Introduction: Cathy Breslaw, Artist

My current work engages materiality in many forms. Twisting, stretching, wrapping, tapering, weaving, slashing, tucking, tying, gathering, folding, layering and sewing are ways in which the industrial mesh is

manipulated to create wall,floor and suspended installation works that often reference painting and sculpture.

Things that spark my work include global social platforms of communication - shifting paradigms of how we relate, uniting all cultures. By embracing dissimilar combinations of ideas simultaneously also offers us the

possibility of seeing concepts of space and time in unique ways. These ideas have extended my interest into

creating abstract drawings that precede the wall and hanging installations as well as becoming complete finished works. My definitions of space and time have been altered and enriched, providing me a wealth of visual ideas that are an ongoing transformation of materials into art pieces.

In my travels to Taiwan, I located an industrial mesh - rolls packed in room-sized containers ready for commercial shipping to ports worldwide. Fascinated by the mesh, I visited the factory in Shanghai, and brought materials back to my studio where I could experiment, explore and expand the possibilities creating art pieces that endure. I’ve also sought out and found similar kinds of commercial materials, transforming them from their original purpose.

Concepts of light, space and multiple dimensions form the undercurrent of my thought process as I create the work. Color and light play an integral role enhancing the atmospheric transparency of the materials. The often

large scale and placement of the work from wall to ceiling to floor, recontextualizes how the viewer experiences the work. Light originating from natural to artificial sources causes the exhibition space to glow,

often casting shadows on the walls and floor, lending a sculptural quality to the pieces.

The work, sharing forms of painting, sculpture and installation, leads the viewer to take an intimate look at seemingly ordinary materials that because of what has been done to them, transcends their function.

Born in Coral Gables, Florida and raised in Baltimore Maryland, Cathy Breslaw received a BA degree in American Studies from George Washington University in Washington D.C., an MSW(masters of social work) from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont California. She currently lives and works in southern California. Breslaw is a contemporary visual artist who has had a series of solo and group exhibitions across the United States in museums, commercial galleries, art centers, college and university galleries and alternative spaces. Her work is a combination of drawings, wall, floor and installation pieces made primarily from industrial mesh but also includes mixed media of other types.

Solo Exhibitions

2010 Truckee College, TMCC Main Gallery, Light Moves, Reno, NV

Rose Center for the Arts, Lower Columbian College, Weightless, Longview, WA

Florida Atlantic University, John D. MacArthur Library, Material Resonance, Jupiter, FL

Gallery 825, Light Play, Los Angeles, CA

2009 West Valley Art Museum, Light Moves, Surprise, AZ

Chico Art Center, Chico, Discovery Series: Cathy Breslaw, Chico, CA

Charleston Heights Art Center, Main Gallery, Weightless, Las Vegas, NV

Earleville Art Center Opera House, East Art Gallery, Recent Discoveries, Binghamton,NY

Southern Oregon University, Stevenson Union Gallery, Tapestries of Light, Ashland, OR

Fitton Center for Creative Arts, Bever West Gallery,Topographies, Hamilton, OH

2008 University of St. Mary, Goppert Gallery, Reflections, Leavenworth, KS

Riverviews Artspace, Casting Rhythms, Lynchburg, VA

Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Novell Gallery, Suspension: Color and Light, Salisbury, NC

2005 Claremont Graduate University, East Gallery, Claremont, CA

2001 Falcon Arts Gallery, San Diego, CA

2000 First National Bank Building, San Diego, CA

2000 San Diego State University, Corporate Governance Institute, San Diego, CA

1999 First National Bank, San Diego, CA

1998 Wyndham Hotels Corporate Offices, Emerald Plaza, San Diego, CA

1997 Offtrack Gallery, Leucadia, CA

1995 Wyndham Hotels Corporate Offices, Emerald Plaza, San Diego, CA

1994 First National Bank, San Diego, CA

Corporate Collections

American Graphics Inc., San Diego, CA

GEA Power Cooling Systems, San Diego, CA

ADC Telecommunications, Minneapolis, MN

Che Bella, Phoenix, AZ

Frontier Analytics, La Jolla, CA

Maxwell Technologies, San Diego, CA

Residential Wholesale Mortgage Inc., Solana Beach, CA

Saign & Associates, Los Altos, CA

Amerigraph LLC, San Diego, CA

Selected Awards

2004-05 Sue Arlene Walker Memorial Fellowship, Claremont Graduate Univ,Claremont, CA

2003-04 Fellowship, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA

1997 International Exhibition, Society of Experimental Painters, Sarasota, FL, Merit Award

1997 Twenty-ninth Annual National Art Exhibition, San Francisco, CA, Gold Medallion Award

cathybreslaw@roadrunner.com 858-692-2351 cell www.cathylbreslaw.com

Meeting: September 13th Rancho Bernardo Winery

Origins of the Phrase

In vino veritas:“in wine [there is the] truth".

It is also known as a Greek phrase “Ἐν οἴνῳ ἀλήθεια” En oino álétheia, which has the same meaning. The author of the Latin phrase is Pliny the Elder; the Greek phrase is attributed to the Greek poet Alcaeus. The Greek poet Alcaeus is the oldest known source for the phrase. The Roman historian Tacitus described how the Germanic peoples always drank wine while holding councils, as they believed nobody could lie effectively when drunk.

The phrase is often continued as, "In vino veritas, in aqua sanitas", i.e., "In wine there is truth, in water there is health."

Similar phrases exist across cultures and languages. In Chinese, there is the saying, "酒後吐真言" ("After wine blurts truthful speech"). The Babylonian Talmud (תלמוד בבלי) contains the passage: "נכנס יין יצא סוד", i.e., "In came wine, out went a secret".

It continues, "בשלשה דברים אדם ניכר בכוסו ובכיסו ובכעסו", i.e., "In three things is a man revealed: in his wine goblet, in his purse, and in his wrath."

(Information taken from Wikipedia)

The Crossroads: The Theme at Which We Will Converge

IN VINO, VERITAS...

In wine, there is truth. Wine, as a universal beverage around the globe, appeals to people across all cultures, tracing back to ancient times. In ancient Greek mythology there is the God of Wine, Dionysus, as well as stories in Roman history of Bacchus, God of Wine. Throughout time, wine has been used in religious ritual as well as an accompaniment to meals and for social gathering. Wine, in a way is an art form, stimulating and encouraging conversation with its sensuality and enticing mystery. Its aroma excites our senses of taste and smell. Its aesthetic fascination originates from the visual beauty of the vines growing in fields with bright green leaves and sumptuous grapes to the wine glasses it fills at our dinner tables. Behind it all is the chemistry, the science, at the basis of the long process of cultivating the most perfect sensuous nectar.

At the essence of Art and Fashion, there is truth. Art and Fashion, like wine, dates back to ancient times and they too stimulate the senses, and spark conversation with their aesthetic mystery. The process of creating wine, Art and Fashion possess parallels - from the planting of the seed growing into a beautiful plant that grows fruit to the harvesting, picking, and fermenting resulting in fantastic worldly creations of color and texture. It is Team Crossroads’s intention to create clothing, accessories and visual art that references the sensuality and beauty of wine, the science of the wine making process, story-telling through photography, and the teaching of the science of wine making, demonstrating the artistic process.

A few preliminary inspired pieces by Cathy Breslaw and design sketches by Stacie May below...

Mosaic

August 24th, 2010 meeting in pictures:

Inspiration abounds at our gallery space...

Mosaic Wine Bar & Gallery
3422 39th Street,
San Diego

Our theme is taking shape...Fashion, Art...Science?...

The blank gallery space upstairs...

The Challenge

I am an accused and a self admitted reality tv show addict...I will watch almost any television program that is thinly veiled as "reality"...I especially like those shows like Project Runway, Work of Art, Top Chef...What draws me in are the open-ended challenges that contestants are faced with: design an outfit from supplies found at the hardware store, make a piece of art from recycled electronics, create a tasty dish using duck testicles...I love to see each participant take the challenge and feed it into the machine that is their internal creative process and see what comes out the other side...I love that both the processes and end products can be so vastly varied from person to person and from what I would have dreamed up had I been given the challenge...oh and I must admit that I also enjoy the guilty pleasure of voyeuristically watching the group dynamics of when creative processes and personalities clash...

I walked into the Microsoft store tonight to meet my Art Meets Fashion project group and immediately felt like I was embarking on my own reality tv show challenge...the room was milling with creative types, inspiring people...The challenge: to create a multi-dimensional visual presentation consisting of works of art, apparel, lesson plans, and a documentary of the whole process...all encompassed under the umbrella of one, unifying theme...aimed at engaging at-risk youth into the arts and fashion design (and it would be great if we could incorporate science and technology)...to be showcased at no less than two venues, the San Diego International Airport and Mosaic Gallery at Mosaic Wine Bar...

The cast of characters in my reality tv show: Stacie Taylor (fashion designer), Cathy Breslaw (artist), Jan Janus (educator) and me, Melissa Au (photographer/documenter)...I cannot wait to see how our group dynamics unfold...to see how our creative processes mesh, or if they do clash, how we will choose to resolve...to see the unknown and undoubtedly amazing creations that we, working separately but also in collaboration, will produce...I am so excited to take part in this journey...though I must admit that I am ever so grateful that the timeline is nine months, rather than 24 hours...and that there will be no camera following me around (that's my job--to follow my teammates around with my own camera!)

And guess what? Two seats to my right, sat a real-live reality tv show star from a past season of Project Runway...this is gonna be fun!

Crossroads

Crossroads:
Pronunciation: \ˈkrȯs-ˌrōd also -ˈrōd\

Function: noun

Date: 1686;

1 usually plural but singular or plural in construction
a : the place of intersection of two or more roads
b (1) : a small community located at such a crossroads, a group of people living in a particular local area-the team is drawn from all parts of the community (2) : a central meeting place
c : a crucial point especially where a decision must be made
d: a representation of common ground between theories or phenomena