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.