Renowned Contemporary American Painter to Release Illustrated Memoir at Meridian Gallery Exhibition

SAN FRANCISCO - May 12, 2014 - PRLog -- Meridian Gallery
535 Powell Street, San Francisco
Wednesday, May 21, 2014, 6 – 9 PM

Exhibition: May 19 – 26, 2014
Tuesdays through Saturdays,
11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
(415) 398-7229
meridiangallery.org

Much can be said about art as an avenue for healing and transformation. Throughout the world and in classrooms and organizations across the country, art is used as a creative outlet for those who are struggling with personal challenges and traumas. In Peoplescapes, artist Nancy Calef shares with readers her journey transcending an eating disorder, and the paintings and drawings that helped her recover.

Calef, whose art is regularly featured in solo and group exhibits, chronicles with grace and humor her evolution from a child model, suffering from anorexia and bulimia, to a multidisciplined artist renowned for her innovative “peoplescapes.” The vibrant characters depicted in are exaggerated forms of the human condition. Characters are often rendered in 3D, sculpted on the canvas, with symbolism and commentary, together producing a razor sharp narrative on issues facing society.

Driven by honest self-examination and a daily commitment to convert self-destructive energy into creative expression and physical exercise, Calef provides in her book, through words and 149 pieces of full-color artwork, an inspiration for others to help themselves transcend deep emotional and physical obstructions.

Peoplescapes: My Story from Purging to Painting is an around-the-world tale of self-discovery, courage, and love, at turns hilarious and heartbreaking, while Calef’s luminous talent shines through.

Praise for Peoplescapes

“This memoir tells the story of how Calef ingeniously transformed her mother’s ravenous ambition for Nancy to be a ‘star’ — through much childhood and young adulthood suffering —into a world stage where the audience becomes sensitively and beautifully executed human beings, evoked with irony, humor, and pathos in a painting style uniquely her own.”—Jack Hirschman, award-winning author, poet, painter, and former poet laureate of San Francisco

“Nancy Calef has distinguished herself as a role model for this generation. In a world where girls and young women are confronted with idealized images, Nancy, sharing her inner life, demonstrates that a mind in creative process can prevail in the face of childhood pain.” —Debra Gill, LCSW, training and supervising psychoanalyst, Contemporary Freudian Society, New York

“When I first saw Nancy’s paintings, I thought, ‘Now, here’s an original idea.’ A picture should say something, and her subject matter and palette express a view of the world beyond her years.” —Jack Levine, former president, American Academy of Arts and Letters

About the artist and writers:

Nancy Calef is a contemporary American painter, multi-media artist, and a singer-songwriter.  This is her first book. Her website is www.nancycalefgallery.com.

Jody Weiner wrote the novel Prisoners of Truth, co-authored Kinship with Animals, and was consulting producer and wrote additional dialogue for the computer-animated comedy Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil. His website is www.jodyweiner.com.
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Peoplescapes: My Story from Purging to Painting
By Nancy Calef with Jody Weiner
Publisher: Babu Books, www.babubooks.com
Publication date: May 27, 2014
Nonfiction | Memoir | Art | Health
152 pages | ISBN: 978-0-9898171-0-3 | Price: $22.95 paperback
Illustrated throughout with full-color and black-and-white paintings and drawings
Books are available by ordering directly through www.babubooks.com