Edwards Street Artists' Collective show opens Saturday in East Haven

Hagaman Memorial Library Gallery
227 Main St., East Haven, (203) 468-3890
Sending Home the Slates
Apr. 10—30, 2010
Opening reception: Sat., Apr. 10, 5:30—8 p.m.

Press release

The Edwards Street Artists' Collective presents Sending Home the Slates, an exhibition of painting, print-making, sculpture, installations and music. The show will run from Apr. 10-30, 2010 with an opening reception on Sat., Apr. 10, 5:30-8 p.m. Curated by guest curator Johnes Ruta, the exhibition's featured artists are Patricia Ames, Claudine Burns-Smith, Phillip Chambers, Roberta Chambers, Francine Curto, Carole Dubielle, Joseph Higgins, Linda Horning, Bob Keating, Cathy Valley and Rita Valley.

Artists:

Patricia Ames • "I use a mix of textiles and acrylics to create dramatic portraits, combining a loose style with a sense of humor to give these pet portraits a whimsical quality."

Patricia Ames studied sculpture and painting at Middlesex Community College. She also pursued independent study with sculptor James Caudle and painter Lennie Moskowitz. In 2004, Patricia joined fellow artists Lucinda Gray, Margaret Moore, and Francine Curto to form the Cedar Swamp Artist Group.

Claudine Burns Smith • "'Gregory' is the second wall sculpture of a series about my relatives and friends. Gregory is my son and a performing musician. The piece consists of pulp made from recycled newspaper applied to a foam armature and painted with acrylics. Besides paper pulp I work in clay or concrete mostly for outdoors. I am a self-taught artist. I was born in France and came to this country in 1970. I taught art in Colorado and Connecticut. My work has been exhibited in Russia, China and the U.S.

Roberta Chambers • "I'm intrigued with using textiles in unexpected ways—as paper, photographic paper, skin, posters, cards, and in ways there are no words for yet."

Roberta Chambers is an artist, and a designer of textiles, costumes, sets, and sound stages. She has shown her work at ArtPark Whitneyville, Artspace Gallery, the John Slade Ely House, Erector Square Gallery, Wave Gallery, the Moira Fitzsimmons Arons Gallery at Hamden Hall, the Channel 8 March of Arts Festival, the Building Wrapping Art Festival at Gateway Center, the PMVI shows at the Clock Factory, the Green Gallery in Guiford, and the New Haven Women's AIDS Coalition Art Show. Her costume and set designs have shown at Shakespeare on the Green, the New Haven Arts Council "Human Float" for New Haven's 350th birthday, Take Notice Dance Company, Performance Studio, Theatricide, The Buy and Sell, and the Love/Money Show at Erector Square.

Phillip Chambers • "I was born in Australia in the early 1950s. I traveled the world in the early 1970s, and settled in Connecticut in 1975. I've been involved with the art movement in the States for many years and have been in many shows. I like working with pen and ink drawing, and consider myself an illustrator of short stories that I've written myself.

"In this show at the New Haven Library there will be two of my illustrated books. One book is called Mailman walkit and the other book consists of drawings of toys."

Francine Curto • "Art has been the one and only constant sane part of my life..."

Francine Curto speaks of her art as "poetry for the eye, therapy for the spirit, and love for the heart." She studied art techniques privately with some of the leading artists in Connecticut: sculpture with Jim Caudle, pastels with Joann Ballinger, watercolor with Frank Constantine and Judith Campbell. She has shown he work at The Brick Gallery and the Essex Art Association in Essex, CT; the Tip Top Gallery, Plattsburg, NY; at Golden Street Gallery, New London, and at Chester Open Gallery Night.

Joseph Higgins (see image) • "Working in abstract imagery is a natural avenue for me. It is a broad place, flowing nicely with my artistic process, which allows me freedom of expression. My paintings rely on natural rhythms. The intricacy of detail evokes an experience unique to each viewer. I try to create, through depth of spiritual space, an environment that allows travel into the image. As people see, arrange, and resolve my pictures according to their own ideas, I am able to share a part of my artistic experience."

Higgins invented his method of amorphous painting on 4" square ceramic surfaces in 1990, using only paint, brushes, and water. He attended the University of Massachusetts at Boston where he studied literature, and apprenticed with the Beacon Hill Artisans. He is a founding member of the Edwards Street Collective.

Linda Horning • "I have resided in New Haven for over 30 years. I attended the University of Illinois, receiving a BFA in Art Education. For many years I was a printmaker primarily working out of the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven. I currently work with mixed media sculpture deriving mainly from found objects. I am mainly interested in symbols or images which condense a concept to elicit an instinctively recognizable in the viewer. Consequently, my current work tends to be more abstract but hopefully quite accessible."

Cathy Valley • "Most of my paintings and collages have to do with statues and garden environments. I've also been exploring underwater objects and materializing otherworldly visions!"

Cathy Valley attended the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, MA. She went on to receive a BA in Psychology from Southern Connecticut State University, and an MS in Marriage & Family Therapy from Central Connecticut State University. Cathy is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist.