Connecticut Art Scene

"Local Industry" show reception at Seton Art Gallery Sat., May 25

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Seton Art Gallery at the University of New Haven
Doods Hall, University of New Haven, 300 Boston Post Rd., West Haven, (203) 931-6065
Local Industry: Reflections on Nearby Desolation
May 18—Jun. 15, 2013.
Reception: Sat., May 25, 6—8 p.m.

Press release from Seton Art Gallery

Local Industry is an illustrated encyclopedia of responses to the remnants of industrial Connecticut. Whether stepping through the rubble to capture the best vantage point for a photograph, meticulously painting a distressed surface or constructing a sculptural analogy to abandoned buildings, each artist evokes a different sense of both appreciation and longing.


J.D. Richey: "91 Shelton"

The featured artists are Michael Angelis, Anna Held Audette, Roland Becerra, Laura Boyer, Joy Bush, David Coon, Claudia Cron, Phyllis Crowley, Matthew Hester, Brent Howard, Aniko Horvath, Keith Johnson, Todd Jokl, Nathan Lewis, David Ottenstein, Chris Randall, J.D. Richey, Cindy Tower, Maria Tupper and Tracy Walter Ferry.

Local Industry will be on view from May 18 through Jun. 15. There will be a reception for the artists on Sat., May 25, from 6—8 p.m.Local Industry was curated by Stephen Vincent Kobasa and Laura Marsh.

"Spectra 2013" opens Thursday at Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:58:00 +0000

Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery
70 Audubon St., 2nd floor, New Haven, (203) 772-2788
Spectra 2013
May 17—Jul. 5, 2013.
Artists' reception: Thurs., May 16, 5—7 p.m.

Press release from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents Spectra 2013 in the Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery, at 70 Audubon St., 2nd floor. The exhibition will be on display from May 17 through Jul. 5. An artists’ reception is scheduled for Thurs., May 16, from 5—7 pm. The public is invited to attend.


Jim Fiora: "Nine Trees"

Spectra is the annual members’ show of the Photo Arts Collective, an Arts Council program whose mission is to cultivate and support a community of individuals who share an interest in photography, through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and special events.

Open to Arts Council members, the Photo Arts Collective meets the first Thursday of each month at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Members include local professional and amateur photographers that employ a wide variety of photographic styles, which will all be represented in the exhibition.

Saturday opening for "Strange Natures" show at Institute Library in New Haven

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:43:00 +0000

The Institute Library
847 Chapel St., New Haven, (203) 562-5045
Strange Natures
May 18—Jun. 15, 2013.
Reception: Sat., May 18, Noon—2 p.m.

Press release from Stephen Vincent Kobasa

Strange Natures, an exhibition curated by Clint Jukkala, will be on view at the Institute Library from May 18 through Jun. 15, 2013. There will be a reception on Sat., May 18, from noon—2 p.m. The show features work by Melissa Brown, Fritz Horstman, Joseph Smolinski, Anahita Vossoughi, and the collaborative team of Johannes DeYoung and Natalie Westbrook.

Taking landscape imagery and natural forms as their subjects, these artists present images that are far from everyday and familiar. Instead, they reveal strange worlds filled with aberrant forms, odd behaviors and unusual occurrences.


Johannes DeYoung and Natalie Westbrook: "Diamond Head"

Paulette Rosen drawing show opens at City Gallery Saturday, May 4

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:00:00 +0000

City Gallery
994 State St., New Haven, (203) 782-2489
Paulette Rosen: Birds Watching
May 2—Jun. 2, 2013.
Opening Reception: Sat., May 4, 4—6 p.m.
Artist Talk and Demonstration: Sun., Jun. 2, 2 p.m.

Press release from City Gallery

City Gallery presents Birds Watching, May 2—Jun. 2. The Opening reception is on Sat., May 4, from 4—6 p.m. There will also be an artist's talk and demonstration on Sun., Jun. 2, at 2 p.m.

Paulette Rosen’s (Web) new multimedia drawings on archival pigment prints are an original technique beginning with digital scans of taxidermied birds. The images are an exploration of individual birds through large-scale portraiture.

Artwork by Paulette Rosen

Artists' reception Saturday, May 4, at Perspectives Gallery at Whitney Center in Hamden

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:19:00 +0000

Perspectives: The Gallery at Whitney Center
200 Leeder Hill Rd., Hamden, (203) 772-2788
On Nature
Through Jun. 30, 2013.
Artists' Reception: Sat., May 4, 3—5 p.m.

Press release from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven is pleased to announce On Nature at Perspectives: The Gallery at Whitney Center at 200 Leeder Hill Drive, Hamden, Connecticut, south entrance. An artist reception will take place Sat., May 4, from 3—5 p.m.

On Nature was curated by Debbie Hesse and Steve Olsen. The show includes works by Aspasia Patti Anos, Anna Broell Bresnick, Laurie Flaherty, Michael Galvin, Sarah McCaslin, Paulette Rosen, Kyle Skar and Balam Soto.

Artwork by Aspasia Patti Anos

According to Hesse, On Nature—a title taken from the myriad of writings by ancient philosophers from Heraclitus to Parmenides—looks at artists' individual relationships with the natural world.

"Employing a diverse range of styles and media, these eight artists, through observation, invention, interaction and interventions with nature, consider ideas about solitude, preservation, decay and renewal, and our shared responsibility for the environment," Hesse explains.

Artist's reception Friday, May 3, at Reynolds Fine Art in New Haven

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Reynolds Fine Art
96 Orange St., New Haven, (203) 498-2200
Horizons: New Work by Robert Reynolds
May 3—Jun. 4, 2013.
Artist Reception: Fri., May 3, 5—8 p.m.

Press release from Reynolds Fine Art

Reynolds Fine Art is pleased to present Horizons, new work by gallery owner and namesake, Robert Reynolds. Stemming from numerous visits to the Netherlands, Reynolds’s new body of oil paintings and monoprints boasts vivid Dutch landscapes as its subject. Horizons will be on view from May 3 through Jun. 4; an artist's reception is scheduled for Fri., May 3, from 5—8 p.m.


Robert Reynolds: "Giethoorn, Netherlands"

The unique, tabletop flatness of this region sparked the artist’s curiosity when he noticed a recurring, and often over looked, feature that was unavoidable in each vista: the horizon. Thus, Reynolds was prompted to investigate the idea of the horizon in history and how we experience it everyday, whether we realize it or not. Questions such as if this line acts as a joiner or a divider between heaven and earth motivated the artist and come through each work to evoke feelings of longing and wonder in the viewer. These works challenge the mundane concept of a horizon line to become a desire to know the unknowable and mystery of the distance.

Two shows open Friday, May 3, at Giampietro Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Giampietro Gallery—Works of Art
315 Peck St., New Haven, (203) 777-7760
Valerie Brennan: No Chance of Rain
Joseph Fucigna: Ebb and Flow
May 3—June 1, 2013.
Reception: Fri., May 3, 5—8 p.m.
Artist's Talk with Joseph Fucigna: Sat., May 18, 2 p.m.

Press release from Giampietro Gallery

Fred Giampietro Gallery is pleased to present new work by artists Valerie Brennan and Joseph Fucigna. The two shows will be on view from May 3 through Jun. 1, with an opening reception on Fri., May 3, from 5—8 p.m.

Valerie Brennan is an Irish artist based in Madrid and Cyprus. For Brennan every panel is an adventure in paint. The images are often the result of a struggle between the artist and her materials. Her work is rooted in the physical act of painting itself, exploring its natural process.

Valerie Brennan: "Animal;, Vegetable, Mineral III"

Brennan received her degrees from the Cyprus College of Art in Lemba, Paphos and the Limerick College of Art and Design in Ireland. She has exhibited widely internationally including solo exhibitions in Mexico City and with The Apocalypse Gallery in Nicosia, Cyprus. Most recently her work has been exhibited in Amsterdam and London. She is the author of Studio Critical blog. Valerie has been awarded with an Exhibition bursary for the 2009 Florence Biennale and was sponsored by the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture.

Through experimentation, play and innovation Joseph Fucigna creates sculptures and ink paintings that are known for their power to transform materials, inventiveness and odd but suggestive subject matter. He is a multi-media artist whose work is rooted in process, play and the innate qualities of the materials used. The work is not so much about the narrative as it is about the experience of the process, the materials used and how they express themselves.

Joseph Fucigna: "Plastic Mound"

Fucigna received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in NY and his Bachelors of Fine Art from Alfred University. Fucigna’s work has been exhibited throughout Connecticut and NY. Joseph awarded many prestigious awards including the Molly and Albert Jacobson Award for Sculpture, the Amidar Award, and the Individual Artist Grant from the CT Commission on the Arts.

Reception for Boisvert and St. Mary show at Gallery 195 Tuesday evening

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:47:00 +0000

Gallery 195
195 Church St., 4th floor (First Niagara Bank), New Haven, (203) 772-2788
Ethan Boisvert and Mark K. St. Mary
Through Jun. 14, 2013.
Artists' Reception: Tues., Apr. 23, 5-7 p.m.

Press release from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents an exhibition of paintings by Connecticut artists Ethan Boisvert and Mark K. St. Mary at Gallery 195 at First Niagara Bank, 195 Church St., 4th floor, New Haven. The exhibition will be on display during bank hours from Mar. 19 through Jun. 14, 2013. An artists’ reception is scheduled for Tues., Apr. 23, from 5—7 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

Ethan Boisvert and Mark K. St. Mary are both obsessed with colorful patterns and layered patinas rich with memories, yet each artist achieved this quality in their artwork through a different lens: St. Mary literally through the camera lens and Boisvert, through a heavily built up painted canvas. St Mary, using light, shadow and color, reframes recognizable places into abstract environments; seen together, these artists create abstractions that suggest both micro and macro universes.

Boisvert builds his canvas surface from densely layered, broad gestural marks- brushed and stamped- building a history of the artist's process in each painting. Borrowing from a rich tradition of abstraction, he reworks his canvases to reach what he considers "equilibrium."


Ethan Boisvert: "All Undone with Insipid Subsume"

"In my painting, I take a 21st century approach, an appropriation of styles created by the 20th century avant-garde. One could say that I sample or loosely appropriate purified styles and combine them into new works—a synthesizer if you will," Boisvert explains in his artist statement on his Web site.

Mark K. St. Mary is a photographer who also has formal training in horticultural design and holds a Masters in biology. In addition, he is a professional landscaper and carpenter whose other means of artistic expression are restoring period houses and designing and building custom furniture. An avid amateur photographer for 36 years, St. Mary began exhibiting work in 2007.

"My work is a visual representation of my emotional connection to elements of the environment. I strive to create a sense of presence, capturing a mood through the intersection of light, form and color… It has more to do with the value of light and shadow than with the actual subject—allowing the subject to acquire a grace unavailable in context so that the subject becomes irrelevant," St. Mary explains in an artist statement on his Web site.

Gallery talk and show openings Saturday at Gallery on the Green in Canton

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:30:00 +0000

Gallery on the Green
Corner of Dowd and Route 44, Canton, (860) 693-4102
Robert Cottingham: Viewing America—Lithographs, Woodcuts and Etchings
Six Generations of American Artists from the McKay Family Tree, 1883-2013
David Holzman: UMM Evolution
Apr. 26—May 26, 2013.
Robert Cottingham Gallery Talk: Sat., Apr. 27, 5—6 p.m.
Opening Reception: Sat., Apr. 27, 6—9 p.m.

Press release from Gallery on the Green

Join us for the Annual Maxwell Shepherd Memorial Invitational Exhibition at the Gallery on the Green, on display from April 26 through May 26. We are thrilled to have as our guest artist the internationally renowned painter and printmaker, Robert Cottingham. Works were selected from the artist’s personal collection by co-curators Walter Kendra, Professor Emeritus of Art at Central Connecticut State University and John Willis, Professor of Printmaking at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford.

The show is entitled Viewing America: Lithographs, Woodcuts and Etchings. The curators were struck by the variety of printmaking techniques employed by the artist, including the use of multiple techniques on a single print. Robert Cottingham is one of the pioneers of Photo-Realist art. His work explores themes and images of the urban, industrial American landscape, focusing on the two cities of Los Angeles and New York. Examples of his work can be found in major museums (Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art), galleries and private collections.

Robert Cottingham: "One Way"

The artist will give a gallery talk on Sat., Apr. 27, from 5—6 p.m. An opening reception for the show will follow from 6—9 p.m. Both events are free and the public is cordially invited.

In the upstairs galleries there will be two very different solo shows by members of the Canton Artists’ Guild.

David McKay and his co-curator and niece Sarah McKay present Six Generations of American Artists from the McKay Family Tree, 1883-2013. This fascinating exhibit explores the dramatic changes in American art and life over a period of one hundred and thirty years and the role of the artist through the continuum of one family. As is stated in the comprehensive show catalog, "Throughout history, art has been influenced by the social, political and technological world in which it was created."

The second upstairs exhibition is UMM Evolution, work by artist and art educator David Holzman. David’s relief carvings are based on his watercolor series, The Book of UMM. Both his watercolors and carvings will be on display. The basswood carvings are highly imaginative, brightly painted and inspired by the art of indigenous cultures, medieval wood-carving and the work of outsider artists.

Two shows open Thursday during Creative Cocktail Hour at Real Art Ways

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Real Art Ways
56 Arbor St., Hartford, (860) 232-1006
Tadashi Moriyama: Planetalgia
William Villalongo: Fierce!
Apr. 18—Jul. 4, 2013.
Opening reception during Creative Cocktail Hour: Thurs., Apr. 18, 6—8 p.m. Admission is $10/$5 Real Art Ways members.

Press release from Real Art Ways

The galleries at Real Art Ways will hold entirely new art for the next Creative Cocktail Hour on Thurs., Apr. 18, from 6-10 p.m. Opening receptions for Planetalgia by StepUp 2012 selectee Tadashi Moriyama and Fierce! by William Villalongo are the same night from 6—8 p.m. Admission is $10/$5 for Real Art Ways members.

Moriyama's Planetalgia is an accumulation of paintings, sculptures, performance, and animation, inspired by concepts from the book Lunartix by Seigou Matsuoka. Matsuoka coins the term "Planetary Nostalgia" as a sweet and bitter sentiment. Loosely translated, he writes, "Since we cannot escape from the earth, we feel despair for our fate and leave our destination on the unreachable but intimate moon, and yearn for it endlessly." This notion shapes the visual and conceptual language of the exhibition.


Tadashi Moriyama: "Planetalgia"

Tadashi Moriyama was born and raised in Japan, moving to the United States in 2001 at the age of 21. He received his BA in 2003 from the Tyler School of Art and his MFA in 2006 from the University of Pennsylvania. Moriyama's work has exhibited internationally and across the United States. Recent solo and group shows include Johansson Projects, San Francisco; Jonathan Ferrara, NewOrleans; Artiscope, Belgium; Artprojx cinema Volta art fair, New York.

Moriyama lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, using a variety of media, miniature drawing, sculpture and animation to create a form of unique narrative. He draws extensively on his own experience as a metropolitan resident, a Tokyo-raised New Yorker.

The term "Fierce!" in American vernacular language has a double meaning, which speaks to feminine beauty as a representation of strength and authority. Beauty and power are fused together to express an attitude that is antithetical to the common notions of both ideas. This exhibition brings together a selection of Villalongo's recent works subverting themes found in Primitivism, a Western art movement that borrows visual forms from non-Western or prehistoric peoples. Through Villalongo's velvety, looking-glass paintings and drawings, the artist questions an exotic gaze directed toward "otherness" by inverting the genre of Modern Abstract painting. A clan of lake dwelling maidens pull models of Western art radically out of context, reconsidering standards of Western beauty and the possible intersections of art and survival.


William Villalongo: "Fierce!"

William Villalongo lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He was born in 1975 in Hollywood, FL and raised in the town of Bridgeton, NJ. Villalongo is the recipient of the prestigious Louis Comfort Tiffany Award and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptor's Grant. His work is included in several notable collections including the Studio Museum in Harlem, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Princeton University Art Museum. His work has been reviewed in Art In America, The New Yorker and The New York Times. Villalongo is currently represented by the Susan Inglett Gallery in New York, and PEVETO Fine Art in Houston.

Reception for Peterson photo show Saturday at City Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 19:38:00 +0000

City Gallery
994 State St., New Haven, (203) 782-2489
Tom Peterson: Uptown
Apr. 4—28, 2013.
Opening Reception: Sat., Apr. 13, 2—5 p.m.
Artist Talk: Sun., Apr. 28, 2—3 p.m.

Press release from City Gallery

City Gallery presents Uptown, April 4—28. The Opening reception is on Sat., Apr. 13, from 2—5 p.m. There is also a "meet the Artist" on Sun., April 28, between 2 and 3 pm and the artist will be at the gallery to talk about his work.

Tom Peterson: "Styling"

Uptown is a photographic exhibition of new work by Tom Peterson. Peterson’s latest portfolio focuses on New York’s upscale store displays. They present the viewer with today’s use of unique mannequin figures to market store apparel. The use of architectural reflections and angles provide an uptown vantage perspective. The juxtaposed images are open to evoke viewer emotions and interpretation.

Balkun show reception at 100 Pearl Street Gallery in Hartford Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:55:00 +0000

100 Pearl Street Gallery
100 Pearl St., Hartford, (860) 525-8629
Anita Gangi Balkun: Sanctuary
Through June 1, 2013.
Opening reception: Thurs., Apr. 11, 5—7 p.m.

Press release the Greater Hartford Arts Council

Sanctuary, a mixed-media installation exhibit by local artist Anita Gangi Balkun, premieres at the 100 Pearl Street Gallery managed by the Greater Hartford Arts Council. Balkun pairs memorable photographs with collages of personal artifacts to illuminate the beauty of everyday life, examining how these tokens combat the loss of memory and impermanence of identity as we grow into old age.


Anita Gangi Balkun: "Sanctuary"

A free public opening reception will be held on Thurs., Apr. 11, from 5—7 p.m. in the gallery space. Wine and light hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Anita Gangi Balkun received her MFA in Painting at the University of Hartford in 2009 under the mentorship of Stephen Brown. Since then, she has completed a studio residency at the Farmington Valley Arts Center and was commissioned to create an installation for the 2012 City Wide Open Studios sponsored by Artspace New Haven. Currently a West Hartford resident, Balkun teaches at the Greater Hartford Academy of Art and creates art in her studio in Avon.

Closing reception for Lisak photography show at Mercy Center Friday, Apr. 12

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:18:00 +0000

Mercy Center at Madison Mary C. Daly, RSM Art Gallery
167 Neck Rd., Madison, (203) 245-0401
Robert Lisak: The Flowering Cross—Holy Week in an Andean Village
Through Apr. 13, 2013.
Closing Reception: Fri., Apr. 12, 6:30—8 p.m.

Press release from the Mercy Center at Madison

In 2008, noted New Haven art photographer Robert Lisak traveled to Peru during Holy Week to document a cultural treasure in a remote Andean village. The resulting exhibition of Mr. Lisak’s photographs will be on display at the Mary C. Daly, RSM Art Gallery, Mercy Center at Madison, 167 Neck Road, Madison, CT from Mar. 15—Apr. 13 (open everyday 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.). The exhibition focuses on the colonial Inca town of Andahuaylillas, near Cuzco.

The extraordinary 17th century church at the center of the town houses remarkable murals, oil paintings, gilded sculptures and two colonial pipe organs. In Andahuaylillas, Holy Week is celebrated with rituals that combine Quechua hymnody with late medieval and Baroque liturgical practices in a pure form rarely seen in the last fifty or more years. The photographer had unprecedented access to events and to parts of the building not open to the public, and the exhibition offers a unique glimpse into early evangelical conversion practices and their continued vitality in the context of the rich bilingual contemporary Andean culture.


Robert Lisak: "Holy Week in an Andean Village"

There will be a closing reception on Fri., Apr. 12, at the Mercy Center, from 6:30—8 p.m. Both the exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public. All pieces are for sale with a portion of the proceeds benefitting Mercy Center.

Artist's reception Saturday at Gallery at Still River Editions for Chris Durante's baseball drawings

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:51:00 +0000

The Gallery at Still River Editions
128 East Liberty St., Danbury, (203) 791-1474
Ball Players: Drawings by Chris Durante
Through May 31,, 2013.
Artist's Reception: Sat., Apr. 6, 4—6 p.m.

Press release from The Gallery at Still River Editions

Ball Players is a solo exhibition of new drawings by Chris Durante of Redding, Connecticut. Durante uses ink and collage elements to express his nearly life-long interest in baseball, in particular the characters that inhabit its "cathedrals," the ballparks. The comic book-influenced, stylized figures convey the attitude and soul of players past and present, real and imaginary.

Durante says in his artist's statement, "I love the game of baseball, its lore, history, and aesthetic. Statistics and teams, while interesting, are secondary considerations. I am equally at home in a sold-out cathedral of baseball or watching a group of kids hash it out in an abandoned lot. It seems that our lives are spent trying to regain the innocence of that first experience when everything was new, mythic and unsullied by quotidian demands. These drawings are my attempt to get back to that place."


Chris Durante: "Ballplayer #1"

Durante teaches drawing as an Adjunct Professor of Studio Art at Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut. Durante also owns Chris Durante Framing in Danbury, Connecticut. Durante is a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists.

Much of Durante's work shown in recent years has been abstract. In 2012, his work was shown at Silvermine Guild in New Canaan, CT and the Haviland Street Gallery in South Norwalk, CT.

Collage show reception at Stamford Art Association Sat., April 6

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:03:00 +0000

Stamford Art Association Townhouse Gallery
39 Franklin St., Stamford, (203) 325-1139
Piecing It Together—Contemporary Collage
Mar. 31—Apr. 25, 2013.
Opening Reception: Sat., Apr. 6, 4—6 p.m.

Press release from Stamford Art Association

Connected by a unique teacher and mentor, Piecing it Together–Contemporary Collage, showcases the work of four female artists from Fairfield County. The women met, bonded and found a common love for collage in the "Fragments into Wholes" classes taught by artist Barbara Rothenberg at the Silvermine School of Art. The show will be on view from Mar. 31—Apr. 25 with an opening reception on Sat., Apr. 6, from 4—6 p.m.

Elizabeth Nagle, Mary Elizabeth Peterson, Amy Schott and Ruth Kalla Ungerer are each exploring the medium of collage and pushing boundaries. For them, this involves the use of non-traditional materials, found objects and everyday household items. They share a belief in collage as a vehicle for altering the familiar, bridging the past, present and future, using universal themes and revealing aspects of life that make us all human. Collage is alluring to these artists because it is spontaneous, forgiving, expressive, descriptive, immediate and expansive.

Nagle’s work is inspired by abstraction and the free spiritedness that goes with it. Concerned with color, gesture and composition her process is mostly intuitive, unplanned and free flowing. She works on multiple pieces at a time, adding, subtracting, doing and undoing, layering, covering and uncovering until eventually a dialogue develops with the work. Each piece becomes a journey with its own life and language. Her works are often grounded in narrative. They are inventive, mischievous, witty, pleasantly offbeat and often populated with weird and wonderful characters.

Peterson takes a painterly approach to collage. She incorporates unusual materials in her works including roofing tiles, plastics and driftwood along with found and handmade papers. In addition to painting, she uses a variety of techniques including drawing, printmaking and sewing. Her works echo her love of nature and capture its energy, tension and organic elements. Led by instinct, her multilayered collages have wonderful depth and complexity. They are elegant, open ended and free flowing. There is a visual poetry to be found in them.

Schott with her background in graphic design took to collage like a duck to water. She is a true scavenger and only uses found materials in their original form. She favors timeworn ephemera such as weathered scraps, used stamps, old maps and advertisements. She is a deconstructionist who removes items from their original contexts and reconstructs them in new and unexpected ways. Some of her works are elaborately layered and composed while others are designed with efficiency and an understated elegance.

Kalla Ungerer powerfully blends images, text and pieces from nature into works that evoke larger than life sentiments. Primarily a printmaker, she seamlessly incorporates pieces from her prints along with found objects into her work giving her collages tension and a compelling tactile quality. Her works are very personal, provocative and sensitive to the wonders and disappointments of everyday life. She describes her art as "the window I open to my feelings and values. In today’s complex world, my work affords me an opportunity to seek and realize personal significance."

Reception Friday evening for Cunningham show at Giampietro Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:15:00 +0000

Giampietro Gallery—Works of Art
315 Peck St., New Haven, (203) 777-7760
Jan Cunningham: Recent Paintings and Photographs
Apr. 5—27, 2013.
Reception: Fri., Apr. 5, 5—8 p.m.
Artists' Talk: Sat., Apr. 13, 2 p.m.

Press release from Giampietro Gallery

Fred Giampietro Gallery is pleased to present new work by artist Jan Cunningham. This show will be on view from Apr. 5—27 with an opening reception Fri., Apr. 27, from 5—8 p.m. and an artist's talk on Sat., Apr. 13, at 2 p.m.

Jan Cunningham, in a recent statement, describes how her work in the studio moves through cycles of expansion and compression. At present, the paintings are in a period of compression. For the past year, Cunningham has come back to making very simple paintings—using as few elements as possible, and letting each element play its role fully. In the course of making the painting, Cunningham seeks to generate as much light and depth, using demarcations, densely layered color, and a few lines. The lines, or slots, depending on the painting, serve as a kind of aperture in the work—an opening that light passes through, and through which one can see the history of the making of the painting; they can be a way into the painting, or posts to mark the landscape. Cunningham thinks of these paintings as emptied-out—scraped clean of any non-essential distraction, ready to serve as a chamber in which the simple elements can resonate.


Jan Cunningham: "Fence XII"

In 2010, Cunningham integrated photography into her practice in a formal way. She feels that as a matter of interest, the practice of photography has entered into a dialogue with the work in the studio, to the benefit of both. Her eye has led her to the things that she captures with the camera, and those things in turn affect the work in painting in the studio. Bringing photography into her practice has liberated the paintings from having to be “everything”—and therefore freed them to be more.

Jan Cunningham received her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Yale University and her Bachelors of Fine Art from the Rhode Island School of Design. Cunningham’s work has been exhibited internationally and throughout the East Coast. Jan has been awarded many residency opportunities including the Yale University Art Gallery Lewitt/Doran Residency and Yaddo. She completed a fellowship in Photography through the Connecticut Artist Fellowship and was invited to the American Academy in Rome as a Visiting Artist.

Friday reception for printmaking show at Creative Arts Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 15:53:00 +0000

Creative Arts Workshop Hilles Gallery
80 Audubon St., New Haven, (203) 562-4927
Chad Erpelding & Megan Moore—Prizewinners of the 2012 National Juried Exhibition Boundless: New Works In Contemporary Printmaking
Apr. 1—22, 2013.
Opening reception: Fri., Apr. 5, 5—7 p.m.

Press release from Creative Arts Workshop

Creative Arts Workshop (CAW) features new work by Chad Erpelding (Boise, ID) and Megan Moore (Chico, CA), prizewinners of the 2012 exhibition Boundless: New Works in Contemporary Printmaking, juried by Anne Coffin, founder and director of International Print Center New York. The exhibition will be on view in CAW’s Hilles Gallery from Apr. 1—22, 2013. An opening reception is scheduled for Fri., Apr. 5, from 5—7 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

While the core techniques of printmaking are centuries old, this medium continues to evolve and offer artists a wealth of opportunities for imagination, innovation and experimentation. The jurying process for Boundless was highly selective, with nearly 400 entries submitted by over 125 artists. From the forty-five artists featured in the show, Erpelding and Moore were chosen for the depth of concept and strength of technique in their work, ideal examples of contemporary printmaking.

In this exhibition, Chad Erpelding presents a selection of work from his series Sister Cities, a project that explores the complexity of communication and connectivity in our increasingly globalized world. The artist collects information from maps and satellite images and places the visual material regarding one city in the form of the respective sister city. For instance, a satellite image of Villa Carlos Fonseca, Nicaragua is cut into the shape of Moscow, Idaho. These images are then stacked between thick layers of resin, emphasizing a separation of place that is countered by the overlap of information. Erpelding describes his work as an investigation of "the physical and mental spread of culture on a global scale through references to maps and charts. I am interested in the movement of people, business, and organizations, and the effect this has on contemporary perceptions of place."


Chad Erpelding: "Sister Cities: Port Townsend, Ichikawa"

Work in the exhibition by Megan Moore uses the technique of collage to re-examine and reconstruct images of plant material that has been visually distorted by the artist. Drawing on a small library of botanical images she has collected from various landscapes, Moore assembles micro images of plants into gorgeous abstract constructions that speak to the ephemeral nature of dreams and memory. She explains, "In some sense my process is an attempt to re- organize and contextualize the world while the conglomeration of images I use are the pieces of an unconscious narrative. In putting them together I seek to create an environment that is beautiful, richly layered and intricately woven."


Megan Moore: "Garland"

Concurrent with Prizewinners: Chad Erpelding | Megan Moore, photographs by Bart Connors Szczarba will be exhibited in the Creative Works Gallery. Box Shots! features photographs from Box 4A at the New Haven Open, capturing an instant in time when form and athletic elegance intersect.

Soon to be a memory: "Multi-focus Memoryscapes" at Seton Art Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:55:00 +0000

Seton Art Gallery at the University of New Haven
Doods Hall, University of New Haven, 300 Boston Post Rd., West Haven, (203) 931-6065
Multi-focus Memoryscapes
Through Mar. 28, 2013.

Multi-focus Memoryscapes, which closes tomorrow, is a three-artist show—painter William McCarthy, painter/mixed media artist Graham D. Honaker II and photographer Hank Paper (objectivity alert: this writer's employer)—hung to exploit the complementarity of the varying imagery. And the variations are substantial—comprising Paper's perceptive and witty street photography, McCarthy's austere and spiritual landscapes and Honaker's unique mélange of collage, painting and assemblage.

One wall serves as a perfect example of how slyly this show was put together by curator Laura Marsh. Facing the entrance, the wall displays, left to right, a McCarthy painting ("These Dreams"), a Honaker mixed media work ("The stewardess") and Paper's photograph "Terminal."


Multi-focus Memoryscapes: from left to right, "These Dreams" by William McCarthy, "The Stewardess" by Graham D. Honaker II and "Terminal" by Hank Paper

The three works could barely be more different. But—Honaker's "The Stewardess" acts as the fulcrum, the hinge connecting the three works. Like all Honaker's pieces, "The Stewardess" is dense with imagery—old magazine photos, advertisements and product packaging are layered in a clear epoxy resin with abstract drips and smears of paint and his hand-cut repeated stencil image of a stewardess. As a composition—despite the fact that it employs representational imagery—it is an abstraction, defying the viewer to create narrative meaning out of the panoply of juxtapositions. It contains multitudes. Do its disparate images relate to each other in a coherent way? At least formally, they do. It is exciting to look at.

Compared to Honaker's "The Stewardess," McCarthy's "These Dreams" and Paper's "Terminal" are quiet. But there is a subliminal sense to their side-by-side display. Splashes of teal and orange paint in "The Stewardess" are answered by the presence of similar pigments in McCarthy's misty, mysterious landscape. That teal is also hinted at in the shadow in the corner of a wall abutting a window in "Terminal." And, of course, a stewardess—or flight attendant, in contemporary parlance—could be found prowling the corridors of an airport terminal.

Each of these works in their own way shows off the strengths of the individual artists. McCarthy's paintings are works of imagination rather than depictions of specific locations. They appear to be as much about the pleasures of working with paint and color as they an idealization of nature. Detail is as important to McCarthy as it is to Honaker. But for McCarthy, that attention to detail manifests itself in a completely different way—in layering colors, in the textures afforded by varying brush strokes.

Paper is a street photographer of uncanny perception, his antennae always up to serendipitous moments, some wry, some poignant. In "Terminal," the viewer see five jets in formation, presumably part of an air show, zooming past the floor-to-ceiling windows. But this evocation of unfettered motion and speed is counterbalanced by the appearance on the right of the frame of a wheelchair with its occupant's legs and clasped hands visible. Another photograph, "Where Are You?", was shot in a restaurant. A chic young blonde woman, sitting alone at a table for two, clasps her pink cell phone to her ear. On the wall behind her is a print of a Roy Lichtenstein comic strip-inspired painting of a similar blonde woman on the phone, the word balloon reading, "I don't know what to say." Paper has apparently never meta set-up he didn't recognize, camera in hand. Then there is the subtle social critique of the diorama scene in "Miss America Museum." A cutout of a young African-American girl in a red turtleneck and blue overalls clasps her hands together in delight as she surveys an array of Miss America dolls, games and photos while a crown is placed on her head. But all the images of Miss America are white.

Memory being the thematic hook of this show, it's notable that the concept is applicable to each artist's work in different ways. McCarthy's landscapes are works of memory and imagination, conjuring a sense of place out of his recollection of light, scenery and paint. Paper's photograph's capture moments in memory but do so in a way that invites deeper consideration and contemplation. The imagery in Honaker's works is treated much the same way memories are in dreams—as material to be reshuffled and re-contextualized, to be made strange and fantastic. Perhaps, like memories in dreams, these three artists' works shouldn't fit together. But they do.

Saturday reception at Gallery on the Green in Canton

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:35:00 +0000

Gallery on the Green
Corner of Dowd and Route 44, Canton, (860) 693-4102
Word Art Show
Deborah Sacks: Cats, Etc.
Jim Koplar
Mar. 22—Apr. 21, 2013.
Opening Reception: Sat., Mar. 23, 6—9 p.m.
Evening of Readings: Sat., Apr. 13, 7:30 p.m.

Press release from Gallery on the Green

The Gallery on the Green in Canton presents the eagerly awaited Word Art Show running from Mar. 22—Apr. 21. In the fall of 2003, the Canton Artists’ Guild and the Writer’s Asylum joined forces to present the very first Word-Art Show at Gallery on the Green. Since then, this exciting and thought provoking show has become a biennial event.

The concept of the show is to explore the synergy between writing and the visual arts. Writers and artists collaborate with each other, and the visual artist creates a work of art in their choice of medium that is inspired by the written work. The show may also include paintings or sculpture that incorporate letters or text in the piece. This is a unique show that you will not want to miss. There will be an opening reception on Sat., Mar. 23, from 6—9 p.m. There will also be an evening of readings on Sat., Apr. 13, starting at 7:30 pm. Writers will recite their pieces while the audience views the corresponding art work. The public is warmly invited to both of these events. There is a handicapped access entrance to the Main (lower) gallery.


Jane Irene Johnson: "Grief"

Also showing at the same time are two new exhibits: Jim Koplar in the Spotlight Gallery and Deborah Sacks in the Upstairs gallery. Deborah’s show is entitled Cats, Etc.. Besides cats, her subject matter includes birds, natural objects and the human figure. Sacks concentrates in various methods of printmaking using steel plates, solar plates, linoleum blocks and digital prints. The prints are often further enhanced with pastels, charcoal or paint. Her images are mostly representational but also include the highly decorative use of color, pattern and design.

Collinsville artist Jim Koplar is showing recent work that reflects a mood of stillness and contemplation. Most of the work is done in pastels in his signature style that has been emerging over the years. He focuses on local subject matter which includes landscape, seascape and still life.

Reception for "War Books" at Institute Library Saturday, March 16

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:52:00 +0000

The Institute Library
847 Chapel St., New Haven, (203) 562-5045
War's Books: Collages by Qasim Sabti
Mar. 9—30, 2013.
Reception: Sat., Mar. 16, Noon—2 p.m.

Press release from Stephen Vincent Kobasa

War's Books, an exhibition of collages by Qasim Sabti, will be on view at the Institute Library from Mar. 9—30. There will be a reception on Sat., Mar. 16, from noon—2 p.m.

Sabti, an Iraqi artist, fashioned the works from the war-damaged remains of a Baghdad library.


Qasim Sabti: "Untitled"

Murdoch prints show reception Thursday at A-Space Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:42:00 +0000

West Cove Studio Gallery
30 Elm St., West Haven, (203) 627-8030
Andrew Murdoch: Recent Work
Through Mar. 24, 2013.
Artist Reception: Thurs., Mar. 7, 6—8 p.m.

Press release from A-Space Gallery

Through darker imagery and altered found photos, Andrew Murdoch depicts fragments of scenes, taken as snapshots through the filter of his psyche. Dreamlike and sometimes unsettling, the works force the viewer into the murky headspace of the artist. Works shown cover a variety of printmaking techniques including intaglio, lithography and woodcut. Murdoch is the Assistant Printer at Milestone Graphics in Bridgeport, CT.


Andrew Murdoch: "She Hates"

The exhibition of Murdoch's recent works will be on display through Mar. 24. An artist's reception will be held Thurs., Mar. 7, from 6—8 p.m.

"Multi-focus Memoryscapes" show opens at UNH Thursday evening

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:30:00 +0000

Seton Art Gallery at the University of New Haven
Doods Hall, University of New Haven, 300 Boston Post Rd., West Haven, (203) 931-6065
Multi-focus Memoryscapes
Mar. 7—28, 2013.
Reception: Thurs., Mar. 7, 6—8 p.m.

Press release from Seton Art Gallery

The 3rd century Greek saying, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is a phrase that not only discusses subjective attraction but can also be applied to artist intuition when choosing a subject. Whether it is a composition, juxtaposition of imagery, or imagining of an idyllic landscape, all three artists in Multi-focus Memoryscapes approach their work with a sense of intrigue and irony.

Memory, much like a dream, is never sharply in focus or detail but always suggestive, says William McCarthy.

A memoryscape is not an exact representation of a factual world, rather it is an impression or evocation of things remembered. Many of Graham Honaker's, Hank Paper's, and William McCarthy's memoryscapes invoke nostalgia while some share a subtle humor with the viewer. There are multiple themes that run throughout the exhibition including commentaries on popular advertising and culture, the longing for an imagined or once visited landscape, and a return to former values or ways of living.

From moments of quiet reflection with William McCarthy's soft-focus, dream-like landscapes, all of which are in fact painted from memory; to the urban-scape collage paintings of Graham Honaker II that—like layers of dreams rising up—combine disparate iconography from the past with abstract figurative work that evoke memories of a certain time and place and emotion, to Hank Paper's photographs of moments in time that showcase the off-kilter beauty of everyday life, turning the real into the surreal, "We offer a palate of projections that will hopefully move the viewer to a place deeper within him-or-herself," says Hank Paper.

In passing through the exhibition, the varied styles and approaches of each artist coalesce via color, references to culture and society, and the feeling of timelessness and weightlessness.

Originally from New Mexico, Graham D. Honaker II lives and works in Hamden, Connecticut. He received his BFA from Eastern New Mexico University. Influenced by Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Street Art, his paintings comment on contemporary society with subjects ranging from potentially harmful political structures to the simple poetics of everyday life. Also influenced by Existentialism, which emphasizes the act of creating, Honaker exercises his subconscious through auto-painting. He is currently represented by Eidos, LLC.

William McCarthy is originally from Columbus Ohio and works in a basement studio in Hamden, Connecticut. From memory, he paints variations of the Connecticut landscape, along with images of Cape Ann salt marshes and the flat countryside of Ohio. These landscapes coupled with an abstract sensibility are reappearing themes and devises that allow him to create the illusion of atmospheric perspective. His solo exhibition venues include The Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT, Kehler Liddell Gallery in New Haven, CT, Middlesex Community College, Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, Weir Farm Trust, Wilton, CT, Muse Gallery in Columbus, OH, and Trudy LaBelle Fine Arts, in Naples, FL.

Hank Paper documents contemporary culture and society in the streets of North America, The United Kingdom, Western Europe, the Middle East, and Cuba. He turns the quotidian into the quintessential, the real into the surreal, and the actual into a dream. His many solo exhibition venues have included The African American Museum in Philadelphia; Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel; the High Point Historical Museum in North Carolina; The Jewish Museum of New Jersey; the Morgenthal-Frederics Gallery, the Tamarkin Leica Gallery, and The Harlem School of the Arts in New York. He has also exhibited extensively in New Haven, where he is a member of the Kehler Liddell Gallery.

Two shows open Friday at Giampietro Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:15:00 +0000

Giampietro Gallery—Works of Art
315 Peck St., New Haven, (203) 777-7760
Beck Yazdan: Recent Work
Christopher Joy: Recent Work
Mar. 1 —29, 2013.
Reception: Fri., Mar. 1, 5—8 p.m.
Artists' Talk: Sat., Mar. 23, 2—4 p.m.

Press release from Giampietro Gallery

Fred Giampietro Gallery is pleased to present new work by artists Becky Yazdan and Christopher Joy.

Becky Yazdan lives and works in NYC. She received her MFA from the NY Studio School, studying with Bill Jensen and Graham Nickson, and her Bachelors of Fine Art from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her work is in response to industrial grit, juxtaposing elements of nature, as it attempts to reclaim its territory. Yazdan’s work has been exhibited throughout the East Coast and New York. Becky has received many prestigious awards including the Emma Strain Award, Top 100 Artists by GLAAD, and the Hohenberg Travel Award.


Becky Yazdan: "Ticker Tape"

Sculptor Chris Joy lives and works in New Haven, CT. Joy explores the juxtaposition of raw, off-the-shelf and discarded objects.


Christopher Joy: "Easy As 1-2-3"

Joy received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York and his Bachelors of Fine Art from the University of Connecticut. His work has been exhibited throughout New England.

Opening reception Saturday for Wheeler show at City Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:56:00 +0000

City Gallery
994 State St., New Haven, (203) 782-2489
Karen Wheeler: Undercurrents
Feb. 28—Mar. 24, 2013.
Opening Reception: Sat., Mar. 2, 2—5 p.m.

Press release from City Gallery

City Gallery in New Haven presents Undercurrents, an exhibition of new work by Karen Wheeler (Web) during the month of March. The show will be on display through Mar. 24. There is an opening reception Sat., Mar. 2, from 2—5 p.m.


Karen Wheeler: "Crosscurrents"

Wheeler’s richly evocative mixed media work conveys her vision of what may be 'beneath the surface' during times of change and growth. These elusive moments of transition are captured through color and textural shifts that push the viewer through levels of awareness.

Gil Scullion show opens Thursday at Housatonic Museum of Art

noreply@blogger.com (Hank Hoffman) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:40:00 +0000

Housatonic Museum of Art
900 Lafayette Blvd., Bridgeport, (203) 332-5052
Gil Scullion: Up All Night
Feb. 28—Mar. 22, 2013.
Opening Reception: Thurs., Feb. 28, 5—7 p.m.

Press release from the Housatonic Museum of Art

Up All Night: work from the insomnia project opens February 28 and continues through March 22, 2013. This exhibition has been curated by Robbin Zella and features the work of installation artist Gil Scullion of Middletown, Connecticut. There will be an opening reception for the show on Thurs., Feb. 28, from 5—7 p.m.

Up All Night (2013) is inspired from the sleep disorders that the artist has wrestled with for several years. Although the project is not a first-person record of tossing and turning, it nevertheless is inspired by Scullion’s interest in sleeplessness. This theme evolved through the recognition of insomnia’s intriguing formal relationships, especially its foundation as a presence defined by an absence. After all, insomnia is the absence of sleep, which is itself the absence of consciousness. So while autobiographical information is integrated into the structure of the installation the elements are manipulated with an emphasis on their formal characteristics.

The project incorporates five different but related sets of work, "Wake Me Shake Me," "Sheet-Sheep-Sleep," "00-60," "Not Just Another Good Night’s Sleep," and "It’s the Same Thing Every Night."

"Wake Me Shake Me" (2010 – 2011) depicts the brain’s sleep center as a workshop. Here the stimuli that provoke sleeplessness are represented as templates for the production of various images. Paper bags serve as containers for the resulting pictures. Two projection screens are utilized: one describes sleeplessness as a lost love and the other describes a rare, fatal form of insomnia.


Gil Scullion: "Wake Me Shake Me"

In "Sheet Sheep Sleep" (2009-2010) 30 stenciled panels of sheep are hung out on a line laundry-style. Each template is capable of producing multiple impressions; however, that potential is, as yet, unrealized. Here, Scullion’s use of sheep is a humorous reminder that counting them is believed to induce sleep.

"00-60" (2009-2011) features a modified digital alarm clock that endlessly reads out minutes but not hours, reflecting the dislocation from time that characterizes a loss of sleep. Cardboard bedroom furniture provides a setting for the clock. A one-hour video of the clock in an actual bedroom is projected within the installation.

"Not Just Another Good Night’s Sleep" centers on a set of three short texts describing incidents that contribute to sleep deprivation. The texts, and a series of images inspired by the texts, have been cut into stencils. The stencils are used to produce paintings directly on the gallery walls on scrap paper or, as in this installation, on discarded cardboard boxes. The paintings are temporary, disposable and frequently recyclable.

In "It's the Same Thing Every Night" (2011) stenciled sheep are combined with an ornamental motif and the texts from "Not Just Another Good Night’s Sleep" to produce a tense standoff between sleeplessness and slumber. The elements appear in two and three-dimensional forms evoking our visceral engagement with painting and sculpture.

Each of the five bodies of work was conceived as an independent piece, but they are cumulative as well, in effect, flexible modules that create a profoundly more dramatic work over time. Each exhibition utilizes a different set of elements while each new installation is expressly tailored to engage with each new physical space. Gil Scullion’s Up All Night: work from the insomnia project in the Burt Chernow Galleries at the Housatonic Museum of Art is the most comprehensive installation of the project to date.