a new market was emerging. In 2005, she painted a China series, working from photographs her husband took when the couple visited the country 20 years ago.
In her studio, she’s now painting another New York scene, featuring people playing ball in Central Park surrounded by skyscrapers, and one of Venice at high water, with bathers frolicking in a canal. Despite her affection for those places, she considers herself lucky to live and work in Cleveland, a beautiful city with its lakefront, parks and industrial core.
The petite artist says she has no plans to retire. “Artists don’t stop. That’s what makes life important.”
mkarfeld@cjn.org
“Arte” is on view through May 27 at Convivium33 Gallery at
Josaphat Arts Hall, 1433 E. 33rd St. 216-881-7838. Seltzer will give an artist’s talk Sun., May 20, at 1 p.m.
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