ROOM TONES
the Convent of St. Cecilia
21 Monitor St. Brooklyn, NY
OPENING Friday, August 28th, 2009
6pm-9pm with performances by Bulbs and Sister Big Stuff


























An exhibition reflective of our contemporary atmosphere,
Room Tones is also a return to an early and influential site of western art.
The Catholic convent of St. Cecilia in Greenpoint was once a robust institution,
home to a steady then slowly decreasing number of nuns until it was closed and vacated in 2008. Like many empty storefronts throughout New York City,
the situation of this particular convent is a barometer of the complex social and economic changes taking place in Greenpoint
and its neighboring L train enclaves.

Spiritual views and orientations aside, FatherKrische,
pastor of St. Cecilia, has generously worked with organizer Nathan Spondike and his
team making Room Tones an event that will reinvigorate this unique 97-year-old
building into a testament of the new thoughts and
ideas emerging from artists around it.

Room Tones is a collaborative exhibition of 25 highly diverse artistic peers within the vacant
Convent of St. Cecilia. Reflections of the nuns' former usage
of the space permeate thismomentary rehabitation.
Inside this once highly private and exclusive residence, the artists have each been given an individual room to provide an intimate and singular view of their work.

go to website here...

participating artists:
Rebecca Adams
Paolo Arao
Jason Bartell
Nathan Dilworth
Brock Enright
Aaron Frank
Chris Georges
Julio Cesar Gonzalez
Colt Hausman
Adam Henry
Colin Hunt
Brian Kain
William Latta
Qing Liu
Molly Lowe
Owen McAuley
Susan Sabiston
William Sabiston
Mike Schreiber
Emily Mae Smith
Nathan Spondike
Ryan Sullivan
Kristina Williamson
Leah Wolff
KatherineWolkoff

blake rayne....
see his work here..

Paradise is an idealized place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and idleness. It is often used in the same context as that of utopia.



jack pierson...
see more of his work here..

Faith is often used in a religious context, as in theology, where it almost universally refers to a trusting belief in a transcendent reality, or else in a Supreme Being and said being's role in the order of transcendent, spiritual things.




Howard Finster
1916-2001
look here..

"I do messages, for the spiritual people that believes in my messages, to try to help people to take care of the world, get it back in shape, I do messages on peace among men, I done a big message on world-come-together, I been preaching on things like that for several years."




"One day I had a vision to go full-time on my art and lay everything else aside. I was out on the porch looking down toward the road, and there was a man standing at the gate about fifteen feet tall, and his head was big as a refrigerator. He was familiar to me, I’d met him before, but I couldn’t think of his name to save my life. I didn’t know what to say to him, so I finally said what I say to the other customers, “What can I do for you, sir?” and he said, “You can get on the altar.” And that surprised me. I been preaching forty years, what does he mean? I asked him, “Did you say, ‘Get on the altar?’” and he said, “Yeah, get on the altar.” And when he said that he went down to a normal man, just looking over the top of the gate. And after that went away I said, “Lord, what does this mean?” The Lord said, “If you want to be pretty big in the art work, just reach on out there and go full-time. If you just want to go on and do art part time, you can be a little guy like you are.”







"And one day I was workin' on a patch job on a bicycle, and I was rubbin' some white paint on that patch with this finger here, and I looked at the round tip o' my finger, and there was a human face on it... then a warm feelin' come over my body, and a voice spoke to me and said, 'Paint sacred art."

read more of this interview here.....