Three solo shows open Nov. 9 at Silvermine Art Center

Silvermine Guild Art Center
1037 Silvermine Rd., New Canaan, (203) 966-9700
J Henry Fair: The Hand of Man
Carlos Davila: Neo-Archaism
June Ahrens: What's Left
Nov. 9—Dec. 23, 2014.
Opening Reception: Sun., Nov. 9, 2—4 p.m.

Press release from Silvermine Arts Center

Three new exhibits open at Silvermine Arts Center on Sun., Nov. 9. Three artists explore themes of beauty and ruin, broken landscapes and lost symbols in photography, sculpture and a site-specific work in which video is a predominant element.

J Henry Fair’s stunning abstract compositions are full of organic forms and graphic patterns: plumes, branches, rivulets, as well as grids and softened geometric forms. But in Fair’s large-scale photographs, beauty and horror coexist. Fair’s subject in The Hand of Man is a damaged environment: de-forested landscapes, polluted waterways, hydraulic fracturing sites, and waste from refinery operations and other industrial practices. His goal is to “produce beautiful images that stimulate an aesthetic response, then curiosity, then personal involvement.”

Photo by J Henry Fair

“Flying over these sites is the only way to see things,” Fair has said. “The aerial perspective is inherently intriguing to land-based animals.” It is the aerial view that is his particular angle of vision—the distant view, not of the peaceful blue planet, but of the compromised landscape of a world that even in the digital era is still predominantly industrial.

J Henry Fair’s photography has been the subject of solo exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands. Fair has been a member of the SIlvermine Guild of Artists since 2011.

In Neo-Archaism, Carlos Davila creates a visual landscape that abstracts the symbols and forms of ancient cultures and combines them with those of advanced technology and modern industry. He explores the relationship between the modern, highly mechanized age that we live in and a totemic, stylized symbolism of a variety of ancient cultures from Egypt, South America, and Africa.

Carlos Davila: "Medusa"

Davila abstracts line, form, and color to create sculptures, three-dimensional wall pieces, and large-scale diptychs and triptychs. His mechanical and industrial elements coalesce into a layered, three-dimensional geometry that is textural and drenched in brilliant color. His is a figurative landscape at once familiar and alien.

After earning his MFA, Davila participated in the reconstruction of the ancient city of Chan Chan, Peru. His work at this Pre-Columbian archaeological dig led to a fascination with ancient and lost cultures, and the experience profoundly affected the course of his work. Carlos Davila’s art has been the subject of solo exhibitions from Lima, Santiago, and Bogota to New York, Boston, and Miami. Born and educated in Lima, Peru, he lived for many years in New York City. He currently lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut, and maintains a studio in a loft in Bridgeport. He has been a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists since 2012.

In her recent work, June Ahrens has explored repurposed and broken glass as material and metaphor. What’s Left is a new turn for Ahrens—a unified environment made up of a video surrounded by blue walls that are layered with dried pigment mixed with salt. This site-dependent piece, created for the Hays Gallery at the Silvermine Arts Center, evokes loss and fragility while channeling light through a landscape of broken glass.

The video serves as the primary element in the composition and contains many of the materials used in her environment. The integration of materials and images (including images of a human face and hands) invites the viewer to explore and embrace the residue of lives. Salt and glass enhance the imperfections of the walls, which become a metaphor for the imperfections in each of us. The surface partially hides some of the scarring but salt and pigment reveal it in a new way. Repurposed broken glass (clear or blue) is also part of the installation—random patterns of fallen shards will pool and reflect danger, pain, and vulnerability. Ahrens calls the work “a map of awareness.

June Ahrens: Still from video

June Ahrens’s work has been exhibited at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City; at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland; in Strong Women Artists, a group exhibit in Matera, Italy; and in many other exhibitions throughout the U.S. She lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, and has been a member of the Silvermine Guild since 1993.

Sunday opening of "Contemporary Souvenirs" at Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sacred Heart University

The Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sacred Heart University
5151 Park Ave., Fairfield, (203) 365-7650
Contemporary Souvenirs
Jan. 23—Mar. 3, 2011
Opening Reception: Sun., Jan. 23, 1—3:30 p.m., Panel discussion at 3:30 p.m.

Press release

From Laura G. Einstein, Independent Curator:

Souvenirs are tokens of remembrance, mementoes that are cherished and saved. The works of art in Contemporary Souvenirs reference the modern world around us and give credence to the old adage that “one person’s trash will be another’s treasure.” It is the artistic use and interpretation of the discarded materials from our modern world that provides the foundation for this fascinating exhibition.

Generally we don’t pay much attention to the mundane objects that we use each and every day that are ubiquitous in our 2011 cultural footprint. The ritual transformation of remnants—including air conditioning filters, record albums, construction site materials, deer netting, receipts and more—into works of art, tracks from the minutiae to the grandiose.

The works in this exhibition make us wonder if there is a ritual of collecting for the included artists June Ahrens, Ula Einstein, Joseph Fucigna, Constance Old and Paul Villinski. Perhaps the works commemorate the notion that human beings are ephemeral but what we manufacture, in the long run, might not be.

June Ahrens is known largely for her installations. "Passage" (2009), is a 26-foot long installation made of recycled beverage and vitamin bottles, stones, industrial glue and steel wire. The bottles are broken and repurposed to form a long sloping shape that, in this exhibition, winds along the tiered wall of the gallery. Ahrens’ "Flow" (2009) incorporates the wispy tendrils of fiberglass from cobalt blue air conditioning filters to create a strikingly vivid blue-framed wall piece. The filaments of material emanate from the rectangular support providing a contemporary image that seems to reflect the work of Eva Hesse, the conceptual artist of the 60s and 70s, known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass and plastics.


Swiss born multi-disciplinary artist Ula Einstein offers her Tyvek® series: "Scales" (2009), "Detectable TRACES" (2009), "W(e)aring Her Tracks" (2010) and "Currents" (2010). These works exemplify her desire to stretch everything beyond its original purpose. Tyvek® provides a lightweight, durable structure whose pliability provides her with an opportunity to appropriate a material meant originally to sheath houses in a protective cover. Her innovative, process-oriented work includes drawing with fire and blades to create layered, three-dimensional work that re-employs discarded and overlooked materials. Einstein’s process is organic and transformative, and although the technique is violent and destructive, she creates serene, meditative, light works of art. Her use of synthetic material to create allusions to landscape and the body is an ongoing exploration of the physicality and immateriality that is vital to her work.


Joseph Fucigna is a mixed-media artist who creates abstract wall constructions using, for this exhibition, colored plastic fencing, and deer netting. Layers are folded, hung, and bunched together to create abstract forms that deal with issues of line, shape, texture and color. In "Orange/Green/Orange" (2001), brilliant orange construction site netting is placed against dark green mesh, creating a bold and imposing wall sculpture. Deep black deer netting is placed against a white ground in his Untitled (2008) series, perhaps suggesting the inkblot image of a Rorschach test or the simple cadences of Chinese calligraphy. Fucigna creates freeform movement with synthetic industrial materials, transforming them into something new and unique.


Constance Old captures the spirit of the 21st century by taking advantage of the excesses of the consumer economy. Choosing receipts and miscellaneous plastic items rather than scraps of cloth, she transforms the 18th century North American tradition of rug hooking into "Sea of Blue: Plastic Floats Forever" (2009) and "Floats" (2009),creating three-dimensional wall pieces out of found color. Obvious symbols of our consumer economy, any detritus that can be rendered into strands and any usable grid, becomes her source material. She experiments with innovative and pliable fibers and matrices to discover which materials she is able to hook and which existing grids she can use as substrates. Her work is both timeless and an index of our time.


In "Diaspora" (2010) Paul Villinski is interested in the implied motion of the flutter of the wings of specific species of birds as he cuts and carves actual vintage record albums for this spectacularly large installation of 10-plus feet of birds emanating from a central core of record album covers. Of "Idyll" (2010), an installation piece that is made from flattened beer cans that Villinski transforms with tin snips, files and fingers, he states, “I take these 'dead soldiers'—every one of them once raised to someone’s lips—and breathe new life into them, changing them into images that suggest the possibility of change itself. A kind of conceptual unity develops between materials, process and imagery. My practice in the studio mimics the act of transformation that butterflies symbolize everywhere, in all cultures.” Whether avian or butterfly, Villinski is paying homage to these fanciful creatures through common materials, creating evocative images that resonates with us as we look at our modern world.


These collected works unite past and present by giving new life and meaning to the chosen objects. It is not only the clever tongue-in-cheek component of the appropriation of discarded items that draws our attention, but also their selection and transformation that is so compelling. Each artist has created a unique palette drawing upon his or her own personal artistic history and background.

Laura G. Einstein
Independent Curator

September shows open Sunday at Silvermine Guild Arts Center

Silvermine Guild Art Center
1037 Silvermine Rd., New Canaan, (203) 966-9700
Silvermine Guild Arts Center September shows
Sept. 7—Oct. 2, 2008
Opening reception: Sun., Sept. 7, 2—4 p.m.

Press release

Silvermine Guild Arts Center, located in New Canaan welcomes the fall with new exhibits opening at the galleries on Sept. 7 and running through Oct. 2, 2008. From an exhibit featuring iconic wind powered paddle sculptures, to a two-person show by archeological artists, a site specific installation exploring the cultural and political world to a combined exhibit of collage, boxed assemblage and mixed media, Silvermine will have four exhibits that will spark interest for all art lovers and collectors. All are welcomed to the opening reception on Sun., Sept. 7, from 2—4 p.m.

The Director's Choice exhibit, Dialogue in Collage, will feature a three-person show with works by Guild artists Arthur Burke, Enid Munroe and Nancy Nikkal. Before he began creating boxed assemblages, Arthur Burke had a successful career in the field of interior design. This Trumbull boxiest, intrigued by artist Joseph Cornell, began collecting a variety of old, discarded objects, not knowing exactly what he would do with them. Burke says, "I derive great pleasure from finding these abandoned objects and creating a second life for them. People seem to be genuinely delighted with my work; they enjoy the themes I have created in each box." Burke's work has appeared in exhibitions throughout the Northeast including the Westport Arts Center, Sailor's Valentine Gallery in Nantucket, the Discovery Museum and at Silvermine. Enid Munroe, a Southport artist, has been included in many regional and national curated and juried shows, including Silvermine Guild Arts Center annual Art of the Northeast, Greenwich Arts Council, Westport Historical Society, Westport Arts Center and the Aldrich Museum. Her works of various media, painting, silverpoint, and collage are included in museums such as the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution and the Brooklyn Museum; as well as corporate collections in the tri-state area including Bank of America, Readers Digest and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York; Clairol, General Electric, Xerox and Hartford Insurance in Connecticut as well as many private collections. Munroe is also a freelance garden and art writer. Nancy Nikkal's paintings, prints and collages have been exhibited nationally and internationally in museum and gallery shows and are included in public, corporate and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, Austria, India, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Singapore. For Nikkal, music is an integral part of work. "Jazz is playing all the time as I work in my studio. The series 'Jazz Babies and Jazz Notes' are inspired by the music. I feel the rhythm and the colors as I listen and work. The imagery is abstract, but about motion and dancing to the beat."

There are many sculptors doing wonderful things in the world of art, but few can offer the beauty of the mobiles and wind-driven kinetic sculptures of Drew Klotz. The talents of this artist from Weston combine his mechanical genius with an artistic and often comic flair to create ingenious works. His minimalist style, polished finish and poetic understanding of movement bring to mind the work of such noted Kinetic sculptors as George Rickey. For his show at Silvermine, Adult Toys, Drew will feature both examples of his iconic wind power paddle sculptures, as well as smaller, indoor hand cranked works along with other interactive sculptures. "My interest in kinetic sculpture started when I was a child. I remember climbing in the trees during thunderstorms and swaying in the breeze. That in turn led to hang gliding and sailing. Ultimately, the force of the wind and my love for art inspired me to creative moving sculptures." His works have been on exhibit at Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk as well as the Children's Museum in Chicago, and his renowned kinetic birdhouses, created for Westport's annual Project Return Birdhouse Auction, continue to help the charity raise money. Klotz's works can also be seen at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic.

The two-person show, Connections, with archeological artists Lou Hicks and Juliet Holland, shows off their respective works through a process of discovery and excavation as they respond to the environment in which they live and work. Containing an evocative even mystical aspect, Holland collects, archives, compiles and builds a surface of found and gathered materials such as wood, mud, sticks, paper, paint, working over it with incisions, scratches, abrasions that suggest decay, transformation and rebirth. Hicks uses a complex system of layering and scraping this lush oil paint mixed with wax to reveal multiple histories. He builds a rich moody surface activated by constant layering and scraping, accumulating and revealing, instilling feelings of awe, peace and calm. Both create a genuinely lived history with the surface of the paintings. Hicks, a resident of Port Chester, NY and Holland, a resident of New York City, have been close friend for many years, a connection that is paralleled in their work. In this exhibit, curated by Patricia Miranda, director of Miranda Fine Arts, the artists each communicate timelessness through texture and color.

In her one-person show, New Canaan artist June Ahrens' (Web site) Hiding in Plain Site is a site-specific installation incorporating a variety of materials exploring the cultural and political world around us. Wires covered in a variety of fabric, are used in a chaotic way, incorporated with crushed cans, reflectors, rusted safety pins, and used clear glass jars provided by friends and family. These materials suggest multi-layered metaphors and can be a reflection of our own fears and insecurities. The process is repetitive and obsessive and through this system the work grows organically to reveal itself in layered and complex ways.

There will be an opening reception for September's series of shows this Sunday, Sept. 7, from 2—4 p.m.