"Self Ease" reception at Perspectives Gallery Sat., May 10

Perspectives: The Gallery at Whitney Center
200 Leeder Hill Rd., Hamden, (203) 772-2788
Self Ease: Contemporary Portraiture
Through Jun. 17, 2014.
Artists' Reception: Sat., May 10, 3—5 p.m.

Press release from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents a new twist on the "selfies" trend. Organized by Debbie Hesse, Self Ease: Contemporary Portraiture brings together seven artists who work within the tradition of portraiture. The exhibition features artwork by Eileen Carey, Steven DiGiovanni, Megan Marden, Larry Morelli, Katro Storm, Erika Van Natta, and Jeff Wrench. The exhibition is on view now at the Perspectives Gallery at Whitney Center, 200 Leeder Hill Drive, Hamden, Connecticut. Gallery hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4—7 p.m. Join us for a special public reception on May 10, 2014 from 3—5 p.m.

Self Ease focuses on the psychological nuances regarding how we see ourselves and how we choose to be seen, commemorated, and remembered. Eileen Carey paints colorful portraits of people she knows in great detail as well as faceless crowds that explore the interaction of people in a fast paced culture. Jeff Wrench sketches faces of strangers on paint swatches and wallpaper samples creating casual portraits that are both specific and mysterious. Steven DiGiovanni puts people into ambiguous settings, using the surrounding objects as props to draw out meaning. Katro Storm, Megan Marden and Larry Morelli rely on personal, gestural and painterly mark making to create ambiance and psychological tension. Erika Van Natta creates a video portrait, via a self-designed kaleidoscope of herself singing original lyrics that finds cohesiveness thru geometric fragmentation.

Artwork by Eileen Carey

In addition, digital portraits or selfies emailed in from the general public will create a collective tapestry of how we see ourselves in a rapidly changing technological world. These fleeting digital captures offer a counterpart to the paintings and video in the exhibition, framing a dialogue about the history and future of this artistic genre. To participate, send digital selfies to selfeaze@gmail.com. Selections will also be included in an online exhibit at NewHavenArts.org.

Meg Bloom exhibit reception Sat., May 3, at City Gallery in New Haven

City Gallery
994 State St., New Haven, (203) 782-2489
Meg Bloom: Mixing Memory with Desire
May 1—June 1, 2014.
Opening Reception: Sat., May 3, 2—5 p.m.

Press release from City Gallery

City Gallery presents Mixing Memory with Desire, an exhibit of new sculptural works by Meg Bloom. The show will be on view from May 1 through June 1, 2014. The opening reception is Sat. May 3, 2014 from 2-5 p.m. Admission is free.

Finding beauty in the imperfect or impermanent, acknowledging moments of change, and engaging with the process of transformation form the basis of Bloom's work.

Meg Bloom: "Autumn Flight"

Bloom's process is guided by the mix of planning and chance that her materials offer to the imagery. She has developed her own method of making and then assembling paper made from abaca and flax pulps into large sculptural forms and smaller collages. The final sculptures are a revisioning of her memories.

"Oil + Water" mix at Kehler Liddell, reception Fri., May 9

Kehler Liddell Gallery
873 Whalley Ave., New Haven, (203) 389-9555
OIL + WATER
Apr. 24—May 25, 2014.
Artist's Reception: Fri., May 9, 6—9 p.m.
Art Yard Tag Sale, Children's Painting Event: Sat., May 10, starting at noon

Press release from Kehler Liddell Gallery

Kehler Liddell Gallery is pleased to present its spring group show, OIL + WATER, from Thurs., Apr. 24 through Sun., May 25, with an Opening Reception on Fri., May 9 from 6—9 p.m., and a number of events coordinated with Westville’s 17th annual ArtWalk on May 10.

The show will feature work by all 25 Kehler Liddell Gallery member artists: Corina S. Alvarezdelugo, Edith Borax-Morrison, Amy Browning, Frank Bruckmann, Susan Clinard, Penrhyn Cook, Rod Cook, Tom Edwards, Julie Fraenkel, Matthew Garrett, Sara Beth Goncarova, John Harris, Lisa Hess Hesselgrave, Keith Johnson, Sven Martson, Fethi Meghelli, Hank Paper, Jean Perkins, Joseph Saccio, Gerald Saladyga, Alan Shulik, Maureen Squires, Mark K. St. Mary, Gar Waterman, and Marjorie Wolfe.

This unique collaboration of the Gallery's painters, photographers, sculptors, and installation artists presents diverse interpretations of these icons of opposites—oil and water.

"Oil and water. They do not mix, never have, and never will," says Gar Waterman, one of the show’s artists. "Yet they exist together in a myriad of circumstances. In the hands of artists, that complex relationship becomes apt metaphor for the challenges we face in the world today—political, environmental, religious, cultural."

Frank Bruckmann: "Studio Still Life"

Charged with the task of addressing this relationship, KLG artists arrived at different conclusions. Some saw OIL + WATER as representative of that which does not belong, while others considered the idea of separation.

Many participating artists were quick to note that OIL + WATER has an obvious association with the very materials used in the creation of art. "Oil and water don’t mix but can make fascinating play on paper and canvas," says calligrapher Maureen Squires. "You're never quite in control on the surface, always moving, changing, affecting color and light."

OIL + WATER coincides with the 17th annual ArtWalk in the historic Westville Village, May 9 and 10. This community-based arts festival features live music, art exhibitions, demonstrations and studios, interactive art-making for kids and adults, theater & dance, walking tours, and an Artist & Artisan Market.

In addition to the group show, Kehler Liddell Gallery is hosting two special ArtWalk events on Saturday, May 10:

• Art Yard Tag Sale Sat., May 10, noon—4 p.m.:

A great opportunity to stock up on art supplies: canvases, frames, paper, pencils, pens, paints, old gear, art books, magazines, pencil sharpeners, rulers, old frames, old show cards, and odds and ends of all types! The Art Yard Sale will take place in a tent outside the Gallery from noon—4 p.m. Participating artists are donating 80% of the proceeds to support future KLG programming.

• Children’s Event: Oil and Water Painting, Sat., May 10, starting at noon:

Children of all ages are welcome to practice the art of art using oil and watercolor paints, with creative input from KLG member artists Marjorie Wolfe and Corina Alvarezdelugo. Starting at 12 noon.

Shows open Sat., Apr. 26, at Gallery on the Green in Canton

Gallery on the Green
Corner of Dowd and Route 44, Canton, (860) 693-4102
The Eighth Annual Maxwell Shepherd Memorial Invitational Exhibition
Judy Cantwell: Ten Years Later
Genti Bushi: Recollection!
Apr. 25—May 25, 2014.
Reception: Sat., Apr. 26, 6—9 p.m.

Press release from Gallery on the Green

The Eighth Annual Maxwell Shepherd Memorial Invitational Exhibition will take place at the Gallery on the Green in Canton from Apr. 25 through May 25, 2014. This year's invited artists are Connecticut residents Mary Kenealy and Richard Klein. The public is warmly invited to an opening reception from 6—9 p.m. on Sat., Apr. 26. The artists will give an informal talk about their work prior to the reception, at 5 p.m.

Mary Kenealy, registrar at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Connecticut, has shown widely throughout Connecticut in solo exhibitions including those at Real Art Ways and Trinity College in Hartford. She has also been included in several group shows such as those at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington, D. C., the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, and the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Kenealy has also served on the faculty of Central Connecticut State University and Fairfield University. She works largely on paper creating intricate and engaging patterns of color.

Mary Kenealy: "All the Hours #10"

Richard Klein, exhibitions curator since 1999 at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, has had works shown in numerous museums and galleries, notably at the Neuberger Museum of Art at SUNY Purchase, Caren Golden Fine Arts in New York City, and Tufts University Art Gallery in Medford, Massachusetts. Working with found glass and everyday objects, Klein fuses them to create works that are ethereal and transcendent while remaining grounded in the commonplace.

Richard Klein: "Black Friday"

Walter Kendra, Professor Emeritus of Art at Central Connecticut State University and Mark Snyder, Associate Professor of Visual Design at the Hartford Art School curated the exhibit. The Annual Maxwell Shepherd Memorial Invitational Exhibition is sponsored by the Maxwell Shepherd Memorial Arts Fund, Inc., a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the fine and performing arts. For further information about the Fund please write to MSMAF, Inc., 16 South St., Collinsville, CT 06019 or telephone 860.693.2762.

Also on exhibit Apr. 25—May 25 are two new shows in the upstairs galleries by Judy Cantwell and Genti Bushi.

Judy Cantwell: "Ferns and Oak Leaves"

Cantwell's show, Ten Years Later in the Spotlight Gallery includes found objects such as old wood and rusted metal that are given new life as simple constructions. Her digital photographs, gel transfers and mixed media woven paper pieces are full of colors, patterns and intriguing images. She has found that using more than one medium at a time allows her to better translate the images of the world around her into works of art. She is a member of a group of Ct./ Ma. mixed media artists known as MIXUS as well as a member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts.

Inspirations for Genti Bushi's exhibit, Recollection!, in the main Upstairs Gallery come from objects, landscapes and images from his memories —those shapes and colors that have been tucked away but never forgotten. Bushi's acrylic and oil paintings are rich in vivid colors and lively compositions.

"Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, Part Two" reception this Sat. at Institute Library

The Institute Library
847 Chapel St., New Haven, (203) 562-5045
Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, Part Two
Through May 3, 2014.
Reception: Sat., Apr. 5, Noon—2 p.m.

Press release from Stephen Vincent Kobasa

On March 5th 2007, a car bomb was exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic center of Baghdad bookselling. More than 30 people were killed and over 100 were wounded. In response to this attack upon a cultural treasure of the Iraqi people, the poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil founded the al-Mutanabbi Street Project which to date has assembled 130 broadsides by letterpress artists, 260 artist books, and a literary anthology Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here with contributions by over 125 writers from around the world.

Also included, on special loan from the artist, is a book by Daniel Heyman, Sing With A Lovely Voice, hand-printed from woodblocks based on watercolors drawn during interviews which were part of a fact-gathering mission concerning torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.

This is the second of two exhibitions curated by Stephen Vincent Kobasa out of this larger collection. There will be a panel discussion on books in a time of terror on Sat., Apr. 5, at noon.