Dedicated to covering the visual arts community in Connecticut.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Arts Council of Greater New Haven announces September "Somewhat Off the Wall" fundraising event

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven
70 Audubon St., 2nd Floor, New haven, (203) 772-2788
Somewhat Off the Wall fundraiser
Sun., Sept. 18, 2011, 5—9 p.m., Works available for viewing online as they become available and Fri., Sept. 16, from 4—7 p.m. at the Odonnell Company space at 760 Chapel St. in New Haven.

Press release

The Arts Council’s longstanding gala fundraising event is back and more exciting than ever!

Somewhat Off the Wall, a unique art exhibition and party from which guests will take home original works of art, will be held on Sun., Sept. 18, from 5—9 p.m., at 760 Chapel St., New Haven, in the spectacular space that is home to the Odonnell Company.

This year’s event features drawings, jewelry, paintings, photography, pottery, prints, sculpture, and fiber by 52 outstanding artists who have each donated three pieces of their work. These works will be on display on Fri., Sept. 16 from 4—7 p.m. for a sneak peak and can also be viewed online at www.newhavenarts.org as they become available.

Then, at 7 p.m. on the night of the party, numbered premium tickets will be drawn at random. As each premium ticket-holder’s number is called, he or she will select a piece of original artwork to take home.

Each of the 52 participating artists will be given a premium ticket making only 104 premium tickets, at $100 each, available to the public! An unlimited number of tickets to the event are available for $35 (these will not include artwork).

Participating Somewhat Off the Wall artists include Mell Boesch, Maryelle Braunstein, Janine Brown, Joy Bush, Sharon Butler, Alice Chittenden, Kathy Conway, Jayne Crowley, Leila Daw, Theresa Dezso, Jessica Dickens, Laise Doria, Eileen Eder, Richard Eugene, Michael Fedikovich, Kathryn Frederick, Francine Funke, Justin Gerace, Lori Glavin, Sara Gustafson, Luke Hanscom, Kenneth Hanson, David Harlan, Deborah Henchel, Lisa Hess Hesselgrave, Aniko Horvath, Jennifer Jane, Todd Jokl, Daniel Kaminski, Hannah Leckman, Martha Lewis, Karleen Loughran, Owen Luckey, Sabrina Marques, Ray Mathews, Molly McDonald, Roslyn Meyer, Christopher Mir, Kerry O'Grady, Thomas Peterson, Pat Rist, Ronnie Rysz, Nomi Silverman, Kim Sobel, Anita Soos, Mark St. Mary, Ken Stabile, Karissa Van Tassel, Brittany Whiteman, JoAnne Wilcox, Robert Wilkinson, Joan Zamore.

Call the Arts Council at (203) 772-2788 or visit www.newhavenarts.org for more information about Somewhat Off the Wall and to purchase tickets.

High-resolution images can be viewed online and are available upon request.

Somewhat Off the Wall is sponsored by Affiliated Foot and Ankle Surgeons, Cygnus Medical LLC, L. Suzio York Hill Companies, Madison Polymeric Engineering Inc, New Haven Advocate, Odonnell Company & The Potocsny Finacial Group of Wells Fargo Advisors.

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, publisher of The Arts Paper, is a regional nonprofit arts agency that provides leadership to and advocates for member artists and arts organizations and connects them to one another, to audiences, and to the Greater New Haven community.

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Saturday night: "Quick & Painful" at Hope Gallery Tattoo

Hope Gallery
835 Woodward Ave., New Haven, (203) 467-1622
Quick and Painful
One night only: Sat., Aug. 27, 2011, 7—11 p.m.

Press release

Hope Gallery, one of the most prestigious tattoo art galleries, will feature the work of more than 15 important artists and designers with backgrounds in fine art, graffiti, and illustration in a unique exhibition that will be held in New Haven, CT; Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, IL; and Miami, FL; for one night only with dates starting Aug. 27.

Quick & Painful will feature today’s most elite low-brow artists doing original Tattoo Flash. “Flash” is a set of tattoo designs classically printed or drawn on an 11″ x 14″ piece of paper or cardboard. Flash is either drawn by the individual tattooer for display and use in his own studio, or traded and sold among other tattooers. By the turn of the new century, most tattoo studios have become custom shops with the flash serving as more of a reference for ideas.

Among the artists and designers that will be presenting Flash Prints for the exhibition are Alex Pardee, Amanda Visell, Brandt Peters & Kathie Olivas, Camilla D’Errico, David Horvath, Devilrobots, Frank Kozik, Greg “Craola” Simkins, Joe Ledbetter, Junko Mizuno, Ron English, Sam Flores, TADO, Tara McPherson, and Tokidoki co-founder and Creative Director Simone Legno.

Quick & Painful was curated by Nichole East of Hope Gallery. East reached out to iconic artists from her Pop Art background. Each artist was given the confines of 11 x 14 inch platform to create their own unique set of tattoo flash.

“After years of working in the low-brow and pop art scene, I started to see how many fans were getting tattoos of my favorite artists. It seemed a natural urge to make sure it was done right,” said Nichole East.


The first event will take part at Hope Gallery in New Haven, CT on Aug. 27, from 7—11 p.m. Subsequent Quick & Painful events will be held at Crewest Gallery in Los Angeles on September 3rd; Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago on October 8th; and during Art Basel in Miami December 1st-4th. World-renowned tattoo artists like Joe Capobianco, Eric Merrill, Julio Rodriguez, Jime Litwalk, Dan Smith, Patrick Cornolo, and Sean Adams, will be tattooing fans the night of the opening with their favorite designs chosen right from the wall. The nights will also be filled with events, giveaways, and contests for fans of Tattoos and Pop Art.

All of the Flash Sets created for Quick & Painful will be available for purchase at each of the show dates and available online at The Hope Shop starting Oct. 9.

Hope Gallery is custom tattoo and art gallery located in New Haven, CT. Established in 2002 by artists Joe Capobianco, Eric Merrill, and Julio Rodriguez, Hope is home to the most experienced and awarded tattoo artists in the industry today. Along with resident artists Phil Young, Tim Harris, and Christian Perez; each have over 15 years tattooing experience.

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And the Oscar goes to...

Kehler Liddell Gallery
873 Whalley Ave., New Haven, (203) 389-9555
My Brother Jack: Works of Silas Finch & Larry Morelli
Through Sept. 4, 2011.

There is an unusual film preview on view at Kehler Liddell Gallery through September 4. My Brother Jack features work by local artists Silas Finch and Larry Morelli. Works of each artist will feature prominently in writer/director Stephen Dest's (Web) film of the same name, slated to be shot in New Haven this fall. (There is also a promotional trailer for My Brother Jack playing on a continuous loop in the gallery.)

The approaches of the two artists are strikingly different. Whereas Morelli's paintings (and a suite of drawings) are kinetic and gestural, Finch's sculptures are stately and intricate.

Morelli's paintings bristle with energy. His work—both portraits and highway landscapes—are characterized by the forcefulness of his application of paint. To say these works are gestural doesn't really do them justice. The physicality of Morelli's painting implies a powerful emotional engagement with his subjects.


Where some painters express their boldness through rich, pulsating color, Morelli chooses to invest himself in mark making, the energy of paint coating canvas. In fact, his color palette is generally muted although some bright yellows—like the sun peeking through a cloudy sky—do dash across the surface of a couple of his highway landscapes.

Finch's found object sculptures are painstakingly hand-built. (The main character in Dest's film is a found object sculptor.) A former professional skateboarder, Finch often uses old skateboards as the base for his assemblages. Fascinated by history, Finch reclaims the past—almost enters the past—by using relics from the past in his work. This includes old newspapers and magazines, antique cameras and other scavenged items from flea markets and junk shops.

A series of three skateboard-based works relives traumas from the 1960's—the shooting of a young East German trying to flee over the Berlin Wall ("2 Sides of the Communist Coin"), the John F. Kennedy assassination ("Prime Suspect") and Charles Whitman's 1966 mass murder shooting spree at the University of Texas in Austin ("Charlie"). Finch either hand-stitches or otherwise affixes image-laden stories from yellowing copies of Life magazine and The New York Times to the skateboard, collage-style. He makes the pieces pop with additional elements, pulling out the imagery into the third dimension almost like the sculptural equivalent of a journalistic "pull quote." The Berlin Wall work includes framing of a length of barbed wire and a piece of cement—an actual chunk of the Berlin Wall, perhaps? A gunstock and old movie camera add referential depth to "Prime Suspect."


Not all of Finch's sculptures/assemblages are based on skateboards—see the image detail of "Indefatigable Nixon," for example. But they all combine an unfettered sense of imaginative play with a love for the materials and a gift for finding evocative ways to reuse them.


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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Derek Leka painting show opens Saturday In Washington Depot

Washington Art Association
4 Bryan Plaza, Washington Depot, (860) 868-2878
Derek Leka: New Works
Aug. 20—Sept. 18, 2011.
Opening Reception: Sat., Aug. 20, 4—6 p.m.

Press release

A show of new paintings by Derek Leka (Web) will open this Saturday, from 4—6 p.m., at Washington Art Association.


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Faculty Art Show at Silvermine opens next week

Silvermine Guild Art Center
1037 Silvermine Rd., New Canaan, (203) 966-9700
School of Art Faculty Exhibition
Aug. 20—Sept. 17, 2011.
Opening Reception: Thurs., Aug. 25, 6:30—8:30 p.m.

Press release

The annual School of Art Faculty Exhibition will be on exhibit at the Silvermine Arts Center Sara Victoria Hall in New Canaan from Aug. 20 through Sept. 17. The public is invited to the opening reception on Thurs., Aug. 25 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Each year, the Silvermine School of Art showcases current works of the distinguished artist/teachers. The exhibition represents every style and media including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, mixed media, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and silversmithing. Exciting new works by faculty members including Tom Brenner from Fairfield; Lisa Arnold, Martha Bloom, Jak Kovatch and Barbara Rothenberg from Westport; David Dunlop, Nash Hyon, Nancy McTague-Stock, Peter Rubino and Justin Weist from Wilton; Janice Mauro and Elyse Shapiro from Redding; Claire Watson Garcia (see image below) from Ridgefield; and Dean Fisher, Marta Kot and Josephine Robinson from Milford, will be featured. All artwork in the exhibit is available for sale.


In addition to being faculty members of Silvermine, many of these talented artists have achieved success in other areas. William Nathans (from New Fairfield) and Jesus Emmanuel Villarreal (a resident of Bridgeport) were finalists in the 2011 International Portrait Competition for the Portrait Society of America. Villarreal was awarded the Grand Prize and Will received an exceptional merit prize. Susan Halls of East Hampton, MA published her first book this summer Figures and Animals in Clay. Come enjoy the work of these accomplished artist/teachers.

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Call for artwork—black and white photography show at the Hygienic

Hygienic Art
83 Bank St., P.O. Box 417, New London, (860) 443-8001
The f-stops here: a Black + White Event
Call For Photographers/Artists—Juried Black + White Photography Exhibition at Hygienic Art
Show Dates: Sept. 10—Oct. 8, 2011.
Opening Night: Sat., Sept. 10, 7—10 p.m.

Receiving Dates:
Thurs., Sept. 1, 11—3 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 2, 11—6 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 3, 11—6 p.m.

Press release

The f-stops here: A Black + White Juried Photography Exhibition at Hygienic Art! Get busy! It is the Black + White event of the year! Not to be missed. Summer is moving along fast so get out there and produce some of your best Black + White photography to submit to this exciting juried photo exhibit: The f-stops here.

We are mixing it up for this exciting event with two talented photographers lending their eye. Guest juror Photographer Ron Cowie of Cowie Platinum Editions and curating the selected pieces Photographer and Associate Professor of Art at Connecticut College Ted Hendrickson.

Prizes will be awarded and everyone will be wearing black + white at the opening event.

Submission info: Black + White photography, this year is a black + white event. No color photography this year!

Entry fees:
$15.00 for single entry
$20.00 for two entries
$25.00 for three entries

Unselected Pick-up:
Thurs., Sept. 8, 11—3 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 11, 12—3 p.m.

Selected Pick Up:
Sun., Oct. 9, 12–3 p.m.

Submission Details: Artists may submit up to 3 pieces to be considered. Black + White photography only. All work must be current. All work must be for sale. No works previously shown at Hygienic will be accepted. All works must be suitably framed with wires and ready for hanging. All metal frames must have hangers and wire, NO CLIPS. Work submitted must not exceed 48” in either direction. All work must remain for the duration of the show. Hygienic will retain 30% of sales and collect 6% CT state sales tax. Hygienic will not be responsible for unclaimed work.

Ron Cowie is an internationally known, award winning, fine art photographer and platinum printer living in Charlestown, Rhode Island. His work has been shown in various publications, galleries, and private collections. He is the owner of Cowie Platinum Editions, a fine art platinum printing service for artists, photographers, institutions, and collectors.

Ron has been practicing photography for twenty-five years and is a master of the 19th century process of platinum printing. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, where he was the photo editor of the News Record, with a degree in Anthropology. He also is a graduate of The New England School Of Photography. He is an instructor of Alternative Processes at The New England School of Photography in Boston, MA. He has taught platinum printing workshops at The George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, Roger Williams University, Connecticut College, and is available for private tutorials.

Ron Cowie On Jurying:
Every important thing that can be done in photography has been done in the first 100 years of its invention. There are very few, if any, frontiers in the field. That said, it is wonderful to see images made with zest and intelligence. Images which challenge, ask as well as answer questions, lean towards mystery and are made with skill hold my attention the most. I can’t tell you what that looks like, only when I see it.
A native of New London, Connecticut, Ted Hendrickson studied photography at the University of Connecticut where he received B.A. and M.F.A. degrees, and at Rhode Island School of Design, where he earned a Master's degree in Art Education. He is currently an associate professor of art at Connecticut College.

During the past 35 years, Ted Hendrickson's photographs have explored the nature of landscape as image. Ranging from the man-made scene of the built environment and the wooded and coastal landscape of Southern New England, to the landscape of Ireland, Hendrickson's laconic personal views can be simultaneously poetic, comic, tragic or mysterious. His work records layers of geologic and human history in a concise, straightforward style without overtly injecting the drama of the picturesque. Current interests include a series of images, Questions for a Stony Landscape, exploring boulders and placed stonework as marking the man-altered landscape and its potential evidence as history, work and ritual.

Hendrickson's work has been featured nationally in numerous one-person and group exhibitions. He received a commission from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts to photograph the towns of New London County for permanent exhibition at the New London County Court House. His work is included in many prestigious public and private collections.

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Photography show at A-Space Gallery the end of August

A-Space Gallery at West Cove Studios
30 Elm St., West Haven, (203) 627-8030
At The Edge of Things: Twenty-Four Photographers
Aug. 25—Sept. 17, 2011.
Greeting of the artists: Sun., Aug. 28, 2011, 6—9 p.m.

Press release

Arranged and installed by Stephen Vincent Kobasa, At the Edge of Things showcases meditations on various ways in which photographs can render boundaries both blurred and precise, real and imagined.


The featured photographers are James Ayers, Christopher Beauchamp, Marion Belanger, Paul Bloom, Joy Bush, Phyllis Crowley, Paul Duda, Ashley Estep, Joan Fitzsimmons, Andrew Hogan, Aniko Horvath, Keith Johnson, Clare Kobasa, Linda Lindroth, Eric Litke, Meredith Miller, Roy Money, Hank Paper, Thomas Peterson, Mark Savoia, Jess Smith, Maria Tupper, Marjorie Wolfe and Stefan Znosko.

There will be a "greeting of the artists" on Sun., Aug. 28, from 6—9 p.m.

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Monday, August 15, 2011

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..

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Photo show opens Thursday at Real Art Ways during Creative Cocktail Hour

Real Art Ways
56 Arbor St., Hartford, (860) 232-1006
Karen Miranda-Rivadeneira: Other Stories/Historias Bravas
Aug. 18—Oct. 9, 2011.
Opening reception during Creative Cocktail Hour: Thurs., Aug. 18, 6-10 p.m. Admission is $10/$5 Real Art Ways members.

Press release

Real Art Ways presents Other Stories/Historias Bravas, an exhibition by Karen Miranda-Rivadeneira, who creates photos in which she reenacts personal memories from her youth with the help of her extended family in Ecuador.

An opening reception on Thurs., Aug. 18 from 6—8 p.m. will be held as part of Creative Cocktail Hour, Real Art Ways' monthly third Thursday gathering. Creative Cocktail Hour is from 6—10 p.m.; admission is $10/$5 Real Art Ways members.

Miranda-Rivadeneira believes the act of remembering is an unstable and profoundly unreliable process. The more we "remember" an event the more we are likely to change it with time. In Other Stories/Historias Bravas she revisits events from her youth that were never recorded, restaging remembered scenarios with the collaboration from family. These memories, which shaped the artist's identity and interpretation of the world, are rooted in local folklore and connected with her family's traditions (some are invented).

Drawing from her bi-cultural upbringing, Miranda-Rivadeneira addresses emigration, feminism, and the conflict of preserving tradition while integrating with contemporary society. The contexts in which these reenactments are staged are not meant to romanticize her past experiences but rather act as reference points on her search for truthfulness.

Karen Miranda-Rivadeneira was raised in Queens, NY and graduated in 2005 from the School of Visual Arts in NYC with a bachelor in Fine Arts. In that same year, she was invited to be an artist-in-residence at the acclaimed Fondazione Ratti's Intense Visual Arts program with artist Alfredo Jaar, in Como, Italy.

She traveled extensively around South America in 2006, working as a photojournalist and her work garnered attention from the Danish School of Journalism, who granted Rivadeneira a scholarship to develop a photography project in Denmark.

Since 2006, Miranda-Rivadeneira has worked with projects that deal with identity and intimacy, collaborating with a variety of communities throughout the world as subjects for various photo-based projects. She has worked with the Mam (an indigenous group close to the border with Mexico) in Guatemala, with the Mandaeans (an ethnic group in the south of Iraq and west of Iran) living in Sweden, and with the Waoranis in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and lately in the Andean Mountains.

Miranda-Rivadeneira has received countless awards and has had her photography included in exhibitions around the globe. Most recently she was included in Here I am: Selections from New New Yorkers at Queens Museum of Art (NY). A few selected exhibitions include been included at MAAC (Contemporary Museum of Art, Ecuador), Newspace Center of Photography (Oregon), Front Gallery (Denmark), and En Foco at Calumet Photographic (New York).

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Call for artwork for show commemorating 10th anniversary of 9/11

Church of the Good Shepherd
680 Racebrook Rd., Orange, (203) 795-6577
Call for Submissions for Hope and Healing: Ten Years After September 11th
Submissions due be Sept. 1, 2011.
Works to be shown Sun., Sept. 11, 2011 during 10:30 a.m. worship service.

Press release

To commemorate the 10th Anniversary of September 11th, Church of the Good Shepherd in Orange is issuing a Call to Creativity to all writers, musicians, and other artists. All are welcome to submit original works of art in any medium that can be displayed (written, photographed, crafted, etc.) to a Community Arts Show to be held on Sunday, September 11, 2011. The theme is Hope and Healing: Ten Years after September 11th.

Works should tell stories of survival and hope, connecting the past through the present and into the future. All works will displayed and all entrants honored during the 10:30 am worship service at Church of the Good Shepherd on Sunday, September 11, 2011. A panel of judges will select one work that best embodies the theme of Hope and Healing: Ten Years After September 11th to receive a distinguished honor. The awardee will receive a certificate of Hope and Healing and a $200 donation will be made in his or her name to the National September 11 Memorial Fund and Museum in New York City. Works must be at Church of the Good Shepherd on or before September 1, 2011, to be considered.

The memories and emotions associated with this national tragedy remain with us, even 10 years later. This as an opportunity to remember those who lost or sacrificed their lives in a way that moves toward healing and reminds us of the hope that Christ embodies.

Contact Church of the Good Shepherd, 680 Racebrook Road, Orange, CT 06477 (203-795-6577; e-mail: thegoodshepherd@optonline.net) for more information.

All works must be original and able to be displayed on September 11, 2011, at Church of the Good Shepherd. They must not be under submission to any other contest or publication. All artists are welcome to submit their works, regardless of religious affiliation. Show is open to professional and nonprofessional artists over the age of 16. Church of the Good Shepherd reserves the right to decline submissions that are deemed offensive or do not reflect the theme of Hope and Healing. Church of the Good Shepherd is not responsible for late, lost, or misdirected submissions. Church of Good Shepherd is not responsible for any cost or loss associated with submitting a work for this exhibit.

The decision of the judges is final. Awardee must be present to be honored. If an awardee is unable to attend the service on Sunday, September 1, 2011, an alternate awardee will be chosen. All artists agree to pick up their works of art after September 11, 2011.

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Artist's reception tomorrow at New Haven Public Library

New Haven Free Public Library Art Gallery
133 Elm St., New Haven
The Circus of Life: An Exhibition of Acrylic Artworks by Hugo Lara
Through Aug. 19, 2011.
Artist's reception: Tues., Aug. 16, 5—7 p.m.

Press release

Through arrangement with the Minister Consul General of Ecuador in Connecticut, the Gallery of the New Haven Free Public Library is proud to present the work of the artist Hugo Lara.

This exhibit will only be up for a short time. The reception for the artist will be held Tues., Aug. 16, from 5—7 p.m.

Hugo Lara was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1949, and lives in Playas. He explains that his work is indebted to the anxieties experienced through the historic study of the path of his ancestors, their ethnic origins and activities as common men, artists or politicians, in particular moments of their lives.

This information as a building element of his work can be traced back to the year 1965, when his creation of a mature work of art, at the age of sixteen, combined with his personal anxieties of wanting to fix the world, whether through a philosophical approach or by his direct participation in activities, some of which to him would not be compatible with the identity of a free thinker.

The Circus of the Life is an explosion of visual irony, a graphic testimony that cannot be relegated in Ecuadorian art history, and is the product of the artist's daily struggle for 46 years in his artistic task. Its narrative conclusions are based on the humanistic knowledge of a society being degenerated in time, and represents, with the simple scenes of small characters, an intention to maintain equilibrium, or to maintain a position on the rustic rough but brilliant surface of a world with rock in its interior. This is accomplished by the content that each human being can give the world when becoming a good architect of their life. Hugo Lara presents scenes of characters falling, and holding on to a thin cord as an umbilical that maintains a united society full of color. Each character shares that permanent competence of capacities or influences in this great circus. In a world in which "all of us are actors," we each assume the role that we have accepted by our capacities or limitations.

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