Show of Kahn paintings to open at Greater Hartford Welcome Center Tuesday

The Greater Hartford Welcome Center
45 Pratt St., Hartford, (860) 244-0253
Kenneth Kahn: A Year in Pompano
Through June 7—Aug. 6, 2010.
Artists' reception: Tues., July 6, 5:30—7 p.m.

Press release

The Greater Hartford Arts Council proudly announces that former executive director Kenneth Kahn will exhibit his paintings in the Greater Hartford Welcome Center, 45 Pratt St., Hartford, from June 7 to August 6. The exhibit, entitled A Year in Pompano, was inspired by Kahn's time spent in South Florida during the past year, where he served as public art administrator of Broward County, Florida's Cultural Division. An informal reception with the artist will be held on Tuesday, July 6, 5:30—7 p.m. in the Welcome Center.

Kahn is generously donating 25 percent of the proceeds of the sale of his work to benefit the Arts Council's United Arts Campaign. A price list of Kahn's works in this show is available for download from LetsGoArts.org/WelcomeCenter or can be obtained in the Welcome Center. The Greater Hartford Welcome Center is open 9 a.m.—5 p.m., Monday—Friday.

The works are primarily 5"x7" works on board, with several pieces ranging up to 10"x14". The collection as a whole offers the vision of sun-soaked, salt-sprayed South Florida coastal living, including paintings focusing on beach cottages, people frolicking on the sand, beach horizon lines spotted with ocean-going vessels, clusters of boats, and rosy sunsets.

As a leader in our community's arts world for nearly a decade, Kahn is known for helping to position Hartford as a key regional arts and cultural asset. Kahn, 68, lives in Hartford with his wife, actress and teacher Anne Lynn Kettles.

"I hope my quickly painted oil sketches of South Florida landscape subjects speak directly to you in a compelling way even if the work is unassuming and makes no great demands on your senses or on those of would-be art 'crickets'," said Kahn. "I spent early mornings, late afternoons, and weekends during the past year with paint, in order to connect with my surroundings, mostly in Pompano and Ft. Lauderdale and a bit in Miami Beach, an old haunt where I lived during my tenure as Director of the Miami Dade Cultural Affairs Department all through the '80s."

Kahn's exhibition marks the final show in the Welcome Center Gallery's Pratt St. space. The gallery space will transition, along with Arts Council offices, to 100 Pearl St. in Hartford as of early September 2010.