Celebrate master artist Joan Sonnenberg’s 90th birthday
December 21, 2020
Solo exhibition at Emillions Art on Fifth Avenue South in Naples spans eight decades
Naples, FL: (December 21, 2020) . . . Celebrate world renowned Naples-based contemporary abstract painter and master artist Joan Sonnenberg’s 90th birthday with a rare personal appearance and solo exhibition at Emillions Art at 837 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 202 in Naples. The opening reception will be held Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 from 5 pm until 7:30 pm exhibition. Guests will have an opportunity to meet and ask questions of the world-renowned nonagenarian painter while viewing her breathtaking artwork, featuring vivid, vital colors and large scale abstracts – some with graffiti elements. The Sonnenberg exhibition will be open two weeks only, noon until 5 pm daily Feb. 19 through March 5, 2021.
“Joan Sonnenberg’s mixed media works cannot be contained in one style or medium,” explains Ms. Gardner, who curated the exhibition. “Her discipline as an artist allows her to be quite prolific,” she adds.
Sonnenberg’s 21st century artwork fills her home, storage containers and now Emillions Art showroom in Naples reports Ms. Gardner and she doesn’t plan to stop painting any time soon. “I feel that this is my avenue,” says Sonnenberg, “I want to keep going because I do not want to fade. I want to keep active.”
Born in 1930 in Chester, Pennsylvania, Joan Brechin Sonnenberg received a youth scholarship to study at the Carnegie Art institute in Pittsburgh, PA. Her mother, a sculptor and a singer, and her father, an industrial engineer who worked on the Manhattan Project, provided major creative influences. Lively conversations often revolved around religion, politics and the human condition, but invariably, the three found middle ground.
As a college student at Carnegie Mellon University, Sonnenberg was the staff cartoonist for Tartan, the campus newspaper. After graduation, she continued with independent studies in printmaking techniques.
Sonnenberg has won three Best of Show awards including most recently the National Association Women Artists at Marco Island Historical Museum. She has shown in exhibitions at the Butler Institute of American Art, the Carnegie Museum and has been honored with 57 major awards in art exhibitions throughout the United States – Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Ohio, North Carolina and Florida, with four solo exhibitions from 2004 to 2016. Jurors include internationally known artists Richard Anuszkiewicz and Faith Ringgold as well as art critics, museum curators and directors. Her large-scale etchings, paintings and murals have been included in 18 major corporation collections in Japan, Brazil and throughout the U.S.
A mother of four grown children, Joan Sonnenberg moved to the east coast of Florida in 1997 and since 2000 has been based in Naples. Petite, yet with robust energy and insatiable curiosity, Sonnenberg maintains her lifelong studio practice working every day with sustained vigor. Her daily 4-mile walks continually inspire new ideas.
Representing more than 40 artists worldwide, Emillions Art helps clients find the perfect artwork to fill esthetic or design needs or to expand existing collections. Emillions Art also creates artistic space in corporate and hospitality settings with works by notable national and international artists.
Ms. Gardner travels the world to negotiate rare masterworks for the discerning collector. While traveling, she continues to expand the Emillions Art network, creating international partnerships with esteemed gallerists, curators and collectors in the US, Europe and the Mideast. As an expert in Fine Art Asset Management, Emillions Art has developed a core collective of leading experts in art appraisals, art history, scientific forensics analysis, authentication, provenance, gallery exhibition, insurance, and other professionals to create a full slate of art industry services catering to ambitious buyers and collectors.
Artist: Joan Sonnenberg
VIP Event: Thursday, Feb. 18 (5 pm – 7:30 pm)
Public Exhibition: Friday, Feb. 19 – Thursday, March 5, 2021 (noon – 5 pm daily)
Emillions Art: 837 5th Avenue South, Suite 202 (2nd floor)
For more information, www.emillionsart.com; follow on Instagram @emillionsart or call (239) 687-3101.
