Support the Arts in Your Community

The marriage between art and commerce has always been difficult and now more than ever. The gallery has never been so busy with people coming in for nourishment and inspiration and sales have never been so low. Without revenues, galleries can not stay in business and it is such a loss to their communities.

I feel from everyone coming in a sincere concern for the gallery and belief in its ability to raise the cultural bar in the community. For those of you who want to support the gallery but have decided to curb spending until the current economy stabilizes, we are offering a program that offers an affordable way to keep this hub of the arts community alive.

We are designing vouchers for $100, $250 and $500 each which are redeemable at any time toward the purchase of art. The $250 voucher comes with a 10% discount on the artwork of your choice and the $500 voucher will give you 15%. In other words, not only will you get your money's worth but will receive a dividend possibly worth much more than the price of the voucher upon redemption.

The gallery has been open for over three years now and has enjoyed a meteoric rise in reputation in the art world both locally and nationally. We have been written about in national magazines and have enhanced the reputation of our artists, spotlighting the fact that the Bay Area is a thriving hub for artists in all media. We are a member of the San Francisco Art Dealer's Association and have spotlighted our artists in the Miami Art Fair and other venues. We have an exciting and active schedule planned for the coming year and invite you to be a part of it!

If you would like to purchase a voucher or a gift certificate for a smaller amount, email art@donnaseagergallery.com or give us a call at 415.454.4229. You can't go wrong! Smaller gift certificates are expecially nice for lovers of artist books. The book show is coming in April!

Thanks so much for your support.

Lisa Kokin : Ex Libro, Groundbreaking Exhibition at Donna Seager Gallery

The February exhibition at Donna Seager Gallery promises to be unlike anything you’ve seen here before. Two years in the planning, this one-person installation by artist Lisa Kokin will expand the viewer’s idea of art and artist books as well. The exhibition will run from February 3 to March 15, 2009. There will be a reception for the artist on Friday, February 13 from 6 to 8pm and a gallery talk with the artist on Sunday, March 8 at 3pm. A catalog of the exhibition is available through the gallery at $20 with images of works and an essay by Paul Liberatore.

At this mature point in her career, says Liberatore, the 54-year-old Bay Area artist has achieved a level of prominence in the contemporary art world that invites comparisons in aesthetics, content and use of materials to Louise Bourgeois and Kiki Smith. For the past two decades, Kokin has been in the forefront of an emerging new art form: the artist’s book, hence the title of the exhibition at Donna Seager Gallery: Ex Libro, meaning not only "from the book," but in Lisa Kokin's mischievous world of layered puns, "formerly a book."

Through her process of art making, Kokin explores cultural and personal issues of conformity and gender, the ambiguities of society and human behavior. Her investigations include bisexuality, her Jewish heritage, her devotion to universal struggles for social justice and against censorship. Her aesthetic in these meanderings is consistently refined and appealing. These works are forms to hold meaning, but the forms themselves are incredibly alluring and stand alone as works of art even before the viewer unravels the hidden clues to content and context and often humor contained within.

The West Wing, Donna Seager Gallery's Expanded Exhibition Space

Donna Seager has expanded her gallery to include the exhibition space on the west side of the building. This new West Wing of the gallery offers her the opportunity to show her stable of artists on a more ongoing basis and to bring in new and exciting works. We were sorry to receive notice from Artisans Art Gallery in November. Although they are no longer in the gallery space, they continue to be a presence in the community and can be reached at their original number (415) 460-5208 or on their website at www.artisansartgallery.com.

The inaugural exhibition in the West Wing includes works by Leslie Allen, Kay Bradner, Joe Brubaker, Arian Dylan, Dana Hooper, Devorah Jacoby, Ona LeSassier, Claudia Marseille, Aondrea Maynard, Brigitte McReynolds, William Rushton, Helen Stanley, Inez Storer, Heather Wilcoxon and Ann Weber. The gallery has taken the opportunity to also bring in ceramic works by Todd Barricklow, Veva Edelson, Susan Hall and Claudia Tarantino.

Join us for an inauguration of the new space and another look at the incredible Michael Cutlip exhibition at the first Artwalk of 2009, Friday, January 9 at 6 to 8pm.