Opening Reception Friday at ArtSpace Hartford for "Nature Nourishes"

ArtSpace Hartford
555 Asylum Ave., Hartford, 06103, (860) 548-9975
Nature Nourishes
Aug. 19—26, 2011.
Opening reception: Fri., Aug. 19, 6-10 p.m.
Artist Talk: "Weeds as Food and Medicine": Sun., Aug. 21, 1—2 p.m.

Press release

Multi-media art exhibit takes root at ArtSpace Hartford with 22 artists from across the nation.

Nature provides us with all the nourishment needed to foster growth, promote health, and sustain life. Not only does Nature nourish us physically as food, but also psychologically and emotionally, as sacred food for the soul.

The need to return our attention to nature and the natural is particularly relevant at this time. With the predominance of industry, consumerism, and technology, we are experiencing an unprecedented disconnection from the natural world. This disconnection has produced profound emotional and spiritual consequences.

Nature Nourishes is a group exhibition of 22 artists from across the nation with diverse works that push the boundaries of how Nature is perceived and the various ways it nourishes human kind. Some artists address the concerns of our disconnection from nature while others focus on the nourishment and inspiration derived from nature.

Exhibition Curators: Lori Robeau & Karen Talbot are former Directors of Blackstone River Gallery in Woonsocket, RI. Both are interdisciplinary artists and independent curators. Lori works in mixed-media painting and installation and teaches workshops out of her studio in Manchester, CT. She is the Assistant Director of CT Art Connection and a member of the Vernon Arts Commission. Karen is a forager of way-sides and waste places, and a painter working out of her studio in Woonsocket, RI. She is a member of United Plant Savers and the Portsmouth Arts Guild and teaches a diverse range of herbal workshops.

Artists represented in this exhibition are Tiffany Adams (Rhode Island), Karen Rand Anderson (Rhode Island), Amy Archambault (Pennsylvania), Krisanne Baker (Maine), Jacqueline Campbell (Connecticut), Maria Driscoll McMahon (New York), Jay Egge (Rhode Island), Sue Fenton (Connecticut), Linda Ganus (Pennsylvania), Patricia McInroy (Colorado), Julia Morgan-Leamon (Massachusetts), Amber Morrison (Rhode Island), Caitlin Nesbit (Massachusetts), John Nordell (Massachusetts), Maggie Nowinski (Massachusetts), Tom Ogburn (New Mexico), Gage Prentiss (Rhode Island), Lori Robeau (Connecticut), Paul Roustan (Rhode Island), Susan Spaniol (Connecticut), Karen Talbot (Rhode Island), Margaret Waage (Connecticut).

Tiffany Adams is a ceramic sculptor who primarily hand builds organic forms inspired by nature. She has studied at Rhode Island School of Design and at the Universidad de Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela. Adams is a member of South County Art Association and exhibits throughout Rhode Island including Deblois Gallery in Newport. Her work has been featured in Southern New England HOME magazine and Rhode Island Monthly Communications Home Design.

Karen Rand Anderson is an interdisciplinary artist who utilizes natural materials (branches, saplings, moss, rocks) and found objects to symbolize and explore the organic emotional connection and intimacy of relationships. She graduated cum laude from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Ceramics and received her MFA in Mixed-media through the Johnson State College/Vermont Studio Center. Rand Anderson has completed residencies at Vermont Studio Center in Bulgaria through the Griffis Foundation/Orpheus Foundation as well as I-Park Artist’s Enclave in East Haddam, CT. Her work has been exhibited nationally in juried, invitational and solo exhibitions.

Amy Archambault is a painter whose work is based mainly on process which investigates the physical and psychological relationships between the natural world and the human presence within it. Her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions throughout the Northeast. Archambault received a B.A. in Studio Art from the College of the Holy Cross and recently received her M.FA in Studio Art from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. This fall Archambault will begin her position as Studio Coordinator and Faculty at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.

Krisanne Baker is an ecological artist-activist whose multimedia work is concerned with environmental issues of water quality, availability and rights. She received a BFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Visual Art at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Baker was a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship to Tokyo and Shimabara, Japan. She is currently a professor of Digital Media at the University of Maine and Art History at Central Maine Community College. Her work has been exhibited nationally and international including The ZieherSmith Gallery, New York, NY, The Slade Research Center, at the University College in London, UK, and the Zentral Bibliothek, Zurich, Switzerland.


Jacqueline Campbell is a painter and installation artist whose work is an examination of organic and natural forms focusing on the mystery and infinite processes of transition and change. She recently received a BFA in Painting from The University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts. Campbell’s work has been exhibited in group and solo shows throughout Connecticut including the Hans Weiss Gallery and the John Slade Gallery.

Maria Driscoll McMahon is a interdisciplinary artist working in various media including the unlikely medium of burdock burrs. In this performance the natural qualities inherent in the burrs become muse and metaphor for the rural condition and for self on the fringe. Driscoll McMahon received an MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a New York Foundation for the Arts MARK 2011 artist alumna. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums throughout New York, regionally and in Germany such as Red Hook Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, Roberson Art Museum in Binghamton, NY and Orangery of the Brühler Schlos, in Cologne, Germany.

Jay Egge is a mixed-media artist whose work embodies themes of nature through the use of ancient mythical symbols. With extensive European travels and an interest in archeology and history, he teaches classes and workshops on ancient mediums and methods. His work has been shown regionally at such places as The Bristol Art Museum in Bristol, RI, the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Gallery in Fall River, MA, and Isherwood Gallery in Newport, RI.

Sue Fenton is a photographer whose work emphasizes her romantic, subjective and emotional responses to her environment. Her work glorifies nature and imbues it with transcendent qualities which in turn are deepened within herself. Fenton is a writer and teacher of languages, publishing over 25 books. She has traveled Europe and lived in Paris, immersing herself in the arts. Her work can be seen at the Main Street Coffee House & Art Gallery, East Hampton, CT

Linda Ganus is a multimedia artist who explores dream-like water imagery as a visual metaphor to examine the uncanny phenomena of our collective unconscious. Her meditative video attempts to lull the viewer into an altered state, presenting an opportunity to delve deep into the depths of their own unconscious. Ganus holds an MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College of Fine Arts and was awarded a full fellowship two years in a row at Vermont Studio Center. She is currently adjunct faculty and a private instructor at Lehigh University and Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. She has exhibited work throughout the region and is a member of the New Century Artists Gallery in NYC.

Patricia McInroy is a photographer and multimedia artist whose underlying theme focuses on transition and it’s process: the nature of being and becoming. Her work emphasizes an engaged experience with nature rather than merely a passive observation. Much of her work is informed by years of experience as a photojournalist. McInroy’s photography has appeared in more than twenty publications including, Newsweek, the Washington Post and USA Today. Her video work has been screened at film festivals across the US. She is currently an adjunct photography and video instructor at the Art Institute of Colorado.

Julia Morgan-Leamon is a multimedia artist whose work examines the cycle of ecological regeneration as a natural system of breakdown and renewal. “Breeze” portrays the wind as an integral element of this interdependent system. Morgan-Leamon received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Visual Art. Her work has been shown internationally including, Los Angeles, New York and Luxor, Egypt. She is currently an adjunct instructor at Williams College, Williamstown, MA where she has organized and brought together US and Egyptian students for art workshops and cultural interchange.

Amber Morrison is a mixed-media painter who focuses on design, technique, and craft. Inspired by organic forms, her work deals primarily with formal aesthetics, breaking the rules of post-modernism. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UMass Dartmouth, is a licenced tattoo artist and is currently continuing her education as a textile designer. Her work has been exhibited in group and solo shows throughout the New England Region.

Caitlin Nesbit is a ecological artist-activist whose work responds to humanity’s disturbing impact upon earth’s aquatic equilibrium. Incorporating scientific process into her work, she has created a series of buoys that serve as recording devices. The data recorded relays information about water quality which she has translated into a series of drawings and graphs. Nesbit is a ceramics teacher and studio manager at Truro Center for th Arts at Castle Hill, MA. She was a ceramics teaching assistant, an art and sustainability research assistant, and recently received an MFA in Sculpture from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

John Nordell is a photographer of diverse subject matter with a tendency toward nature which feeds his creative spirit. In order to better capture the essence of his subject matter, he often physically manipulates his camera when taking the shot. His camera is a vehicle to capture his in-the-moment personal and spiritual experiences. Nordell received a BA from Stanford University in 1983 in International Relations. He then began covering stories ranging from political and social change in South Korea to the underground arts scene in the Soviet Union. His photojournalistic images have been published in magazines such as Time, Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine, as well as in publications around the world. After surviving cancer in 2003, he subsequently reevaluated his career goals and took a faculty position at the Hallmark Institute of Photography.

Maggie Nowinski is an interdisciplinary multimedia artist who works primarily in installation combining traditional and new media, found objects and performance. Her work mirrors her relationship with the natural world and her innate yearning towards the idea of nature as an immersive nurturing haven. Nowinski studied abroad at the Fortman International School of Art in Florence, Italy and later received her MFA in visual art from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is currently an adjunct instructor at Elms College, Chicopee, MA, Manchester Community College, Manchester, CT, and Westfield State University, Westfield, MA. Her work has been exhibited nationally including, the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City, UT, Acme Arts, Chicago, IL, and MOBIUS, Boston, MA.

Tom Ogburn is an interdisciplinary artist who emphasizes message over medium. His work examines our culture’s need for conquest and control over nature and our resulting disconnection. He stresses the urgency to reestablish a holistic connection, reminding us that we as human beings are nature, not merely residents within it. Ogburn received his MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has participated in several artist-in-residency programs. He founded Sandhills School in 1999 and then Bardic Arts Teaching Corps in 2009. His work has been exhibited and screened nationally including, the MARC Arts Center, Moab, UT, Bradley University, Champagne, IL, and Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC.

Gage Prentiss is a mixed-media sculptor and painter who embraces concepts of Wabi Sabi. He utilizes rust and natural elements as a medium, allowing the natural cycle of growth and decay in the creation of his work. His process documents metamorphosis and illustrates the beauty of imperfection and impermanence in nature. Prentiss received a BFA from Boston University in Sculpture and Art History. His work has been exhibited throughout the New England region, winning many awards, and has been acquired by numerous private collectors.

Paul Roustan is a body painter and photographer who uses the human form as his canvas. His work incorporates his models’ characteristics and their surrounding environment. In this piece, the female form—historically a visual representation of Mother Nature—literally becomes an extension of her natural surroundings. Roustan is a multi award winning and internationally published artist. His work has been featured on Spike TV, the Chicago Sun-Times, Airbrush Action Magazine, and has been extensively exhibited in galleries throughout the country. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MA in Teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design. Roustan's airbrushed body-painting’s have been used for corporate, private, television, and nightclub events worldwide, including clients Playboy, Bacardi, Tupperware, and Absolut.

Susan Spaniol is a mixed-media artist whose drawings are created using a process likened to that of a sculptor who chips away at the extraneous to discover the hidden form within. Mark making is her chisel which articulates her intuitive response to the forms and complexities of the natural world. Her work demonstrates the primal beauty of organic and biomorphic forms suggesting the infinite permutations of nature. Spaniol received an MFA from MassArt’s low- residency program at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Her former careers in the arts include an art therapist for abused children and adults with severe mental illness, an Associate Editor of Art Therapy journal, and an associate professor and faculty in Lesley University’s Expressive Therapies Division. She is currently a full-time artist and teaches at the School of Visual and Performing Arts, Springfield College, MA, and the West Hartford Art League. Her work has been extensively exhibited, winning several awards, and is included in numerous private collections.

Margaret Waage is a photographer who is inspired simply by the beauty of nature. Her botanical work focuses on the vast array of form and color found in the microcosm of a single petal. Waage received a BA in Photojournalism from Empire State College, SUNY, and later undertook postgraduate work in New Media at Hunter College, CUNY. She is currently an Editorial Photography Coordinator at The Marlin Company in Wallingford, CT as well as a photojournalist and freelance photographer. Her work has been shown internationally including Hong Kong, Paris, and NYC..