Dedicated to covering the visual arts community in Connecticut.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

"Transformative" opening at Kehler Liddell on Sunday afternoon

Kehler Liddell Gallery
873 Whalley Ave., New Haven, (203) 389-9555
Keith Johnson & Joseph Saccio: Transformative
Through Mar. 1, 2009
Opening Reception: Sun., Feb. 1, 3—6 p.m.

Press release

Keith Johnson is showing new photographic work that continues his exploration of repeated or extended imagery. Much as a poet explores the topography of word and repeating text, or a filmmaker splices film into montage, Johnson moves beyond a single photographic image to a reconsidered or transformed topology in multiple images.

"Sometimes extended viewing of a photographic idea would reveal not only the idea, but additionally, time, light, color, and comparison changes during the extended time." By printing multiple images on a single piece of paper, working with grids, and linear presentation, Johnson offers the viewer a "bunch of picture ideas," beautiful, sharp, somewhat abstract pictures in both black & white and brilliant color. He creates an opportunity to be involved with his process, to follow and share his compelled exploration of typology, topology and the photographic ability to record.

Joseph Saccio's works range in size from large installations inside and out, to small pedestal pieces. His material is often natural, organic, frequently wood or found objects joined in what he calls a "primitivistic manner that expresses personal feelings associated with myth and ritual, loss and rebirth." He also offers sculpture constructed from synthetic materials with an apparent ironic humor that both contrasts and informs more solemn work. This show presents two memorial sculptures that have been out doors for 20+ years, and returned to the studio for restoration and decisive rework. They are shown as newly altered work with original and renovation dates, and accompanied by completely new sculpture that continues to explore the mysteries of transformation.

Keith Johnson's and Joe Saccio's art works have a notable relationship. There is a visible concern with natural materials, surfaces, and the compelling study and placement of objects in space. Both artists' work with ideas, producing striking visual images and objects which seem abstract or metaphoric, and then lead us into the transformative process.

Opening Reception: Feb. 1, Sun., 3—6 p.m.: Public is invited to join the artists and community in celebration. No admission fee for gallery or reception.

There will be two artist talks in conjunction with this show. On Sun., Feb. 8, at 2 p.m., Joe Saccio will discuss his sculpture. And, rescheduled from Jan. 28, Keith Johnson will present a large Screen PowerPoint presentation "10 Years in Search of Nirvana with St. Lucy" on Wed., Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.

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Arts + Literature Laboratory opening at River Street Gallery Saturday night

River Street Gallery
72 Blatchley Ave., New Haven, (203) 776-3099
Oppositions
Through Mar. 21, 2009.
Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 10, 6—8 p.m.

Press release

River Street Gallery at Fairhaven Furniture is proud to present a juried exhibition of 11 national artists by Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL). Oppositions explores dichotomy, juxtaposition and/or binary opposition. This exhibition includes book arts, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. The artists selected employ layered meanings such as colonialism to romanticism; representations of the human body and gender conventions; perception and psychological structures; and the artworks range from conceptual to realist to ephemeral.

The featured artists include: Meg Bloom (New Haven, CT); Sarah Buckius (Ann Arbor, MI); Jeanne Criscola (North Haven, CT); David Taylor (West Hartford, CT); Suzanne Gainer (Maynard, MA); Wes Kline (Gainesville, FL); Derek Leka (West Haven, CT); Steven McCarthy (St. Paul, MN); Giang Pham (Tulsa, OK); Barbara Raidl (Chicago, IL); and Pierre St-Jacques (New York, NY).

Oppositions is the first exhibition organized by ALL since returning to its roots in February 2008. To learn more about ALL, visit: www.allgallery.org. The opening reception will take place Sat., Jan. 31, 6—8 p.m.

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Friday opening at La Motta Fine Art: Vital Ground

La Motta Fine Art
11 Whitney Street, Hartford, (860) 680-3596
Vital Ground: Landscapes by Howard Rackliffe & Jonathan Scoville
Jan. 28—Feb. 28, 2009.
Opening reception: Fri., Jan. 30, 6—8 p.m.

Press release

La Motta Fine Art is pleased to present a two-person exhibition entitled Vital Ground, which features the dramatic landscapes of two beloved Connecticut painters, Howard Rackliffe (1917—1987) and Jonathan Scoville (1937—1996). The exhibition opens on Wed., Jan. 28, and continues through Sat., Feb. 28, with an opening reception on Fri., Jan. 30. from 6—8 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Howard Rackliffe drew upon the organic influences of nature, creating expressive compositions that recall the early American Modernists, but are infused with a bold and direct approach that is entirely Rackliffe's own. Annual travels to the Maine coast served as fodder for his paintings that so passionately capture the rugged and elemental nature of the Down East landscape. This exhibition will include a selection of paintings by Rackliffe not previously exhibited.

Rackliffe's paintings have been featured in one-person exhibitions at the Todd Gallery, NY; the New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; and the Caldbeck Gallery, ME., and in group exhibitions at the Virginia Museum, Richmond, VA; Jacques Seligmann Gallery, NY; and the Ringling Museum, Sarasota, FL. He was one of eight artists featured in the 8 From Connecticut exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1960, that also included Cleve Gray and Bernard Chaet. His work was the focus of a retrospective exhibition in 1990 at the New Britain Museum of American Art, CT. that traveled to the Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME. Rackliffe's works are represented in the collections of the Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA; Columbia University, NY; New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; Portland Museum of Art, ME; the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, MA and the Farnsworth Museum, ME.

Jonathan Scoville's paintings of mountains and sky show the forces of nature at work. More visionary than realistic, his paintings present cloud formations both lyrical and turbulent and mountain forms as observed from his studio in West Cornwall, CT. The exhibition will include a selection of Scoville's dramatic charcoal drawings and etchings in addition to paintings on canvas and panel, all from the artist's estate.

Jonathan Scoville grew up in Manhattan and studied at the Art Student's League in New York City. He settled in Cornwall, CT, living and working in a house he built by hand on ancestral property. Scoville's work has always been highly regarded, and he received fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, as well as other arts organizations. He showed regularly at the Condeso-Lawler Gallery in New York City, and his work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Butler Institute of Art in Youngstown, Ohio, the National Gallery, in Washington, D.C., among many other institutions and private collections.

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Ely House show open Saturday evening

John Slade Ely House Center for Contemporary Art
51 Trumbull Street, New Haven, (203) 624-8055
Inviting Abstraction
Jan. 25-Mar. 1, 2009
Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 31, 5-8 p.m.

Press release

Inviting Abstraction—a show of work by Megan Craig, Willard Lustenader and Levni Sinanoglu—opens at the John Slade Ely House in New Haven this Saturday night. The opening reception takes place from 5—8 p.m.

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Monday, January 26, 2009

Hygienic Art XXX this weekend!!!

Hygienic Art
83 Bank St., P.O. Box 417, New London, (860) 443-8001
Hygienic Art XXX
Jan. 30—Feb. 14, 2009
Opening reception for Salon des Independants: Sat., Jan. 31, 8 p.m.

(Hanging for the show starts 8 a.m. Saturday morning. Self-express yourself: One Piece Per Artist, No Judge, No Jury, No Fees, No Censorship! Show up and show!)

Press release

Hygienic Hootenanny: Songs We Couldn't Sing in School
Fri., Jan. 30, 6 p.m.
Muddy Waters
42 Bank St., New London

Hygienic Art XXX kicks off on Friday night at the Hootenanny with an eclectic line-up of folk and old-timey acts performing "Songs We Couldn't Sing in School." You might not want to bring your kids to this Hoot!

6 p.m.—Paul Berkman
6:20—Charlie & Bill Reyburn
6:45—John "Woody" Wood
7:05—Craig Edwards
7:30—Paul Brockett
7:55—28 Strings
8:20—Dan & Liz
8:45—Daphne Glover
9:05—Hugh Birdsall & Jim Fitzgerald
9:30—The Crew (including "The Cranks")

•••

Hygienic Art XXX: Salon des Independants
Celebrating 30 years: 1979—2009
Jan. 31—Feb. 14, 2009
Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 31, 8 p.m.

Thirty years ago, a group of forward thinking New London artists decided to host an exhibition that would bring the art to the people. Instead of hanging their show in another gallery or museum space, these artists went to the local greasy spoon, the Hygienic Restaurant, at the corner of Bank and Golden Streets in the heart of the city's downtown, where the true denizens of the community—students, beggars, prostitutes, pols, and probably even a Joe the Plumber or two—were sure to see their work. From that auspicious start, an annual tradition was born under the charge of the show's guiding principles: One Piece Per Artist, No Judge, No Jury, No Fees, No Censorship.

The show has moved around over the years taking root at a pizza joint, rock clubs and other historic sites around the city. Wherever the people were the art was hung. And there was a lot of art (last year nearly 500 showed their work) and lots of people to take it in (the show, fondly dubbed New London's only Winter Tourist Attraction, averages more than 3000 visitors on its opening night alone).

Everything changed in 2000 when Hygienic Art, Inc., the non-profit organization formed to oversee the show annually, made a bold move to save the historic Hygienic Restaurant building which was quickly sliding down a path to demolition in the name of redevelopment. The building was purchased, rehabilitated and now houses the Hygienic Galleries as well as a Cooperative of developing artists. Hygienic Art soon took aim at the property next door, a vacant dirt lot, and built the iconic Art Park which now plays host to music, theatre and other community events. The new arts campus has become a rallying cry for development in New London and a model for how the arts can harness the energy and investment of the community for the common good. Recently, the organization launched its first official membership drive to great success and continues its plans for programming events and gallery exhibitions throughout 2009 and beyond.

Before any of that though, New London will be bursting at the seams in celebration of 30 years of arts activism in the heart of the city. In the past decade, the event has turned into a true festival featuring rock concerts, a cabaret, poetry readings, an old-time hootenany, independent films and more. This year will prove to be the biggest and most exciting in the three decade run so far.

•••

Young Artists XVIII
The Garde Gallery
305 State Street, New London
Opening: Sta., Jan. 31, 11 a.m.
Art drop-off and hanging: Jan. 28—30, 5—7 p.m.

All artists 14 and under are invited to submit one piece of artwork. Work does not need to be framed. No subject, size, or format restrictions, work will not be judged or sold.

The opening reception, a spectacle rivaled only by the adult show later in the evening, will feature live music, a children's fashion show, hands-on art making, and refreshments. Admission is free!

•••

The Screening Room 16
Carriage House
41 Golden St., New London
Contact info: (860) 889-4428
Sat., Jan. 31, 12—4 p.m.

New London's premier indie film festival features works from both emerging and established filmmakers. Whether a student, at-home video visionary or working professional, this is the venue for any independent filmmaker to have their work seen. Every year brings new creative visions—ranging from regional shorts and animations to feature length films. All are encouraged to submit their work (DVD format preferred) to Hygienic Screening Room c/o Hygienic Filmwerks, POB 417, New London, CT 06320 or drop off at the galleries. For more info, contact Brian Kobylarz at (860) 889-4428.

Additional screenings will be held at the same location on Feb. 7 from noon—4 p.m. and Feb. 14, noon—4 p.m.

•••

Mystic Paper Beasts
Vanguard Gallery
305 State St., New London
Sat., Jan. 31, Noon—1:30 p.m.

The Mystic Paper Beasts will be roving for the Hygienic Young Artists XVIII Show at the Garde Gallery on 305 State Street in New London on Jan. 31st from noon to 1:30. There will also be the opportunity to wear masks and costumes yourselves, children and adults alike! Come, and enjoy!

•••

Hygienic Assumes No Responsibility
Golden Street Gallery
Golden St., New London
Polaroid Heroes and Art Debris from the Hygienic Files by Vinnie Scarano
Jan. 31—Feb. 19, 2009
Opening: Sat., Jan. 31, 6 p.m.

•••

The Rock FiXXX
The Carriage House
41 Golden St., New London
Sat., Jan. 31, 7 p.m.

Cosmodemonic Telegraph, New London's independent rock label, presents some outrageous ruck&rule at the Carriage House (directly adjacent to the rear of Hygienic in the former Contemporary Design building) providing the madcap soundtrack to festivities on the streets of New London. Look for sets from some of the most exciting area acts including The Reducers, Fatal Film, Brazen Hussy, Paul Brockett Roadshow Band, Superbald, Lo-Fi Radiostars, Weird Beards, and Gone for Good. CDT will also celebrate the event with the release of a the second edition of the CosmoSingles series featuring limited edition two track singles from the many of the bands playing the annual's events and others from the scene.

7 p.m.—Weird Beards
7:45—Lo-Fi Radiostars
8:30—Superbald
9:15—Brazen Hussy
10pm—Paul Brockett Roadshow Band
10:45—Fatal Film
11:30—The Reducers
12:30—Gone for Good

•••

The Cabaret at Hygienic XXX
Oasis
16 Bank St., New London
Sat., Jan. 31, 8 p.m.

You never know what you might see at the Cabaret. Come out early (and often!) to see anything from belly dancers to drag queens, sword swallowers to word conjurers, singer songwriters, playwrights, and rabble rousers mix it up!

•••

Amy Hannum: The Lobster Bash>
Hygienic Art Park
Bank Street, New London
Sat., Jan. 31, 10 p.m.

It's going to be a Hygienic smash!

I'm building a seven foot lobster piñata to help celebrate the Hygienic's 30th show! Thanks to many local contributors, the lobster is filled with all sorts of adult goodies and toys.

This is an all age event, but you might need to educate your kids about the birds and the bees if they pick up some of the prizes. And even then they'll still look at you funny.

The bash is at 10:00 p.m. on the stage in the art park. Look for signs on the stage for the line-up!

Hot & cool at City Gallery

City Gallery
994 State St., New Haven, (203) 782-2489
Freddi Elton: Hot/Medium/Cool
Through Jan. 31, 2009.

While Freddi Elton has previously shown abstract photographic works in City Gallery shows, her Hot/Medium/Cool solo show focuses on printmaking (a "cool" medium) and encaustic (a "hot" medium). It is actually a return to printmaking for Elton; her photographic images were influenced by her prior printmaking efforts.

Elton's abstractions are well within the stylistic approach—or, perhaps sensibility is a more accurate term—that loosely characterizes the City Gallery set of artists. Elton layers textures and shapes, many geometrical, and further teases compositions with gestural marks.

The works on the walls alternate between sets of monoprints and series of encaustic compositions. In both cases there is obvious care and concern for the surface of the works. Not surprisingly, in the case of the encaustics—a paint-infused beeswax—the surface has a more plastic presence. With monoprints, the attention to surface is manifested by the way the inks clot on the paper fibers. For example, in the monoprint "Morn" the simple arrangement of shapes is enlivened by the way the understated colors (muted pastel yellow and blue, black) soaking into the paper. The blue of the "sky" and the yellow of the "ground" float like dust motes in a beam of light.

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Friday, January 23, 2009

Sunday opening at Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sacred Heart University

The Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sacred Heart University
5151 Park Ave., Fairfield, (203) 365-7650
The Elements: Earth
Jan. 25—Mar. 5, 2009.
Opening reception: Sun., Jan. 25, 1—3:30 p.m.
Artist's talk to follow.

Press release

The fourth exhibit in our series about The Elements focuses on Earth. The pre-Socratic philosopher, Empedocles (c. 492—432 B.C.), noted the world's division into four naturally occurring Elements—"earth, sea, air and the fiery aether of the heavenly bodies"—were the basis of all matter. For centuries, these elements continued to be the foundation for our decoding of the world.

There will be an opening reception for this show this Sun., Jan. 25, from 1—3:30 p.m.

It could be argued that the first "earth works" were very early man's attempt to mark and control his environment, places such as Stonehenge and ancient dolmens. In the 1960s numerous artists created large-scale earth works, born in reaction to the commercialization of art, that could only be totally experienced from the sky.

Two variants of earth works in this exhibit, Andy Goldsworthy's "Fresh, thin leaves / wrapped around rotted trunk / held with water /Lennox, Massachusetts / 13 May 2005" and Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "Reichstag" (1996) are works that are best known by their documentation, since no trace is left after their completion.

Goldsworthy uses natural materials, many times from the site of creation (such as leaves, ice and stone), to make work, intending that it will be ephemeral and have a life-cycle of creation, stasis and ultimately decay. In this case, little remains of the intense green leaves that once made a quiet and stunning statement deep in the woods.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the husband and wife team, draw attention to the land and or human constructs upon it by draping impossibly large areas in fabric for up to three weeks, after which all of the materials are recycled. The temporarily vacant 100-year-old Reichstag was draped in a silvery reflective material that waved and swayed in the wind. It took 24 years to obtain permission and execute the project.

Human relocation across vast distances, whether by choice or displacement, has increased over the last century and become almost commonplace. Apo Torosyan makes his art and films as a reflection of his immigrant experiences. As a child in Turkey, he witnessed the 1955 pogrom and the destruction of the old Constantinople. "Earth" (2008) is gently mounded soil. When questioned about the use of "dirt" for this work, he responded that "earth" is part of all of us, reminding us of the concept of ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Niki Ketchman's "Landscape 2" (2006) is a collaged and painted globe tenuously tethered from the ceiling to a small half-globe shape with a plastic tree.

The Black Estate, an artists' collaborative composed of Noah McDonald and Scott Pagano, combines the centuries old tradition of beautiful ink wash drawings and contemporary animation. "Fall" (2007) is enclosed in a beautifully crafted wooden box with an ocular lens, from which one individually experiences the swirling, falling leaves in a circular, folding format.

"Parrita in Process" (July 2001), by Michele Brody, is also a reflection of time and landscape, depicting the life cycle of a palm plantation in Costa Rica. Palm oil is used in soaps (Palmolive), as non-hydrogenated cooking fat and its demand has risen recently as a biofuel. Some environmental groups claim that the increased demand for palm oil biofuel is damaging to the planet because its production results in the destruction of peat bogs and deforestation.

Stephanie Lempert's "Spectacle Island Park" (2008), a photograph of a reclaimed landfill site, is overlaid with the comments of those who participated in the reclamation process and its long tumultuous history. These "secret messages" encoded over the pristine landscape add another dimension to it's wild beauty.

In a departure from actual landscapes, three of the artists, Kim Keever, Eva Lee and Gerald Saladyga manufacture landscapes as part of their work.

Keever creates majestic, sweeping landscapes in a 100-gallon fish tank filled with water. These elaborately staged artificial productions of plaster and plastic rocks, trees, and fluid clouds of almost lurid colors flowing through the water, are carefully lit and photographed, with no attempt to hide the process or make these appear "real". They are post-Hudson River school works; empty, surreal, eerie landscapes that reflect the fact that humans are drawn to the sublime and beautiful but not necessarily committed to ensuring its survival. It is implicit that these substitute landscape vistas in a fish tank may, someday, be all we have left.

The earth's inhabitants have an interior emotional landscape. Lee has been working with neuroscientist Dr. James Cohan of the University of Virginia to create 3D animations of EEG readings of twelve people during five emotional states (anger, joy, fear, sadness and disgust). Multiple views of each subject's emotion are viewed simultaneously. As the work unfolds, in jewel-like colors, it resembles a slow-motion journey through the rising of a mountain-like topography and its disintegration.

A landscape painter of the cosmos, Saladyga imagines the earth seen from space in multiple views upon a canvas with a starlit sky behind them. Saladyga's "Apocalypse" (2008), is inspired by global positioning and geographical photographs. Abstract and glowing curvilinear lines, layered many times over with sparkling dots of color, indicate glowing roaches that have survived a nuclear holocaust. This fanciful, luscious work includes a fiery mountain range with mountain climbing schematics that are the only reference to man's existence.

Also looking down at the earth, Anthony Falcetta's "#P121228" (2008) is an abstract, lushly painted landscape, a bird's eye view of a flowing river and the banks that contain it.

David Meisel has long photographed a reality that we are aware of but have never really contemplated. His abstract images, taken from the air and recording the loss of waterways, led to his aerial photographs of where that water flowed—Los Angeles. The "Oblivion Series" shows us an immense and overpopulated tangled mess of miles of urban density. "Oblivion 9n" (2004), with its reversal of black and white, reminds us of x-rays that reveal something that is hidden, the monstrous effect of development, exquisitely documented, forbiddingly beautiful.

In a reversal, Margaret McCarthy's romantic photograph "The Crystal Cave" from the "Portals Series" is taken from inside a cave to depict the rays of the sun streaming into the opening.

Jane Sutherland's masterful eye for detail in her pastel "Loggie's Greenhouse" (2002) shows us a close up view of the lush plantings created within the glass walls of a climate-controlled space. Plants growing in their earthenware pots extend the growing season or possibly suggesting it may be environmentally necessary to grow our plants indoors.
Margaret Tsirantonakis' "Ancient Vase Echoes in the Landscape" (2004), a woodblock and monotype, depicts the classical shape of a container made of clay, suspended between the mountains and sea of her native Crete.

Most of Barbara Rothenberg's works contain a reference to nature's life cycles, such as roots, seeds and plant forms. Her rich and textured oil and collage work, "Up From Earth # 2" is comprised of manipulated images of mushrooms, the amazing fungus that seems to grow overnight.

Implicit in any representation of life forms is its transformation and regeneration. One can only hope that the creativity that is evident in these works will be reflected in our efforts to sustain our blue planet.

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Friday opening at Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan

Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University
238 Washington Ter., Middletown, (860) 685-3355
Sasha Rudensky: Photographs
Olga Chernysheva: March
Jan. 24—Feb. 15, 2009.
Opening reception: Fri., Jan. 23, 5—7 p.m.
Artist talk at 5:30 p.m.

Press release

In her first major solo exhibition Sasha Rudensky will present two photographic series at Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery: "Remains" (2004/08) and "Demons" (2007-08). In "Remains," Rudensky, who was born in Moscow in 1979 and moved to the US in 1990, explores the political and social transformation of the former Soviet Union by poignantly focusing on the intimate details of everyday life. "Demons," a series of hybrid portraits suggests a fantastical version of the artist's childhood.

Russian artist Olga Chernysheva is represented by March (2005), a looped video projection. Chernysheva's films and photographs wryly scrutinize the post-Soviet experience. March observes the pomp and absurdity of a military-style celebration that includes boy guards, cheerleading pom-pom girls, and assorted local dignitaries in a searingly awkward, often humorous, exposé of the ornamentation of power.

Photographs and March run from Sat., Jan. 24 through Sun., Feb. 15, 2009. The public is invited to attend the opening reception on Fri., Jan. 23 from 5—7 p.m., with an artist talk at 5:30 pm. Gallery Hours: Tuesday—Sunday, noon—4 p.m.; Friday noon—8 p.m. The Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery is located at 283 Washington Terrace in Middletown, Connecticut. For more information visit www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or call 860-685-3355.

Sasha Rudensky received a BA from Wesleyan University (2001), a MFA from Yale University School of Art (2008) and has been a Visiting Professor of Art at Wesleyan since 2003. Olga Chernysheva has exhibited internationally including the Venice Biennale (2001); MoMA, New York (solo screening) (2008); and Lunds Konsthall, Sweden (2008).

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Thursday night opening at Real Art Ways

Real Art Ways
56 Arbor St., Hartford, (860) 232-1006
Taiga Ermansons
Jan. 15-Mar. 22, 2009.
Opening reception; Thurs. Jan. 22, 6-8 p.m.

Press release

Real Art Ways presents an exhibition by Taiga Ermansons, opening on Thurs., Jan. 15. The opening reception is from 6-8 p.m. and is part of Creative Cocktail Hour. Admission to the opening is $10, $5 for Real Art Ways members. The exhibition, which runs through Sun. Mar. 22, features Ermanson's Kleenex tissue "contemporary samplers." After the opening reception, admission to the exhibition is free of charge.

Taiga Ermansons often uses unconventional but common materials in her work:

I make linear marks using a range of commonplace methods and materials incuding tape, thread, remnant paper and scrap wood. My work is exact and without illusion. It includes drawings, paintings and installation.


In her Real Art Ways exhibition, Ermansons has created "contemporary samplers" from Kleenex tissues and thread. The works contain traces of fracvtured traditions anchored on fragile, disposable ground.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

NOTE: Hygienic "Whalers & Lancers" show opening postponed to tomorrow night

Hygienic Art Gallery
83 Bank St., P.O. Box 417, New London, (860) 443-8001
Whalers & Lancers Student Art Show: Featuring the artworks of students from New London and Waterford High Schools
Jan. 10-24, 2009
Opening reception: Changed to Sun., Jan. 11, 6—8 p.m.

The opening of the Whalers & Lancers Student Art Show at the Hygienic Art Gallery, scheduled for this evening from 7—9 p.m., has been postponed because of the snow. It will take place instead tomorrow evening, Sun., Jan. 11, from 6—8 p.m.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Past, Present & Future: Sunday openings at Silvermine

Silvermine Guild Art Center
1037 Silvermine Rd., New Canaan, (203) 966-9700
Past, Present and Future: New Exhibits at Silvermine
Jan. 11—Feb. 7, 2008
Opening reception: Sun., Jan. 11, 2—4 p.m.

Press release

The exhibits opening at Silvermine Guild Arts Center in January 2009 are representative of past, present and future as showcased in The Expressionist Experiment, a retrospective exhibition of over 40 years of artistic production by artist Vincent Baldassano and the Director's Choice exhibit Bamidbar, a collection of works by Belle Manes that reflects her journey and search through life. In addition, works by eight newly elected Silvermine Guild members will be on view in the multi-media Annual New Members Exhibition. Exhibits open on Sunday, Jan. 11 with an Opening Reception from 2—4 p.m. and run through Feb. 7.

Belle Manes, a resident of White Plains, New York grew up during the Depression years in New York and her works of oil on canvas are reflective of her vision and journey in life. Drawing and painting the teeming life on the east side was encouraged at an early age. About her work, Manes says, "Our lives are comprised of memories of the past to learn from, the present to apply what we learn, and the future which gives us the dreams and incentive to grow from the present. My paintings reflect that journey. Where I come from, where I am and hopefully where I am going. The word 'Bamidbar' means the wilderness, or to some, the desert. In my search, I try to penetrate that wilderness by employing the three tools of past, present and future to find my way." The most difficult lesson of finding one's own voice is an ongoing struggle. Where we come from and where we are going haunts all of Manes' work.

Manes, whose education includes a BFA from Cooper Union in New York, has had one person shows and group exhibitions at many galleries and museums in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas, including Broome Street Gallery, Hammond Museum, Northern Westchester Center for the Arts, Westport Art Center, Gallery in the Park, Carriage Barn, Art Place Gallery, the Art Gallery at SUNY, Flinn Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, the Aldrich Museum and the Philadelphia Museum. Her works are included in private collections such as General Electric, Chubb Insurance, the Cochran Group and Pfizer Learning Center. In addition to her artwork, Manes continues to moderate a discussion series at the Katonah Museum in New York.

Oxford, Connecticut artist, lecturer and teacher, Vincent Baladassano began his career as a teacher of Fine Arts, and has been a visiting artist and lecturer at many institutions throughout the United States. Baldassano's exhibit at Silvermine, The Expressionist Experiment, is a collection of his works spanning the past 40 years. "My paintings are based on my imagination, which in turn deal with my visual and audible experiences. They are the improvisation and expression of paint and painting." After his foray into painting shaped canvases in the 60's, Vincent returned to the traditional square canvas, still utilizing bold colors and expressive compositions.

With an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Oregon, Baldassano taught at Niagara County Community College (SUNY) and received four SUNY faculty fellowships and two CAPS (NY State Council on the Arts) grants for painting. He has also been a visiting artist at many institutions and universities in the U.S. As an artist, his work has been exhibited nationally at galleries in New York City, Philadelphia, Greenwich, Stamford, and in Santa Barbara and worldwide, including France, Portugal, Germany and Switzerland. His works can be seen in both public and private collections such as the Savannah College of Art and Design, Housatonic Museum of Art, Hammond Museum, Sacred Heart University, Pfizer Corporation, Pepsi Cola Corporation and the Children's Museum of the Arts.

The New Members Exhibition will showcase the works of eight new Guild Members inducted in the spring and fall of 2008, representing a variety of mediums. The new members include: Kari Englehardt, from Rye, New York for her work in encaustic painting; Roxanne Faber Savage, a resident of Fairfield, printmaking; Kristina Kuester-Witt, from Woodbridge, painting; Mauricio Higuera (Web), from Norwalk for painting; Karin Hillmer (Web), Norwalk for photography; Derek Leka (Web) from West Haven, painting; Joe Saccio (Web), a sculptor from North Haven; and Marcia Zimmerman, who works in Fiber and lives in Stamford.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Saturday opening at New Haven Free Public Library

New Haven Free Public Library Art Gallery
133 Elm St., New Haven
Izumi Tokuno: Computer "Dessin"* for two decades
Through Jan. 31, 2009.
Artist's reception: Sat., Jan. 10, 2:30—4:30 p.m.

Press release

Artist statement by Izumi Tokuno:

I am such a dreamer, I know that the best way to realize my American dream is to Dream in Large Scale. I believe that my vivid blue, which comes from the powerful rainbow radiant color visions is a dramatic creation exercise. In the Dream at Large... I believe that color is the most direct and powerful message-transmitter in the Computer Art era. We can perceive millions of colors, but the space in our minds to understand color is small. I would love to make people larger through the use of my visual memories, such as the Rising Sun, the Symbol of my country.

Since 1992, I have worked with the blue colors from rich digital inks. Once I collect small pieces of images on my computer, they evolve into other shapes, which I digitally change to produce works of great depth and emotion. My works are intimately connected to the history and practice of paintings. My approach to art is not only technology. I am always expressing Indigo Hue of dusk of the Japanese sky at twilight through strong digital_.

I love the words of George Santayana (1863-1952), the Poet and Philosopher:
"A Dreamer consenting to Dream of the Actual World"

Ms.Tokuno grew up the city of Matsuyama, located on Shikoku Island, Japan which is known as the birth place of Haiku, as well as Ooe Kenzaburo, winner of the Nobel prize for literature. For 20 years, she lived in Tokyo, and has been in the U.S. for the past seven years. She holds a Bachelor and Master's Degree in Painting, Art History & Theory from Tama Art University, Tokyo, a popular university of art well-known for training the famous designer Issei Miyake, and architect Toyo Ito. She lives on Roosevelt Island, NYC, where she is an exhibiting member of Gallery RIVAA.

She has exhibited her artworks around the world: at the Conference of High Resolution Digital Pictures of the World ISO in England, 1993, at the Turku Art Society Gallery in and the Helsinki MUU Media Festival in Finland, 1991, at Paris de Tokyo and IMAGINA 92 in France, 1992, and the Conference at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.,1997. One of her large digital printings (H 3000mm W 1200 mm) was selected and donated to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., as a permanent collection.

There will be an opening reception for the show this Saturday, from 2:30—4:30 p.m.

* "dessin" in French and Japanese means drawing, sketching. Professional Art-word "dessin" means also a special skill of drawing. In German "dessin" means Design.

Student show opening at the Hygienic this Saturday

Hygienic Art Gallery
83 Bank St., P.O. Box 417, New London, (860) 443-8001
Whalers & Lancers Student Art Show: Featuring the artworks of students from New London and Waterford High Schools
Jan. 10—24, 2009
Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 10, 7—10 p.m.

Press release

Hygienic Art, Inc. announces the third annual high school student art show at the Hygienic Galleries from Jan. 10 through Jan. 24, 2009. There will be an opwening reception this Saturday, from 7—10 p.m.

When this show was first proposed to Waterford High School Art teacher David Weber, one requirement was that the work submitted had to be for sale. Mr. Weber reacted with surprise since no other showing of Waterford art students' work involved actual sale of the work. That surprise turned to excitement almost immediately. "What an opportunity," he said. "The actual business of art is something we would never otherwise get into." The response of Art teacher Sue Cash at New London High School was virtually the same. (Accompanying image of artwork by New London High School student Aaron Vincent.)

Since that first show, always held for the middle two weeks of January, Hygienic has written artist commission checks to over one hundred New London and Waterford high school students totaling several thousand dollars.

"This is one of the best moments of the year for me," said Hygienic treasurer James Stidfole. "I love signing the checks and the congratulatory letters and hand delivering them to the Art faculty for distribution. It is such an educational reinforcement."

For more information please contact Jim Stidfole 860-442-4020 or jstidfole [AT] earthlink.net

This show is sponsored by Webster Bank with additional grant support from the Waterford Education Foundation, New London Education Foundation and Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.