September shows open Sunday at Silvermine Guild Arts Center

Silvermine Guild Art Center
1037 Silvermine Rd., New Canaan, (203) 966-9700
Silvermine Guild Arts Center September shows
Sept. 7—Oct. 2, 2008
Opening reception: Sun., Sept. 7, 2—4 p.m.

Press release

Silvermine Guild Arts Center, located in New Canaan welcomes the fall with new exhibits opening at the galleries on Sept. 7 and running through Oct. 2, 2008. From an exhibit featuring iconic wind powered paddle sculptures, to a two-person show by archeological artists, a site specific installation exploring the cultural and political world to a combined exhibit of collage, boxed assemblage and mixed media, Silvermine will have four exhibits that will spark interest for all art lovers and collectors. All are welcomed to the opening reception on Sun., Sept. 7, from 2—4 p.m.

The Director's Choice exhibit, Dialogue in Collage, will feature a three-person show with works by Guild artists Arthur Burke, Enid Munroe and Nancy Nikkal. Before he began creating boxed assemblages, Arthur Burke had a successful career in the field of interior design. This Trumbull boxiest, intrigued by artist Joseph Cornell, began collecting a variety of old, discarded objects, not knowing exactly what he would do with them. Burke says, "I derive great pleasure from finding these abandoned objects and creating a second life for them. People seem to be genuinely delighted with my work; they enjoy the themes I have created in each box." Burke's work has appeared in exhibitions throughout the Northeast including the Westport Arts Center, Sailor's Valentine Gallery in Nantucket, the Discovery Museum and at Silvermine. Enid Munroe, a Southport artist, has been included in many regional and national curated and juried shows, including Silvermine Guild Arts Center annual Art of the Northeast, Greenwich Arts Council, Westport Historical Society, Westport Arts Center and the Aldrich Museum. Her works of various media, painting, silverpoint, and collage are included in museums such as the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution and the Brooklyn Museum; as well as corporate collections in the tri-state area including Bank of America, Readers Digest and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York; Clairol, General Electric, Xerox and Hartford Insurance in Connecticut as well as many private collections. Munroe is also a freelance garden and art writer. Nancy Nikkal's paintings, prints and collages have been exhibited nationally and internationally in museum and gallery shows and are included in public, corporate and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, Austria, India, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Singapore. For Nikkal, music is an integral part of work. "Jazz is playing all the time as I work in my studio. The series 'Jazz Babies and Jazz Notes' are inspired by the music. I feel the rhythm and the colors as I listen and work. The imagery is abstract, but about motion and dancing to the beat."

There are many sculptors doing wonderful things in the world of art, but few can offer the beauty of the mobiles and wind-driven kinetic sculptures of Drew Klotz. The talents of this artist from Weston combine his mechanical genius with an artistic and often comic flair to create ingenious works. His minimalist style, polished finish and poetic understanding of movement bring to mind the work of such noted Kinetic sculptors as George Rickey. For his show at Silvermine, Adult Toys, Drew will feature both examples of his iconic wind power paddle sculptures, as well as smaller, indoor hand cranked works along with other interactive sculptures. "My interest in kinetic sculpture started when I was a child. I remember climbing in the trees during thunderstorms and swaying in the breeze. That in turn led to hang gliding and sailing. Ultimately, the force of the wind and my love for art inspired me to creative moving sculptures." His works have been on exhibit at Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk as well as the Children's Museum in Chicago, and his renowned kinetic birdhouses, created for Westport's annual Project Return Birdhouse Auction, continue to help the charity raise money. Klotz's works can also be seen at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic.

The two-person show, Connections, with archeological artists Lou Hicks and Juliet Holland, shows off their respective works through a process of discovery and excavation as they respond to the environment in which they live and work. Containing an evocative even mystical aspect, Holland collects, archives, compiles and builds a surface of found and gathered materials such as wood, mud, sticks, paper, paint, working over it with incisions, scratches, abrasions that suggest decay, transformation and rebirth. Hicks uses a complex system of layering and scraping this lush oil paint mixed with wax to reveal multiple histories. He builds a rich moody surface activated by constant layering and scraping, accumulating and revealing, instilling feelings of awe, peace and calm. Both create a genuinely lived history with the surface of the paintings. Hicks, a resident of Port Chester, NY and Holland, a resident of New York City, have been close friend for many years, a connection that is paralleled in their work. In this exhibit, curated by Patricia Miranda, director of Miranda Fine Arts, the artists each communicate timelessness through texture and color.

In her one-person show, New Canaan artist June Ahrens' (Web site) Hiding in Plain Site is a site-specific installation incorporating a variety of materials exploring the cultural and political world around us. Wires covered in a variety of fabric, are used in a chaotic way, incorporated with crushed cans, reflectors, rusted safety pins, and used clear glass jars provided by friends and family. These materials suggest multi-layered metaphors and can be a reflection of our own fears and insecurities. The process is repetitive and obsessive and through this system the work grows organically to reveal itself in layered and complex ways.

There will be an opening reception for September's series of shows this Sunday, Sept. 7, from 2—4 p.m.