Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art

I recently acquired an amusing piece of ceramic art: an Alison Palmer stoneware ceramic deer antler container, from around 2006. I successfully negotiated with the shop owner and walked out with it right away. Growing up in Montana, I encountered many influential ceramic artists, including Peter Voulkos, known for abstract expressionistic ceramics; Rudy Autio, recognized for his Matisse-like pieces; and Akio Takamori, who celebrated figurative ceramic works. Palmer recently showcased her work at the Saratoga Clay Arts Center. This exhibition, titled " Dream Animals ," also featured the work of Sue Tirrell, a ceramic artist native to Red Lodge, MT. Initial research from a Connecticut newspaper revealed that Palmer and her husband began their careers with a company called “ Ashes to Ashes ,” which created handcrafted funerary urns for animals. This work involved supporting grieving clients. As I've learned, pets are cherished family members whose loss is deeply mourned—a pa...

Janet M. Holder is a truly iconic figure, whose remarkable 100-year life story—as a nurse, realtor, and abstract art pioneer—is due for a renaissance in the digital age. A woman who blazed a trail for her own independence and fostered an extreme creative streak, her life was a unique blend of artistry and practicality. She was a trained artist, yet maintained a career as a registered nurse, and later successfully ran a real estate operation well before the era of Zillow Early Life and Artistic Roots Born in Philadelphia and raised in Deal, NJ, outside Asbury Park, Holder has a rich heritage: her mother descended from New Jersey’s first marriage bond, and her father, from Pocahontas and John Rolfe, grew up in Williamston, SC. Growing up during the Great Depression, she was inspired by her father's artistic endeavors, and she began painting at the age of three. In high school, she was President of the Art Society and received her first recognition with an "honorable mention...

Numerous artists focused on the theme of circus performers in their paintings. Some of the most noted European painters like Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Seurat, Picasso, Bernard Buffet, Fernand Leger were frequently captivated by this topic; likewise some mid-century American artists such as Aaron Bohrod, John Sloan, Edward Hopper, Robert Vickrey, Emil Kosa, and Hans Mollar found inspiration like Russin in the circus. George Russin’s artwork frequently features clowns as a central theme. His fascination with circus performers, shared by my father, stemmed from a time when readily available entertainment was scarce. And I have a personal connection, having lived in Bailey’s Crossroads, VA, a neighborhood founded by Hachaliah Bailey, whose early American circus eventually evolved into the famed Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. The circuses of the past were characterized by massive tents hosting highwire acts, exotic animals and their trainers, daring stunts, and crucially, c...

Lewis, aka, Alice Broadwell Lewis is a noted regional painter hailing from South Carolina, best known for her diverse artistic talent. Her work includes summer vacation landscapes, commissioned portraits of grandchildren, and abstract pieces. Lewis has noted the particular difficulty in achieving a compelling composition in abstract painting. Her technique, evident in the featured below painting, strikes a balance between careful planning and spontaneous, improvisational execution. She utilizes a variety of brushes to create sweeping gestural marks, incorporating subtle touches like small patches of antique gold and delicate gold lines, seemingly drawn with a fabric pen/marker, alongside other painted lines. Lewis's passion for nature is strongly expressed in the massive abstract piece in our collection, which we've affectionately titled "Grand Prismatic Spring." This nickname references a series of Yellowstone-themed paintings Lewis created after a vacation trip, s...

Aaron Waller's sculptural assemblages offer a contemporary twist on "Junk Sculpture," a genre popularized by artists like Louise Nevelson and Deborah Butterfield who transformed found materials into art. While Nevelson used salvaged wood for her enigmatic abstractions and Butterfield crafted her early horse sculptures from scrap metal, Waller's approach is distinct. He “traffic’s in unwanted items,” blending finds from thrift stores, flea markets with remnants from his father's mountain retreat. Unlike Nevelson and Butterfield, who often duplicated subjects, Waller introduces a new 21st-century "artspeak" through surrealist assemblage sculptures. He intentionally unsettles the viewer by using visual elements out of context, coupled with stimulating titles. This method aligns with Surrealism's original focus on social attitudes and behavior, infused with modern symbolism. For example, his most recent work below, "Woman Looking Within, Outward,...